A single asteroid strike can reshape a planet, and Earth’s history is marked by several cataclysmic impacts.
This map by Julie Peasley for Visual Capitalist uses data from the Earth Impact Database to showcase the 12 largest confirmed impact craters on Earth, ranging from massive basin-forming events to relatively recent collisions.
The World’s Largest Craters by Diameter
The following table ranks the top 12 confirmed impact craters based on their estimated rim-to-rim diameter:
While Vredefort in South Africa ranks first at 99 miles (160 km), it formed over 2 billion years ago and has been significantly eroded. In contrast, the second-ranked Chicxulub crater in Mexico retains a clearer structure and is famous for its role in the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event that wiped out most dinosaurs.
Extinction Events and Impact Size
Interestingly, larger crater size doesn’t always mean greater devastation. As scientists have noted, factors like impact velocity, angle, and composition can be just as important. The Chicxulub impactor likely released over 100 million megatons of TNT-equivalent energy, triggering firestorms, tsunamis, and a global winter.
In contrast, older impacts like Morokweng or Sudbury were equally massive but occurred long before complex life had evolved, so they did not cause any known mass extinction events.
Lasting Geological Signatures
Some craters, such as Sudbury in Ontario, have left behind unique geological formations and mineral deposits. The Sudbury Basin remains one of the most economically important mining regions in the world, rich in nickel and copper.
Others, like the Morokweng crater in South Africa, have even preserved fragments of the original meteorite thousands of meters beneath the surface.
Why So Few Ancient Craters Remain
Despite Earth’s long history, many early craters have vanished due to erosion and tectonic activity. Earth’s oldest impact scars are gradually being lost to time—unlike the Moon or Mars, which preserve theirs far better. This is why craters like Vredefort or Beaverhead are so valuable: they offer rare glimpses into planetary-scale violence from billions of years ago.
Curious about the cosmos? Explore Every Moon in the Solar System and dive deeper into the celestial bodies orbiting our planets.
Blanking out during the day is common for the sleep-deprived, and now researchers have found out why it happens.
When people experience attention lapses after poor sleep, a wave of cerebrospinal fluid flows out of the brain.
During sleep, cerebrospinal fluid—part of the brain’s cleaning system—flushes away waste products, but sleep deprivation forces this process to activate during waking hours.
“If you don’t sleep, the [cerebrospinal fluid] CSF waves start to intrude into wakefulness where normally you wouldn’t see them,” senior study author Laura Lewis, an associate professor at MIT, said in a press statement. “They come with an attentional tradeoff, where attention fails during the moments that you have this wave of fluid flow.”
The Body Signals Before the Brain Crashes
The study, published in October 2025 in Nature Neuroscience, included 26 volunteers.
The volunteers were tested twice—once after a night of sleep deprivation and once when well rested.
During the tests, participants wore EEG caps that measured their brain activity while inside an MRI scanner, which measured the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. They were then asked to complete attention tasks.
In the first test, they listened to a brief tone and pressed a button as quickly as possible when they heard it. In the second test, participants looked at a screen showing a cross at all times. When the cross changed into a square, they pressed a button as quickly as possible.
Both tests measured how fast the person responded to different signals—one auditory and one visual.
Unsurprisingly, participants performed worse when they were sleep-deprived, with slower response times and missed stimuli.
When sleep-deprived people blanked out, researchers observed cerebrospinal fluid flowing out of the brain, followed by its return as attention recovered. Pupil constriction occurred about 12 seconds before cerebrospinal fluid flowed out, with dilation happening after the attention lapse.
“What’s interesting is it seems like this isn’t just a phenomenon in the brain, it’s also a body-wide event. It suggests that there’s a tight coordination of these systems,” Lewis noted.
The researchers suggest a single circuit may govern both attention and bodily functions such as fluid flow, heart rate, and arousal. One likely candidate is the noradrenergic system, which helps regulate thinking and body functions through the neurotransmitter norepinephrine and naturally rises and falls during sleep.
Why the Brain’s Cleaning System Matters
During deep, non-REM sleep, cerebrospinal fluid flows through the brain in rhythmic waves, clearing out waste products like beta-amyloid and tau proteins—the same ones that accumulate in Alzheimer’s disease.
