You Thought Whiskey Pete Was Paranoid Before? Hah!

So many juicy details in this Daily Mail story about Pete Hegseth, I couldn't resist sharing (after Evan Hurst of Wonkette shared it first):

Apparently brave warrior Pete Hegseth is pooping his big boy pants in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, "with Pentagon insiders exclusively telling Daily Mail he's so rattled he looks to be 'crawling out of his skin.'"

Two insiders in the defense secretary's newly named Department of War, one who works directly with his office and the other indirectly, say their boss has in the last few weeks been erupting in tirades, raging at staffers and obsessing about matters related to his security.

'There's a manic quality about him. Or let me rephrase, an even more manic quality, which is really saying something,' one insider told us, describing Hegseth as visibly distracted, fidgeting and even standing up and pacing during meetings.
'Dude is crawling out of his skin,' said the other.

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Ted Cruz blocks bill that would extend privacy protections to all Americans

The Texas senator blocked a bill that would have prevented data brokers from selling personal data on anyone in the United States, and not just federal lawmakers and government officials.

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Former OpenAI and DeepMind researchers raise whopping $300M seed to automate science

Periodic Labs has raised from a tech industry's who's who, including Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, Elad Gil, Jeff Dean, Eric Schmidt, and Jeff Bezos.

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Trump Looks Foolish: US Strikes Didn't Take Out Iran Nuclear Capabilities

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu told Fox News that US strikes against Iran were never intended to take out all of their nuclear program, which contradicts what Trump continually said after he announced the bombing raid on Iran.

In June, Trump repeatedly hailed the US attacks and said "key nuclear sites were “completely and fully obliterated.”

HOST: So, are you saying, sir, that not all of the enriched uranium was destroyed during the 12-day war or by those strikes from B-2 bombers?

BIBI: Sure. No, we knew that in advance.

In fact, our whole plan before and after the United States decided to join us took into account that we wouldn't get these 450 kilograms of enriched uranium.

We knew that.

What we were targeting is the capacity to make more of those, of that enriched uranium, and also the attempt to weaponize it.

Will the media even bother asking Trump to comment on Netanyahu's claims, saying US strikes were never intended to take out all of Iran's enriched uranium?

Trump knew the bombings did not produce the results he celebrated. And when anyone dared to question it, he attacked them.

Trump will not be happy over Netanyahu's proclamation. And on Fox, no less.

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DJI loses lawsuit over classification as Chinese military company

A federal judge has rejected drone maker DJI’s efforts to get off a Department of Defense list of Chinese military companies.

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'Truly Insane': Trump Posts Bizarre QAnon Claim He Will Heal People With Alien 'Medbeds'

President Donald Trump posted a video apparently created by artificial intelligence promising to heal people through a QAnon conspiracy with so-called medbeds involving alien technology.

The video posted on Saturday on Truth Social begins with Lara Trump's likeness announcing that the president had unveiled "a historic new health care system, the launch of America's first medbed hospitals, and a national medbed card for every citizen."

In the video, the president appears to make an announcement from the Oval Office.

"Every American will soon receive their own medbed card," he says. "With it, you'll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals led by the top doctors in the nation, equipped with the most advanced technology in the world. These facilities are safe, modern, and designed to restore every citizen to full health and strength."

For years, the QAnon movement has pushed the medbed conspiracy theory as a miracle treatment for cancer.

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Daily Caller Columnist Calls For 'Blood In The Streets'

The Daily Caller, that ass wipe propaganda site, published an opinion column yesterday explicitly calling for violence in response to mild physical confrontations with conservatives. You know, the violence they so often imply! Via The New York Times:

The column, written by editor at large Geoffrey Ingersoll and promoted near the top of the site, argues that “patriots” should use force because law enforcement officials do not adequately protect conservatives, including Charlie Kirk, the activist assassinated this month.

“Is this a call for violence?” the third paragraph says. “Yes. Explicitly it is.”

“I want blood in the streets,” he added in the column, which ran with the headline “Enough Is Enough … I Choose VIOLENCE!”

The headline on a Daily Caller Opinion column that reads “INGERSOLL: Enough Is Enough … I Choose VIOLENCE!”

[...] Mr. Ingersoll also lays out specific situations in which he says violence should be used. If a progressive activist takes a sign away at a public debate, “She gets instantly clotheslined,” Mr. Ingersoll wrote. “I don’t care if police are present. Do it anyway. In fact, be wildly disproportionate.”

