Crackpots

Popular Information reports: This week, Elon Musk has repeatedly promoted false and misleading claims about voting to his 168 million followers on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. Musk then used these erroneous claims to justify massive restrictions on voting in the United States, including eliminating early voting, abolishing most mail-in voting, and imposing new identification requirements. On …

Reuters reports: Tesla has lowered driving-range estimates across its lineup of electric vehicles as a new U.S. government vehicle-testing regulation takes effect with the goal of ensuring that automakers accurately reflect real-world performance. Tesla has historically issued range estimates that overstate what its cars can deliver, prompting widespread complaints from customers, according to some automotive testing experts and a Reuters …

The Daily Beast reports: “Take your remote, and turn this [bleep] off,” Ramaswamy says in a direct-to-camera ad set to air during the debate. “The mainstream media is trying to rig the Iowa GOP caucus in favor of the corporate candidates who they can control,” Ramaswamy says over an ominous soundtrack. The 38-year-old then proceeds to list off “the truth …

CBS News reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is backing out of his own birthday fundraiser gala after celebrity guests Martin Sheen, Dionne Warwick, Mike Tyson and Andrea Bocelli, who were reported to be attending, instead stated that they would skip it. The gala is hosted by the super PAC American Values 2024, which backs Kennedy’s presidential candidacy, and another PAC. …

Bloomberg News reports: Elon Musk’s drug use has worried executives and board members at businesses he runs, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the billionaire and the companies. Musk has used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, often at private parties, the Journal said, citing unnamed witnesses and others with knowledge of the matter. People close …

Politico reports: Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has told multiple people he would withdraw the U.S. from NATO as president, the furthest anyone vying for the Oval Office has gone on the idea of ending America’s role in the alliance. The remarks made to different groups experts and supporters, detailed to POLITICO by three people familiar with his comments, signal NATO’s …

Media Matters reports: On the afternoon of January 4, Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik shared a meme on X suggesting that multiple recent school shooters have been transgender. Raichik added the claim — spreading rapidly among anti-trans accounts — that the alleged perpetrator of a shooting in an Iowa school that day identified as “genderfluid,” adding, “What’s going on?” …

Bloomberg News reports: SpaceX sued the US labor board in federal court on Thursday, arguing that a complaint against the Elon Musk-led company for firing employees should be put on hold because the agency’s structure is unconstitutional. The response comes after National Labor Relations Board prosecutors filed a formal complaint against SpaceX, accusing the space transportation company of illegally firing …

“The evidence is a combination of their guidance documents in the past that acknowledged the risk of DNA integration and the need to test for it to make sure you’re not fouling up the human genome. “Their evidence is their acknowledgment that there is DNA in there. And that’s been found to be billions of particles, small particles of DNA …

The Washington Post reports: “We’ve seen this pattern from Dr. Ladapo that every few months he raises some new concern and it quickly gets debunked,” said Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s public health school who led the White House’s national coronavirus response. “This idea of DNA fragments — it’s scientific nonsense. People who understand how these vaccines are made …

Reuters reports: Rocket and satellite maker SpaceX on Wednesday was accused by a U.S. labor agency of unlawfully firing eight employees for circulating a letter calling founder and CEO Elon Musk a “distraction and embarrassment.” A regional official with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint claiming SpaceX violated the workers’ rights under federal labor law to band …

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports: Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo took the extraordinary step Wednesday of “calling for a halt to the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines,” a move that contradicts federal health authorities and again makes Florida an outlier. Ladapo said in a statement released by the Florida Department of Health that he raised questions about the safety of the …

NBC Sports reports: Aaron Rodgers might soon add another title to his list of individual accolades. Defendant. Rodgers took another shot on Tuesday at Jimmy Kimmel, suggesting that Kimmel’s name might appear on the long-awaited Jeffrey Epstein client list. Kimmel fired back with a not-so-subtle threat of a defamation suit. “There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, really hoping …

NBC News reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s long-shot presidential campaign has a new communications director — prominent anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree. In a letter to supporters, Bigtree called the appointment “my greatest opportunity to date.” Bigtree is the executive director of the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), the country’s second best-funded anti-vaccine organization, after Children’s Health Defense, the group from …

“We have to shut down the Hollywood elites who are trying to buy my current district. There has been close to $10 million poured into this district to buy this seat. Colorado’s 3rd District is not for sale. But with my announcement running in the 4th District, that shut down the dark money that was flowing into our district. “They …

The Associated Press reports: CLAIM: As of Jan, 1, 2024, T-Mobile is going to fine individual consumers for texting about topics that fall under the categories of sex, hate, alcohol, firearms or tobacco. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The wireless carrier is instituting new fines for third-party vendors that send mass messaging campaigns on behalf of other businesses, not for individual consumers. …

The Daily Beast reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has met the 1,000-signature threshold necessary to propel him onto the presidential ballot in Utah, according to state authorities, making it the first state to offer the independent candidate as an option to general election voters. Every state has its own requirements for independent and third-party candidates to qualify for its ballot, …

Politico reports: The super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid is narrowing its ballot access campaign focus to seven states — including crucial battlegrounds that will determine the outcome of the presidential election. American Values 2024 will now prioritize helping to get Kennedy on the ballot in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York and Texas, according to …

“I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any unintended outburst caused by my words or actions. It was not my intention to hurt or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused. I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future. Your forgiveness is …

“Well, this country is mired in so much contradiction and confusion. We don’t even know how we can help anyone anymore because we can’t agree who needs help. I mean, what doesn’t come with a trigger warning these days? “I mean, Tucker, we are far too close to having a beanbag chair in the Oval Office. We coddled everybody. Okay? …