United Public Workers for Action
Education and information about public workers and defense of public services and public worker righ
SF City Workers Rally & Demand That Demo Mayor Lurie Make No Cuts On City Services
youtu.be/TGYq7q3up0U
Hundreds of San Francisco City workers rallied in front of San Francisco city hall to oppose the layoffs
of frontline City workers. The mayor who is a scion of the Levi family is already laying off frontline
workers and is planning to contract out thousands of jobs.
Speakers talked about the loss of their jobs and the services that are being eliminated in a city with over 80 billionaires.
Additional Media:
SF City Workers Rally & Demand That Demo Mayor Lurie Make No Cuts On City Services
youtu.be/FDLYPHUMsmw
Stop The Frigging Greed! SF City Workers Demand That AB&B Pay Their Taxes & Warn Mayor Lurie On Cuts
youtu.be/DBp_krD7w_w
"He Locked The Doors" SF Mayor Lurie Locks The Doors On SF Black City Workers To Prevent Meeting
youtu.be/iW1AUFe2fl8
SF Black Trade Unionists & Unionists Speak Out Against Systemic Racism & Retaliation In CCSF
youtu.be/iW1AUFe2fl8
CCSF Black Workers & Supporters Speak Out At SF City Hall Against Systemic Racism And Corruption
youtu.be/rVZ7zyc4gjY
Union Busting, Union Rights, Racism, Covid/PPE & Healthcare Workers With SEIU 1021 SF Local Leaders
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MxyTGFLtu0
Reign Of Terror Against SF SEIU 1021 DPH Members & Other City Workers: Speakout At SF Labor Council
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JN-f8HeN3w&t=7s
SEIU 1021 SFGH Workers Speakout! Stop Racism, Union Busting & Privatization Of SFGH Pharmacy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1XzRrzB9ZI
Racism, Outsourcing and Retaliation At SF Civil Service Commission With HR Director Micki Callahan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqNhPRQeHGk&t=34s
On Day Before Women’s Day, SF City Workers Rally & Speak Out Against Discrimination, Racism, Privatization & Outsourcing
youtu.be/GeBcv4rFZfM
SF General Hospital Workers Fed Up With Short Staffing Threatening Patient Safety While Millions Go For Outsourcing
youtu.be/2-mA-9oVb-M
Stop The Attacks! SEIU 1021 Members Speak Out At CCSF Civil Service Commission On Retaliation & Discrimination
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMZJlCt–t0&t=6s
Racism, Outsourcing, and Retaliation At SF Civil Service Commission With HR Director Micki Callahan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqNhPRQeHGk
At a hearing of the San Francisco Civil Service Commission on December 17, 2918, the issue of racism, outsourcing and retaliation came to the fore.
Stop The Racist Terror Against African American Workers-Speakout At SF BOS Special Meeting
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkoYXzKO_so&t=537s
SF SEIU 1021 Rank & File Leaders/Members Speak Out Against Racism At BOS Meeting
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XHt2wbvOD4&t=89s
Workers Speak Out At SF Supervisor’s Meeting
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-kmrjrxvF4&t=275s
SFGH "Zuckerberg" SEIU 1021 Workers & Community Protest DPH Privatization, Racism & Union Busting
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpxZcETKB6o
Stop Racist Discrimination And Workplace Bullying At SF DPH! SEIU 1021 Members & SF Residents Rally & Speakout
youtu.be/iNs4zHn96rI
EPIC, LEAN, SF General, Privatization & SEIU 1021 Contract Negotiations: Interview With John Wadsworth
youtu.be/eTRAzcbj-yo
Reign Of Terror Against SF SEIU 1021 DPH Members & Other City Workers: Speakout At SF Labor Council
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JN-f8HeN3w&t=7s
SEIU 1021 SFGH Workers Speakout! Stop Racism, Union Busting & Privatization Of SFGH Pharmacy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1XzRrzB9ZI
Racism, Outsourcing and Retaliation At SF Civil Service Commission With HR Director Micki Callahan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqNhPRQeHGk&t=34s
Stop The Frigging Greed! SF City Workers Demand That AB&B Pay Their Taxes & Warn Mayor Lurie On Cuts
youtu.be/DBp_krD7w_w
"He Locked The Doors" SF Mayor Lurie Locks The Doors On SF Black City Workers To Prevent Meeting
youtu.be/iW1AUFe2fl8
SF Black Trade Unionists & Unionists Speak Out Against Systemic Racism & Retaliation In CCSF
youtu.be/iW1AUFe2fl8
CCSF Black Workers & Supporters Speak Out At SF City Hall Against Systemic Racism And Corruption
youtu.be/rVZ7zyc4gjY
Union Busting, Union Rights, Racism, Covid/PPE & Healthcare Workers With SEIU 1021 SF Local Leaders
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MxyTGFLtu0
Reign Of Terror Against SF SEIU 1021 DPH Members & Other City Workers: Speakout At SF Labor Council
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JN-f8HeN3w&t=7s
SEIU 1021 SFGH Workers Speakout! Stop Racism, Union Busting & Privatization Of SFGH Pharmacy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1XzRrzB9ZI
Racism, Outsourcing and Retaliation At SF Civil Service Commission With HR Director Micki Callahan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqNhPRQeHGk&t=34s
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net
Seattle socialist Kshama Sawant to run for Congress against Adam Smith
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-socialist-kshama-sawant-to-run-for-congress-ag…
June 2, 2025 at 2:17 pm
Running as a socialist, Kshama Sawant announces her campaign for Congress, challenging Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, outside the Jackson Federal Building in Seattle. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
Running as a socialist, Kshama Sawant announces her campaign for Congress, challenging Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, outside the Jackson Federal Building in Seattle. (Ken Lambert _ The Seattle Times).jpeg
Running as a socialist, Kshama Sawant announces her campaign for Congress, challenging Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, outside the Jackson Federal Building in Seattle. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
Daniel Beekman.webp By Daniel Beekman
Seattle Times staff reporter
Former Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant will run for Congress in Washington’s 9th District, where incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep Adam Smith will be up for reelection in 2026, Sawant announced Monday.