“Measure it in blood if necessary,” he added. “Change requires pain, and you’re either taking it or inflicting it.”

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Beware coworkers who produce AI-generated ‘workslop’

Researchers at consulting firm BetterUp Labs, in collaboration with Stanford Social Media Lab, have coined a new term to describe low-quality, AI-generated work

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YouTube Music tests AI hosts that share trivia and commentary

YouTube Music's new AI hosts are currently being tested through YouTube Labs, the platform's new hub for AI experiments.

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Dem Win In Arizona Helps Effort To Subpoena Epstein Files

No one expected her to lose, but you never know what fuckery Republicans will try to pull. Via The Associated Press:

PHOENIX (AP) — Southern Arizona voters on Tuesday chose Adelita Grijalva to succeed her father, the late U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a progressive Democrat who represented the state for more than two decades in Congress.

She defeated Republican candidate Daniel Butierez in the 7th Congressional District, which hugs almost the entire length of Arizona’s border with Mexico. The decisive win — early returns showed Grijalva with more than double the number of votes as her Republican opponent — will make Grijalva the first Latina to represent Arizona in Congress.

The seat was one of two remaining vacancies in blue districts that Democrats needed to hold to avoid losing more ground to Republicans in the U.S. House. Grijalva thanked voters late Tuesday on social media, saying they made history together. “Now, let’s get to work.”

Grijalva retired from the Pima County Board of Supervisors and launched her bid for Congress shortly after her father’s death in March. She said Tuesday he was the inspiration for her time in public service and a unifying figure among environmentalists, reproductive and immigrant rights advocates, and LGBTQ+ organizers who were seeking justice and equality.

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Neon, the No. 2 social app on the Apple App Store, pays users to record their phone calls and sells data to AI firms

A new call recording app is gaining traction for offering to pay users for voice data from calls, which is sold to AI companies.

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YouTube now lets you hide recommendation pop-ups at the end of videos

The decision to let users hide end screens is a welcome addition to the platform, especially since they can end up covering the last bit of a video and make it hard to see what's happening in some cases.

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Trump's Offers Uplifting Words To The UN: 'Your Countries Are Going To Hell'

Donald J. Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, the 80th anniversary of the world body, and it felt lifted straight out of Idiocracy. He bashed the UN, saying, “What is the purpose of the United Nations? It’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”

Trump, who sees himself as the most intelligent man in the world, talked down to our European allies. It was one embarrassing moment to another as Trump said the prolonged war in Ukraine is making Russia "look bad," insisting that it was supposed to be "just a quick little skirmish."

Trump declared Christianity to be the "most persecuted religion on the planet."

"Together, let us defend free speech and free expression," Trump said. At the same time, he's been clamping down on free speech in the U.S. "Let us protect religious liberty, including for the most persecuted religion on the planet today. It's called Christianity."

It's as if he couldn't stop himself.

“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every one of these countries, and never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help in finalizing the deal.”

And he just kept going.

“You’re destroying your countries,” he said, urging world leaders to adopt his harsh approach on immigration. “I can tell you I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.”

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Scott Wiener on his fight to make Big Tech disclose AI’s dangers

The California lawmaker is on his second attempt to pass a first-in-the-nation AI safety bill. This time, it might work.

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Time For The People To Speak To Sinclair And Nexstar’s Advertisers

Jimmy Kimmel is back on ABC tonight, but the fight for free speech is not over.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nexstar and Sinclair broadcast groups won’t air 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!', which impacts 66 ABC stations.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is the largest owner of ABC stations. The extremely conservative group owns 38 ABC affiliates nationwide. CNN reported that Nexstar, owner of 28 ABC affiliates, will monitor Kimmel's show, leaving the door open to changing their position. But the outlet noted:

"Nexstar is also the best example of a media company that feels compelled to curry favor with Trump right now, as it needs the FCC to approve its pending merger with Tegna."

Jimmy Kimmel's return highlights the power of the American people to prevent Trump from undermining the First Amendment. The power of the people was clear after Disney tried to dump Kimmel, The Guardian reported:

"Disney stock dipped about 3.5%. It continued to trade lower in subsequent days. The loss in market value has amounted to about $4bn."

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The Oakland Ballers let an AI manage the team. What could go wrong?

