News From Around the Web
#10 Face Mask Mandates Return in Multiple States as Doctors Warn of ‘Quad-Demic’ of Four Viral Infections - Luke Andrews for The Daily Mail, Five Times August, Jordan Priestley, The General, Earl Fox, Jack/AJ Huber, and PNW Conservative on X
A quadruple-whammy of viruses are hitting the US as millions go back to work after the holidays, data shows. Official figures reveal that infections caused by flu, COVID-19, RSV (a respiratory illness that causes the cold), and norovirus (sometimes called the stomach flu) all started to surge over the Christmas period when families gathered to celebrate. And experts say figures will only continue to rise over the coming weeks as the US heads into the peak period of its annual flu season...
#9 FBI Releases New Video, Information in Hunt for Jan. 6 Pipe Bomber - Alexander Mallin for ABC News, Raw Alerts, Julie Kelly, Johnny Midnight, Thomas Massie, and Citizen Free Press on X
The FBI has released new information and video of the individual who planted pipe bombs outside the headquarters of both the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee on the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the bureau announced Thursday, after nearly four years of investigation that has led to little in the way of substantive leads about the suspect's identity.
https://twittercom/CitizenFreePres/status/1766908484820312566
#8 Killer Robots: Can They Say “No,” and Should They? - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, UncoverDC, Sea of Lavender, and Stop Killer Robots on X
Autonomous weapons are often pitched as the answer to the chaos of war. With advanced vision algorithms, they could, in theory, tell the difference between, for example, a school and a weapons depot better than any human. Moreover, unlike their mortal counterparts, they don’t loot, massacre, or act out of rage. In fact, some ethicists argue that robots might even follow the rules of war with the unwavering precision of a math equation. But here’s the kicker: for robots to protect civilians effectively, they might need a peculiar feature—the ability to say no.#7 US Army Soldier Charged Over Alleged Hacking of Trump, Harris Phone Records - Brie Stimson for Fox News, , Angela Van Der Pluym/Raw Alerts, Forest Cleaning Service, Sneed Mobil Tech, and Ken Torres on X
A U.S. Army soldier has been charged with selling confidential phone records. Cameron John Wagenius, 20, was charged by federal authorities in Texas with two counts of unlawful transfer of confidential phone records information on Dec. 20, and the indictment was unsealed this week. Wagenius was a soldier at Fort Cavazos in Texas. Court records didn’t specify his rank...
#6 New Details Released After Bomb Threat Situation on I-85 in Greenville County - Zach Rainey for WYFF, Gov Henry McMaster, AJ Huber, SANTINO, and Congressman William Timmons on X
A bomb threat caused a stretch of Interstate 85 to shutdown in Greenville County and traffic to backup for miles in both directions. Law enforcement later said the driver was in custody, and the situation was deemed safe. On January 2, 2025, at approximately 2:45 p.m., a SC State Transport Police officer initiated a traffic stop on a tractor-trailer on Interstate 85 in Greenville County due to a missing license plate on the trailer. During the traffic stop near mile marker 44, the driver, a man from Illinois, indicated that there was an explosive device inside the commercial vehicle. All six lanes of I-85 were subsequently shut down as the threat was investigated by the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, SLED, and the FBI...
#5 $450,000 Settlement for Ohio Teacher Who Refused to Use Students’ Pronouns - David Rees Fox 8, Corey A. DeAngelis, Not the Bee, and American Citizen on X
An Ohio school district will pay $450,000 to a middle school teacher who resigned for refusing to address two transgender students by their preferred names and pronouns. Jackson Local School District reached a settlement in December with the teacher, Vivian Geraghty, after she claimed in a 2022 lawsuit her First Amendment rights were violated when she was told to resign from a middle school language arts position...
#4 Judicial Body Won’t Refer Clarence Thomas to Justice Department Over Ethics Lapses - Zoë Richards for NBC News, Lara Logan/George, Joyreaper, Monte GenX, Satguy 141, and Kaelan Deese on X
A judicial organization that sets national policy for federal courts has rejected a request from two Democratic lawmakers to refer Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to the Justice Department over free travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors that were largely omitted from his financial disclosure forms. The group, the Judicial Conference, sent identical letters Thursday to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who chairs the Judiciary subcommittee on federal courts, and Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., the ranking member of the Judiciary subcommittee on courts, who asked it in 2023 to refer Thomas to the attorney general for investigation following a ProPublica report on free travel and gifts to Thomas by billionaire Harlan Crow and others...
#3 New Orleans ISIS Terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar Had Bomb-Making Station and Quran Open to Chilling Passage in His Home, New Photos Reveal - The New York Post, Jennie Taer, Mike Engleman/Breanna Morello, and ZZZ on X
ISIS-inspired New Orleans terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar kept a bomb-making workbench in his ramshackle Texas trailer home — where a Quran was left open on a page about “slaying” in the name of Allah, exclusive photos obtained by The Post show. Jabbar’s north Houston home was filled with chemical residue and chemical bottles, while an inventory of items seized by the FBI — left behind by investigators who raided his house on Wednesday — included a long list of compounds used in bomb-making. His Quran was propped atop a bookshelf, a centerpiece in his living room, and open to a passage reading, “They fight in Allah’s cause, and slay and are slain; a promise binding…”
Allstate CEO Tom Wilson ignited a firestorm of backlash on social media Thursday with a video statement addressing Wednesday's terror attack in New Orleans that killed more than a dozen people. Wilson's statement came ahead of the Sugar Bowl, of which Allstate is the official corporate sponsor after the game was postponed to Thursday due to the attack. In the video, Wilson suggested Americans have an "addiction to divisiveness" and must "accept people's imperfections and differences." Apple agreed to pay $95 million in cash to settle a proposed class action lawsuit claiming that its voice-activated Siri assistant violated users' privacy. A preliminary settlement was filed on Tuesday night in the Oakland, California federal court, and requires approval by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Mobile device owners complained that Apple routinely recorded their private conversations after they activated Siri unintentionally, and disclosed these conversations to third parties such as advertisers...
#2 Sugar Bowl’s Corporate Sponsor CEO Slammed for ‘Addiction to Divisiveness’ Statement After Terror Attack - Jackson Thompson for Fox News, Steve Deace, Amuse, Charlie Kirk, and Scott on X
#1 Apple to Pay $95 Million to Settle Siri Privacy Lawsuit - Jonathan Stempel for Reuters, Justine Bateman/Reid Southern, Insider Paper, The Washington Examiner, and Real News No BS on X
And Now for Something Special 
World Carnivore Month
https://www.youtube.com/live/_hN6it2UiA4?si=3eyd6XV8aRtjS17m
