PITTSBURGH—Just over 50 years ago, Richard Mellon Scaife did something both his friends and critics thought was just a vanity project to promote his conservative ideals when he bought the Greensburg Tribune-Review, a small Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, newspaper with a circulation of 35,000—at a time when the industry was in its early years of decline. In 1974, just four years after Scaife bought the paper, he once again did the opposite of what his friends and critics thought possible and called for then-President Richard M. Nixon to be impeached with an above-the-fold editorial that read: “Stand aside immediately as President.” Just two years earlier, Scaife—the principal heir to the vast Mellon family banking fortune—had contributed more than $1 million to Nixon’s reelection campaign. The Tribune-Review editorial went on to opine: “We are sickened with Mr. Nixon’s twisted loyalty to those shadowy figures who have been close to him: this at the expense of a much higher form of loyalty we feel he owes to the good of this country.”  That same year, Scaife would do something else impactful and become one of the early and most important supporters of the newly formed Heritage Foundation, the scrappy think tank with very little money outside of the $250,000 grant given to it by Joseph Coors. By 1976, he had given Heritage nearly $500,000, and it was a relationship that continued throughout his lifetime. The Sarah Scaife Foundation still supports Heritage today. With the approaching 10th anniversary of the passing of Scaife—who died on July 4, 2014, one day after turning 82—it’s fitting that one of his two great passions, The Heritage Foundation, is spinning off his other deep passion, journalism, as Heritage’s Daily Signal moves on to become an independent news organization that will do original investigative reporting, along with commentary.  Scaife had started a Pittsburgh version of his paper in the 1990s, and in short order, it became a robust competitor to its city rival, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for more than a decade. I worked for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Scaife told me his love of newspapers began as a young child when he was in a disfiguring equestrian accident that severely damaged his spine.  While Scaife was laid up in bed for more than a year and unable to move in order to preserve the healing of his spine, his father, Alan Scaife—who joined the Office of Strategic Services as an Army major during World War II—brought him newspapers from around the country and the world to entertain him. Scaife said at the time his lifelong dream was one day to publish a newspaper in his hometown, which was exactly what he set out to do when he bought the Greensburg Tribune-Review at the age of 38, then spent the next few decades expanding it to dozens of daily and weekly Pennsylvania newspapers with a strong focus on independent journalism.  Richard Mellon Scaife reads a hot-off-the-presses copy of the first edition of the Sunday Greesnburg, Pa., News-Review on May 19, 1974. (Photo courtesy of Selena Zito) Andrew Conte, founding director of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, said people had very strident opinions of who they thought Richard Scaife was, but that much of it was misguided because of his politics, overlooking the number of people he once employed in journalism in the western Pennsylvania region. “People lose sight of the contributions that Scaife made to local journalism because they focus on him being a conservative,” Conte said, adding: “That misses the point of all the good, objective reporting he funded and the many, many great journalists he employed.” Conte, a Columbia School of Journalism graduate, had his start as one of those young journalists when he took the job at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 2001. It was a career that would span nearly two decades, including his time as a city hall reporter covering local government and groundbreaking deep investigative pieces that exposed doctors who were performing unnecessary liver transplant surgeries. “Scaife was dedicated to good journalism—deep, investigative, independent pieces—both here locally, as well as sending journalists to cover criminal activity at the border, to national security issues on our railways after 9/11, to embedding our journalists in both Iraq and Afghanistan during the war,” he said.  