The American autonomous driving technology company Waymo has suspended service in downtown Los Angeles after several of its robotaxis were set on fire by anti-ICE activists over the weekend.
At least five Waymo vehicles were set ablaze on Sunday, prompting the company to remove its vehicles from the downtown Los Angeles area and suspend service, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/06/09/los-angeles-protests-live-updates--27-people-arrested-as-lapd-declares-unlawful-assembly-in-some-areas/">Forbes</a> reported.
“To our media partners, demonstrators and others who may enter the area of Los Angeles St, North of Arcadia and South of Alameda: Burning lithium-ion batteries release toxic gases, including hydrogen fluoride, posing risks to responders and those nearby. Please avoid the area,” the LAPD warned on X on Sunday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
⚠️ Traffic Advisory⚠️ To our media partners, demonstrators and others who may enter the area of Los Angeles St, North of Arcadia and South of Alameda:
Burning lithium-ion batteries release toxic gases, including hydrogen fluoride, posing risks to responders and those nearby.…
— LAPD Central Division (@LAPDCentral) <a href="https://twitter.com/LAPDCentral/status/1931885681326096414?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After anti-ICE activists blocked the 101 Freeway on Sunday afternoon, some approached “five Waymo taxis lined up on Los Angeles Street between Arcadia and Alameda streets around 5 p.m.,” the Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/waymo-vehicles-set-on-fire-protesters-police-clash">reported</a>. “Tires were slashed, windows smashed, and anti-ICE messages spray-painted over the self-driving taxis &#8230; Protesters swarmed around the vehicles, tearing the doors off and stomping on the windshields. One man with a mask over his face smashed car windows with a skateboard. Another appeared to use a makeshift flamethrower to set the interior of a car ablaze.”
“According to <a style="font-style: inherit;" href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/robotaxis-cant-be-a-solo-act-9a787252?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAjuoaQrWW8nwZGwCoTU9l6rOqZdMNUqTEYkUCF_BHsnaK3jpRovTyPsT6EkpLI%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68463fc6&amp;gaa_sig=U8VRq9FIl_UyCzWx6Oru3QSJgOVrorrtFHQFQMYQ4AjzdK-h5HtxGswjcR14lzanswGlbTlsmWCRzUGOJVuoTg%3D%3D">a 2024 report by the Wall Street Journal</a>, analysts estimated Waymo’s driverless cars cost between $150,000 and $200,000 apiece,” KTLA <a href="https://ktla.com/news/local-news/waymos-lit-on-fire-ktla-van-defaced-as-los-angeles-protests-spin-out-of-control/">noted</a>. “With the five burning robotaxis, the cost of damages would amount to roughly between $750,000 to $1 million, based on WSJ’s estimate.”
Waymo was originally the Google Self-Driving Project, a research and development effort within Google X.  In 2016, the project was rebranded as Waymo and moved under Alphabet, Google&#8217;s parent company. 
Waymo states on its <a href="https://waymo.com/waymo-one-los-angeles/">website</a> for its Los Angeles operation: “From Santa Monica Pier to Downtown, Waymo One is your new favorite way to get around. With millions of miles of driving experience, we’re excited to offer a safe way to get around the City of Angels. Download the Waymo One app and take a fully autonomous ride today.”

Anti-ICE-Protests-in-Los-Angeles

Waymo Suspends Service In Downtown L.A. After Rioters Burn 5 Of Its Self-Driving Vehicles

