The Biden administration is coming under heavy fire for its prisoner exchange of WNBA star Brittney Griner for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. While critics are happy Griner is on her way home, they are not pleased a man called the merchant of death is free. 

Bout was originally arrested in 2008, and extradited to the U.S. in 2010, the same time former DEA Chief of Operations Michael Braun described him as, “one of the most dangerous men on the face of the earth.”

In 2011 Bout was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans and conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization. Bout agreed to sell a Columbian terrorist group surface to air missiles, 30,000 AK-47s, tens of millions of rounds of ammunition, C4, and lightweight planes outfitted with grenade launchers.  

According to Politico, senior officials at the Pentagon are concerned Bout will go back to doing the same type of work he’s done in the past.

“This is not a deal, this is not a swap, this is a surrender. Terrorists and rogue states all around the world will take note of this and it endangers other Americans in the future that can be grabbed and used as bargaining chips,” former National Security Advisor John Bolton said on CBS.

Bolton said Former President Donald Trump declined the chance to swap Bout for ex-Marine Paul Whelan, who is still detained in Russia.

The Democratic Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said releasing Bout back into the world is a “deeply disturbing decision.” 

“The Russians and other regimes that take American citizens hostage cannot pretend that there is equivalence between the Brittney Griners of the world and people like Viktor Bout,” Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal. 

The White House addressed the concern and said they will continue to hold nations accountable who wrongfully detain Americans through sanctions and visa ban requirements.

“I think any nation that would come away from this trade thinking, ‘oh well there’s a license, I can just go do this’ would be making a dangerous presumption,” John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council said in an interview with PBS. “At the same time we need to think about the signal it sends to the American people that if you do everything right and if you still get wrongfully detained in a country, your government’s not going to forget you. And we might be having to make some difficult decisions.”

But while America was ultimately the country to give Bout back to Russia, as former CIA case officer Jack Rice explained to Straight Arrow News, getting him into custody was a worldwide effort that took years.

“The intelligence communities, not just the Americans, but the Brits, the Germans, the French, and others, were all involved. In this case, everybody was trying to nail this guy down,” Rice said.

Griner arrived back on U.S. soil Friday morning, Bout arrived in Moscow Thursday. 

America is running low on Adderall. A shortage of the stimulant drug, commonly used to treat ADHD, is leaving many of its prescriptions unfilled. But why are so many people being diagnosed with ADHD in the first place?

“There are multiple studies, peer reviewed studies indicating that ADHD diagnoses have been increasing in the U.S. Including in childhood populations,” said Paul Morgan, professor and researcher at Penn State University. 

A 2018 study published by University of Iowa researchers in JAMA shows a 4.1% increase in ADHD diagnoses among children from 1997 to 2016.

“And a particular focus of that work is trying to understand disparities in ADHD diagnosis and treatment,” said Morgan. He studies data on elementary school students nationwide. Morgan explains that one potential reason for more diagnoses is the growing awareness of ADHD and the treatments that come with it.

More teachers have been on the lookout for symptoms, particularly since 1991. That’s when the Department of Education released a memo saying that students with ADHD might qualify for special education services.

ADHD awareness has also spread through the media, though not all of the information about it is true. Doctors are speaking up about TikTok influencers spreading incorrect information regarding their supposed diagnoses.

And telehealth startups, like Done, are using the platform to advertise medications for better focus and time management.nWith knowledge of the disorder, people are more likely to seek medical help if they feel they need it. Morgan says the rising number of ADHD cases could also be the result of incorrect diagnoses.

“Usually the person that’s making the diagnosis in childhood is a pediatrician, or maybe a psychiatrist – some health professional. They’re typically asking parents to complete ratings of the kids’ behaviors. And they’ll usually give several sets, one for the parent and one for teachers to complete,” said Morgan.

The professional is looking for persistent patterns of inattention and hyperactivity or impulsivity. It’s a subjective process with room for error.

“Many other problems, like sleep disorders, anxiety, depression and certain types of learning disabilities, can have similar symptoms,” said the CDC, adding there is no single test to diagnose ADHD.

Studies show a child’s environment can also influence their behavior. In a 2012 article published in Psychological Science, researchers found that “noisy, crowded homes characterized by a lack of routines may undermine children’s ability to regulate emotions and behavior and may provide children with opportunities to act out.”

“So I would say there’s repeated evidence that some children are being overdiagnosed for ADHD,” said Morgan. 