Scaife had often lamented the decline in newspapers across the county in our weekly conversations over the years. He told me he worried that it would undermine the public’s ability to do exactly what Conte did as a reporter—which was to hold governments, from city and borough councils to the bureaucracies in Washington, accountable to the people. After his stunning “Nixon needs to resign” front-page editorial in 1974, Scaife became more involved with the importance of news, as well as with the growth of The Heritage Foundation as a policy think tank for the Right. He would be the first to celebrate the launch of The Daily Signal as an independent news organization, and I suspect the first to support it. Scaife wrote in an editorial: “Newspapers are unique and invaluable. They provide the most substantive, trustworthy reporting from the most experienced and reliable writers and editors. They consistently break more of the important stories, investigate more of the critical issues, and expose more of the secrets that we need to know.” For Scaife, the decline of newspapers had been both profound and surprising. He was optimistic, however, that other news outlets, such as The Daily Signal, would carry the torch forward and remain the crucial source of critical information they had always been. “Because the health, security, freedom, and well-being of our communities, our nation, and all of us individually depend on them,” Scaife opined in the final editorial he would write, 10 years ago before his passing. Scaife remained curious about the men and women in power or sought power. In his final years, I watched Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bob Casey Jr., Jeb Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Mitt Romney, then-Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, and Defense Secretary-to-be Gen. Lloyd Austin, and hundreds of others of all political stripes walk through the doors of the Pittsburgh newsroom. They all took tough questions and answered them without aides running interference. It is a legacy and tradition I suspect The Daily Signal will take note of and continue, no matter what party holds power.  We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Legacy of Richard Mellon Scaife, Champion of Independent Journalism, Lives on at The Daily Signal appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Some might see US Attorney General Merrick Garland getting quite involved in campaigning ahead of the November election – albeit indirectly so, as a public servant whose primary concern is supposedly how to keep Department of Justice (DoJ) staff “safe.” And, in the process, he brings up “conspiracy theorists” branding them as undermining the judicial process in the US – because they dare question the validity of a particular judicial process that aimed at former President Trump. In an opinion piece published by the Washington Post, Garland used one instance that saw a man convicted for threatening a local FBI office to draw blanket and dramatic conclusions that DoJ staff have never operated in a more dangerous environment, where “threats of violence have become routine.” It all circles back to the election, and Garland makes little effort to present himself as neutral. Other than “conspiracy theories,” his definition of a threat are calls to defund the department that was responsible for going after the former president. Ironically, while the tone of his op-ed and the topics and examples he chooses to demonstrate his own bias, Garland goes after those who claim that DoJ is politicized with the goal of influencing the election. The attorney general goes on to quote “media reports” – he doesn’t say which, but one can assume those following the same political line – which are essentially (not his words) hyping up their audiences to expect more “threats.” “Media reports indicate there is an ongoing effort to ramp up these attacks against the Justice Department, its work and its employees,” is how Garland put it. And he pledged that, “we will not be intimidated” by these by-and-large nebulous “threats,” with the rhetoric at that point in the article ramped up to refer to this as, “attacks.” Garland’s opinion piece is not the only attempt by the DoJ to absolve itself of accusations of acting in a partisan way, instead of serving the interests of the public as a whole. Thus, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte wrote to House Republicans, specifically House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, to accuse him of making “completely baseless” accusations against DoJ for orchestrating the New York trial of Donald Trump. While, as it were, protesting too much, (CNBC called it “the fiery reply”) – Uriarte also went for the “conspiracy theory conspiracy theory”: “The conspiracy theory that the recent jury verdict in New York state court was somehow controlled by the Department is not only false, it is irresponsible,” he wrote. Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray recently discussed plans to counter election threats during a DoJ Election Threats Task Force meeting. Critics, suspicious of the timing with the upcoming election, cite the recent disbandment of the DHS Intelligence Experts Group. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Attorney General Garland Targets “Conspiracy Theories” After Launching “Election Threats Task Force” with FBI, Sparking Censorship Concerns appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If It Was Really Sailing in Boiling Seas, How Did the EU Ship of State Hit a Populist Iceberg?

