How do you teach sex education in a village that tied the last sex ed teacher to a tree?
Shocking video obtained by WPLG, captured the moment an Army veteran was gunned down, seemingly in a petty argument over a parking spot in a Florida Walmart. The horrific cellphone footage captured 62-year-old victim, Bart Diguglielmo, seemingly exchanging angry words with an unidentified woman in the parking lot of the North Lauderdale store around 12:30...
House Democratic subcommittee report outlines web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemesDonald Trump staged a hostile takeover of the US’s 250th anniversary celebration to enrich political allies, harvest voter data and promote Christian nationalist ideology, according to a congressional investigation released on Thursday.The interim report, “From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250th Birthday”, outlines a web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes orchestrated through a shadow corporation embedded within the National Park Foundation (NPF). Continue reading...
OpenAI may give the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company, per the Financial Times. The proposal is in very preliminary conversations, according to a person familiar with the matter.Why it matters: If the overture is taken up by the Trump administration, that would mean the government would have a vested interest in weighing whether or not to limit the release of an OpenAI model. Catch up quick: OpenAI views the potential government stake as a way to give the general public a share of the upside of AI, and CEO Sam Altman has previously shared with Axios his interest in some sort of public wealth fund.The goal is to include other AI labs giving over a similar stake.This could look like including shares in Trump accounts or some other vehicle that would give American households exposure to investments in AI, for example. Anthropic supported similar policies in a recent paper, arguing for "universal pre-distributive capital accounts" with "priority given" to those with jobs exposed to AI disruption. Zoom out: The potential investment comes as the White House is still deciding when OpenAI can release its most powerful models widely, through a regulatory process that Altman has said isn't quite "optimal." Altman proposed on Wednesday a U.S.-led international forum to establish AI regulatory standards, which could be a way to allow the government to invest without having as heavy a hand in regulation.Between the lines: Investors tell Axios that the idea of giving a stake reads like a PR stunt aimed at making it seem as if the public could benefit from the AI boom just as the technology threatens their jobs.Yes, but: The government's 9.9% stake in Intel, taken last August, appears to have paid off.Its shares are up nearly 400% since then, although it has also come amid a broad rally for chip stocks. Friction point: The Intel stake was acquired under the CHIPS Act. A deal with the AI labs would likely require an act of Congress.It's also unclear what a government stake would accomplish, other than giving the AI labs a closer relationship to what is currently one of their biggest hurdles: the government. An investor in Anthropic and OpenAI tells Axios that the proposal reads more like a "political move" to gain favor with the administration than something that would actually create a shared benefit for the American public. What they're saying: A government stake would be a "troubling milestone" that hurts competition between the labs, " David Sherman, AI and financial inclusion strategist at io.net, a decentralized cloud network, said via email.It "gives one AI company a government stamp of approval whilst millions of developers, researchers and businesses are locked out by skyrocketing token prices and endless GPU queues," he added, referencing the challenge in accessing AI at current costs or chips at current supply levels.It comes amid broader concern about whether the government is already curbing the competitive edge of U.S. AI labs compared with China by putting guardrails around model release timelines.And if the goal is to share the financial benefits of AI, there are other ways to do that. Some have suggested that AI companies share a percent of pre-tax income or that the government impose a tax on all tokens. Kevin Bankston, an AI governance advisor, wrote "JUST. TAX. THEM." on X.Bill Gates proposed an automated robot tax in 2017 that could slow down automation, suggesting they should be taxed the same way human employees pay income tax. The bottom line: "The labs develop the technology, but citizens and their elected representatives must make the rules," Altman wrote in the Financial Times earlier this week.
Florida is taking action against nearly 100 organizations that will likely soon have a new "terrorist" designation under Florida law.On Wednesday, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that some significant legislation, which provides a stronger framework for declaring groups terrorist organizations, took effect on the first day of the month. 'We are not going to fund terrorism in our great state.'During his announcement, DeSantis said that officials "are not going to waste any time" before beginning the "initial tranche" of domestic terrorist designations in Florida, suggesting more to come in the future as well. "Based on the recommendations of Florida's domestic security professionals and the authority, the newly established authority in law, my office and the [C]abinet are poised to officially designate the first slew of terrorist organizations under the new law," DeSantis said in the announcement.RELATED: Florida AG calls for impeachment after judge acquits mother who killed baby and blamed COVID Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesAmong those organizations designated, DeSantis named familiar Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, but also mentioned the addition of Antifa to the list. He also named a couple of groups affiliated with drug cartels, like Cartel de Sinaloa and Tren de Aragua.Notably, DeSantis added that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran would also be added to the list among "more than 90 Foreign Terrorist Organizations."Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, who also serves as the state’s chief domestic security officer, explained that the new law gives more tools to prevent taxpayer dollars from reaching those organizations that have been designated as terrorist groups, Florida's Voice reported."We are not going to fund terrorism in our great state," Glass told Florida's Voice. "We’re just not going to do it."Glass added that the new framework will allow greater transparency for the public to see where taxpayer dollars are being distributed: “It’s actually even a public service campaign to ensure that you know where you’re receiving dollars or you’re giving dollars."These actions, however, have been under legal threat for months, dating back to before the legislation was signed. DeSantis acknowledged to Florida's Voice that "we'll definitely get sued," though he believes the outcome "will be beneficial." The new law, which went into effect on Wednesday, builds upon an executive order from DeSantis on December 8, which laid the groundwork for legislation to be drafted and signed by the governor in early April. The December executive order singled out CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. As a result, CAIR sued the administration over the executive order, arguing that its rights had been violated.On March 4, United States District Judge Mark Walker granted the motion for a preliminary injunction, freezing the use of the executive order. The DeSantis administration appealed the injunction two days later in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.The law, signed almost exactly a month later, will likely be used as a new legal support in the ongoing legal fight over the executive order. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
The Cuban lobby and AIPAC have gotten what they wanted from Trump, and now they are dealing with the consequences. The post How Florida’s Cuban Diaspora and the Israeli Lobby Came Together — and Are Coming Apart appeared first on The Intercept.
