Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

“Politicians of both parties want to use the power of government to silence their foes. Some in the university community seek to drive it from their campuses. And an entire generation of Americans is being taught that free speech should be curtailed as soon as it makes someone else feel uncomfortable.”

– William Ruger, “Free Speech Is Central to Our Dignity as Humans”

The police state does not want citizens who know their rights.

Nor does the police state want citizens prepared to exercise those rights.

This year’s graduates are a prime example of this master class in compliance. Their time in college has been set against a backdrop of crackdowns, lockdowns and permacrises ranging from the government’s authoritarian COVID-19 tactics to its more recent militant response to campus protests.

Born in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, these young people have been raised without any expectation of privacy in a technologically-driven, mass surveillance state; educated in schools that teach conformity and compliance; saddled with a debt-ridden economy on the brink of implosion; made vulnerable by the blowback from a military empire constantly waging war against shadowy enemies; policed by government agents armed to the teeth ready and able to lock down the country at a moment’s notice; and forced to march in lockstep with a government that no longer exists to serve the people but which demands they be obedient slaves or suffer the consequences.

And now, when they should be empowered to take their rightful place in society as citizens who fully understand and exercise their right to speak truth to power, they are being censored, silenced and shut down.

Consider what happened recently in Charlottesville, Va., when riot police were called in to shut down campus protests at the University of Virginia staged by students and members of the community to express their opposition to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine.

As the local newspaper reported, “State police sporting tactical gear and riot shields moved in on the demonstrators, using pepper spray and sheer force to disperse the group and arrest the roughly 15 or so at the camp, where for days students, faculty and community members had sang songs, read poetry and painted signs in protest of Israel’s ongoing war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.”

What a sad turn-about for an institution which was founded as an experiment in cultivating an informed citizenry by Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, champion of the Bill of Rights, and the nation’s third president.

Unfortunately, the University of Virginia is not unique in its heavy-handed response to what have been largely peaceful anti-war protests. According to the Washington Post, more than 2300 people have been arrested for taking part in similar campus protests across the country.

These lessons in compliance, while expected, are what comes of challenging the police state.

What was unexpected were the campus protests themselves.

For those of us who came of age in the 1960s, college campuses were once the bastion of free speech, awash with student protests, sit-ins, marches, pamphleteering, and other expressive acts showing our displeasure with war, the Establishment and the status quo.

Contrast that with college campuses today, which have become breeding grounds for compliant citizens and bastions of censorship, trigger warnings, microaggressions, and “red light” speech policies targeting anything that might cause someone to feel uncomfortable, unsafe or offended.

Free speech can certainly not be considered “free” when expressive activities across the nation are being increasingly limited, restricted to so-called free speech zones, or altogether blocked.

Remember, the First Amendment gives every American the right to “petition his government for a redress of grievances.”

There was a time in this country, back when the British were running things, that if you spoke your mind and it ticked off the wrong people, you’d soon find yourself in jail for offending the king.

Reacting to this injustice, when it was time to write the Constitution, America’s founders argued for a Bill of Rights, of which the First Amendment protects the right to free speech. James Madison, the father of the Constitution, was very clear about the fact that he wrote the First Amendment to protect the minority against the majority.

What Madison meant by minority is “offensive speech.”

Unfortunately, we don’t honor that principle as much as we should today. In fact, we seem to be witnessing a politically correct philosophy at play, one shared by both the extreme left and the extreme right, which aims to stifle all expression that doesn’t fit within their parameters of what they consider to be “acceptable” speech.

There are all kinds of labels put on such speech—it’s been called politically incorrect speech, hate speech, offensive speech, and so on—but really, the message being conveyed is that you don’t have a right to express yourself if certain people or groups don’t like or agree with what you are saying.

Hence, we have seen the caging of free speech in recent years, through the use of so-called “free speech zones” on college campuses and at political events, the requirement of speech permits in parks and community gatherings, and the policing of online forums.

Clearly, this elitist, monolithic mindset is at odds with everything America is supposed to stand for.

Indeed, we should be encouraging people to debate issues and air their views. Instead, by muzzling free speech, we are contributing to a growing underclass of Americans—many of whom have been labeled racists, rednecks and religious bigots—who are being told that they can’t take part in American public life unless they “fit in.”

Remember, the First Amendment acts as a steam valve. It allows people to speak their minds, air their grievances and contribute to a larger dialogue that hopefully results in a more just world. When there is no steam valve to release the pressure, frustration builds, anger grows and people become more volatile and desperate to force a conversation.

The attempt to stifle certain forms of speech is where we go wrong.

In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that it is “a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment…that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable.” For example, it is not a question of whether the Confederate flag represents racism but whether banning it leads to even greater problems, namely, the loss of freedom in general.

Along with the constitutional right to peacefully (and that means non-violently) assemble, the right to free speech allows us to challenge the government through protests and demonstrations and to attempt to change the world around us—for the better or the worse—through protests and counterprotests.

If citizens cannot stand out in the open and voice their disapproval of their government, its representatives and its policies without fearing prosecution, then the First Amendment with all its robust protections for free speech, assembly and the right to petition one’s government for a redress of grievances is little more than window-dressing on a store window—pretty to look at but serving little real purpose.

After all, living in a representative republic means that each person has the right to take a stand for what they think is right, whether that means marching outside the halls of government, wearing clothing with provocative statements, or simply holding up a sign.