Boston's Logan Airport is Now a Migrant Shelter

All five of the late night comedy talk show hosts managed to acknowledge the existence of Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict on their Tuesday shows, but mentioning something is not the same thing as joking about it. Instead, the quintet used the verdict to go after Donald Trump, Republicans, and lament the lack of gun control in America. On CBS, The Late Show host Stephen Colbert reported on Hunter’s guilty verdict and replied, “Now, that is truly shocking news. Evidently, in America, there is a wrong way to buy a gun. I didn't know that. I had no idea. I've never heard that before.” Colbert also didn’t see what the big deal was, “Now, it's no secret how I feel about Trump's conviction. So, ethically and morally, I have to be consistent and say that, in light of this verdict, I don't believe Hunter Biden should be president.”     Over at ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the eponymous host declared that “His father did a terrible job of rigging this. He really-- Hunter was convicted on three felony gun charges, which means he's now only 31 felonies away from being the Republican nominee for president.” After reading President Joe Biden’s statement that read, in part, “Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that,” a sarcastic Kimmel again turned to Trump, “Same thing Trump would say about Eric in this situation, you know?” All five of the comedy shows had great fun with the sordid details of Trump’s case, but jokes about the similar details of Hunter’s case have been harder to come by. Still, Kimmel noted, “They both filed phony paperwork. Hunter lied on his application to buy a gun. Trump falsified business records. The only difference is one of them was on crack when it happened.” Over at NBC and Late Night, Seth Meyers used the verdict to mock Trump and Fox News’s Sean Hannity, “Hunter Biden was found guilty today on all counts in his federal gun trial and now faces up to 25 years on Hannity. According to new analysis, first lady Dr. Jill Biden's round trip flight from France to Delaware to attend Hunter Biden's federal gun trial could cost taxpayers as much as $345,000. Say what you will about Trump, but he never spent a dime of taxpayer money to be with his kids.” On Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, temp host Jordan Klepper made what might be considered the only slight reference to Hunter’s shady business dealings, “We start with one of the most dangerous criminal masterminds in American history: Hunter Biden. He's gotten away with being Joe Biden's son for years, but today, he faced Delaware justice.” After a clip of CNN reporting on the verdict, Klepper returned to push gun control and accuse Republicans of hypocrisy, “Wow. Wow. Frankly, I'm shocked. We are actually enforcing gun laws in America! Halle-[bleep]-lujah! And what has been wild is watching how eager Republicans have been to hold a gun owner accountable. Of course, it's only because he's Joe Biden's son, but that's an opportunity. All we need is for Joe Biden to adopt every single person in America, and we can finally have some responsible gun control in this country.” Over at The Tonight Show on NBC, Jimmy Fallon pulled out his Trump voice, “"I've always said our legal system is fair and just. And this is just another example of justice finally being served."  Fallon also briefly mentioned some of the unflattering details, “What was Hunter guilty of, lying about being on drugs while buying a gun? I mean, when did that become a crime?” For the men of late night, even scandals that involve Democrats are opportunities to go after Republicans, which is how you arrive at a greater than 4:1 ratio of jokes targeting conservatives. Here are transcripts for the June 11-taped shows: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 6/11/2024 11:37 PM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: Folks, there are a whole lot of stories out there, but there's one everyone's talking about, and it's that today, a federal jury in Delaware found Hunter Biden guilty on all three charges in his felony gun trial. Now, that is truly shocking news. Evidently, in America, there is a wrong way to buy a gun. I didn't know that. I had no idea. I've never heard that before. Now, it's no secret how I feel about Trump's conviction. So, ethically and morally, I have to be consistent and say that, in light of this verdict, I don't believe Hunter Biden should be president. President Biden believes in the rule of law. He’s already promised to accept the verdict and not pardon his son, but he did show how much he loves his son with this statement today, "I am the president, but I am also a dad. Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal. Jill and I will always be there for Hunter. Nothing will ever change that.” That-- lovely-- that is moving. In stark contrast, Trump's campaign made this statement. "Crooked Joe Biden's reign over the Biden family criminal empire is all coming to an end on November 5th. As for Hunter, we wish him well in his recovery and legal affairs."  Surprisingly gracious there at the end. Which is why, almost immediately, Trump's campaign sent an updated statement striking the well wishes for Hunter. [TRUMP IMPRESSION] Sorry, folks, that's on me. I mistakenly used an old statement and just did a find and replace for the name Jeffrey Epstein. I'm sorry. We miss you, Jeff. We miss you, Jeff." *** ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 6/11/2024 11:35 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: But the one that got all the attention today was in Delaware, the high-profile trial of Hunter Biden ended badly for Hunter. He was found guilty on all three counts. His father did a terrible job of rigging this. He really-- Hunter was convicted on three felony gun charges, which means he's now only 31 felonies away from being the Republican nominee for president.  