Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the oldest member of the U.S. Senate, has been hospitalized in the Washington area with an infection and is receiving antibiotic infusions, his office said Tuesday.

Grassley, 90, will return to work “as soon as possible following doctors’ orders,” his office said in a statement, and he is in good spirits. The statement did not give any additional details about his condition.

#Politics #News #Iowa

https://apnews.com/article/grassley-senate-hospital-infection-ad1b263dff2d9d081f22fb34b479ee92

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
"Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are." - Dale Carnegie

Democrats Cause 'Earthquake' in Florida With Shock Election Victory

Florida Democrat Tom Keen flipped District 35 in the state house on Tuesday, beating Republican rival Erika Booth by 11,390 votes to 10,800.

Booth conceded defeat in the special election which was caused by Fred Hawkins, formerly the Republican representative for District 35, stepping down from the seat in order to become president of South Florida State College.

#News #Politics #Florida

https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-cause-earthquake-florida-shock-election-victory-1861332

These next three days will be a challenge.

But, I will persevere.

I will.

#PhoenixLove

So true lmao 🤣 #CoSoHumor

Rishi Sunak has promised to reward the British public with tax cuts if he wins a general election. He plans on funding it by making it harder to get disability benefits – but does that make any economic sense?

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/rishi-sunak-tax-cuts-benefits-backlash/

Experts, politicians, charities and the EHRC have warned the government is causing distress, poverty and avoidable deaths because the disability benefits system is so difficult to navigate.

My peeps know I'm all over this issue. #GiftArticle

It is a problem nearly ALL wealthy nations will face including ours.

ALL of the governments' programs and programming is failing.

There is no way these governments can fix the problem. Of course decreasing population is great for the planet. They don't care about it.

They do care that it is cataclysmic for consumption based capitalism.

Oooops.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/business/china-birth-rate-2023.html

Pakistan condemns Iran over bombing allegedly targeting militants that killed 2 people

#CoSoNews #News

https://apnews.com/article/iran-pakistan-baluchistan-strike-tensions-israel-hamas-3eb1bf5c7fd2de54aeec9fadecbc78b6

Good Morning Beautiful Souls! Happy Stay WARM WEDNESDAY.
Be kind, be you, and don't let the FROST bite ya. Have a great day.
🤗🥰

I have been ordering raw groceries, and cooking my meals for the last two weeks (versus delis and restaurants).

This is what normal people do. This is what WE must do to have the disciplines necessary for retirement because "we're too busy to cook" gives way to "we have all the time in the world"...and I don't want to spend that time and money sitting in restaurants--which as I get farther away from, is something I really don't even like.

It was just a bad habit.

@ecksmc
Gaaaack!!
Thx for sharing the OpenAI plan for combating the misuse of its tools in all the elections around the globe this year. It’s gonna be a wild ride!

Last week, the Guardian reported that deepfaked videos of United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had reached as many as 400,000 views on Facebook before Meta removed them. “They include one with faked footage of a BBC newsreader, Sarah Campbell, appearing to read out breaking news that falsely claims a scandal has erupted around Sunak secretly earning ‘colossal sums from a project that was initially intended for ordinary citizens,’”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/12/deepfake-video-adverts-sunak-facebook-alarm-ai-risk-election

OpenAI makes an election plan
Concerns over deepfakes are mounting — but there are reasons for optimism

#AI

https://www.platformer.news/monday-newsletter/

OpenAI's approach

https://openai.com/blog/how-openai-is-approaching-2024-worldwide-elections

Good morning CoSo☀️
Another beautiful watercolor from Rod MacIver

Honestly I've had more support here from people who don't really know me than just about anywhere else, including some of my own family. I can see why Billy spends so much time here and talks about all of you endlessly. He's also read back every single message from you, and it's made me feel so good even while I've been in tears here.

So here's the latest. It looks like I'm going to have an op to rebuild my shoulder Thursday or Friday this week & should know tomorrow. They'll either try to piece it together or if not will try to rebuild it 'in reverse'). I'm so scared but wanted everyone here to know that your thoughts & messages will be getting carried into the OR with me to keep me going

Thank you for being such good friends to us and to Billy in particular 💖

And thank you @th3j35t3r for bringing so many people together!

I can't believe in the 30 minutes since posting here I've had more messages of encouragement & support than in the last 2 weeks elsewhere for people that I have known longer online and IRL. Thank you everyone and thanks for all the new friend requests! It is impossible for me to personally reply to every message right now but please know that every single one has touched me 💜

Also thank you for being there for Billy. I've heard it from him so many times, but it really is true - Coso rocks ❤️

Hi there Coso! Most of you don't know me, but I'm @BillyBones's wife, Sharon. I don't get to play here as often as I'd like and had every intention of changing that this year until my accident.

But that's the reason for my post. The injury has left me reeling and since I'm left-handed I can barely type now. But I've been overwhelmed by the love and support shown to both of us here by people who only know me by proxy, so I wanted to say how touched I am by your kind messages & good wishes.
cont:

Succulent article on Trump and Evangelicals

"It is a 'competing religion' based not on the Bible but a grievance-centric faith of people angry that the 'demography and the kind of cultural hierarchy' of the past — that is, white supremacy and male domination — is being challenged."

#politics

https://www.salon.com/2024/01/16/with-donald-iowa-landslide-evangelicals-reveal-they-really-are/

There are some neato things on the #DeadBird