A socialist firebrand who pushed for policies like renter protections and big-business taxes as a council member from 2014 through 2023, Sawant will base her campaign on opposing U.S. military support for Israel and supporting Medicare for all, she said at a news conference in downtown Seattle.
The 9th District includes part of Bellevue along with Southeast Seattle, Seattle’s Central District, Mercer Island and much of South King County.
“Democrats and Republicans serve the interests of the billionaires, and both are warmongering parties down to their bones,” she said, arguing Smith has “blood all over his hands” for his stance on the “genocide in Gaza.”
Sawant, 51, declined to seek reelection to the City Council in 2023, saying she wanted to build a national labor movement called Workers Strike Back.
She rallied with Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein in Michigan and Seattle last year, slamming the Democratic Party over deaths in Gaza.
“Kamala Harris deserves to lose 1,000 times over,” Sawant said then.
Sawant popped back up at City Hall in recent weeks, helping to organize public opposition to a controversial revision of the council’s ethics code. The Seattle resident lives in Smith’s district, she said Monday.
An attorney and former state legislator first elected in 1996, Smith, 59, is the longest-serving member of Washington’s U.S. House delegation and is the Democratic ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee.
The Bellevue resident is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the centrist New Democrat Coalition. He’s a vocal critic of Republican President Donald Trump and has taken aim at his own party’s left wing, blaming politicians in cities like Seattle for killing Democrats’ brand with “radical identity politics” and struggles over crime, drugs and homelessness.
Smith has backed Israel’s right to attack Hamas while condemning aspects of its war in Gaza. He defeated a challenge last year from left-lane Democrat Melissa Chaudhry, securing more than 70% of the vote in November. Chaudry has filed to run again in 2026, as have Janis Clark and Mark Greene.
Daniel Beekman: 206-464-2164 or dbeekman@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times staff reporter Daniel Beekman covers politics and communities.
Seattle socialist Kshama Sawant to run for Congress against Adam Smith
www.seattletimes.com
Sawant, a socialist firebrand who pushed for policies like renter protections and big-business taxes, will challenge Washington’s longest-serving U.S. representative.
Federal Government Enacts Federal Superfund Clean Up Moratorium
medium.com/@PoliticoMD/federal-government-enacts-federal-superfund-clean-up-moratorium-ff78a73b738f
“The Trump administration wants to dramatically withdraw the federal government from its traditional role of writing and enforcing environmental rules.”
www.hunterspointcommunitybiomonitoring.net — Photo overlooking Parcel G where demolition of MARSSIM Class 1 Radiation Contaminated Buildings will occur over the next six months.
The announcement of White House details about proposed EPA budget cuts reinforces a saying I recall from my emergency medicine training…”They can always hurt you more!”
On May 3rd Bloomberg Law reported the Trump Administration was seeking $1 billion in cuts to EPA’s categorical grants program projected to include $254 million in funding for Superfund cleanup, $100 million for environmental justice, $90 million for Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grants and $100 million from EPA’s atmospheric protection program.
The San Francisco Bay Area is comprised of 9 counties home to 7.5 million people. EPA has managed a competitive grant program since 2008 to support projects to protect and restore San Francisco Bay’s wetlands and watersheds to reduce polluted runoff.
Flying under the radar screen of local media is a story posted on May 31, 2025 by E&E News reporting the White House proposed FY 2026 budget will cut the budget of the agency’s watershed restoration programs — The SF Bay Program — by 83%…from $50 million a year to $8.4 million. [San Francisco Bay Program/US EPA: www.epa.gov/sfbay-program]
Ironically, the May 16, 2025 Make America Healthy Again Report establishes a Commission “to advise and assist the President on how best to exercise his authority to address the childhood chronic disease crisis”, including the American diet, absorption of toxic material…lifestyle and environmental factors.
According to a Press Statement released on June 2, 2025, the Environmental Protection Network condemns massive cuts toEPA’s Enforcement and Key Programs that will jeopardize public health and environmental protections.
The newly released FY2026 budget proposes a staggering 49% cut to enforcement threatening to undermine the agency’s ability to uphold the nation’s environmental laws and protect public health.
“This unprecedented rollback would leave polluters unchecked, eliminate critical oversight and signal a dangerous abdication of EPA’s legal responsibility to ensure clean air, safe water, and healthy communities.” [www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org/20250602_fy26-epa-budget_advisory/]
At what point do risks from a dangerous clean up of high level nuclear waste outweigh benefits of building homes on a Federal Superfund site?
