
Englisch
Gratis en Podimo
Starte jetzt und verbinde dich mit deinen Lieblingspodcaster*innen
Mehr Byline Times Audio Articles
The latest articles from Byline Times converted to audio for easy listening
How Epstein Channelled Race Science and 'Climate Culling' Into Silicon Valley's AI Elite
Read our Digital & Print Editions And support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system SUBSCRIBE TODAY For two decades, Jeffrey Epstein moved through the private networks that shaped modern Silicon Valley - even after his sex-offending conviction. Newly released House Oversight Committee files, combined with a deep review of archived material, reveal how his money, ideas and relationships flowed into the founders, labs and political circles now defining America's new tech order. Part One of this exclusive three-part investigation explores how Epstein was embedded in the Silicon Valley 'Broligarchy' brains trust. Part Two uncovers how Epstein intersected with pivotal moments in Bitcoin. Part Three, the channelling of an apocalyptic vision of climate 'culling' and eugenics. Newly released Jeffrey Epstein files reveal that an apocalyptic worldview - blending racial hierarchy, genetic "optimisation" and even climate-driven population culling - was circulating inside the elite, founder-linked networks shaping Silicon Valley's rise. These ideas appear most starkly in the convicted sex offender's private exchanges with the AI theorist Joscha Bach, and sit alongside the longtermist and transhumanist philosophies championed by other influential figures in the same circles. Joscha Bach, whose work on cognitive architectures and machine consciousness has shaped advanced AI research and influenced figures such as Elon Musk, appears in the documents engaging Epstein in sweeping discussions about race, hierarchy, genetic engineering and the supposed 'utility' of mass death, including under conditions of climate stress. Meanwhile, another philosopher whose ideas underpin much of modern longtermism and whose work helped shape Silicon Valley's early thinking on artificial general intelligence, Nick Bostrom, moved through the same intellectual and institutional ecosystem. His published arguments on eugenics, selective population strategies and existential "optimisation" reveal a parallel strand of thinking within that milieu, financed and legitimised by many of the same networks. Both men were also financed by Epstein. Taken together, the Bach correspondence and the longtermist ideas circulating in this environment show that human hierarchy, population thinning and genetic destiny were not fringe provocations, but part of the ambient intellectual air inside the circles designing the next generation of AI. How Trump's 'Reverse Algorithmic Capture' Is Creating the Unseen Curators of Our New Digital Realities The US Government is shaping by - by stealth - the emergence of a privatised information infrastructure that serves its ideological aims. Caroline Orr reports Caroline Orr Epstein and the Radicalisation of the Silicon Valley Mind Previous excellent reporting by the Boston Globe first brought to light Bach's exchanges with Epstein, but focused narrowly on some of Bach's comments in isolation. What has been missing - and what this investigation provides for the first time - is a clear view of how these ideas moved through Epstein-funded institutions, longtermist organisations and the AI networks now exerting growing influence over Silicon Valley's emerging political order. One of the most revealing documents in the House Oversight Committee's Epstein archive is an email chain from the same month that Trump won the Republican nomination as presidential candidate in July 2016 - between Jeffrey Epstein and the cognitive scientist Joscha Bach. This was eight years after Epstein's conviction for soliciting a child following a major criminal investigation into wider sex trafficking allegations. At this time, Epstein was in regular communication with Peter Thiel, who that month would endorse Trump at the Republican National Convention. By this point, Bach was an integral member of the Edge Foundation - the network of Silicon Valley elites founded by John Brockman but principally funded by Jeffrey Epstein, who, as B...