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In May, U.S. energy officials <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-chinese-inverters-2025-05-14/">released</a> bombshell findings about China’s ability to turn out the lights across America. Rogue communications devices were found inside Chinese solar power inverters. In addition, undisclosed cellular radios were found inside Chinese batteries. These Chinese Communist Party sabotage efforts are reminiscent of CCP-tied Huawei’s infiltration of our communications network, which gave Beijing the ability to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/23/politics/fbi-investigation-huawei-china-defense-department-communications-nuclear/index.html">disrupt our nuclear arsenal communications</a>.
Beijing seeks the ability to remotely access and destroy the systems upon which Americans depend for everyday life and upon which our military depends to project power across the globe. The U.S. rightly began to remove Huawei technologies from our market <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-050547906.html?guccounter=1">in 2019</a> because of security risks. Since then, ironically, we’ve allowed China to flood our market with network-connected technologies such as routers, drones, cranes, healthcare devices, cameras, green tech, and more, which collectively constitute a deeper penetration of our vital systems. This trend must be reversed through new laws and better law enforcement to block and remove all Chinese network-connected technologies. 
American tax dollars should not fund technologies that facilitate Chinese espionage and sabotage efforts. At the federal level, Congress should ban federal procurement of Chinese network-connected technologies. Congress should also codify President Trump’s Information and Communications Technology <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/05/17/2019-10538/securing-the-information-and-communications-technology-and-services-supply-chain">executive order</a> from 2019 and fund ICT programs to block CCP tech. During March 2025 testimony, former Biden Administration official Dr. Rush Doshi <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/oS_aZXE6W0k">argued</a> that codifying Trump’s order “would let us prohibit certain [Chinese] goods,” especially power converters and network-connected technologies, “from being in the U.S. market.”
States must excise CCP network-connected technologies from their critical infrastructure and government systems. For example, Texas’ 2021 <a href="https://www.jw.com/news/insights-texas-lone-star-infrastructure-protection-act/">Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act (LIPA)</a> forbids Texas businesses and government from contracting with China, Russia, North Korea and Iran on critical infrastructure, especially if foreign parties would gain remote access or control of the infrastructure. A 2023 Nebraska law <a href="https://flood.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-flood-applauds-bipartisan-work-ban-state-funds-huawei-equipment">prohibits</a> the state from providing public funds to telecommunications providers that have not yet removed Huawei 5G hardware from their cell towers. Utah passed a 2024 law to end procurement of Chinese technologies such as computers and routers. All states should adopt these measures.
Furthermore, the U.S. must enforce the rule-of-law. The Chinese Communist Party has made tremendous gains at the expense of the U.S. in part because the U.S. and its allies have failed to enforce their own laws upon malicious CCP agents and entities. At a fundamental level, the two legal systems are incompatible because <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-national-security-advisor-robert-c-obrien-011521-2/">China’s laws require businesses to engage in espionage for the party-state</a>, while America’s laws require data privacy. America must pivot and crush CCP lawlessness. Consumer fraud and data privacy laws must be tightened, and robust enforcement actions must be taken by both federal agencies and state attorneys general. 
In March 2025, the FCC’s Council on National Security <a href="https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/fcc-investigating-china-companies-national-security/743316/">opened an investigation</a> into several telecommunications companies, including Huawei, for engaging in unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices such as selling banned equipment in the United States. The FCC can go further by revoking telecom licenses from corrupt entities. Meanwhile, other federal agencies must get in the fight.
State AGs must enforce the law against Chinese manufacturers that embed hidden backdoors in products, and American companies that “white-label” such products must also be held accountable. For example, according to the federal <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/contec-cms8000-contains-backdoor">Cybersecurity &amp; Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)</a> the Chinese company Contec sells healthcare monitors with embedded backdoors that provide Beijing with access to patient data along with the ability to manipulate readings of a patient’s vitals. AGs should investigate Contec for potential violations of consumer and medical data protections. As a recent FDA Safety Communication states, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/cybersecurity-vulnerabilities-certain-patient-monitors-contec-and-epsimed-fda-safety-communication">Florida-based Epsimed</a>, which sells Contec products in the U.S., should also be investigated.
These security concerns are amplified by ethical concerns. Chinese green energy technologies are not only riddled with backdoors, they often <a href="http://www.cecc.gov/events/hearings/from-cobalt-to-cars-how-china-exploits-child-and-forced-labor-in-the-congo">rely on slave labor</a>. Too many environmental activists have been hoodwinked into promoting cheap CCP hardware to “save the planet,” all while supporting slave labor and compromising our energy grid.
The United States <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-050547906.html?guccounter=1">2019 actions against Huawei</a> were a strong step, but since then we’ve lost ground. Rapid and concerted action is needed to protect our way of life against Chinese Communist Party sabotage, and to build an economic system based upon rule-of-law rather than communist infiltration and subversion.
* * *
Michael Lucci is the Founder and CEO of State Armor, a 501(c)(3) non-profit advocating for state solutions to the global threats posed by the CCP. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-CHINA-TECHNOLOGY-AI

CCP In The Machine: How China’s Tech Continues To Infiltrate American Hardware

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Waymo, the software company that was first known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, recalled more than 1,200 of its robotaxis this week after a software glitch caused multiple crashes into chains, gates, or other roadway barriers.
The recall comes after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Waymo robotaxis after reports of the automated cars violating traffic laws, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/14/waymo-recalls-1200-self-driving-vehicles-after-minor-collisions.html#:~:text=Alphabet's%20Waymo%20is%20recalling%20more,opened%20a%20probe%20last%20year." target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Waymo said it was aware of 16 collisions with barriers between 2022 and 2024, none of which were serious. The company currently has more than 1,500 robotaxis operating in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Waymo turned into oncoming traffic on the way to work.
It sat there confused for 45 seconds with its hazards on.
Then it proceeded to back up into oncoming traffic.
And they’re about to let these guys on the freeway 😂 <a href="https://t.co/ZLRKx2loo1">pic.twitter.com/ZLRKx2loo1</a>
&mdash; Jake Glaser | LA Multifamily (@LAMultiBroker) <a href="https://twitter.com/LAMultiBroker/status/1885370114054512921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Road safety regulators said that some of the crashes “involved collisions with clearly visible objects that a competent driver would be expected to avoid.”
Waymo said it has fixed the issue with a regular update to its fifth-generation self-driving software in November of 2024.
“Waymo provides more than 250,000 paid trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments in the U.S.,” the company said, according to CNBC. “Our record of reducing injuries over tens of millions of fully autonomous miles driven shows our technology is making roads safer.”
It&#8217;s at least the third time in the past year that Waymo has recalled robotaxis over potential software issues. In February, the company recalled 444 automated vehicles after two robotaxis crashed into the same truck that was being towed, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/05/14/business/waymo-recalls-1200-robotaxis-over-glitch-linked-to-crashes/?utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Post</a>. Last June, 700 robotaxis were recalled after one crashed into a telephone pole in Phoenix. No one was injured in that crash.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also looking into Tesla&#8217;s planned launch of its own robotaxi service, which it hopes to start up in June. The federal government has <a href="https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2024/INIM-PE24031-62887.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> Tesla to provide more information on its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system to “understand how Tesla plans to evaluate its vehicles and driving automation technologies for use on public roads.” The feds also want to know how many robotaxis Tesla plans on sending out and if the vehicles will be monitored by Tesla in real time.
In a social media post in April, Tesla announced, &#8220;FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin &amp; San Francisco Bay Area. We&#8217;ve completed over 1.5k trips &amp; 15k miles of driving. This service helps us develop &amp; validate FSD networks, the mobile app, vehicle allocation, mission control &amp; remote assistance operations.&#8221;
This article has been updated to clarify that Waymo said it fixed the issue with a regular update to its fifth-generation software.