The slashing of funding for Superfund clean up will be felt at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard — one of 97 heavily contaminated Federal Superfund sites in California that pose risks to human health and the environment and are a priority for federal cleanup efforts. Research suggests health risks are most likely within a 1.8 mile radius. In 2021, 20 out of the top 30 most polluted counties in the U.S. were in the state of California. [[aqli.epic.uchicago.edu]
Sea level rise could threaten hundreds of toxic sites in California [ktla.com/news/california/sea-level-rise-could-threaten-hundreds-of-toxic-sites-in-california/]
On May 21, 2025 the Department of the Navy Base Realignment and Closure Program Management Office announced a $28.4 million award for building demolition at HPNS. Six buildings on radioactive Parcel G (formerly designated Parcel D) will be removed as authorized in fiscal year 2023 by the National Defense Authorization. Building demolition is the process of dismantling, destroying, or knocking down building structures along with materials used in construction of the property. A demolition plan outlining strategic steps taken to ensure the safety of the demolished structures without harming the environment or nearby residents. Two primary approaches are structural dismantling and controlled demolition.
Explosives used in building demolition include nitrogen or dynamite used to shatter reinforced concrete supports. Linear shaped charges are used to sever steel supports.
The six buildings slated for demolition are located on Parcel G — where residential development is proposed under the 2010 Redevelopment plan. The radioactive buildings scheduled for demolition include those shaded in green on the 2005 Basewide Impaction Map above: 351, 351A, 366 and 411. Buildings not radiologically impacted slated for demolition include 401 and 439. Note that while not designated radiologically impacted, Building 439 sites as the boundary of Parcel D and Parcel E. Building 439 is north of Building 606 where SFPD were sited. [www.dvidshub.net/news/496559/navy-awards-contract-remove-six-buildings-hunters-point-shipyard]
Explosive demolition of radioactive building at Santa Susana Field Lab
In 2020 the U.S. Department of Energy announced it had reached agreement with the State to demolish 10 of its 18 remaining buildings at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory to facilitate the delayed clean up of the site. The proposed demolition of buildings that comprised the DOE Radioactive Materials Handling Complex generated above ground debris and low level radioactive waste for disposal.
Santa Susana Field Lab is the site of a partial nuclear meltdown and numerous radioactive and toxic chemical releases. On October 1, 2021, the State of California allowed the U.S Department of Energy to dynamite two radioactive buildings without required dust control to prevent the spread of radioactive contamination at a site located 30 miles from downtown LA. Without permits from local authorities, DOE dynamited two buildings classified by U.S. EPA as MARSSIM Class 1 for the highest probability of radiological contamination, producing plumes of uncontrolled radioactive dust. [peer.org/radioactive-buildings-dynamited-near-la/] MARSSIM stands for Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual. MARSSIM provides information on planning, conducting, evaluating and documental building and soil that is radiation contaminated. Published in August 2000 by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Class 1 areas prior to remediation are impacted areas where residual activity exceeds release criteria.
Basewide Impaction Map from 2000 HRA designates MARSIIM Class I radiation contaminated buildings in orange. Buildings 351, 351A are designated radioactive. Building 366 in green is heavily radioactive. Building 411 is designated impacted on the 2005 map.
Photo: AP Sumchai 09/22/2022 Fitch Street at Shafter
Photo taken at western fence line HPNS in 2022. East of this unfortified chain metal fence sits the location on Parcel G (Former Parcel D) where four of six radiologically impacted buildings will be demolished by the Navy over the next six months.
Hunter's Point Community Toxic Registry
www.hunterspointcommunitybiomonitoring.net
In 2009 Hunters Point residents and community scientists pioneered the establishment of a community exposure research model to benefit environmental injustice neighborhoods throughout the nation.
Workers Face Hazards; Tech Threatens Rights; Federal Labor Unions Fight Back
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org/2025/06/02/workers-face-hazards-tech-threatens-rights-federal-labo…
By Pacifica's Capitalism, Race & Democracy – June 2, 2025
University of Michigan professor Dr. Adam Finkel is a former OSHA whistleblower and current occupational and environmental scientist. He spoke to Pacifica’s Thomas O’Rourke about safety on American job sites and the consequence of Trump’s budget cuts to federal regulatory agencies.
***
The rise of AI and robotics in the workplace isn’t just changing jobs—it’s threatening the rights and lives of workers here and around the world. Adrienne Williams, a former Amazon employee and now with the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) shares her firsthand experience and warns about the dangers this technology poses to working people and their basic freedoms.
DAIR-institute.org
***
Trump and Musk moved quickly to bust federal workers’ unions by gutting contracts for over 800,000 government employees, including members of the American Federation of Government Employees. Now, the union is fighting back. Veterans and VA workers are rallying in Washington, D.C. on June 6. Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer spoke with AFGE District 2 National Vice President David Gonzalez about the impact on workers and the public.
You can find out more about the June 6 national veterans rally in Washington, DC at unite4veterans.org
***
We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Thomas O’Rourke, Freddy Libertad and Steve Zeltzer.
You can find this and all previous episodes at our website “capitalism race and democracy dot ORG”. Make sure you click the subscribe button. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @PacificaCRD.
Thanks for listening!
Music:
Merle Haggard, “Working Man Blues”
Neil Young, Computer Age
capitalismraceanddemocracy.org
University of Michigan professor Dr. Adam Finkel is a former OSHA whistleblower and current occupational and environmental scientist. He spoke to Pacifica’s Thomas O’Rourke about safety on Amer…
Biden White House insisted families were safe after toxic East Palestine derailment — but behind the scenes, admin warned of ‘cancer cluster’
www.newsbreak.com/share/4032431040144-biden-white-house-insisted-families-were-safe-after-toxic-e…
By Josh Christenson,
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration admitted possible cancer-causing toxins were spread in East Palestine, Ohio, following the Norfolk Southern train derailment in 2023, explosive new emails show, despite the White House insisting residents were safe.
“The occurrence of a cancer-cluster in EP [East Palestine] is not zero,” FEMA recovery leader James McPherson wrote in a March 29, 2024, email to other public health officials — a little more than a year after the crash.