GB News Accused of 'Circling the Wagons' to Downplay Nigel Farage Racism Scandal Engulfing Their Star Presenter
Read our Digital & Print Editions And support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system SUBSCRIBE TODAY GB News presenters and guests have been accused of circling the wagons to protect their colleague Nigel Farage from allegations that he engaged in racism and anti-semitic bullying towards Jewish and other ethnic minority peers while a teenager. An analysis from the campaign group Stop Funding Hate has found several instances of GB News presenters and guests downplaying the allegations against Farage or even going as far as to insult the alleged victims of his teenage bullying. Allegations of schoolboy racism against Farage are not new, with the claims recurring throughout his political career, however Farage has been under fire over recent more detailed allegations of anti-semitic bullying against his schoolmates for the last few weeks, following a Guardian report which included new testimony from the film director Peter Ettedgui. Ettedgui alleged in the Guardian that Farage "would sidle up to me and growl: 'Hitler was right,' or 'Gas them,' sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers," while they were both at Dulwich College in the 1970s. The Guardian reports that it has spoken to twenty people who recall racist and antisemitic remarks that he made during the ages of 13 and 18. UPDATE GB News Downplay Revelations About Trump's Epstein Links as Presenters Echo White House Spin The channel was criticised by media reform campaigners for its "fawning" interview with the President as it dismissed revelations of his extensive ties to Jeffrey Epstein Josiah Mortimer Farage is a presenter on GB News and has pocketed £412,142 from his role at the broadcaster in the last year. Reacting to the allegations, GB News presenters and guests downplayed the allegations or insulted those making them, Stop Funding Hate found. In an interview with Farage on 25 November, presenter and former MEP for the Farage-led Brexit Party, Martin Daubney stated: "the accusations of anti-semitism, isn't it fair to point out that you've been a very vocal supporter of Israel and the Jewish community since October the 7th, 2023?". Following the interview Daubney then offered multiple defences of Farage. Responding to guest Jo Phillips highlighting inconsistencies in Farage's responses to the scandal he stated: "He's repeatedly said… it's categorically untrue. We know Jo, he denied it yesterday. He denied it today. He's denied it on camera tonight. If there was any substantiated evidence to corroborate these claims, surely it would have come to light by now. This is simply a case of one person's recollections against another". While discussing the story with his guests Daubney also offered the defence that "didn't anybody and everybody say racist things?" The next day presenter Bev Turner also appeared to defend Farage stating: "Nigel said there, Katie, you know, this is politically motivated". She suggested that the allegations were the result of "the uniparty" and collusion between the mainstream parties to attack Reform UK. Turner then turned to her guest and said "when you watch this, Mally, do you think how ridiculous the British media is?". The defences of Farage by GB News presenters, who are also his colleagues, has prompted criticism of the broadcaster. Tom Chivers, a Research Associate in Media and Communications, at Goldsmiths University told Byline Times: "This is a shameless campaign by GB News to dismiss despicable anti-Jewish racism, circling the wagons to protect their idols at the heart of the UK's right-wing media-political class. GB News' failure to take antisemitism seriously is another disgraceful example of the channel's built-in bigotry, shown time and time again with its attacks on Muslims, the LGBT community and other marginalised groups". Chivers added: "For years GB News has baselessly accused left-wing politicians, public figures and peaceful protestors of racism against Je...
'Keir Starmer's Brexit Blind Spot Leaves Britain With a Major Missed Opportunity'
Read our Digital & Print Editions And support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system SUBSCRIBE TODAY Two British Prime Ministers gave foreign policy speeches recently. Only one of them was any good. Unfortunately, it was not the speech given by the current Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer. Starmer's address to the Lady Mayor of London's Banquet at the Guildhall on Monday was a patchwork quilt of small ideas, sown together, like a student essay, with a few "buts", "becauses" and "moreovers", to make it sound coherent. It was a dog's breakfast. Mutton dressed as lamb. A litany of false boasts, ambitious claims, non-sequiturs, and dodges around the hard questions. No matter how many times Starmer inserted the word "so" into his speech, the speech lacked persuasive logic, or honesty about Britain's current status on the world stage. It did correctly acknowledge that the UK has to try to navigate its way between today's three global giants - the US, the EU and China. But in all three cases, Starmer exaggerated how well we are doing, and underplayed the extent of the challenges. Starting with the EU, Starmer made perhaps his frankest acknowledgement that Brexit had been a mistake. He said "how it was sold and delivered was wrong. Wild promises were made to the British people and not fulfilled. We are still dealing with the consequences today, in our economy, and in trust - in the degradation of political debate." The 'Pink Ladies' Laundering Anti-Migrant Views Into the Mainstream An anti-migrant movement backed by Reform and Conservative politicians and regularly invited onto news channels is funded by a far-right group and has platformed a Neo-Nazi activist Nicola Kelly But, he framed the argument as if it was still merely how Brexit was delivered which was the problem, rather than the very decision to leave the EU itself. He also shied away from even his more limited argument's logical conclusion, which is that the UK should try to renegotiate major parts of the Brexit deal, to get better terms, including by lifting his own party's redlines on rejoining the Customs Union or Single Market. Instead, he continued to claim that it was enough to tinker around the margins of the existing Brexit deal, making the exaggerated claim that the Government had successfully "redefined our bond with the EU, building a new partnership that benefits both sides, sticking to our red lines while supporting British businesses, making food cheaper, and slashing red tape." This flies in the face of the mounting body of evidence that Brexit has been an economic disaster, even with the small modifications achieved by the government so far. The US think tank, the National Bureau of Economic Research, recently published a study estimating that the decision to leave the EU had reduced the UK's GDP by between 6 to 8 percent. Another recent analysis, by the House of Commons library, estimated that Brexit is costing the Treasury up to 90 billion a year in lost tax revenue, and that it has cost the average British resident between 2,700 to 3,700 pounds per year. Even the Times and Telegraph are now publishing articles acknowledging Brexit has been, in the words of Jeremy Warner for the Telegraph "an unmitigated economic failure." In the Times, Ryan Bourne, who described himself as one of the members of the small band of "Economists for Brexit" argued that it was time to face facts. "Brexit did not cause Britain's growth malaise, but it undoubtedly deepened it. Nor did it create our fiscal woes, though it worsened them too. Denial about this helps no-one. Indeed, a successful sovereign economic policy demands taking responsibility and facing the world as it is, not as we wish it to be." But despite these about-faces, Starmer continues with the pretence that the UK can make Brexit a success, as long as it just engages with the EU bloc more skilfully. This denial of reality extended to his remarks regarding the US. Starmer hail...
