Important Takeaways:
- Over 140,000 Farms Lost in 5 Years
- Between 2017 and 2022, the number of farms in the U.S. declined by 141,733 or 7%, according to USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, released on Feb. 13. Acres operated by farm operations during the same timeframe declined by 20.1 million (2.2%), a loss equivalent to an area about the size of Maine. Only 1.88% of acres operated and 1% of farm operations were classified under a non-family corporate farm structure.
- While the number of farm operations and acres operated declined, the value of agricultural production increased, rising from $389 billion in 2017 to $533 billion in 2022 (40% nominally and 17% adjusted for inflation).
- Between 2017 and 2022 all states but five (Alaska, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey and Rhode Island) lost farms. Texas had the largest numerical loss – nearly 18,000 farm operations – followed by Oklahoma (-8,153) and Missouri (-7,433).
- The challenges faced by farms of all sizes has raised calls for a robust and comprehensive farm bill that could provide support to the operations most at risk and to those providing the lion’s share of the American food supply, helping both to navigate economic uncertainties and regulatory complexities, to undertake innovative and sustainable practices, and to promote the long-term viability of a diverse agricultural landscape across the nation. The Census of Agriculture paints the picture of what we have lost, and of what more could be lost without firm support.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia producing three times more artillery shells than US and Europe for Ukraine
- Russia appears on track to produce nearly three times more artillery munitions than the US and Europe, a key advantage ahead of what is expected to be another Russian offensive in Ukraine later this year.
- Russia is producing about 250,000 artillery munitions per month, or about 3 million a year, according to NATO intelligence estimates of Russian defense production shared with CNN, as well as sources familiar with Western efforts to arm Ukraine. Collectively, the US and Europe have the capacity to generate only about 1.2 million munitions annually to send to Kyiv, a senior European intelligence official told CNN.
- “What we are in now is a production war,” a senior NATO official told CNN. “The outcome in Ukraine depends on how each side is equipped to conduct this war.”
- Officials say Russia is currently firing around 10,000 shells a day, compared to just 2,000 a day from the Ukrainian side. The ratio is worse in some places along the 600-mile front, according to a European intelligence official
- Russia is running artillery factories “24/7” on rotating 12-hour shifts, the NATO official said. About 3.5 million Russians now work in the defense sector, up from somewhere between 2 and 2.5 million before the war. Russia is also importing ammunition: Iran sent at least 300,000 artillery shells last year — “probably more than that,” the official said — and North Korea provided at least 6,700 containers of ammunition carrying millions of shells.
- Russia has “put everything they have in the game,” the intelligence official said. “Their war machine works in full gear.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry, 74, resigns after gangs warned of civil war and ‘genocide’ if he did not step down amid bloody uprising
- Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has resigned, following an emergency summit called to address gang-led violence currently occurring in the country.
- The 74-year-old head of state tendered his resignation Monday, a week after the growing coalition of gangs warned of civil war if he did not step down.
- His resignation was swiftly confirmed by Guyana’s president Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the current chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
- The coalition called the emergency meeting as gangs across the Caribbean country continue to unite, shooting up government buildings and foreign embassies.
- As a result, thousands have had fled their homes, and locals continue to report the overwhelming stench of the dead. Meanwhile, politicians across the region are scrambling for a solution – one that may now be in sight following Henry’s removal.
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Important Takeaways:
- A new US State Department-funded study calls for a temporary ban on the creation of advanced AI passed a certain threshold of computational power.
- The tech, its authors claim, poses an ‘extinction-level threat to the human species.’
- The study, commissioned as part of a $250,000 federal contract, also calls for ‘defining emergency powers’ for the American government’s executive branch ‘to respond to dangerous and fast-moving AI-related incidents’ — like ‘swarm robotics.’
- The study authors, a four-person AI consultancy called firm Gladstone AI run by brothers Jérémie and Edouard Harris, told TIME that their earlier presentations on AI risks frequently were heard by government officials with no authority to act.
- That’s changed with the US State Department, they told the magazine, because it’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation is specifically tasked with curbing the spread of cataclysmic new weapons.