“As you all are aware, the first 48 hours of the fire created a really toxic plume,” he said in the chain of communications, which were first reported by News Nation.
“The occurrence of a cancer-cluster in EP [East Palestine] is not zero,” Federal Emergency Management Agency recovery leader James McPherson wrote in a March 29, 2024, email. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
Just two months earlier, President Biden had excoriated “multimillion-dollar railroad companies transporting toxic chemicals” for the fiasco — but praised his administration’s “herculean efforts” to resolve the “vast majority” of East Palestine’s problems.
Democrats made themselves toxic — now they’re addicted to their own poison
The crash spewed harmful chemicals into the air and resulted in 115,000 gallons’ worth of carcinogenic vinyl chloride undergoing an open burn — displacing residents and leading to reports of strange illnesses as well as the death of livestock in the weeks following the Feb. 3, 2023, disaster.
Michael Regan, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, showed up on Feb. 22 with TV cameras in tow to capture himself drinking from the local water supply, and months later claimed unequivocally that people in East Palestine were “not in danger.”
President Biden excoriated “multimillion-dollar railroad companies transporting toxic chemicals” for the fiasco — but praised his administration’s “herculean efforts.” AP
“Since the disaster, EPA has collected more than 100 million air monitoring data points and more than 25 thousand samples in and around the community,” Regan said in an Oct. 17, 2023, statement.
Trump shares wild conspiracy theory that Joe Biden was replaced by ‘soulless, mindless’ clones
“This data collection continues, and ongoing science-based reviews show that residents of East Palestine are not in danger from contaminated drinking water, soil, or air from the derailment.”
But a watchdog group that has been investigating the toxic fallout from the train derailment said the Biden administration’s approach was “flawed” from the start — and has now released emails obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests to prove it.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan showed up on Feb. 22 with TV cameras in tow to capture himself drinking from the local water supply. C-SPAN
“They didn’t always test for the right chemicals; they didn’t test in the right locations; they didn’t have the right detection limits,” Government Accountability Project investigator Lesley Pacey told The Post, saying the Biden admin wasn’t “worrying about public health” but, rather “public reassurances.”
“They delayed testing for dioxin, and then when they did the testing for dioxin — and also did the testing in people’s homes for other chemicals — they used Norfolk Southern contractors, and those contractors used equipment that wasn’t correct,” said Pacey, who’s been investigating the incident.
“They completely botched this event from the very beginning.”
So-called “ASPECT” planes that monitor air quality weren’t deployed due to apparent bad weather until four days after the derailment, she added, when they should have been flown within eight hours of the incident.
The federal response also lacked robust monitoring of the water supply and ignored agency policies in order to burn the harmful chemicals, according to Pacey, leaving East Palestine natives “acutely very, very ill.” Bloomberg via Getty Images
The federal response also lacked robust monitoring of the water supply and ignored agency policies in order to burn the harmful chemicals, according to Pacey, allowing East Palestine natives to get “very, very ill.”
The new emails — including batches from FEMA, the EPA, the White House, the National Security Council and the Justice Department, which later settled with Norfolk Southern for $310 million to redress harms to the Ohio community — also show that one year after the chaos admin officials were still discussing the need to develop a “tripwire to identify cancer clusters.”
Biden, who was diagnosed earlier this month with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that has already spread to his bones, often claimed that his late son Beau died from a brain cancer possibly caused by exposure to toxic fumes while serving in Iraq.
He also claimed in a 2022 speech that he had cancer due to growing up near oil refineries in Claymont, Delaware, though the White House maintained he was referencing “non-melanoma skin cancers” that had previously been removed.
Fears AI will leave Earth with population 'the size of UK' by 2300 & turn entire countries into apocalyptic wastelands | The US Sun
www.the-sun.com/tech/14347969/ai-population-size-uk-ghost-towns/
AI DISASTER Fears AI will leave Earth with population ‘the size of UK’ by 2300 & turn entire countries into apocalyptic wastelands
Watch Professor Subhash Kak as he paints a grim picture of how AI could have a devastating impact on the human population
David RiversSayan Bose
Published: 6:28 ET, Jun 1 2025Updated: 9:05 ET, Jun 1 2025
Close
Share
EARTH will have a dystopian population of just 100million by 2300 as AI wipes out jobs turning major cities into ghostlands, an expert has warned.
Computer science professor Subhash Kak forecasts an impossible cost to having children who won’t grow up with jobs to turn to.
Advertisement
Sign up for The US Sun newsletter
Sign up
Your info will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy
City skyline under a stormy sky with lightning.
2
Scientists fear AI could turn the world's major cities into apocalyptic ghost townsCredit: Sun Graphics
Robotic hand holding a glowing Earth in space.
2
A computer science professor warns that AI will replace 'everything'Credit: Getty
That means the world’s greatest cities like New York and London will become deserted ghost towns, he added.
Prof Kak points to AI as the culprit, which he says will replace “everything”.
And things will get so bad, he predicts the population will shrink to nearly the size of Britain's current estimated population of close to 70million.
The Age of Artificial Intelligence author, who works at Oklahoma State University, told The Sun: “Computers or robots will never be conscious, but they will be doing literally all
that we do because most of what we do in our lives can be replaced.
Advertisement
READ MORE ON AI
WELL AI NEVER Volvo to install AI chatbots in new models in huge help to drivers
GEARING UP Creepy AI robot nurse taking over hospital jobs as it zooms through halls
“Literally everything, even decision making in offices, will be replaced.