Over 1,200 Self-Driving Robotaxis Recalled Due To Software Glitch That Led To Crashes

Cars

Google

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President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States needs a missile defense system akin to Israel’s Iron Dome.
“We need the Golden Dome by the way in this world, though this world is a lot safer today than it was a week ago and a lot safer than it was six months ago,” Trump said from the Oval Office.
Trump spoke beside graphics of the proposed Golden Dome, including a quote from the president stating, “This is a Very Dangerous World. We’re going to protect our citizens like never before.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump says that the U.S. needs the Golden Dome <a href="https://t.co/LEisXM6GnI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/LEisXM6GnI</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1922008082403496121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump joked that the reduction of costs in Medicaid, Medicare, and pharmaceuticals could pay for the Golden Dome.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-trump-and-rubio-put-america-first-in-100-days?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=How+Trump+And+Rubio+Put+America+First+In+100+Days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HOW TRUMP AND RUBIO PUT AMERICA FIRST IN 100 DAYS</a>
“That’ll easily pay for the Golden Dome, and we will have a lot of money left over,” Trump said.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-signs-executive-order-initiating-the-construction-of-americas-iron-dome" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump signed</a> an executive order in January initiating the construction of the missile defense system that would “provide for the common defense of its citizens and the Nation by deploying and maintaining a next-generation missile defense shield.”
“Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities,” Trump said.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-world-stop-buying-iranian-oil-or-else?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+To+World%3A+Stop+Buying+Iranian+Oil+%E2%80%94+Or+Else" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TRUMP TO WORLD: STOP BUYING IRANIAN OIL — OR ELSE</a>
The order added that President Ronald Reagan endeavored to build such a system to defend against nuclear attacks, but that his program was cancelled before it reached its goal.
While the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-were-gonna-have-an-iron-dome-like-israel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iron Dome</a> is highly effective in protecting Israel — a country roughly the size of New Jersey — a  “Golden Dome” would face far greater logistical challenges due to the vast size of the United States.
<div id="attachment_221009" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-221009" class="size-large wp-image-221009" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2021/05/GettyImages-1232819480-865x576.jpg" alt="Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, above the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, on May 11, 2021. - Israel and Hamas exchanged heavy fire, in a dramatic escalation between the bitter foes sparked by unrest at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound." width="865" height="576" />President Trump said that the U.S. should have a &#8220;Golden Dome,&#8221; which is inspired by Israel&#8217;s &#8220;Iron Dome&#8221; missile defense system. (JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
A Space Force general said that such a project is of the magnitude of the Manhattan Project, the secretive World War II program that led to the first atomic bomb and the development of nuclear weapons.
&#8220;This is on the order of magnitude of the Manhattan Project, and it’s going to take concerted effort from the very top of our government. It&#8217;s going to take a national will to bring all this together,&#8221; Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, said, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-golden-dome-need-manhattan-project-scale-whole-of-government-effort-space-force-general-warns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News reported</a>.
Israel expects to roll out its &#8220;Iron Beam&#8221; laser air defense system by the end of 2025, which will drastically reduce the costs of intercepting missiles, reported <a href="https://www.jns.org/israels-iron-beam-laser-defense-system-to-launch-by-years-end/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jewish News Syndicate</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/you-will-pay-the-consequence-pete-hegseth-warns-iran-over-lethal-support-to-houthis?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=9&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98You+Will+Pay+The+Consequence%E2%80%99%3A+Pete+Hegseth+Warns+Iran+Over+Lethal+Support+To+Houthis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘YOU WILL PAY THE CONSEQUENCE’: PETE HEGSETH WARNS IRAN OVER LETHAL SUPPORT TO HOUTHS</a>
In March, aerospace and defense company <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-esg-scores-became-the-new-weapon-in-the-war-on-israel?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=How+ESG+Scores+Became+The+New+Weapon+In+The+War+On+Israel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lockheed Martin</a> posted a promotional video of a future Golden Dome system.
“Imagine a defense system that shields America from aerial threats, hypersonic missiles and drone swarms with unmatched speed and accuracy,” the company posted. Thanks to President Trump’s vision, Golden Dome will make this a reality, securing our future.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Imagine a defense system that shields America from aerial threats, hypersonic missiles and drone swarms with unmatched speed and accuracy. Thanks to President <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@realDonaldTrump</a>&#8216;s vision, Golden Dome will make this a reality, securing our future. <a href="https://t.co/vyXHzpbTw2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/vyXHzpbTw2</a>
— Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) <a href="https://twitter.com/LockheedMartin/status/1902356028416537005?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">March 19, 2025</a></blockquote>

President Trump Signs Executive Orders In The Oval Office

Trump Says U.S. Needs ‘Golden Dome’ Missile Defense System: ‘This Is A Very Dangerous World’

