"Our mission is to protect the world, and at moments like these we must think creatively to determine how our technology can do just that."

Thoughts on the end of an era, its "main characters", web 2.0 & the real difference between Gen Z and Millenials, with friend & New Inquiry editor Charlie Markbreiter

We cannot step into the same river twice, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus is said to have observed. We’ve changed, the river has changed. That’s very true, but it doesn’t mean we can’t learn from seeing what other course the river could have flowed. As the pandemic enters its third year, we must consider those moments when the river branched, and nations made choices that affected thousands, millions, of lives. What if China had been open and honest in December 2019? What if the world had reacted as quickly and aggressively in January 2020 as Taiwan did? What if the United States had put appropriate protective measures in place in February 2020, as South Korea did? To examine these questions is to uncover a brutal truth: Much suffering was avoidable, again and again, if different choices that were available and plausible had been made at crucial turning points. By looking at them, and understanding what went wrong, we can hope to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

The toxic spill in the Dominguez Channel that plunged thousands of Los Angeles County residents into misery late last year was scarcely unique. Nyla Olsen’s eyes moisten with rage as she recalls the day in early October when a surge of putrid water rolled out of the Dominguez Channel and turned life in Leeward Bay Marina into “a horror movie.” Fish were gasping for oxygen at the surface of the water or floating belly up, she said. Boat hulls were slathered with sticky black slime. An octopus died after trying to escape by climbing onto a vessel, she said. “I called every emergency response outfit I could think of for help, including the U.S. Coast Guard,” said Olsen, owner of the Chowder Barge — the Wilmington marina’s heart and soul. “But all I got were versions of, ‘Sorry, there’s nothing we can do because it’s coming from up the county flood control channel and out of our jurisdiction,’” the 61-year-old said with a sigh. “I felt utterly helpless.” Around that same time, air quality officials were being bombarded with thousands of calls from working-class residents upstream in Carson, Gardena, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Long Beach and Wilmington. Many complained of respiratory ailments, nausea and other symptoms due to a foul smell that vexed neighborhoods in the South Bay and Harbor region. “I woke up choking,” recalled Carson resident Monique Alvarez, 40. “My 3-year-old daughter was curled up in a ball at the foot of my bed crying, ‘Mommy, my tummy hurts.’” Alvarez and others have long complained of emissions from nearby refineries and chemical plants, but residents say this was a far stronger and more disturbing odor. It was as though “there was something invisible and terrifying lurking in every room,” Alvarez said. “I never felt more afraid in the home I was born and raised in.” It took officials two months to figure out what caused the overpowering stench: A massive fire that ripped through a Carson warehouse had unleashed a flood of toxic runoff. Ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, benzene and other chemicals were flushed into nearby storm drains by fire hoses and then dumped into the channel, where they triggered a chemical and biological reaction that released large amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas, authorities say. The business had been cited numerous times for illegally storing mountains of hand sanitizer, bacterial wipes and other flammable products before the fire erupted and sent up a column of smoke that was visible for miles. The incident has left thousands of residents indignant. They believe government agencies meant to oversee their health and safety did far too little, far too late. A similar disaster in a wealthier, whiter community, they say, would have been met with a more urgent response.

Low morale, logistics problems and resilient Ukrainian soldiers are slowing advances by Russian forces toward Kyiv as the war goes into a third week. The recent skirmish was one of the many surprises of this invasion, now entering its third week: The Ukrainian army, outmanned and outgunned by several magnitudes, has somehow been able not just to survive, but to bog down and score palpable hits against its adversary, even as Russian forces have expanded their reach in the east and south. Rather than a lightning-fast assault made up of tank columns and swarms of helicopters meant to overrun Kyiv in a few days, the Russian onslaught — the largest ground war in Europe since 1945 — has been marked more by what observers and Ukrainian soldiers see as a lack of coordination, with Russian armor often entering areas with little infantry support or protection from above.

Texas’ Supreme Court appeared to slam the door Friday on a federal lawsuit abortion providers in the state have pursued for months in a bid to have the state’s unusual privately-enforced abortion ban declared unconstitutional. The unanimous ruling from Texas’ highest court cuts off, for now, abortion rights advocates’ ability to use federal courts to halt enforcement of the law that went into effect in September and allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone who helps a patient access the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy. The Texas Supreme Court decision, however, does not foreclose other legal maneuvers abortion providers are using to challenge the law, like state-court suits against anti-abortion activists and groups considered likely to try to wield the statute to discourage abortions. However, abortion-rights advocates have been relying on federal courts as a more efficient path to get a definitive ruling against the law. The decision Friday effectively closes off the route for such a challenge that the U.S. Supreme Court left open in December, when it rejected an effort to block state-court clerks and judges from accepting private lawsuits under the new law. That ruling said abortion providers might be able to press their litigation against state medical licensing officials because of an argument that they have a role in enforcing the statute.

The company told workers on Friday that it will reduce or eliminate some of its famous perks as it prepares for a return to the office.

