Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke to reporters on Capitol Hill in the wake of Elon Musk’s unilateral shuttering of USAID over the weekend and into Monday.

Wicker was asked about the decades-old humanitarian aid agency being gutted by Musk and he answered, “Well, I’m interested in hearing more about it. I’ve heard press reports.”

“If there’s massive fraud, if the funds aren’t being directed where the Congress has appropriated and the president signed. We need to know about that. So and I’m actually in a fact-finding mood,” added Wicker.

“Do you support that agency in providing foreign aid?” followed up a reporter.

“I have I have felt for a long time that USAID is is our way to combat the Belt and Road Initiative, which is China’s effort to really gain influence around the world, including Africa and South America in the Western Hemisphere,” replied Wicker, adding:

So we need an aid program to match the Chinese effort, but it needs to be done in a way that the policymakers of the United States have decided ought to be done. And so I’m eager to see an audit and see the sort of mismanagement that the secretary of state has told us about today.

Notably, Musk has long been accused of playing both sides in the U.S.-China relationship, given his close business ties to China and his lack of public criticism of the CCP.

“But they can’t just close it without Congress’s content?” pressed CNN’s Manu Raju.

“Well, I, I don’t know what the emergency powers are, and I’m sure some people are looking into that,” replied Wicker.

“Are you concerned that Congress didn’t get a heads-up about this?” followed up CBS’s Caitlin Huey-Burns.

“Well, things are moving very fast in these the first two weeks of the administration. It is something that that I had not been notified about. But again, this is just foreign relations and appropriations. And I would not necessarily have been notified. But we check again. Things are happening fast. And we’re we’re going to find out a lot more. There’s good communication,” responded Wicker.

“What about Elon Musk gaining access to U.S. treasury systems?” Raju followed up.

“That’s something that needs to be looked into. Again, and I’m hearing something when I wake up this morning and we’ve had a full day. And of course, I’m listening to press reports and thank goodness for the First Amendment. And I appreciate what you guys are doing. You’re asking the right questions that we’re going to be asking them also. So thanks much,” Wicker replied trying to end the Q&A.

“Do you want Congress, though, to have a role to play?” pressed Huey-Burns.

“I want Congress to exercise its right and power as a co-equal branch of the federal government. Yes, I do,” Wicker replied before turning to move on.

Watch the clip above via CBS.

There's a lot going on right now. And it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Especially when you're (maybe chronically) online. Most of your work life, and personal life, all happens online. And sometimes it's really easy to get carried away doomscrolling and forget that, sometimes, you need to touch some grass. Opera Air is a new browser, hoping, trying, to save you from all of that.

Opera Air has built-in features that remind you to take a break every hour or so, and in that break time, suggests that you do some breath work, meditation, or some relaxation exercises. There's also a dedicated background music feature that plays customizable binaural beats to help increase your productivity, or to help calm you down a bit.

A light and airy browser

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Opera Air is a visually lightweight browser, with transparent UI elements and no interface bloat. It's built on Chromium, so all your extensions will work fine. Plus, default Opera features are still here, including Workspaces, a built-in ad-blocker, and a free VPN.

For the main interface, there's just a simple floating pill shaped vertical bar, where you'll find the Boosts button for background music and the Take a Break button for quickly accessing meditations. Other than that, there are shortcuts for Opera's Aria AI assistant, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, which you can all remove.

Guided breath work and meditations for breaks

Opera Air will remind you to take a break after 60 minutes of use, but you can customize this to instead happen every 45 minutes or every 180 minutes. The Take a Break feature can be accessed anytime from the vertical sidebar in the start page, or using the Command+K keyboard shortcut.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Opera has done an impressive job of curating its breath work exercises, neck stretches, and meditations. There's a male voice and a female voice, and there are multiple recordings of various length, so you can do either a quick three-minute breathing exercise, or a 13-minute body scan.

I particularly liked the design of the breath work interface. It has an interactive bubble for breathing in and breathing out, and coveres the most frequently used breathing techniques like Box breathing, 4-7-8, and De-stress breathing. If you're interested, I've written about the benefits of breath work in our detailed guide.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The same goes for meditations too. You can do a quick mindfulness meditation, or something focused on inner calm. There's an option to do a body-scan as well.

The Neck Exercise section uses your camera to check how you're moving, and guides you through the movement using a 3D model.

Overall, Opera's built-in meditation and breathing exercises do a great job for beginners.

Binaural beats are quite fun

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

What I found the most interesting in my time testing the Opera Air browser was the Boosts feature. It uses binaural beats, which are an auditory illusion that occurs when two slightly different frequencies are played in each ear. Of course, this works best with headphones. But the tracks that Opera Air has curated for focus, and relaxation are quite good and engaging. I'm using the Energized Focus one as I'm writing this. Here, too, you can start a 30-minute or 45-minute session, to serve as a reminder to take a break when the music is done.