Researchers in Australia found “convincing evidence of ADHD overdiagnosis and overtreatment in children and adolescents.” Their study was published in 2021 using data from various countries.

Some experts prefer the term “misdiagnosis,” to “overdiagnosis,” as they say some people go undiagnosed.

Whether a child truly needs it or not, a drug like Adderall can introduce side effects. They include difficulty sleeping, aches and nausea, reduced appetite and fainting or dizziness. Less common side effects include things like suicidal thoughts and hallucinations.

“If the child truly has ADHD, I think that there’s lots of evidence for different types of treatments, medication but also treatments that don’t require medication, some version of behavioral therapy,” said Morgan. He adds that it’s unclear whether remote learning or telehealth opportunities during the pandemic had any effect on ADHD diagnoses. It’s likely too soon for research on that period of time to be published.

Artificial intelligence is used in everything from virtual assistants to creating works of art. The latest trend taking social media by storm is OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which can generate human-like text based on input from a user. The sophisticated chatbot can understand and respond to a wide range of topics. It’s so advanced some worry it could make humans unnecessary. We have the jobs that ChatGPT could replace in this week’s Five for Friday.

#5: Journalist

A number of commercial products already offer AI copywriting services, but ChatGPT might be the most comprehensive yet. It can take information provided to it and with some fine-tuning, generate scripting similar to the video attached to this article. In fact, ChatGPT helped write the script. This isn’t something Straight Arrow News plans to utilize, especially because it can be somewhat inaccurate unless provided a lot of data. It did work well in this situation since it knows quite a bit about its own capabilities.

It did take a lot of finessing to get exactly what we were looking for and we still had to add our own flare to the scripting. Below you will find a comparison of what ChatGPT generated after roughly 20 prompts compared to the script that we ultimately used.

#4: Computer Programmer/Engineer

Computer programmers and engineers are essential in the modern connected world. ChatGPT’s language model has the ability to use various programming languages, including Python, Java and C++. The tool could be used in developing software, writing algorithms and building complex systems. ChatGPT is a good alternative to sifting through message boards, scrubbing YouTube videos or hoping Google spits out the proper answer.

#3: Medical Professional

ChatGPT can take provided symptoms and come up with a medical diagnosis. The AI is quick to point out that real doctors are still needed and chatbots should not be relied on for medical advice. In fact, in most cases it will tell the user to consult a medical professional for a true diagnosis. It may not have any bedside manner, but it can’t be much worse than WebMD.

#2: Entertainment Writer

With all the rebooted content out there, it seems like many entertainment writers are just going through the motions these days. ChatGPT can generate unique and engaging content. In our tests for this piece, it suggested, “A comedy about a robot who becomes a stand-up comedian and has to navigate the world of humans and their strange humor.” It may not be the best idea, but with so many streaming services, someone might pick it up for one season.

#1: Teacher

ChatGPT can explain complex concepts in a way that is easy to understand. It could be helpful in a classroom setting to provide personalized instruction and explanations to students at different levels of understanding. This is in no way an endorsement of getting rid of teachers in favor of technology, but it’s still an interesting idea. What’s more: ChatGPT isn’t going to be able to keep a close eye on the young ones.

Three years in, people in China are finally feeling freedom from the country’s most rigorous COVID-19 protocols. But some worry that freedom is sending COVID-19 cases surging, putting pressure on subpar health care systems with the potential to stall growth. What then happens to the world’s second largest economy?

For the first time, people in China with mild cases will be allowed to isolate at home instead of at a quarantine center. People visiting many public places will no longer need to prove they tested negative or inform whether they’ve been in an area with high risk of infection. With less stringent testing protocols, official COVID-19 cases are going down, but experts predict the actual rate of infection is rising behind the scenes.

Before the newly-announced reopening – which China claims has nothing to do with widespread protests – economists expected growth to start picking up. Now, economists say growth will lag behind expectations, significantly missing its target of 5.5% for this year and dragging for the first half of next year. At this time, economists’ consensus is that China’s gross domestic product will grow 3.2% in 2022, the slowest rate of growth since the 1970s excluding 2020.

President Xi Jinping’s “zero-COVID” pivot has caught the country by surprise. Beijing is reportedly already running out of even the most basic medical supplies, like ibuprofen, while new modeling analyzed by the Financial Times shows China risks one million COVID-19 deaths with a winter wave.

