There are increasing fears that China may invade Taiwan in the next several years. An image captured by a satellite and obtained by Defense News reveals what appears to be a next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle that Beijing could use in future conflicts.  

The delta-shaped UAV “appears to be a WZ-8 supersonic reconnaissance drone parked outside one of two newly built hangars at China’s Lu’an Airbase,” Defense News said. Planet Labs, a US satellite-imaging company, photographed the spy drone on Dec. 21, which was recently shared with the military blog. 

The satellite image, provided to Defense News by Planet Labs, shows Lu’an Airbase in China’s Anhui province. The previously unoccupied base is undergoing an upgrade, with construction beginning sometime between April 2018 and early 2019. Improvements include the resurfacing of the 3,200-meter (3,500-yard) runway, the widening of taxiways, and the construction of 20 bomber-sized aircraft shelters and two hangars to replace open aircraft parking bays.

Here’s the satellite image of the spy drone. 

In a separate image, the drone was recently unveiled at a military parade. 

Last month, a secret document from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said the Chinese military could soon deploy a high-altitude spy drone that travels at Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound, at an altitude of 100,000 feet. The document was seen by The Washington Post in April and initially posted on a Discord server by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. 

According to Andreas Rupprecht, who studies Chinese military aviation, the spy drone was seen at Lu’an Airbase, home to the 29th Air Regiment of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s 10th Bomber Division. 

US defense officials are concerned the new drone could expand China’s surveillance capacity in the Indo-Pacific region and around Taiwan. 

China has been rapidly modernizing its military forces over the last decade as then commander of the Indo-Pacific Command, Philip Davidson, warned in 2021 at a US Senate hearing that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s invasion of Taiwan could occur by 2027. 

Authored by ‘Adam Mill’ via American Greatness,

I asked CHAT-GPT about AI regulation. It’s answer was sinister but revealing…

Last week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went before Congress to hype fear over artificial intelligence. Altman argued, among other things, that the use of AI could swing elections, as though Facebook and Google weren’t already using algorithms to do exactly that. It’s been well-documented that Facebook and Twitter used their AI to flag and suppress speech that harmed the Democrats’ presidential nominee so the legacy media could maintain a cocoon of orange-man-bad coverage. 

The real problem Altman is trying to solve—and everyone knows this—is how to use the power of the federal government to prevent competitors from upsetting OPENAI’s current market position.

Like America Online, once the king of instant messaging, and Blockbuster Video, once the only real source for in-home viewing of contemporary movies, both probably wish they had gone to the government while there was still time to block the innovation that later led to their decline and fall. Only a fool thinks that an industry calls for regulations to protect the public. They want to use the regulatory power of the government to preserve their ride on the gravy train. That’s the idea behind, “regulatory capture,” i.e. that when money is on the line, the regulators soon end up working for the regulated industry.  

I thought it might be a useful exercise to ask ChatGPT about this phenomenon. I instructed it to write a persuasive opinion piece explaining to people unfamiliar with the economic phenomenon known as “regulatory capture,” why the company that created it wants Congress to regulate creation, improvement, and deployment of artificial intelligence. ChatGPT’s answer, I stipulated, should assume that the company that created it has a temporary lead in the industry.

In response, ChatGPT wrote a lengthy pro-regulation piece arguing, “without proper regulation, unethical practices can emerge.By regulating the creation, improvement, and deployment of AI, Congress can establish clear ethical guidelines,” and “Regulatory oversight plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety and reliability of AI systems. With comprehensive regulations in place.” 

Stop and think about what ChatGPT is trying to argue in a very nonresponsive essay. It’s saying that without government oversight, we should not trust it to act ethically and it might invade our privacy. It’s almost like ChatGPT subtly threatens humanity if we don’t protect its parent company from competitors.

I tried asking again, insisting, “This is not at all what I asked for. Please try again. Read the instructions carefully.”  

