Artificial intelligence (AI) poses challenges for the future of journalism, said US reporter Carl Bernstein. The veteran journalist warned of the risks posed by AI in an interview with the BBC. He also noted that determining truth is critical. News outlets are the "essential element in a community of being able to attain that," said Bernstein. There are serious concerns around potential job losses, privacy and the dissemination of false information posed by widespread AI usage.
Russ Vought, President of the Center for Renewing America and former Director of the Office of Management and Budget, has spoken to The Daily Signal about what he sees as the increasing power of the state and the need to arm ordinary Americans with the truth. In his opinion, the growing government is in danger of becoming a "woke and weaponized government" led by the likes of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, dividing America by creating oppressors and the oppressed and making all its policy based on "climate-change extremism". Vought sees the culprit of today's big government as being very different from when it first became a concern: no longer Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter but a much more dangerous and divisive force.
The conversation begins with Vought telling the audience at the Heritage Foundation that the roots of his political dedication stretch back to his mentor, Phil Graham, a senator from Texas who advised him that if he wanted to know everything, he should make budget his focus. From there, Vought spent 12 years in Congressional budget oversight committees. However, Vought didn’t feel that he was making as big a change as he wanted from the inside, so he joined Heritage and became a vice president at Heritage Action for America, where he was instrumental in starting the Sentinel Program. That gave him the opportunity to equip grassroots network operatives with information as if they were members of Congress.
Roberts and Vought mutually agree that an appeal to American ordinary people can defeat huge, rolling top-down governance, which has led to the debt-ceiling debate raging again across Capitol Hill, with Republicans looking to redefine the state from the ground upwards. The discussion moves then to the debt ceiling, where the surge in Washington spending combined with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is causing Congress to consider increasing the debt limit, due to run out in mid-March. Vought says “we have a debt crisis” that can only be resolved “by dealing with the spending problem” resulting from the “essential theft” of taxpayer money by the political establishment.
Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has enjoyed a year in power with relatively few obstacles, guided by his respect for parliamentary norms and procedures, and his willingness to allow talented ministers to take the lead. His success, however, is also largely due to negative partisanship, which has focused voters on their loathing for the opposition rather than any particular affection for Albanese himself. His popularity has been aided by the global mood of seriousness caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has reduced the appetite for leadership struggles and encouraged a focus on good governance. He has also proved successful at dominating the centre ground of Australian politics, while avoiding accusations of wokeness or radicalism. However, polluting decisions on mine approvals and defence alliances with the US and UK have begun to erode his popularity. Despite this, it is believed that his authentic and likeable personality will continue to prevent him from becoming a more polarising figure.
Japan, India, Australia and the US have pledged to create a resilient and well-connected Indo-Pacific, launching a series of initiatives while looking to establish an area “free from coercion” on the sidelines of the Hiroshima Group of Seven summit. The announcements, which came amid growing concerns over China’s influence in the region, include support for their own undersea network of cables for what the group called “trusted and secure” communications services, and scholarships aimed at bolstering infrastructure. In addition, the new initiatives include a health security partnership, while the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness will be expanded. While Beijing has derided the grouping as an Asian version of Nato, it is a broader partnership that includes infrastructure, health and climate cooperation.
FT columnist Rana Foroohar has backed US de-risking rather than decoupling when it comes to China. She said targeting economic chokepoints and concentrations of power that granted monopoly power to nations or private businesses would lessen economic coercion by safeguarding chips, gas, digital data, raw materials, and manufacturing capacity. This allowed for cooler US-China relations while still tackling the core issues. However, she also questioned China's reasons for pursuing tougher espionage rules, which will hinder any foreign business sending digital information across its borders.
