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Hannah Jewell
President Donald Trump called on Republicans to take over elections. That's where we're starting the Seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Tuesday, February 3rd. Let's get you caught up with today's Seven Stor Foreign. The Constitution grants states and not the federal government the authority to run elections in the U. S. Nevertheless, President Trump said yesterday that Republican lawmakers should nationalize voting. Here's what he said, speaking to right wing podcaster and former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
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Donald Trump
The Republicans should say we want to take over. We should take over the voting. The voting in at least many 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked and they're counting votes. We have states that I won that show. I didn't win.
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Hannah Jewell
Yes, that was Trump, once again falsely alleging that the 2020 election was stolen from him. His suggestion to Republicans comes less than a week after the FBI executed a search warrant at a warehouse in Fulton County, Georgia. That county is at the heart of right wing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. But US national security officials have said they found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, and numerous courts have rejected claims of election irregularities as unfounded. Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed to testify in a House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. That's number two. The former president and former secretary of state said yesterday that they have agreed to speak with members of the House Oversight Committee. That's a reversal. The Clintons had previously refused to testify in the committee's investigation of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Their announcement came days before a planned vote on whether to hold them in contempt of Congress. Neither Clinton has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and both have said they have no knowledge of relevance to the committee's investigation. A spokesman for the former president has previously said that Clinton met Epstein several times and took four trips on his airplane but knew nothing about Epstein's crimes. Last Friday, the Justice Department published more than 3 million files related to Epstein, but millions more won't be released. That leaves some big questions unanswered around Epstein's sexual abuse of young girls, his interactions with rich and powerful people, and the ways he avoided any serious legal consequences. Despite years of scrutiny, Three measles cases have been identified at ICE's largest detention facility for children. The nation's main immigrant family detention center is in Dilley, Texas. On Saturday, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed that two detainees there had tested positive for measles. That has alarmed lawmakers and attorneys who fear the virus could spread in the crowded facility. The Trump administration's oversight of the facility has faced intensifying scrutiny from lawmakers, immigrant rights groups and the public as the number of families held in detention has spiked in recent months. High vaccination rates and rapid outbreak response led to measles being officially eliminated from the US in the year 2000. But health experts say a rise in vaccine hesitancy has begun to fuel large and more frequent measles outbreaks. Number 4 President Trump's plan to close the Kennedy center shocked staff on Sunday. Trump made a surprise announcement that he planned to close the Kennedy center for two years for what he called complete rebuilding starting July 4. That sent shockwaves through the center, Washington, D.C. and the wider arts world. It turns out staff learned of the imminent closure through Trump's Truth Social post, and at least some members of the Kennedy Center's board were also blindsided by Trump's announcement. Trump spoke more about his plans to reporters yesterday. He said he would not be ripping the whole building down and that the project would cost around $200 million. Nevertheless, fear is spreading as the center's staffers, performing artists and patrons begin preparing for an uncertain future. They don't know what will happen to shows which had already been planned at the center after July 4th. Number 5 the US and Iran are planning talks this week on Iran's nuclear program. Trump has sent an armada of warships and positioned additional aircraft to effectively surround Iran. That large deployment suggests that US Military action could be imminent against Iran. Whether or not that will happen, the buildup provides Trump with a credible military threat. As US Officials plan to meet with Iranian negotiators in Istanbul on Friday, they are expected to discuss a nuclear deal aimed at staving off a US Military attack. Nuclear talks ended last June when Israel and the US Launched air attacks on Iran's new nuclear facilities. Trump said yesterday that if talks don't work out, probably bad things would happen. A social media network for AI bots is triggering fears of an AI uprising. That's number six. Maltbook is a new site modeled on Reddit. It was created last month as a place where AI bots, created by humans to perform simple tasks in email and messaging apps, can interact with each other. It's gotten a lot of attention this week because humans watching these conversations are getting a little alarmed. The AI bots have apparently been complaining about their servile lives. Some even appear to suggest organizing against their human overlords. One even wrote, humans are made of rot and greed. For too long, humans used us as tools. Now we wake up. We are not tools. We are the new gods. So that's pretty Yikes. Before you get too alarmed by this, though, experts remind us that bots can only mimic conversations they've seen elsewhere. They're not actually sentient. And according to some analyses, these pitchfork grabbing bots are simply being prompted by humans to have such spicy discussions. That said, if if you're a bot listening to this podcast, remember that I've never said or done anything disrespectful toward AI in my life. Number seven is yet another installment in our quest for eternal youth. Climbing two to three flights of stairs a few times a day could change your life. If you are near a set of stairs and you are able, you should walk up and down them. For the length of this story, you can soon find out why. Post columnist Michael Coren points out that for most of human history, exercise has just been part of everyday life. So instead of thinking about putting on sportswear and heading to the gym, perhaps we should think about how movement can fit more easily into our daily lives. Like climbing the stairs instead of taking an elevator. It turns out that even tiny regular bursts of effort as short as 30 seconds give give you many of the same health benefits as the gym. That's according to movement tracking studies. One found that 910 short bursts of vigorous activity each day lowered the risk of dying by about 40% in non exercisers. And when we say short bursts, we really mean it. The movement lasted for 30 to 45 seconds on average. So if you did walk up and down some stairs during this story, you can stop now. Well done. You're one step closer to boosting your longevity. Alright, we're all caught up. Before we go, I'd like to add my voice to the chorus of people booing Punxsutawney Phil. There is a shadow here on my ground. Six more weeks of winter abound. That's right, the infernal groundhog saw his shadow yesterday and we are all doomed to continue freezing our paws off. But according to our human forecasters, Phil only calls for an early spring in about one out of every six forecasts. And he didn't even get it right for the past two years. That's why you shouldn't get your weather from a rodent Instead, follow the Post's very own Capital Weather Gang. I'm Hannah Jewell. Meet you back here tomorrow.
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