China’s failure to fully vaccinate millions of elderly Chinese and its refusal to use more effective mRNA vaccines is in sharp focus now as it tests reopening. Previous stringent restrictions may have kept case numbers low, but it also prevented the public from developing natural immunity. While “zero-COVID” clearly harmed China’s economy, the abandonment ahead of a winter surge is fueling uncertainty around Asia’s powerhouse.

WNBA star Brittney Griner is free from Russia after a prisoner exchange in which the U.S. released convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the merchant of death. But in exchange for Bout, the U.S. originally wanted both Griner and ex-Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Russia in 2018 and convicted on espionage charges in 2020.

“I mean, there’s a real question of whether or not there was even anything Paul Whelan actually did. That’s not the question. The question is the allegations themselves, and so much of what’s going on inside of Russia right now is perception based,” former CIA case officer Jack Rice said in an interview with Straight Arrow News. “And so that’s very, very important from the perspective of Vladimir Putin, and sort of how this is seen on a worldwide basis.”

Russia accused Whelan of being a spy for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. Whelan denied the claims and called the trial a sham. The U.S. government said the allegations are manufactured and baseless.

Whelan was found with a USB drive containing the names of Russian border guards. He said the device was put in his pocket by a friend who is a Russian Federal Security Service officer.

Whelan was working as a security consultant at the time and was in Russia for a friend’s wedding. He is a citizen of the U.S., but was born in Canada and also has citizenship in the UK and Ireland. He received a bad-conduct discharge from the Marines after being found guilty of bouncing checks and attempting to steal $10,000 during a tour in Iraq.

“Part of his background makes the Russians more suspicious. And I think it makes them look weaker, in a sense, if they’re simply willing to trade somebody like that,” Rice said.

Whelan was previously left behind when the U.S. brought Trevor Reed home in a prisoner exchange in April. Reed is a retired Marine who was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges that he endangered the life and health of Russian police officers. He’s denied those claims.

Rice explained to Straight Arrow News why it has been so much harder to get Whelan out.

“Well, I mean, he’s another card, right? I mean, right now, what we’re dealing with right now is sanctions. And these are substantial sanctions by the West, against the Russians. And so that is already in place. And the idea of having another trading card is always something the Russians, frankly the Soviet Union, was very good at playing,” Rice said. 

Although Whelan remains in Russia, President Biden said his release is still a priority and they will continue negotiations. 

“This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” President Biden said as he announced Griner’s release. “Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia has treated Paul’s case differently than Brittneys. And while we have not succeeded in securing Paul’s release we will not give up.” 

Meta is finding itself in multiple crosshairs at the same time this week. Facebook’s parent company is facing challenges from the U.S. government, European Union and its own oversight board.

Meta vs. the FTC

In a huge antitrust case Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission will try to convince a judge to block Meta’s $400 million purchase of virtual reality startup Within. The FTC plans to argue the acquisition could hurt future competition as Meta bolsters its metaverse ambitions.

That’s a new stretch for President Joe Biden’s antitrust team since most legal antitrust cases hinge on current market conditions.

Meta could come out on top on this one. In fact, liberal FTC chair Lina Khan reportedly overruled her staff to pursue this case, but she does have the backing of 23 states who filed a brief in support of the challenge.

Meta vs. the EU

Across the pond, the EU is cracking down on Meta’s targeted ads. In a closely watched data protection case, Reuters reports the forthcoming ruling means Meta will only be able to use personal data for advertisements with explicit user consent, meaning the company can’t just tuck it into terms and conditions. 

This goes beyond Apple’s opt-in function that Meta already struggles against. The European Data Protection Board ruling would apply to data collected within Meta’s apps, while Apple’s privacy feature only lets users opt out of cross-platform tracking.

This past year, Meta has tried to convince users to opt for targeted ads with its “Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found” campaign.

Meta vs. oversight board

Within its own ranks, Meta’s oversight board ruled this week it needs to overhaul its Xcheck, or “cross check,” program. It’s a system that secretly exempted millions of high profile users from normal enforcement rules on Facebook and Instagram.

The independent body has been reviewing the practice since whistleblower Frances Haugen exposed it in a leak to the Wall Street Journal last year. For instance, the leaked documents exposed that, in 2019, the system blocked content moderators from being able to quickly remove nude photos of a woman posted by Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar against her will.

Meta’s oversight board made 32 recommendations to the company, including identifying which accounts are part of cross check. Meta is not bound to the recommendations of its oversight board.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could forever shape redistricting and federal elections in America. In Moore v. Harper, the justices are considering the validity of the independent state legislature theory, which states only legislatures have the authority to regulate federal elections and state courts cannot interfere. 