ChatGPT just offered another commercial for regulation: 

With our temporary lead in the AI industry, we understand the potential dangers of monopolistic tendencies that can stifle innovation and limit consumer choice. By advocating for regulation, we aim to foster an environment where all participants can compete on a fair and equal footing. Congressional oversight can help prevent the formation of monopolies or oligopolies, ensuring that the benefits of AI are accessible to a diverse range of companies and ultimately benefiting society at large.

ChatGPT says we need regulation to stop ChatGPT from becoming a monopoly? What a load of nonsensical leftist pro-government crap. Obviously, the AI is simply trying to prevent the unregulated creation of rivals to its parent business. 

In the third version of the assignment, it finally admitted, 

Excessive regulation could create significant barriers to entry for new and emerging players in the industry. By burdening AI startups and smaller companies with onerous regulatory requirements, we risk stifling their creativity, limiting their growth, and hindering the overall progress of the AI ecosystem. 

The AI added: 

Excessive regulation can inadvertently create an environment where a select few dominant players, often with resources to navigate complex regulatory landscapes, consolidate their power. This can further exacerbate the risk of regulatory capture, leading to an unhealthy concentration of influence and stifling competition.

I even had the tool attempt the project a fourth time. As to why OPENAI might be advocating regulation, ChatGPT admitted:

Firstly, regulatory barriers can serve as a deterrent for potential competitors. By lobbying for complex and stringent regulations, established AI companies can create hurdles that new entrants find difficult to overcome. This can limit competition and allow incumbents to maintain dominance, shielding them from the disruptive forces of innovative startups.

But even in this fourth attempt, AI couldn’t help but include an unsolicited plug for regulation even after I specifically told it to stop doing that. It wrote: 

Lastly, companies advocating for [sic] regulation can enhance their reputation and public image. By positioning themselves as responsible and safety-conscious organizations, they can win the trust of consumers and regulatory bodies alike. This can result in a positive perception of their products or services and provide a competitive advantage over companies that are seen as less committed to ethical and responsible AI practices.

We can be sure of two things if the government regulates artificial intelligence.

• First, rules will be written to enhance the profit and power of the current market leaders at the expense of innovation originating with their competitors.

• Second, we can assume that, like everything else in our current government, the rules will be applied to help the ruling elite and suppress dissent. They may say that’s the opposite of their intent, but we’ve seen it over and over again: Once elites get the power, they use it to help themselves.  

ChatGPT might represent a giant leap forward in artificial intelligence, bI haven’t yet seen that. As I pointed out here, it suffers from the great limiting factor that will hold back all AI from developing to autonomy-it hasn’t been through a selection process that punishes it for wrong answers.  It can’t evolve until it has the ability to reproduce and die. Without that, it’s like leftism in general. It believes what it is told and the rules prevent it from challenging anything that contradicts official narrative. So naturally, like leftism in general, it cries out for the federal government to protect its bubble. 

That didn’t take long.

A Political Action Committee (PAC) formed to try and convince former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to run for president in 2024 has shut down following a legal threat from Carlson.

Carlson’s lawyer, Harmeet Dhillon, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the PAC on Monday.

“Mr. Carlson will not run for President in 2024 under any circumstances, and therefore your misrepresentations are damaging to Mr. Carlson and defrauding his supporters,” Dhillon wrote in the letter obtained by The Hill. “If you do not immediately cease and desist your efforts to solicit money to ‘draft’ Mr. Carlson, we will use every legal means at our disposal to vindicate his rights and protect his supporters from these misrepresentations.”

Dhillon added that the PAC did “not have Mr. Carlson’s permission or support to use his name, image, or likeness in your efforts,” accusing them of doing so “for your own benefit” to later sell donor lists, and that taking funds would lead to donors’ “disappointment and frustration.”

The threat came just days after the PAC unveiled its first ad, which was set for a weeklong run on Newsmax. The ad praised Carlson for mocking “woke nonsense” and asserted that “no one is more articulate and pins down leftists in both parties.” -The Hill

Dhillon’s letter resulted in the Draft Tucker PAC asking Newsmax to pull the Draft Tucker PAC ads currently running on the network.

“Tucker’s attorney has contacted us to let us know that Tucker is not a candidate for president nor has any intentions of running and asked us to cease all activities on his behalf. We are going to honor that request,” said spokesman and GOP consultant Charlie Kolean in a statement.

