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Two top members in former President Donald Trump's administration who are now rivals to Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race are heavily criticizing Trump for celebrating North Korea's appointment to the World Health Organization. Former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration are taking aim at the former president in interviews in Iowa on Saturday with Fox News. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also took a swipe at Trump over his comments about the North Korean dictator. "Congratulations to Kim Jung [sic] Un!" Trump wrote in the message on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday afternoon. "I was surprised to see that," DeSantis told Fox News Digital Saturday. "I mean I think one, I think Kim Jong Un is a murderous dictator."  TRUMP CONGRATULATES NORTH KOREA'S LEADER Trump linked his message to an article from Ame...

A federal judge ruled late Friday that a Tennessee law that put strict limits on drag shows is "unconstitutionally vague."  U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker in his ruling said the first-in-the-nation law that banned cabaret performances in a public place or anywhere that children could be present was "overly broad," encouraged "discriminatory enforcement," and violated the First Amendment rights of performers.  "There is no question that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. But there is a difference between material that is ‘obscene’ in the vernacular, and material that is ‘obscene’ under the law," Parker said in his ruling.  He added, "Simply put, no majority of the Supreme Court has held that sexually explicit — but not obscene — speech receives less protection than political, artistic, or scientific speech." FORMER AMERICAN IDOL STAR BLASTS GOP STATE BANS ON DRAG SHOWS FOR MINORS: ‘USING CHILDREN AS AN EXCUSE’   ...

Twitter owner Elon Musk on Saturday voiced support for a Vermont family that was punished by a local school for expressing concerns about a biological male using the daughter's locker room. Musk, the outspoken and eccentric billionaire, called the Orange Southwest School District Board's decision to punish Travis Allen and Blake Allen "incredibly unjust." He was responding to a tweet from Riley Gaines , a former University of Kentucky swimmer and political activist who's publicly opposed allowing biological males to compete against girls and women in sports. "So happy for volleyball player and friend, Blake Allen," wrote Gaines, who also posted a screenshot of a Daily Signal story on the Allens. "For feeling uneasy undressing next to a boy in her locker room, she was suspended from school and her dad lost his job. They told her she would only be let back in if she publicly apologized for her feelings of discomfort." Blake Allen was suspende...

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica : Google Wallet rolls out support for US state IDs, starting with Maryland, and plans to add IDs from Arizona, Colorado, and Georgia in the coming months   —  The state-by-state rollout is still a huge mess, but Android is ready, at least.  —  Google Wallet on Android is finally getting ready …

Texas GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician, is continuing to raise flags over President Biden's health , concluding that he is "not fit mentally or physically" after the president fell on stage Thursday during a commencement ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy. "I don't wanna sound like a broken record, but I'm just going to say it again: This man's not fit mentally or physically to be our president, and it's a bad situation for us," Jackson said during a Friday evening appearance on Fox News Channel's ‘Hannity.’ "Part of the job of the President of the United States is to inspire confidence and project power, and he's not doing that. He can't do that, he's too old to do that, and I think it's a shame." The many gaffes and the recent fall he endured show that Biden, according to Jackson, is offering a "package that doesn't sell around the world." "I think his lack of physic...

Paresh Dave / Wired : AI researchers say ChatGPT and rival chatbots are significantly less capable in languages other than English, exacerbating the bias against non-English speakers   —  AI chatbots are less fluent in languages other than English, threatening to amplify existing bias in global commerce and innovation.

Washington Post : ChatGPT and other LLM tools have already replaced some marketing and social media writers as many companies decide cutting costs is worth the drop in quality   —  Technology used to automate dirty and repetitive jobs.  Now, artificial intelligence chatbots are coming after high-paid ones.

Alabama lawmakers voted Thursday to include themselves in legislation that would allow judges, law enforcement and prosecutors to shield personal information from being released on public records, such as a home address, phone number or driver’s license number. The Alabama Senate approved the House-passed bill that would allow law enforcement officials to request that their personal identifying information be redacted from public documents. But senators approved an amendment to add legislators to the list of occupations that could request that their information be shielded from public view. The bill has now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey . Measures to shield the release of personal information of judges, police officers and others have been introduced in multiple states following threats and attacks on public officials, including the 2020 fatal shooting of a federal judge’s son in New Jersey. But the measures add additional secrecy and have sometimes drawn criticism for potentially blocking ...