“The elections clause requires state legislatures specifically to perform the federal function of prescribing regulations for federal elections. States lack the authority to restrict the legislature’s substantive discretion when performing this federal function,” Attorney David H. Thompson told the justices. Thompson represented North Carolina House Speaker Timothy Moore who was listed as the petitioner in his official capacity. 

But Thompson immediately came under tough questioning from conservative and liberal justices alike. 

“You concede that state legislative action under the elections clause is subject to a governor’s veto. Right?” Chief Justice John Roberts asked Thompson. 

Thompson responded, “Yes, Your Honor.”

“Well, the governor is not part of the legislature. Why do you concede that point?” Roberts said.

Justice Elena Kagan said there are three recent Supreme Court decisions in similar cases that go against Thompson’s argument. 

“In all recent cases, we’ve said, of course, state courts applying state constitutions typically constrain state legislatures, when they redistrict, when they enact election laws,” Justice Kagan said. 

Ultimately, the justices will decide whether state courts can nullify and replace regulations for federal elections put in place by legislatures. It stems from a lawsuit in which the North Carolina State Supreme Court blocked a Republican-drawn congressional map. A trial court then appointed three experts to draw a new map and adopted it. 

The respondents contend there is no such thing as an independent state legislature when it comes to enacting legislation. 

“The blast radius from their theory would sow elections chaos, forcing a confusing two-track system with one set of rules for federal elections, and another for state ones,” Neal Kumar Katyal, the attorney representing Rebecca Harper, said. 

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and others honed in on the separation of powers and what exactly constitutes a legislative power. 

“I thought we were able to tell when something is a legislative power, by reference to the state’s constitution. That they tell us when legislative power is being exercised at all, validly or whatever,” Justice Jackson said. 

The decision will be released by the end of June.

Trends, topics and too many animals to count, many people are either on or aware of TikTok. The short-form video app has surpassed Instagram in popularity and is now seen by the FBI as a national security threat.

“I would say we do have national security concerns, at least from the FBI’s end, about TikTok. They include the possibility of the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users. Or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations, if they so chose, or to control software on millions of devices,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Owned by the tech giant Bytedance, TikTok goes by the name Douyin in China, and it looks very different from what users experience in the rest of the world.

TikTok is heavily restricted in China

Douyin is its own entity, and it’s accessible only to people living in mainland China. It also excludes all of the content popular with the rest of the world.

“The experience that an American child has on TikTok versus the experience that a Chinese child has on Douyin and are completely different. And a large part of that is attributed to the content laws within China. When Bytedance was creating the two platforms, they realized that if TikTok was accessible to Chinese children, it would instantly be banned in China. And that is due in large part to the depraved forms of content that are prevalent on the platform. That ranges from dance videos to drug use. Things that the Chinese Communist Party has identified as dangerous for children,” said Jake Denton, a research associate in the tech policy center at The Heritage Foundation. 

“What this results in, is an environment in which the Chinese children are using this platform to better themselves. They’re getting physical fitness advice, self-help type content, that is almost a value add for the children. But when you look at the West, it’s not just limited to the United States, European countries all share the same platform. We’re getting a completely different application. We’re getting a completely different consumer experience. Children are fed kind of depraved, dangerous forms of content. Anything from, Tide Pod challenges to dance videos or things that make them hate their parents,” said Denton. 

Different algorithms and monitoring

He says one of the biggest differences between the apps is the algorithms. The same search words result in completely different content. They are also policed in completely different ways.

“They also limit the amount of time kids can spend on the Chinese platform, because they know this is very addictive. And this can create a lot of issues for developing brains. So, they’re limiting the use to 40 minutes a day for kids under 18,” said Nicolas Chaillan. He is the former chief software officer for the U.S. Air Force.

Douyin is also banned at night, another great firewall strategy from the CCP, according to Chaillan.

“China has studies that demonstrate that they are treating these social media products as addictions. That’s why they’re limiting the consumption of these products in China,” Chaillan said. 

Douyin leads in e-commerce

Over 670 million individual users log onto Douyin each month. That is about one-fifth of TikTok’s global monthly active users. Douyin also has much more advanced e-commerce features and a more powerful marketing platform for brands and advertisers.

“People in China are very financially driven, more so than in the U.S.,” said Gabby Gabriel. She’s the director of Gab China, a Chinese digital marketing agency headquartered in Shanghai.

“When it comes to marketing and advertising, there’s a lot of room not to be censored,” said Gabriel, who believes strict censorship is how China keeps its people separated from the rest of the world.