“So it's going to be devastating for society and world society. There are demographers who are suggesting that as a consequence, the world population will collapse and it could go down to as low as just 100million people on the entire planet Earth in 2300 or 2380.
“Just 100million, right now it's around 8billion.
"So the whole world will be devastated. As I discussed in my book, I think people really don't have a clue.
Advertisement
ADVERTISING
MOST READ IN TECH
LAST CALL Major mobile brand is SHUTTING DOWN after 15 years – users warned to take action
READY, JET, GO Watch moment hypersonic jet ‘Quarterhorse’ makes first flight
SMART-MOAN Hidden iPhone screen almost no one knows about reveals if you've been scammed
END OF PLAY Beloved PlayStation and Xbox game played by 11 MILLION closes forever in DAYS
“The great cities of our modern times will be abandoned if you only have 100 million people in the whole world, which is just a bit more than the entire population of Great Britain right now.”
He added: “It's likely. I have all the data in the book. This is not just my personal opinion.”
AI has advanced at a rapid rate in recent years.
Play Video
UP NEXT-Farage goads ‘terrified’ Starmer & says Tories are ‘finished’
China & Russia will use drones ‘the size of insects’ to spy on UK & commit untraceable murders, ex-Google futurist warns
Tools like ChatGPT, which launched in 2022, have now established themselves as essential for businesses and individuals.
Advertisement
ADVERTISING
But the growth continues to spark alarm about the future of employment.
In March, the chancellor Rachel Reeves said an increasing number of roles are being taken up by AI. She spoke as she unveiled plans to slash civil service jobs.
Prof Kak, who also wrote Matter and Mind, said birth rates will plunge because people will be reluctant to have children who will likely be unemployed in adult life.
He added: “People have stopped having babies. Europe, China, Japan, and the most rapid fall in population right now is taking place in Korea.”
Advertisement
He added: “Now, I'm not saying that these trends will continue, but it's very hard to reverse them because a lot of people have children for a variety of reasons.
“One is of course social. In the back of your mind, you have a sense of what the future is going to be like.
China's AI supercomputer
by Millie Turner, Senior Technology & Science ReporterCHINA has reportedly begun assembling an AI supercomputer in space, which will eventually consist of 2,800 satellites in Earth's orbit.ADA Space, based in Chengdu, sent the first 12 satellites of its mammoth network last week, Space News reported.hese satellites are able to process the data they collect locally, rather than beaming it to stations on Earth to compute, according to ADA.Data stored onboard satellites is sent down to Earth in batches – but some of this information can get lost during transmission.Beyond being slow, "less than 10 per cent" of satellite data makes it to Earth due to things limited bandwidth and ground station availability, according to the South China Morning Post.Part of ADA's 'Star Compute' project, the satellites are reportedly in-built with super-fast AI processors that can communicate with sister satellites at up to 100GB per second using lasers.That is much faster than traditional satellites.READ MORE HERE
“If you sense that there will be no jobs for children. A lot of people have that sense.
“And that translates into extreme costs of child rearing, as is happening in the US right now.”
Advertisement
skip.png
Billionaire Tesla and X owner, Elon Musk, is among those who claim the human race could one day face extinction over AI and declining birth rates.
And Prof Kak refuses to rule out that being a possibility.
He added: “Could humans go extinct? Who knows?
“That’s what some people like Elon Musk are saying. Or there could be disease, it's not necessarily for psychological reasons.
Advertisement
“There could be a new pathogen created by some monster which could wipe off humanity. And so nobody knows.
“That’s why Musk is saying maybe humans should go to space, maybe build colonies elsewhere, so that should such a tragedy hit Earth then it could be reseeded.
READ MORE ON THE US SUN
BASKETBALL SHOCK NBA star Zion Williamson releases statement denying accusation of rape
FLY HIGH ChatGPT finds best flight in SECONDS with 2-part prompt – book with just a click
“This is all like science fiction. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen.
“But what is absolutely certain is that there is a population collapse occurring right before our eyes.”
Fears AI will leave Earth with population 'the size of UK' by 2300
www.the-sun.com
EARTH will have a dystopian population of just 100million by 2300 as AI wipes out jobs turning major cities into ghostlands, an expert has warned. Computer science professor Subhash Kak forecasts a…
‘Something has to change’: call for single-payer health care brings together a variety of voices
www.unionprogress.com/2025/06/01/something-has-to-change-call-for-single-payer-health-care-brings…
by Steve Mellon
June 1, 2025
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, left, chats with Chris Albright of East Palestine, Ohio, during a Pittsburgh event calling for single-payer health care on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)
A self-described conservative Republican from rural Ohio, Chris Albright stood beside the small stage at Freedom Corner in Pittsburgh’s Hill District on Saturday and listened carefully to an eight-minute speech delivered by U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, a progressive whose district includes the diverse neighborhoods of Pittsburgh.
Albright, wearing a faded hooded sweatshirt and a long gray beard, shoved his hands in his pockets but otherwise remained still. His dispassionate expression never changed. You had to wonder what he was thinking. Lee is a member of the Squad, the group of Democratic representatives who send lots of conservatives into a rage. When Lee finished speaking, she walked past Albright.
“Hey, I like you,” Albright said to her. “If I lived here, I’d vote for you.”
That’s the power of a discussion about health care these days. It’s one of those topics that will bring together people from a variety of backgrounds. The Pittsburgh event, which attracted about 75 activists, union members and everyday folks, was part of a national effort to put single-payer health care on the national agenda.