“Baseball is the perfect place to do an initial experiment like this, because it is so data-driven, and decisions are made very analytically," Ballers owner Paul Freedman said.

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Inside the mind of Elad Gil: Early-stage investing and next-gen innovation at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

Elad Gil shares his approach to early-stage investing, frontier tech, and spotting breakout potential at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 (Oct 27–29, Moscone West, SF). Register before Sept 26 to save up to $668.

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'Security' For Guest At Charlie Kirk's Memorial Arrested With Fake Badges And Gun

A man with weapons and fake law enforcement identification was arrested at State Farm Stadium in Arizona, where Charlie Kirk's memorial will be held on Sunday.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety told Fox News that Joshua Runkles was charged on Saturday for impersonating a law enforcement officer and carrying a firearm in a prohibited place.

He was booked into the Maricopa County Jail and was later released on bond.

Turning Point USA (TPUSA) spokesperson Andrew Kolvet said that the man was "doing advance security for a known guest planning to attend the memorial service."

"We do not believe this person was attempting anything nefarious, however the advance was not done in proper coordination with the TPUSA security team or US Secret Service," Kolvet continued. "Also important to note that this was before the site had been fully sealed and locked down. Every precaution is being taken to ensure everyone’s safety."

Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi explained that Runkles "displayed credentials that the issuing law enforcement agency said were invalid."

"He had firearms and knives on his person and the Department of Public Safety charged him with criminal impersonation and weapons charges as he did not have the authority in Arizona to have those items," Guglielmi added.

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Idiot Trump's Deranged Message To Pam Bondi Reads Like An Accidental Confession

Donald Trump publicly blasted Attorney General Pam Bondi on Saturday in a Truth Social post in what appeared to be a private message that was mistakenly made public, saying the lack of criminal charges against his perceived political enemies was “killing our reputation and credibility.” This is like Watergate, but instead of tapes, there are posts on the hellscape media platform, Truth Social.

"Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, “same old story as last time, all talk, no action," he wrote. "Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past."

"A Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job," he continued with his confession. "That’s why two of the worst Dem Senators PUSHED him so hard. He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so."

"Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot," he added. "We can’t delay any longer; it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT."

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VCs are still hiring MBAs, but firms are starting to need other experience more

The MBA-to-VC pipeline remains a very real thing. But that path is a little shakier than it once was, according to PitchBook reporting and new academic research.

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Silicon Valley bets big on ‘environments’ to train AI agents

A wave of startups are creating RL environments to help AI labs train agents. It might be Silicon Valley’s next craze in the making.

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White House offers more details about potential TikTok deal

The White House press secretary said Americans will hold six of seven board seats in the restructured TikTok, and the video app’s algorithm will be U.S.-controlled.

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Hell Freezes Over: Ted Cruz Just Made Sense

Things must be bad when even a Texas MAGA Republican agrees that the FCC's Brendan Carr's move to cancel late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel was a bridge too far, calling it “right out of Goodfellas,” the classic mob movie, and “dangerous as hell.” Now, of course, there are things Sen. Ted Cruz said on his podcast “Verdict" that weren't on the up and up. Like, for example, he said that Jimmy Kimmel lied about Charlie Kirk's suspect, but that's just not the case.

“Jimmy Kimmel has mocked me so many times I cannot count. The corporate media, they’re dishonest, they are liars," he said. "I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired." But then he sounded the alarm over Brendan Carr's statement.

“No, no, no, no, no. Look, I like Brendan Carr, he’s a good guy, he’s the chairman of the FCC, I work closely with him," Cruz said. "But what he said there is dangerous as well."

Yeah, no shit. Like, we're all just everyday Americans waking up to our First Amendment rights under attack as the Trump regime puts its collective boot on Democrats' necks.

Cruz was reacting to Carr's interview with Benny Johnson, which was chilling, to say the least.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

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Amazon, Google, Microsoft reportedly warn H-1B employees to stay in the US

Large tech companies have responded to President Donald Trump’s dramatic changes to H-1B visa applications by telling employees with those visas to remain in the United States for now.

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Goebbels Ended Careers Over Making 'Witticisms' About Nazis

History repeats itself.