“When you’re sleep-deprived, this cleaning system doesn’t work as well,” Leah Kaylor, author of “If Sleep Were A Drug” and a clinical psychologist not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times. “In simple terms, when you cut corners on sleep, you cut corners on brain maintenance.”
The consequences can extend beyond momentary attention lapses. Chronic disruption of the glymphatic system has been called “the final common pathway” to dementia, Dr. Hamid Djalilian, a professor of otolaryngology, neurosurgery, and biomedical engineering at the University of California, who was not involved with the study, told The Epoch Times.
“When there is inadequate clearance of waste proteins in the brain, they start to form the very plaques and tangles that are the hallmarks of dementia,” he added.
However, dentist and sleep expert Dr. Stephen Carstensen noted that occasional sleep deprivation shouldn’t result in permanent damage. “[The] human brain is capable of a great deal of response without serious permanent change, this allows us to function even while sleepy,” Carstensen told The Epoch Times. However, if sleep deprivation becomes chronic, this poor response could become “the new ‘normal,’” for that person’s brain.
Consistency Is Key to Good Sleep
You don’t need perfect sleep every night, but consistency is key, Kaylor said. She recommends aiming for seven to nine hours of sleep most nights, and keeping a regular bedtime and wake time—even on weekends.
She advises limiting screen time, caffeine, and alcohol before bed, since they can interfere with deep sleep.
“Create a cool, dark, quiet sleep space—and keep work, phones, and TVs out of the bedroom,” Kaylor said.
However, if sleep problems last more than a few weeks, or you feel exhausted despite enough hours in bed, she recommends seeing a sleep specialist. “Treating insomnia, sleep apnea, or circadian rhythm issues can make a major difference in long-term health,” Kaylor emphasized.
She added that sleep is not wasted time—it’s when the brain cleans itself, resets its chemistry, and helps the body repair and recover. “Protecting sleep is one of the most powerful things you can do to preserve mental sharpness, emotional stability, and long-term brain health.”
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The number shown for each state represents births per 1,000 people, and is based on most recent fertility rate data and state demographics.
Utah’s Demographic Advantage
Utah ranks first in the nation, with an estimated 9.7 babies born per 1,000 people each year.
The state’s relatively young population plays a major role, as younger adults are more likely to be in childbearing years. Cultural and religious influences also contribute, with larger family sizes remaining more common than in many other states.
Large States, Strong Numbers
Texas and California rank near the top both in absolute and relative terms. California is projected to see more than 340,000 births per year, while Texas exceeds 278,000. On a per-capita basis, both states are driven by younger populations and higher shares of immigrants.
Where Birth Rates Lag
States in the Northeast and parts of the Midwest tend to rank lower. Maine, Vermont, and West Virginia sit near the bottom, with fewer than eight babies born per 1,000 people annually. Older populations, higher living costs, and delayed family formation all play a role.
The Florida legislature has begun to move legislation (HB 999) to enact their prior approval for gold and silver coins to be legal tender in Florida.
This legislation will exempt gold and silver coins from sales tax in Florida. It also means that within Florida, there will be a means of payment independent of digital money created by governments for the purpose of controlling the population, it’s behavior, and it’s expressed views, in order that governments can rule via official narratives.
It is possible that if circumstances develop the tyrants in Washington will establish martial law in Florida and dispense with the use of real money in place of digital money that has no physical existence.
Unless all states adopt the legalization of gold and silver as legal tender, Floridians would be unable to make out of state payments and would have to become an economy unto itself, producing all of its own needs. This is the safest and most preferable way to exist.
Throughout history, gold and silver have been the means of payments. The Roman legions were paid in silver coins, the denarius. Estates were purchased for gold.
Paper money appeared originally as a receipt on gold holdings. If their gold was a large amount, people kept their gold in the vaults of goldsmiths and wrote notes to the goldsmiths to release the payment amount of the transaction to their business associates in order to pay their bills.
Goldsmiths learned that few ever claimed physical possession of their gold, instead using written notes, in effect checks, to transfer ownership. Thus goldsmiths became the first bankers, knowing that they could lend out the gold in their vaults that few ever came for. Moreover neither did those who borrowed the gold take possession physically. They merely wrote to the Goldsmith that they had made a payment that transferred ownership. Thus some percentage of their holding was transferred to the third-party.
This was the origin of fractional reserve banking.
When I was born gold was no longer a legal means of payment in the United States. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a liberal hero, had confiscated all the goal in the hands of the American population.
