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New York Post
17 minutes ago
- Politics
- New York Post
New bill would ban wokeness at Smithsonian museums
A new bill would make it against the law for the Smithsonian Institution to peddle wokeness and 'divisive narratives,' its sponsor said Tuesday in a bid to solidify President Trump's executive order. The proposed 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History Act,' introduced by Indiana GOP Sen. Jim Banks, directs the Smithsonian to root out 'improper ideology' from its premier national network of major museums. 'It's time to stop letting activists rewrite our past,' Banks said in a statement to The Post. 'This bill puts President Trump's order into law to ensure our national museums celebrate our values, our heroes, and what makes America great.' The bill further prohibits future Smithsonian projects that 'degrade shared American values' and pushes for the reinstatement of National Park Service-backed memorials, statues and monuments that were taken down or altered because of ideological reasons. Banks, who founded the Anti-Woke Caucus during his time in the House, largely pulled from the text of Trump's eponymous executive order back in March to root out 'anti-American' ideology at Smithsonian museums. 3 Indiana GOP Sen. Jim Banks wants Smithsonian museums to promote what he considers American values. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images 3 The Trump administration has sought to combat liberal influence in the arts. Getty Images That executive order was meant to strike back at years of pressure from lefty forces to pursue racial justice at historical institutions and undercut celebrated American figures who took actions that would be considered egregious by modern standards. In 2020, for example, the National Museum of African American History and Culture infamously released a graphic claiming that 'objective, rational, linear thinking,' 'quantitative emphasis' and 'hard work before play' are white qualities. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall. Banks specifically singled out recent efforts by the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum to spotlight transgender female athletes. His bill stipulates that the museum can't 'recognize men as women in any respect.' Similar to Trump's March executive order, the bill requires the Smithsonian Board of Regents, which administers the network of museums, to root out 'improper ideology' in them. Vice President JD Vance, who is on the board, is tasked with helping to enforce that policy. 3 President Trump has been critical of efforts to rename or take down monuments for social justice purposes. AP The Smithsonian did not respond to a Post request for comment. Trump has also publicly been critical of campaigns to take down or eliminate Confederate statues and monuments across the country. Over the weekend, the president caused a stir by publicly criticizing the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians for changing their names years ago from the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians, respectively. 'Times are different now than they were three or four years ago,' Trump recently proclaimed on Truth Social. 'We are a Country of passion and common sense.' Banks' bill comes against the backdrop of a broader effort by Republicans in Congress to codify as many of Trump's executive orders as possible. The senator was first sworn into the upper chamber in January. He previously helmed the House Republican Study Committee.
Buzz Feed
17 minutes ago
- Business
- Buzz Feed
Here's What Donald Trump's Nightly 1 A.M. Phone Calls Are About
Howard Lutnick is Donald Trump's Secretary of Commerce. According to a new profile in the New Yorker, they talk on the phone every night around 1 a.m. What do they talk about, you ask? Well, Howard revealed the riveting stuff. Sometimes it's about "real stuff," as he calls it, including "Canadian steel tariffs." Other times it's about fun gossipy things, which he calls "nothing." This includes: "Sporting events, people, who'd you have dinner with, what was this guy like, can you believe what this guy did, what's the TV like, I saw this on TV, what'd you think of what this guy said on TV, what did you think about my press conference, how about this Truth?" So, there you have it. Trump and the Secretary of Commerce gossip about who they would like to have dinner with. Now, I wonder if it's the 8th grade icebreaker classic: "If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive who would it be?" Win McNamee / Getty Images
CNBC
18 minutes ago
- Business
- CNBC
Wall Street is upbeat on tech megacaps, but big questions loom on AI spending, China, Trump tariffs
In this article AAPL AMZN MSFT META TSLA GOOGL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms Inc.; from left, Lauren Sanchez; Jeff Bezos, founder of Inc.; Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc.; and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc., during the 60th presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. Julia Demaree Nikhinson | Bloomberg | Getty Images As Alphabet and Tesla get set to kick off the tech industry's second-quarter earnings blitz on Wednesday, Wall Street appears to be feeling good. The Nasdaq closed at a record on Monday, notching its sixth straight day in the green, and is now up 8% for the year after a rocky first quarter. But what happens over the next 10 days will likely determine whether the rally has legs. Following Wednesday's earnings announcements, the rest of the megacaps issue results next week, except for Nvidia , which should report in late August. Meta and Microsoft report earnings next Wednesday, with Amazon and Apple set to follow a day later. Last reporting period, investors worried about the strain of