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Israel

Military

On Thursday, a group of mostly Senate Democrats derailed a cryptocurrency regulation bill backed by the Trump administration, at least for the time being.
The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GENIUS Act</a> failed to advance in a 48-49 vote, with Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) joining Democrats in opposing the legislation. It needed 60 votes to bypass the procedural hurdle.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) reportedly <a href="https://x.com/burgessev/status/1920546090811560314" target="_blank" rel="noopener">switched</a> his vote to &#8220;nay&#8221; in a move that allows future reconsideration.
The legislation seeks to create a framework for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-gop-leaders-pledge-major-crypto-bills-in-first-100-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stablecoins</a>, which are significant in digital asset exchanges and pegged to stable assets such as the U.S. dollar.
Democrats, some of whom had previously supported the legislative push, relayed concerns about protections for consumers and President Donald Trump’s crypto ties. They also claimed Republicans rushed the vote without finalized text.
&#8220;Senate Republicans are trying to jam Democrats with a stablecoin bill that helps Trump rake in hundreds of millions of dollars — just as he tanks the economy and raises costs for everyone else,&#8221; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) <a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1920529423259881571" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;Rolling over without fixing this bill would be a huge mistake.&#8221;
Before the vote, Thune delivered remarks in which he said senators were voting on a sixth version of the bill that had been drafted with the input from both Republicans and Democrats.
&#8220;And if senators would like the opportunity to make further modifications to the bill, I encourage them to vote for cloture,&#8221; Thune <a href="https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=7279B92C-4461-46C2-8E17-35EBFC1B1589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;Once we’re on the bill, we can discuss changes here on the floor. We’ve had an open process on this bill so far, so why stop now?&#8221;
Reporters noted on X that Paul had <a href="https://x.com/igorbobic/status/1920523794801668185" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he did not get enough information to &#8220;convince&#8221; him that the bill was a good idea while Hawley <a href="https://x.com/StefWKight/status/1920528428400275522" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emphasized</a> that he wanted to see the latest text of the legislation.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/1920551341531017606" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expressed</a> disappointment with the outcome of the procedural vote.
&#8220;For stablecoins and other digital assets to thrive globally, the world needs American leadership. The Senate missed an opportunity to provide that leadership today by failing to advance the GENIUS Act,&#8221; Bessent <a href="https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/1920551341531017606" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, adding later: &#8220;Senators who voted to stonewall U.S. ingenuity today face a simple choice: Either step up and lead or watch digital asset innovation move offshore.&#8221;

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Crypto Bill Falters In Senate — For Now

Congress

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Artificial intelligence industry leaders who have openly stated a willingness to work on the emerging technology with China will testify to Congress on Thursday, likely facing a panel of U.S. senators urging them to instead pivot away from the global adversary.
At the Senate <a href="https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2025/5/winning-the-ai-race-strengthening-u-s-capabilities-in-computing-and-innovation_2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hearing</a> put together by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), &#8220;Winning the AI Race: Strengthening U.S. Capabilities in Computing and Innovation,&#8221; China is almost certainly going to be a central topic of discussion. When Cruz announced the hearing, he emphasized the competitive stakes in this global tech competition: &#8220;The way to beat China in the AI race is to outrace them in innovation, not saddle AI developers with European-style regulations.&#8221;
Cruz and his Senate colleagues will have the opportunity to grill industry leaders who are open to working with China, including: Brad Smith, vice chairman and president of Microsoft Corporation; Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI; and Lisa Su, CEO of semiconductor company AMD.
</div>
For decades, Microsoft has <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/about-microsofts-presence-in-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">maintained</a> a &#8220;presence&#8221; in China, where co-founder Bill Gates once <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2000/05/23/yes-more-trade-with-china/80438c20-4fdb-4895-99a6-61776068a636/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> there was an opportunity to tap into a &#8220;deep pool of intellectual talent.&#8221; Even after considering the risks of working on powerful technologies in China, the company kept it as a research hub.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/10/technology/microsoft-china-ai-lab.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> last year that, as tensions &#8220;mounted&#8221; between the United States and China &#8220;over which nations will lead the world&#8217;s technological future,&#8221; Smith and Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella &#8220;debated&#8221; what to do with an AI lab in Beijing that &#8220;became one of the most important &#8230; in the world.&#8221;
Citing people familiar with the situation, the news outlet noted &#8220;the hypothetical risks are that China could hack or otherwise infiltrate the lab, or that its researchers could leave Microsoft to join Chinese companies that work closely with the government.”
According to the report, there were discussions about shutting down the lab or relocating it. However, four sources told The New York Times that Microsoft’s leadership supported continuing operations in China. Labs in Beijing as well as Shanghai remain <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/lab/microsoft-research-asia/about-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed</a> on the official website for Microsoft Research Asia, as well as locations in Canada and Japan.
&#8220;We are as committed as ever to the lab and the world-class research of this team,” Peter Lee, president of Microsoft Research, said in a statement reported by the newspaper. &#8220;There has been no discussion or advocacy to close Microsoft Research Asia, and we look forward to continuing our research agenda.&#8221;
In another statement, Smith contended, &#8220;The lesson of history is that countries succeed when they learn from the world,&#8221; adding, &#8220;Guardrails and controls are critical, while engagement remains vital.&#8221;
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OpenAI’s Altman has expressed willingness to collaborate with China on AI development.
In an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEb-5gRdpBE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Sky News earlier this year, Altman said he would &#8220;like to work with China.&#8221; Asked if he believed the U.S. government would let him, Altman added, &#8220;Do I know that for sure? No. Should we try as hard as we can? Absolutely, yes. And I think that’s really important.&#8221;
Su, of AMD, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/07/amd-ceo-lisa-su-china-chips.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke</a> to CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Squawk on the Street&#8221; on Wednesday about U.S. restrictions on exports of advanced AI technology to China. She emphasized that &#8220;probably the most important thing is that the U.S. leads in AI today&#8221; while contending that China is an &#8220;important&#8221; market.
&#8220;There should be a balance between export controls for national security as well as ensuring that we get the widest possible adoption of our technology because that&#8217;s a good thing for U.S. jobs and the U.S. economy,&#8221; Su said.
Cruz has long been an enemy of China, which even <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/13/ted-cruz-china-sanctions/">sanctioned</a> him in 2020 over actions he took in the Senate against it. He said earlier this year that he has consistently urged President Donald Trump to keep the pressure on China.
&#8220;Everything we can do to de-link our economy from China&#8217;s economy is good for American national security and economic security,&#8221; Cruz said.
The Trump administration has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-energy-sec-to-visit-tn-nuclear-facility-take-part-in-ai-summit">called</a> the race for building super computing technology to power artificial intelligence this era&#8217;s Manhattan Project.
</div>
</div>

Sam Altman

AI Industry’s Ties To China Likely To Come Under Congressional Scrutiny

Artificial Intelligence

Ted Cruz

U.S.