Once he had it, he raised the price from $20 an ounce to $35 an ounce. Later, it was raised to $42 an ounce and stood there until Senator Jesse Helms in the 1970s got legislation passed permitting Americans to again own gold coins, but gold was not made an official means of payment.
Following World War II, the Breton Woods agreement gave the US dollar the world reserve currency role. This meant that US debt in the form of Treasury bonds became the reserves of the world’s central banks. Thus, the US government was able to pay its bills by issuing debt as US Treasury debt was the reserves of the world’s central banks. Initially under the Brenton Woods system foreign central banks could redeem their holdings of US treasuries for gold. However, by demanding gold in exchange for France’s holdings of US debt, President Charles de Gaulle prompted the closing of the “gold window” in the 1970s, and US debt could no longer be exchanged for gold.
When I was born, silver was a means of payment. There were one dollar, two dollar, and five dollar Treasury Certificates, not federal reserve notes, that were exchangeable for silver at the price of one dollar per ounce of silver.
In my youth silver was used for transactions less than a dollar.The 10 cent piece known as the dime was silver. The 25 cent piece, or quarter dollar, was silver. So was the 50 cent piece. The penny was copper.
US one dollar bills, whether silver certificates or not, could be exchanged for a silver dollar at a bank, but silver dollars were not used in transactions. They existed to remind us that in the 19th century cowboys were paid 30 silver dollars per month and could survive on it.
For many years as my articles have documented, the US dollar has been able to maintain its value because gold and silver short-selling was able to hold down the rise in the dollar price of gold and silver.
Unlike equities, it is possible to short the precious metals market without holding collateral against the short. The futures market for gold and silver permits the printing of paper gold and silver in the form of futures contracts that are dumped in the futures market where the contracts drive down the prices of the precious metals. The peculiarity of the precious metals market is that the price of gold and silver has not been determined in the physical market where it is bought and sold, but in the futures market where it can be shorted by printing claims to gold and silver.
Recently in response to uncertainty of the value of increasing amounts of paper dollars not backed by anything, the demand for real money in the form of precious metals has overwhelmed the ability to use short-selling to hold down the prices of gold and silver.
As gold and silver prices rose, speculators joined the rise.
Speculators simply see opportunities, and when they had accumulated sufficient gain, they cashed out of the rise, resulting in a sharp fall in gold and silver prices.
However, the underlying situation that raised the dollar prices of real money has not changed, and therefore once speculative profits are removed from gold and silver prices the rise in the value of precious metals will resume.
One possible reason for President Trump’s desire for Venezuela’s oil and other assets, Greenland, and assets in Ukraine is to prop up the dollar with real things.
As I have pointed out on numerous occasions, the power of the United States rests on the dollar’s role as world reserve currency as this permits the US to pay its bills by issuing debt. China understands the value of having the role 0f being the reserve currency and has announced that it wants this role for the Chinese currency. As China is less indebted, more industrialized, and has a higher gross domestic product than the United States, it is possible that the continuation of the rapid growth of US national debt will result in the US losing the reserve currency role to China.
For several decades, the United States has had a destructive policy of offshoring its manufacturing, thereby weakening its own economy while the US government ran up massive amounts of debt. With the dollar already questionable Washington further undermined the dollar by weaponizing it, thus making it risky for central banks to hold US dollars in the form of Treasury debt as reserves. The seizure of Russian central bank reserves in the amount of $300 billion demonstrated the risk.
With no end of American wars and spending sprees in sight, the US dollar’s role as world reserve currency could well be in jeopardy.
Once this role is lost the dollar’s value in terms of other currencies will fall, and as the United States has become an import-dependent economy, US inflation would explode, further driving down the dollar.
Policy makers should take notice of this threat.
It is a more serious threat to America than is Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, or Russia in Ukraine and the Arctic.
It is far more important for the United States to protect the value of its currency than for the United States to spend another trillion dollars, clearing Israel’s opponents from the Middle East.
Our review of Facebook, X, media coverage, and local officials’ comments suggests that the cold snap across the Mid-Atlantic has put data centers and power bills in the spotlight, especially given that PJM Interconnection is already operating in a very tight grid environment.