Zac Bowden / Windows Central : Microsoft plans to pull support for Cortana on Windows 10 and Windows 11 later this year, as it touts its AI efforts as suitable replacements for the assistant   —  Microsoft will no longer support the Cortana app starting this fall.  —  What you need to know

Missouri Republicans have requested details from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on how much President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan would benefit convicted felons.  In a letter sent on April 13, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and his predecessor, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., sent a letter to U.S. Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro requesting details on how many currently or formerly incarcerated felons would receive a bailout from President Biden's Student Loan Cancellation Program — a program they call "unlawful."  In a tweet Friday, Bailey said he's still seeking answers on "how felons would benefit from Biden's unconstitutional redistribution of wealth." His office confirmed to Fox News Digital that they have yet to receive a response from GAO.  " President Biden has repeatedly attempted to use the COVID-19 pandemic as pretext for his crusade against the Constitution," the duo wrote.  SENATE VOTES TO KILL ...

Sara Fischer / Axios : YouTube stops removing content advancing “false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurred in the 2020 and other past US Presidential elections”   —  In a reversal of its election integrity policy, YouTube will leave up content that says fraud …

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security is targeting conservative Americans and must answer for bankrolling a university program that has explicitly lumped the Republican Party, as well as Christian and conservative groups, into the same category as Nazis, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. Biggs, along with 15 House Republican co-signers, sent Mayorkas the letter on Friday, calling on him to stop DHS's alleged targeting of the Biden administration's political opponents.  "Under your leadership, the Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly targeted conservative Americans for lawfully expressing their First Amendment rights," the letter states. "The Constitution prohibits the federal government from suppressing the free speech of Americans, by any means, including the use of third parties to engage in unconstitutional attacks on free speech. But this unlawfu...

North Carolina Senate Republicans proposed on Thursday an omnibus election measure that contains provisions vetoed successfully in past years by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper as well as other administrative changes that supporters argue will boost trust in election outcomes. The legislation, which could receive a committee hearing next week, has been worked on for weeks, with input received from advocacy groups and former election officials among others, a bill sponsor said. Among the vetoed items considered again in the combined bill are those that would stop accepting certain absentee ballots received after Election Day, create a process to keep more non-U.S. citizens off voter rolls and prohibit private funds from being used to run elections. "Our hope is that this will restore some confidence in many citizens in their voting process," state Sen. Ralph Hise, of Mitchell County, told reporters earlier Thursday. Critics have called the duplicate measures from previous yea...

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is taking on a new role in education, less than a month after she left office. Beginning this fall, Lightfoot will teach a course at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health tentatively titled "Health Policy and Leadership," according to an announcement from the school. Lightfoot, who left office on May 15 after losing re-election, will serve as the Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the school beginning at the end of August. OVER 100 HARVARD PROFESSORS AND STAFF STAND UP FOR FREE SPEECH WITH NEW COUNCIL: 'WE ARE IN A CRISIS TIME' The Menschel program, according to the school, "offers a rare opportunity for those who have recently served in top-level positions in government, multilateral institutions, nonprofit organizations and journalism to spend time at the school mentoring and teaching students who aspire to similar roles. Lightfoot will hold regular office hours to meet with students, f...

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal : Commissioner Thierry Breton says the EU plans to subject Twitter and other companies to a voluntary stress test in June to measure how well they comply with DSA   —  During Silicon Valley tour, EU team will review social-media platform's content moderation to measure compliance with new law

Reuters : Apple denies FSB's claims that it worked with NSA, saying it “never worked with any government to insert a backdoor into any Apple product and never will”   —  Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is denying claims made by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) that it cooperated with American spies to surveil Russian iPhone users.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign shot down a claim made Wednesday by former President Donald Trump's campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung that the bus for the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down had "broke down" in Des Moines. "SPOTTED: Tiny @RonDeSantis Super PAC bus broke down on the side of the road in Des Moines. Always Broke Down," Cheung wrote in a tweet, which was accompanied by an image of the bus on the side of the road. TRUMP CAMPAIGN ATTACKS DESANTIS FOR SUPPORTING TRUMP NOMINEE, CLAIMS HE 'VOTED' FOR SENATE-CONFIRMED POSITION Christina Pushaw, the rapid response director for DeSantis' 2024 campaign, was quick to respond to Cheung's claim and insisted that people were only "unloading luggage" from the bus when he took the photo. "SPOTTED: Steven Cheung standing alone in the middle of the road in Des Moines. Watching people unloading luggage from a bus. . . . Wishing he could hitch a ride,"...