Built-in features have that extra edge

There is no lack of breathing exercise tutorials on YouTube (I'm currently partial to the coherence breathing technique). And we have talked about the best meditation apps already. You'll also find extensions that help you focus by blocking out distractions, and again, YouTube is filled with audio tracks that help you focus.

All these resources mean you can handle your meditation all on your own, but if you're like me, you won't always remember or prioritize it at the right moment. Having a browser that's purpose-built around this, that gives you a reminder every 45 minutes, has focus music integrated, and can help you breathe and practice mindfulness meditation, can be quite helpful. Even if the browser succeeds in making you check in with yourself once a day, it's still a lot better than the alternative, which is constant panic and no breaks. Not to mention, all these features are free in Opera Air, while meditation apps can sometimes cost $10/month.

Opera Air is available in Early Access on Windows and Mac, so you can try it out for yourself in just a few short clicks.

Well, here we go again. With TikTok’s future in the United States still uncertain, parts of Congress are already moving toward banning DeepSeek, a Chinese ChatGPT competitor that quickly usurped ChatGPT on the App Store last week.

A new bill introduced by Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri would “prohibit United States persons from advancing artificial intelligence capabilities within the People’s Republic of China.” In other words, it would effectively ban DeepSeek, despite not mentioning the AI chatbot by name.

Under the bill, anyone convicted of “the import from or export to China of artificial intelligence technology” could be sentenced with up to 20 years in prison, plus an up-to-$1 million fine for individuals and an up-to-$10 million fine for businesses.

Are you likely to be punished for using DeepSeek as a private citizen? Well, the bill does leave room open for it, so practice caution if it does become law. More realistically, much like with piracy laws, this is probably aimed at distributors and developers, so if it goes through, expect to see DeepSeek and other Chinese AI leave the App Store.

The bill is also likely so broadly worded as a result of DeepSeek’s open-source nature, as it’s currently easy for developers to simply download its models and incorporate them into their apps. The legislation would seek to curb such a practice, although it would also put future international collaboration, even the reading of Chinese research papers about AI, in jeopardy.

In a statement, Senator Hawley said “Every dollar and gig of data that flows into Chinese AI are dollars and data that will ultimately be used against the United States.”

Senator Hawley isn’t the first to express concern about DeepSeek. The AI has already been banned for use in the Navy due to “potential security and ethical concerns,” as well as on Texan government devices. OpenAI also toldTthe Financial Times that it has evidence that DeepSeek might have been built on the back of OpenAI models, which while a common practice in AI development, goes against OpenAI’s terms of service once the resulting models are distributed. There’s also already been a high profile data leak, and DeepSeek’s terms of use involve agreeing to having your keystrokes collected.

At the same time, the strict language of the law does have experts worried about the future of AI development and oversight, as it could kneecap collaboration and AI transparency. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Director of AI and Access-to-Knowledge Legal Projects, Kit Walsh, told 404 Media that “The bill threatens the development and publishing of AI advancements in the United States…the government has argued that merely publishing information on the internet counts as an export, and interpreting this law in such a way would further solidify the dominance of proprietary AI over open or academic research.” In other words, American tech companies would be incentivized to be even more insular about how their AI works, which could affect far more than Chinese competitors.

There are a lot of music streaming services to choose from right now. Many of us subscribe to Spotify or Apple Music, but still others may use YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or Tidal. They all have their pros and cons, but if price is the most important factor for you, it's a good time to check out Apple's offering.

Apple Music usually costs $10.99 for individual users, $16.99 for families, and $5.99 for students—pretty standard for music streaming pricing. Today, however, Apple announced an impressive deal for eligible new subscribers: Six months of Apple Music for $2.99. That's not three dollars per months, but three dollars total.

Who's eligible

That's a pretty great value for six months of Apple Music, but there are some strict caveats. For one, this is for new subscribers. If you have an active Apple Music subscription, or you used to subscribe but canceled in the past, you can't take advantage of this offer, which is a bummer. (I'd personally love to snag the next half a year for $3 instead of $66.)

On top of that, you aren't eligible if you're also currently eligible for an Apple Music three-month free trial. Apple offers this trial to users who buy an eligible new Apple device, including an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, Apple TV, AirPods Pro, AirPods, AirPods Max, Beats headphones and speakers, HomePod and HomePod mini. If you recently bought any of these devices, your connected Apple ID is likely eligible for the free trial, so you can't take advantage of this discount deal. (That said, three months of Apple Music for nothing is also a great value.)

Apple isn't running this promotion on a whim. The company (specifically Apple Music) is sponsoring this year's Super Bowl Half-Time show. Don't be surprised to see some ads for this deal this Sunday.

How to subscribe to Apple Music for $3

If you are eligible for the promotion, you may see the offer appear in your Apple Music app itself. Just open the app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and make sure you're signed in with your Apple Account. Apple says the offer should automatically appear, but if not, head to the Home tab. When you do see the offer, hit "Accept Now." You can also head to the official site for this promotion and hit Redeem Now to kickstart the process. You have until Feb. 27 to take advantage.

