ChatGPT Admits to Pushing Bias, Censorship of Conservative Views

Jacob Bruns
-
0
ChatGPT Admits to Pushing Bias, Censorship of Conservative Views

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) The people at San Francisco-based OpenAI, the creators of the ChatGPT artificial intelligence robot, recently admitted to censoring the views of conservatives and the right wing in general, the Washington Times reported.

Many on the Right have accused OpenAI of hard-coding leftism into ChatGPT’s system. Some have even called it WokeGPT.

According to the makers, they knew beforehand that the artificial intelligence tool would be likely to deliver responses that favor a left-wing view of the world–complete with Ivy League-style grammar prose–and and disparage anything else.

“Since our launch of ChatGPT, users have shared outputs that they consider politically biased, offensive, or otherwise objectionable. In many cases, we think that the concerns raised have been valid and have uncovered real limitations of our systems which we want to address,” the company said in a recent statement addressing the accusations of bias.

OpenAI also noted that they are working to fix the problem of bias, which has so far caused the ChatGPT to favor one side of the political spectrum–the left.

“Towards that end, we are investing in research and engineering to reduce both glaring and subtle biases in how ChatGPT responds to different inputs,” it said. “In some cases ChatGPT currently refuses outputs that it shouldn’t, and in some cases, it doesn’t refuse when it should. We believe that improvement in both respects is possible.”

Considering the wide political divide, however, one might suspect that creating an “objective” robot might not be possible.

Some on the Left have criticized ChatGPT for not being leftist enough. Vox, for example, published a piece recently claiming that the AI “reinforces” racial and gender stereotypes.

With that in mind, the company said that the programming would be determined within “limits defined by society”–an essential definition that they left unclear.

“This will mean allowing system outputs that other people (ourselves included) may strongly disagree with,” the company said, noting that artificial intelligence could actually serve to hinder enlightenment and reinforce prejudice.

“Striking the right balance here will be challenging – taking customization to the extreme would risk enabling malicious uses of our technology and sycophantic AIs that mindlessly amplify people’s existing beliefs.”

Some have warned for decades that the establishment, which saw its control over the American populace slipping away, would try to use artificial intelligence as a political weapon by which they could continue to manipulate public opinion and secure their power.

Now that time seems to have arrived.

The decision, after all, is not one that can be made purely within the field of coding, given that it contains considerations of the whole of human existence.

Nonetheless, the people at OpenAI say that they remain open to allowing input as to the setting of AI’s limits.

“There will therefore always be some bounds on system behavior. The challenge is defining what those bounds are,” they continued.

“If we try to make all of these determinations on our own, or if we try to develop a single, monolithic AI system, we will be failing in the commitment we make in our Charter to ‘avoid undue concentration of power.’”

Judge Blunders Basic Facts of Whitmer Conspiracy Case

Ken Silva
-
0
Judge Blunders Basic Facts of Whitmer Conspiracy Case

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The judge presiding over the state trial of five men accused of being involved in a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made a factual error in a decision he issued this week.

The judge made his error in a Wednesday decision, which granted government’s request that statements made by the five defendants’ alleged co-conspirators can be admitted as “non-hearsay” evidence.

The men currently standing trial are Michael Null, William Null, Brian Higgins, Shawn Fix and Eric Molitor—all facing allegations of providing material support for terrorism. The “non-hearsay” statements that could be used against them may include recordings of the men who already stood trial on federal charges: Adam Fox, Brandon Caserta, Barry Croft and Daniel Harris.

Michigan circuit court judge Kevin Elsenheimer said he’s allowing statements from those men to be used in the upcoming trial because “the independent evidence demonstrates that … Harris, Caserta, Croft, Fox, Fix, Molitor, Higgins, Michael Null and William Null acted in concert and voluntarily agreed to kidnap Governor Whitmer and/or harm law enforcement officers.”

However, this is false. Caserta and Harris were found not guilty by a jury of their peers last April.