Even as residents in Mid-Atlantic states increasingly push back against data centers while watching their monthly power bills soar, local officials, some of whom are partly responsible for tightening grid spare capacity with backfiring “green” policies, are scrambling as public anger grows.
However, Goldman analysts led by Hongcen Wei have some disappointing news for residents in the Mid-Atlantic, and frankly elsewhere, who are trying to slow data center development: “U.S. Local Regulatory Pushbacks Against Data Centers Are Not Slowing Development.”
Wei, Daan Struyven, and Samantha Dart explained:
Media coverage highlights growing local community pushbacks against data center developments, posing a slow-down risk to data center power demand growth, along with US power market tightness. While local regulatory reviews could pause data center approvals temporarily, we believe resulting regulations could lead to fewer pushbacks and streamlined development processes by enhancing power reliability and affordability and establishing clear requirements. Ultimately, we believe power tightness remains the primary risk that could slow the US in the AI race with China.
We note that these pushbacks mostly originated from local communities with little exposure to data centers. In such cases, we expect proposed data centers to relocate rather than be canceled in the extreme scenario of a ban, given elevated demand for data centers and AI. This suggests no significant impact on overall future data center power demand growth at the state or national level.
We take Georgia as an example, where we estimate the power market is not tightening and power price increases were below the national average in 2025. There was wave of moratoriums enacted by at least six counties in the past year, putting a pause on new data centers for at least a few months (for example, in Coweta and DeKalb counties). However, most of these counties have no existing data centers, only proposed projects to start in a few years, so we do not expect these moratoriums to impact data center developments in the near future. Going forward, with no clustering advantage within these counties (to stay close to another data center with established data highways), we believe even permanent bans would only result in project relocation to a more welcoming area (potentially the neighboring county) rather than cancellations
In other communities with both regulatory actions and existing data centers, regulatory reviews are often followed by continued and even accelerated growth. Rather than creating red tape, we believe updated regulations could streamline development processes by clearly defining specific requirements for data centers which are easier to follow than addressing diverse local community concerns.
Douglas County, the only one of the six Georgian counties with existing data centers (a top-10% county in the US), activated multiple new data centers in 2H2025 and more are scheduled for later following its 90-day moratorium on data centers starting from March 2025 (Exhibit 1).
Nationally, Loudoun County, Virginia, the world’s capital of data centers, started reviewing and updating its data center regulations in 2024 and approved them in 2025, with further regulations under consideration. However, the county continues to lead in data center capacity, with additions in the past year surpassing any other US county and its own previous records
Beyond local ordinances, we also see state-level legislation increasingly focusing on power affordability and reliability, which we do not expect to slow down data center developments. Specifically, we expect more regulations in the next few years aiming to shift more power costs from the public to data centers to incentivize additional power supply and to mitigate power bill increases. These regulations could take various formats, such as the President and several governors’ plan for the PJM (Mid-Atlantic) power market, or reductions in data center tax exemption (as seen in bills introduced in Arizona and Maryland). Nevertheless, we expect higher power costs to have limited impact on future data center power demand growth, as power costs are not a primary driver for data center expansion
Conversely, we believe state-level regulations that enhance power affordability and reliability could lead to a more favorable environment for accelerated data center developments, as Texas has started to demonstrate (Exhibit 2).
In June 2025, Texas passed its Senate Bill 6 (SB6) to regulate large electricity consumers, including data centers and cryptocurrency miners. The bill could be a bellwether for other states, with its new requirements for large-load customers to ensure power reliability, including backup generation and potential curtailments during emergencies. We do not expect these requirements to be a dealbreaker for new data centers, given our estimate that the Texas (mainly ERCOT) power market will be softer than other key regional power markets, resulting in a lower probability of curtailments, a key factor for data centers when choosing their location, while backup generation is always a standard component of data centers. In fact, Texas/ERCOT ranked second only to Virginia/PJM in data center capacity and additions across US states/power markets in 2025 (Exhibit 3). Going forward, we continue to consider Texas as one of the most competitive states for new data centers, with both high power availability and low time to client.
At least 31 people were killed and 169 others injured on Friday when a suicide bomber struck a Shia mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad during Friday prayers, Pakistani officials said, in one of the capital’s deadliest attacks in over a decade.
The blast happened in the Khadija al-Kubra Imambargah mosque in the outskirts of Islamabad, with police saying the attacker had been stopped at the mosque gate before opening fire and setting off explosives among worshipers, according to officials cited by Reuters.
