'NIH research led to the Pandemic': RFK Jr. stuns Senate Comm over Covid surge
Democrats in the U.S. Senate slammed Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for cutting biomedical research and public health programs at the committee hearing. Chairman Cassidy sought assurances that NIH would continue to study Long Covid. Kennedy responded that his own son is struggling with Long Covid and said: 'The [Long] Covid office was cut by an executive order from the White House. But … everybody at NIH and CDC is committed to these kinds of studies, and I can tell you personally, I will make sure that they happen.'
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NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
"Biden Is A Clone": Inside Trump's New Conspiracy Theory On Predecessor
Washington: US President Trump recently shared another conspiracy theory on social media, saying his predecessor, Joe Biden, was "executed in 2020" and replaced by a robotic clone. The outlandish claim is the latest example of the Republican leader amplifying false material to his millions of followers on social media, and comes days after he claimed white South African farmers were victims of mass killings. The American President reposted a fringe rant from another user on his social media platform, Truth Social, that read, "There is no #JoeBiden-executed in 2020. #Biden clones, doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see. >#Democrats don't know the difference." Trump's remark came days after Biden admitted he was diagnosed with an 'aggressive form" of prostate cancer. So far, the White House has not commented on the President's post. In the past, Trump has assailed former President Biden's mental acuity during the end of his tenure and blamed his frail health for all manner of societal ills. He has also promoted theories suggesting Biden's aids used an autopen to enact policies and issue pardons without the Democrat's knowledge. Trump's penchant for sharing debunked or baseless theories is not limited to social media. Last month, while hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, Trump claimed that white South Africans were victims of genocide, even though police data do not show that the white population in the African nation was any more vulnerable than other groups. According to a report by The New York Times, the Republican leader's first term in the White House was filled with false or misleading statements. He reportedly made 30,573 misleading remarks, or 21 a day on average, and repeatedly shared conspiracy theories in the lead-up to the 2024 election. An NYT analysis of the President's thousands of social media posts and reposts over a six-month period in 2024 found that at least 330 of them described both a false, secretive plot against him or the American people and a specific entity supposedly responsible for it. These included suggestions that the FBI had ordered his assassination and accusations that government officials had orchestrated the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Mint
3 hours ago
- Mint
What's good for politicians is good for General Motors
General Motors CEO Mary Barra earned $29.5 million last year, and it's hard to argue that she isn't earning her keep. The automaker sold more cars in the U.S. than any other company last year, and its profits have doubled in her 11 years as CEO. Credit her ability to please her most important customers—politicians. Their command is her wish. While doubling down on manufacturing profitable gas guzzlers, Ms. Barra promoted electric vehicles to ingratiate herself to Democrats who want to eliminate the products that churn out profits for her company. She again proved her flexible principles last week by praising President Trump's auto tariffs, which the company estimates will dent its profits by $5 billion this year. 'I think tariffs is one tool that the administration can use to level the playing field," she said. What she omitted is that the playing field has been tilted in GM's favor for decades by a 25% tariff on pickup trucks, which gives domestic automakers an effective monopoly. Also: Mr. Trump's new 25% tariffs on all cars and parts not made in the U.S. will hurt GM, but they will wallop its foreign competitors even more. In 2018 Ms. Barra got a crash course in politicking when she announced a corporate restructuring that involved closing four U.S. plants that produced low-selling sedans. Her goal was to make GM leaner and more profitable. In this she succeeded, but she blundered by not throwing a bone to Mr. Trump, who thinks CEOs answer to him. 