There is bad news for the Bidens. The president put out a statement that said, "I am the president, but I am also a dad. I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal. Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that."  Same thing Trump would say about Eric in this situation, you know? Hunter now faces up to 25 years in prison. The sentencing date has not been set. Maybe they-- you know what, they should let Trump and Hunter sentence each other. Wouldn't that be fun? I've got a number in my hand, you've got a number in your hand. They did others get in trouble for the same thing. They both filed phony paperwork. Hunter lied on his application to buy a gun. Trump falsified business records. The only difference is one of them was on crack when it happened.  *** NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers 6/12/2024 12:36 AM ET SETH MEYERS: Hunter Biden was found guilty today on all counts in his federal gun trial and now faces up to 25 years on Hannity. According to new analysis, first lady Dr. Jill Biden's round trip flight from France to Delaware to attend Hunter Biden's federal gun trial could cost taxpayers as much as $345,000. Say what you will about Trump, but he never spent a dime of taxpayer money to be with his kids. *** Comedy Central The Daily Show 6/11/2024 11:01 PM ET JORDAN KLEPPER: We start with one of the most dangerous criminal masterminds in American history: Hunter Biden. He's gotten away with being Joe Biden's son for years, but today, he faced Delaware justice. BORIS SANCHEZ: We begin with our breaking news: A federal jury finding Hunter Biden guilty on three felony gun charges. The president's son walking out of the courtroom earlier today a convicted felon. KLEPPER: Wow. Wow. Frankly, I'm shocked. We are actually enforcing gun laws in America! Halle-[bleep]-lujah! And what has been wild is watching how eager Republicans have been to hold a gun owner accountable.  Of course, it's only because he's Joe Biden's son, but that's an opportunity. All we need is for Joe Biden to adopt every single person in America, and we can finally have some responsible gun control in this country.  *** NBC The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 6/11/2024 11:37 PM ET JIMMY FALLON: Today, Hunter Biden was found guilty on all three felony charges in his federal firearm trial. Trump heard and was like, [TRUMP IMPRESSION] "I've always said our legal system is fair and just. And this is just another example of justice finally being served."  [NORMAL VOICE]: What was Hunter guilty of, lying about being on drugs while buying a gun? I mean, when did that become a crime?

A Ukrainian publication has placed dozens of American politicians, activists, and media outlets on a list of those allegedly known to have shared Russian disinformation or otherwise made anti-Ukrainian statements. Glenn Beck and Blaze Media made the list, which was published in an article titled, Rollercoaster: From Trumpists to Communists. The forces in the US impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it.There are 388 people and 76 publications on the list, and Glenn is shocked. “Why is The Blaze, why am I on this list?” he asks. “Because I believe I’m telling you exactly what’s happening. We have a color revolution happening within our own government, within the NGOs and George Soros and all those people.” The publication, Texty.org.ua, was founded by Anatoly Bondarenko — who was involved in the TechCamp, which is a public diplomacy program established by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. “The TechCamp is when they go into these countries where they’re going to do a color revolution, and they find all these tech-savvy people, and they show them how to build movements against their government. That’s what our State Department is doing,” Glenn explains. “Would they like to clarify this, would anyone like to make a public statement on why we’re there, and you know, curious why the editor in chief and the cofounder was trained by the State Department?” Glenn asks. “It’s really interesting that this organization has ties to the State Department and USAID. Their founder was a part of the TechCamps.” “It’s almost like we’ve been outed for saying bad things about the State Department and the U.S. government perpetrating color revolutions and saying this is how they do it and so then, they have a shell organization that they themselves have created to what? Prove me right?” Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has served as either Senate minority or majority leader since 2007, announced earlier this year that his current term as Senate Republican leader will be his last.So far, three GOP senators have indicated that they would like to take on the role: John Cornyn of Texas, John Thune of South Dakota, and Rick Scott of Florida."The Johns have all of the backing traditionally within the GOP caucus, but Rick Scott is an interesting guy," Blaze Media senior politics editor and D.C. correspondent Christopher Bedford told Blaze News, noting that Scott is "very wealthy independently and doesn't need the job of senator and is extremely frustrated with the pace of Washington."Scott, who served as Florida governor for eight years before entering the Senate in 2019, unsuccessfully challenged McConnell for the Senate Republican leader post in 2022 but lost in a 37-10 vote.'These old establishment Republicans have had their day.'Scott has suggested that there are "two Republican Parties in America.""One is in Washington. It's a tired, old, Republican party led by establishment insiders. It is out of touch, not only with our problems but with our people. It cuts deals with Chuck Schumer. It has secret votes and secret agendas. It's the 'go along to get along' crowd," Scott said, according to a press