Former President Trump is pushing back on his rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' claims that it will take two presidential terms to roll back the Biden administration's agenda.  While campaigning in Iowa Thursday morning, Trump said if he is re-elected president, he can undo everything President Biden has accomplished during his first four years in just six months. "I've been watching to DeSanctus go out and say, I've got eight years. It's going to be eight years. Let me tell you something — right there you should vote against him," Trump said, using one of his nicknames for DeSantis. "It'll take me six months to have it totally the way it was. We'll have it fast," he insisted. DESANTIS SAYS HE'LL ‘COUNTERPUNCH’ AGAINST TRUMP BUT AIMS TO KEEP FOCUS ON POLICY RATHER THAN PERSONAL ATTACKS Trump's visit to Iowa comes a day after DeSantis tore through the state on his first full day of presidential campaigning Wednesday. The Flo...

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch : WordPress.com launches paid newsletters, with the option available to all WordPress.com blogs, even those on the free plan   —  WordPress.com is taking on Substack and others with today's news that its Newsletter product will now support paid subscriptions and premium content.

Leah Nylen / Bloomberg : Meta asks a US court to block FTC's attempt to impose new sanctions for alleged violation of a 2020 settlement   —  Meta Platforms Inc. is asking a federal court to bar the Federal Trade Commission from moving forward with an agency proceeding to revise its 2020 privacy settlement.

The Chicago City Council voted to approve $51 million in spending to help with the city's migrant crisis on Wednesday. Chicago aldermen voted to approve the measure by a vote of 34-13, according to FOX 32 , noting that there was contentious debate before the spending was eventually approved. Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement that the funding is necessary and will go toward resources for migrants, including food, housing, and staffing. "Chicago is facing a humanitarian crisis as individuals and families continue to be sent here and other Democratic-led cities across the country without regard for their well-being," Johnson said. "My administration will do everything in our power to support these new arrivals as they work to rebuild their lives in the U.S. while still upholding our commitments to the residents of Chicago. This appropriation is critical to support our efforts to provide housing and services in the immediate future, and I will contin...

Bloomberg : Filing: Amazon's Ring agrees to pay $5.8M to settle FTC allegations that until 2017 Ring gave employees and third-party contractors access to customers' videos   —  Amazon.com Inc. agreed to pay $30.8 million to resolve two cases brought by the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday related to privacy lapses by its smart devices.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the United States is working with its European allies to develop a conduct code for artificial intelligence.  Blinken is in Sweden for a meeting of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council, which is jointly led by American and European officials. "We need accountable artificial intelligence. Generative AI is a complete game changer," European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager said at a press conference after the meeting, saying a draft of a voluntary code of conduct for artificial intelligence would be ready within a matter of weeks.  The council has "an important role to play in helping establish voluntary codes of conduct that would be open to all like-minded countries," Blinken said, according to The Associated Press. HERE IS HOW EUROPE IS PUSHING TO REGULATE ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE AS CHATGPT RAPIDLY EMERGES  Blinken relayed at the press conference his "intensive and productive" disc...

Ernesto Van der Sar / TorrentFreak : Torrent site RARBG, founded in 2008, shuts down and stops its content releases, citing COVID-related health problems, the Russia-Ukraine war, and inflation   —  RARBG, one of the world's largest torrent sites, has said “farewell” to millions of users.  The site, which was a prominent …

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., dismissed House Republicans’ victory lap on the new debt limit bill on Tuesday, telling reporters that there was "no meaningful debt reduction" in the deal struck by President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. "First things first: you have all heard me say that Republicans never cared about reducing the deficit, and were just using the debt ceiling as a way to force through their priorities. This deal proves that point," Jayapal told reporters on a press call. "There is no meaningful debt reduction here. Some pieces will actually raise the deficit. The chief thing they claimed to care about, they are not getting in this bill." Her comments mirror those made by several conservative Republicans who said they won’t support the legislation because it doesn't cut enough. BIDEN BRUSHES OFF REPUBLICANS' DEFENSE SPENDING CONCERNS OVER DEBT CEILING DEAL, SUGGESTS DEAL COULD BE MAD...

