President Joe Biden’s judicial nominee for a U.S. district court failed on Thursday to answer basic questions about the U.S. Constitution, including the functions of the second and fifth articles.

After Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.) grilled Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, Biden’s nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, during her confirmation hearing about the articles, the judge said those parts of the Constitution were “not coming to mind at the moment.”

Q: ‘Judge, tell me what article V of the Constitution does?”

Biden judicial nominee: ‘Article V is not coming to mind at the moment.”

‘How about article II?”

Nominee: ‘Neither is Article II”

pic.twitter.com/MvdLR3TDKZ

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) January 26, 2023

Article II lays out the structure of the Executive Branch, and Article V explains the amendment process.

“In my 12 years as an assistant attorney general, and my 9 years serving as a judge, I was not faced with that precise question,” Bjelkengren said after Kennedy asked whether she could define the concept of purposivism, a theory of constitutional interpretation in which a judge looks to the intention of a legislature to understand the law’s purpose.

Kennedy said Bjelkengren is “going to be faced with” the concepts if confirmed. “I can assure you of that,” he said.

Bjelkengren will be up for a committee vote in the coming days, and there have been no reports of a potential withdrawal. After one of then-president Donald Trump’s federal court appointees, Matthew Petersen, similarly failed to define several terms used in federal courts during his 2017 confirmation hearing, the nominee withdrew from consideration.

“I had hoped that my nearly two decades of public service might carry more weight than my two worst minutes on television,” Petersen wrote in a letter to Trump.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) advocated for Bjelkengren’s confirmation, calling the judge an “exceptional nominee.”

“Judge Bjelkengren has over two decades of experience serving the people of Washington State, working thoughtfully through tough legal questions that affect their daily lives,” Murray said.

The senator added that Bjelkengren “reflects the diversity of this country.”

Washington governor Jay Inslee (D.) in 2019 appointed Bjelkengren to the Spokane County Superior Court. She previously served as a Washington State assistant attorney general.

Bjelkengren attended Mankato State University and Gonzaga University School of Law, where she received a “diversity scholarship.”

The post Biden Judicial Nominee Fails To Explain Basics of Constitution During Confirmation Hearing appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The southern border is a much “bigger problem” than at any time during the Obama years, according to the former president’s secretary of homeland security.

Jeh Johnson, who served under former president Barack Obama from 2013 to the end of his second term, said the nation’s immigration crisis is so out of control that his old job has fundamentally changed. The United States is now seeing as many migrants crossing the border in the course of two months that he would see in an entire year, Johnson said in an interview with David Lat on Wednesday.

“Well, the job, first of all, is different than it was when I was in office seven, eight years ago,” Johnson said. “The current secretary was my deputy secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. The job is different. The immigration problem is much bigger than it was.”

Johnson’s comments highlight how even fellow Democrats have few kind words for DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s handling of the border crisis. More than five million migrants have crossed the border since Biden has taken office, the highest number ever recorded in U.S. history.

As for advice, Johnson didn’t have much to say. Staying on message, Johnson said, was one of the biggest lessons he learned from his time in the Obama administration.

“And so sometimes the essence of the job is repeating over and over again one simple, straightforward message that you want people to hear,” Johnson said.

House Republicans have pledged to impeach Mayorkas over his handling of the southern border. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to hold its first hearing on the border in February.

The post Obama’s DHS Secretary Admits ‘Immigration Problem’ Is ‘Much Bigger’ Under Biden appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Republican representatives Nancy Mace (S.C.) and Victoria Spartz (Ind.) say they will buck their party to vote in favor of keeping anti-Israel Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mace and Spartz are defending Omar as she faces a vote next week meant to eject her from the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee. Omar’s place on the committee has irked Republican leaders due to her repeated anti-Semitic statements and fierce advocacy against Israel. Omar claimed in 2021 that “Israel has hypnotized the world.” She also claimed that pro-Israel politicians were paid off to support the Jewish state and support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins baby.”

The impending vote is a test for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), who has had trouble keeping his party in line following the protracted and contentious vote that ultimately handed him the speaker’s gavel. One of McCarthy’s top priorities is removing Omar and other controversial Democrats from committee positions in the same way Democrats stripped Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green (R., Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R., Ariz.) of their committee assignments over tenuous claims they incited violence. But with two Republicans already joining Democrats, McCarthy may not have enough votes to successfully boot Omar from the committee.

