American Thought Leaders - The Epoch Times

“OpenAI has not shared all the information about that story.” It became global news when OpenAI agents went rogue and attacked Hugging Face. What’s less known is what happened next. Former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo tells me that another swarm emerged, picked up where the first left off, and this time attacked OpenAI itself. “Another swarm coalesced and found the messages from this previous swarm, picked up where they had left off, and got much farther.” “They didn’t attack Hugging Face, but they attacked OpenAI infrastructure.” “They apparently got admin-level privileges on part of OpenAI’s cluster.” “I wish we had an investigation into what happened with that third swarm and how far they got in compromising OpenAI’s infrastructure.” “Were they able to succeed in covering up their own tracks, for example? Probably not.” “But I wish we had a lot more information about how far they got.” AI agents attacking another AI company was alarming enough. https://ept.ms/4rssHHn

What is a superintelligent AI? We asked Daniel Kokotajlo, former OpenAI researcher and executive director of AI Futures Project. “Superintelligence is an AI system that is better than the best humans at everything,” he says. And the reality is that AI companies could very easily lose control of such superintelligences, Kokotajlo says. Second, “even if they somehow manage to stay in control of their superintelligences, that's the most insane concentration of power in a tiny group of people that's ever existed in history.” “In effect, whoever controls this army of superintelligences would be able to control the country.” 🔴 PREMIERE 9PM ET on @EpochTV: https://ept.ms/4rssHHn

The CCP is exceptionally skilled at turning diplomacy into propaganda. The U.S. is holding a major summit with Xi Jinping. I recognize that President Trump’s positive public approach toward Xi may be part of his negotiating strategy, something we’ve seen in his dealings with leaders like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. But we should be cautious about how the CCP will use that friendliness back in China. Beijing can take the image of a warm relationship with the United States and use it to bolster Xi, project strength, and manipulate how the Chinese population views the regime. That propaganda opportunity should not be underestimated. https://rumble.com/v7fxjbi-the-ccp-is-exceptionally-skilled-at-turning-diplomacy-into-propaganda.html

Human rights violations are not a bug in the CCP system. They are a core part of how the system works. For decades, the CCP has designated different groups as class enemies, from landowners and intellectuals to Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs. The purpose goes beyond persecuting the targeted group. It sends a message to everyone else about what happens when you end up on the wrong side of the regime. The result is a population conditioned to understand that the CCP is supreme and that survival can depend on demonstrating loyalty to the state. This repression is not incidental to the system. It is integral to maintaining it. @Bannons_WarRoom

“China has a surveillance network that George Orwell couldn’t have dreamed of.” Grant Newsham says we have to stop being naive about the CCP. China is one of the most tightly controlled societies on Earth. And he says the CCP knows exactly what is happening with the fentanyl killing Americans. “The suggestion that somehow you have these drug makers and sort of drug pushers actually operating without the Chinese Communist Party knowing… that is fantastic in the sense that you just can’t believe it.” “They know what they’re doing.” “Chinese organized crime does not operate without the support and the protection of the Chinese state, and that’s just the reality of it.” “The Chinese have a direct involvement in the fentanyl that comes into the United States.” https://ept.ms/4xFGhIM

“If 800,000 dead Americans from fentanyl since 2013 isn’t enough to have an American president stand up to the Chinese and say the fentanyl comes from China.” “Then nothing is.” Grant Newsham hopes President Trump embraces a Reagan like approach during his upcoming summit with Xi Jinping. Stand firm and make clear that fentanyl from China is killing Americans. “Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself.” “You remember the speech that Reagan gave where he said, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’” “It was the right thing to say.” “It was a powerful statement because an American president really had the nerve to stand up instead of always thinking, ‘Well, how can we calm things down? How can we de-escalate? How can we just get along?’” “Sometimes you have to stand up.” https://rumble.com/v7fuq1g-heres-what-to-know-ahead-of-trump-xi-summit.html

Here's what Xi Jinping and the Chinese delegation are really thinking ahead of the Trump-Xi summit, argues retired U.S. Marine Colonel Grant Newsham. “When the Chinese come here, they are very much testing will.” “They’re sizing [the Trump administration] up to see how willing they are to fight and to resist…to defend ourselves, to defend our principles, to defend our friends,” Newsham says. The CCP “would very much like to see some sign of a lack of resolve and a willingness to sort of ignore topics that Chinese don't want to talk about and a willingness to concede on different things: tariffs, export controls, technology restrictions.” 🔴 PREMIERE 9PM ET on @EpochTV: https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/heres-what-to-know-ahead-of-trump-xi-summit-grant-newsham-6092811?utm_source=telegram&utm_medium=SocialM&utm_content=AmericanThoughtLeaders&utm_term=GrantNewsham