Footage and images from the site showed bodies and debris scattered across the mosque’s carpeted prayer hall, with the wounded lying in the compound gardens, as bystanders called for help and rushed victims to hospitals.
Islamabad deputy commissioner Irfan Memon said the death toll stood at 31, adding that 169 injured people had been brought in for treatment, some in critical condition.
No group claimed responsibility yet; however, conflict monitor ACLED said the attack “bears the hallmarks of the Islamic State,“ while officials noted that Shia communities, a minority in Pakistan,have repeatedly been targeted in sectarian violence by extremist groups, including the Islamic State and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the bombing as “a crime against humanity,” ordering full medical assistance to be provided for the wounded.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said a thorough investigation is underway and that “those who are responsible must be identified and punished.”
The attack unfolded as Islamabad was already under heightened security for a visiting foreign leader, with checkpoints and armed patrols deployed across the capital.
While bombings are rare in the capital city, officials say militant violence has surged across the country in recent months.
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif accused India of sponsoring the attack without presenting evidence, a claim New Delhi did not immediately respond to and has repeatedly denied in the past.
The deadly mosque attack comes after Pakistani security forces launched large-scale operations in Balochistan – a vast, sparsely populated region in southwestern Pakistan – following a wave of coordinated gun and bomb attacks over the weekend that killed about 50 people.
A suicide blast in Shia mosque has killed more than 31 people in Islamabad, Pakistan. Jinnah made a country for Muslims but Muslims kill more Muslims than any other religion in Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/YQcVaY8bgs
Islamabad announced the killing of at least 145 separatist militants from the Balochistan Liberation Army, according to provincial officials. Authorities said the assaults targeted multiple districts, including Quetta and Gwadar, and included suicide bombings and gunfire at security installations.
Pakistan’s provincial leadership accused Afghanistan and India of backing the militants – claims that New Delhi has denied – as Islamabad imposed sweeping security restrictions across the province amid a broader surge in militant violence.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, and seven Chinese regulatory agencies published a joint statement on Friday banning the unapproved issuance of Renminbi-pegged stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).
The ban applies to both domestic and foreign stablecoin and tokenized RWA issuers, according to the statement, which was also signed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and China’s Securities Regulatory Commission. A translation of the announcement said:
“Stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies perform some of the functions of fiat currencies in disguise during circulation and use. No unit or individual at home or abroad may issue RMB-linked stablecoins without the consent of relevant departments.”
Winston Ma, an adjunct professor at New York University (NYU) Law School and former Managing Director of CIC, China’s sovereign wealth fund, told Cointelegraph that the ban extends to the onshore and offshore versions of China’s Renminbi, also called the yuan.
“The Beijing crypto ban rule applies across all RMB-related markets, whether CNH or CNY,” he said. CNH is the offshore version of the Renminbi, designed to give the currency flexibility in foreign exchange markets, without sacrificing currency controls, Ma said.
“This is the latest step in a multi‑year project: Keep speculative crypto outside the formal financial system, while actively promoting the usage of e-CNY, the sovereign CBDC issued by China’s central bank,” he said.
The announcement follows the Chinese government approving commercial banks to share interest with clients holding the country’s digital yuan, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) managed by state authorities
Chinese government briefly considered yuan-pegged stables, but focused on CBDC instead
In August 2025, reports began circulating that China’s government was considering allowing private companies to issue yuan-pegged stablecoins, a major reversal of long-standing policy.
However, the Chinese government restricted stablecoin and digital asset issuance in September of that same year, instructing stablecoin issuers to pause or halt their stablecoin trials until further notice.
As Florida lawmakers debate legislation in the state’s capital, Gov. Ron DeSantis is making an all-out push to a finish line.
The 47-year-old Republican is in the last year of his second four-year term as governor, making him ineligible to run again.
So he’s spending his political capital as he runs “through the tape,” he told The Epoch Times during an interview at the Florida Governor’s Mansion.
He’s hoping for this prize—for lawmakers to pass his proposed AI Bill of Rights. He said it’s needed to protect Floridians and the state’s natural resources from potential harms of unrestricted and explosive growth of artificial intelligence.
Senate Bill 482, dubbed the AI Bill of Rights, and the identical House Bill 1395 are taking separate journeys through the Florida Legislature, being examined by committees in both chambers. Lawmakers have until mid-March to pass the legislation.