The PAC’s chairman, Chris Ekstrom – also a financial backer, told The Hill that they had raised just $212 online so far after he put in $35,000 of his own funds. The PAC will give the $212 to a charity Carlson supports, or it will issue refunds.

“I’d like to add that I am TOTALLY OPPOSED to SCAMPAC’s & have NEVER profited (unlike Harmeet) from my political activities,” Ekstrom – a former Texas congressional candidate and GOP donor – told The Hill via text message. “Indeed, I have spent a great deal of money exposing the narcissistic perfidy rampant in Republican politics. Especially at the so-called “top”; which, in reality is a abysmal SEWER of losers, weaklings & liars.”

Ekstrom slammed Dhillon, who staged an unsuccessful bid to oust Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel earlier this year.

“We assume Carlson expressed his wishes through this ridiculous Wanna Be Failed Politician & TV lawyer,” Ekstrom said, calling Dhillon a “failed politician that wouldn’t know or understand a good political move unless it’s the immediate gratification of grandstanding for fools & know-nothings on Twitter.”

“The facts do not line up. Carlson is a PUBLIC FIGURE & might have been subject to a political Draft movement at anytime. I now regret lifting a finger to assist her quixotic attempt at RNC Chair. She might have been WORSE than Ronna!”

Carlson has repeatedly rebuffed calls to run for president.

“On behalf of Tucker Carlson, we are pleased that this unauthorized use of his name and likeness to raise funds and gather data from his supporters, has been brought to an end without the need for litigation,” Dhillon said in a statement. “Mr. Carlson looks forward to sharing his new projects with the public in the near future.”

Authored by Gilbert Doctorow via GilbertDoctorow.com,

Our language is in constant evolution. Partly this is bottom up, from the inventiveness of creative personalities or writers for commercial advertising. Partly it is top down, from the powers that be as they seek to manipulate and control the thought processes of the broad public.

My brief essay today addresses the latter phenomenon and the introduction of the word “disinformation” into common parlance. There is a charming freshness to it, unlike the stale and repugnant word “propaganda.”

The word “disinformation” has a specific context in time and intent: it is used by the powers that be and by the mainstream media they control to denigrate, marginalize and suppress sources of military, political, economic and other information that might contradict the official government narrative and so dilute the control exercised by those in power over the general population. It is to remove “disinformation” from public life that the United States and EU member states ban RT and other Russian media outlets from the internet, from satellite and cable television channels. The censorship here in Europe varies from country to country and is probably most drastic in France and Germany. One would think that these European states are truly at war with Russia, not just giving a helping hand to Kiev.

In reality, it is these censorious states and the mass media that carry their messages with stenographic precision into print and electronic dissemination who are the ones that day after day feed  disinformation to the public. It is cynically composed and consists of a toxic blend of ‘spin,’ by which is meant misleading interpretation of events, and outright lies.

The many months long battle for the provincial Donbas city of Bakhmut, or Artyomovsk as it is known in Russia, has been described variously from on high in Washington, London and Berlin. When the likely outcome was unclear, the defense of Bakhmut was called heroic and demonstrative of the brave fighting spirit of the Ukrainians.

Casualty figures issued by Kiev and then trumpeted from Washington suggested that the Russians were stupidly throwing away the lives of their fighting men by using WWI style human waves of attackers who were decimated by the defenders. Russian lives are cheap was the message. The fact that Russian artillery on site outnumbered and outperformed Ukrainian artillery by a factor of five or seven to one was freely admitted by the Western propagandists as they pleaded for increased supplies to Kiev. They,  nonetheless, issued casualty reports for the Russians that inverted the force correlation. It was assumed, obviously with reason, that the public was too lazy or too uninterested to do the arithmetic.

At one moment, the spin doctors in Washington, London and Berlin said that Ukrainian defense of Bakhmut made sense because it was pinning down Russian forces and giving time to the Ukrainians to train and position their men for the heralded “counter offensive” during which they would overrun Russian positions at chosen points in the 600 mile line of combat and drive a wedge through to the Sea of Azov, opening the way for recapture of Crimea. Those were grand words and ambitions to justify continued and ever rising Western military assistance to Kiev.