Right now, there is a bill headed to President Trump’s desk that will protect Americans from deepfake and revenge pornography. This is an incredible win for Americans, and something I have been fighting for my entire career. 
Over decades in the cybersecurity field, I’ve helped solve a lot of crises for government agencies, major corporations and more. But there’s a certain kind of call that I still dread getting. It starts with a trembling voice on the other end of the line: “Can you help me?” As they tell their tale, my heart sinks. A lump forms in my throat. This is another life shattered by explicit images strewn across the digital public square, each notification on their phone another dagger into their sense of safety as the image spreads.
For years, my team and I have made a point to fight for these survivors. We make calls, write letters, beg social media giants to remove the content – real photos stolen from private moments or deepfakes conjured by AI’s dark alchemy. This crime is indiscriminate. It targets the socialites, the professionals, rising stars, the rich and the poor. One professional athlete, a courageous woman I helped, saw her stolen images resurface dozens of times over several years. She told me it made her want to stop leaving her house. Even Scarlett Johansson — a global icon with every possible resource at her fingertips — can’t banish her deepfakes for good. If she’s powerless, what chance do everyday victims have? They have to watch their trauma go viral, reliving it with every view. Some, in desperation, have taken their own lives.
There are different ways to refer to this phenomenon. Terms like “revenge porn” and “deepfake” are often used interchangeably. “Deepfake” describes a specific kind of AI-produced image that usually uses a reproduction of a real person’s face. I reject “revenge porn” because while it may sound edgy in headlines, it re-victimizes the victim. People take intimate images of themselves for all kinds of reasons, from self-confidence to sharing with someone they trust. That may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it doesn’t make it okay to share those peoples’ images without their consent in ways for which they weren’t intended. That’s why I refer to these pictures or videos as non-consensual intimate images, or NCII.
It wasn’t that long ago that pornography hid behind brown wrappers and clerks who checked IDs before you bought it. Now, anyone can steal an image, fabricate a lie, and blast it worldwide at lightning speed. The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative estimates over 15 million Americans – that’s 1 out of every 23 of us – have faced NCII sharing, a number that continues to balloon as AI fuels the carnage. Deepfakes — 98% pornographic, 99% targeting women — number in the hundreds of thousands, with just 16 sites known for hosting them racking up 200 million visits in a six-month period last year.
Social media companies can do better. It’s the right thing to do, and they have the technology to do it. If their algorithm can figure out my favorite shoe color and relentlessly sell them to me, they should be able to address this plague across their platforms. They are making some efforts. Meta removed 1.2 million NCII items in 2024’s first half, but gaps persist. And it’s not entirely the fault of the platforms themselves. 

A tangle of laws and regulations used to combat NCII sharing makes the process slower and more difficult. A 2024 study found that X (formerly Twitter) left 25 reported deepfakes up for weeks, while removing copyright violations in hours – a stark sign that today’s laws prioritize property over people. YouTube and TikTok axe millions of videos over copyright claims, yet billions of views on deepfake sites reveal a glaring chasm. Victims currently have to navigate a maze of rules, pleading to faceless systems with no human to hear their pain and no guarantees the images will come down.
That’s why their haunting words echo in my mind: “Can you help me?” Yes, I can. But my team can’t chase resurgent ghosts across the internet forever.
Thankfully, Washington has woken up to the crisis. The &#8216;Take It Down Act&#8221; makes publishing non-consensual intimate imagery — real or AI-crafted — a federal crime and requires platforms to remove it within 48 hours of a victim’s plea. The bill’s sponsors are Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar – both outspoken, prominent members of their parties who have run for president in recent years. They have very little in common politically – although they are both parents of daughters. But they worked together to secure an astounding unanimous vote to pass the bill in the Senate. And this week, thankfully, it received an overwhelming victory in the House and is now headed to President Trump’s desk.
Critics, many from the libertarian tech crowd, claim the &#8220;Take It Down Act&#8221; stifles free speech, but protecting victims from abuse isn’t censorship — it’s justice. It helps the rule of law catch up with the pace of technology. It’s not about politics, it’s about people. By one estimate, over 4 million American children have been scarred by AI porn fakes of themselves or peers. The NCII porn pirates don’t care who you vote for – they will strike your family, your friends, your coworkers. The sensible updates to our laws included in the &#8220;Take It Down Act&#8221; will help us protect ourselves and each other. This is a victory worth celebrating.
* * *
Theresa Payton is the CEO of Fortalice Solutions. She was the first female White House chief information officer, serving under President George W. Bush.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