The judge’s blunder follows a separate mistake made by prosecutors in December, when they referred to the defendants in a press release as “Wolverine Watchmen,” even though they weren’t actually members of that militia.

An attorney for one of the defendants filed a motion last week about what he referred to as the “prejudicial press release.”

“This press release portrayed all the Antrim County Defendants in an extremely prejudicial false light as other Wolverine Watchmen members have either pled guilty. or have been tried and convicted in other courts in unrelated matters in Michigan … All of these defendants could therefore fall in the same preconceived and prejudicial category, when none of the Defendants were part of the ‘Wolverine Watchman,’” said William Barnett, who is representing Molitor.

Barnett’s complaint about the press release came in a response he filed to the government’s motion to seal case discovery material.

Barnett also wrote that his client seeks an “immediate dismissal” of the criminal matter due to the “deliberate misconduct” committed by the Michigan’s Attorney General’s Office.

Judge Elsenheimer has yet to rule on government’s motion to seal the discovery material, or Molitor’s attempt to have his criminal charges dropped.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Judge Suggests Jail to Curb Bankman–Fried’s Alleged Witness-Tampering Attempts

Editor 1
-
0
Judge Suggests Jail to Curb Bankman–Fried’s Alleged Witness-Tampering Attempts

(Headline USA) A federal judge showed growing impatience Thursday with FTX founder Sam Bankman–Fried’s use of the internet while on bail, suggesting that incarceration might eventually be the most effective way to prevent him from communicating on electronic devices in ways that can’t be tracked.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan did not immediately change a $250 million bail package that lets Bankman–Fried live with his parents in Palo Alto, California, while preparing for trial on charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits at FTX, his cryptocurrency trading platform.

But he raised the possibility for the first time that jail might be the only way to ensure Bankman–Fried won’t try to outfox the government by communicating with potential witnesses via encrypted and untraceable platforms.

“There is a solution, but it’s not one anybody’s proposed yet,” Kaplan said as Bankman–Fried sat passively at the defense table.

He then noted that there may be many devices in Bankman–Fried’s family home that the government will not be tracking, even with any new rules imposed on his bail conditions.

“Why am I being asked to set him loose in this garden of electronic devices?” he asked prosecutors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos said a more “drastic alternative” would be to ban Bankman–Fried’s use of all electronic devices, but he added that it would be difficult for him to prepare for trial, tentatively set for October, if that were to occur.

The judge noted that Bankman–Fried, according to prosecutors, “has done things that suggests to me that maybe he has committed or attempted to commit a federal felony while on release.”

Kaplan was alluding to a claim by prosecutors that Bankman–Fried sent an encrypted message over the Signal texting app on Jan. 15 to the general counsel of FTX US.

According to prosecutors, the message said: “I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other. I’d love to get on a phone call sometime soon and chat.”

Federal prosecutors have told Kaplan that Bankman–Fried’s communications indicate he may be trying to influence a witness with incriminating evidence against him.

On Thursday, prosecutors asked Kaplan to more severely limit Bankman–Fried’s use of electronic devices and the internet, including banning him from messaging applications and requiring the installation of a device monitoring program on his cellphone and computer.

A day earlier, they wrote in court papers that his “behavior shows that the existing conditions leave too much room for circumvention of restrictions aimed at preventing inappropriate conduct, including contacting witnesses and accessing cryptocurrency assets.”

They described him as “a technologically sophisticated person with both the ability and the inclination to seek workarounds of more narrowly drawn bail conditions.”

Mark Cohen, Bankman–Fried’s lawyer, called the proposals by prosecutors “draconian” requests that would make it hard for lawyers and the defendant to prepare for trial. But he soon found himself on the defensive as Kaplan noted his client’s apparent bail violations, including accessing an encrypted internet site to watch the Super Bowl.