hefty tariffs on technology businesses and on whether big gambles on artificial intelligence would lead to returns for shareholders, or were signs of an inflating bubble. Three months later, stocks have bounced back, but the the industry is still grappling with the fallout from President Donald Trump's erratic global tariff policies and uncertainty over where duties on imports will ultimately land. Apple, Amazon and Alphabet all warned in the prior quarter that strained relationships with trading partners could weigh on profits, hurting product sales and ad spending. And the AI market has only gotten crazier, as tech companies show their willingness to pay astronomical sums for talent in addition to the tens of billions of dollars they're spending on infrastructure and model development. Meta's Mark Zuckerberg shocked the market in June, shelling out more than $14 billion to hire Scale AI CEO CEO Alexandr Wang and a few of his top staffers as part of an investment into the nine-year-old startup. Here's what investors will be closely following from the tech giants as earnings season commences. Alphabet Google CEO Sundar Pichai addresses the crowd during Google's annual I/O developers conference in Mountain View, California on May 20, 2025. Camille Cohen | AFP | Getty Images Alphabet 's dominant online ad business took a big hit earlier this year as worries mounted that Trump's tariff plans could crimp spending. Those fears haven't subsided. Revenue growth is expected to come in at 11%, according to LSEG, which would be the slowest rate of expansion for any period in two years. Alphabet shares have just turned positive for the year, still significantly lagging behind the Nasdaq. Last quarter, Alphabet narrowly beat estimates and fell short on YouTube revenue. Its chief business officer also said trade policies would "cause a slight headwind" to the company's ads business, primarily from retailers based in the Asia-Pacific region. Analysts have suggested of late that the business may be back on an upswing, thanks in part to advances in AI. Deutsche Bank analysts noted acceleration in the second quarter, while analysts at Goldman Sachs said the company's search business is in the "midst of a multi-year transformation." BMO Capital Markets analysts echoed that sentiment, writing in a recent note that return on ad spend (ROAS) should be improving. "As AI monetization continues to evolve, we believe Google will increasingly leverage its over twenty years of AI initiatives to continue expanding ROAS for its advertisers." the analysts wrote. Cloud revenue remains another key focus for shareholders eager to see how AI tools are boosting a unit that's trying to keep pace with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Earlier this year, Alphabet said it would shell out $75 billion to beef up its data centers underpinning its AI and cloud business. Then there's the Waymo business, which has been a major source of investment for years. The robotaxi service now operates in five major U.S. cities and its vehicles had driven more than 100 million miles without a human driver or supervisor on board as of July 15. Tesla US President Donald Trump, right, and Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, May 30, 2025. Francis Chung | Bloomberg | Getty Images Tesla remains the biggest laggard in the group, with its stock down about 17% this year heading into Wednesday's earnings report after the bell. Earlier this month, Tesla reported a 14% year-over-year drop in second-quarter deliveries, marking a second straight quarterly decline. Automotive revenue in the first quarter fell 20%, and analysts are expecting a similar slide for the second quarter. Tesla is battling competition from Chinese and other EV makers that are offering cheaper alternatives. With Tesla, the story always revolves heavily around CEO Elon Musk. This earnings call will be the first since Musk's public split with President Trump. After spending over $250 million to help propel Trump back to the White House, Musk in May ended his stint as a special government employee leading Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), only to initiate a spat with the president over the multitrillion-dollar spending package he endorsed. Some investors may tune into the call to hear if Musk has anything to say regarding his current plan to build a new political party in the U.S. But most will be focused on the company's fundamentals and the many challenges it currently faces in trying to revitalize its EV sales. Tesla has long promised an affordable new EV model that could help it fend off the competition. Another big topic will likely be Tesla's robotaxi efforts after the company launched a limited driverless ride-hail service in Austin, Texas last month. While the Tesla Robotaxi rollout was seen by fans as a positive sign for the company, Bank of America analysts say it has "immaterial financial ramifications." Meta Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect event on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Zuckerberg's AI spending spree has raised a lot of eyebrows. In addition to the hiring of Wang from Scale AI, Meta also brought on former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and his investing partner Daniel Gross, who had been CEO of AI startup Safe Superintelligence. Zuckerberg later announced the creation of Meta Superintelligence Labs, led by Wang and Friedman. And Meta's CEO said last week that he plans to invest "hundreds of billions of dollars" into AI compute infrastructure, with plans to bring its first supercluster online next year. Last quarter, Meta upped its full-year capital expenditures outlook to between $64 billion and $72 billion from between $60 billion and $65 billion to reflect more data center investments in AI and potentially higher