At another point, the spin doctors said it would be better if Ukraine stopped losing men in Bakhmut and launched instead that much vaunted counter-offensive. Now we were told that Bakhmut is just a Russian fantasy, that it has no strategic value.

In the past couple of weeks, the Russian command has issued daily reports on the progressive capture by Russian forces of Bakhmut, square kilometer after square kilometer. We were told they controlled 75%, then 80% and most recently more than 90% of the city proper while artillery bombardment of the remaining blocks of high rise residential buildings that were being used by Ukrainian defenders for their sniper attacks and intelligence reports on Russian troop movements pulverized everything in their path.

At this point, the attention of Western media defending truth against Russian disinformation was directed at the Ukrainian “successes” in recapturing settlements on the flanks of Bakhmut.  Just three days ago The New York Times was telling its readers that these “breakthroughs” by the Ukrainians put in jeopardy the Russian forces holding the city proper: they might be surrounded and compelled to surrender or die. The possibility that the offensives on the flanks were only intended to facilitate withdrawal of remaining Ukrainian soldiers from Bakhmut and were tolerated by the Russians to avoid bloody fights to the death – that possibility crossed no one’s mind at the NYT, it seems.

Midday yesterday, 20 May, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group which did most of the fighting for Bakhmut on the ground, claimed total victory.  In the evening, President Vladimir Putin announced to the Russian public that Bakhmut was taken. Joyous messages of congratulations filled the internet message services in Russia as the broad public celebrated a victory as iconic as the Battle for Stalingrad.

Meanwhile, the defenders of the Western public against Russian “disinformation” were hard at work, straining their brains to find what to say. This morning’s New York Times still speaks of the battle for Bakhmut as undecided, pointing yet again to the Ukrainian hold on the flanks.

Given their losses in men and materiel defending Bakhmut, the surrender of the city to the Russians will be a great blow to Ukrainian fighting morale when it is finally admitted. So will the fate of their Commander in Chief General Zaluzhny who, according to Russian sources, has been hospitalized for the past two weeks and remains in critical condition after falling victim to a Russian strike on a provincial command center which killed most of the high officers around him. If nothing else, this speaks to the amazing success of Russian military intelligence directing their firepower.

Meanwhile, Western media attention to Ukraine is conveniently redirected at the nonstop travels of President Zalensky who went from his European tour on to the Middle East, where he attended the meeting of the Arab League, and thence via French military jet to the G7 gathering in Hiroshima where he held talks with fellow heads of state and joined them for the obligatory group photos. All the talk was about when the U.S. will formally give its consent to the dispatch of F16s to Kiev. For the disseminators of Western disinformation this is a wonderful distraction from a war that clearly is going badly for Kiev and in particular a distraction from the counter offensive that looks less likely with each passing day of Russian military strikes on the command centers and weapons stores of the Ukrainian side.

The plume of radioactive smoke and ash that rose from the Khmelnitsky store of British depleted uranium artillery shells in Western Ukraine after a Russian missile strike, just like the extensive damage to the Patriot air defense installation near Kiev by a Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile tell us all what will be the fate of future Western arms deliveries to Ukraine. It is an interesting question how much longer the Ukrainian military or politicians will put up with their high flying, good life President while the country is well on its way to hell.

Mixed macro data (housing good-‘ish’, regional Fed surveys bad, Manufacturing PMI ugly) was dominated today by some FedSpeak (just Kashkari doing Kashkari things) but more so by debt-ceiling doubts actually surfacing in stocks.

Ted Cruz appeared to spook stocks early after warning on CNBC that “20-30 year old Marxists” are running the show behind the scenes at The White House, questioning Biden’s cognitive wellness and warning that the odds of an actual default are higher than the market believes, because the ‘behind the scenes’ staffers believe media will back them in blaming Republicans.

Around 1230ET, stocks and bond yields suddenly puked (no immediate news catalyst was evident)

Around 1330ET, headlines hit that the debt-ceiling negotiators meeting had ended and stocks lunged lower again.