Albright drove in front East Palestine, Ohio. He told the crowd he developed severe heart problems in the aftermath of a 2023 toxic train derailment near his home. He couldn’t work, so he lost his health insurance. One of drugs keeping him alive costs $2,700 each month, a crushing amount for a working-class family.
“We were having utilities shut off,” Albright said. “We’re getting shut-off notices all the time. We’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, trying to get the medications I need. I’ve had some good people along the way help out, and without their help I would literally probably be dead right now.
“Something has to change,” he added. “We need to fix this. This is not how this country is supposed to be. We’re supposed to be united and caring and welcoming.”
Both Albright and Lee stressed that out-of-control health care costs are a concern for people across the political spectrum. That’s the appeal of single-payer health care. “This isn’t a liberal or a progressive proposal,” she said. “This is common sense.”
Lee reminded the crowd that the GOP’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and will be taken up by the Senate this week, takes the country in an entirely different direction.
“Right now, 3 million Pennsylvanians stand to lose Medicaid coverage,” she said. “Thinking about kids, adults with disabilities. Couple that with losses to SNAP benefits, and we’re looking at a crisis of people not only not being able to get care but not even being able to eat. And then couple that with the crisis of not being able to put a roof over our heads because of the housing crisis. We need Medicare for All today.”
Allegheny County Council member Anita Prizio, foreground, and others brace themselves against a cold wind that blew through Pittsburgh’s Freedom Corner during an event calling for single-payer health care on Saturday. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)
Dr. Thomas Brockmeyer, one of the first speakers, is an orthopedic surgeon who developed blood cancer. After he retired in 2017, his insurance changed, and the co-pay for his chemotherapy leaped to $800 per month.
“We tightened our belts; we changed our retirement plans; and we carried on with my obscenely expensive treatment,” he said. Many other working-class families don’t have this option.
“Because of this conflict between spending money on chemo and spending money on food, medical debt is the largest cause of personal bankruptcy in our country,” he said. “In no other country is this true. No other country. This is a national disgrace.”
Health insurance companies spend $500 billion each year on executive salaries and shareholder profits, he said, and drug companies grow rich as Americans struggle with drug costs that are four times that of other developed countries. That money should instead be spent on providing care, Brockmeyer said.
Ed Grystar of the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Single Payer Health Care noted that the United States remains “the only industrialized country with a private sector running the health care. And our lifespans have gone down five years less than every other industrialized country in the world.”
Claire Cohen, a child psychiatrist and member of Physicians for a National Health Program of Western PA, addresses the cost of single-payer health care during Saturday’s rally. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)
Claire Cohen, a child psychiatrist and member of Physicians for a National Health Program of Western PA, addressed the often-mentioned concern that single-payer health care will simply cost too much.
“So there’s two answers to that,” she said. “First of all, right now we’re paying for our expensive system through death, poor health and debt. If we had a single-payer health care system, we would have half the cost, and yet everybody would be covered equitably and with full and appropriate health care.”
Allegheny County Councilman Dan Grzybek urges people advocating for single-payer health care during the rally to use their voices to counteract the vast amounts of money spent by the health care industry. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)
Allegheny County Council member Dan Grzybek urged people to push for single-payer health care by reaching out to elected officials at the local, state and national levels. That’s the only way to counteract the vast amounts of money spent by the health care industry and big pharma.
“Don’t ever let them believe that the amount of money that they’re putting into our elections, that they’re putting into lobbying people, is stronger than your voice,” he said. “Because at the end of the day, your voice and your vote is always stronger.”
www.unionprogress.com
A self-described conservative Republican from rural Ohio, Chris Albright stood beside the small stage at Freedom Corner in Pittsburgh’s Hill District on Saturday and listened carefully to an eight-m…
Newsom's DMV & CPUC Give Tesla The Right To Kill On The Roads
What caused a deadly crash in San Francisco — a ‘madman’ driver or ‘malfunctioning’ Tesla?
www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/tesla-car-crash-20327719.php
By Megan Cassidy, Annie Vainshtein
May 31, 2025
A collage of excerpts from complaints filed to federal transportation officials by Tesla owners who said their vehicles suddenly accelerated on their own.
A collage of excerpts from complaints filed to federal transportation officials by Tesla owners who said their vehicles suddenly accelerated on their own.
Alex Tatusian/S.F. Chronicle
The Tesla hurtled down the Interstate 280 off-ramp to Sixth Street, sideswiping three vehicles along the way. It picked up speed, running red lights and nearly touching 90 mph as it raced northwest toward downtown San Francisco.
At Sixth and Harrison, the Tesla Model Y slammed into a Lexus at a stoplight, then spun into oncoming traffic. Seven people were injured, one of whom described the impact of the crash as an explosion. The driver of the Lexus, San Francisco resident Mikhael Romanenko, was killed.
Witnesses would later describe the car to police as a “black blur” and the driver “a madman,” according to a police report. But as the Tesla’s driver, Jia Lin Zheng, 66, was being treated for his own injuries in the wake of the Jan. 19 crash, he offered a chilling explanation: The car, he told police, had accelerated on its own.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
“The Tesla malfunctioned and began to speed up” as he exited the highway, San Francisco police wrote in a report, describing Zheng’s account. “Zheng stated every time he stepped on the brake of the Tesla, he felt the car accelerate.”
Drivers have reported incidents of what is known as sudden unintended acceleration for decades, and for an array of vehicle makes and models. While the accelerations can be triggered by a mechanical defect or electrical failure, they can also be the result of driver error, such as mistaking the gas and brake pedals.