Spartz, in a statement earlier this week, said, “Two wrongs do not make a right. Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented actions last Congress to remove Reps. Greene and Gosar from their committees without due process. Speaker McCarthy is taking unprecedented actions this Congress to deny some committee assignments to the minority without proper due process again.”

“I will not support this charade again,” Spartz said.

The vote to remove Omar will require a majority voting in favor, but with Mace and Spartz defecting, and Democrats expected to unanimously back her, the vote could fail if any other Republicans switch sides. Further complicating matters, Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.)—the author of a 2019 resolution condemning Omar’s numerous anti-Semitic remarks—is currently in the hospital after suffering a fall at his Florida home.

Omar’s place on the Foreign Affairs Committee has long rankled Republicans, pro-Israel lawmakers, and Jewish advocacy groups, all of whom see her as pushing an anti-Israel agenda on a committee that has historically stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Jewish state.

Omar, in 2012, claimed that “Israel has hypnotized the world,” adding, “May Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” In 2018, she claimed “drawing attention to the apartheid Israeli regime is far from hating Jews,” though such claims are used by Israel’s detractors to foster anti-Semitism.

Omar also has attacked the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, the most well-known pro-Israel advocacy group in America. “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” she tweeted in 2019 about the group. These comments were quickly condemned by Republicans, Democrats, and pro-Israel organizations across the political spectrum due to their anti-Semitic nature. Claims that wealthy Jews control politics are a hallmark of anti-Semitic rhetoric and are routinely employed by white nationalist groups and terrorist organizations.

Omar also is accused of marrying her own brother and lying about it to the media. The FBI said in 2020 that it was investigating these claims. Attempts to reach the man she married for comment were unsuccessful.

The post These Two Republicans Are Standing With Ilhan Omar in Push To Stay on Foreign Affairs Committee appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Claim: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D., Mich.) is not a real person. She is actually the drag queen alter ego of Rep. George Santos (R., N.Y.).

Who said it: Various sources / internet sleuths

Why it matters: “Gretchen” would be the first drag-queen governor in American history. Even if Santos is technically prohibited from holding two public offices in different states, a genuinely inclusive society would prioritize the need for diverse representation over any legal issues that may arise. Additionally, if the governor of Michigan were revealed to be a Republican, the media might actually start investigating his/her administration.

Context: Santos is under fire for allegedly embellishing his/her résumé during the 2022 campaign, among other things. Mainstream journalists are naturally obsessed with Santos, a freshman congressman from Long Island who has essentially no power, and have devoted an inordinate amount of time and resources to following his/her every move. They are considerably less interested in fact-checking President Joe Biden, the most powerful geezer in the world.

Analysis:

We couldn’t find a single photo of George Santos and “Gretchen Whitmer” in the same room together. That’s very suspicious, but not definitive. Our proprietary facial recognition software identified a number of statistically unlikely similarities between the two persons but was unable to determine with scientific certainty whether they are in fact the same individual.

Verdict: No rating / inconclusive

The post FACT CHECK: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Is Actually George Santos in Drag appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Monica Almeida/Reuters

• Thursday marks the three-year anniversary of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant.
• The eight others in the helicopter, including Bryant’s daughter Gianna, also died in the crash. 
• In a 2021 report, the NTSB found that pilot error was the primary cause of the crash. 

• The NBA legend Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crashed on Sunday morning, killing Bryant, his daughter, and seven other people on board.
• The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash.
• Here’s everything we know about the crash and the questions that remain.

The retired NBA star Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, on January 26, 2020.

His Sikorsky S-76 private helicopter, a model known for its safety record and VIP clients, crashed into a hillside after flying in heavy fog conditions about 9:45 a.m. local time.

All nine people on board — including Bryant’s daughter Gianna (known as Gigi), members of her basketball team, and John Altobelli, a baseball coach — died in the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration investigated the crash.

An NTSB member, Jennifer Homendy, said the helicopter missed clearing a hill by 20 to 30 feet and that it did not have a terrain warning system that could have alerted the pilot to the hills below him.

Investigators recovered the remains of all nine victims.

Here’s everything we know — and still don’t know — about the crash.

Bryant; his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna; members of her basketball team; and their families boarded Bryant’s private helicopter at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport.John Wayne Airport, where Bryant’s helicopter took off before its final flight.