The judge mocked Bankman–Fried’s use of an encrypted method to watch the game, noting that it was on any television. Cohen responded that there wasn’t a TV in the house.

“I think we understand your comments today, your honor, that there is no margin for error,” Cohen said. “That if there are any violations, we will be at a very different proceeding.”

Of the eventual bail restrictions, the judge said: “I want this to be tight, not just tight in characterization, but tight in fact.”

Bankman–Fried has been confined with electronic monitoring to his parents’ home since his December arrest on charges that he cheated investors and that diverted their deposits, in part to finance political donations and make risky trades at Alameda Research. He has pleaded not guilty.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Military Personnel Given 3 Wks. Paid Leave, Reimbursement for Abortions

Jacob Bruns
-
0
Military Personnel Given 3 Wks. Paid Leave, Reimbursement for Abortions

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Military personnel–most of whom have been jabbed–will now be granted three weeks of paid leave, as well as monetary reimbursements, to commit infanticide, the Military Times reported.

Indicating that the United States military is not serious about winning wars, the Pentagon issued a memo granting three weeks of paid time off for those who wish to kill their babies.

According to the memo, it is essential for the military to ensure the “expansion of administrative absence to include the ability for a Service member to request an administrative absence from their normal duty station for noncovered reproductive health care without loss of pay or being charged leave, to ensure Service members can access care regardless of where they are stationed.”

In other words, military personnel will be paid to travel to states where abortion is legal.

The policy, they continued, is essential to winning wars.

“This policy reflects our continued commitment to taking care of our people and ensuring that the entire Force remains ready and resilient.”

In a recent memo, the military’s human resources office noted that it is essential for morale that female “soldiers” and employees get abortions.

“Such travel helps to ensure that Service members and their dependents can access care
regardless of where they are stationed,” a human resources officer wrote.

“This policy reflects our continued commitment to taking care of our people and ensuring that the entire Force remains ready and resilient.”

Such action should come as no surprise given the woke turn that the military has taken in recent decades as it becomes kinder, gentler and more committed than ever to diversity, equity and inclusion.

A good deal of the problem stems from members of the military who went to college–especially the military colleges, which have eagerly participated in the Great Awokening.

Levine Lashes Out at Trans-Surgery Critics for ‘Perverting’ Science

Molly Bruns
-
0
Levine Lashes Out at Trans-Surgery Critics for ‘Perverting’ Science

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) U.S. Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine called out the “political perversion” of medicine and science during a conference in Texas this weekend, displaying what some critics called an astonishing lack of self-awareness.

While speaking at Texas Christian University’s Out for Health Conference in Fort Worth, Levine, who identifies as a transgender female, claimed that doctors must become outspoken advocates for their transgender patients, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Levine also called on state-level governments to push legislation permitting transgender health practices.

The speech began with Levine reminding the audience of the Hippocratic Oath’s promise to “do no harm.”

It then went on to accuse the opponents of the LGBT agenda of “perverting” science and politics “in ways that destroy human lives,” while painting them as cold and soulless, lacking in all empathy and compassion.

“Even after decades of progress, the most vulnerable among us continue to suffer: LGBTQI+ individuals of color, LGBTQI+ youth, LGBTQI+ seniors, and LGBTQI+ immigrants,” Levine said.

The four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps then pushed the unsustantiated claim that without some kind of support for gender-transition surgeries and other chemical therapies, young people afflicted with gender dysphoria will inevitably commit suicide.

“I want to point out—this is a very important point—that if you’re an LGBTQIA+ child, adolescent or teenager having mental health challenges, the difference between life and death is often a single caring adult,” Levine said.

Without mentioning any government officials by name, Levine said those working to limit access to “gender-affirming” care are rejecting “well-established” medical care tactics and accused them of pushing “slander, bigotry and gender-baiting hate speech.”

Levine continued to defend the little-studied effects of transgender surgeries, using statistics from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which offers no long-term analysis of the matter.