DeSantis hopes they’ll pass, be merged into one bill, and sent to his desk for his signature, along with another bill meant to regulate the growth of data centers needed to power AI.
The governor realizes this legislative push may set him up for clashes with President Donald Trump, who has called for states not to meddle much in regulating AI. He and Trump, a former political mentor who helped DeSantis get elected in 2018, have vacillated between being allies and adversaries, with a warming of relations in the past year.
But DeSantis, a Harvard-trained lawyer, former congressman, and father of three young children, says curbing the creep of AI can’t wait.
Guardrails are needed now, he said, to protect the state’s people, jobs, economy, and environment from harm.
In December 2025, DeSantis announced his proposal for the AI Bill of Rights, which covers data privacy, parental controls for children’s interactions with AI, requirements for consumers to be alerted when dealing with AI, and much more.
The measure is needed, he said, because rapidly expanding AI technology already infiltrates daily life in everything from retail purchases to medical care. And often, people don’t realize they’re interacting with a technological tool, rather than a human, he said.
“Any new technology, as it’s developed, needs to be developed in an ethical way, in a moral way, and it’s got to reinforce our values as Americans,” DeSantis said. “And it cannot be something that is seeking to supplant the human experience. It needs to enhance the human experience.
“I get very nervous when I hear these people talk about this transhumanism as where somehow humans aren’t going to be in control, and the AI is going to rule the world,” he said.
That goes against what it means to be an American, he said.
“Our Founding Fathers, 250 years ago—they set forth the rule: We’re endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, not [by] machines.”
He said “there’s a lot of good that can come with technological innovation,” such as in medicine and national defense. “We welcome that in these particular areas, but there’s also really big downsides.”
Some of the proposed legislation would reinforce protections Florida previously passed against so-called “deepfakes” and explicit AI-created materials, including those depicting minors.
Deepfakes are realistic-looking images, videos, or audio recordings altered to make them appear as if a person has done or said something he or she didn’t do or say. Using AI, deepfakes can mimic a person’s likeness or voice well enough to fool others into believing they’re real.
The legislation would prohibit using AI to depict an individual without consent, such as in an advertisement or criminal scheme. And it would require notice when a person is interacting with AI, such as in a chatbot.
Chatbots simulate human conversations, often in customer service phone calls or messaging tools.
The new measure would prohibit state and local government agencies from using AI tools created by “foreign countries of concern,” such as China. And it would require what’s put into AI platforms by users to be kept private and block it from being sold.
DeSantis’s proposal would also prohibit businesses from offering what they call “licensed” therapy or mental health counseling to clients who interact with AI for that care.
And it would establish controls allowing children’s conversations with AI to be limited and monitored by parents. If a child “exhibits concerning behavior” when interacting with AI, the legislation would require that parents be notified.
The legislation also would limit how insurance companies use AI to decide on whether to pay insurance claims.
Data Center Demands
Around the world, there’s been widespread concern that facilities needed to support AI may affect the environment, natural resources, and the health of people living nearby in negative ways.
Digital hubs that process AI use massive amounts of resources. Data centers used 4.4 percent of the country’s electricity in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. By 2028, data center demand is expected to swell to up to 12 percent of total electricity usage across the country.
Large data centers use up to five million gallons of water per day. That’s about the same amount used by a town of 10,000–50,000 people, according to the Washington-based Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
DeSantis acknowledged that hyperscale data centers, as they’re known, can bring jobs and add lots of tax money to state coffers. But they need careful regulation, he said.
A related bill he’s pushing would prohibit taxpayer subsidies for Big Tech, would hold down energy costs, and would give local governments the option of turning away proposed development of the massive facilities needed to support AI workloads.
That bill would strengthen protections of Florida’s natural environment. And it would prohibit electric, gas, and water utilities from charging Florida residents more, as growing data centers demand more energy and water.
As AI use grows, Floridians likely will lose jobs, he said. Amazon announced on Jan. 28 that it would be cutting 16,000 jobs. The company increasingly uses AI in its operations.
Yet taxpayers facing job-loss to AI often are forced to help pay for AI expansion through federal subsidies to data centers, DeSantis said.
That could lead to “a generation of college students” who “won’t be able to find jobs,” he said. “That’s not going to be good for our society.”