Google Maps/Business Insider

The Bryants were likely coming from their home in Newport Beach. Gianna went to the private Harbor Day School in the region.

Courtesy of ReMax

Christina Mauser, the school’s girls basketball coach, was also on the helicopter.

All nine people on the flight were headed toward the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks to attend his daughter’s basketball game.A promotional video for Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy.

Mamba Sports Academy/YouTube

The plan was to land at Camarillo Airport, about a 20-minute drive from the sports academy. The helicopter had made almost exactly the same trip the day before, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The helicopter was a Sikorsky S-76, which Bryant used to avoid traffic between his house and Los Angeles, as well as to help teammates get to doctor appointments.

Getty/Kevork Djansezian

Source: Business Insider

The aircraft took off at 9:06 a.m. local time. The pilot was Ara Zobayan, the same pilot who flew Bryant to his final Lakers game in 2016.Gigi and Kobe Bryant at the WNBA All-Star Game in July.

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY via Reuters

Kurt Deetz, another pilot who often flew Bryant to LA for games and practice, told The Journal that Zobayan was “an experienced pilot deeply familiar with the Los Angeles area.”

Deetz added that only experienced pilots like Zobayan, an instrument-rated commercial pilot and flight instructor, would have been in the air in the conditions seen on the day of the crash.

The area had intense fog at the time — it was so bad that the Los Angeles Police Department grounded its helicopters that morning.Bryant taking a helicopter to his last game as a Laker in April 2016.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

According to The Journal, the National Weather Service’s local office “warned of a deep marine layer, low clouds and dense fog” that morning.

The YouTuber Jeffree Star posted videos of dense fog around his nearby mansion shortly before the crash.

But Bryant’s helicopter was given special permission to fly in the foggy weather.Gigi and Kobe Bryant.

AP Photo/Chris Carlson

Source: Business Insider

About 10 minutes into the flight, Burbank air-traffic control ordered the helicopter to hold because another helicopter was landing nearby. The pilot said he would circle over Glendale and await instruction.Bryant’s helicopter circled multiple times over Glendale before it crashed on Sunday.

FlightRadar24

Glendale is about 45 miles from John Wayne Airport and some 40 miles from Thousand Oaks.

According to The Journal, this was unusual because the helicopter typically hadn’t ventured as far north as Glendale on previous flights between Orange County and Thousand Oaks.The conversation between air-traffic control and Bryant’s helicopter pilot on Sunday.

VASAviation/YouTube

Source: The Journal

The helicopter circled for 12 minutes while awaiting “special visual flight rules” clearance to continue on in the foggy conditions.A Sikorsky S-76. Not the one Bryant flew in.

Business Wire via Getty Images

SVFR means a pilot can fly without relying solely on instrument-based navigation, according to CNN.

Under normal visual flight rules, or VFR, visibility is adequate for a pilot to stay oriented and navigate by visual cues, often used in conjunction with instruments. SVFR clearance can be requested when conditions deteriorate during a flight that was previously under VFR.

Under SVFR, a pilot typically remains in close contact with air-traffic controllers.

A little later in the flight, the pilot asked for “flight following,” in which controllers would track the flight and be in regular contact. However, the pilot was told he was flying too low for radar coverage at one point, the NTSB said.

Jennifer Homendy, an NTSB member, told reporters that the pilot, Zobayan, was “experienced” and had 8,200 hours of flight time.

Read more about VFR, SVFR, and another type of flight rules, instrument flight rules »

At 9:40 a.m., somewhere over the Granada Hills neighborhood, the helicopter changed its path and turned toward the mountainous Thousand Oaks.

Google Maps/Business Insider

According to the NTSB, the helicopter climbed to about 2,300 feet to avoid a cloud layer shortly before starting a descending left turn.

Source: FlightRadar24

At 9:44 a.m., the helicopter was traveling above Highway 101 by Calabasas at 160 mph, according to the Los Angeles Times.Highway 101 and the Calabasas neighborhood in California, where Bryant’s helicopter flew over in its last minutes.

Google Maps

Source: LA Times

The pilot then climbed about 875 feet in less than one minute — slowing the helicopter’s speed to 125 mph — then made a sharp left turn, the Times said. He appeared to have lost contact with air-traffic control.A Sikorsky S-76 owned by Germany’s Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, unrelated to the crash.