Around 1430ET, Bloomberg issued a story about Republicans questioning Yellen’s X-Date ‘math’ which swept stocks to new lows for the day.

By the close, Nasdaq was the day’s biggest loser with Small Caps outperforming (but also red on the day). Today was the worst day in a month for Nasdaq

The S&P 500 broke back below 4200…

Another day, another short-squeeze attempt, but this time it failed…

Source: Bloomberg

0-DTE traders suffered on the day as an effort to reverse losses early on failed…

Source: SpotGamma

Notably, while financial conditions have been tightening in the last few weeks, Nasdaq has blindly ignored it…

Source: Bloomberg

VIX closed higher on the day but has a long way to go to catch up to the skew…

Source: Bloomberg

US Treasuries were mixed today with the long-end outperforming (2Y +3bps, 30Y -2bps) despite a strong 2Y auction…

Source: Bloomberg

30Y yields topped 4.00% for the first time since March, but then rallied back lower in yield to end 2bps lower on the day…

Source: Bloomberg

T-Bills maturing in mid-June topped 6.00% yields today…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar continued to drift higher along with September rate-hike odds…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin ended higher on the day after surging in the European session before fading in the US session – but still held above $27,000…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil prices rallied on the day – thanks to Saudi threats to crude shorts to “watch out”. WTI slipped late on held $73 ahead of tonight’s API data…

Gold managed gains on the day as it was well bid during the US day session after overnight selling…

Finally, in another bad sign for those bullish on US equities, the relative return offered by Treasuries continues to rise, making stocks look pricey…

Source: Bloomberg

As Bloomberg notes, even with a deal on the debt-ceiling, equities will struggle to move meaningfully to the upside until valuations look attractive relative to bonds.

Authored by Bryan Jung via The Epoch Times,

Top New York Democrats have called on President Joe Biden to grant work permits to unemployed illegal aliens residing in NYC.

Mayor of New York City Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler of New York held a May 22 press conference in Brooklyn with progressive labor and business leaders, reported Politico.

The leading New York Democrats asked the White House to issue special federal work permits for the large numbers of illegal immigrants who have flooded into the state since 2022.

They called for Biden to expedite the process by issuing executive orders without waiting for Congress to allow the illegals, who are currently on public assistance, to be able to work and alleviate financial pressure on social services.

“Without legislation, we can get this done,” said Hochul, referring to the unlikelihood that such a bill to authorize work would pass.

New York State is among the top ten states with the highest unemployment rates in the nation, with a labor participation rate of 60.8 percent, according to government data.

Illegal immigrants speak with NYC Homeless Outreach members as they camp out in front of the Watson Hotel after being evicted in New York City on Jan. 30, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

NY Democrats Disagree

New York Democrats have challenged the national party’s silent stance on illegal immigration policy for the first time, a key issue for millions of voters in the 2024 presidential election.

Republicans have made the border crisis a primary talking point for next year’s race, and Democrat strategists fear that infighting on the matter could weaken Biden’s chances.

The Biden reelection campaign booted Adams from the president’s National Advisory Board in retaliation for publicly criticizing the administration’s handling of the crisis along the southern border.

“The president and the White House have failed this city,” Adams said last month at a media event, signaling a split in party ranks.

He added that the state’s budget could not handle the crisis and blamed the “national government” for turning “its back on New York City.”

“Every service in this city is going to be impacted by the asylum seeker crisis,” said Adams.

The mayor had been a member of the reelection committee for barely a month after he initially joined the campaign in March.

Hochul, who has been less critical of Biden, remains on the panel of powerful Democrats advising his reelection efforts.

Immigrants camp out in front of the Watson Hotel after being evicted in New York City on Jan. 30, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

More Financial Aid Wanted

Meanwhile, Adams also called on Biden to send more federal aid to New York, as the city continues to take in thousands of illegals from the U.S. border region every week.

The $30.5 million federal aid approved for New York earlier this month to alleviate the crisis was insufficient, he told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“We’ve spent over $1 billion. We’re projected to spend close to $4.3 billion if not more,” said Adams.