Senators Cruz And Lummis Hold Press Conference To Discuss Deepfakes

‘Can You Help Me?’ Why The ‘Take It Down Act’ Is A Lifeline For Victims

'Can You Help Me?' Why The 'Take It Down Act' Is A Lifeline For Victims

Deepfake

Melania Trump

Pornography

President Trump

Scarlett Johansson

Social Media

White House

Women

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly offered the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) nearly $1 billion to keep a case out of court that could break up his social media empire.
Zuckerberg sat for a third day of testimony on Wednesday in an antitrust case brought against his company by the FTC, which is attempting to force Meta to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp over what the government has said are Meta’s anticompetitive business practices.
Zuckerberg called the head of the FTC, Chairman Andrew Ferguson, in March to try to settle the case out of court. Zuckerberg initially offered the agency $450 million, but later increased that offer to nearly $1 billion to avoid bringing the case to court. Ferguson rejected the offers, which were far below the $18 billion payment and consent decree that he offered Meta, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/mark-zuckerberg-meta-antitrust-ftc-negotiations-a53b3382" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
The Meta founder has also courted President Donald Trump in recent months to try to avoid the trial in which Zuckerberg has begun to testify. The social media mogul donated $1 million to Trump&#8217;s inauguration and settled a lawsuit for $25 million over a Facebook ban on Trump after January 6, 2021 – the lion’s share of that settlement went toward Trump’s presidential library.
Meta’s head found himself in court on Monday despite those efforts. Government attorneys say that Meta has used illegal anticompetitive practices to buy up its competition, namely Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion and WhatsApp in 2014 in a nearly $22 billion deal. The FTC says that Meta has bought out competitors and now illegally dominates the “personal social-networking” market.
Meta has said that the FTC’s definition of the market is arbitrary and too narrow, and it ignores other major competitors of the tech giant. According to the FTC, Meta’s major competitors are Snapchat and an app called MeWe. Meta has said that it also competes with YouTube, TikTok, and X, among other companies not included in the FTC’s definition.
During the trial, Meta has argued that the growth of TikTok has been a major barrier to Meta’s own development. Meta has also said that an outage at TikTok earlier this year resulted in a bump in Instagram traffic, suggesting that Americans use the two platforms for similar purposes.
In public statements, Meta has complained about the Trump administration’s pursuit of it while appearing to treat TikTok, a Chinese-owned platform, more loosely by extending a pause on a congressionally approved ban on the app.

Mark Zuckerberg

Zuck Offered FTC $1B To Avoid Trial Threatening His Social Media Empire: Report

Trump Administration

Nvidia <a href="https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-manufacture-american-made-ai-supercomputers-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Monday that it will look &#8220;to design and build factories that, for the first time, will produce NVIDIA AI supercomputers entirely in the U.S.&#8221; in what could be a massive win for President Donald Trump as he pushes tech companies to manufacture on American soil.
The U.S.-based multinational tech corporation designs graphics processing units (GPUs) — the chips that help power artificial intelligence (AI) programs, such as ChatGPT. Nvidia, which currently outsources production of its chips, said that it is partnering with other companies &#8220;to build and test NVIDIA Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas.&#8221;
&#8220;Within the next four years, NVIDIA plans to produce up to half a trillion dollars of AI infrastructure in the United States through partnerships with TSMC, Foxconn, Wistron, Amkor and SPIL,&#8221; Nvidia said in a statement. &#8220;These world-leading companies are deepening their partnership with NVIDIA, growing their businesses while expanding their global footprint and hardening supply chain resilience.&#8221;
The announcement was made as Trump doubled down on his trade war with China while seeking tariff deals with other countries around the globe. Some of Nvidia&#8217;s main partners, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung, are attempting to navigate the president&#8217;s hefty tariffs. Nvidia <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/samsung-chip-profit-disappoints-sign-002517404.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outsources</a> production of its chips to TSMC and Samsung, which manufacture the chips in Taiwan, South Korea, and the United States.
Nvidia stock <a href="https://www.cnn.com/markets/premarkets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jumped</a> nearly 3% in pre-market trading on Monday.
Trump has focused on moving tech production to the United States since the outset of his second term in office. Last month, C.C. Wei, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), joined Trump at the White House and announced a $100 billion investment in chip-manufacturing plants in America. Trump said the investment in the United States &#8220;was very important, obviously business-wise, but we thought even in terms of national security.&#8221;
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said on Monday, &#8220;The engines of the world’s AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time.&#8221; Nvidia said that its Blackwell chips have already started being produced at TSMC&#8217;s plant in Arizona, which began producing advanced chips in late 2024.
&#8220;Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency,&#8221; Huang added.

Nvidia

Tech Giant Commits $500 Billion To Make AI Supercomputers ‘Entirely In The U.S.’

Tariffs

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that the previously-announced tech exemptions to President Donald Trump&#8217;s sweeping &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariff plan were not permanent.
Lutnick spoke with &#8220;This Week&#8221; host Jon Karl on ABC News about the Friday reports <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-exempts-smartphones-other-electronics-from-additional-tariff-on-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcing</a> the exemption of approximately 20 electronic products — including smartphones, chips, and several components needed to make flat screens or tablets — from the additional reciprocal tariffs the Trump administration has levied against China. They are still subject to a 20% tariff, and Lutnick said on Sunday that they would not be exempt from additional tariffs for long.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
After Pres. Trump exempts tech like phones, computers and chips from new tariffs, Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick tells <a href="https://twitter.com/jonkarl?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JonKarl</a> they will be included in semiconductor tariffs to be released in coming months.
“This is not a permanent sort of exemption.” <a href="https://t.co/p9xXrT2Xvx">https://t.co/p9xXrT2Xvx</a> <a href="https://t.co/RoVH72kfM1">pic.twitter.com/RoVH72kfM1</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1911409906407682355?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Lutnick explained that several items the Trump administration has deemed necessary for national security reasons — things like medications, semiconductors, and automobiles — would be subject to &#8220;sector tariffs&#8221; rather than tariffs specific to one country or another.
&#8220;We need to make medicine in this country, we learned it during COVID, we need to make it in this country,&#8221; Lutnick said. &#8220;We need to make semiconductors in this country, because if we don&#8217;t own semiconductors here, remember, all — virtually all semiconductors are made now in Taiwan and they&#8217;re finished in China, it&#8217;s important that we reshore them.&#8221;
Lutnick went on to add that for those national-security related items, Trump planned to introduce a new policy that would cover them &#8220;outside the reciprocal tariffs, and they&#8217;re going to have their own separate way of being considered.&#8221;
Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller gave a very similar update during his appearance with host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News&#8217; &#8220;Sunday Morning Futures.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Deputy Chief of Staff <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StephenM</a>: &quot;When <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> issued his reciprocal tariffs, our government at the time specifically said that chips and semiconductors&#8230; were going to be dealt with through a separate Commerce authority known as a 232. That was ALWAYS the plan because those… <a href="https://t.co/79zDt9gydJ">pic.twitter.com/79zDt9gydJ</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1911428087989911764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;When the president issued his reciprocal tariffs, our government at the time specifically said that chips and semiconductors, which are critical components of our national security, were going to be dealt with through a separate Commerce authority known as a 232. That was ALWAYS the plan because those components are so essential to our national security, we need to have a separate process for dealing with how to reshore those essential industries,&#8221; Miller said.