Holger Hollemann/picture alliance/Getty Images

The pilot had been ascending to avoid a cloud layer just before the helicopter crashed, the NTSB said.

“Radar data indicates the helicopter climbed to 2,300 feet and then began a left descending turn,” Homendy said.

Around 9:45 a.m., the helicopter crashed into a hilly area in Thousand Oaks at about 1,700 feet. It had been flying at about 153 knots, or 176 mph, according to FlightRadar24.Smoke rises from the scene of a helicopter crash that killed Bryant on Sunday.

Ringo Chiu/Reuters

The last radar contact with the helicopter was around 9:45 a.m., consistent with the crash’s location, according to the NTSB.

The helicopter was 11,000 pounds heavy, the Times said.

Source: FlightRadar24

This map shows the helicopter’s flight path.

Skye Gould/Business Insider

The NTSB said the helicopter’s condition at the time of the crash was not yet clear. Pieces of the helicopter were scattered around the hillside, over about 500 to 600 feet, near the crash.

Source: Business Insider

It was a “high-energy impact crash,” the NTSB said, adding that the helicopter missed clearing a hill by 20 to 30 feet.Officials at the helicopter crash site of NBA star Kobe Bryant in Calabasas, California, on January 27, 2020.

Danny Moloshok/Reuters

Homendy said at a press briefing that the helicopter descended at 2,000 feet per minute.

Responders were called to the site at 9:47 a.m. The crash had ignited a brush fire over about a quarter-acre, the Times reported.California officials at the hillside where Bryant’s helicopter crashed.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

The helicopter would have had about 800 pounds of fuel on board at that time, Deetz, the pilot who had flown Bryant before, told the Times.

“That’s enough to start a pretty big fire,” Deetz told the newspaper.

Officials also shut down roads leading to the crash site because so many people were trying to approach it.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that the department was protecting the area around the crash site to prevent trespassing.

There was no black box aboard the helicopter. The device, which records flight data and cockpit audio, was not required for the aircraft, the NTSB said.

Cheri Carlson/Ventura County Star/Reuters

However, the pilot did use an iPad, which the NTSB recovered.

Investigators are also looking for other electronics that were on board, Homendy said.

Source: Business Insider

The aircraft was also missing a warning system that could have alerted the pilot to the hills below.Homendy speaks about the crash on Monday.

Danny Moloshok/Reuters

Homendy said that the helicopter didn’t have a terrain awareness and warning system, designed to provide terrain information to the pilot and prevent crashes.

The NTSB in 2006 called on the FAA to require all US-registered helicopters that carry at least six people to be equipped with the system, but Homendy said the FAA “failed to act.”

The Journal reported that the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter was rolled out before the agency required the system on new aircraft.

Los Angeles authorities sealed off the surrounding roads after the crash but said that mourners, paparazzi, and “looky-loos” kept coming. The sheriff dispatched officers to patrol on horseback and quad bikes.Sheriff’s deputies on horseback leave the crash site on Monday.

Mark J. Terrill/AP

The sheriff also made it a misdemeanor to access the crash site without permission.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office said that all nine bodies had been recovered from the crash site.A mourner wearing a Lakers shirt and holding a Bryant book.

REUTERS/Monica Almeida

The coroner said three of the bodies were recovered on the afternoon of the crash and the six others were removed the next day. All the bodies were taken to the department’s forensic science center for identification.

 

But questions remain about the crash. Why did Bryant’s party fly despite the poor weather conditions? Whose decision was it to take off?People looking at an image of Bryant.

Monica Almeida/Reuters

It was likely extremely hard to fly at the time.

At 9:51 a.m., minutes after the crash, the nearby Van Nuys Airport reported visibility of 2.5 miles with 80% relative humidity and a ceiling of 1,300 feet, as well as haze, The Washington Post reported.

The Journal said that while it was too early for definitive answers about what went wrong, safety experts said the “crash highlights two of the biggest issue causes of chopper accidents: low-altitude operations and pilot disorientation about nearby structures or terrain in low visibility.”

Why did the plane fly toward Thousand Oaks in its last minutes? Was it going too fast?A Sikorsky S-76 helicopter unrelated to Bryant’s crash.

Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

Homendy told reporters that the speed of the aircraft is “still something we have to analyze as part of our investigation.”

Was there anything wrong with the helicopter during the flight?A memorial for Bryant.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Experts said the crash was more likely caused by the bad weather.