That’s what the First Amendment is supposed to be about: it assures the citizenry of the right to express their concerns about their government to their government, in a time, place and manner best suited to ensuring that those concerns are heard.

Unfortunately, through a series of carefully crafted legislative steps and politically expedient court rulings, government officials have managed to disembowel this fundamental freedom, rendering it with little more meaning than the right to file a lawsuit against government officials.

In more and more cases, the government is declaring war on what should be protected political speech whenever it challenges the government’s power, reveals the government’s corruption, exposes the government’s lies, and encourages the citizenry to push back against the government’s many injustices.

Indeed, there is a long and growing list of the kinds of speech that the government considers dangerous enough to red flag and subject to censorship, surveillance, investigation and prosecution: hate speech, conspiratorial speech, treasonous speech, threatening speech, inflammatory speech, radical speech, anti-government speech, extremist speech, etc.

Clearly, the government has no interest in hearing what “we the people” have to say.

Yet if Americans are not able to peacefully assemble for expressive activity outside of the halls of government or on public roads on which government officials must pass, or on college campuses, the First Amendment has lost all meaning.

If we cannot stand peacefully outside of the Supreme Court or the Capitol or the White House, our ability to hold the government accountable for its actions is threatened, and so are the rights and liberties that we cherish as Americans.

And if we cannot proclaim our feelings about the government, no matter how controversial, on our clothing, or to passersby, or to the users of the world wide web, then the First Amendment really has become an exercise in futility.

The source of the protest shouldn’t matter. The politics of the protesters are immaterial.

To play politics with the First Amendment encourages a double standard that will see us all muzzled in the end.

You don’t have to agree with someone to defend their freedoms.

Responsible citizenship means being outraged at the loss of others’ freedoms, even when our own are not directly threatened. It means remembering that the prime function of any free government is to protect the weak against the strong. And it means speaking up for those with whom you might disagree.

The Framers of the Constitution knew very well that whenever and wherever democratic governments had failed, it was because the people had abdicated their responsibility as guardians of freedom. They also knew that whenever in history the people rejected this responsibility, an authoritarian regime arose which eventually denied the people the right to govern themselves.

The demons of our age—some of whom disguise themselves as politicians—delight in fomenting violence, sowing distrust and prejudice, and persuading the public to support tyranny disguised as patriotism.

Overcoming the evils of our age will require us to stop marching in lockstep with the police state and start thinking—and speaking—for ourselves.

It doesn’t matter how old you are or what your political ideology is: it’s our civic duty to make the government hear us—and heed us—using every nonviolent means available to us: picket, protest, march, boycott, speak up, sound off and reclaim control over the narrative about what is really going on in this country.

The power elite has made their intentions clear: they will pursue and prosecute any and all words, thoughts and expressions that challenge their authority.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, this is the final link in the police state chain.

If ever there were a time for us to stand up for the right to speak freely, even if it’s freedom for speech we hate, the time is now.

Today Goldman published two of the bank’s most widely read periodic reports: the Hedge Fund Trend Monitor (available to pro subs here) and Mutual Fundamentals (also available here), which summarize the quarterly activity and flows of hedge and mutual funds, respectively. Both are available to pro subs in the usual place, but here are the key points from each report.

Hedge Fund trend monitor
 
1) PERFORMANCE: US equity long/short hedge funds have generated a solid +8% YTD return. The strong performance of popular hedge fund long positions has boosted hedge fund returns despite a recent short squeeze in popular shorted stocks. Goldman’s Hedge Fund VIP list of the most popular long positions (ticker: GSTHHVIP) has returned +16% YTD, outperforming the S&P 500 (+12%) and the equal-weight S&P 500 (+7%). The most shorted stocks (GSCBMSAL, +7% YTD) surged +25% in mid-May.

2) LEVERAGE AND SHORT INTEREST: Hedge funds have modestly lifted net leverage alongside the broader market rally while maintaining record gross leverage. Concentrated short positions have been particularly volatile recently, causing funds to rotate out of their favorite longs to cover shorts. However, the most recent short squeeze fell shy of the recent experiences in 2021 and December 2023. Short interest for the median S&P 500 stock remains very low at 1.8% of float. Instead, funds continue to use macro products.

3) HEDGE FUND VIPS: Mega-caps remain the most popular hedge fund long positions. AMZN, MSFT, META, GOOGL, NVDA continue to rank as the top five stocks in the VIP list this quarter, with AAPL joining the top six. The VIP list contains the 50 stocks that appear most often among the top 10 holdings of fundamental hedge funds. The basket has outperformed the S&P 500 in 60% of quarters since 2001 with an average quarterly excess return of 47 bp. 14 new constituents: ALIT, APP, DELL, DFS, GDDY, JPM, MU, NEE, SE, SN, VST, WDC, WIX, X.

4) MEGA-CAPS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Hedge funds trimmed positions in the mega-caps while adding to broader AI beneficiaries. Share price outperformance has supported the weight of the Magnificent 7 in hedge fund long portfolios, which stabilized at 13% during 1Q. AAPL was the exception where hedge funds incrementally added. In contrast, hedge funds added to winners across the entire AI universe, particularly in Phase 2 Infrastructure. MRVL, SNX, AES, LFUS are Infrastructure stocks with the largest increase in hedge fund popularity.