- …advanced AI, they write, ‘could potentially be used to design and even execute catastrophic biological, chemical, or cyber-attacks, or enable unprecedented weaponized applications in swarm robotics.’
- There is, they write, ‘reason to believe that they [weaponized AI] may be uncontrollable if they are developed using current techniques, and could behave adversarial to human beings by default.’
- In other words, the machines may decide for themselves that humanity (or some subset of humanity) is simply an enemy to be eradicated for good.
- Gladstone AI’s CEO, Jérémie Harris, also presented similarly grave scenarios before hearings held by the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology within Canada’s House of Commons last year, on December 5, 2023.
- ‘Publicly and privately, frontier AI labs are telling us to expect AI systems to be capable of carrying out catastrophic malware attacks and supporting bioweapon design, among many other alarming capabilities, in the next few years,’ according to IT World Canada’s coverage of his remarks.
- ‘Our own research,’ he said, ‘suggests this is a reasonable assessment.’
- The PAC, dubbed Americans for AI Safety, launched on this Monday with the stated hope of ‘passing AI safety legislation by the end of 2024.’
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Important Takeaways:
- While we scrimp on defense China prepares for war with everything from a huge nuclear arsenal to a vast, mysterious network of bunkers its population could use to survive an all-out atomic conflict
- Superpower China is running out of steam. As delegates from across the vast country assembled last week for the National People’s Congress [NPC], the Communist Party’s rubber-stamp parliament, Beijing’s economic resurgence is in trouble.
- The global recession triggered by the pandemic has hit China harder than almost anywhere else. World demand for its products, from high-end electronics to cheap plastic ware, has slumped.
- Investors have pulled out as supply chains are ‘de-risked’ to reduce dependence on Chinese imports. And many factories have been caught out by over-production and left with massive stocks that can’t be sold.
- Population decline means Beijing’s astonishingly ambitious national building schemes, with entire cities of skyscrapers springing up where villages once stood, will not now be needed. With millions of new-build homes standing empty, property prices have crashed.
- [but]… a shift to a more insular economy. China has decided, it appears, to pay less lip service to the rest of the world.
- One major source of economic strength continues to thrive, however: China’s military machine. Opening the NPC on Tuesday, Li said defense spending will increase by 7.2 per cent this year. Beijing excels at taking the long-term view and Xi will see two advantages in pouring state wealth into defense
- First, all of that money will be spent in China, creating jobs and improving living standards. Second, China’s international clout will be increased by its burgeoning army, navy and missile arsenals – at a time when most of the West, not least Britain, is scrimping on its defense spending.
- The US cannot match the pace of building in the shipyards of Shanghai, which have already turned out two new aircraft carriers with a third expected to begin sea trials soon.
- The latest vessel, the Fujian, features catapults to launch heavy, fixed-wing aircraft with immense bomb payloads. These shipyards are also building a new type of amphibious assault vessel, and many roll-on, roll-off ferries, which could have a dual purpose – transporting cars in peacetime, and armored assault vehicles in the event of an attack on a neighbor, such as Taiwan.
- While the West has been scaling back its military spending in favor of welfare and healthcare, China has been building artificial islands as naval bases and airfields.
- Most alarming of all is the build-up of nuclear missiles. Throughout the Cold War, though China has been a nuclear power from the mid-1960s, its atomic arsenal was limited.
- That policy has changed. More than 100 nuclear missiles with multiple warheads have already been built and armed, with production expected to exceed 500 by the end of this decade, if not sooner.
- Ultimately, whether the economy is booming or flailing, the 1.4 billion people of China will probably fall in behind their leader for fear of worse.
- For the rest of the world, even an economically stalled China could be that most dangerous of creatures: a wounded dragon in a mood to lash out
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“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.” ~Thomas Jefferson
Important Takeaways:
- Fani Willis Is Probably Guilty of Perjury: Who Will Prosecute the Prosecutors?
- If Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis were prosecuting Citizen Fani Willis and her former boyfriend Nathan Wade for perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, she would have an extremely strong case.
- Based on this and other incriminating evidence, the real issue is not whether this pair should be allowed to continue to prosecute the case against Trump, but instead whether this pair should be investigated, indicted and convicted of serious crimes.