DeSantis also described his concern that “whoever is controlling the data sets—they’re going to have a huge amount of power, the more pervasive these applications are in society.”
“And human nature being what it is—they will abuse that power. That will happen. And so, we need to have some protections against that abuse of power.”
That power, put under the control of a “handful of tech companies,” could be “more significant than has ever been wielded by a king or a president,” DeSantis told The Epoch Times.
Officially opposing Florida’s AI Bill of Rights is the Washington-based Computer & Communications Industry Association, an international group representing Google, Meta, and others.
The association sent members of the Florida Senate a letter saying that the proposed legislation “would impose an expansive and fragmented regulatory regime that risks chilling innovation, undermining free expression, and placing Florida significantly out of step with recommended federal and international approaches to artificial intelligence governance.”
The group’s top complaint is that the legislation “contains an overly broad and vague regulatory scope” and that the policies may cause privacy concerns.
Trump has been critical of states’ efforts to impose regulations on AI, too. It’s unclear whether Florida’s proposed AI Bill of Rights and data center restrictions could conflict with an executive order he signed a week after DeSantis announced the proposed legislation.
Among other things, the White House directive instructs federal agencies to identify states with “onerous laws” affecting AI and to restrict some of their federal funding. The order focuses on establishing a nationwide framework for AI, so states’ differing laws don’t create a “patchwork of 50 different regulatory regimes.”
It aims to eliminate “cumbersome regulation” for AI companies and seeks to foster innovation within the area so that the United States “wins the AI race.”
Until Congress passes a national standard for AI, the administration will challenge “excessive” state laws that hinder AI innovation, Trump’s order states.
The framework passed by Congress “must forbid state laws that conflict with policy set forth in this order,” and also should “ensure children are protected, censorship is prevented, copyrights are respected, and communities are safeguarded.”
“We remain in the earliest days of this technological revolution and are in a race with adversaries for supremacy within it,” the order says.
Last year, state lawmakers across the nation introduced more than 1,000 bills related to AI, with 38 states adopting laws targeting the technology, according to a recent report from the Cato Institute. In addition to Florida, laws in California, New York, and Texas could be affected by Trump’s order, which specifically calls out a Colorado statute prohibiting algorithmic discrimination.
AI Aversion
Opposition to unchecked AI continues to grow within the United States and internationally.
As of Feb. 4, more than 800 artists, writers, and actors signed on to a new anti-AI campaign in which they call for an end to the “theft” of their work.
Rashida Tlaib’s Terror Ties Under Scrutiny In New Watchdog Report
A damning new report from ISGAP Action has thrust Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) back into the spotlight, this time with allegations that extend beyond rhetoric and directly involve national security.
The nonpartisan group released findings that detail what it describes as a disturbing and recurring pattern of connections between the “Squad” member and individuals and organizations tied to designated terrorist groups, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
“As a sitting member of the United States Congress, Tlaib’s repeated engagement with figures who promote or excuse terrorism and antisemitic ideology presents a challenge to the integrity of democratic institutions, congressional ethics, and national security,” the report’s executive summary states.
The report raises serious questions about whether her presence in Congress poses a risk to national security and whether she has crossed a line that should trigger expulsion.
She has previously faced formal censure efforts in the House twice. In November 2023, she was censured for promoting false narratives about the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and using rhetoric widely viewed as antisemitic. The resolution cited her defense of Hamas as justified resistance within 24 hours of the attack, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, as well as her spreading a false claim that Israel bombed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital despite contrary U.S. and Israeli intelligence assessments.
A second censure resolution was introduced in September 2025 after her appearance at the People’s Conference for Palestine, where she was accused of promoting and cheering on terrorism and antisemitism.
But her rhetoric isn’t the only red flag. Between 2020 and 2025, Tlaib’s campaign and leadership PAC funneled nearly $600,000 to Unbought Power, a consulting firm run by Rasha Mubarak. Mubarak previously worked with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2009 Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial. She also held roles with the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights and Alliance for Global Justice, both of which have faced scrutiny for their ties to Hamas and PFLP-aligned networks. The payments, earmarked for fundraising consulting, were documented in Federal Election Commission filings and have drawn sharp criticism.