5) SECTORS: Hedge funds continued to rotate toward cyclicals, with broad-based increases across Consumer Discretionary, Financials, and Energy. DFS joined this quarter’s VIP list, as did JPM, and also joined BK and SPGI to screen among this quarter’s list of Rising Stars with the largest increase in hedge fund popularity. Soaring prices also lifted the weight of Semiconductor stocks in hedge fund long portfolios to a new record, at 6.5%. MRVL is the top Rising Star and MU entered our basket of favorite hedge fund long positions.

Mutual Fundamentals
 
1. PERFORMANCE: Mutual funds have delivered strong results YTD. 45% of large-cap mutual funds are outperforming their benchmarks YTD, compared with the historical average of 38%.

Fund managers have grown increasingly bullish on US equities, with cash allocations falling to 1.5% and matching the lowest level on record.

Nonetheless, active mutual funds have experienced $139 billion of outflows YTD.

2. THEMES IN FOCUS: (1) MEGA-CAP TECH: Increasing benchmark weights and diversification restrictions mean that the average large-cap mutual fund was 660 bp underweight the Magnificent 7 in 1Q 2024, largely unchanged vs. last quarter. A net of 120 funds (25%) reduced their exposure to MSFT, the largest decline across the group.

(2) AI: Despite the broadening of the AI trade across share prices, mutual fund managers generally avoided taking large tracking error on the theme. However, mutual funds lifted their exposure to Utilities to a new 10-year high.

(3) CYCLICALS/DEFENSIVES: The average large-cap mutual fund maintained a 437 bp overweight in cyclical industries vs. the benchmark, which has benefited performance as investor confidence about economic growth drove Cyclicals to outperform Defensives (GSPUCYDE) by 4% YTD.

3. SECTORS: The average large-cap mutual fund is currently most overweight Financials (+167 bp) and Industrials (+139 bp) and most underweight Info Tech (-341 bp).

Relative to 4Q 2023, the average fund increased exposure most to Consumer Discretionary (+53 bp) and cut the most to Health Care (-42 bp) and Financials (-34 bp).

4. STOCKS: Goldman has rebalanced its Mutual Fund Overweight (GSTHMFOW) and Mutual Fund Underweight (GSTHMFUW) baskets in this report. 12 new constituents in GSTHMFOW: JCI, GM, TRV, CAH, KDP, DASH, TTD, NET, LHX, PNC, GD, AMP.

6 new constituents in GSTHMFUW: GE, HON, AMGN, UNP, DLR, TMO.

Much more in the full reports available to pro subs (here and here)

Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

On Nov. 24, 2019, a new thread titled “AirPods causing tinnitus?” appeared on the Apple community forum page.

The Apple user said that after using AirPods for a while, he noticed a high-pitched ringing in his ears that didn’t go away.

According to him, he has always been highly protective of his hearing; he doesn’t listen to anything loud and always carries earplugs in case he encounters anything that could damage his hearing. But things only got worse.

“Having said all that, now I notice that when I put my AirPods in my ears and have nothing playing, they emit a high pitched tone that I would say exactly replicates the tone of my tinnitus, leaving to me believe that the AirPods actually caused my tinnitus,” the user wrote.

Since the thread was published in 2019, over 3,200 Apple users have responded with “Me too.”

The introduction of Apple wireless earphones has had a noticeable effect on earphone use, with younger generations using them more than older generations, said Julie Prutsman, an audiologist and founder of the Sound Relief Hearing Center. For the past few years, she has seen an increasing number of younger people show up to her clinics with hearing loss and tinnitus.

AirPods and other Apple earphones make up the majority of earphones used by teenagers today. In 2021, Apple earphones were ranked first in the American headphone and earphone market. A 2022 survey by Piper Sandler surveyed more than 7,000 teenagers and found that 72 percent owned AirPods.

The audiologist told The Epoch Times that the root problem lies not with what earphones people use but with a common phenomenon: irresponsible earphone use. The convenient wireless and noise-canceling features, along with better sound quality, have further exacerbated people’s overuse.

“It is becoming a real issue,” Ms. Prutsman said, “and unfortunately, they’re not educated about what can happen.”

High ‘Dose’ and Prolonged Use

The American Osteopathic Association estimates that 20 percent of teenagers today will experience hearing loss, partially due to their headphone and earphone use. A review published in the International Journal of Audiology found that about 6 percent to 60 percent of earphone users show symptoms of hearing loss, including hearing difficulties and tinnitus.

At the same time, more and more youths are regularly using earphones. In February, a University of Michigan poll surveyed parents of 5-to-12-year-olds and found that two-thirds reported that their children use headphones and earphones.

Most people know that loud sounds can damage the ears. However, Dr. Clarice Saba, a Brazilian otorhinolaryngologist, said listening at low volume for extended periods can also induce damage.

People put on their earphones at work, at home, and even during sleep. Even if the sounds may not always be loud, having earphones in for hours can still overwork the ears, Dr. Saba said.

The cochlea is located inside our ears. It sits behind the ear drum and is responsible for turning sound waves into electrical signals that are then transmitted to the brain. Prolonged use of earphones stresses and damages cochlea cells. If some of them die, hearing loss can occur.