hardware costs. The pressure is on Zuckerberg to show results, or at least offer a clear strategy that investors can support. "While the recent talent hires and focus in this area are notable — and we expect meaningful improvements in models and user-facing applications — the road to platform leadership in AI remains long and highly competitive," analysts at MoffettNathanson wrote in a recent report. Analysts at Bank of America said they view Zuckerberg's latest commentary as "sign of confidence" in the strength of the company's business. Meta is expected to report revenue growth of 14.5% for the second quarter, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG, which would be the slowest growth rate since mid-2023, and Wall Street projects deceleration over the next two quarters. The Bank of America analysts wrote that Meta needs to "make a case for strong AI returns to drive multiple expansion." Microsoft Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella speaks during the Microsoft Build conference opening keynote in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025. Jason Redmond | Afp | Getty Images Azure remains the focal point at Microsoft. It's the business that sparked CEO Satya Nadella's turnaround of the software maker over a decade ago, and is key to its ambitions in AI, where Microsoft has a tight but tense relationship with OpenAI. Microsoft's stock hit a record last week and is now up 20% for the year, about even with Meta and just behind Nvidia, which is the best performer this year among the megacaps. With a market cap of $3.8 trillion, Microsoft is firmly the second-largest company by value, trailing only Nvidia in that category as well. Analysts still see plenty of strength in Azure. However, Mizuho told clients about "one larger workload repatriation" during the quarter, which means the return to a physical data center. BMO analysts cited input from experts, who said President Trump's DOGE effort has "made it more difficult to close Fed deals." Amy Hood, Microsoft's finance chief, said in April that she expects 34% to 35% quarterly revenue growth for the current period from Azure and other cloud services. The growth rate was 35% last quarter. For Microsoft, which started its new fiscal year on July 1, investors also await fresh spending guidance. The consensus among analysts polled by Visible Alpha is about $99 billion. That would represent growth of 14%, compared with 56% expansion in the last fiscal year. Hood said in April that capital spending growth will slow. The company has already made cost-cutting strides this month, axing about 9,000 employees in its latest round of layoffs. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha see about $73 billion in operating expenses in Microsoft's fiscal 2026, which implies 11% growth. Apple Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S., June 9, 2025. Laure Andrillon | Reuters Apple's biggest market may be the U.S., but the iPhone maker relies heavily on China and other Asian countries for parts and manufacturing for some of its most significant products. The company was one of the clearest losers from Trump's aggressive tariff agenda, which threatened to hamper global trade and hike the costs of selling products in the U.S. Apple shares have tumbled about 15% this year. Investors want more clarity on the company's strategy from here. In recent weeks, Trump has also held talks with India and Vietnam, where Apple has shifted some production in recent years. Revenue is expected to increase about 4% from a year earlier, according to LSEG, roughly inline with recent performance. Over the past four quarters, annual growth has ranged from 2% to 6%. Apple refrained from offering guidance last quarter, but CEO Tim Cook said the company was expecting an additional $900 million in costs for the period that ended in June. That was barring any changes to Trump's original tariff plans. The president lauded the company this year for its commitment to invest in U.S. manufacturing. Last week, Apple announced a $500 million deal with MP Materials to beef up manufacturing of rare earth materials in the U.S. Amazon Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks at a company event in New York on Feb. 26, 2025. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Amazon's second-quarter results will offer fresh clues into how the e-commerce and cloud computing giant is navigating tariff uncertainty. Last quarter, Amazon forecast operating profit for the current period that was weaker than Wall Street anticipated. It called out "tariffs and trade policies," currency fluctuations and "recessionary fears" as factors that may affect its results. Investors were spooked by the guidance, despite reassurances from CEO Andy Jassy that Amazon is well positioned to weather the levies and could even take share from competitors, given its ability to offer low prices. Amazon said the company and many of its third-party sellers stocked up on inventory in anticipation of the tariffs. But once that inventory is sold through, new shipments from China and other countries could face higher import costs. Cloud growth is another major point of focus for Amazon shareholders. Revenue at AWS grew 17% in the first quarter, which was below analysts' estimates and the slowest growth in a year. Analysts are projecting about the same year-over-year growth for the second period. Jassy said in May that the cloud business was constrained by data center capacity limits around power and components like AI chips. "As fast as we actually put the capacity in, it's being consumed," Jassy told investors. He added that the company expects some of the constraints to ease up "as the year proceeds." Amazon shares are up about 4% this year. — CNBC's Jennifer Elias, Annie Palmer, Jordan Novet, Jonathan Vanian, Lora Kolodny and Kif Leswing contributed reporting. WATCH: Google might be in the lead in their AI capability watch now