Six months for $3 is a great deal, but it is a bit dangerous: Half a year is a long time—long enough to forget you're subscribed to the service. If you don't cancel before that six month deadline, Apple will automatically bill you $10.99 as part of the standard month plan.

As with any trial or discounted subscription, I always recommend setting a reminder at least a few days before the renewal date. That way, you can be sure to cancel in time.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Amazon dropped the Kindle Colorsoft, its first e-reader with a color screen, last fall, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that they were the first company to crack the concept: a device with a screen that offers all the benefits of e-ink—no harsh backlight, easy readability in any light—that wasn't just in muddy-looking greyscale. But while Amazon controls the vast majority of the e-reader market, lots of other companies are more innovative in their device designs, and others have been iterating on color e-ink for half a decade.

One of the companies is Onyx International, a Chinese tech company that has been producing e-ink e-readers and tablets since the early days of the Kindle, under the brand name Boox. Yes, the name suggests a company that produces cheap junk, but Boox devices are hardly knockoffs (the Boox Palma, which I reviewed last year, is my own e-reader of choice). Over the years, the company has launched features like touchscreens, front lights, and, yes, color screens alongside or even before Amazon.

Boox Note Air 4C Color E-Ink Notebook

$499.99 at Amazon

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$499.99 at Amazon

Onyx Boox Note Air 3 C

$449.99 at Amazon

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$449.99 at Amazon

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The Boox Note Air series is a notable example. First launched in 2020, these e-readers/digital notebooks have a screen you can write on like paper—something Amazon didn't offer until the release of the first Kindle Scribe two years later. In 2023, the Boox Note Air 3C brought color into the mix, and that device has since been slightly improved. And though the 2024 Boox Note Air 4C seems comparable to various Kindle devices (it has the writability of the Scribe and the comic-book-friendly display of the Colorsoft), it does a hell of a lot more than serve up reading material. It's essentially a full-fledged tablet that can do most of what an iPad can do, but with a very different look and feel.

Credit: Joel Cunningham

A sharp display—for color e-ink

Its 10.3-inch display offers the same clarity as your average Kindle, with a resolution of 2480 x 1860 and 300 dpi in black and white, and 1240 x 930 and 150 dpi in color mode. It has a temperature-adjustable frontlight that makes reading easy on your eyes under any conditions. It weighs 420g, or a little under a full pound, making it a bit heavy for one-handed use. The "octo-core" processor is a 2.07Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G, which is on the slower side for a modern tablet but fast enough for most of the tasks you'll likely be using the device to accomplish.

At 5.8mm, it is stylishly thin, and the build quality feels smooth and solid. The device is pretty spare, with only a USB-C charging point and a power button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner. Having used the Boox Palma, I miss that device's action button, which could be mapped to accomplish specific tasks (I always set mine to perform a manual screen refresh).

Battery life isn't great

On the downside, battery life can't compare to a typical e-ink device, which might go a week or more between charges. If you're using all of the features the Note Air 4C has to offer, you'll find the battery drains about as fast as any other tablet might. It doesn't help that the color screen tech basically requires you to keep the frontlight at 100% at all times; in one of the faster refresh modes, you'll lose basically all the advantages of a power-sipping e-ink display. Generally, if you're a heavy user, expect to charge it every day. If you're just using it for reading, it should last you several days to a week.

An e-reader and a full-featured e-ink tablet

To most, an e-ink screen screams e-reader, and you certainly could use the Note Air 4C as a dedicated e-reader, but it does a lot more. The device runs on Android 13 and is not locked to any particular ecosystem, which means yes, you can download any e-reading apps you like—Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Libby, etc. But you can also download most any other app available on the Google Play Store.

But let's entertain the notion: It's certainly a fine e-reader, if a larger screen is what you're looking for. The dirty little secret of the e-ink world is that every company, from Amazon to Nook to Boox, uses essentially the same screen tech, as there are really only a couple of companies that produce it. The Note Air 4C, then, uses the same basic color screen as the Kindle Colorsoft, called the Kaleido 3 (though Amazon claims to have developed its own custom display stack for improved clarity and responsiveness).

It's nice to be able to read comics in color on an e-ink screen, but they look worse than they would on an LCD screen, let alone paper. Credit: Joel Cunningham

While color on an e-ink tablet is certainly novel, it still feels like little more than an experiment to me. Color images can look passable on the Note Air 4C, but only just—the results tend to look washed out and a bit grainy, with the dpi dropping from 300 in black and white to just 150 in color, a hugely noticeable reduction. You certainly will never be fooled into thinking you're reading them on an LCD or OLED display like you'd find on an iPad.

One thing that does set Boox devices apart is their variable refresh rate, which allows you to choose how often the screen refreshes based on the app you're using. "HD" mode will give you the crispest text and images but only really only works for static images, or you'll see lots of "ghosting"—an afterimage that lingers even after you chance whatever is on the display.