- The presiding judge in the case has no power to commence a criminal investigation or prosecution. But other law enforcement authorities do. If they fail, they will be damaging the rule of law, the integrity of the US legal system and the waning trust that many Americans already have in equal justice.
- Who will guard the guardians? More specifically, who will prosecute the prosecutors? The facts of this case demand criminal investigation.
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Important Takeaways:
- US sends in Marines to evacuate embassy personnel from Haiti amid bloody uprising as stench of decaying corpses drive people from their homes and violence threatens to engulf the Dominican Republic
- The US has deployed Marines to evacuate its embassy in Haiti as local gangs continue to attack state institutions.
- The operation, which occurred early Sunday, serves as the latest sign of Haiti’s societal troubles, as locals in its capital continue to report the overwhelming stench of the dead.
- Violence in the Caribbean country broke out this past week, and has since threatened to bring down the local government.
- Gangs across the country continue to unite, causing thousands to flee their homes.
- Politicians across the region are scrambling for a solution, as dogs have been seen gnawing on the unaddressed dead, and bodies are burned in the streets.
- The neighborhood around the embassy in the capital, Port-au-Prince, has been one of the hardest-hit, hence the recent operation. Its success was revealed in a statement from the US military’s Southern Command later in the day.
- The statement went on to reveal how the European Union’s delegation in Haiti has too temporarily closed its offices, amid the looming threat of the localized gangs.
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Important Takeaways:
- Teen girl is left in critical condition after high school mob beat down in Missouri – as shocking footage shows her head being repeatedly slammed against concrete until she blacks out
- A teenage girl is in critical condition after another teen repeatedly smashed her head into the ground during a brawl near a Missouri high school.
- The fight broke out at about 2:30 pm Friday near Hazelwood High School.
- Video of the incident circulated on social media showing another girl bashing the teen’s head into the concrete after throwing multiple punches and sending her careening to the ground.
- The victim appeared to begin to have a seizure as groups of other teen’s brawled just feet away.
- Police found the girl suffering from a serious head injury…
- The teen, whose name has not been released, was taken to the hospital and remains in critical condition.
- A 15-year-old girl was arrested Saturday and charged with assault. She was taken to the St. Louis County Family Court and remained in custody as of Sunday afternoon.
- The St. Louis County Police Department is investigating the incident.
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Important Takeaways:
- Disinformation is a threat to our trust ecosystem. Experts explain how to curb it
- Today, the proliferation of false content online is pervasive and exacerbates the erosion of global trust in institutions. In fact, only 40% of people say they consistently trust news. As the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024 highlights, disinformation is considered to be the world’s top risk in the next two years, and the fifth global risk in the next ten years.
- Addressing disinformation requires a concerted effort across sectors. Governments, media organizations, tech companies and civil society must collaborate to create a multi-layered defense against the spread of false information. Empowering Internet users with media information literacy, ensuring the independence and viability of news organizations, and leveraging technology to distinguish between credible journalism and disinformation are vital to countering the spread of false information.
- Efforts to combat disinformation are underway. The European Union, for instance, recently adopted the Digital Services Act, which takes aim at harmful content online and includes comprehensive AI regulations, covering areas like transparency, the use of AI in public spaces and high-risk systems.
- Meanwhile, the Forum’s Global Coalition for Digital Safety is actively confronting the challenge of disinformation by exploring the role of media literacy and fostering a whole-of-society approach to countering its proliferation.
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Important Takeaways:
- Moody’s sours on banking sector outlooks for Germany, Britain and France
- The credit rating agency Moody’s said on Thursday that it was downgrading its outlook for the banking sector in a number of European countries as weak economies erode profits.
- It changed the outlook to negative from stable for the banking sectors of Germany, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.
- Rising losses for unpaid loans and higher funding costs will chip away at profits, Moody’s said.
- “A deteriorating operating environment with low economic growth and high borrowing costs will hit credit growth as well as loan performance in the largest European countries, particularly in the corporate sector,” said Moody’s analyst Effie Tsotsani.
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