News From Around the Web
#1 Will AI Data Centers Soon Consume More Energy than Humans? - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, The Kobeissi Letter, Loco Lobo, Normal Guy/Quatam Baid, Ser Eric/Tellura, and Reuters/Priya/Grok on X
Ever wonder how much energy it takes for the near-instant AI responses that we are increasingly encouraged to depend upon? For those curious, the amount is tremendous. In 2022, training the AI model for the first version of ChatGPT consumed a staggering amount of electricity—the same amount of electricity as 130 households consumed in one year. And that was three years ago. Last year, for the first time, the International Energy Agency (IEA) included projections for electricity consumption associated with data centers, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence in its forecast for global energy use over the next two years. With these energy consumers added together, the IEA noted that by 2026, usage will be roughly equal to the amount of electricity used by the entire country of Japan.#2 Trump Administration Must Restore Hundreds of UCLA Research Grants, Federal Judge Rules - Jaweed Kaleem for Los Angeles Times, Independent Review, Anadolu English, Kingsley Chukwuka, El Arabiya English, and Kevin Koehnke
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore hundreds of suspended UCLA science research grants, affecting more than a third of awards totaling $584 million that the government abruptly froze late last month. In her evening order, issued hours after a San Francisco court hearing, U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin said the government’s slashing of UCLA funds violated her June ruling blocking science research grant terminations.The National Science Foundation’s “suspension of the grants at issue here is vacated,” wrote Lin, of the Northern District of California...
#3 Myanmar Junta Is Detaining and Torturing Children as Young as 2, U.N. Report Says - Jennifer Jett for NBC News, Instant News, INFONAUT, World BEYOND War, UN Human Rights Council, and Bay of Bengal Post,
U.N.-backed investigators say they have found significant evidence of “systematic torture” at Myanmar detention centers, where the military government is holding children as young as 2 years old as proxies for their parents. The Southeast Asian nation of about 54 million people has been mired in turmoil since 2021, when democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was overthrown by the military. The coup set off mass protests across the country that were violently suppressed, followed by a nationwide armed resistance movement that has displaced millions of people.
#4 Mexico to Extradite 26 Top Cartel Leaders to Us in Trump Administration Deal - Brie Stimson for Fox News, Quagmire, John Macker, Julio Perez, Verity, and Ed Modzelesky on X
Mexico is handing over 26 top cartel leaders to the United States this week in a deal with the Trump administration. The cartel figures were scheduled to fly to the U.S. on Tuesday. "Today is the latest example of the Trump administration's historic efforts to dismantle cartels and foreign terrorist organizations," Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News Digital. "These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores -- under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country. We are grateful to President Sheinbaum and the Mexican government for their collaboration in this matter."
#5 Trump’s BLS Nominee E.J. Antoni Suggests Suspending Monthly Jobs Report - Aimee Picchi for CBS News, Lisa Latuilippe, AI Mayadeen English, Truth Matters, Bucky, rebben, and jesus barrera on X
President Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics is suggesting that the agency suspend its monthly jobs report, an economic staple that is relied upon by the Federal Reserve and U.S. businesses to gauge the health of the economy. In an interview on Fox News Digital on Monday ahead of his nomination, E.J. Antoni criticized the monthly employment report as flawed and suggested it be replaced with "more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data." Antoni, who is a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, was tapped by Mr. Trump on Monday to run the BLS after the president fired the former commissioner earlier this month, blaming her for a disappointing July jobs report. Mr. Trump took issue with large revisions made to the previous month's jobs data, although job number revisions are commonly issued by the agency as more accurate data is collected over time...