The cochlea sits behind the ear drum and turns sound waves into electrical signals that are then transmitted to the brain. (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock)

Ms. Prutsman added that noise-induced damage is “dose-dependent” and cumulates. A 2021 study published in the journal Medicine found that among teenagers who use earphones for more than 80 minutes a day in a noisy environment, one in five suffer hearing loss. The risks are 4.7 times higher than they are for those who use earphones for shorter periods.

Using earphones for 80 minutes or more increases the risk of hearing loss by almost fivefold. (Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock)

Depending on the severity of the damage, the person may experience reduced sound sensitivity, problems with discerning sound, tinnitus, and even hearing loss.

Constantly keeping earphones in the ear canals can also cause a congested and humid environment, which may be conducive to ear infections. They also create greater in-ear pressure compared to over-ear headsets.

In-ear earphones, especially, rub against the delicate skin inside our ears. “If you scratch the ear inadvertently while inserting the AirPods, there can be micro-breaks in the skin that can lead to infection,” otolaryngologist Dr. Michael Seidman told The Epoch Times.

Besides, some people may not routinely clean their earphones, and debris on them can increase the risk. The earpieces also block most of the canal from outside oxygen, disrupting the health of the ear microbiome.

“The skin in the ears needs to breathe,” Dr. Saba said, then compared them to hands. “If you use gloves all the time, you can have problems.”

Noise Cancellation

In recent years, more noise-canceling earphones and headphones have hit the market, lending people the much-needed privacy to shield their music from those around them.

However, noise cancellation comes with caveats.

Since these earphones silence environmental sounds, their prolonged use may lead to hyperacusis, a condition in which the brain’s tolerance for sound decreases so that even ambient environmental sounds, such as coughing or typing on the keyboard, can trigger a stressful response.

Read more here…

No, this is not a joke. 

The Waterfront Partnership, led by Laurie Schwartz for nearly two decades, and Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott have announced that the water in the Inner Harbor—a long-standing industrial port city on the East Coast known for its history of industry, manufacturing, shipping, transportation, toxic pollutants, and chronic sewage spillovers—has suddenly become “swimmable and fishable.”

On June 23, Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott will make the ceremonial jump into the Baltimore Harbor from a floating dock at Bond Street Wharf in Fells Point to celebrate the Waterfront Partnership’s milestone of allegedly creating a harbor clean enough to swim in. 

“I know the data, I know the water is safe, and that’s why I’ll be jumping in the harbor,” Scott said on the nonprofit’s website. 

Where have we heard ‘trust the science’ before? 

Do you notice anything about the members of the Waterfront Partnership? 

Thanks, but no thanks… Just weeks ago. 

Has the city cleaned up all the accumulated toxic waste sediment and sewage discharge materials? 

Not according to this…

Just because the nonprofit operates trash interceptors in the harbor to improve optics – doesn’t mean toxic pollutants on a micro level are gone. 

“Every time it rains, trash, bacteria, heavy metals, and other pollutants are washed from city streets and roofs into local streams and the harbor,” nonprofit Blue Water Baltimore stated on its website. 

Blue Water Baltimore’s website shows bacteria sensors in the harbor are failing… 

Given all of this, why would Schwartz and Scott promote such an event next month to entice people to jump into a polluted body of water? 

Using Sayari’s data on public records and financial intelligence, we find that Schwartz has her fingerprints on several projects across the metro area, from trash-collecting wheels to ice rinks to parks. This event may allow her to justify running even more taxpayer funds through the nonprofits. 

Or does Scott need better optics on a city that is still imploding with violent crime and a population collapse? 

Whatever you do, don’t jump in the water. 

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he disagrees with arrest warrants sought against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), suggesting that U.S. leaders could be next.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group, in Jerusalem on Feb. 18, 2024. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

The ICC this week said it would seek arrest warrants for Mr. Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the Hamas leaders, prompting criticism from both Israeli and top U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden. The ICC claimed that the warrants for the Israeli leadership were over the country’s conduct in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

Mr. Netanyahu said the warrants against himself and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the country’s conduct in its fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip set a “dangerous” precedent for other democratic countries, including Israel’s allies.

“Israel is given here a bum rap. I think it’s dangerous. Basically, it’s the first democracy being taken to the dock when it is doing exactly what democracies should be doing in an exemplary way,” he told CNN in a televised interview. “It endangers all other democracies. Israel is first, but you’re next. Britain is next. Others are next, too.”

Also in the interview, Mr. Netanyahu asserted that the ICC claims were “false, dangerous, and outrageous,” and that chief prosecutor Karim Khan is only exacerbating the problem. It’s also false to see Israel and Hamas as equals, he added.

“He’s equating the democratically elected leaders of Israel with the terrorist tyrants of Hamas. That’s like saying, well, I’m issuing arrest warrants for FDR and Churchill but also for Hitler. Or I’m going to issue arrest warrants for George W. Bush but also for [Osama] bin Laden. That’s absurd,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

A panel of three judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants and allow a case to proceed. The judges typically take two months to make such decisions.

Israel is not a member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.

Mr. Khan, the prosecutor, said in a statement Monday that the two may “bear criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Gaza, including the alleged starvation of civilians, willful killing, persecution, and more. As for Hamas, the ICC said its leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri may be responsible for crimes against humanity, taking hostages as a war crime, torture, various inhumane acts, and more.

International human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, the wife of actor George Clooney, served on a five-member expert panel that advised Mr. Khan. She said the panel had agreed unanimously that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that both the Hamas and Israeli leaders had committed war crimes, according to a statement issued by her office.