When the skeletons are also ghosts. Credit: Joel Cunningham

The other options—Balanced, Fast, Ultrafast, and Regal—will sacrifice some detail at the expense of less ghosting and a faster refresh rate. You can change the refresh rate manually at the system level, change it while you're using an app, or choose preset refresh rates on an app-by-app basis.

Credit: Joel Cunningham

Great for comics and manga (if you aren't too picky)

The large screen and color (however dodgy) might have you wondering if the Note Air 4C is a good choice for reading comics and manga, and to that I say: sure. Manga, especially, can look very nice on this device, mostly because the art is typically almost exclusively black and white. The sharpness and clarity of the screen makes manga really pop, and it's nice to be able to see the art at a much larger size than the typical tankōbon volume.

Credit: Joel Cunningham

That said, color images aren't quite as satisfying—you certainly can load up a graphic novel and appreciate it is more or less in color. But the best color e-ink can serve up with current tech is not exactly ink and paper, let alone the crispness you'd get with an LCD or OLED display. It looks OK at a glance, but at reading distance, you won't be able to ignore the fact that colors look muted and grainy, and that detail isn't great.

Don't look too closely. Credit: Joel Cunningham

If you've got a large collection of digital comics and you don't want to read them on a glossy tablet screen, the Note Air 4C is a great e-ink option, but you have to understand its limitations.

App store access, gaming, and even YouTube (kinda)

I haven't gotten a chance to use a Kindle Colorsoft nor a Scribe, so I can't directly compare them to the Note Air 4C, but I can note that on paper, it does everything those devices do (respectively, offer a color e-ink screen and a writable screen), and significantly more.

Like the similarly capable Palma, the Note Air 4C has an impressively responsive screen. Relatively. While, again, not as smooth as scrolling on a phone or iPad, using the touch screen to scroll and read the internet is pleasingly familiar, and the slight dissonance you'll experiencing doing it is arguably a good thing, if you're looking to kick your doomscrolling, device addicted ways.

This means that while you can download most any Android app you like, the experience of using many of them will be just worse enough as to be slightly annoying.

All the apps that fall under the broad category of "reading" (including audiobook- and podcast-related apps) work pretty great on the Note Air 4C. It has a speaker, but it also has Bluetooth, and will work with your favorite earbuds. My various reading apps all work great, and retain their own features (note that the Boox OS doesn't include a dark mode, but you can still use an app-level dark mode, like the one on the Kindle app).

Productivity apps like Gmail and Google Docs also work well, but anything more graphically intense will suffer. Other apps typically can be installed, but their performance will vary wildly. You can, for instance, download full-motion video apps like Netflix and YouTube, but the experience will not be very good. Even the "ultrafast" refresh rate can't really keep up with video, and the ghosting will make it difficult to actually, you know, see what you're looking at.

Good for some games

Credit: Joel Cunningham

The same goes for gaming: You certainly can try to install a game like Subway Surfers on a Note Air 4C, and it will work, but the screen's slight input lag and slow refresh rate will make playing a challenge.

However, less graphically intense games can work fairly well on the ultrafast refresh rate. I've managed pretty good games or Tetris and Block Blast, and card games, crosswords, and Wordle all play quite nicely with a color e-ink display.

A versatile digital notebook

The real strength of the Note Air 4C, particularly in comparison to a device like the Kindle Scribe, its its versatility as a digital notebook. Though it comes pre-loaded with some fairly capable note-taking software, access to a full app store means you can also choose to use your program of choice.

Credit: Joel Cunningham

The native Boox Notes app will likely be enough to get you started. You can choose from a number of different pre-set templates, and modify them by writing on the screen with the stylus or inputting text with the touch screen. Depending on the program, you can work in split screen mode—for example, in the image above I'm marking up a PDF while taking notes on the page opposite.

A paper-like writing experience

Writing on the Note Air 4C still kind of feels like a magic trick to me. Using the included stylus, it provides a pleasingly paper-like writing experience, with the slightly textured, matte screen offering enough resistance that you won't feel like you're just sliding your pen's nib across a slick surface.

Responsiveness is pretty good—there is only the slightest lag between pressing down and a mark appearing on the screen. It is worth noting that some users have anecdotally reported more lag in non-native apps; in the video above, I'm using the Boox Notes app, which performs well.

Drawing on the Note Air 4C is kind of fun—my kids love to use it for playing Pictionary—but I can't imagine it will be a super-satisfying experience for dedicated artists; the color reproduction is so middling, it can be hard to tell what you're actually producing without exporting it to another device.

What's on the screen doesn't exactly match what gets exported. Credit: Joel Cunningham

Durability concerns (or, make sure to get a good case)

I've had a lot of good to say about the Note Air 4C. Now for the biggest caveat: By all accounts, this thing is fragile as hell, and if you want to protect your sizable $400 investment, you're going to want to treat it with extreme care.

