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GSA’s Grok Agreement Invites Chaos, Bias, and National Security Risks
The General Services Administration (GSA) today announced a multi-year agreement allowing Elon Musk’s Grok AI to be deployed across federal agencies. Under the deal, agencies can procure Grok through March 2027 as part of the administration’s “OneGov Strategy” to accelerate AI adoption. Grok’s inclusion comes despite repeated warnings from lawmakers, civil society groups, and AI experts that the chatbot has a documented history of generating racist, antisemitic, conspiratorial, and false content. It even comes after the sworn testimony of OSTP Director Michael Kratsios who said multiple times during a recent Senate hearing that Grok violates the Trump administration’s Woke AI Executive Order. Public Citizen has previously warned of the danger of using Grok in the federal government, leading a coalition of more than 30 advocacy organizations in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging the administration to bar Grok from federal use, citing violations of OMB’s own guidance and the administration’s AI principles.
J.B. Branch, a Big Tech accountability advocate with Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response:
“The record is well documented: Grok has generated racist, antisemitic, conspiratorial, and false content, along with deepfakes and other abuses. The OMB’s own guidance requires agencies to discontinue unsafe and untrustworthy AI systems. Grok does not meet standards of accuracy, neutrality, and risk mitigation required for federal procurement. The American people demand tools that are factual, safe, and ideologically neutral. Grok has proven itself to be none of these. GSA’s decision undermines public trust and compromises the credibility of government operations.
“The administration must reverse course and bar Grok from federal use immediately. Anything less invites chaos, bias, and national security risks, not to mention the very governmental systems the American people rely on.”
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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Progressive Activist Avi Lewis Launches Bid for NDP Leadership in Canada
Lewis said NDP must “fling the doors wide open, and build a party for the 99%.”
Sep 25, 2025
The longtime progressive activist Avi Lewis officially launched his bid for leadership of Canada's New Democratic Party, which he aims to revitalize with a platform of economic populism.
Lewis, a journalist and documentarian whose grandfather helped to found the NDP in 1961, says the way to bring the party back to relevance amid an electoral low point is to “fling the doors wide open, and build a party for the 99%.”
At a kickoff party in Toronto on Wednesday, the former parliamentary candidate from Vancouver railed against the “Liberal-Conservative alliance” that dominates Canadian politics. The two major parties' leaders, Lewis said, "compete fiercely in public, while behind the scenes, they collude to boost corporate profits."
"In the name of protecting the country, the government is rapidly passing and proposing legislation that will change the culture and character of Canada," Lewis said. "From sweeping aside Indigenous rights and environmental protections for so-called nation-building projects, to rolling back higher taxes on the uberwealthy and digital giants, to the generational austerity of 15% cuts to public spending, to the $9 billion that materialized in an instant for the military this year, ramping up to $150 billion a year a decade from now—the changes afoot are extreme."
Lewis pledged to “build a government that is an instrument for the people, not for corporate Canada.”
The NDP—once Canada's third-largest national political party—has been ailing of late after a dismal showing in the nation's most recent parliamentary elections. The party, which held over 100 seats 14 years ago, dropped to a new low of just seven seats in 2025, not enough to even be recognized for committee assignments or federal funding.
The humiliating showing resulted in the resignation of Jagmeet Singh, who'd led the party for eight years, but was widely criticized by those on the left for his coziness with the establishment of the dominant Liberal Party and his failure to keep the NDP competitive. It is in this state of "political wilderness" that Lewis has emerged with an ambitious change agenda.
(Video: Avi Lewis for NDP Leader)
"Life in Canada today feels on the edge," Lewis said in a video released last week announcing his leadership run. "Everyone seeking a little stability, everyone being told 'You're all on your own.'"
He identified several causes of that precarity. One was the "economic attack" from US President Donald Trump, whom Lewis described as sending "disruption grenades" in the form of steep tariffs and annexation threats. But Lewis said that Trump merely "magnifies... the everyday emergency of trying to get by in an impossible economy."
According to one survey conducted in July, 57% of Canadians said their current incomes did not allow them to afford basic necessities like housing, groceries, energy, and cell phone plans.
"Working hard doesn't earn you a living," Lewis said.
"These days, every politician claims to be shocked by the costs," he continued. "What they don't talk about is why: The billions in profits for the tiny group of corporations that control every part of our economy. Three phone providers, three grocery giants, five oil companies, and the five big banks that fund them."
Lewis' plan to confront corporate power is years in the making. Alongside his wife, the acclaimed journalist and author Naomi Klein, Lewis rolled out the Leap Manifesto in 2015 as an agenda for the NDP. Leap focused on confronting the climate crisis, but its contents formed the basis of what he now refers to as a "Green New Deal." The accelerating climate emergency remains at the center of his agenda in 2025.
"Oil and gas CEOs," he said in the video, are "not just hoarding extreme wealth," but "foreclosing on our shared future."
Lewis has never held a parliamentary office, though he has run for a federal Vancouver-area seat twice before and achieved two third-place finishes, receiving 26% of the vote in 2021 and 12.5% in 2025.
In his bid to lead NDP, he has so far leaned heavily into his family legacy and his reputation as a lifelong activist who has "butted heads with the powerful," over issues like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the privatization of healthcare and public transit.