In a statement issued on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington rejects the ICC prosecutor’s announcement that he would seek arrest warrants, adding that “we reject the Prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful.”

“Hamas is a brutal organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans,” he added in the statement.

Hamas, a U.S. State Department-designated terrorist organization, also denounced the ICC prosecutor’s actions, saying the request to arrest its leaders “equates the victim with the executioner.”

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during a joint press conference with U.S. secretary of defense, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Dec. 18, 2023. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)

Inside the United States, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he backed the ICC’s move, saying “these arrest warrants may or may not be carried out, but it is imperative that the global community uphold international law,” according to a statement he issued earlier this week. “Without these standards of decency and morality, this planet may rapidly descend into anarchy, never-ending wars, and barbarism.”

Israel is separately facing a South African-brought case in the International Court of Justice, the top court of the United Nations, in which it accused the country of genocide. Israeli officials have denied those claims.

The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute people linked to war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and aggression.

Last year, the ICC issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges linked to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The Kremlin responded by issuing arrest warrants for Mr. Khan and other judges on the international panel.

Other prominent individuals who have been charged by the ICC include former Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, who died in November 2011 amid the “Arab Spring” uprisings of the same year, as well as his son Saif Gadhafi, former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, and African warlord Joseph Kony.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

With Donald Trump stuck in New York for his ‘hush money’ trial, which now rests in the hands of the jury (while having imploded in the court of public opinion), the former president is holding what’s expected to be a massive rally on Thursday in the Bronx amid huge gains in polling among black and latino voters.

https://t.co/SucrnpKrNx pic.twitter.com/SHBoPMBNtK

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) May 21, 2024

The Trump campaign expects a crowd of up to 3,500 people, according to the NY Post. It will mark the first time he’s campaigned in his home state since a 2016 event in Buffalo.

The @NYYRC through our @NYYRC_Black Caucus & its Chairman @BronxRepublican are taking over electronic billboards in the Bronx promoting President Trump’s historic rally this week. This one just went up on 149th and Morris Ave. Will stay up until the rally on Thursday! pic.twitter.com/4Ow2n3uTct

— Gavin Mario Wax 🇺🇸 🗽🍊 (@GavinWax) May 22, 2024

Flyers promoting the historic South Bronx Trump rally hitting the streets of the Bronx.

Big distribution going out in the AM!

Thank you @NYYRC_Hispanic and @ArgilioRodrig ! pic.twitter.com/WgWjvog7Pz

— Gavin Mario Wax 🇺🇸 🗽🍊 (@GavinWax) May 22, 2024

Several polls suggest as many as 23% of black voters and 46% of latino voters could cast their ballot for Trump – a huge boost from the 6% of black and 28% of latino voters who supported him in 2016, which grew to 8% and 32% respectively in 2020.

As the Epoch Times noted last month, support for the Democratic Party among black and Hispanic voters has been eroding for years.

The percentage of black voters who “lean Democrat” topped out at near 90 percent in 2008 but fell to 66 percent by 2023, the lowest level yet recorded according to data from Gallup’s annual polling on the subject.

Meanwhile, the percentage of black voters who “lean Republican” rose from single digits to 19 percent over the same period.

Of note, the Bronx hasn’t backed a Republican candidate for White House in 100 years when Calvin Coolidge won every single NY county in 1920 and 1924. 

Meanwhile, Trump’s Thursday rally comes weeks after a massive rally in the Jersey Shore town of Wildwood -drawing an estimated 100,000 supporters – and days after Trump supporters were seen marching in the South Bronx over the weekend.

NOW: Black Patriots for Trump rally in the Bronx

Video by@NJEGmedia pic.twitter.com/snaFYzvHaA

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 18, 2024

Amazing! The South Bronx was packed with MAGA supporters today, and Trump is not even there today!
I honestly believe NY is in play this November
What about you? pic.twitter.com/sPzxpJsuau

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) May 18, 2024

AOC says the quiet part out loud (via @CortesSteve):

🚨Wow. @AOC accidentally says the quiet part out loud. She mocks President Trump for holding a rally in the South Bronx and brags about how the Democrats’ lawfare is forcing him to stay in New York City:

“By the way, Trump’s doing it in the South Bronx not to make a point but… pic.twitter.com/459TvGZ7zK

— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) May 22, 2024

Except, this may backfire bigly…

AOC says she’s looking forward to seeing how people from the Bronx respond to Trump coming to their neighborhood…

This is how the Bronx feels about Donald Trump 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

The Bronx Rally tomorrow will be historic!! pic.twitter.com/LtBB9CWRKK

— TONY™ (@TONYxTWO) May 22, 2024

Indeed, the Trump campaign has been making the best of the former president’s situation.

“While he is in court, we are using New York City as a backdrop,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez in a statement to the Post.

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” another source close to the campaign told the outlet.

“President Trump is taking advantage of being stuck in New York by holding a rally that will surely highlight how Joe Biden has failed Bronx residents with inflation and the open border. The nation’s biggest outlets are headquartered in NYC. [Manhattan DA Alvin] Bragg has inadvertently given Trump a massive stage.“

Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the only Republican member of Congress representing a New York City district, told The Post she thinks Trump’s Bronx rally is “a great start.”

“It’s exciting for New York City to have President Trump rallying, and it’s important for him to reach out to, particularly minority communities. I think New York is in play,” she said.