#6 White House Orders Review of Smithsonian Museums and Exhibits to Ensure Alignment With Trump Directive - Betsy Klein for CNN, PCN_CHANNEL, WISH-TV News, Brannan the GHOUL ruined Bay Ridge, Bill Smith/Fox News, CURT RUSSELL ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT, and SkriptkeeperElect on X
The White House is conducting a comprehensive internal review of exhibits and materials at the Smithsonian Institution – the organization that runs the nation’s major public museums – in an effort to comply with President Donald Trump’s directive about what should and shouldn’t be displayed. The initiative, a trio of top Trump aides wrote in a letter to Smithsonian Institution secretary Lonnie Bunch III, “aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
#5 Apple Rejects Musk’s App Store Bias Claims - Liv McMahon & Tom Gerken for BBC, Financial Post, Grok, WSFA 12 News, Daily News, Peter Heylin, and Mr_financialadvisor USA UK on X
X owner Musk has threatened Apple with legal action after claiming it had made it "impossible" for apps to compete with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI in the store. He also called OpenAI boss Sam Altman a "liar" - after Altman claimed Musk used his platform to "benefit himself and his own companies". The row is the latest flashpoint in what is an ongoing feud between the billionaires who co-founded OpenAI - but now fiercely compete after Musk left the firm. Apple announced a partnership with ChatGPT in June 2024 - but there is no suggestion Apple favours one app over the other, and several rival AI apps such as DeepSeek and Perplexity have topped the App Store charts since then. In a statement sent to the BBC, Apple said: "We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria." Hours after Paramount and UFC announced a billion-dollar rights deal, Dana White said he had yet to hear from his friend, President Trump, on his thoughts about the fight company’s new streaming home. That was fine with White. The UFC CEO was set to travel to Washington on Aug. 28 to meet with Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, to catch up and discuss logistics on the proposed Fourth of July fight card next year at the White House. Trump said last month he wanted to stage a UFC match on the White House grounds with upwards of 20,000 spectators to celebrate 250 years of American independence. “It’s absolutely going to happen,” White told The Associated Press. “Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House South Lawn live on CBS.” Less than a week after President Trump said he has ordered a "new" census, the cabinet official who oversees the Census Bureau acknowledged Tuesday that Congress, not the president, has final say over the national head count that's used to reshape election maps and guide federal funding, NPR has exclusively learned. Speaking at a town-hall event for the bureau's employees, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also suggested that when tallying the country's population, the census should differentiate people living in the U.S. without legal status from other residents, according to three Census Bureau employees, who asked NPR not to name them because they fear retaliation... On Aug. 1, The Denver Post exposed the names, locations, voter registrations, and employment of three private citizens who legally obtained public information and sent some to the popular social media account Do Better Denver. On Aug. 7, a Denver Post columnist defended the paper’s decision to dox the three women for sharing public information. “People who claim to be citizen journalists must stand by their work with a byline and endure the negative comments and threats that come with the job,” wrote Denver Post columnist Krista Kafer... Repeat loser Beto O’Rourke is on a roll lately. Over the weekend, he went on a tear about how Democrats are going to win back power, no matter what it takes. He also doesn’t seem very concerned that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is losing patience with his antics. In another clip that’s being shared widely on social media, Beto compares current politics to a basketball game and accuses Republicans of not playing by the rules everyone agreed to, then saying ‘Who cares about the f**king rules right now?’
#6 A UFC Fight at the White House? Dana White Says It’s Happening as Part of Deal With Paramount - Dan Gelston for AP, FOX 5 Atlanta, DerekPinard, Ronen Seliger, CNN Sports, and Central News on X
#7 Trump Official Tells Census Workers Congress Has Final Say Over the Count, Not Trump - Hansi Lo Wang for NPR, SCMcGee Never Give Up On Hope, Subash, Danial L Gruber, 美国华人之声-ForeverMAGA, and AlterNet on X
#8 US Embeds Trackers in AI Chip Shipments to Catch Diversions to China, Sources Say - Reuters, S&P Predator (The), lisasuefanclub, Mani, naashonomics, and Current Affairs Now on X
SINGAPORE/NEW YORK, Aug 13 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have secretly placed location tracking devices in targeted shipments of advanced chips they see as being at high risk of illegal diversion to China, according to two people with direct knowledge of the previously unreported law enforcement tactic. The measures aim to detect AI chips being diverted to destinations which are under U.S. export restrictions, and apply only to select shipments under investigation, the people said...
#9 Denver Post Doxxes Citizens For Sharing Pictures And Public Records About Crime - Joy Pullmann for The Federalist, Jill Osa, Jimmy Sengenberger, Libertarian Party of Colorado, Do Better Denver, and Sarah Sansoni on X
#10 Beto O’Rourke Doubles Down: ‘Who Cares About the F**king Rules Right Now?’ - Mike LaChance for Gateway Pundit, RNC Research, Raw Egg Nationalist, Attorney General Ken Paxton, Sarah Fields/Beto O'Rourke, and Gunther Eagleman on X
And Now for Something Special
King Randall is something special...