Source: New York Times, Feb. 3, 1939

BERLIN, Feb. 3.—Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels today ended the professional careers of five "Aryan" actors and cabaret announcers by expelling them from the Reich's Chamber of Culture on the grounds that “in their public appearances they displayed a lack of any positive attitude toward National Socialism and therewith caused grave annoyance in public and especially to party comrades.” The five include perhaps the best known German stage comedians who survived previous Chamber of Culture purges and still dared to indulge in political witticisms—namely, Werner Finck, Peter Sachse and “The Three Rulands,” represented by Helmuth Buth, Wilhelm Meissner and Manfred Dlugi. Their expulsion means that they are henceforth forbidden to appear before the public in Germany.

Besides motivating this action in an official communiqué, Dr. Goebbels also publishes a long article in the Voelkischer Beobachter in which he denounces them as “brazen, impertinent, arrogant and tactless" and generally imitators and successors to Jews. Simultaneously he denounces the "society rabble that followed them with thundering applause—parasitic scum, inhabiting our luxury streets, that seems to have only the task of proving with how little brains people can get along and even acquire money and prominence."

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Best Apple Watch apps for boosting your productivity

Although the Apple Watch comes with simple built-in productivity apps like Reminders and Calendar, it’s worth exploring some third-party apps that are designed to boost productivity by offering additional functionality. 

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How AI startups are fueling Google’s booming cloud business

Google Cloud is one of the company's fastest-growing business lines, and continues to rack up new customers.

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Tim Cook, Sam Altman, and more attend Trump’s UK state banquet

Top tech names were on the guest list for the banquet thrown for President Trump during his second state visit to the UK on Wednesday. 

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Kleiner Perkins-backed voice AI startup Keplar aims to replace traditional market research

The two-year-old startup raised a $3.2 million seed round led by Kleiner Perkins.

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Meet Macroscope: an AI tool for understanding your code base, fixing bugs

On Wednesday, former Twitter head of product Kayvon Beykpour announced the launch of Macroscope, an AI system aimed at developers and product leaders that summarizes updates to a codebase and catches bugs, among other things.

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China tells its tech companies they can’t buy AI chips from Nivida

After strongly discouraging tech companies from buying Nivdia's AI chips in August, the country is now banning the practice outright.

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CodeRabbit raises $60M, valuing the 2-year-old AI code review startup at $550M

The round, which brought the two-year-old startup’s total funding to $88 million, was led by Scale Venture Partners.

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Awake’s new app requires heavy sleepers to complete tasks in order to turn off the alarm

Unlike traditional alarm clocks that can be silenced with a simple tap, Awake is intended to actively engage users' brains to ensure they fully wake up.

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Kash Patel Tries To Save His Job On Fox News

Embattled FBI director Kash Patel has been facing criticisms for posting that they had the 'subject" in custody responsible for the Kirk shooting, but claimed on Fox and Friends that's not what he said.

Patel is taking a page from the Trump handbook of denying what he clearly said to rewrite the episode. In a lengthy interview with Fox and Friends, Patel framed his actions as heroic, necessary, and transparent, but when co-host Brian Kilmeade asked about the message saying they caught the guy when he hadn't, he lied.

Patel had clearly stated on X, "The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody."

Watch what happens in what appears to be a completely scripted Q&A on this sensitive topic.

KILMEADE: So in the 24 hours after, when we were still looking for the guy, I know you posted that we got him, and that ended up not being true.

You took some incoming because of that. What led to you posting that? Why did you feel so certain about it? And what do you have to say about the criticism?

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Stable Genius Claims 300 MILLION Died From Drugs

Marco Rubio stated that the U.S. will continue to destroy suspected drug vessels as it did in Venezuela, a move that has received bipartisan criticism. On Sunday, while speaking to reporters, Donald J. Trump attempted to justify that by falsely claiming that 300 million people died from drugs last year. Big if true, considering about 340 million people are populating the U.S. We're all dead! But if true, that would explain Trump's abysmal job numbers.

The Guardian's Hugo Lowell asked Trump about the president of Venezuela calling it an illegal attack.

“What’s illegal are the drugs that were on the boat, and the drugs that are being sent into our country, and the fact that 300 million people died last year from drugs, that’s what’s illegal,” Trump falsely said.

Even if Trump were speaking globally, that, too, is wrong, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which estimates 600,000 deaths worldwide due to drug use. I'm waiting for MAGA to explain what Trump 'really meant,' because they always go there. I don't think they can defend this one, though.

Critics pounced.

