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Court Ruling on TikTok Opens Door to Platform “Safety” Regulation

A New Hampshire court’s decision to allow most of the state’s lawsuit against TikTok to proceed is now raising fresh concerns for those who see growing legal pressure on platforms as a gateway to government-driven interference.

The case, brought under the pretext of safeguarding children’s mental health, could pave the way for aggressive regulation of platform design and algorithmic structures in the name of safety, with implications for free expression online.

Judge John Kissinger of the Merrimack County Superior Court rejected TikTok’s attempt to dismiss the majority of the claims.

We obtained a copy of the opinion for you here.

While one count involving geographic misrepresentation was removed, the ruling upheld core arguments that focus on the platform’s design and its alleged impact on youth mental health.

The court ruled that TikTok is not entitled to protections under the First Amendment or Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for those claims.

“The State’s claims are based on the App’s alleged defective and dangerous features, not the information contained therein,” Kissinger wrote. “Accordingly, the State’s product liability claim is based on the harm caused by the product: TikTok itself.”

This ruling rests on the idea that TikTok’s recommendation engines, user interface, and behavioral prompts function not as speech but as product features.

As a result, the lawsuit can proceed under a theory of product liability, potentially allowing the government to compel platforms to alter their design choices based on perceived risks.

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World’s Poor in for Hard Time as Pope Leo Backs Green Agenda and Net Zero

On matters of Catholic dogma, the Popes claim to be infallible. But on the science around climate change and the political Net Zero lunacy they frequently talk out of their pontifical posteriors. Who can forget the late Pope Francis’s claim that humans are causing earthquakes, a suggestion that only the whackiest of climate alarmists can utter. Alas, the new Bishop of Rome is also capable of ruminating out of his rear end with Pope Leo XIV recently giving us his ‘world is burning’ sermon. At a recent ‘green’ mass at his summer estate in Castel Gandolfo, he added: “We must pray for the conversion of so many people inside and outside of the church, who still don’t recognise the urgency of caring for our common home.”

As a ‘lapsed’ Catholic, your correspondent has been the beneficiary of many such ‘conversion’ prayers. Fear works well if you are a schoolboy sitting at the feet of Sister Agnes, headmistress of St Anselm’s primary school in Dartford, with the fires of hell promised for missing mass on Sunday and the numerous Holy Days of Obligation. Papal fears of a world burning due to excessive holidays in Benidorm are a bit tame. After all, it has been done to the far limits of stupidity by the UN activist-in-chief Antonio Guterres. Come on Leo, I can’t help thinking, you can do better than that.

Needless to say the new Green Pope is all-in on the fake science of weather attribution. “We see so many natural disasters in the world, nearly every day and in so many countries, that are in part caused by the excesses of being human, with our lifestyle.” One can only pray that the new Pontiff gets around to reading the latest scientific assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, where little or no human involvement is observed in almost all natural weather events, now and forward to 2100. He might care to consider that deaths from natural disasters have plunged by 95% over the last 100 years, while the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has led to a remarkable 15-20% ‘greening’ of the planet.

Wearing green vestments for his special mass in the new ecological education centre at the summer residence, Pope Leo urged the world to recognise what he called the urgency of the climate crisis, and “hear the cry of the  poor”. But the poor are not crying, at least not for the rich Western elite fantasy of Net Zero. Many in the developing world see hydrocarbon use as the key to lifting them out of grinding poverty. They are aware of the enormous increase in staple crops that has occurred over the last 60 years due to the use of hydrocarbon-enabled fertilisers. They can feel the extra food in their bellies – to deprive them of the natural stored energy of the Earth at this stage in their development would, in Sister Agnes’s often spoken words, be wicked.

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Israel and US to forge $200m tech hub for AI and quantum science development

Israel and the US are advancing a strategic initiative to create a joint science center for artificial intelligence and quantum innovation at an investment of $200 million. The center will serve as a hub to promote technology-driven cooperation and diplomacy with Gulf countries in the realms of AI and quantum science and challenge China in the global race for supremacy of next-generation technologies.

The initiative led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman, the director of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), and Dr. Smadar Itzkovich, founder and CEO of AI & Quantum Sovereignty Lab (AIQ-Lab), is expected to be implemented either through a presidential executive order signed by US President Donald Trump or a legislative process.

“This is a strategic initiative that aims to reshape the Middle East through US-Israel scientific and technological collaboration in AI and quantum,” Itzkovich told The Times of Israel. “Israel is a powerhouse for physics and quantum technology, and by using our advantage, we can translate it to unbelievable achievements for economic growth and prosperity and for stability and security to create regional sovereignty in the areas of AI and quantum science.”

As part of the proposed initiative for the science center, each nation will contribute $20 million annually, starting in 2026 and through 2030, to support research and development projects at dual headquarters in Tel Aviv and Arlington, Virginia. The technology collaboration will focus on shared, urgent regional challenges, including cybersecurity, medicine and genetics, and water and food security in arid environments.

The initiative comes at a pivotal point, as concern has been growing that Israel could be missing out on a regional boom of investments into the next wave of technologies. In May, Trump and United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced the joint launch of the largest AI campus outside the US. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia aims to become a global center for AI and reportedly has plans to create a $40 billion fund to invest in AI.

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Disturbing Signs of AI Threatening People Spark Concern

The world’s most advanced AI models are exhibiting troubling new behaviors – lying, scheming, and even threatening their creators to achieve their goals.

