Category: Politics
Melania’s bold AI message to America’s youth: ‘Use AI as a tool, but do not let it replace your personal intelligence’
Appearing at the “Zoom Ahead: AI for Tomorrow’s Leaders” virtual event from the White House on Friday, Melania Trump addressed the rapid advancement of AI technology, highlighting both its current capabilities and the potential risks and opportunities it may present in the future.
Thanking Zoom founder Eric Yuan for hosting the event, the first lady praised the company’s leadership in the tech space and connected the discussion to what she described as her broader “mission.”
Mrs. Trump said AI has expanded access to creative tools in ways that were previously unimaginable, allowing young people to explore fields such as film, fashion, art, and music.
“Your support directly advances my mission to prepare America’s next generation to use AI to enhance their education and ultimately their careers,” Mrs. Trump said.
She told the audience they were “fortunate” to be living in what she repeatedly described as “the age of imagination,” a new era shaped by artificial intelligence.
“The age of imagination is a new era, powered by artificial intelligence, where one’s curiosity can be satisfied almost magically in seconds,” she said.
RELATED: AI isn’t killing writers — it’s killing mediocre writing
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Mrs. Trump said AI has expanded access to creative tools in ways that were previously unimaginable, allowing young people to explore fields such as film, fashion, art, and music from their own homes.
“For the first time in history, the young girl dreaming of becoming a fashion designer and the young boy who wants to stand up his school animated superhero series can do so from their own home,” Trump said.
She emphasized that curiosity has always been central to human progress, pointing to writers, scientists, architects, and artists who challenged unanswered questions and the status quo.
“Every giant at some point in time questions the status quo,” she said. “Their singular vision pushes humanity in a new direction.”
She noted, however, that the power of the technology actually lies in the human “imagination.”
“Artificial intelligence provides all the tools needed to implement your creative vision today,” she said.
“But what do you need to start? You need to harness your imagination.”
She encouraged students and creators to focus on developing the ability to ask meaningful questions and to think critically beyond the information AI can provide.
RELATED: Can artificial intelligence help us want better, not just more?
Brooks Kraft/Getty Images
The first lady stressed that while AI can generate content, it cannot replace human purpose.
“Although artificial intelligence can generate images and information, only humans can generate meaning and purpose,” she said.
She concluded by urging the audience to treat AI as a tool rather than a shortcut, encouraging intellectual honesty and personal responsibility in how the technology is used.
“Use AI as a tool, but do not let it replace your personal intelligence,” Mrs. Trump said.
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![WHAT A CROCK: Jasmine Crockett Compares ICE to ‘Modern-Day Slave Patrols’ [WATCH]](https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Crockett-1-300x170.png "Crockett")
Scandal-plagued mayor arrested for serious sex crimes — including alleged sodomy of a minor
A St. Louis-area mayor obsessed with race and swamped with lawsuits has been arrested — and the accusations against him are horrifying.
On Thursday, Mayor Michael Cornell of Riverview, Missouri, was arrested and charged with nine felonies: four counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, three counts of first-degree sodomy or attempted sodomy, and one count each of first-degree harassment and possession of child pornography — film/videotape.
‘Tell me why we’re being sued because you made sexual advances to an employee and when he refused, you fired him.’
As of Thursday afternoon, Cornell remained in custody on a $1 million, cash-only bond.
The statutory sodomy charges relate to repeated incidents between 2016 and 2017 of alleged sexual contact with a teenager under 17 years of age, KSDK reported.
Prosecutors claimed that Cornell has also attacked three adult males: one between 2016 and 2017, one in May and September 2024, and one just last month.
Police worry that other victims, including minors, may be out there.
“In these types of cases with this type of behavior, based on the victims that we’ve talked to, it’s possible that this is a predatory type of behavior. And we’re concerned that if he was willing to do it to a minor, there may be other minors that we’re just not aware of,” St. Louis County Police Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Lohr said, according to KSDK.
A bond hearing has been scheduled for next week, and a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for February 18, KSDK said.
RELATED: Noncitizen Kansas mayor accused of voter fraud has cast dozens of ballots since 2000, documents show
Bill Oxford/Getty Images
Cornell, 39, has been inundated with accusations since before he was elected mayor in April 2024. He currently faces litigation related to sexual harassment, wrongful termination, gender discrimination, fostering a toxic work environment, and jokes on social media.
A former Riverview alderwoman also filed a suit after Cornell allegedly ordered her to be placed in handcuffs after she mentioned the sexual harassment allegations against him at a town hall meeting last February.
“I held up the court papers. I said, ‘Tell me why we’re being sued because you made sexual advances to an employee and when he refused, you fired him,'” Regina Davis said, according to KMOV, which has covered the accusations against Cornell extensively.
At least seven lawsuits have been filed against Cornell in just two years, the outlet noted.
Cornell has also recently made bizarre claims about members of the KKK vandalizing both public and private property in Riverview.
“I am writing to inform you of the disturbing markings and threats against the City of Riverview and its residents by racist and cowardly KKK affiliates throughout the night. Over the past six months, alarming KKK and hate-related markings or destruction of City property and churches in Riverview have been reported,” he posted to Facebook in December.
