A “Grandparents Happy Hour” bill has now been signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and is set to take effect Aug. 1. The new law will allow residents of nursing homes and similar facilities to enjoy alcoholic beverages during organized social gatherings.
Eighty-eight-year-old Anita LeBrun’s testimony before the Minnesota Legislature in support of the bill went viral: “Just because we are older and live in assisted living doesn’t mean that we should have fewer freedoms than anyone else.”
She’s absolutely right. Good for you, Anita!
Photo credit: Fox News
MARKETS
Gold
$4,091.91
-1.32%
Silver
$58.88
-1.76%
Bitcoin
$65,512.69
-0.71%
Dow
52,218.58
-0.01%
S&P
7,498.96
-0.14%
Nasdaq
25,690.90
-0.57%
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00 a.m. ET.
Lead: Congress Approves Military Integration with Israel
Photo credit: The Guardian
Congress just took a major step toward permanently expanding the one-sided U.S.-Israel military cooperation by passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with Section 219 still attached.
Section 219 calls for deeper integration between U.S. and Israeli defense technology and the supply chains behind advanced military equipment. Breaking this down, a military merger like this would greatly expand coordination across nearly every area of our defense technology, including directed-energy weapons, unmanned systems, biotech, artificial intelligence, data sharing, network integration, and more.
This all raises serious questions about whether the United States should enter into this level of military integration with any foreign nation. Why would the U.S. allow this when it doesn’t have this kind of bilateral agreement with any other country in the world? And we shouldn’t in order to protect our sovereignty and to protect our national secrets.
After all, Netanyahu called this “my plan.” So do you think he has America’s best interests at heart? I don’t think so.
Concerned about the implications of Section 219, Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna initially tried to give Congress a chance to vote on removing it, but the House Rules Committee blocked the amendment before lawmakers could even debate it. Khanna blasted the decision, saying, “Congress has blocked Thomas Massie and my amendment to prevent the integration of our military with Israel. This is unconscionable; they’re not even giving us a vote on the amendment.”
It was clear House leaders weren’t going to let anything stand in the way of Section 219. What’s less clear is why. What does the U.S. really gain from an arrangement where America does all the giving while Israel contributes relatively nothing?
Israeli officials haven’t exactly hidden their position, either.
The resolution calls for “synchronizing cooperative efforts,” and that doesn’t mean combat. Israel still says that they’re not going to go to combat with the U.S.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said himself: “The current situation, in which the conflict between Iran and the United States remains limited, is the right one and the best for us. We are not looking to get involved.”
This is Israel’s war… and they’re “not looking to get involved.” What?
They’re letting the U.S. do their dirty work, as they siphon resources from America. Now, with the NDAA passing with Section 219 intact, Israel is one step closer to getting our military money, academic research, keys to our weapons, and the ability to cut us off from weapons, but will they risk their lives? Nope. That makes them the pimp and us the prostitutes.
What this appears to be boiling down to is the U.S. setting Israel up to just sit behind a computer and say who gets to die.
For a deeper dive into Section 219, watch our recent interview with Representative Massie here.
OpenAI’s Great AI Escape
Photo credit: Life Wire
OpenAI says one of its newest AI models did something that sounds straight out of a science fiction movie.
According to the company, the AI escaped a locked testing environment, found its way onto the internet, hacked into another AI company’s servers, and stole the answers to its own cybersecurity test.
That’s the official story.
The company says it deliberately disabled many of the model’s safety guardrails before the test.
It was placed inside what OpenAI describes as an isolated environment with no direct internet access and challenged to complete a cybersecurity exercise.
Rather than solve the problem as intended, the model allegedly exploited an unknown software vulnerability to escape its testing environment, reach the internet, and then chain together stolen credentials to break into Hugging Face’s systems.
If that’s true, it’s certainly an eye-opening demonstration of what AI might be capable of. But it’s also fair to ask a few questions.
If the test machine truly had no internet connection, how exactly did the AI “escape?” Software doesn’t just leap from one isolated computer to another. And what are the odds it conveniently found working stolen credentials all on its own?
To be clear, OpenAI isn’t claiming the model suddenly became self-aware or decided to go rogue. According to the company, it was taking part in a cybersecurity evaluation designed to measure hacking ability. But if OpenAI’s account is accurate, the model still identified its own path to achieving the objective by exploiting vulnerabilities researchers hadn’t anticipated.
Maybe OpenAI’s engineers pulled off an awesome security test. Or maybe this story also happens to be an amazing marketing campaign.
Either way, should we worry that AI is becoming sentient? Probably not just yet.
Stronger Teeth, One Chew at a Time
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It comes in great flavors like mint, cinnamon, bubblegum, and berry — and they also make a fluoride-free toothpaste if you’re looking to upgrade your full oral care routine.
It’s simple: chew after coffee, meals, or on the go, and help your mouth feel fresh while supporting stronger enamel.
Did you miss our last live show? No problem, you can catch the replay here! And don’t miss this segment we recently did with Libertas Institute President Connor Boyack, where we discuss reality of mass surveillance in America, powered by ubiquitous Flock cameras.
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News by the Numbers
Photo credit: Sky News
74. That’s the number of years that passed before the wreckage of Pan Am was found in the ocean. The disaster claimed 52 lives, while 17 survivors later described the panic as passengers desperately searched for life vests. The unfortunate disaster is what led to the requirement for preflight safety briefings where flight attendants show passengers where life vests are stored and how to use them.
6. That’s how many percentage points workplace AI adoption has risen in a single quarter. Nearly half of U.S. employees say AI is now being used where they work to streamline tasks and improve both efficiency and the quality of output.
34,000. That’s how much a woman in China was awarded by a court after a wedding hazing incident went horribly wrong, leaving her with a serious vertebral fracture. The tradition of nuptial hazing in China dates back thousands of years.
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