“It’s the great firewall and it’s a serious disaster. Chinese censorship is a real problem. They created A.I. censorship tools that would automatically censor content based on what it looks like or what words are mentioned. It’s gone beyond just individual censoring content, but now robots are censoring it. It’s super accurate and very scary,” Gabriel said. 

TikTok is “big” threat to national security

The CCP is pulling the strings in China, and here in the states, according to our experts. They agree with the FBI Director Wray that China is using TikTok to spy on the U.S., and is a threat to our national security.

“So, what you’re going to find is that TikTok is potentially the most powerful weapon of mass manipulation and misinformation ever created by the CCP. It’s a dream come true for the CCP for them to even believe that we will let that happen at such a scale. And be clueless enough to let it scale to the point where now it is the leading company in social media in the United States,” said Chaillan.

“The geolocation data collection is extensive. They know every single movement that you make, or that your child makes. And that’s all collected into a giant metadata profile that goes straight to the CCP. We’ve never seen anything like this in terms of foreign data collection. It’s really staggering,” said Denton.

In 2020, the U.S. military banned its members from using TikTok due to security risks. Now Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mike Gallagher are introducing legislation to ban the app in the U.S. They say they are concerned by the rising number of adults who get their news from TikTok.

Regardless, millions of Americans aren’t likely to delete the app that entertains, connects and informs them.

A Neilsen study, commissioned by the platform, finds 64% of users feel they can be their true selves on TikTok. And 59% of users say they feel a sense of community there.

The Justice Department unsealed 11 indictments against 12 people in what is described as a multi-faceted conspiracy to monopolize the transmigrante industry. The accused are facing price fixing and monopoly violations under the Sherman Act and some are facing money laundering charges.

The transmigrante industry in southern Texas is made up of a group of people who transport used vehicles and other valuable goods from America into Mexico so they can resell them in Central America. There are also forwarding agencies that help the transmigrantes get the items over the border legally by assisting them with things like customs paperwork.

The indicted individuals are accused of using violence, threats, and extortion to fix prices and eliminate competition amongst forwarding agencies. According to the Justice Department, they forced one transmigrante agency to pay $80,000 for operating outside of the centralized pool they created to corner the market and for failing to pay an extortion tax.

“As alleged, this criminal organization committed heinous acts of violence against those who would not participate in its illegal activities,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement. “We are committed to dismantling violent enterprises that victimize individuals simply trying to earn an honest living.”

Investigators called the group a criminal organization. They range in age from 32 to 68 and live in southeastern Texas in and around Brownsville. One, Diego Ceballos-Soto, is from Matamoras, Mexico, a small city on the border with Brownsville, Texas. 

The investigation is ongoing and prosecutors are asking anyone with information on the case to call the Homeland Security Investigations tipline at 866-347-2423.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden touched down in Arizona to tout a $40 billion investment by one of the world’s largest makers of semiconductors. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is opening a second chip plant in the state, upping its recent Arizona investment of $12 billion.

According to TSMC, the $40 billion commitment is the largest foreign investment in Arizona’s history and one of the largest foreign direct investments in the U.S.

The chips made at the site could eventually be used to power Apple iPhones. Apple CEO Tim Cook was also on hand at the Arizona announcement, alongside the president and Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su.

TSMC is in the process of building the first $12 billion plant in Phoenix, which is supposed to be ready for production in 2024. The company has also started production on the second site, which is set for the production phase by 2026.

The unprecedented semiconductor investment by TSMC and other major semiconductor manufacturers is powered by the CHIPS and Science Act. Since the act was first introduced in June 2020, semiconductor companies have announced 46 new projects worth more than $180 billion in U.S. investment creating 200,000 U.S. jobs through November 2022, according to a Semiconductor Industry Association analysis.

Of note, Samsung is planning a $17 billion semiconductor plant in Texas, while Intel is working on a $20 billion plant in Ohio.

Biden signed the bipartisan act this past August with a roughly $52 billion price tag attached, including $39 billion in manufacturing incentives to lure the likes of Taiwan-based TSMC, among others.

The decline in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing became glaring during the pandemic, when a global shortage of available chips had automotive and technology industries screeching to a halt. The chip shortage reportedly cost the auto industry $210 billion in revenue in 2021 and the price of new and used cars skyrocketed from low supply.

The U.S. share of global manufacturing capacity shrunk from 37% in 1990 to 12% in 2021, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.