release."There is another Republican Party, a real Republican Party outside of Washington," he declared. "It's the one that's tired of being sold out, tired of being thrown under the bus, tired of the Washington status quo. It's the one that supports Donald Trump, instead of undermining him all the time. These old establishment Republicans have had their day. It's time for a change and a fresh, new approach. We can fix all of our country's problems. I'm confident about that. But first, we Republicans need to clean up our own house in Washington. More of the same won't cut it. That's why I am running for reelection to the U.S. Senate and for Republican Leader."'Rand Paul would be incredible, but we can't have nice things.'While Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has not announced a bid for the Senate GOP leader role, back in March he tweeted, "Thousands of people have been asking if I'd run for Senate leadership..."Paul ran a poll on X asking, "Who would you like to be the next Senate leader?" The poll offered three choices: Paul, Thune, and Cornyn — and Paul earned over 96% of the more than 178,000 votes. — (@) "John Cornyn and John Thune are complete corporatist RINO pukes that are basically younger, less effective, and far less shrewd versions of McConnell," BlazeTV host Steve Deace asserted in a statement to Blaze News. "They represent all the things about McConnell you hated, and none of the few things you liked. Scott has largely been an empty suit as a Senator thus far, but I am confident he would literally do anything a President Trump wanted so we could live with that. Now, if there's no President Trump after this election, then Scott isn't much better than the aforementioned Johns. Rand Paul would be incredible, but we can't have nice things," Deace added.Cornyn, who has been serving in the Senate for more than two decades, said in a statement that the institution is "broken.""I am asking my Republican colleagues to give me the opportunity to succeed Leader McConnell," Cornyn said in the statement. "I believe the Senate is broken — that is not news to anyone. The good news is that it can be fixed, and I intend to play a major role in fixing it. From experience, I have learned what works in the Senate and what does not, and I am confident Senate Republicans can restore our institution to the essential role it serves in our constitutional republic.""We will improve communication, increase transparency, and ensure inclusion of every Member’s expertise and opinion. We will restore the important role of Senate committees and reestablish the regular appropriations process, rather than lurch from one crisis to another. And we will return power back to our members; there will be no more backroom deals or forced votes on bills without adequate time for review, debate, and amendment," Cornyn noted.Cornyn served as Senate Republican Whip prior to Thune, who currently serves in that role.Thune, who has served as a senator for more than 19 years, has indicated that he hopes to become Senate Republican leader.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Since the founding, America’s government has been a beacon of success to the rest of the world. Many other countries have modeled their government after the principles instilled in the United States’ Constitution. The American system is based on representative democracy where one person gets one vote.But the tides have turned. Not only is the rest of the world watching America teeter on the precipice of collapse, but Americans themselves are rapidly losing faith in our system — especially when it comes to elections. But this waning trust isn’t due to a flawed system but rather to the flawed people who are abusing and undermining it. Many Americans believe the 2020 election was rife with fraud and suspect the 2024 election will be, too. But it’s not just Republicans that have called into question past elections. From Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump, politicians on both sides of the aisle have claimed stolen elections and voter fraud time and time again.That’s why Sara Gonzales and the Blaze Originals team headed to Michigan — the highly crucial swing state that completely transformed its election laws after Trump won the 2016 presidential election — to find out what’s going on behind the scenes. The crew exposes how figures like George Soros are funding secretary of state campaigns and then wealthy nonprofit groups are embedding liberal activists in these offices to facilitate bad policies, such as voting in multiple states, voting without a valid signature or permanent address, and leaving dead voters on the rolls, among others. Watch “Voter Fraud Exposed: How Elections Can Be Stolen” this Thursday – only on BlazeTV. Subscribe today using the code VOTERFRAUD for $30 off an annual subscription! Want more Blaze Originals?For more docuseries with your favorite BlazeTV hosts covering groundbreaking issues in the most important regions of our national theater, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

