Today's Headlines: The dumb (with a b) Republican convention kicked off in Dallas with John Fetterman appearing in a video praising Trump and calling Democrats extremists and socialists to no one's surprise. In semi-related news, Ken Paxton lost the endorsement of his own former top law enforcement official — a decorated Texas Ranger who blew the whistle on Paxton to the FBI in 2020 — to Democratic opponent James Talarico, because even the people who worked for him can't stand him. Moving on, Trump celebrated the AFD's German election win with "MGGA — Make Germany Great Again," actively cheering on the Nazi party with two more German regional elections coming in ten days. Trump also gave $45,000 cash gifts to Natalie Harp, communications director Margo Martin, and 26-year-old executive assistant Chamberlain Harris — nearly a third of each of their $150,000 salaries — plus $20,000 to Walt Nauta, all of which appears to violate federal law prohibiting supplementing government employees' salaries from outside sources. On the tech beat, an Anthropic researcher named Jacob Coxon quit his job and gave up significant equity because he believes his company and its competitors are building tools that could destroy humanity, while a colleague on Twitter put the odds at 10% that AI destroys humanity by 2030 — and separately, a human mathematician accused OpenAI of solving a century-old math proof only because they heard about his work through an Anthropic scientist, which would have given Anthropic the credit, so Sam Altman allegedly stole a math discovery, which tracks. Yesterday marked a year since Charlie Kirk was killed, Georgetown students held a lookalike contest in DC, and Turning Point USA was not amused. And finally, South Park is renaming itself South America for season 29, explicitly mocking Apple and Google for caving on Lake Ontario.
Resources/Articles mentioned:
AP News: Democratic Sen. Fetterman speaks at a GOP midterm convention, fueling party-switch fears
WaPo: Paxton’s former top law enforcement official endorses Talarico
Axios: Trump's "MGGA" praise collides with Germany's Nazi past
WaPo: Trump gave $45,000 cash gifts to Natalie Harp, two other close aides
WSJ: Anthropic Researcher Quits Over ‘Out-of-Control’ AI Fears
WIRED: OpenAI Just Claimed a Huge Math Discovery. Some Academics Are Crying Foul
WJLA: Georgetown students plan Charlie Kirk lookalike contest for anniversary of death: report
Variety: ‘South Park’ Changes Name to ‘South America’ as Creators Roast Apple and Google for Obeying Trump’s Lake America Name Change
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