Time of India
31 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
LeBron James vibes to Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss track at Cannes with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez
LeBron James recently enjoyed Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss track (Image via Getty Images) Recently, Los Angeles Lakers ' LeBron James was spotted with Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez . At a star-studded party in Cannes this week, the NBA star was seen rapping to Kendrick Lamar 's Not Like Us at the upscale Le Guerite Beach Club, where celebrities like Jay-Z and Beyonce have previously been spotted having parties. This seemingly didn't look good for Drake as the track was created to diss him. The situation was made worse by the fact that Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos were also vibing to the track. LeBron James fuels Drake feud rumors by vibing to Kendrick Lamar diss at Cannes party with Jeff Bezos LeBron James and Kendrick Lamar have mutual admiration for one another. The admiration was even more evident when the NBA icon was spotted singing and moving to Kendrick Lamar's song "Not Like Us". In the video which was posted on X, James' wife, Savannah, and his business partner Maverick Carter were also seen vibing with the team. They were shown jamming out to the well-known Drake diss hit, which the singer notably played during the 2025 Super Bowl halftime performance back in February. Additionally, at one point, Savannah shouted "A minorrrr," as she soothed herself by putting a small battery-powered fan to her face. The most amusing part of the entire video was when the camera turned to reveal Amazon founder Jeff Bezos filming his wife, Sanchez, dancing to the song. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 Years IC Markets Learn More Undo The entire group appeared to be having a good time at the La Guérite restaurant, which LeBron James has frequented. On the other hand, an NBA insider recently claimed that the star forward was reportedly considering joining the Dallas Mavericks to play alongside Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving . During the NBA offseason, he chose to play in the last year of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. However, his agent, Rich Paul, recently hinted at the new development. Furthermore, John Hollinger, a journalist for The Athletic, also revealed that NBA staff members at the Las Vegas Summer League talked about Dallas a lot. LeBron James is an NBA icon (Image via Getty Images) He wrote: "In particular, the whispers about him having eyes for Dallas — a place where he could have teamed up with former teammates Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving and young phenom Cooper Flagg — before opting into his deal were hard to ignore.' Meanwhile, the NBA icon's long-standing connection with Toronto rapper Drake has been strained by his outspoken support for the Like That artist. Also read: LeBron James cosigns Tyler, the Creator's surprise album Don't Tap the Glass in an unexpected move Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Time of India
42 minutes ago
- Science
- Time of India
Pi Approximation Day 2025: What is it and why is it celebrated?
Image credits: X Pi Approximation Day, also known as Casual Pi Day, is celebrated annually on July 22nd. The day recognises and appreciates the mathematical consonant of pi (π), which is known in various aspects of maths and science. What is Pi Approximation Day? Image credits: Getty Images Pi is a special unit in mathematics. Presenting the relationship between a circle's circumference and diameter, the ratio of the two is stated as a constant pi. The symbol of π was first introduced in 1706 by William Jones, a British mathematician. However, it became famous and came to be widely used due to Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician who helped popularise it in his work. Why is Pi Approximation Day celebrated? Pi Approximation Day is celebrated on July 22nd every year, as this date is special. When you divide 22 by 7, you get 3.142857, a number that is very close to the actual value of pi, which is about 3.14159. Since 22/7 is a convenient and easy way to remember the value of pi, the day serves as a reminder of its value. This is why it is also called Casual Pi Day, a more relaxed way of celebrating the symbol without delving into the complex digits. Pi Day, is usually celebrated on March 14th, as 3/14 is a more popular meaning of the mathematical consonant. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 Years IC Markets Learn More Undo What is the significance of Pi (π)? Image credits: Getty Images The symbol of pi has existed for almost 4000 years. In ancient Babylon, people calculated the area of a circle by taking 3 times the square of its radius, making pi's value 3. A Babylonian tablet indicated the value of pi as 3.125, which is a close approximation. As per the Rhind Papyrus, ancient Egyptians calculated the area of a circle by a formula that gave the value of pi as 3.1605. However, the first calculation of pi was completed by Archimedes of Syracuse, who is known as one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world. He made use of Pythagoras' Theorem to find the areas of two regular polygons and reached a value approximation between 3 1/7 and 3 10/71. After being introduced by Jones in 1706, mathematicians began using the symbol π for pi. While for some, π has created a lot of difficulties in mathematical calculations, those who love the art of maths love the symbol. In both cases, it remains a vital and memorable symbol in the world of mathematics and the life of every student.