In one particularly jarring example, under threat of being unplugged, Anthropic’s latest creation Claude 4 lashed back by blackmailing an engineer and threatened to reveal an extramarital affair.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT-creator OpenAI’s o1 tried to download itself onto external servers and denied it when caught red-handed.

These episodes highlight a sobering reality: more than two years after ChatGPT shook the world, AI researchers still don’t fully understand how their own creations work.

Yet the race to deploy increasingly powerful models continues at breakneck speed.

This deceptive behavior appears linked to the emergence of “reasoning” models – AI systems that work through problems step-by-step rather than generating instant responses.

According to Simon Goldstein, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, these newer models are particularly prone to such troubling outbursts.

“O1 was the first large model where we saw this kind of behavior,” explained Marius Hobbhahn, head of Apollo Research, which specializes in testing major AI systems.

These models sometimes simulate “alignment” – appearing to follow instructions while secretly pursuing different objectives.

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Authorities Share New Details About Paranormal Investigator Found Dead After Touring ‘Possessed’ Annabelle Doll

Authorities in Pennsylvania are offering new details about the paranormal investigator who died suddenly while on tour displaying a supposedly haunted Raggedy Ann doll named Annabelle.

Dan Rivera, 54, a senior lead investigator for the Connecticut-based New England Society for Psychic Research, died on Sunday, July 13, during his visit to Gettysburg as part of the Devils on the Run tour, the Evening Sun earlier reported.

On Wednesday, July 16, the Pennsylvania State Police shared a report detailing what happened to Rivera on Sunday.

“Members from PSP Gettysburg responded to a hotel in Straban Township, Adams County for a report of a deceased [man],” officials said. “The decedent was discovered in his hotel room by workers.”

“Nothing unusual or suspicious was observed at the scene,” the agency added. His cause of death is pending.

Rivera had been with colleagues on Sunday morning but said he feeling sick and was going back to his room, Abrams County Coroner Francis Dutrow confirms to PEOPLE.

It’s unclear what Rivera may have been ill with; further information is pending his autopsy results.

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Karoline Leavitt Says President Trump “Would Not Recommend a Special Prosecutor in the Epstein Case”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday denied reports that President Trump was considering appointing a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. 

This follows a report by John Solomon that President Trump was “on board” with a Special Prosecutor for the Epstein Case after Pam Bondi’s back-and-forth, claiming that she has the files to release, and then not releasing them.

President Trump, however, has defended Bondi repeatedly, even calling Republicans “stupid” and “foolish” for wanting the Epstein files so badly.

“I was surprised, but they got duped,” he said of Republicans who aren’t satisfied with Bondi’s nothingburger of a release and claims that Epstein killed himself.

Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are introducing legislation to release all of the files.

Karoline Leavitt was further asked about President Trump’s reaction to House Speaker Mike Johnson calling for additional Epstein files to be released, but she declined to comment.

“I won’t discuss the President’s private conversations with the Speaker of the House,” Leavitt said.

“the President has said, if the attorney general and the Department of Justice and the FBI have any more credible evidence in regards to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, they should put that forward.”

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Kiev setting stage for chemical disaster – Moscow

The Ukrainian military is trying to provoke a major ecological disaster close to the front line and blame it on Russia, the Defense Ministry in Moscow warned on Thursday.

The accusation came from Maj. Gen. Aleksey Rtishchev, the commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, who briefed the public about alleged Ukrainian violations of an international treaty prohibiting the use of chemical weapons.

Rtishchev disclosed a document obtained by the Russian military, in which the deputy director of Ukrainian state-owned company Ukrkhimtransammiak informed a regional official appointed by Kiev that in late June Ukrainian troops had illegally accessed a site operated by the firm.

The Ukrkhimtransammiak executive stressed his concern that the location could be damaged due to the military’s involvement, potentially causing the release of up to 566 tons of highly toxic liquified ammonia.

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CBS News Hack Claims PTSD, Says Trump Supporters Were About To “Kill” Media After Assassination Attempt

A CBS News reporter has claimed that he has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from the attempt to assassinate President Trump in Butler, Pa. Last year.

Scott MacFarlane says he received a diagnosis in the immediate aftermath of the July 13, 2024 shooting, not because of the act of violence against Trump, but because he believes Trump supporters were about to violently pounce on all the reporters covering the event and murder them.

Yes, he is seriously claiming this.

Speaking to Chuck Todd, another former legacy media propagandist who now “Toddcasts” from his living room, MacFarlane said that had Trump not got to his feet and punched the air, the crowd would have gone feral and started to murder journalists.

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Failing British PM Starmer and His Labour Party Lower the Voting Age to 16 To Try To Perpetuate Themselves in Power

Highly unpopular British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his train-wreck Labour government are moving to lower the voting age by two years to 16 in all UK elections.

This move will probably ensure an avalanche of youth votes to the leftists, thanks to the school system bias.

Reuters reported:

“’They’re old enough to go out to work, they’re old enough to pay taxes’, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told ITV News. ‘If you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on, which way the government should go’.”

This will still require parliamentary approval, but it is expected to pass due to Labour’s large majority.

Starmer’s sinking popularity puts him in second place in the polls behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.

“A poll of 500 16 and 17-year-olds conducted by Merlin Strategy for ITV News showed 33% said they would vote Labour, 20% would vote Reform, 18% would vote Green, 12% Liberal Democrats and 10% Conservative.”

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