Jon Swartz / Dow Jones Newswires : HPE reports Q2 revenue up 4% YoY to $7B, vs. $7.3B est., HPC & AI revenue up 18% YoY to $840M, and Intelligent Edge revenue up 50% YoY to $1.3B   —  HP CEO expects PC sales to rebound in the second half of the year and notes that AI will ‘redefine what PCs can do’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested Tuesday that "MAGA Republicans" are attempting to "crash" the United States economy via debt ceiling negotiations because it is in their political interest to do so.  " Right now we're focused on making sure that we avoid a catastrophic default, that we don't allow the extreme MAGA Republicans to crash the economy and trigger a job killing recession, which to this day, many of them clearly want to do because they believe that it is in their political interests in 2024," the New York Democrat told reporters on Tuesday as Republicans and Democrats continue to debate raising the debt limit on Capitol Hill. "That is incredibly irresponsible, is unpatriotic, and it's un-American and I'm thankful for President Biden's leadership and making sure that he protects the U.S. economy." Jeffries was responding to a question about whether Democrats would step in and help vote McCarthy out...

Brandy Betz / CoinDesk : Miami-based Transak, which sells payment and onboarding infrastructure for Web3 games and financial apps, raised a $20M Series A led by CE Innovation Capital   —  The startup offers on- and off-ramps that could make it easier for new users to interact with Web3 projects.

House Freedom Caucus members on Tuesday said they would oppose the debt ceiling agreement reached by President Biden House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and called on McCarthy to scrap the weekend deal to work on something that would more aggressively cut back on government spending. Ten members of the caucus told reporters that the deal allows for unlimited borrowing, includes cuts that mostly reflect emergency COVID spending that should be ending anyway, and fails to include measures for border security. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Penn., described the deal as "absolutely and completely unacceptable." HOUSE REPUBLICAN DISMISSES 'COLORFUL CONSERVATIVES' UPSET OVER DEBT CEILING DEAL: 'GOING TO PASS' "We will do everything in our power to disrupt it," Perry said. "I am focused on defeating this bill." It wasn't clear as of Thursday that enough Republicans would oppose the agreement to have it fail in the House on Wednesda...

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac : Analyst Ross Young says Apple's headset will have two 1.41" Micro OLED displays at 5000+ nits of brightness, a 4000:1 contrast ratio, and “should be 4K per eye”   —  The tech community is collectively on the edge of our seats as we zoom toward the expected unveiling of Apple's mixed reality headset.

President Joe Biden on Monday responded to Republican criticism of the defense spending included in the deal he reached with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the weekend to avert a potentially catastrophic default in the nation's debt. Speaking with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House as he departed for Delaware, Biden brushed off the concerns and suggested that if any further defense spending was needed, he had "no doubt" it would have bipartisan approval. "Look, whatever the fighting force needs, if there’s another – first of all, they’ve passed my budget. What I asked for in defense, they passed it. Obviously if there’s any existential need for additional funding, I have no doubt we’d be able to get it because we’d jointly do it," Biden said when questioned about Republicans' complaints. LINDSEY GRAHAM COWS TO ‘UNDO’ ‘ABSURD’ BIPARTISAN DEBT DEAL, CALLS IT ‘DISASTER FOR DEFENSE’ Biden's comments come as Republican rhetoric continues ...

The Texas House of Representatives on Monday delivered articles of impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton to the state Senate.  The delivery came after the GOP-led House named the board of managers – comprising five Democrats and seven Republicans – who will oversee the impeachment proceedings. Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, is leading the board, The Dallas Morning News reported . The House approved 20 articles of impeachment on sweeping allegations of wrongdoing against Paxton that have trailed the state's top lawyer for years, including abuse of office and bribery. The vote immediately suspended Paxton from office. The House needed just a simple majority of its 149 members to impeach Paxton , and the final 121-23 vote was a landslide. But the threshold for conviction in the Senate trial is higher, requiring a two-thirds majority of its 31 members. TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT SENDS FIRST BUS OF MIGRANTS TO COLORADO If that happens, Paxton would be permanently barred from...