But the claim by Zheng — who has a history of speeding tickets, records show — echoed those of a long line of Tesla drivers, who over the last several years have reported the cars jolting forward or backward on their own.
Tesla has issued few public statements on the issue, and it did not respond to the Chronicle’s requests for comment for this story. But in a 2020 blog post, recent legal filings and communications with customers, the company has largely maintained that the incidents were caused by driver error, an assertion supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Following a review of nearly 250 sudden unintended acceleration claims in Teslas, the agency in 2021 published a report finding no evidence of a design factor or electrical issue with the vehicles that would cause the alleged problems.
Yet, claims like Zheng’s following the deadly San Francisco crash have continued accruing, with people alleging in NHTSA complaints, media interviews and social media posts that their Teslas accelerated on their own. The question remains: Is there an undiagnosed problem in some battery-driven cars featuring advanced driver-assist systems, or are the cars’ drivers looking for high-tech excuses for accidentally punching the gas?
NHTSA is now weighing another petition to investigate and potentially recall Tesla cars over the alleged sudden unintended acceleration problems, based on newly obtained information on the car’s electrical system.
The results could have weighty implications for Tesla and for the untold number of drivers who, like Zheng, face costly damage fees, lawsuits or even prison time for crashes they swear they didn’t cause.
A violent wreck
In the moments before his death, Romanenko, his girlfriend, Linh Luu, and her 8-year-old dog were on their way to pick up Luu’s family members for a trip to the airport, she said.
When the Tesla smashed into the couple’s car at Sixth and Harrison streets, the impact thrust their vehicle forward into an unoccupied Waymo robotaxi and several other vehicles, and sent the Tesla spiraling into a truck on the other side of the street, according to police reports.
Romanenko was killed almost instantly as one side of the Lexus was torn off. Luu was hospitalized with broken bones and her dog, Keeper, was pronounced dead at the scene. Seven people from six other vehicles were injured.
Police arrested Zheng on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, but city prosecutors have not made a decision on whether to charge him. According to a police report, Zheng — whose attorney declined to comment for this story — had no alcohol in his system and his vitals suggested he hadn’t recently suffered from a medical episode.
Anna Dubrovsky, an attorney for Romanenko’s mother, Julia Romanenko, filed a wrongful death lawsuit May 21 against Zheng in San Francisco Superior Court. Zheng and his relatives had not been officially served the lawsuit as of Friday evening, Romanenko’s attorneys said. The defendants declined to comment.
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, also names Zheng’s son and daughter-in-law, saying they owned the Tesla and were “well aware of Jia Lin Zheng’s tendency to drive dangerously, and at a high rate of speed, without any regard for traffic signals.”
Zheng’s history of traffic incidents in his home state of Hawaii include five citations for speeding, records show. Other infractions included allegedly running a red light and disobeying a traffic control sign.
“This gentleman is clearly ignoring the rules of the road and endangering people,” Dubrovsky said in an interview.
That the car was a Tesla may or may not factor into the criminal investigation and lawsuit, as drivers who blame their cars for their crashes are often treated skeptically.
In San Francisco, an 80-year-old woman is facing both a wrongful death lawsuit and criminal charges of felony vehicular manslaughter following a West Portal crash in March 2024 that killed a family of four, including two young children.
Mary Fong Lau allegedly drove her Mercedes sport utility vehicle at high speed into an oncoming lane of traffic and then slammed into a transit shelter. Police said investigators who looked at “every aspect” of the case couldn’t find evidence that the car malfunctioned.
Long-running dispute
But Lau wasn’t driving a Tesla. Beginning in the 2010s, high-profile allegations of sudden unintended accelerations in the company’s vehicles began cropping up around the country, often covered by local news stations when the cars rammed into nail salons, gas stations and garages.
Following a 2019 petition to investigate the matter and issue a recall, NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigations reviewed 246 complaints made to the agency of sudden unintended acceleration — sometimes abbreviated as SUA — filed for Tesla models 3, S and X since 2013, 203 of which involved crashes.
Tesla called the petition “completely false,” stressing that the person who filed it was a short-seller of the company’s stock.
“We investigate every single incident where the driver alleges to us that their vehicle accelerated contrary to their input, and in every case where we had the vehicle’s data, we confirmed that the car operated as designed,” the company said in a 2020 blog. “In other words, the car accelerates if, and only if, the driver told it to do so, and it slows or stops when the driver applies the brake.”
Federal officials largely echoed this sentiment a year later after completing their review, maintaining that drivers were to blame. “In every instance in which event data was available for review by ODI (the Office of Defects Investigations), the evidence shows that SUA crashes in the complaints cited by the petitioner have been caused by pedal misapplication,” the agency wrote in 2021.
In many of the incidents reviewed by NHTSA, the car recorded that accelerators were depressed at or near 100%.
Some Tesla owners and their lawyers, though, assert that a car’s record of a depressed accelerator doesn’t necessarily mean it was pushed down by the driver.
“Tesla takes the position that when the data shows 100% acceleration, that must mean the driver was pushing on the acceleration pedal with 100% force,” said attorney Todd Walburg, who represented family members of a Tesla driver who was killed four years ago in Ohio in what they alleged to be a crash caused by sudden unintended acceleration.
“In our view, when the 100% acceleration occurs in a situation that it just doesn’t make sense,” Walburg said, “it’s more likely than not evidence of a malfunction.”
In some cases, those who allege sudden unintended acceleration in Teslas contact the company directly. Tesla’s response often comes as a phone call along with a letter, altered case by case to describe the specific amount of force the company says was used by the driver, according to documents posted on NHTSA’s website.