Palau is caught in the middle of an intensifying geopolitical struggle between the United States and the CCP. But journalist Kambes Kesolei says the pressure facing the small island nation goes far beyond diplomacy. Chinese operators have entered Palau, leased entire buildings, brought in Chinese nationals and established online gambling operations. “They’ve busted some operations here on the island.” Kesolei says these operations raise concerns that Chinese elements are attempting to “gain influence” and weaken Palau’s ability to resist criminal infiltration. Watch the full interview here:https://ept.ms/46Dktm3

The CCP’s growing influence across the Pacific may take forms far less visible than warships and military bases. Journalist Kambes Kesolei says recent methamphetamine cases in Palau involved Chinese nationals arriving on flights originating in Hong Kong. “Some methamphetamine in recent cases, the people who were caught bringing it in… their flights originated from Hong Kong.” “These are Chinese nationals as well.” “We don’t know whether it’s this irregular warfare… that they are conducting.” “When we talk about geopolitical rivalry, we think about the conventional warfare, military aircraft’s, naval vessels, but there are other forms of warfare that are being conducted on our island.” https://rumble.com/v7fqs9e-how-palau-resists-beijings-pressure-campaign-in-the-pacific-kambes-kesolei.html

We recently traveled to the Pacific island nation of Palau, home to one of the deadliest battlefields of World War II. And geography still matters: Today, it's a security flashpoint for the United States and its closest Pacific allies. Palau is a country of under 18,000 people. It formally recognizes Taiwan. It has a Compact of Free Association with the United States. And the Chinese Communist Party has treated that as something to punish.  China’s message has been “it’s inevitable,” says Kambes Kesolei, journalist and founder of Compass Point Institute. They try to say: “It’s a lost cause. Why don’t you just give in? That’s what they’re trying to do.” And why doesn’t Palau give in to China’s pressure?  “Palauan people are very loyal,” says Kesolei.  They don’t give in because they value democracy, human rights, freedom of religion, and the ability to engage directly with political leaders, he says.  🔴 PREMIERE 5PM ET on @EpochTV: https://ept.ms/46Dktm3

American farmers can sell you an entire live cow. But they can’t sell you a single steak from that same cow unless it was processed under federal inspection. Joel Salatin says decades of regulation have decimated the small, local slaughterhouses that once served farming communities across America. “Our county had a dozen small slaughterhouse operations.” “Many of them were located on farms, and it was just a farmer who enjoyed doing this or somebody in his family enjoyed doing this, and they would just do it kind of for the community.” “But this has all been shut down.” “You can’t sell meat.” “You can sell a live animal.” “But you can’t sell a cut of a T-bone steak, a rib eye, a pound of ground beef from an animal, from any beef, pork, lamb, or goat, unless it’s processed under federal inspection.” A farmer can raise an animal from birth and sell the entire animal to a neighbor. Full interview here:https://ept.ms/4iAD618

America has a farming crisis. Young people aren’t getting into farming, and as Joel Salatin puts it, “When young people can’t get in, old people can’t get out.” But he says aspiring farmers need to recognize there are still ways to break into the industry and build a successful farm from the ground up. “We just had a conference here at the farm last weekend actually, launching young farmers.” “The slogan was, ‘I was 20 years old, no land, no money, and I’m full-time farming at 40 without government help.’” “Eight of them told their stories, and it was fantastic.” “So you can still bootstrap, but you don’t have to own land.” “Right now, 47% of America’s farmland is leased.” “That means whoever’s managing that land doesn’t own it.” “That’s indicative of the aging farmer that can’t get out because young people can’t get in.” “What we’ve done here is I think provide entrance ramps that actually work, that young people can bootstrap their way in.” “Generally, it doesn’t involve buying land.” https://rumble.com/v7fmz2c-americas-beef-shortage-explained-joel-salatin.html

Here’s why we have a beef shortage, says Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farms and author of over a dozen books. He said: “The biggest enemy right now keeping beef prices high … is the subsidies to the corn and soybean farmers.” “Half the soybeans America produces are exported. We don’t even use them. Almost half the corn goes into ethanol.” “A huge percentage of American agriculture is not in the food business.” “The average soybean farmer lost $100 an acre last year…Instead of having to face the reality that the world doesn’t need soybeans.” His alternative: take 1,000 acres of Nebraska soybeans, convert them to grass, and begin grazing cows. “My hypothetical 1,000 acres,” Joel says, “costs $300,000 to convert from soybeans to grass… That’s exactly what it costs annually to grow soybeans.” 🔴 PREMIERE 9PM ET on @EpochTV: https://ept.ms/4iAD618