Yeah, so 300 million people is about the population of the USA. I haven't been outside in a while - are all y'all gone? https://t.co/d6WIyFGdGE

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Indiana Judge Gets Banned From The Bench For LIFE For Outrageous Conduct

This may be one of the crazier judicial misconduct stories I have ever read about. I mean, truly bananagrams stuff, guys. And this judge had only been on the bench since 2023! Not even 3 years and already he received a LIFETIME ban!

Here is the story. FOX 59 is reporting that Matthew Elkin, a judge in Howard Superior Court (Indiana) has been asked to resign from his role and received a lifetime ban following accusations of "unfair treatment, including using a “game or jail” tactic and cursing out defendants" among other serious allegations.

Prior to the request to resign and the lifetime ban, he had been found guilty of judicial misconduct for a litany of reasons, including:

• Failing to disqualify himself from presiding over matters in which he previously represented a party
• Making injudicious comments toward problem-solving court (“PSC”) participants,
• Favoring certain litigants while degrading others,
• Inadequately supervising employees, and
• Possibly misusing court funds.

He was charged in March with nine counts of judicial misconduct. He was found guilty on all 9 counts.

His docket included cases in both drug court and re-entry court. Those are called “problem-solving courts” or PSCs and are "designed to help defendants address addiction issues and reintegration needs."

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Vibe coding has turned senior devs into ‘AI babysitters,’ but they say it’s worth it

TechCrunch spoke to experienced coders about their time using AI-generated code about what they see as the future of vibe coding.

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'Vacation Home': It Sure Looks Like The Trump Admin Lied About Lisa Cook

The Trump administration has been gunning for economist and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook in an attempt to "take the Fed over." This isn't something a serious president would do, but it falls in line with what an authoritarian president would do, and Trump's job numbers are in the shitter. The economy is in bad shape, and he hasn't even been on the job for a year now.

Lisa Cook is the first black woman to sit on the Board, and she was targeted with accusations of mortgage fraud, but that was just blown out of the water.

The Associated Press reports:

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook referred to a condominium she purchased in June 2021 as a “vacation home” in a loan estimate, a characterization that could undermine claims by the Trump administration that she committed mortgage fraud.

President Donald Trump has sought to fire Cook “for cause,” relying on allegations that Cook claimed both the condo and another property as her primary residence simultaneously, as he looks to reshape the central bank to orchestrate a steep cut to interest rates. Documents obtained by The Associated Press also showed that on a second form submitted by Cook to gain a security clearance, she described the property as a “second home.”

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Tesla board chair calls debate over Elon Musk’s $1T pay package ‘a little bit weird’

Tesla's board chair is defending a proposed 10-year, $1 trillion compensation package for CEO Elon Musk.

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California lawmakers pass AI safety bill SB 53 — but Newsom could still veto

The state's landmark safety bill sets new transparency requirements for large AI companies.

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Via shrugs off tepid open to end first day of trading slightly above IPO price

Transit tech software startup Via had its IPO debut on Friday, starting at below offering price before rising to close at nearly $50.

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Why the Oracle-OpenAI deal caught Wall Street by surprise

The $300B deal is a reminder that despite Oracle’s legacy status, it shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to AI infrastructure. But key questions around power and how OpenAI will pay for this remain.

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Google is a ‘bad actor’ says People CEO, accusing the company of stealing content

People CEO Neil Vogel says Google's AI crawler can't be blocked because it would block the web crawler too. This lets the search giant steal its content for AI.

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Apple’s latest iPhone security feature just made life more difficult for spyware makers

Apple launched a new security feature for iPhone 17 and iPhone Air designed to reduce the effect of memory corruption bugs, and in turn make spyware and zero-days more difficult to hack into iPhones.

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The music industry is broken. OpenWav’s new app aims to change that

OpenWav is building a direct-to-fan platform for music artists which lets them keep more of the profits.

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Tesla’s robotaxi plans for Nevada move forward with testing permit

Tesla can now test its autonomous vehicle technology on public streets in Nevada, but it still has steps to take if it wants to offer paid rides like in Austin, Texas.

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Elon Musk’s Boring Company suspends work on Vegas airport tunnel after ‘crushing injury’

A worker had to be rescued by the local fire department, but is reportedly stable. Dozens of Boring Company workers have been injured over the years in Vegas.