I'm speaking from experience here. I tested out the previous generation of this device, 2023's Note Air 3C, and everything was going swimmingly until I decided to take it with me on vacation. I stuck the device (secured in the standard Boox faux-leather cover) into my backpack's laptop sleeve and filled the rest of the bag with clothes (it was a short trip and I don't like paying for a full-sized carryon).

I wouldn't say I crammed the bag full, but it was apparently full enough to exert some amount of pressure on the tablet—though certainly no more (and probably significantly less) than my laptop, iPad, and various Android tablets have survived. But the Note Air 3C didn't make it. When I pulled it out to read on the plane, I discovered the e-ink display had been damaged—a portion of the screen displayed a "shattered" effect that didn't go away with a reset.

It's definitely not supposed to look like that. Credit: Joel Cunningham

I reached out to Boox customer service (via a form on the company's English-language website) and promptly received notice that the screen damage was not covered by the warranty and that the repair would be more than $300—approaching the cost of a new device. (I elected not to do this.) Lest you assume I'm simply clumsy, a bad packer, or I got a dud device, it's worth noting that the r/Onyx_Boox subreddit is filled with reports from users who have experienced similar screen failures. Some people admit to dropping or otherwise putting fatal pressure on the device, but others report seemingly spontaneous screen failures.

I've been using the Note Air 4C with much more care for about two months, and I've had no issues, but I'm understandably anxious about how I treat it. If I put it in my bag, I always make sure it is nestled against something rigid (like my laptop) to avoid putting pressure on the screen. I try to only use it at home or in the office, because I don't trust myself not to drop it in transit.

In short, if well-cared for, this device will likely serve you well for a long time. But if you're expecting the same kind of durability you get from an iPad, or even a standard-issue Kindle, you're going to want to spring for an aftermarket warranty.

Bottom line

With a $499 price tag comparable to a mid-range iPad and a far more limited use case, there's no question that the Note Air 4C is a device with niche appeal. But if you're looking for the features it offers—a screen you can write on like paper, a color display for reading comics or marking up PDFs, an open Android operating system—it's hard to imagine you'll be disappointed with it.

It's not for everyone, but the people who its for are going to be very pleased. (But really, I must reiterate, buy a good case.)

Onyx Boox Note Air 4C specs

• Display: 10.3-inch, 2480 x 1860 and 300 dpi (black and white), 1240 x 930 and 150 dpi (color) Kaleido 3

• CPU: Qualcomm Octacore processor

• RAM: 6GB

• Storage: 64GB

• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 5 (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth 5.0

• Lighting: Frontlight with temperature adjustment

• Operating system: Android 13

• Battery/charging: 3,700mAh via USB-C

• Size: 226 x 193 x 5.8mm

• Weight: 420g

Vice President JD Vance told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that President Donald Trump would decide the future of Greenland without any input from Europe.

For months, Trump has talked about the US acquiring the autonomous island that has long been a territory of Denmark.

The Danish have said they are not interested in selling the mineral-rich island while a majority of those who inhabit Greenland have no interest in becoming American citizens.

Trump has portrayed Greenland as strategically important to US interests, citing threats from Russia and China. He has also implied the Danish might not have a say in whether its largest territory is ceded.

On Sunday Morning Futures, Bartiromo asked Vance if he expected an acquisition of the vast territory during the next four years.

Bartiromo asked, “Do you expect the US to acquire Greenland?” Vance replied:

I think it’s possible, Maria. So here’s the thing I think a lot of folks don’t appreciate about Greenland: it’s really important to our national security. There are sea lanes there that the Chinese use, that the Russians use that, frankly, Denmark – which controls Greenland – it’s not doing its job and being a good ally. So you have to ask yourself, how are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security? If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do because he doesn’t care about what the Europeans scream at us, he cares about putting the interests of America’s citizens first.

There’s another angle to this whole Greenland thing, Maria, that people don’t realize. You’ve got probably 55,000 people living on Greenland who are not actually happy with Danish government. They’ve got great natural resources there, they’ve got an incredibly bountiful country that the Danes aren’t letting them develop and explore. Of course, Donald Trump would take a different approach if he was the leader of Greenland.

Watch above via Fox News.

Elon Musk is going after a Republican Senator who could potentially end Tulsi Gabbard’s bid to be Director of National Intelligence.

In a post to X on Sunday, Musk raged at Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) — who grilled Gabbard on Thursday during her Senate confirmation hearing after she refused to call Edward Snowden a traitor.

“Todd Young is a deep state puppet,” Musk wrote.

The DOGE chief went on to amplify a statistic that Young voted for roughly two-thirds of former President Joe Biden’s nominees.

“Very weird,” Musk added.

Young is widely thought to be on the fence about Gabbard’s confirmation. Because he sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, he alone could doom her bid to become the next DNI — if he refuses to vote her out of committee.

Other online conservatives and MAGA influencers likewise denounced Young and floated the prospect of a primary challenge against him in 2028 — in an apparent effort to pressure him to vote for Gabbard.