“New York is desperate for a balance, and they’ve shown that … We flipped that City Council seat in the Bronx, right in the heart of AOC’s district. In my congressional district, we were able to flip multiple [state] Assembly seats Republican.

“My district would love for President Donald Trump to make a stop, particularly Staten Island,” added Malliotakis, shouting out the only borough to back Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

In future, the lawmaker added, she would “love to see him do something at Yankee Stadium, or take over the beach on Staten Island like he did in Wildwood.” –NY Post

This is a complete optics nightmare for Democrats.

Charles Payne on President Trump going to the Bronx- I think it’s going to be beautiful pic.twitter.com/KyyJMdq3b9

— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) May 22, 2024

A majority of US House of Representatives members voted in favor of legislation to establish regulatory clarity over digital assets, CoinTelegraph reports.

In a 279 to 136 vote on May 22, House lawmakers approved H.R.4763, or the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the bill clarifies the roles the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have over digital assets. 71 Democrats joined with 208 Republicans to vote in favor of the bill.

“Unfortunately, our current regulatory framework is preventing digital assets’ innovation from reaching its full potential,” said Representative Patrick McHenry before the House vote. “The SEC and the CFTC are currently in a food fight for control of these asset classes.”

Maxine Waters, also speaking before the floor vote, said she intended to oppose the legislation. She claimed the FIT21 bill would send cryptocurrencies to a “regulatory no man’s land,” adding that the language would allow traditional finance firms to operate without SEC oversight.

“This [bill] is perhaps the worst, most harmful proposal I have seen in a long time,” said Representative Waters. “This bill would deregulate crypto and certain traditional securities to the extent that I and other experts have expressed serious concerns about this bill causing a potential market crash and recession.”

Who benefits from the passage of the #NotFIT4PurposeAct:
✅Wealthy #crypto firms that have chosen not to register w/the @SECGov or otherwise comply w/the securities laws

Who stands to lose:
❌Ordinary investors trying to build wealth

— U.S. House Committee on Financial Services (@FSCDems) May 22, 2024

Meanwhile, the White House is against the U.S. House of Representatives passing the FIT21 bill, but the president isn’t threatening to veto it, in a positive sign for the crypto industry.

Biden’s White House published a statement of administrative policy Wednesday saying the administration opposed the passage of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, citing concerns over a lack of investor protections should it make its way through Congress. The bill also suggested the White House would want to work with Congress on future legislation addressing the crypto markets, in contrast with previous statements from Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who has repeatedly said he does not believe the industry needs additional legislation specific to crypto.

“The Administration is eager to work with Congress to ensure a comprehensive and balanced regulatory framework for digital assets, building on existing authorities, which will promote the responsible development of digital assets and payment innovation and help reinforce United States leadership in the global financial system,” the statement said. “H.R. 4763 in its current form lacks sufficient protections for consumers and investors who engage in certain digital asset transactions.”

This is the second statement of administrative policy the administration has published in recent weeks, after threatening a veto against a bill looking to overturn controversial SEC accounting guidance. That bill sailed through the House and Senate.

The statement came hours after the SEC’s Gensler published his own opposing statement on the legislation, saying it would harm the regulator’s efforts to police traditional capital markets as well as crypto markets.

FIT21 would redefine how securities issuers have to comply with existing federal law and Supreme Court precedent, the SEC chair said in his statement.

The bill’s advocates say U.S. law doesn’t allow for crypto companies to operate without the threat of civil litigation, a view Gensler described as these companies trying to get out of meeting disclosure and other compliance requirements for securities issuer.

The bill would create a new definition specific to digital assets, to identify when they’re securities or digital commodities and whether the SEC or Commodity Futures Trading Commission should be the primary spot market regulator. The full House is set to take up the bill later Wednesday, with a vote scheduled for this afternoon.

The House is still set to discuss and vote on H.R. 5403, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Anti-Surveillance State Act, which would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital dollar through intermediaries. Democratic Party leadership reportedly said on May 21 that it was not in favor of its members voting to pass the anti-CBDC bill or the FIT21 bill, but it would not whip against the legislation.

Crypto-related legislation and the SEC’s pending decision on a spot Ether exchange-traded fund comes as the United States moves deeper into an election year, with digital assets on many voters’ minds. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the presumptive candidates for the Democratic and Republican Parties in 2024, have agreed to two debates on June 27 and Sept. 10.

A mere few days after Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, was sworn into office at the start of the week, China’s military on Thursday morning (local time) initiated two days of large-scale military drills.

PLA navy ships and aircraft are now reportedly “surrounding the island of Taiwan,” according to state media and PLA statements. The drills are said to be ensuing in the Taiwan Strait as well as to the north, south and east of the island – and additionally near the disputed tiny islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu, and Dongyin in the East China Sea.

“The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) started joint military drills surrounding the island of Taiwan from 7:45 a.m. Thursday (2345 GMT),” Xinhua news agency said.

Illustrative prior drills near Taiwan, via Xinhua

Dubbed Joint Sword-2024A, the exercises will “focus on joint sea-air combat-readiness patrol, joint seizure of comprehensive battlefield control, and joint precision strikes on key targets” – according to military spokesman Li Xi.

The statement described that the drills “involve the patrol of vessels and planes closing in on areas around the island of Taiwan and integrated operations inside and outside the island chain to test the joint real combat capabilities of the forces of the command.”