"For four decades," he said, "I have stood with workers, telling stories of working-class heroes and organizing for dignity in factories and fields, classrooms and care homes, shop floors and fishing fleets."
Lewis, who also identified free trade deals as job killers, proposed a "Green New Deal" as a means to revive Canadian industry and create "millions of good-paying jobs."
He has also proposed a wealth tax, a national cap on rent increases, a public option for groceries, and expanded universal healthcare that covers "medication to mental health."
During his speech Wednesday night, Lewis described NDP as "the only party that can accurately diagnose the cause of our everyday emergency, and offer solutions as big as the crises we face."
"The federal government has the power, the resources, and the responsibility to ensure the fundamentals of a good life—healthy food, truly affordable housing, functioning public transit, and hey, maybe a proper vacation once in a while," he said. "But we won’t get it if we don’t fight for it. And that’s where the NDP comes in. After all, the NDP is the original party of workers’ struggle. And in this moment of epic change and uncertainty, the party is needed as never before."
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Calls for US to Follow Suit After Slovenia Bans Netanyahu Over Alleged Gaza War Crimes
“We urge the United States and other governments around the world to follow Slovenia’s lead by implementing similar measures," said CAIR.
Sep 25, 2025
Slovenia on Thursday banned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza—from entering the European nation, prompting calls for other countries, especially the United States, to follow suit.
The Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MFEA) declared Netanyahu persona non grata, noting the ICC's outstanding arrest warrant for the Israeli leader, who is accused of crimes in Gaza, including murder and forced starvation.
"Already in July 2024, the ICJ established that several Israeli policies and practices violate international humanitarian law and human rights law," MFEA noted, referring to the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion declaring that Israel's occupation of Palestine, including Gaza, is an illegal form of apartheid that must end as soon as possible.
MFEA State Secretary Neva Grašič cited this month's confirmation by a commission of United Nations experts that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, where nearly two years of bombardment, siege, invasion, and forced starvation have left more than 241,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing and millions more forcibly displaced, sickened, and starved in an officially declared famine.
“This was the first time that the UN has called the Israeli conduct in Gaza a genocidal one,” she said.
Grašič stressed that the move against Netanyahu "does not mean a measure against the Israeli people, but sends a clear message to the government of the state of Israel that Slovenia expects strict respect for the decisions of international courts and international humanitarian law."
Slovenia had already declared Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich personae non gratae in July over their genocidal statements, advocacy of ethnic cleansing, and incitement to violence against Palestinians.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was among those calling on other nations to follow Slovenia's example.
“We commend Slovenia for taking a principled stand in support of international law and human rights by barring Prime Minister Netanyahu from entering its territory while he presides over the genocide in Gaza," the Washington, DC-based group said in a statement. "This is a necessary step toward accountability and justice."
“We urge the United States and other governments around the world to follow Slovenia’s lead by implementing similar measures until those responsible for crimes against humanity are held accountable," CAIR added.
In addition to travel sanctions, Slovenia has formally recognized Palestinian statehood, supports the ICJ genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa, and took part in July's Hague Group emergency summit in Colombia—which produced a joint action plan aimed at bringing an end to the Gaza genocide.
Slovenia also announced Thursday that it is contributing €1.2 million ($1.3 million) to the Palestinian Authority as part of a European-Saudi initiative aimed at ensuring the viability of Palestine's economy.
"Given the fact that the Republic of Slovenia recognized the state of Palestine... and that it actively participates in initiatives for the implementation of two-state solutions, it is necessary to substantiate political support also with financial resources," Grašič explained.
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Lancet Study Warns Cancer Deaths Could Surge Nearly 75% by 2050
One researcher called the projections "an impending disaster" for low-income nations.
Sep 25, 2025
An ominous new study in the Lancet medical journal projects that deaths from cancer will surge over the next two-and-a-half decades, with lower-income countries set to be the hardest hit.
The study, which was released on Wednesday, estimates that there will be 18.6 million cancer deaths and 30.5 million cancer cases in 2030. The estimated number of cancer deaths would represent a nearly 75% increase from the estimated 10.4 million cancer deaths in 2023.
The study explains that the forecasted death increases "are greater in low-income and middle-income countries" than in wealthy nations, and that most of the projected increases are likely to come from an older population, not a rise in the lethality of cancer overall.
All the same, the study warns that the total increase in cancer cases and deaths will put a strain on global health systems.
"Effectively and sustainably addressing cancer burden globally will require comprehensive national and international efforts that consider health systems and context in the development and implementation of cancer-control strategies across the continuum of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment," the study says.
Meghnath Dhimal, chief research officer at the Nepal Health Research Council, who worked on the study, told Euronews that the projections showed "an impending disaster" for low-income nations. Dhimal also said that these nations needed to do more to improve their citizens' access to cancer screenings and treatments to prevent their systems from potentially being overwhelmed.
"There are cost-effective interventions for cancer in countries at all stages of development," he said.
Dr. Theo Vos, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation who helped author the study, told Euronews that the incidence of cancer could be significantly reduced by lowering tobacco use, unsafe sex, obesity, and high blood sugar, among other factors.
"There are tremendous opportunities for countries to target these risk factors, potentially preventing cases of cancer and saving lives," Vos explained.
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