TSMC Unveils $100 Billion In New US Investment, Joined By Trump

Commerce Secretary Lutnick: Tariff Tech ‘Exemptions’ Are Not Permanent

Commerce Secretary Lutnick: Tariff Tech 'Exemptions' Are Not Permanent

Communist China

Economy

The overall strategy of containing China, of hampering its economic growth, of preventing it from stealing our IP by basically cutting it off from world markets, has to be implemented with smart, cohesive tactics.
A trade war is just like any other war.
It&#8217;s not enough to know your objective. You also have to know exactly how to attain that objective in the most expeditious possible fashion.
And herein lies the issue with regard to China. How fast you go and the measures that you take in order to box China matter tremendously.
China absolutely deserves this. China is a geopolitical enemy of the United States.
The pretend pussyfooting that&#8217;s been going on with a wide variety of administrations over the course of my lifetime with regard to China is wrong, and President Trump is the only president who&#8217;s had the courage to actually just confront it. He&#8217;s the only president who&#8217;s had the courage to say China is not just a strategic competitor, as Joe Biden said. They&#8217;re not a rising market that we need to find a way to integrate with, which was the view of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Donald Trump clearly recognizes that China is a geopolitical enemy of the United States, that they have been ripping us off. They&#8217;ve been stealing our IP. They&#8217;re spreading their tentacles all over the world.
And they’re working with all the countries that hate our guts.
President Trump has the courage to say the truth.
Jordan Schachtel, an excellent foreign policy analyst, has a <a href="https://www.dossier.today/p/decoupling-from-china-is-worth-the">list</a> of the various IPs that have been stolen by the Chinese over the course of the last ten years or so. Those include:
<blockquote>F-35 Fighter Jet data used for China’s J-20 stealth fighter. Lockheed Martin F-22 data used for China’s J-31 fighter. Missile guidance to enhance Chinese missile systems. NASA space tech: hacked data on propulsion and materials research. Chip designs worth billions taken for China’s memory chip industry. Nuclear missile sensors. Infrared detection tech stolen for military applications. Boeing C-17 Data. Military transport plane specs hacked, linked to China’s Y-20. Apple’s Self-Driving Car Tech. Chip technology to advance Chinese semiconductors. Nuclear reactor designs. American radio systems. American semiconductor processes. Software code for Chinese tech firms.</blockquote>
It is estimated by certain measures that China steals no less than $600 billion per year in American technology and IP — $600 billion per year. That is a massive number.
So, yes, we should be seeking to contain China. Yes, we should be seeking to build an economic ring of fire around China.
In order to do that, a few things have to happen. First, you need better alliances around China. That means better trade deals, better relations with Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, the entire Indo-Pacific region. It means better relations with the EU, which is a major trading partner for the Chinese.
It means that you actually need to strengthen your alliances just like any other war. A trade war works like this. If you&#8217;re going to isolate China, you have to build better relations with everybody else on the planet so you can isolate China.
This is what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been pitching. He says that President Trump’s strategy here is to isolate China in this way, to flip everybody against China so it&#8217;s the U.S. and all of our friends against China.
The other thing that matters here is the strength of the U.S. dollar as the international reserve currency. That matters an awful lot. It matters because everybody is still trading in U.S. dollars, giving us leverage. If you cut yourself off from world markets, what you end up doing is reducing the leverage you have against other countries.
Economically speaking, one of the amazing things that has happened in terms of American power over the course of the last 30 years has been the integration of global financial systems. It is what has allowed the Trump administration to successfully sanction the nation of Iran.
The state of Iran has been sanctioned by the United States. Russia has been sanctioned by the United States through use of international financial mechanisms.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2178-member-exclusive?elementPosition=2&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Doing these things is only possible because of the integrated nature of technological commerce in the modern era.
It&#8217;s not just that the United States can say, “We&#8217;re not going to trade with Russia anymore. We&#8217;re not going to buy Iranian oil anymore.” It’s that the United States could threaten any bank or entity that did business with America with a cut-off if they did business with the Russians or Iranians, and that has a major effect.
So, in other words, removing yourself from the international system actually damages you if you&#8217;re the most powerful country in the system. The United States is the most powerful entity in that system. It is the sun around which all of the other economies orbit.
If we just disappear, if we just dissociate, that doesn&#8217;t increase our power, it radically reduces our power.
Thus we need to increase our economic power. And that means greater integration with other countries economically, more integration into international financial systems that we control.
This is how you build up the power to take on China, which is a rising power with the ability to truly throw a wrench into the global economy in amazing ways while stealing American IP.
You also need to build up the American military. That means greater expenditure and different types of military tech. Shem Sankara, the chief technology officer for Palantir, which is one of the new defense firms that does business with the American government, said we need to reorient away from any of these big-ticket items in the American military that have a legacy, and instead orient toward new technologies that allows for the United States to defend the Taiwan Straits or break a blockade around Taiwan.
That requires serious expenditure. It also requires serious oversight and requires a real military strategy, not just throwing things against the wall and not just assuming that America&#8217;s heretofore power is going to be its power dynamic going forward.
So you need better trade relations with everybody and better military tech.
And finally, you need the actual reshoring of national security-laden industries in the United States. That requires time. You can&#8217;t just do that overnight. There&#8217;s a bunch of stuff that we need that is made in China, including certain forms of semiconductors, including rare earth materials. All these things are necessary. 
To fight this trade war, we need to put our ducks in a row, and tactics matter. You have to figure out how China will respond and what tools they might use.
Tool #1: They could cut off rare earth mineral exports. They control 90% of global rare earth markets. They did that to Japan. It takes an average of 29 years to go from mineral discovery to production in the United States.
But in China, where they don&#8217;t give a crap about the environment, they just drill it and get it in months. They go and get all that stuff in months.
Tool #2: China could sell off a massive number of U.S. treasury bonds. China likely owns well over $1 trillion in U.S. bonds at this point. If China decided to sell off those bonds at bargain basement rates and just take the loss, it would destroy America&#8217;s capacity to borrow in the market, because bonds are a debt instrument. That would be a shock to the American system and crater the economy pretty much overnight.
Tool #3: China could simply try to blockade Taiwan and hold the U.S. hostage until the tariffs were removed. They might not just blockade Taiwan, they could theoretically invade Taiwan. Blockade of Taiwan is the safer option for the Chinese because they would dare the United States to fire on their ships.
If they blockaded Taiwan, the question is would the United States actually be able to or have the courage to break the blockade around Taiwan at the risk of a possible hot war with China?
If China blockades Taiwan, all the semiconductors that are sophisticated semiconductors, all the stuff in your phone, your computer and our military tech, would be held hostage.
One of the realities of the beginning of World War II in the Pacific sphere is that it was the Western cut-off of oil and rubber, largely to the Japanese, that created the impetus for the Japanese to invade Pearl Harbor. What the U.S. did had to be done, Japan was expanding its grip in Manchuria and the South Pacific.
The tragedy of Pearl Harbor is not just that we were surprised. The tragedy is that we weren&#8217;t ready to fight back immediately, because FDR had not done the necessary work in order to ensure that we were ready to go to war at that time. It took a couple of years for the United States industrial complex to fire up such that it could actually take on a war.
So all of this means everything has to move in lockstep. It means that when you take a trade policy that is likely to push in a more confrontational direction, you have to be ready with the iron fist inside the velvet glove.
Economics is the velvet glove, military force is the iron fist.
We need to have a very concerted strategy for how we go about that trade war with China, because international relations is a delicate business.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP-RETURN