“The likelihood of a catastrophic twin-engine failure on that aircraft — it just doesn’t happen,” Deetz told the Times.

A 2021 NTSB report assigned blame to the helicopter’s pilotA mural for Kobe and Gigi Bryant.

Getty/Apu Gomes

In February 2021, just over a year after the crash, the NTSB released the final conclusions of their investigation. The investigation confirmed that the crash happened due to the pilot and was also tied to weather conditions.

The pilot had lost contact with flight radars moments before the crash, per the report.

The report stated that when the pilot tried to fly from 1,500 feet to 4,000 feet to get above the cloud cover, he lost contact with radar services. A first controller told him he would no longer be able to assist if he did that and was cut off until a second controller was able to connect with the pilot around 2,300 feet up.

“The second controller was not aware of the aircraft, as services had previously been terminated, so asked the pilot to identify the flight,” the report stated. “The controller then asked the pilot his intentions, to which he replied he was climbing to 4,000 feet. There were no further transmissions.”

The helicopter crashed at 9:44 a.m. that day, plummeting from 2,300 feet into a rocky mountain face that was 1,500 feet above ground level.

During several lawsuits and a trial involving Vanessa Bryant, new details about the crash became publicA bronze sculpture honoring former Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna Bryant, and the names of those who died, is displayed at the site of a 2020 helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif, on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022.

(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

In June 2021, Vanessa Bryant and the surviving family members of the victims of the crash settled a lawsuit against Island Helicopters in federal court, according to NBC.

A year later, Bryant and Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter died in the crash, took Los Angeles County first responders to trial over illicit crash site photos that Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputies and County Fire officials took and circulated of Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, and other victims moments after the crash. 

Los Angeles County first responders testified about the grisly crash site, and several steps that were taken to identify the helicopter. Ultimately, jurors found that the first responders had improperly taken the crash site photos and Bryant’s lawyers argued that only the NTSB and Coroner’s office needed to take photos of the crash.

During the emotional trial, Bryant testified about the moment she received the call that the helicopter might have crashed after not hearing from Kobe for longer than usual, and traveling to the Las Virgenes water district to receive the news. She also spoke about the suicidal ideations she dealt with in the aftermath of the crash, compounded by learning about the photos first responders had taken.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, a close friend of the Bryant family, testified about returning to the crash site with Vanessa Bryant 6 months after it happened, to “touch the soil from where they went to heaven.”

 

 

 

Getty

• You can contact Amazon’s customer service team through the website.
• For basic issues, Amazon’s customer service page has helpful FAQs and support articles.
• For complicated problems, you can call Amazon directly at 1-888-280-4331.

Considering we order everything from household essentials to clothes to groceries on Amazon, not to mention rely on devices like Amazon Echo, Alexa, Kindles, and Fire tablets, there’s no doubt you’ll need to contact the online retailer at some point to initiate a return, make changes to an order, or troubleshoot a feature.

And although Amazon often makes contacting them difficult, there are a variety of ways to use their customer service tools. And a few of them even let you talk to a real person. 

Use Amazon’s Customer Service Help page

The quickest way to get help with an Amazon order or account is to visit the Customer Service page.

This page should help you with most basic issues.

Amazon

The majority of your questions and issues can probably be solved through this page alone. If you need help tracking down an order that hasn’t arrived, starting a refund, reloading a gift card, managing details on your account, or troubleshooting devices, check out this page’s help articles.

Email Amazon customer service

Sometimes you may not be able to find the answer to your specific question on the Customer Service page. In that case, you could email cs-reply@amazon.com with a detailed message describing your issue. 

Unfortunately, they really don’t like to handle customer support issues over email, so it can take a long time to get a response. For that reason, emailing Amazon should be seen as a way to get solutions for problems that are important, but not urgent.

Call Amazon customer service

Amazon’s customer service phone number is 1-888-280-4331, and that number is live 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Like most major retailers, Amazon prefers that you use one of its automated customer support methods. Even if you call them directly, you’ll speak with a bot before you hear from a real person. But if you keep digging, you’ll eventually connect with a human.

This method also requires you to have a cell phone connected to your Amazon account, since you’ll need to enter a verification code or click a link that gets texted to you.

If calling seems like a hassle, you can use their online live chat too.

Try Amazon’s online live chat

Often an online chat with an Amazon customer service rep is an easier way to get in contact with Amazon and to resolve an issue. Here’s how to do it.