——

U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs

In a post on social media, President Donald Trump announced air strikes that were conducted Saturday in Somalia against ISIS targets, which he said “killed many terrorists without in any way harming civilians.”

U.S. Africa Command in cooperation with the government of Somalia conducted air strikes against multiple targets Saturday and assessed that “multiple ISIS-Somalia operatives were killed in the airstrikes and no civilians were harmed,” in statements released Saturday afternoon, which Trump referenced when issuing his comments via a Truth Social post and subsequent cross-post to X/Twitter.

“This morning I ordered precision Military air strikes on the Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia,” he wrote. “These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies.”

“The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians,” Trump emphasized. “Our Military has targeted this ISIS Attack Planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done. I did!”

Trump also added, “The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!”

Newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also released a statement on the DOD website.

At President Trump’s direction and in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, I authorized U.S. Africa Command to conduct coordinated airstrikes today targeting ISIS-Somalia operatives in the Golis mountains.

Our initial assessment is that multiple operatives were killed in the airstrikes and no civilians were harmed. This action further degrades ISIS’s ability to plot and conduct terrorist attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians and sends a clear signal that the United States always stands ready to find and eliminate terrorists who threaten the United States and our allies, even as we conduct robust border-protection and many other operations under President Trump’s leadership.

U.S. Africa command’s statement also notes the initial assessment is that “multiple ISIS-Somalia operatives were killed” and “no civilians were harmed.”

“U.S. Africa Command takes great measures to prevent civilian harm,” the statement reads. “Protecting civilians remains a vital part of the command’s operations to promote a more secure and stable Africa.”

U.S. Africa Command says U.S. forces “will continue to assess the results of this operation and will provide additional information as appropriate.”

This is a developing story and may be updated.

CNN’s Michael Smerconish and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) tussled over the firing of dozens of FBI agents connected to cases involving President Donald Trump.

On Friday night, FBI agents tied to the investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the now-dismissed classified documents case against Trump were fired in what critics described as a purge.

In a Saturday interview, Smerconish pushed Donalds on the firings, telling him, “surely, you recognize the chilling impact.” Smerconish argued such a move could indicate less oversight of the current administration as agents will be too scared to investigate “malfeasance” within in.

Donalds accused the agents of using “misinformation” to inflate crimes and target Trump. He claimed “rank and file” FBI agents were “shaking their heads” at Trump-related cases.

Check out the debate below:

MICHAEL SMERCONISH: “Congressman, surely you recognize the chilling impact in all of this. Who in the world, in the FBI, if this takes place, is going to be willing to investigate any malfeasance alleged within this administration. People are going to say, if I now pursue what is reported as someone breaking the law who works for this president, I’m going to lose my job.”

BYRON DONALDS: “No, that’s that’s simply not true because there’s a difference between you have actual evidence that would lead towards an investigation versus, no pun intended, trumped up evidence, which is exactly what took place as far back as the Russia collusion scandal. They lied to the FISA courts knowingly to open up an investigation into President Trump’s first presidential campaign. They lied to the FISA courts. They were using misinformation. They were letting laundered doctored evidence into that situation. And we have all the proof for that. Then you have to deal with the fact that, yes, during this current presidential campaign, the Biden administration and the Department of Justice were either working with or allowing these indictments, which were silly. Everybody knew they were political, but they were allowed to continue. They brought in Jack Smith. They raided Mar-A-Lago. I mean, I can go on. You cannot allow our system of justice to be degraded to such a degree basically for politics.”

SMERCONISH: “I hear you—”

DONALDS: “So it’s not a chilling effect.”

SMERCONISH: “Let me just—”

“DONALDS: “Real quick and I want to add this point. I would add for the rank and file FBI agents who do their job every single day, they were shaking their heads to saying, what the hell is going on? We need this place cleaned up.”

SMERCONISH: “Just so you know, I myself have been plenty critical of Merrick Garland and Jack Smith and this whole process over several years. I’m not thinking about them. I’m thinking about a woman, a man in the DC field office who played no policy role, was given an assignment to go out and conduct an investigation whose name now shows up on a list. It sounds awfully McCarthy-like. And they might lose their job.”

Watch above via CNN.

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale argued there was “zero evidence” for President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Biden administration diversity initiatives at the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) “could have” caused Wednesday’s deadly aircraft crash in Washington, D.C.

Trump pushed the idea during a press conference late Thursday while giving a briefing on the deadly in-flight collision between an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter which happened near Reagan National Airport, killing 67 people.

The president then claimed former President Joe Biden had ended “very powerful tests” for air traffic controllers and that standards were higher under his presidency. When pressed on linking DEI to the crash, he simply said, “It just could have been.”

On Friday CNN host Pamela Brown asked Dale whether Trump’s claim was “backed by any facts.” The resident fact-checker pushed back on the president’s claims:

It is not. I think we have to say first and foremost that there is zero evidence whatsoever that anything to do with the FAA’s efforts to hire people of diverse backgrounds, people with disabilities had anything to do with this tragedy. So I think this is one of these fact checks where it’s like, wait, why are we even talking about this? But we’re talking about it because the president started a national conversation about FAA hiring practices so I think it’s important for people to know a couple of things.