The ISGAP report also highlights Tlaib’s participation in events featuring known extremists. “For instance, Tlaib has shared the stage with Wisam Rafeedie, a convicted PFLP operative, and spoken at events where banners of Samidoun (a group designated as a terror proxy by the U.S. government) were prominently displayed,” the report explains. “Her comments at these events have included the glorification of ‘martyrs’ and calls for continued resistance, aligning her rhetoric with the ideological framework of jihadist organizations.”
The PFLP has a long and brutal history. In August 2019, a PFLP cell detonated an explosive device that killed 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb and seriously injured her father and brother at a natural spring near the Dolev settlement in the West Bank. Israel arrested 50 PFLP members in the aftermath, seizing guns and bomb-making equipment. The attack was led by Samer Mina Salim Arbid, who personally triggered the bomb remotely.
Currently, there is no evidence that Tlaib has violated 18 U.S. Code §2339B, the federal statute that criminalizes providing material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations. However, according to ISGAP Action, “certain patterns of engagement—such as appearing alongside individuals linked to such groups or echoing their rhetoric—raise serious ethical and national security concerns.”
Based on the current evidence, protected political speech and congressional immunity make legal action unlikely, but ISGAP Action argues that “the consistency and context of these associations may warrant further public scrutiny and oversight by congressional bodies.”
Despite the mounting evidence of ties to terror-linked individuals and organizations, no member of Congress has moved to expel her from the House of Representatives. However, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) seems to believe action is absolutely necessary.
If true, we should immediately vote to remove her from Congress. This is not political. This is not partisan. This is a matter of national security. https://t.co/zf0IXK2F6u
It is unlikely that action will be taken. Nevertheless, the report makes clear that Tlaib’s conduct demonstrates how extremist ideologies can infiltrate mainstream democratic institutions, even the U.S. Congress.
Don Lemon, still reeling from his arrest on federal civil rights charges for disrupting a worship service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, has turned his ire on Vice President JD Vance.
Lemon labeled Vance a “vile human being” for refusing to apologize over a reposted tweet, while insisting HE is the real Christian.
This latest outburst comes amid Lemon’s ongoing legal troubles, where prosecutors accuse him of conspiring to interfere with religious freedoms under the FACE Act.
Don Lemon calls out JD Vance: “This is a vile human being. It’s not that hard, all he would have to say is I am sorry, no one should die that way. Why can’t you do that JD Vance? Do you have to kiss Donald Trump’s ring and his butt that much that you have to forgo your humanity?… pic.twitter.com/3ogxZAUU7h
As detailed in our previous coverage, Lemon’s shift from weary race commentator to full-throated radical has landed him in hot water with the Trump DOJ, which is pushing for prison time.
Lemon’s attack on Vance stems from the vice president’s interview with a Daily Mail journalist, where Vance declined to apologize for reposting Stephen Miller’s tweet calling Alex Pretti an assassin. Vance’s straightforward response: “For what?”
Lemon ranted: “This is a vile human being. It’s not that hard, all he would have to say is I am sorry, no one should die that way. Why can’t you do that JD Vance? Do you have to kiss Donald Trump’s ring and his butt that much that you have to forgo your humanity?… It’s inhumane.”
“It’s really just vile and disgusting,” Lemon continued to froth, adding “He talks about Christianity so much — Christians don’t behave that way. Not real Christians.”
The hypocrisy didn’t go unnoticed on X. Users fired back, highlighting Lemon’s role in the church incident where protesters burst in, chanting against ICE and forcing families out into the cold.
Says the guy that stormed into a church during mass to film a riot. You have no credibility left so just stop.
These reactions underscore the backlash against Lemon, who once admitted fatigue with race narratives but now embodies the very identity politics he seemed to question.
Attorney General Pam Bondi described the January 18 incident as a “coordinated attack” on the church, where an ICE official serves as pastor.
Lemon, along with co-defendants like Georgia Fort, faces charges of conspiracy and interfering with religious rights.
He was arrested in Los Angeles on January 30, claiming a dozen agents showed up despite his offer to surrender. Released without bond, his next court date is February 9 in Minneapolis.
Lemon has vowed to fight the charges, insisting he was merely covering the protest. But critics point to his livestreaming and embedding with agitators as active participation, not neutral reporting.
This episode with Vance highlights Lemon’s selective moral outrage. While decrying Vance’s supposed lack of humanity, Lemon ignores calls for his own apology to the traumatized congregation.
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