1. Head back to the Help page we talked about above, and select the Something else option at the top.

2. When it asks what you need help with, select I need more help.

3. A new window will open, and Amazon’s automated messenger bot will ask you what your issue is. Say, “Talk to a representative” until it presents you with the following options:

• Chat with an associate now: Talk with a customer service representative over chat 
• Request a phone call: Speak with someone on the phone.

Tell the bot that you want to speak with a representative.

Amazon; William Antonelli/Insider

Quick tip: If you’d like to see if other consumers have raised similar issues as you around Amazon services or hardware, you can browse Amazon’s Digital and Device Forum.

Contact Amazon via social media

If your preferred method of communication is social media, you can comment, tweet, or hashtag one of their several accounts. This isn’t the most efficient way to reach them, but it can work if you’re patient.

Amazon’s customer service Twitter account is @amazonhelp. Their Facebook page is www.facebook.com/Amazon. And on Instagram, they’re — you guessed it — @amazon.

Getty Images

• UPenn professor Ethan Mollick now requires his students to use ChatGPT in their studies, per NPR.
• His new policy comes as educators grapple with the implications of AI.
• While some schools banned ChatGPT, Mollick said that it can serve as a useful learning tool.

While ChatGPT may be getting heat from certain educators who worry it will facilitate cheating, one professor said that he is embracing the technology with open arms.

Ethan Mollick, an entrepreneurship and innovation professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told NPR on Thursday that he now requires his students to use ChatGPT to help with their classwork.

“This is a tool that’s useful,” Mollick said during the NPR interview. “There’s a lot of positives about it. That doesn’t minimize the fact that cheating and negativity are there, but those have been there for a long time.” 

His new AI policy — which NPR reviewed — calls AI usage an “emerging skill.” The policy also states that students must check ChatGPT’s responses and will be held accountable for any inaccuracies that the bot spits out.

Mollick said that he’s already seeing positive results. During class this week, nearly all of his students used ChatGPT to help generate project ideas for an assignment.

“The ideas so far are great, partially as a result of that set of interactions,” Mollick said.

He also said it can help students, especially non-native English speakers, improve their writing and alleviate the burden of stressful writing tasks, such as writing emails and letters. Some of his students who have used the AI to do just that told him that they were “taken more seriously” as a result. 

Mollick did not respond to Insider’s request for comment. 

The Wharton professor’s policy comes after some schools decided to ban students and teachers from using ChatGPT out of fear that it would encourage plagiarism and cheating. Some professors have already caught their students using ChatGPT to write their essays, and one university student even made a tool to identify AI plagiarism.

But Mollick is part of a class of educators who think that ChatGPT can actually be useful. 

He admits that it is “depressing” to know that cheating may occur at “an even grander scale” as a result of ChatGPT. But at the same time, he thinks that teachers must learn to adapt to new technologies as they emerge.

“We’ve taught people how to do math in a world with calculators,” he said, likening ChatGPT to that technology.

Sam Altman — the CEO of OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT — echoed the sentiment.

In an interview with StrictlyVC, Altman said that he understands why educators are worried about ChatGPT, but that ultimately, the benefits would outweigh the costs. He said that the chat bot can be “an unbelievable personal tutor.”

“Generative text is something we all need to adapt to,” Altman said.

And it’s not like ChatGPT is perfect.

“AI will never be as good as the best experts in a field,” Mollick said. “We still need to teach people to be experts.”

Andrew Harnik/ AP Photo

• George Santos reportedly wrote Facebook comments over a decade ago joking about Hitler.
• Santos, who would later claim to be Jewish, has been the subject of a variety of scandals related to his past.
• Santos’ office declined to comment on the Patch report.

Embattled Republican lawmaker George Santos commented on a Facebook post over a decade ago joking about Hitler, ‘the Jews,’ and Black people, according to screenshots obtained by Patch.com. 

According to Patch, Santos commented on a friend’s photo of an apparent military salute in March 2011: “hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh hiiiiiiiiiiiitlerrrrrrrrrrr (hight hitler) lolololololololololololol sombody kill her!! the jews and black [sic] mostly lolllolol!!! Dum”

George Santos’ office declined to comment.

Santos previously claimed he was Jewish while running for office, but backpedaled after winning his race after reporters found he had no Jewish heritage.