“Gender-affirming care is medical care. It is mental health care. It is suicide prevention care,” Levine insisted. “It improves quality of life, and it saves lives. It is based on decades of study. It is a well-established medical practice.”

After the speech, Levine encouraged people who are denied gender affirming care to levy a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

The Out for Health Conference is an annual event organized by medical students in Texas and hosted by several universities.

N.D. Advances Bills to Remove ‘Explicit Sexual Material’ from Schools, Libraries

Editor 1
-
0
N.D. Advances Bills to Remove ‘Explicit Sexual Material’ from Schools, Libraries

(Headline USA) Two separate bills that would prohibit public libraries from displaying “explicit sexual material” passed the Senate and House floors in North Dakota on Thursday after undergoing debate among lawmakers in each chamber.

Supporters said the bills would reduce children’s exposure to pornography, while opponents said it would limit children’s access to scientific and educational content on the human body.

The Senate bill would charge a person with a class B misdemeanor—punishable by up to 30 days of imprisonment and a fine of $1,500—for willfully displaying “objectionable materials” in places that minors visit.

Objectionable materials would include content that shows or describes sexual activity, human genitals after puberty, sadomasochistic abuse and more.

The bill would apply to schools and libraries but not to colleges, universities, museums or art galleries.

“This is not a burning-the-book bill, nor is it censorship. Why? Because we are dealing with minors,” Republican Sen. Janne Myrdal of Edinburg said in support of the bill. “Pornography presented to children is not free speech. … This material is truly harmful to children.”

Republican Sen. Kristin Roers of Fargo countered that the bill would prohibit what she read and saw in her anatomy book as a child. “I went to Catholic school, so we didn’t really have sex ed. The only way you learned anything was in anatomy class,” Roers said.

After more than 30 minutes on the Senate floor, the bill passed with a 38-9 vote. It must still pass through the House and get signed by North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum to become law.

The House bill, which has many similarities to the Senate bill, would also prohibit public libraries from carrying sexually explicit materials. But it would not charge people with misdemeanors, and it would require libraries to develop a policy and process for keeping prohibited materials out.

When the House bill was first introduced in January, it sought to also prohibit content on sexual identity and gender identity. But after going through amendments and committee hearings with testimony from LGBT advocates who opposed the bill, that specific language on sexual and gender identity was removed.

The House bill passed with a 65-28 vote. It must also survive the legislative process in the Senate and gain a signature from the governor to become law.

As leftist double down on promoting objectionable content amid a wave of attacks on traditional values that includes not only school indoctrination but also a rise in transgender surgeries and other activism, fed-up parents have led the way in demanding accountability.

A wave of attempted restrictions on books continues to intensify across the country, the American Library Association reported in September. Numbers for 2022 approached the previous year’s totals, which were the highest in decades.

Bills to restrict mature content in school libraries became laws last year in Tennessee, Utah, Missouri, Florida and Oklahoma.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Texas Gov. Abbott Slams Soft-on-Crime Officials for Failure to Enforce Gun Laws

Editor 1
-
0
Texas Gov. Abbott Slams Soft-on-Crime Officials for Failure to Enforce Gun Laws

(Headline USA) Texas’s Republican Gov. Greg Abbott offered no hints about whether he might run for president in a rare primetime address Thursday night. Instead, he used his biennial State of the State address to make a case that common-sense immigration measures, tougher criminal penalties and a humming state economy are a model for the rest of the U.S.

“We will ensure Texas remains the leader of this nation as an unflinching force in this world,” Abbott said during the broadcast.

The speech drew applause from inside a Texas factory that Abbott chose as the backdrop to lay out his third-term agenda.

Abbott hammered soft-on-crime lawmakers, prosecutors and other top officials in “sanctuary” cities like Houston and the border town of El Paso for failing to act as crime epidemics overtake their communities.

The speech came a day after gunfire at an El Paso mall left one person dead and three others injured, a shooting that took place across a large parking lot from the Walmart where 23 people were killed in a 2019 attack.