South African billionaire Elon Musk has withdrawn his lawsuit against the artificial intelligence organization OpenAI, the company that produced the powerful multimodal large language model GPT-4 last year. He has not, however, given up his crusade, threatening to ban devices belonging to OpenAI's new partner at his companies on account of alleged security threats. The lawsuit In February, Musk sued OpenAI and cofounders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair business practices. Musk's complaint centered on the suggestion that OpenAI, which he cofounded, set its founding agreement "aflame." According to the lawsuit, the agreement was that OpenAI "would be a non-profit developing [artificial general intelligence] for the benefit of humanity, not for a for-profit company seeking to maximize shareholder profits; and (b) would be open-source, balancing only countervailing safety considerations, and would not keep its technology closed and secret for proprietary commercial reasons." Furthermore, the company would "compete with, and serve as a vital counterbalance to, Google/DeepMind in the face for AGI, but would do so to benefit humanity." "OpenAI, Inc. has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft," said the lawsuit. "Under its new Board, it is not just developing but is actually refining an AGI to maximize profits for Microsoft." The suit, filed several months after the launch of Musk's AI company xAI, further alleged that GPT-4 "is now a de facto Microsoft proprietary algorithm," despite being outside the scope of Microsoft's September 2020 exclusive license with OpenAI. OpenAI, which underwent a botched coup last year, refuted Musk's framing in a March blog post, stating, "In early 2017, we came to the realization that building AGI will require vast quantities of compute. We began calculating how much compute an AGI might plausibly require. We all understood we were going to need a lot more capital to succeed at our mission — billions of dollars per year, which was far more than any of us, especially Elon, thought we'd be able to raise as the non-profit." The post alleged that Musk "decided the next step for the mission was to create a for-profit entity" in 2017, and gunned for majority equity, initial board control, and to be CEO. Musk allegedly later suggested that they merge OpenAI into Tesla. OpenAI's attorneys suggested that the lawsuit amounted to an effort on Musk's part to trip up a competitor and advance his own interests in the AI space, reported Reuters. "Seeing the remarkable technological advances OpenAI has achieved, Musk now wants that success for himself," said the OpenAI attorneys. After months of criticizing OpenAI, Musk moved to withdraw the lawsuit without prejudice Tuesday, without providing a reason why. A San Francisco Superior Court judge was reportedly prepared to hear OpenAI's bid to drop the suit at a hearing scheduled the following day. The threat The day before Musk spiked his lawsuit, OpenAI announced that Apple is "integrating ChatGPT into experiences within iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, allowing users to access ChatGPT's capabilities — including image and document understanding — without needing to jump between tools." As a result of this partnership, Siri and Writing Tools would be able to rely upon ChatGPT's intelligence. According to OpenAI, requests in the ChatGPT-interfaced Apple programs would not be stored in OpenAI and users' IP addresses would be obscured. Musk responded Monday on X, "If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation." "And visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage," wrote Musk. Musk added, "Apple has no clue what's actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They're selling you down the river." The response to Musk's threat was mixed, with some critics suggesting that the integration was not actually occurring at the operating system level. Others, however, lauded Musk's stance. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), for instance, noted that the "world needs open-source AI. OpenAI started with that objective in mind, but has strayed far from it, and is now better described as 'ClosedAI.'" "I commend @elonmusk for his advocacy in this area," continued Lee. "Unless Elon succeeds, I fear we'll see the emergence of a cartelized AI industry—one benefitting a few large, entrenched market incumbents, but harming everyone else." The whistleblowers Musk is not the only one with ties to OpenAI concerned about the course it has charted. Earlier this month, a group of OpenAI insiders spoke out about troubling trends at the company. The insiders echoed some of the themes in Musk's lawsuit, telling the New York Times that profits have been assigned top priority at the same time that workers' concerns have been suppressed. "OpenAI is really excited about building A.G.I., and they are recklessly racing to be the first there," said Daniel Kokotajlo, a former OpenAI governance division researcher. Kokotajlo reckons this is not a process that can be raced, having indicated the probability of AI destroying or doing catastrophic damage to mankind is 70%. Shortly after allegedly advising Altman that OpenAi should "pivot to safety," Kokotajlo, having seen no meaningful change, quit, citing a loss of "confidence that OpenAI will behave responsibly," reported the Times. Kokotajlo was one of a baker's dozen of current and past OpenAI employees who signed an open letter stressing: AI companies have strong financial incentives to avoid effective oversight, and we do not believe bespoke structures of corporate governance are sufficient to change this. AI companies possess substantial non-public information about the capabilities and limitations of their systems, the adequacy of their protective measures, and the risk levels of different kinds of harm. However, they currently have only weak obligations to share some of this information with governments, and none with civil society. We do not think they can all be relied upon to share it voluntarily. The insiders noted that the problem is compounded by corporate obstacles to employees voicing concerns. OpenAI spokeswoman Lindsey Held said of the letter, "We're proud of our track record providing the most capable and safest A.I. systems and believe in our scientific approach to addressing risk. We agree that rigorous debate is crucial given the significance of this technology, and we'll continue to engage with governments, civil society and other communities around the world." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

What Now? House Votes to Hold Merrick Garland in Contempt for Refusing to Release Biden Recordings