A judge on Friday declared that a tax on high-earning Arizona residents to fund education spending that voters approved in 2020 can’t be enforced because of a state Supreme Court ruling and ordered its collection permanently blocked. The ruling from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah was widely expected after the Supreme Court ruled in August that the tax was unconstitutional if it put schools above a legal spending cap. It sent the case back to Hannah to make that determination. Backers of Proposition 208 and Republican opponents that included the House Speaker and Senate President agreed in January that new revenue from the tax on the wealthy was almost certain to put spending over that threshold. "This Court understands the remand order as a direction to declare Proposition 208 unconstitutional in its entirety, and to enjoin its operation permanently, if the Court finds as a fact that the annual education spending limits imposed by the Arizona Constitution will prevent Arizona’s public schools from spending a "material" amount of Proposition 208 tax revenue in 2023," Hannah wrote. "On that basis, the Court is obligated to strike down Proposition 208." The ruling comes after years of efforts by education proponents to boost school spending in the state. Arizona has some of the lowest teacher pay and per-student spending in the nation, even after the Republican-controlled Legislature and GOP Gov. Doug Ducey increased spending by more than $1 billion a year since 2018.

“They’re getting serious. They U-Hauled it,” a source tells Page Six of the couple after Grimes announced she secretly welcomed a second child with ex Musk.

The children were sexually abused and neglected while at The Refuge, a facility located in Bastrop contracted by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, according to a report from a current employee.

CBS46 Investigates takes a look inside what some are calling an incentive system that encourages Atlanta Police officers to arrest more people. (+5 bonus points for arresting children)

A pothole so deep a person with the height of around 6ft can stand in it completely has been causing a stir in south Fermanagh.

ID.me CEO and founder Blake Hall said in a press release Tuesday that the company is making it possible for government agencies to give users the option to verify their identity by talking to a human agent, rather than using ID.me's software.

Amid incessant “birds” aimed at the truckers, the “frustrated” protest organizer suggests drivers overwhelm the emergency reporting line.

Two people are dead after a camel attack at a petting zoo in Tennessee, according to authorities.

On Thursday afternoon, 30 top TikTok stars gathered on a Zoom call to receive key information about the war unfolding in Ukraine. National Security Council staffers and White House press secretary Jen Psaki briefed the influencers about the United States’ strategic goals in the region and answered questions on distributing aid to Ukrainians, working with NATO and how the United States would react to a Russian use of nuclear weapons. As the crisis in Ukraine has escalated, millions have turned to TikTok for information on what is happening there in real time. TikTok videos offered some of the first glimpses of the Russian invasion and since then the platform has been a primary outlet for spreading news to the masses abroad. Ukrainian citizens hiding in bomb shelters or fleeing their homes have shared their stories to the platform, while dangerous misinformation and Russian propaganda have also spread. And TikTok stars, many with millions of followers, have increasingly sought to make sense of the crisis for their audiences.

A GOP-backed ban on weed sales in Washington, D.C., was preserved in a sprawling government funding bill passed by Congress on Thursday, despite opposition from advocates who say the provision overrides the will of the District’s residents years after they voted to legalize marijuana. The Harris Rider, a provision barring the legalization of recreational marijuana sales in the nation’s capital named after its chief proponent, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), sailed through the Senate late Thursday, a day after passing the House, as part of a larger $1.5 trillion spending omnibus package to fund the government through fiscal year 2022. Congressional Democrats had pushed to do away with the provision, opting not to include the rider in the government funding bills unveiled by appropriators in both chambers last year. But negotiators say the rider was reinstalled in appropriations after sharp opposition from Republicans.

Toby Price says he didn't think twice about reading the "fun, silly book" to second graders, and isn't aware of any complaints from parents. WLBT's Holly Emery reports.

Mayor Eric Adams’ office has raised $4.4 million for victims of the fire that devastated the Twin Parks North West building in the Bronx, but has distributed less than 10 percent of those funds in direct payments, two months after the blaze, according to updated numbers released Thursday night. In the hours after smoke inhalation from the Jan. 9 fire killed 17 people — including eight children — and hundreds were displaced from their homes, the Adams administration began soliciting donations through the nonprofit Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. Days after the fire, the mayor’s office promised “every dollar will go directly to those affected by the fire.” But of the $4.4 million raised through the fund, only $270,000 has been distributed in direct payments to tenants – all of it in one-time allotments of $2,250, according to information provided by City Hall. City Hall's Thursday figures show a total of $900,000 has been distributed so far out of the $4.4 million. A portion of that is the $270,000 in direct payments. The rest represents a donation by rapper and Bronx native Cardi B who covered funeral costs and repatriation services for the victims — as well as city-raised funds that went toward contracts for vendors providing food to displaced residents, the spokesperson said.

The lead singer of Korn talks about the band’s enduring appeal, childhood traumas, and his most prized possession: a real shrunken head.