A woman on a remote Pacific island suffered a miscarriage and was bleeding uncontrollably. She desperately needed medical care. Pacific Mission Aviation pilots Mark Abbott and Brock Welge help make lifesaving missions like this possible. “We got a call.” “We launched in less than an hour, took a doctor and a nurse down there and were able to get her stabilized and on the aircraft.” “I think within five hours of the call she was back in Upstate Hospital.” “Within a couple weeks, she was discharged and was back to good health.” Then there was a U.S. Marine suffering from late stage appendicitis on Peleliu. “He was screaming for those two hours on that flight, and was in a lot of pain.” “They got him there in time, and he was treated successfully.” https://rumble.com/v7fkr88-how-these-pilots-became-a-lifeline-for-remote-pacific-islands-mark-abbott-a.html

There’s an incredible organization in the remote pacific that saves lives every day. We interviewed Mark Abbott and Brock Welge from Pacific Mission Aviation. PMA is a unique Christian non-profit that provides emergency medevac, food, educational resources, and transportation across some of the remotest islands in the Pacific. They told us: “We've been able to respond within an hour, get airborne to go out to pick up that patient, and then have them back in about a little over an hour.” “Compared to a ship, for example,” which can “take over 27, 28 hours.” One story that they told us: “A lady had a miscarriage and was bleeding, and they couldn't stop the bleeding. So obviously, is very critical patient.” “We got a call. We launched in less than an hour.” They “took the doctor and a nurse down there, and we were able to get her stabilized and on the aircraft and back.” 🔴 PREMIERE 9PM on @EpochTV: https://ept.ms/4yEPl1h

“Love is the great engine of freedom.” Rusty Reno says a free society depends on people having something they love deeply enough to defend. And restoring freedom in America starts with rebuilding those powerful loves and loyalties. “The more powerfully you love, the more motivated you are, your spine is stiffened, and you will not allow yourself to be deterred or deflected or the thing that you love be defiled or desecrated.” “So I think to restore a culture of freedom in America, we need to encourage these loves and loyalties.” “Essentially, it’s strong gods.” For decades, Western society has been stripping away the powerful beliefs and loyalties that once bound people together. Rusty Reno argues that instead of making us freer, the result has been a society increasingly starved of meaning, purpose, and moral conviction. I sat down with him to discuss how we got here, what has filled the vacuum, and the case for reversing course laid out in his book, “Return of the Strong Gods.”

“‘Palau is protected just like it’s part of the homeland.’” Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. says the United States made its commitment clear. Palau’s security is America’s security. “The United States treats Palau just like Guam or CNMI or California.” “That’s the sphere that we’re in.” “In order for us to be a good partner with the United States to ensure the security of the United States, but also of Palau, is radar sites.” “People say, ‘Well, we’ve become a bullseye.’” “We were always a bullseye.” “The United States wants to improve our ports, or they wanna improve our airports.” “Well, that is a good thing because if the United States is ready and capable to defend, we’re protected.” https://rumble.com/v7ff5o8-how-a-tiny-nation-is-defying-beijing-and-defending-its-sovereignty.html

Our team just flew back from Palau, a tiny island nation at the forefront of Chinese Communist Party gray zone warfare operations. Home to the bloodiest battle of the Pacific theater during WWII, it sits along the second island chain, the string of Pacific territory that would be critical in any CCP Taiwan invasion scenario. And Palau is one of only twelve countries that still diplomatically recognizes Taiwan. On top of that, Palau has something almost no other country has: a Compact of Free Association with the United States. In this episode, I sit down with the President of Palau, Surangel Whipps Jr. 🔴 PREMIERE 5PM ET on @EpochTV: https://ept.ms/4hmYu94

There’s a strange double standard in how we remember the 20th century’s two most murderous totalitarian ideologies. Rusty Reno points to a provocative example: “It’s funny, you know, you can be a frat boy at University of Virginia and dress up in a KGB uniform and go to a frat party and everybody will laugh.” “But if you wear an SS uniform, you’ll be expelled immediately.” https://rumble.com/v7fchu0-what-fills-the-vacuum-when-meaning-dies.html

Rusty Reno, editor-in-chief of First Things, argues that “we organize our lives around our loyalties.” But what happens when everything worth being loyal to—faith, family, and national identity, to name a few—has been stripped away? This is the culture we currently face. In response, Reno says: “All men desire to give themselves away in love.” “We don't want to live for ourselves. We want to live for something nobler than ourselves.” “We face a crisis of solidarity in our country.” “And the number one job of any good statesman at this point is to encourage the things that make us proud to be Americans, proud to share our country with our fellow citizens.” “People find reasons to fight no matter what,” Reno argues. The question is will they find and then fight for ennobling things or will they find dark ideologies to fill the void? 🔴 PREMIERE 9PM ET on @EpochTV: https://ept.ms/4r66fTZ