Additionally, Cornell issued KMOV a rambling seven-page letter on city letterhead, referring to not only the alleged KKK problem, but other wild allegations, including that the chief of police had orchestrated “conspiracies to blow my head off, commit a mass shooting, and then kill himself.”
Former Riverview Police Chief Thomas Tumbrink filed a lawsuit against Cornell and other officials in June, alleging wrongful termination.
In response to a request for comment on the lawsuits, Cornell told KMOV: “Just let the system play that out, and you just follow the facts, you understand? We’re not here to be choked in with the smoke. When the smoke clears, a lot of facts. And if you are someone with some type of integrity, follow the facts.”
Cornell’s bio on the Riverview website evinces a man obsessed with race and overly impressed with his resume. The first paragraph of many notes his “unmatched knowledge, courage, and strength, he has broken barriers and shattered ceilings at such a young age counting back over 20 years.”
Cornell also brags about his call for “environmental justice” and greater “integrity” and “transparency.”
Among other accomplishments, he claims to be the “youngest and First African American” chairman of the Riverview Board of Trustees and that in 2022, he became a “State Licensed Private Investigator.”
A public records request to the state law enforcement licensing agency revealed that Cornell had a peace officer license that has since “expired.” Cornell pled guilty to one count of impersonating an officer in 2017, but his record was later expunged, KMOV said.
Through a public records request, Blaze News learned that while Cornell has been registered to vote in Missouri since at least September 2020 and has cast a vote 10 times since then, he is not registered with a particular political party.
Riverview City Hall did not respond to a request for comment.
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Venezuelan freedom fighter honors Trump: Machado insists ‘he deserves’ Nobel Prize after capture of dictator Maduro
While there have been mixed reactions to the January 3 capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro by the U.S., few have shown greater support for the move than opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
On Thursday, Machado visited President Donald Trump at the White House and presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize, which she won in October.
‘María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done.’
When asked in a Fox interview why she gave her medal to the president of the United States, Machado had a simple answer: “Because he deserves it.”
“It was a very emotional moment. I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela.”
Photo by Drew ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images
The medal was presented to Trump in a large golden frame with text that reads: “To President Donald J. Trump in Gratitude for Your Extraordinary Leadership in Promoting Peace Through Strength.” The text further calls the award a “Personal Symbol of Gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan People.”
After the meeting, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”
A White House official confirmed to CNBC that Trump intends to keep the medal.
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Renee Good had 4 gunshot wounds, including in the head, new report shows
New information has surfaced regarding the January 7 death of Renee Nicole Good, who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer after obstructing a deportation operation and ultimately endangering the officers’ lives.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Good suffered four gunshot wounds, contradicting earlier reports of the January 7 incident that said she had three gunshot wounds.
Good was brought out of the vehicle to a snowbank and then the sidewalk to get ‘separation from an escalating scene involving law enforcement and bystanders.’
Citing the Minneapolis Fire Department’s incident report acquired through a state Data Practices Act request, the Tribune reported that paramedics found Good unresponsive, not breathing, and with an “inconsistent” and “irregular” pulse.
Good was brought out of the vehicle to a snowbank and then the sidewalk to get “separation from an escalating scene involving law enforcement and bystanders,” the Tribune wrote.
RELATED: ‘That’s what the Bible tells us’: Renee Good’s former in-law surprises CNN host with his message
Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images
According to the Star Tribune, the incident report said that Good had two gunshot wounds to her right chest, one on her left forearm, and one “with protruding tissue on the left side of [her] head.”
Blood was flowing out of her left ear, according to the outlet’s summary of the report.
Lifesaving efforts were given at the scene of the shooting, in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, and at the hospital, Hennepin County Medical Center. These efforts were stopped around 10:30 a.m.
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Officials of ‘Latinx’ LGBTQ+ center are outraged that months-long fecal attacks are not an arrestable offense
The Los Angeles Police Department has angered officials of the Latino Equality Alliance after saying that a man flinging bags of poop at their center is not criminally prosecutable.
Members of the Mi Centro LGBTQ Community Center in Boyle Heights have been cleaning up small bags of dog poop being deposited at the center for months. They say it’s an expression of hate-filled fecal vandalism against the LGBTQ community.
‘This “legal loophole” has left the center and its youth vulnerable to continued harassment without consequence.’
In August, the center posted an image of the dog poop in a post on Facebook that called the acts “abhorrent” as well as “unacceptable.” Some of the poop was tossed onto the awning in front of the center.
Months later, a suspect was identified with the aid of surveillance video, but police reportedly told the center that the dog poop deposits “do not meet the threshold for criminal prosecution.” Because the man has left poop inside of bags, it only meets the far lower standard of a littering infraction.
“This ‘legal loophole’ has left the center and its youth vulnerable to continued harassment without consequence,” reads a statement from the center.
LEA Executive Director Eddie Martinez told the media that police needed “substantial evidence” to prove the acts constituted a hate crime.
“They said a bag of poop is not enough to be arrested,” Martinez lamented.
Bell Police Department Chief Damian Velasco said at the same press conference that officers had contacted the suspect and were waiting to hear from him to determine “what the mindset is and what exactly is going on.”
The center describes itself as serving LGBTQ+ persons of “Latinx” and “Latine” descent.
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