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How to turn off autoplay on your social media feeds

Here's how you can turn off autoplaying videos and GIFs on Facebook, Instagram, X, Twitter, and Threads.

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OpenAI and Oracle reportedly ink historic cloud computing deal

OpenAI and Oracle reportedly signed a deal that includes OpenAI buying $300 billion of compute over a five-year span.

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Microsoft to lessen reliance on OpenAI by buying AI from rival Anthropic

The move to diversify its AI partnerships by tapping the shoulder of OpenAI’s top rival comes as the AI company also pursues independence from Microsoft with its own AI infrastructure and a potential LinkedIn competitor.

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Apple’s new iPhone 17 devices don’t have an AI-powered Siri yet. It doesn’t matter.

Until now, Apple has only released what could be considered baseline AI features for its devices, like AI writing tools, summarization, generative AI images (which some complain are not very good), live translation, visual search, and Genmoji, among others.

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VC giant Insight Partners notifies staff and limited partners after data breach

The venture capital giant, behind cyber giants Wiz and Databricks, said it has notified current and former employees and the firm's limited partners of its January breach.

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Koah raises $5M to bring ads into AI apps

One investor says Koah is "building the essential monetization layer for consumer AI."

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'Answer The Question!' In Chicago

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and former Republican National Committee Chair yelled at each other over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s qualifications to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.

"You looked at that appearance before Congress, and it just confirms what all of us around this table have known for decades," Christie said during a Sunday morning roundtable on ABC. "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a foolish man full of foolish and vapid ideas."

"RFK Jr. doesn't belong in that job," he continued. "But after [Donald Trump] won, he wanted to show everybody, I can do whatever I want to do because this Senate will be compliant no matter what I do. And I'll put the greatest vaccine and public health denier of the last 20 years in charge of public health in America. It's a human middle finger to everybody who opposed him."

Priebus disputed Christie by calling Kennedy "a decent, humble, caring guy."

"Humble?" Christie gasped.

"Yeah!" Priebus said.

"For 20 years, for 20 years, he has been a vaccine denier," Christie noted. "And now what you're seeing around the country is people like Ron DeSantis in Florida saying, let's get rid of all vaccine mandates. This would not be happening if Donald Trump had not put the greatest public health denier of the last 20 years in charge of it."

"And so we should dismiss any person on the face of the earth that has a question about vaccine mandates?" Priebus complained.

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Hyundai’s eVTOL startup Supernal pauses work following CEO and CTO departures

The shakeup comes as the startup was still struggling to get its test vehicle off the ground -- literally. The first flight was only in March.

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RFK Jr. Given Green Light To Lie With Impunity At Hearing

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the world’s most despicable “Health and Human Services” secretary faced some tough questions even from Republicans about his quack-y assaults on vaccinations when he appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday. That was after Kennedy’s own employees wrote to Congress, saying he “continues to endanger the nation’s health” and demanding his resignation.

Ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) cited Kennedy’s lies to the committee about vaccines as a reason he should be put under oath. Ditto for his firing of the CDC director for refusing to lie.

WYDEN: It's unfortunate that I have to say this, but this is a witness who has lied to members of the Senate Finance Committee. In response to over 35 written questions, including from me, he said, and I quote, that he would do nothing as HHS Secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines. That was clearly not true. His unprecedented unilateral actions to restrict access to covid vaccines, that alone proves it.

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Screw the money — Anthropic’s $1.5B copyright settlement sucks for writers

Writers aren't getting this settlement because their work was fed to an AI -- this is just a costly slap on the wrist for Anthropic because it illegally downloaded books instead of buying them.

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Google Gemini dubbed ‘high risk’ for kids and teens in new safety assessment

Google's Gemini comes up short on kids' safety, says Common Sense Media.

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Waymo cleared to offer robotaxi rides at San Jose airport

It's the first airport in California that Waymo will offer rides to and from. The company's been active at the Phoenix airport for nearly two years.

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Trump Sh*ts On MAGA And Epstein Files: Democrat Hoax!

During a press event with the president of Poland, Trump viciously attacked the Jeffrey Epstein press conference hosted by Tom Massey and called the entire Epstein Files affair a hoax

A reporter asked Trump about the press conference and if Trump was refusing to release all the information so he could hide friends and donors that would be exposed if all of the Epstein files became public.

Trump whined it was a "Democrat hoax that never ends."

