Chinese Combat Drones In Taiwan

China has increased military activity on the island in recent years.

Grand Rising! It’s Monday, May 1. Chinese combat drones violated Taiwan’s Air Defense Zone escalating tensions in the region. First time reading? Sign up HERE. 

Let’s see what else you missed over the weekend:

  • Chinese War Games in Taiwan

  • FDIC Seizure of First Republic Bank

  • AI-Generated Drake & Bad Bunny Songs

  • Unresolved Texas Manhunt

  • 2023 NFL Draft, Jalen Hurts, and Lamar Jackson

  • + So much more you need to know

Global Politics

China Stages War Games Around Taiwan by Flying Combat Drones Over Taiwan Strait

Last Friday, China flew an unmanned combat drone around the island, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said, demonstrating Beijing’s capacity to attack at will.

Over the past few years, China has increased military activity on the island to force Taipei to acquiesce to its territorial demands.

China sees Taiwan as part of China, rather than an independent democratically-elected government.

Early Friday morning, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry reported bellicose Chinese activity over its skies declaring 19 military aircraft entered its air defense identification zone.

Why Is This Significant?

One of these flying vehicles was a TB-001 drone, which Chieh Chung, a military researcher at Taiwan's National Policy Foundation think tank, said China would likely send the TB-001 to spot targets on the island's east coast in the event of a war.

Taiwan shelters reserve forces in this region of the island, offering geographical protection from Chinese military bases.

"It will allow the communist's military's naval and air forces in the Western Pacific, including air force strike groups or carrier battle groups, to launch attacks."

This is not the first time a Chinese drone has flown near Taiwanese skies, but this is the first recognized, and remarkably overt, violation of Taiwan’s air defense zone.

This particular drone is a menace among menaces with missile carriers, high-altitude range features, and long-range abilities.

In Beijing, the TB-001 is morbidly referred to as the "twin-tailed scorpion".

This escalation alarmed Washington and its allies, which have been disconcerted by China’s aggressive approach toward Taiwan for years now but especially in recent months.

Read the full story later today HERE.

Finance + Business

The U.S. Government Might Seize Control of First Republic

In March, the feds took over Signature Bank and SVB, two history-breaking bank failures, bailing out depositors in the process while it now appears First Republic may soon join the pity party.

According to the WSJ, other lenders [JP Morgan & PNC] are looking to buy the bank after the FDIC takeover.

How Did This Happen?

The depositors at First Republic saw the catastrophic failures at Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank and were admonished to get out while they still could.

First Republic engaged in the same risky business as many other regional banks like investing depositor cash in assets that were recently devalued due to interest rate hikes.

This regional bank thrived in earlier days because of its aggressive growth strategy of pursuing wealthy clients.

This would come to bite them in the arse during hard times because two-thirds of its depositors carried a balance above $250K so they knew when ish hit the fan the FDIC wouldn’t be able to guarantee all of their cash.

The Depositor Panic

First Republic clients pulled more than $100 billion from their accounts in the first quarter of 2023, leaving it with a 40% reduction in deposits.

The big boys at JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America threw their bluefaces [$30B to be exact] into the fire last month hoping it would calm the flames, but this only had an ephemeral effect.

First Republic reported shoddy quarterly results causing its stock to plummet putting it at a 97% loss since the start of 2023.

As U.S. officials debate a private-sector deal versus FDIC receivership, depositors are still wondering who will come to their rescue when First Republic fails.

Music + Tech

AI-Generated Drake Song Sparks Debate on The Future of Intellectual Property in The Music Industry

Daily Dot.

The rise of AI-generated songs on TikTok is causing concern as their legality remains uncertain. Despite this, the trend of combining two opposing elements using technology has gained immense popularity.

The prevalence of AI in public discourse has raised serious job security concerns among professional writers and artists.

Many educators are questioning whether the use of AI should be banned in schools altogether while students would prefer AI writing assistants like Jasper or ChatGPT to finish Mrs. Jones’ medieval literature essays without sacrificing more episodes of Stranger Things on Netflix.

The issue is further complicated by questions about the copyright of AI-generated art in graphic novels.

There is a risk that artists may be sued for using text-to-image generation software that is trained off other artists’ work.

Adding to the existing concerns, musicians are now stirring the AI ethics pot.

How Is AI Affecting The Music Industry?

An anonymous TikTok user known as Ghostwriter (@Ghostwriter977) recently released a viral song called “Heart On My Sleeve,” which used the AI-generated likeness of artists Drake and the Weeknd.

While previous AI-generated songs have scraped artists’ voices and lyrics, this one has received an unprecedented level of viral attention.

The song has garnered over 15 million views on TikTok and 600,000 streams on Spotify since its release on April 4.

Although Ghostwriter used AI to generate the voices of Drake and the Weeknd, it remains unclear to what extent their lyrics and melodies were used.

The anonymous artist released another AI-engineered song last week, this time featuring Bad Bunny and Rihanna.

Although this one didn't seem to slap as hard.

Many people criticized the distorted Spanish vocals by the Puerto Rican pop star as "gibberish" while others claimed the lyrics didn't even make sense.

While AI-generated lyrics are created by programs that use keywords or phrases input by the user, the software that mimics voices compares an original voice sample to many in its archives to create a convincing replica.

Many deny the originality of AI-generated music and continue to raise red flags for the potential infringement of artists' creative rights.

Some people see this disruption as a natural evolution that will democratize the industry and allow songwriters and producers to cash bigger checks.

Read the full story later today HERE.

On The Radar

  • Texas manhunt still has not been resolved since Sunday evening. The shooting rampage took place at a rural Texas home leaving five people dead. Authorities claim Francisco Oropeza, 38, fired a gun in his yard prompting neighbors to ask him to stop— Sheriff Greg Capers said he “could be anywhere now.” The suspect is believed to be armed and dangerous with an AR-15, but there are no indications of his whereabouts.

  • 2023 NFL Draft opened with black quarterbacks being selected as #1 & #2 overall. American meritocracy may not be a myth after all with the Carolina Panthers drafting Bryce Young with the first overall pick, and the Houston Texans selecting CJ Stroud right after. Not to mention, the two highest-paid football players (and quarterbacks) in NFL history are both black— Jalen Hurts, thanks to Nicole Lynn (a black woman), recently signed a $255M contract in Philadelphia while Lamar Jackson, with the help of his mother, negotiated a $260M deal with the Ravens about a week later.

  • DNC shuts down 2024 presidential debates threatening democracy. The DNC unabashedly coddles Biden by not scheduling any presidential debates despite having two qualified candidates in the race. Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson criticized the DNC for holding no primary debates as “undemocratic”. According to a recent Fox News Poll, Williamson is polling at 9%, and RFK Jr. is polling at 19%, respectively among democratic primary voters.

  • Air defenses shoot down over a dozen missiles launched at Ukraine early Monday morning. Ukrainian air defense crews obliterated 15 of 18 missiles launched by Russian forces this morning. Kyiv’s city officials wrote on the Telegram app that all missiles aimed at the capital were utterly destroyed. As Russia continues to intensify missile attacks in its Spring offensive, Ukraine is still recovering from air raids that killed 25 people, including children Friday morning.

  • Suspected ISIS leader killed in Syria in special Turkish operation. President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the chief of the Islamic State group was killed by Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency. Previous leader, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was replaced after the terrorist group announced his death last November. When one ISIS leader falls, another seems to pop up almost instantly.

Humankind(ness) + Empathy

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