Secretary of Energy Chris Wright discusses the economic impact of lowering energy prices, why energy is essential for artificial intelligence dominance, American LNG exports and possible U.S. operation of Ukrainian nuclear plants. Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, said that his constituents are feeling optimistic once again about the future of the oil and gas industry in his district and beyond. The Republican represents parts of central Texas that are critical to the industry, including the Permian Basin, as the Trump administration has famously promised to "drill, baby, drill." "Think about the hardworking men and women of the Permian Basin, or the Bakken or the Marcellus, or any other producing area. President Biden said, 'What you do is evil. You producing oil and gas is evil.' I mean, they basically demonized them," he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) should have "one set of standards," according to Republican Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen. Brecheen introduced a bill on Tuesday called the Secret Service Readiness Act that aims to create "a uniform fitness standard for Secret Service special agents and uniformed division officers" after the assassination attempt that wounded former President Trump at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. "We believe that there ought to be one set of standards for Secret Service agents. There shouldn't be multiple different ways you can qualify based upon your sex or your political beliefs. If people who are being protected by [the] Secret Service – if they want the opportunity to let those who can't meet full historic standards on their details, let them handle it. Don't force it upon everybody else and potentially make them more vulnerable to an assassination attempt. There should be one set of standards."

Lawmakers have slammed the Food and Drug Administration for ignoring'troubling evidence' of Elon Musk's Neuralink practices and pushing the brain chip to human trials. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) penned a letter to the FDA, criticizing the agency for not expecting the company's long list of animal abuse allegations that span back to at least 2019. The Democrat cited 2022 reports that described employees' complaints of'hack jobs' of animal experiments due to a rushed schedule, causing needless suffering and deaths. The open letter also stated'these alleged failures to follow standard operating procedures potentially endangered animal welfare and compromised data collection for human trials.' Blumenauer is now demanding the FDA explain how it reconciled reports of such lapses with its decision to authorize Neuralink's human trial.

AI as it's called, is becoming increasingly popular (or unpopular, depending on your view). In 1951, author Arthur C. Clarke published a series of science fiction short stories, including the one he collaborated on 17 years later with movie writer/producer/director Stanley Kubrick, birthing the historic film, "2001: A Space Odyssey." Among other things, Odyssey explored the result of humans interacting with a computer that begins to think like them, and (HAL 9000) takes on a mind of his/its own. When Wozniak and Jobs created Apple, the goal was to get computers to think like man, so they could readily understand each other. That's why the trash icon looks like a garbage receptacle -- "Getting rid of garbage? Throw it in the can."

I reach out to you still contemplating the profundity of what Mark Zuckerberg told his congressional inquisitors on Wednesday: "The space of people connecting with other people is a very large space." So large, it even includes newsletters in your inbox. Three clear winners and one loser emerged from Wednesday's Big Tech hearing in Washington. The winners were Rep. Pramila Jayapal, our new "eviscerator in chief"; Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai's future career as an anger-management therapist; and Tim Wu. When the going gets tough in coming weeks, I will close my eyes and picture the Google CEO soothingly saying "congressman" with infinite patience, as he did at the beginning of all his answers. The more irate the congressional questioner, the more patient, measured, and empathetic his "congressman" sounded.

The blossoming of fintech shows financial regulators need to update their tools, Rep. Patrick McHenry, possibly the next chair of the House Financial Services Committee, said today. Regulators need to start using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to adapt rules quickly to a rapidly changing financial system, a Republican Congressman who is often mentioned as the next possible head of the House Financial Services Committee said today. To meet the fintech challenge, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) also called for regulators to begin employing Big Data to develop strategies. "The basic way consumers are interacting with the banking system is fundamentally changing," said the Congressman. McHenry revealed he will be introducing a bill soon to bring financial regulation into the fintech era.