That was a direct slap in the face to his MAGA base that was promised a full exposé on who was in the Epstein files during his campaign 2024.

The MAGA cult will be furious their avenging angel against pedophiles is calling them Democrats.

Trump then transitioned into his usual bogus talking points about ending seven wars bringing law and order back to Washington DC and help awesome his eight-month office.

TRUMP: So what they're trying to do with the Epstein hoax is get people to talk about that instead of speaking about the tremendous success, like ending seven wars.

I ended seven wars. Nobody is going to talk about it because they're going to talk about the Epstein whatever.

I understand that we were subpoenaed to give files, and I understand we've given thousands of pages of files. And I know that no matter what you do, it's going to keep going.

And I think it's, I think, really, I think it's enough because I think we should talk about the greatness of our country and the success that we're having.

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Hunter Biden Gets A Big Win; Trump Appeals His Win In NY

Hell yeah, Hunter Biden keeps winning

Remember the Hunter Biden laptop guy? John Paul Mac Isaac is the computer repairman who handed a copy of Biden’s hard drive over to Rudy Giuliani, kicking off years of GOP accusations and investigations. Nearly three years ago, in a Trumpy little move, Mac Isaac sued Biden, Sen. Adam Schiff, CNN, and Politico for defaming him, whining that he was falsely smeared as a Russian agent. 

But Mac Isaac’s feelings festival came to an end earlier this week when the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s dismissal of Mac Isaac’s claims. 

Mac Isaac was irate over the following comment Biden made as the laptop story exploded in 2020:

There could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. It could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was the – that it was Russian intelligence. It could be that it was stolen from me. Or that there was a laptop stolen from me.

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CoreWeave acquires agent-training startup OpenPipe

CoreWeave hopes the YC-backed startup will help it expand down the stack, and cash in on enterprises developing AI agents.

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Judges side with Trump EPA over canceled Inflation Reduction Act grants to nonprofits

An appellate court found that the Trump administration was within its rights to cancel billions of dollars in grants. The nonprofits that had their grants cancelled are expected to appeal.

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Over New CDC Guidelines, CVS Stops Covid Shots In 16 States

Even though federal officials claim that COVID vaccines remain available to everyone, experts suggest that this assertion is misleading, as the more narrow approval may raise significant barriers to access for many Americans. Seniors will be able to get vaccinated, and younger people with health conditions, but this administration isn't worried about anyone else. And it's not just CVS. It's Walgreens, too.

Via CBS News:

CVS and Walgreens are now requiring a prescription or are not offering COVID-19 vaccines in some states as the companies attempt to follow state guidelines that require approvals from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax for all seniors, but only for younger adults and children with health conditions.

In a statement, CVS said the pharmacy chain cannot vaccinate those even with a prescription in Massachusetts, Nevada and New Mexico due to state laws and regulations.

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OpenAI acquires product testing startup Statsig and shakes up its leadership team

OpenAI is bringing on the founder of Statsig as its CTO of Applications, and making changes to other leadership roles at the company.

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Behind the scenes and front-row access: Volunteer at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 while you still can

With just over a month until TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 hits San Francisco, we’re calling on students, aspiring founders, marketers, and event pros to help the TechCrunch events team pull off one of the largest and most anticipated startup events of the year.

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Oklahoma GOP Senator Lies Through His Teeth On Trump's Tariffs

These Republicans are all just shameless liars, and Meet the Press host Kristen Welker was about as useful as a potted plant while interviewing GOP Sen. James Lankford.

As we already discussed here, Trump threw a tantrum after an appeals court ruled that his tariffs are illegal because the emergencies he's tried to declare are bogus.

Lankford was asked about the ruling this Sunday, and proceeded to lie and ignore the fact that Trump is abusing the statutes that are available to a president on trade:

WELKER: Let's start with that decision over tariffs on Friday. The court saying, quote, "Tariffs are a tax, and only Congress has the power to impose taxes." Do you agree with the court's ruling, that ultimately the ability to impose tariffs lies with Congress?

LANKFORD: Well, this is actually going to go to the Supreme Court next, because the way the law is actually written is the law gives the authority to the president to be able to make decisions regulating imports and exports. And what the president is saying is tariffs is a way to be able to regulate imports and exports. To be very clear, what he is trying to do is to try to get more manufacturing into the United States, to get other countries to be able to open up their markets to American products, and to be able to cut our deficit.

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