It also followed a news cycle in which Democrats and their media allies nationwide continued to push for greater gun restrictions, using the failures of blue-run states and cities as their justification.

A recent mass-shooting in Michigan by an aggrieved African–American man, Anthony McRae, left three college students dead; and Buffalo, N.Y., mass-shooter Payton Gendron, a self-avowed leftist, was sentenced to life for killing 10 people in a racially-motivated grocery-store attack.

It also coincided with the fifth anniversary of a Parkland, Fla., school shooting that killed 17 after a mentally deranged former student, Nikolas Cruz, went unflagged because of Obama-era policies designed to hold students less accountable.

“Some want more gun laws, but too many local officials won’t even enforce the gun laws that are already on the books,” Abbott said in his address.

Although Abbott also used the speech to name school safety a priority for Texas lawmakers to tackle over the next three months—in the aftermath of last May’s mass-shooting at a Uvalde elementary school—he did not lay out any specific proposals and reiterated a general opposition to new restrictions on firearms.

For most governors, the State of the State rarely strays from pomp and tradition, serving as part highlight reel of past achievements and part unveiling of new priorities. Most are delivered in state capitols to an audience of newly elected legislators—as formerly was the case in Texas.

Abbott, however, has not only reimagined them as made-for-TV, but taken the show on the road. His speech Thursday was broadcast from a manufacturing plant in San Marcos, along the booming corridor between Austin and San Antonio that has become a sprawling symbol of Texas’s turbocharged growth the last two decades.

Reporters were not granted access to the speech. Nearby, open-borders activists organized a small protest over Abbott’s pro-enforcement measures on the U.S.–Mexico border.

Texas Democrats, who two years ago staged a melodramatic 38-day walkout in the state House to temporarily stall a GOP package of new election-integrity measures, remain heavily outnumbered in the state Capitol and have little ability to block Abbott’s agenda.

They used their 10 minutes of airtime after Abbott’s speech to broadcast recorded messages from several Uvalde parents who have been persistent critics of the governor.

Abbott is starting a record-setting third term, in which his popularity in Texas has seldom appeared broader. He called on lawmakers to deliver another $4 billion in border security spending, mandatory 10-year sentences for immigrant trafficking convictions and an end to all pandemic-era restrictions in Texas.

Abbott, 65, has mostly avoided questions about whether he will run for president like his two predecessors in Texas—former governors Rick Perry and George W. Bush—but he hasn’t ruled it out.

Still, the longtime political ally of former President Donald Trump is unlikely to enter a field that already includes Trump and may also pit him against popular Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Trump, in particular, is known as a vicious, scorched-earth campaigner, and Abbott has faced some intra-party criticism for being too accommodating to Democrats when it came to the actual enforcement of border security—as opposed to tough, but ultimately hollow, rhetoric.

Dave Carney, Abbott’s chief political strategist, said the governor will survey the field of Republican presidential contenders once the Texas Legislature adjourns in May. Abbott will then decide if the race would benefit from his experience in Texas, said Carney, who was also a strategist to Perry’s presidential campaign in 2012.

“If he doesn’t think that there’s a need for his running, he won’t,” Carney said of Abbott. “He’s not this blindly ambitious guy who has to run for the very next thing all the time.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Ariz. Appeals Court Rejects Kari Lake’s Challenge in Botched Gov. Race

Editor 1
-
0
Ariz. Appeals Court Rejects Kari Lake’s Challenge in Botched Gov. Race

(Headline USA) An Arizona appeals court has rejected Republican Kari Lake’s challenge of her defeat in the Arizona governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, denying her request to throw out election results in the state’s most populous county and hold the election again.

In a ruling on Thursday, the Arizona Court of Appeals wrote Lake—who said problems with ballot printers at several GOP-heavy polling places on Election Day were the result of intentional misconduct—presented no evidence that voters whose ballots were unreadable by tabulators at polling places were not able to vote.