'I spoke with her when I heard they were closing and I said, 'You know, this country has done a lot for General Motors,' " he said, adding that he had encouraged Ms. Barra to keep its Lordstown, Ohio, plant open: 'You better get back in there soon." Mr. Trump was right that GM is a willing ward of Washington. In addition to the longstanding 25% pickup tariff, the U.S. government invested some $51 billion in the company as part of its bankruptcy, only about $39 billion of which it recovered. The first Trump administration also went to bat for GM and other automakers by rolling back its predecessor's burdensome fuel-economy standards and revoking a waiver that allowed California to impose costly EV quotas. Ms. Barra no doubt knows that her business is at the mercy of a mercurial government, and better keep the rulers happy. And so she did. In 2019, GM announced plans to create 450 new factory jobs in Ohio, as well as a joint venture with LG Chem to build a $2.3 billion EV battery plant near the closed Lordstown factory. Mr. Trump repaid the favor with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which included wage mandates and domestic content requirements for tariff-free imports from Mexico and Canada that disadvantaged GM's foreign competitors. Ms. Barra attended Mr. Trump's USMCA signing ceremony. After Mr. Trump lost re-election, Ms. Barra began kowtowing to her new master in Washington. GM rapidly did a U-turn on California's EV rules. 'We believe the ambitious electrification goals of the President-elect, California, and General Motors are aligned to address climate change by drastically reducing automobile emissions," Ms. Barra said in November 2020. On Jan. 28, 2021, GM announced plans to go all-electric by 2035, conforming its business plans to California Gov. Gavin Newsom's mandate. That August, Ms. Barra cheered Mr. Biden's plans to rev up fuel-economy standards at a White House event. A few months later, Ms. Barra lent her support to the Democrats' $5 trillion Build Back Better legislation, notwithstanding its costly new entitlements that would be paid for in part with corporate tax hikes. Never mind that Ms. Barra had been just named chairman of the Business Roundtable, which was lobbying against the legislation. Paramount for Ms. Barra was the bill's $12,500 tax credit for EVs built with union labor, which would have put GM's nonunion competitors like Tesla at a disadvantage. Although that bill failed, Ms. Barra continued to advocate for its successor, the Inflation Reduction Act, which included rich subsidies for EVs and battery production. The Biden Energy Department repaid Ms. Barra by awarding GM a $2.5 billion low-interest loan for its battery joint venture with LG. Now that the political tides in Washington have turned, Ms. Barra has too. GM this spring lobbied Congress to reverse the federal waiver for California's EV mandate. 'Shameful what GM did behind our back," Mr. Newsom snapped after the Senate approved the resolution and sent it to Mr. Trump's desk. Last week, GM scrapped a plan to make EV motors at an upstate New York factory. Instead, the company will make high-tech V-8 engines for full-size trucks and SUVs, which Ms. Barra called 'the most significant engine investment we've made in history." Music to Mr. Trump's ears. If it's any consolation to Democrats, Ms. Barra will surely be at their beck and call next time they control Washington. Can you blame her? When government has sweeping power to pick winners and losers, a CEO's responsibility becomes to keep the company's overlords happy so it always comes out a winner.
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
'Biden executed and replaced' Trump's mysterious post leaves everyone guessing
Former President Donald Trump fueled controversy on Saturday night by posting a conspiracy theory on his Truth Social website, claiming that President Joe Biden had been assassinated in 2020 and substituted with a clone or robot. The action, which was roundly condemned, is the latest example of Trump promoting unsubstantiated claims to his millions of followers. Around 10 p.m. on Saturday, Trump reposted a tweet from an anonymous account that stated, "There is no #JoeBiden—executed in 2020. #Biden clones doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see. >#Democrats don't know the difference". The original tweet was written by a user with a fairly modest following, but Trump's re-tweet put it in front of almost 10 million individuals. The White House did not have an immediate comment about Trump's motives or whether he actually believes the allegation. Trump's sharing of the post is consistent with a pattern of spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation. Throughout his career, he has consistently posted claims about him winning the 2020 elections, the birthplace of former President Barack Obama , and other disproven narratives. His most recent post has been roundly criticized by political observers and fact-checkers, who observe that such posts erode public confidence and provoke discord. Critics were quick to identify the absurdity of the allegation.'If Biden had said something like this, his entire cabinet would have invoked the 25th within the hour,' one Twitter user wrote, citing the constitutional provision for removing a president from office due to inability to serve. Others called Trump's behavior a "degradation of America" and were worried about the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories in political rhetoric. No evidence confirms Biden was executed or replaced, and human cloning is still a scientific impossibility. The two presidents have been seen together in public and debated one another on numerous occasions since 2020. As of now, neither Trump nor his representatives have explained why he decided to share the post, and the White House has declined to comment further. Live Events Trump's recent social media activities highlight repeated worries regarding the dissemination of misinformation and its influence on American democracy.