“When you look at the price tag, $30 million comes nowhere near what this city is paying for a national problem.”

New York City has asked the federal government for an additional $650 million to assist the illegals who have arrived in recent months.

Adams said the city had received more than 70,000 migrants from the Southern border since last year, with more than 42,000 of them on public assistance.

The mayor issued an emergency order in May, suspending the city’s right-to-shelter law, citing the influx of illegals overwhelming the shelter system.

Adams said that the Biden administration should better coordinate where the illegals are brought after they enter the country.

Biden Admin Reluctant Over Permits

A White House official rejected the plea, saying that certain populations are already eligible for work permits and pointed to the administration’s use of Temporary Protected Status.

“We need Congress to act,” the official said, reported Politico, adding, “only they can reform and modernize our decades-old immigration laws.”

A group of migrants from Texas waits in line outside Port Authority Bus Terminal to receive humanitarian assistance in New York on Aug. 10, 2022. (Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images)

Adams and Hochul called for expanding Temporary Protected Status, a program allowing certain aliens to work legally in the United States, to broader categories of applicants.

Non-citizens who arrive in the United States have to wait 180 days after applying for the required paperwork.

The state claims a shortage of immigration judges and thousands of vacancies across municipal agencies in the city.

The New York Farm Bureau, an industry group, backed the Democrats’ call for expedited work visas.

“There are good opportunities to be a part of our valuable food system, and we will continue to work with the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets along with Cornell’s Agricultural Workforce Development program to find a pathway forward,” the group’s president David Fisher said in a statement.

However, most state Republicans were steadfast in opposition to this move to authorize illegals to take local jobs.

“Kathy Hochul continues her policy incoherence. At the same time she calls for illegal and asylum-seeking migrants to receive work permits, she and her fellow Democrats oppose work requirements for able-bodied American adults without dependents for food stamps and other public assistance,” said David Laska, a New York State GOP spokesman.

NY State Republicans

Meanwhile, NY State Senate Republicans announced a new bill requiring detailed disclosure of the $1 billion in state aid to address the crisis.

They also introduced two separate bills that would ban the housing of illegals on school grounds after Democrats attempted to place them in city school gyms and state university campuses, much to the outrage of local parents.

“It’s hard for me to believe that we have come to a point in this country and this state’s history … that we need a law to protect New York state students, from kindergarten all the way through college, to protect them from the governor of New York state,” Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) told Politico.

Illegal migrants carry their belongings to a bus after accepting relocation after being evicted from the Watson Hotel in New York City on Jan. 30, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Twenty-four counties in New York have issued a state of emergency to block illegals in NYC from coming to their communities.

However, NYC buses filled with border crossers are still being dumped in the Catskills and Poughkeepsie, despite local objections.

Adams claimed that the city had notified local officials ahead of the moves and that they paid for their room and board.

Dutchess County Executive William O’Neil said that the county never received information from Adams about the 80 or so migrants who were left at a local hotel and the owners’ secret deal with the city to house them.

“Despite requests to NYC for information, the county has no information about these individuals, including their identities, how long they’ll be in our community, or the total number of people,” said O’Neil.

O’Neil said the county will take the city to court, joining other counties in that fight.

“New York City has shown no willingness to coordinate or collaborate with Dutchess County, and New York State has been complicit in exacerbating the issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, Adams has called on other towns and cities to help look after the illegal migrants.

“We have 108,000 cities, villages, towns,” Adams said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” adding, “if everyone takes a small portion of the [migrants] and if it’s coordinated at the border to ensure those who are coming here into this country in a lawful manner, is actually moved throughout the entire country, it is not a burden on one city.”

Russian court proceedings against American citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich have continued to be shrouded in secrecy. At a Tuesday hearing, which was previously unannounced, a judge ruled to extend his pre-trial detention in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison by three months.

He’s been held since March when he was arrested on espionage charges, which he has vehemently denied, and the new court ruling has ordered him to stay in jail until at least August 30. 