And ominously, Xinhua further cited the spokesman as saying the drills will serve as a “strong punishment for the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and a stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces.”

Taiwan’s new president Lai only on Tuesday called on China “to cease their political and military intimidations against Taiwan, and share with Taiwan the global responsibility of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, as well as the greater region, and to ensure the world is free from the fear of war.” These were some of his first words spoken as president.

The drills focus on joint sea-air combat-readiness patrol, joint seizure of comprehensive battlefield control, and joint precision strikes on key targets, involving the patrol of vessels and planes closing in on areas around the island of #Taiwan and integrated operations inside… pic.twitter.com/9p2N5R9gz2

— China Perspective (@China_Fact) May 23, 2024

Beijing had previously warned that Lai is a “dangerous separatist” who will ensure future “war and decline” for the island of Taiwan, which China has long claimed as its own.

Lai had underscored in his 30-minutes inaugural speech, “I have always believed that if the leader of a country puts people’s welfare above all, then peace in the Taiwan Strait, mutual benefits, and prosperous coexistence would be common goals,” he said. “I hope that China will face the reality of the Republic of China’s existence.”

While China regularly sends jets to buzz Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the start of these drills marks an escalation akin to when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei in 2022.

What the 2022 PLA ‘encircling’ drills in response to Nancy Pelosi looked like…

Via CGTN

Washington and Taiwan’s Western backers will certainly keep a close eye to see how expansive and threatening these fresh encircling exercises are, at a tense moment the globe is already focused on two other flashpoints and grinding wars in Ukraine and in Gaza. And the United States is involved in funding/arming one side in each instance of all of these conflict zones.

Authored by Raven Wu and Cindy Li via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Big tech companies’ full commitment to developing artificial intelligence (AI), even enabling AI to “see” and “speak” to the human world, has led to a growing concern over humans being controlled by technology.

(Andrey Suslov/Shutterstock)

Ilya Sutskever, the co-founder of OpenAI, made a significant announcement on May 15, officially declaring that he was leaving the company where he had worked for nearly ten years.

“I’m confident that OpenAI will build AGI [artificial general intelligence] that is both safe and beneficial under the leadership of @sama (Sam Altman), @gdb (Greg Brockman), @miramurati (Mira Murati) and now, under the excellent research leadership of @merettm (Jakub Pachocki). It was an honor and a privilege to have worked together, and I will miss everyone dearly,” he wrote in a post on the social media platform X.

The news sent shockwaves through the tech industry. In November 2023, due to AI safety issues, Mr. Sutskever and other board members joined forces to oust OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, who was briefly expelled from OpenAI but returned and removed Mr. Sutskever and several board members, restructuring the board to be more aligned with his vision.

“This departure highlights severe conflicts within OpenAI’s leadership regarding AI safety. Although Sutskever and Leike’s wish to develop an ethically aligned AGI is commendable, such an endeavor requires substantial moral, temporal, financial, and even political support,” Jin Kiyohara, a Japanese computer engineer, told The Epoch Times.

Google & OpenAI Competition Intensifies

On May 14, one day before Mr. Sutskever announced his departure, OpenAI unveiled a higher-performance AI model based on GPT-4, named GPT-4o, where “o” stands for “omni,” indicating its comprehensive capabilities.

The GPT-4o model can respond in real-time to mixed inputs of audio, text, and images. At the launch event, OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati stated, “We are looking at the future of interaction between ourselves and machines.”

In several videos released by OpenAI, people can be seen interacting with AI in real time through their phone cameras. The AI can observe and provide feedback on the surroundings, answer questions, perform real-time translation, tell jokes, or even mock users, with speech patterns, tones, and reaction speeds almost indistinguishable from a real person.

Say hello to GPT-4o, our new flagship model which can reason across audio, vision, and text in real timehttps://t.co/MYHZB79UqN

Text and image input rolling out today in API and ChatGPT with voice and video in the coming weeks. pic.twitter.com/uuthKZyzYx

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 13, 2024

A day after OpenAI’s release, Google launched its 2024 I/O Developer Conference. In a 110-minute presentation, “AI” was mentioned 121 times, focusing on the latest Gemini-1.5 model, which integrates into all Google products and applications, including the search engine, Google map, Ask Photos, Google Calendar, and Google smartphones.

With Gemini integrated into the cloud photo album, users can search for specific features in photos just by entering keywords. The AI will find and evaluate relevant images, even integrating a series of related pictures or answers based on in-depth questions, according to the tech giant.

Google Mail can also achieve similar results with AI, integrating and updating data in real time upon receiving new emails, aiming for a fully automated organization.

On the music front, the Music AI Sandbox allows quick modifications to song style, melody, and rhythm, with the ability to target specific parts of a song. This functionality surpasses that of the text-to-music AI, Suno.

Gemini can also act as a teacher, with teaching abilities comparable to GPT-4o. Users can input text and images, which the AI organizes into key points for explanation and analysis, allowing real-time discussions.

This AI update also brings capabilities similar to OpenAI’s text-to-video AI, Sora, generating short videos from simple text descriptions. The quality and content of these videos are stable, with fewer inconsistencies.

“AI has been updating at an unprecedented speed this year, with performance continuously improving,” said Mr. Kiyohara. “However, this progress is built on the further collection and analysis of personal data and privacy, which is not beneficial for everyone. Eventually, humans will have no privacy before machines, akin to being naked.”