A former roommate alleged Santos used a fake Jewish-sounding last name to raise money on a GoFundMe page, thinking it would raise more money.

Santos has faced numerous allegations of lying and has admitted he fabricated parts of his resume and background, including his work history and education.

The swirl of scandals around Santos has grown so intense that a recent poll found that nationally he is more nationally well-known than much more senior and powerful congressional leaders.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has stood behind the freshman lawmaker amid the litany of reports. McCarthy, according to multiple reports, did privately concede to House Republicans on Wednesday that Santos would be removed from his two committee assignments if he is charged with a crime. There are currently multiple investigations examining Santos’ conduct.

Santos has refused to resign in the face of such calls from both fellow House Republicans and senior party officials in New York.   

US Army/Spc. Joshua Taeckens

• The US, UK, and Germany have agreed to provide their tanks to Ukraine, as have some other countries.
• Those tanks now join hundreds of other armored vehicles delivered or promised to Kyiv.
• That armor will be vital against Russia when fighting intensifies this spring, US officials say.

US-made Abrams tanks will join a wave of Western armor heading to Ukraine in the coming months to equip Kyiv to fend off looming Russian offensives, US officials said Wednesday.

The 31 Abrams tanks the US will send to Ukraine likely won’t arrive for months or longer, but the US and European countries have already committed to sending Ukraine several different types of armored vehicles.

These include the French-made AMX-10 RC armored combat and reconnaissance vehicle, the US-made Stryker armored personnel carrier, and infantry fighting vehicles like the American Bradley, German Marder, and Swedish Combat Vehicle 90. And although Ukraine already had Soviet-era BMP infantry fighting vehicles in its arsenal, it welcomed the transfer of additional vehicles from NATO members like Greece and Slovakia.

European countries have also pledged to send their own tanks, such as the German-made Leopard 2 and British Challenger 2.

A German Leopard 2 in Munster in May 2019.

Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images

The US and the Netherlands are also refurbishing 90 Soviet-era T-72 tanks that they pledged to send to Ukraine in November. “About half of those are arriving on the battlefields now,” a senior Biden administration official said.

“So you’re going to see hundreds of armored vehicles, exceptionally capable vehicles, and tanks arriving in Ukraine, and importantly, they will be arriving with trained crews that are prepared to operate as part of a larger” operation, the official added, speaking anonymously to brief reporters on the US’s Abrams announcement.

The time needed to procure Abrams tanks will allow for training and logistics pipelines to be set up, a second official said, noting that the Leopards will arrive sooner.

“So coupled with this near-term commitment that the Germans have made on Leopard, we think that this contribution by us with the Abrams represents the long-term commitment,” the second official added.

No silver bullets

A Ukrainian soldier checks a wrecked Russian tank outside a village east of Kharkiv in April 2022.

SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images

Alongside official debates about whether to send Western tanks to Ukraine, experts have debated the utility of those tanks in light of the new training and logistics networks that Ukraine will need in order to operate them.

Western third-generation main battle tanks — including Abrams, Challengers, and Leopards — “are formidable weapons systems,” but to use them successfully Ukraine will need new or revised doctrines for training, tank warfare, and fire support, Franz-Stefan Gady, a senior fellow at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, said this month.

In addition to different spare parts and ammunition, supplies of which are limited, Kyiv will need repair facilities inside and outside of Ukraine, Gady said, adding that “operating 3 different Western-made [main battle tanks] will be a logistical nightmare (but doable).”

A British army Challenger 2 tank during a live-fire exercise in Germany in December 2018.

Mr Dominic King/Crown copyright 2018

Leopard, Challenger, and Abrams tanks weigh roughly 20 tons more than the Soviet-designed tanks that Ukraine has been using, and “there is little Ukrainian infrastructure along which such heavy vehicles can travel, while their engineering and recovery vehicles are optimised to support Soviet designs,” Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, wrote this month.

“Putting aside the training needed to maintain and fight with NATO-designed tanks, they would also need to be provided alongside combat engineering and mobility support vehicles if they were to be employable at any scale,” Watling added. (On Wednesday, US officials said M88 recovery vehicles would be delivered with the Abrams tanks.)

Experts have also stressed that the battlefield impact of new tanks should not be overstated.