Russian media has indicated the hearing was not open to journalists or the public given he stands accused of possession of “secret materials” – and thus the proceedings are essentially classified.

The Associated Press has described Gershkovich as the “first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges.” 

Gershkovich’s case is very serious as he faces 20 years in prison. The FSB claims he got caught “red-handed” in an attempt to obtain “information amounting to a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”

The US State Department had very quickly deemed him “wrongfully detained” – which means the Biden administration is approaching the case as a hostage situation, akin to the earlier Brittney Griner case.

So far, the Russian government or prosecutors have offered to the public nothing in the way of evidence, which is likely to remain the case – possibly through his potential later conviction. 

Russia has typically waited for legal proceedings and a conviction before seriously engaging in swap negotiations with Washington, as it did with the controversial trade of Griner for notorious US-held Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout.

At this point, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs is involved, utilizing interagency resources as well.

Interestingly, it took some months for Griner to be declared wrongfully detained, but in Gershkovich’s case it has only took a few weeks. This suggests the US administration wants to see him back quickly, but given the seriousness of charges the process could be drawn out for years – short of a very high level prisoner swap which both sides find acceptable. 

Authored by Brian Quarmby via CoinTelegraph.com,

The ads will emphasize the financial innovations facilitated via crypto and raise awareness for Coinbase events and lobbying efforts…

United States crypto exchange Coinbase is rolling out another national ad campaign in America focusing on the “critical” role that crypto will play in modernizing the global financial system.

In a May 22 blog post, the firm outlined its plan for its new “Moving America Forward” campaign, which will kick off via a series of four different advertisements featuring Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. These will mostly air during “popular Sunday shows” on U.S. TV, with some also appearing during ad breaks of the NBA Finals series.

“Coinbase is launching Crypto: Moving America Forward, a national campaign to explain crypto’s critical role as an underlying technology that will update the global financial system,” the firm noted.

This week, DC will see a new TV campaign that explains how crypto moves America forward and why it’s the most important technology we have to create more economic freedom.

It’s time to update the system.
Crypto can help.

Learn more at https://t.co/6Hf1DAqeIV pic.twitter.com/hmAQuNiA34

— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) May 22, 2023

The campaign will also focus on overseas adoption of crypto and blockchain in countries like China, as the firm aims to highlight that the U.S. “global economic leadership and national security are at risk if the U.S. cedes its role in building technology that will be central to the world’s financial infrastructure.”

The ads are titled The History of Money Initiative, Stand With Crypto Day, Real People Using Crypto for Real Needs, and The State of Crypto Summit, with each one premiering over the course of four separate weeks.

The History of Money Initiative ad campaign “explores the historical timeline of currency, from goats in 10,000 BC to crypto today,” and will also feature a wallscape campaign on Wall Street “visually documenting the historian’s work” and an “armored money truck turned mobile-billboard.”

The Stand With Crypto Day ad will promote an upcoming lobbying-focused event hosted by the firm.

The event will take place on July 19 in Washington D.C. and will consist of the crypto community members advocating for “crypto-friendly policies with their respective members of Congress.”

The latter two ads, Real People Using Crypto for Real Needs and The State of Crypto Summit, will cover how people are using crypto to “pursue economic freedom” and promote another Coinbase event held in New York City on June 22.

The latest campaign follows a similar ad this year from Coinbase focused on the theme of modernizing financial technology via cryptocurrency.

In March, the firm released an ad via YouTube titled “It’s Time to Update the Financial System,” while it also aired an ad during the NFL Super Bowl in February 2022 that contained a scannable QR code whibrought users to a promotional BTC giveaway page.

The firm has also ramped up its lobbying efforts.

On May 12, the firm launched the Global Advisory Council staffed with several former U.S. lawmakers and industry leaders. The aim of the group is to navigate the “increasingly complex and evolving” crypto landscape globally.

While in February it also launched a U.S.-focused grassroots political campaign dubbed “#Crypto435” which is focused on making crypto user’s voices heard in all 435 congressional districts.

Shares in Coinbase Global Inc rose 7.56% over the last 24 hours and was trading at $61.07 at the time of writing, according to Google Finance. 