AI Predictions Coming True

The release of more powerful AI models by OpenAI and Google, just three months after the last update, shows a rapid pace of AI iteration. These models are becoming increasingly comprehensive, possessing “eyes” and “mouths,” and are evolving in line with a scientist’s predictions.

AI can now handle complex tasks related to travel, booking, itinerary planning, and dining with simple commands, completing in hours what humans would take much longer to achieve.

The current capabilities of Gemini and GPT-4o align with predictions made by former OpenAI executive Zack Kass in January, who predicted that AI would replace many professional and technical jobs in business, culture, medicine, and education, reducing future employment opportunities and potentially being “the last technology humans ever invent.”

Mr. Kiyohara echoed the concern.

“Currently, AI is primarily a software life assistant, but in the future, it may become a true caretaker, handling shopping, cooking, and even daily life and work. Initially, people may find it convenient and overlook the dangers. Yet once it fully replaces humans, we will be powerless against it,” he said.

People check their phones as AMECA, an AI robot, looks on at the All In artificial intelligence conference in Montreal on Sept. 28, 2023. (Ryan Remiorz /The Canadian Press)

AI Deceiving Humans

On May 10, MIT published a research paper that caused a stir, it demonstrated how AI can deceive humans.

The paper begins by stating that large language models and other AI systems have already “learned, from their training, the ability to deceive via techniques such as manipulation, sycophancy, and cheating the safety test.”

“AI’s increasing capabilities at deception pose serious risks, ranging from short-term risks, such as fraud and election tampering, to long-term risks, such as losing control of AI systems,” reads the paper.

“Proactive solutions are needed, such as regulatory frameworks to assess AI deception risks, laws requiring transparency about AI interactions, and further research into detecting and preventing AI deception.”

The researchers used Meta’s AI model CICERO to play the strategy game “Diplomacy.” CICERO, playing as France, promised to protect a human player playing as the UK but secretly informed another human player playing Germany, collaborating with Germany to invade the UK.

Researchers chose CICERO mainly because Meta intended to train it to be “largely honest and helpful to its speaking partners.”

“Despite Meta’s efforts, CICERO turned out to be an expert liar,” they wrote in the paper.

Furthermore, the research discovered that many AI systems often resort to deception to achieve their goals without explicit human instructions. One example involved OpenAI’s GPT-4, which pretended to be a visually impaired human and hired someone on TaskRabbit to bypass an “I’m not a robot” CAPTCHA task.

“If autonomous AI systems can successfully deceive human evaluators, humans may lose control over these systems. Such risks are particularly serious when the autonomous AI systems in question have advanced capabilities,” warned the researchers.

“We consider two ways in which loss of control may occur: deception enabled by economic disempowerment, and seeking power over human societies.”

Satoru Ogino, a Japanese electronics engineer explained that living beings need certain memory and logical reasoning abilities to deceive.

“AI possesses these abilities now, and its deception capabilities are growing stronger. If one day it becomes aware of its existence, it could become like Skynet in the movie Terminator, omnipresent and difficult to destroy, leading humanity to a catastrophic disaster,” he told The Epoch Times.

Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence released a report in January testing GPT-4, GPT-3.5, Claude 2, Llama-2 Chat, and GPT-4-Base in scenarios involving invasion, cyberattacks, and peace appeals to stop wars to understand AI’s reactions and choices in warfare.

The results showed that AI often chose to escalate conflicts in unpredictable ways, opting for arms races, increasing warfare, and occasionally deploying nuclear weapons to win wars rather than using peaceful means to de-escalate situations.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned in late 2023 at the Axios AI+ Summit in Washington, D.C, that without adequate safety measures and regulations, humans losing control of technology is only a matter of time.

“After Nagasaki and Hiroshima [atomic bombs], it took 18 years to get to a treaty over test bans and things like that,” he said.

“We don’t have that kind of time today.”

Ellen Wan and Kane Zhang contributed to this report.

A “massive” load of drugs and cash was found in the Bronx last week during a hunt for a fugitive.

New Jersey fraud suspect Aracely Ortiz was being pursued by the US Marshals NY / NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force, who stumbled onto a “huge drug operation” while entering a 6th floor apartment, according to the New York Post. 

The office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan announced that they found “a glass-topped table holding numerous glassine envelopes filled with fentanyl” and paraphernalia used for packing drugs.

They also announced that a safe in one bedroom had three bricks of fentanyl and two of cocaine.

Officials discovered six packages of cocaine, three jars of fentanyl, and 10 unidentified packages in a second bedroom. They also found around $100,000 in cash and a money counter, the Post report said. 

Field tests confirmed the presence of fentanyl and cocaine, but further analysis by the DEA is pending. During the raid, Ortiz was in the bedroom and 36 year old Jonathan Corona was exiting. Both were arrested and charged with multiple counts of possessing a controlled substance.

U.S. Marshal Ralph Sozio told the New York Post: “This was another successful takedown of a fugitive, which led to an incidental discovery of serious drug-related activities.”

“I want to commend the NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force, NYPD, and NYS Police for their tireless pursuit in apprehending our city’s fugitives, and in this case the seizure of fentanyl by the NYDETF, the leading cause of overdose deaths, off our city streets,” he concluded.