Western-made vehicles will give Ukraine a boost over the Soviet-era tanks that both sides have relied upon, but their utility may ultimately depend on how many are transferred — they won’t be a silver bullet, experts say. Other weaponry, including air-defense systems, artillery, and artillery ammunition, are also high priorities.

The US and Germany have agreed to send M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Elmurod Usubaliev/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

But armored vehicles and tanks are vital components of combined arms warfare, which depends on infantry, armor, artillery, and air forces working in coordination to move quickly and overwhelm resistance.

“If you want to conduct offensive operations against entrenched forces, you have to mass combat power, and tanks are more likely to survive than the alternatives,” Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said this month. “The combination of armor, mobility, and firepower that tanks provide is still important in ground warfare.”

Ukrainian troops began larger-scale combined arms warfare training in Germany this month, and Western officials have reportedly been pushing Ukraine to adopt it more widely in the months ahead.

‘Their sovereign territory’

Ukrainian soldiers work on a tank in the Kharkiv region on January 23.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The second administration official said on Wednesday that the decision to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine now, after months of officials saying they weren’t suitable for the conditions Ukraine faced, reflected US efforts “to evolve the capabilities we are providing to Ukraine with the war itself” in order to meet Kyiv’s current and future needs.

“I think we all look at what’s happening now and what we expect to happen in the future, particularly in the Donbas area, [and] the kinds of capabilities that Ukraine really needs are … combined-arms maneuver capabilities, the ability to fight effectively in open terrain particularly,” the official added, “and armored capabilities are a key part of that.”

Asked if the US saw these tanks as a means with which to retake Russian-occupied territory, including Crimea, the second official stressed that the US doesn’t tell Kyiv where to strike or “where to conduct offensive operations.”

“These are their decisions to make,” the official added, “but we want to make sure that they have the right capabilities to not only defend themselves against the Russian onslaught — and we do expect that Mr. Putin and the Russian military will try to go on the offense here in the coming weeks and months as the weather gets better — but also that they have the ability to retake, to reclaim their sovereign territory.”

Manuel Balce Ceneta, File/AP Photo

• Biden called out House Republicans for introducing plans that he said would worsen inflation.
• This comes after new promising data on Thursday that found the economy is continuing to grow.
• One GOP plan to strip funding from the IRS would add $114 billion to the deficit over ten years, the CBO found.

In a lengthy — and sometimes loud — speech on Thursday, President Joe Biden took aim at the House GOP’s economic priorities.

“They seem determined to be the party of chaos and catastrophe,” Biden said.

Leading up to the midterm elections, Republican lawmakers frequently criticized the Biden administration for high inflation, and they vowed that if elected, their economic plans would lower costs for Americans.

“They campaigned on inflation,” Biden said. “Then, safely elected, they plan to make it worse.”

Current Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, for example, blamed Biden and Democrats for soaring food prices, saying in October that “that’s why when you go to the store, eggs are higher. You’ve got milk higher, your gasoline prices higher. It is the Democrat policies that brought that.”

Biden took aim at GOP proposals to abolish the income tax and estate tax and enact a flat 30% sales tax instead, saying that it would be imposed on everything from “eggs to automobiles.” Flat sales taxes are likely regressive, as lower-income households spend a greater proportion of their income on goods than wealthier households. Republicans are targeting income taxes because “that’s the only way that millionaires and billionaires have to pay any taxes,” Biden said.

Upon winning the House majority, GOP lawmakers put forward legislation to rescind $80 billion earmarked for the IRS in an attempt to cut spending. However, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that that legislation would actually add a net $114 billion to the deficit. 

The GOP’s economic agenda actually wouldn’t tackle inflation, according to Biden. Meanwhile, the US continues to receive promising economic data that show the economy is recovering from the pandemic.

For example, new data on Thursday found that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 2.9% in the last quarter of 2022, showing growth amid recession concerns. The Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, rose 6.5% year-over-year in December — still high, but a slowdown from November’s reading of 7.1%.

Despite frequent GOP pushback on how the administration is handling inflation, Biden and other Democratic lawmakers continue to tout its progress — and how the country is inching closer to achieving the 2% inflation level Americans saw pre-pandemic. The Federal Reserve is also likely to adopt a slower pace for its interest rate increases over the course of the year, given the inflation slowdown. 

“We’re moving in the right direction now,” Biden said during his Thursday speech. “We gotta protect those gains that our policies have generated, protect them from the MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives who are threatening to destroy this progress.”