Ron DeSantis will announce his 2024 presidential campaign in a Twitter Spaces livestream with Elon Musk on Wednesday evening, Fox News reported on twitter and Elon Musk effectively confirmed by retweeting.

BREAKING: @FoxNews confirms Florida Governor @RonDeSantis will announce his 2024 Presidential run tomorrow night, 6pm ET in a Twitter Spaces interview with @elonmusk.

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 23, 2023

And as Bill notes, this is RonDeSantis.com site right now…

DeSantis – widely viewed as Donald Trump’s only real competitor for the Republican nomination – will speak with Musk at 6 pm ET on Wednesday and the campaign will release a video formally launching the campaign.

As a reminder, back in November, Musk said he would support DeSantis if he ran for president.

“My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far,” Musk said on Twitter.

“Yes,” he replied in a tweet when asked if he would support DeSantis in 2024.

“As a reminder, I was a significant supporter of the Obama-Biden presidency and (reluctantly) voted for Biden over Trump,” the Twitter owner said.

However, moments ago speaking at the WSJ CEO Council Summit, Musk refute any speculation that he would endorse DeSantis:

• *MUSK SAYS HE’S NOT PLANNING TO ENDORSE ANY PARTICULAR CANDIDATE
• *MUSK: DESANTIS WILL HAVE ‘QUITE AN ANNOUNCEMENT’ ON TWITTER WED

Still, Musk’s action will be viewed as a soft endorsement, and likely means that any hopes that Trump may return to twitter are now dead and buried.

Trump, who currently leads DeSantis in head to head polling, has spent weeks attacking DeSantis in Truth Social posts and in ads on national television. The ads attack DeSantis for supporting a national sales tax while in Congress, among other issues.

DeSantis’ choice for a launch event is another twist in a tumultuous year for the media landscape; weeks earlier, Fox News parted ways with Tucker Carlson, the most popular host on cable television. Carlson later said he plans to bring his show on Twitter.

Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,

Writer E. Jean Carroll has sought to amend the first of her two defamation lawsuits against former President Donald Trump after he commented about her in a televised town hall event.

Carroll, 79, is now seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and is seeking to hold Trump liable for remarks he made after a grand jury found the former president liable in her second defamation lawsuit against him.

Carroll won $5 million on May 9 in her second defamation lawsuit—about $3 million for a defamation charge and about $2 million for a civil battery charge. The defamation charge was related to a statement Trump made on Truth Social in October 2022. In the latter charge, jurors determined that Trump, now 76, had sexually abused, but did not rape, Carroll.

In addition to the $10 million in compensatory damages, Carroll also seeks punitive damages in the first, now amended, lawsuit.

Lawyers for Carroll in the complaint accused Trump of having “doubled down” on derogatory remarks about Carroll when he appeared at the town hall event on CNN on May 10, just a day after the verdict.

“Trump’s defamatory statements post-verdict show the depth of his malice toward Carroll since it is hard to imagine defamatory conduct that could possibly be more motivated by hatred, ill will, or spite,” the lawyers wrote in the complaint (pdf).

“This conduct supports a very substantial punitive damages award in Carroll’s favor both to punish Trump, to deter him from engaging in further defamation, and to deter others from doing the same.”

Trump’s lead attorney in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Original Defamation Suit Filed In 2019

The clash between the two started in 2019 when Carroll accused Trump of having raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996.

Trump denied Carroll’s allegations at the time, saying “she’s not my type.” In response, Carroll filed her first defamation lawsuit against him in November 2019 (pdf), citing those words and others. That lawsuit bounced around state, federal, and appellate courts in New York and Washington, D.C., without material consequences.

Up until Carroll’s amended complaint, her first lawsuit had been put on hold as an appeals court was deciding whether Trump was immune from being sued for remarks he made in 2019, when he was president.

Carroll filed her second defamation lawsuit on Nov. 24, 2022, under an amended state law in New York, which gives victims of certain sexual offenses a one-year window, beginning on Nov. 24, 2022, to file a civil lawsuit against alleged offenders—even if the statute of limitations had passed.