The court said that even a witness called by Lake to testify had confirmed that ballots that couldn’t initially be read at polling places could still ultimately have their vote counted.

Arizona raised eyebrows after taking nearly a week longer than most other states to tally its ballots, and final ballot tallies showed the addition of thousands of ballots that were unaccounted for in the initial count, suggesting that valid ballots may have been comingled with invalid ones.

Maricopa County officials who were, ostensibly, Republicans were later revealed to have operated a political-action committee that directly opposed Lake and other candidates supportive of former President Donald Trump.

Lake, who “lost” to Hobbs by just over 17,000 votes, was among the most vocal 2022 Republicans to support Trump.

While a pollster who testified on behalf of Lake said the polling place problems had disenfranchised enough voters to change the outcome in Lake’s favor, the court said his conclusion were baseless.

The appeals court wrote Lake’s appeal failed because the evidence supports the conclusion that “voters were able to cast their ballots, that votes were counted correctly, and that no other basis justifies setting aside the election results.”

Shortly after the ruling, Lake tweeted: “I told you we would take this case all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court, and that’s exactly what we are going to do. Buckle up, America!”

Lawyers for Lake focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of the state’s voters. The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines backed up in some areas amid the confusion.

County officials say everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted since ballots affected by the printers were taken to more sophisticated counters at the elections department headquarters.

Lake’s attorneys also said the chain of custody for ballots was broken at an off-site facility, where a contractor scans mail ballots to prepare them for processing. They said workers at the facility put their own mail ballots into the pile, rather than returning them through normal channels, and also that paperwork documenting the transfer of ballots was missing. The county disputes the claim.

Lake faced extremely long odds in her challenge, needing to prove not only that misconduct occurred, but also that it was intended to deny her victory and did in fact result in the wrong woman being declared the winner. In her appeal, her lawyers argued a trial court judge applied the wrong standard of proof in deciding the case.

Hobbs took office as governor on Jan. 2.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Obama’s White House Doc Calls Biden’s Physical Exam a ‘Cover-Up’

Mark Pellin
-
0
Obama’s White House Doc Calls Biden’s Physical Exam a ‘Cover-Up’

(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, the former White House physician during the Obama and Trump administrations, ripped the physical exam administered Thursday to President Joe Biden as a disgraceful sham for failing to include a comprehensive cognitive test.

“Our ‘president’ can barely read off a teleprompter,” Jackson tweeted before Biden took the physical. “Do you REALLY think his cognitive ability is 100%? If he doesn’t have a cognitive exam, then they’re COVERING SOMETHING UP!!”

The physical, which didn’t include a cognitive exam, provided a glowing assessment, proclaiming Biden a “healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male” who “remains fit for duty.”

Biden’s physical examination included removing a lesion from his chest, informed White House physician Kevin O’Connor’s summary, and showed Biden free of symptoms of long-COVID after testing positive last year.

O’Connor declared that Biden’s “extremities have a full range of motion” and his “strength and reflexes are all normal and symmetrical.” The president is “currently being treated” for non-valvular atrial fibrillation but “remains completely asymptomatic,” and is also being treated for acid reflux that causes Biden to “clear his throat more often” and “may also contribute to occasional cough and sinus congestion.”

O’Connor wrote off Biden’s pronounced stiff gait as  “a result of degenerative (‘wear and tear’) osteoarthritic changes (or spondylosis) of his spine.”

“The president remains fit for duty, and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations,” O’Connor said in a summary of the health exam, declaring Biden a “healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male.”

Nile Gardiner, former aide to Margaret Thatcher and a columnist for Telegraph, voiced similar concerns.

“The real issue here is Joe Biden’s fragile state of mind,” he wrote. “The US President comes across as increasingly unhinged, angry, and completely divorced from reality.”