“Based on this review, Tesla determined that the vehicle operated without fault and that the accelerator pedal was manually pressed by the driver immediately prior to the incident,” one letter stated.
Some drivers remain unconvinced.
“Does not make logical sense that the car could accelerate 87% in a matter of 2 feet!” one Model S driver wrote in her complaint to NHTSA. “I am 150% sure I did not hit the accelerator. I am (not someone) who may have pedal confusion.”
Another: “I contacted Tesla and was told I step on the gas 100% in under 2 second[s], and they would not claim responsibility. As I tell them I am 100% sure I did not step on anything 100% (gas or brake) when I am in a busy parking lot. They still denied and said it was my fault.”
Mystery settlement
Last month, as San Francisco authorities continued investigating the Sixth Street crash, Tesla attorneys signed off on what experts said may be the company’s first settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit claiming sudden unintended acceleration in one of its vehicles, according to court records.
While the terms of the settlement are unknown, as is whether the company accepted fault, some observers interpreted the agreement as a concession by Tesla, citing CEO Elon Musk’s 2022 statement on the platform now known as X that the carmaker would “never surrender/settle an unjust case against us, even if we will probably lose.”
The suit stemmed from a fatal 2021 crash in Jeffersonville, Ohio. After passing through an intersection, Clyde Leach’s Tesla Model Y hopped a curb and slammed into a gas station pillar, igniting a fire.
Leach’s estate alleged that the crash was due to sudden unintended acceleration, and that Tesla knew about the problem and failed to warn its customers. Tesla’s attorneys maintained that Leach floored the car’s accelerator. The settlement ended months of litigation over whether Tesla should be forced to turn over documents the company deemed confidential.
Walburg, who represented Leach’s estate, said he could not comment on the settlement or even its existence. And while Tesla has settled few cases in court, it remains unclear how claims of sudden unintended acceleration have fared in private arbitration that the company uses by contract in many disputes with customers.
In the past, other car companies have acknowledged problems with sudden unintended acceleration, but these cases have generally involved physical flaws with pedals and floor mats that prompt a pedal to stay depressed.
Andrew McDevitt, a San Francisco attorney who has filed lawsuits against Tesla, said it’s possible that some alleged incidents of sudden unintended acceleration were caused by a mix of design flaws and user error. An uninitiated Tesla driver, he said, may accidentally activate some of the car’s driver-assist features, such as cruise control.
The bigger mystery, McDevitt asserted, surrounds the incidents that drivers believe are caused by an electrical malfunction, even as Tesla and the government see human error.
“The (question) most people are focused on is what would be the electrical explanation, where it truly is spontaneous,” McDevitt said. “You didn’t accidentally push the wrong lever, you didn’t accidentally push the pedal, but the car took off.”
Claims persist
In the years following NHTSA’s January 2021 report clearing Tesla of defects, at least 270 other complaints have been filed with the regulatory agency alleging that the company’s vehicles accelerated without a driver’s input, according to a Chronicle review of materials on the department’s website.
Many of the claims involved accidents; at least two resulted in a fatality. The information provided in the reports is often limited, though a few patterns emerge.
Most of the complainants, for instance, said the events occurred while the cars were moving slowly, such as in parking lots or while pulling into garages. Others, however, made claims similar to those in the San Francisco case, saying they lost control while on the highway and that the brake pedal seemed to make the car go faster.
Complaining parties include drivers who said they were using driver-assist modes including Autopilot, which steers the vehicle and controls its speed, as well as those who weren’t.
One San Jose woman said that while she was driving at about 65 mph, with Autopilot engaged, she pushed the brake pedal only to have the vehicle speed up, while the steering wheel became difficult to turn.
After steering left to avoid a rear-end crash, she said, “the vehicle’s front end had crashed into the divider wall and the vehicle ricocheted across four lanes of traffic and ran off the roadway.” The woman was hospitalized with fractures to her spine and ribs.
Two years ago, NHTSA was petitioned to take a second look at the sudden unintended acceleration allegations in Teslas, following a study by a retired Minnesota engineer who independently reviewed the vehicles’ design details. The engineer, Ronald Belt, said in his petition that the details had previously been difficult to obtain but had been posted on open-source networks.
In his petition, Belt contended that some or all of the sudden unintended acceleration events may have been caused by high currents that caused a drop in the supply voltage. Further, he said, digital values obtained by incorrectly digitizing the correct analog sensor values may be sent to the vehicle’s event data recorder, “causing Tesla and NHTSA to conclude that the driver caused the sudden increase in torque by stepping on the accelerator pedal.”
Belt, who has published research papers on auto safety, said he became interested in the phenomenon following the incidents involving Toyota cars.
“I was saddened to see how drivers were ridiculed by saying that they were the cause of the sudden acceleration by stepping on the accelerator pedal, when my engineering background in electronics told me that the vehicle electronics could have caused the sudden acceleration,” Belt said in an email to the Chronicle.
Though NHTSA accepted Belt’s petition in June 2023, its website still lists an “open investigation.” A spokesperson said the agency had no updates on the case’s status, but that it conducts a “technical analysis” on all such petitions. If a petition is granted, the government opens a recall investigation.
Aside from a form letter he received from the agency acknowledging his petition, Belt said NHTSA has not communicated with him. He’s unaware of whether Tesla has responded to his concerns.
What caused a deadly SF car crash — a ‘madman’ driver or ‘malfunctioning’ Tesla?
www.sfchronicle.com
After a recent deadly crash in San Francisco, a Tesla driver told police his vehicle sped up on its own, pitching his case into the center of a widening debate.