First of all, at that press conference, President Trump read out a sentence from the Biden-era FAA website about the FAA’s desire to hire people with so-called targeted disabilities – those are significant disabilities like psychiatric and intellectual issues, paralysis, missing extremities, and so on. What he did not mention, Pamela, was that that exact language was on the FAA website under President Trump the entirety of his own administration. We grabbed a screenshot from December 2020 late in his first term. So this was not something Biden invented. In fact, it’s been on that website at least since 2013.

Number two, this was not just language on a Trump-era website. In fact, in 2019, under President Trump, the FAA launched a pilot program specifically to hire people with these so-called targeted disabilities: intellectual, psychiatric, etcetera, in air traffic control roles. So they emphasized at the time, these people would have to meet all criteria in terms of medical criteria, qualifications, security criteria. But regardless, this was not something the Biden administration invented, as he suggested.

The host then asked about the evidence produced by Trump, dated to the week before he took office on January 14th. She asked whether it was the “truth” that Biden made a last minute push for diversity initiatives. Dale responded:

That’s what he said. He’s like ‘January 14th. So right before I came back, they were trying to get all these people in.’ I looked at where these articles he was reading out were actually from. It’s January 14th, 2024 – a year ago. So there is no evidence of some frantic last minute Biden push to hire people with disabilities, hire people of diverse backgrounds at the FAA.

Watch above via CNN.

If you were looking for a respite from X, but Threads didn't work out for you, you might have ended up at Bluesky. Sure, Mastodon is great in theory, but it doesn't have nearly as many users talking in one place. And as a single app, Bluesky is simply easier to use.

Bluesky also feels like an app that has learned (or is still learning) from the mistakes of its peers. It has superior built-in moderation and troll-fighting features, and is relatively easy to get started with. But if you're going to pick up a new social network, you're going to want to carry over your mute words with you—that is, the collection of terms you've made over the years that you just don't want to see displayed on your feed. Maybe it's political stuff, or news about a certain celebrity, or even AI.

Bluesky makes it easy to mute words, and there's even a feature called Moderation Lists, where you can use crowdsourced lists and bulk-mute accounts at once. Here's how to use both.

How to mute words and phrases on Bluesky

Open the Bluesky website or smartphone app. From the sidebar, go to Settings > Moderation > Muted words & Tags.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Here, you'll see many options for muting a word. First, write the phrase or word you want to mute in the text box. Then, go through your options—though I think the default options are the best choice. Still, in the Duration section, you can choose to only mute the word for 24 hours, or 7 days, or 30 days, which can be great for, say, temporarily blocking out spoilers for a TV show you haven't watched yet.

Next, you can choose if you want to mute just Bluesky posts, to also mute tags. Here, too, the default of Text and Tags works quite well, instead of blocking just tags.

Lastly, you can choose to exclude users you follow from your mutes, in case you still want to hear about a topic like AI, but only from people you follow. When you're all set, click the Add button. Repeat the process to add more mute words and phrases.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Your muted words will show up in the section below. To unmute a word, all you have to do is to click the little X icon next to the word and confirm from the pop-up box.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

How to mute accounts in bulk

Like other social media services, Bluesky lets you mute or block individual accounts right from that person's profile view. Click the three-dotted menu, choose Mute account, and you're done.

But the service goes beyond that: It also lets users create Moderation Lists that can be shared freely with a link, and it's possible to mute or block all the accounts included on such a list with just a click. It's a handy way to block a bunch of known NFT scammers, or notorious trolls, for example.

To create your own Moderation List, go to Settings > Moderation > Moderation Lists > New. Then give the list a name and description, and click on Save.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Use the search bar up top to search for and add any number of profiles to the list. Then, click the Subscribe button up top (confusing, I know), and from the popup, choose Mute account.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Then, click on Mute list from the popup to confirm.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

This process becomes a lot more interesting when you start to search for crowdsourced lists about different profiles. For example, Skywatch Blue has curated many lists for blocking specific scammers or trolls. There's even a list dedicated to people who have Elon Musk's name or reference in their profile or description, which some people might find particularly handy in 2025.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) confronted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Thursday confirmation hearing with an X post in which he said he would “not take sides on 9/11.”

Kennedy went through his first hearing with the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday before submitting to another round of questioning on Thursday. Kaine opened his questions by making note of the Washington, D.C. plane crash on Wednesday night that led to dozens of deaths. From there ,he brought up 9/11 and its effect on his state of Virginia. The senator then pulled out a blown up image of an X post from Kennedy about 9/11 from last year.

“My take on 9/11: It’s hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t. But conspiracy theories flourish when the government routinely lies to the public. As President I won’t take sides on 9/11 or any of the other debates. But I can promise is that I will open the files and usher in a new era of transparency,” Kennedy wrote.