Showdown: Trump Stares Down China

Ben Shapiro

Trade War

Xi Jinping

Scientists claim they have brought the dire wolf species back from extinction after 13,000 years, thanks to genetic engineering.
On Monday, the Texas-based biotechnology and genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences announced that three dire wolf pups were born last fall. The species became popular in modern culture thanks to their inclusion in the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones,” which inspired the company to name the young wolves Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi, which references characters in the series.
“Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies,” Colossal CEO Ben Lamm said, per the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/07/us-news/dire-wolf-from-game-of-thrones-revived-in-de-extinction-project/">New York Post</a>. “It was once said, ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation.”
The team used &#8221; somatic cell nuclear transfer&#8221; to clone high-quality cell lines, which were transferred into donor egg cells and then implanted into a surrogate, the Post reported. 
Two pups were born in October 2024, while a third was born in January 2025.
Colossal made headlines last month for engineering a “woolly mouse,” which they made by injecting mammoth DNA into mice to make them grow thick coats. Per <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14580605/colossal-biosciences-extinction-revive-dire-wolf-remus.html">The Daily Mail</a>, the company has a stated goal of bringing the woolly mammoth back from extinction by 2028. 
Paleontologist Julie Meachen told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/science/colossal-dire-wolf-deextinction.html">The New York Times</a> that dire wolves lived in North America during the Ice Age and were contemporaries of mastodons and saber tooth tigers. Their closest living relatives are gray wolves, which are about 25% smaller. Dire wolves also have more muscular jaws and shoulders. 
The company’s announcement has inspired many reactions online, ranging from excitement to skepticism. The official “Jurassic World” account posted its response to X, saying, “We see no possible way this could go wrong.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We see no possible way this could go wrong <a href="https://t.co/EQaOH4fJYk">https://t.co/EQaOH4fJYk</a>
&mdash; Jurassic World (@JurassicWorld) <a href="https://twitter.com/JurassicWorld/status/1909386233744330991?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Many commenters said it was a stretch to call these genetically modified wolf cubs actual dire wolves.
“While these genetically engineered wolves exhibit physical and behavioral traits reminiscent of dire wolves, they are not true dire wolves,” one person <a href="https://x.com/CryptoNDN/status/1909287183309037846">wrote</a>. “The genetic modifications introduced specific dire wolf characteristics into the gray wolf genome, resulting in animals that are essentially gray wolves with selected phenotypic traits of dire wolves, rather than exact replicas of the extinct species.”
&#8220;This isn’t life finding a way, this is human interference,&#8221; another person <a href="https://x.com/thehamburglar33/status/1909575090544820231">observed</a>. &#8220;Someone forgot the lesson of just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should. Or in other terms did they step back and ask the question &#8216;why are we doing this?'&#8221;

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