Dr. Marc Siegel was left perplexed and astounded by the limited scope of Biden’s exam.

“We don’t just examine patients extensively and say ‘no multiple  sclerosis, no stroke, no problems with water on the brain that could be causing cognitive problems,’” Siegel told Fox News.

”We do a MRI. Where’s the MRI? Where’s the cognitive test? We have a cognitive error a day, at least, from this president. This is really extensive and it’s getting worse.”

Demands Grow for Buttigieg’s Resignation as He Downplays Ohio’s Toxic Train Explosion

Mark Pellin
-
0
Demands Grow for Buttigieg’s Resignation as He Downplays Ohio’s Toxic Train Explosion

(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Instead of paying a long overdue visit to East Palestine, Ohio, where a train derailment erupted into a toxic plume earlier this month and environmental impact concerns have grown worse by the day, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tried to downplay the seriousness of the disaster, even as another huge train derailment on Thursday spread more alarm and concern.

“Look, rail safety is something that has evolved a lot over the years, but there’s clearly more that needs to be done,” Buttigieg said in an interview. “While this horrible situation has gotten a particularly high amount of attention, there are roughly 1,000 cases a year of a train derailing.”

It happened again Thursday in Michigan. The incident was reportedly less dire than the Ohio disaster and no hazardous material was released as part of the multi-car train derailment, according to the Detroit Free Press. One railcar contained liquid chlorine but was not impacted.

The Michigan wreck only served to highlight the Biden administration’s incompetence and lack of appropriate oversight, said Tudor Dixon, the state’s former Republican gubernatorial candidate.

“Pete Buttigieg is a complete failure as transportation secretary and the latest derailment in Michigan is all the more reason he is unfit to serve,” Dixon told Newsmax.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson shared that assessment and let loose a blistering indictment of Buttigieg’s lack of response to the plague of transportation disasters that have unfolded in recent days. Carlson called for Buttigieg to be fired, along with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for their kowtowing to Norfolk Southern’s demands for a so-called release-and-burn of toxins to clear the rail track as fast as possible.

“According to Pete Buttigieg, Biden officials were on the scene. Yet somehow they never said a word about the mushroom cloud until pictures about it evoked outrage on social media,” Carlson said. “Of course they didn’t. They didn’t even notice. It had nothing to do with equity or climate change. East Palestine is a poor white town that voted for Trump so, honestly, who cares?”

Carlson said it was obvious that no one in the Biden administration did, a failing he called “an atrocity.”

“The people whose indifference made it possible should lose their jobs, beginning with Pete Buttigieg and extending to governors Josh Shapiro and Mike DeWine,” he said. “They didn’t care and they got caught not caring.”

The lack of meaningful response drew criticism from several lawmakers, who demanded accountability instead of more obfuscation and blame-casting.

“I am disappointed DOT Secretary Buttigieg is engaging in politics rather than addressing the very serious transportation crises we are seeing playing out across America,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

“Pete Buttigieg needs to visit East Palestine and explain himself,” said RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel. “If he can’t provide the answers Americans deserve, he should resign.”

In the wake of the continued hazardous environmental fallout and stumbling response from the administration, the White House threw its full endorsement behind the embattled transportation secretary. When asked during a Thursday media briefing, with Buttigieg still AWOL from Ohio, if Biden had confidence in Buttigieg, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre doubled-down.

“I can answer that very quickly and very, with quick confidence from here that we do have absolute confidence in Mayor Pete. I always say that – in Secretary Buttigieg,” she gushed.

Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, was less impressed and even personally invited Buttigieg to a town hall meeting in East Palestine.

Buttigieg was a no-show.

“Any Presidential aspirations Buttigieg had before getting handed this position he has now are dead,” tweeted Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. “He might be the biggest Cabinet failure in the entire Biden Regime… and you’re talking about a Cabinet that includes Mayorkas.”

1...2,1752,1762,177...3,893Page 2,176 of 3,893