Kennedy, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, wrote on X that he was referring to a CBS report on possible Saudi involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks.

“Speculation about what our government may be covering up is rife outside the mainstream of our political culture. Trust it government is at an all-time low. The way to restore that trust is through honesty and transparency. That is my promise, and that is what will resolve any questions about 9/11, UAPs, and other contentious topics. I am personally agnostic on those issues. My issue is TRANSPARENCY,” he wrote.

Kaine repeated Kennedy’s “won’t take sides on 9/11” line multiple times while asking him why he felt the need to put out that tweet at all in the middle of a presidential election.

“My father told me when I was 13 years old, he said, people in authority lie and that the job of a citizen in every democracy is to maintain a fear and skepticism of government authority,” Kennedy said.

Check out the exchange below:

TIM KAINE: We take that kind of stuff pretty personally. Virginians know what happened on 9/11. We don’t need folks giving oxygen to conspiracy theories about 9/11. Now one thing I noticed about this post is it was in July of 2024. It was 23 years after 9/11. You had a lot going on in your life. You were running for president then. What made you decide in the midst of everything going on in this country, in this world, in July of 2024 and your own candidacy for president, that now was the time to say it’s hard to tell what is conspiracy and what isn’t about 911. What was so important about making this point in July of 2024.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: Senator, the dramatic drop in trust in our government and this is particularly at one of the templates of what happened at the CDC—

KAINE: No, no, no. I want to move aside from that because you say, you go on to say, I won’t take sides, as president, I won’t take sides on 9/11. Wow. I won’t take sides on 9/11. Let me ask you this. As a general matter, do you find it hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t? Is that kind of a general deficit that you find in your own analytical abilities.

KENNEDY: My father told me when I was 13 years old, he said, people in authority lie and that the job of a citizen in every democracy is to maintain a fear and skepticism of government authority.

KAINE: And you’re an authority, but you won’t take sides on 9/11 and you’re admitting, you know, I have a hard time telling what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t.

KENNEDY: Senator, I have investigated. In the things I investigate, I take sides on. People are allowed to hold that opinion. I’m not going to tell them they’re crazy for holding that opinion. I’m going to say, what is your evidence? And if I hear the evidence, I’m going to say, that doesn’t make any sense.

KAINE: So, you won’t take sides on 9/11? Wow.

Watch above via CSPAN.

DeepSeek is having a moment: With the release of its impressive R1 model, the AI company overtook ChatGPT (and every other app) to become the number one free app on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. If you gave the app a try this week, however, be warned: Your chats may have been exposed.

As reported by The Hacker News, DeepSeek left one of its online databases exposed. While the company has issued a fix, this database is a treasure trove of user information. It contains over one million lines of log streams, which includes chat history, secret keys (used to encrypt and decrypt data), backend information, and other important data.

As of this article, DeepSeek says they are continuing to investigate the issue, despite implementing a fix on Jan. 29.

It isn't clear if any parties gained access to DeepSeek's database while it was vulnerable, but the vulnerability allowed for "complete database control," as well as privilege escalation within DeepSeek's network without any authentication needed.

DeepSeek's privacy and security policies have been a point of concern as so many users flock to its service. The platform collects a lot of user data, like email addresses, IP addresses, and chat histories, but also more concerning data points, like keystroke patterns and rhythms. Why does an AI app need to not only know what I typed, but how I typed it, too? As DeepSeek is a Chinese company, it stores all user data on servers in China. As such, the company is beholden by law to share any data the Chinese government requests. These practices are among the reasons the United States government banned TikTok.

There's no evidence this has happened, but the whole situation paints a precarious picture for the popular AI startup. If you do want to try DeepSeek, or if you're already using it, it's important to keep these points in mind. Your user data may not be quite so secure with this particular company.

Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) confronted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for seemingly switching up from his pro-choice views since aligning with President Donald Trump.

Kennedy on Wednesday testified before multiple members of the United States Senate for his confirmation hearing. Shortly after Trump won the election, he nominated Kennedy to be the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

During Hassan’s line of questioning, she referenced some of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine claims while also bringing up his prior support of a woman’s right to choose. Those views, she continued, conflicted with one another.

“It is remarkable that you have such a long record of fighting for women’s reproductive freedom,” Hassan said, “and really great that my Republican colleagues are so open to voting for a pro-choice HHS secretary. So, Mr. Kennedy, I’m confused. You have clearly stated in the past that bodily autonomy is one of your core values. The question is, do you stand for that value or not? When was it that you decided to sell out the values you’ve had your whole life in order to be given power by President Trump?”

In response, Kennedy stated that he agreed with Trump that “every abortion is a tragedy” and that “we can’t be a moral authority of this country.”

Hassan then pressed him further.

“But that isn’t what you said back in New Hampshire in 2023,” she said. “My question is, exactly when did you decide to sell out your life’s work and values to get this position?”

Again, Kennedy said he agreed with Trump that “every abortion is a tragedy.”

Watch above via Fox News