The 'Pink Ladies' Laundering Anti-Migrant Views Into the Mainstream
Read our Digital & Print Editions And support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system SUBSCRIBE TODAY There was fervour in Chelmsford's Tindal Square - and a sea of pink. Hot pink berets. Baby pink Union Jack flags. Dogs with pink rain jackets. This was the 'Pink Ladies' protest, an anti-migrant group who portray themselves as being ordinary women trying to "save our kids". The organiser of last week's rally was Orla Minihane, Reform UK's vice-chair for Epping Forest who previously shared a stage with a member of a neo-Nazi group. Taking to the microphone, she listed five women who she said had been murdered "at the hands of an illegal migration catastrophe". Behind her, pictures of the women were held up. An incensed Minihane had a message for the Government. "We are not going to be sacrificial lambs to your multicultural nonsense anymore… They are coming in in their thousands everyday. Why should we have to live like this? We are under attack." The Pink Ladies was set up in June, following a series of protests against the Bell Hotel in Epping. During one of those rallies, Minihane spoke on stage and shared a microphone with Callum Barker, a member of Neo-Nazi group Homeland, a splinter organisation from Patriotic Alternative, Britain's largest far-right group. EXCLUSIVE The Reform-Backed Far-Right Street Patrols Coming to British School Gates EXCLUSIVE: Nationalist vigilante groups, with links to Neo-Nazis, and the support of senior Reform figures, have been falsely claiming police backing while attempting to infiltrate local school networks Nichola Lashmar In her speech, Minihane is heard saying "If I've got to wear a far-right title because that's what the narrative is, then so be it." The speech was then shared by prominent voices such as Mark Collett and Homeland itself. Minihane said she had no knowledge of Barker's views before appearing alongside him. The Pink Ladies are also financed by Restore Britain, the far-right group founded by former Reform UK member Rupert Lowe, who was sacked following allegations of threats of physical violence against Zia Yusuf. Lowe has said that Restore provides funding for all street protests including the stages, sound systems and speakers, with promotional material carrying joint branding with Restore. Pink Lady organisers also told Byline Times that Lowe helped to get the group trademarked and that his movement provides legal advice and support. Despite their links to Restore Britain, organisers maintain they are not a far-right organisation. Last month a motion was brought forward by two Labour councillors in Tower Hamlets, Mufeedah Bustin and Abdi Mohamed, who stated that "far-right extremists "were leading this movement "under the banner of keeping women and children safe". In response, the Pink Ladies took to the streets again, this time in Whitechapel, in the heart of Tower Hamlets. The organisation has consistently protested against Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, attempting to enter the building earlier this month during an investigation session into grooming gangs and blaming him for the rise in immigration. Despite their links to the far-right, the group has also received the backing of prominent Conservative politicians. At the time of their protest against Khan, Susan Hall, the leader of the Conservatives on the London Assembly and the party's former mayoral candidate posted on Facebook, saying the Pink Lady protests was "not hate crime and it's certainly not terror-related". Hall has previously been found supporting Enoch Powell on social media, engaging in Islamophobic posts about Khan, and sharing conspiracy theories about the 2020 American election. She is also on the advisory board of Restore Britain. At a recent protest, she said: "I am here because I am a Pink Lady." Despite all this, The Conservative party did not respond to questions from Byline Times about Hall's activity. The group has also been given multiple platforms by broad...
Reform UK Builds Towards £40 Million Election War Chest as 'Billionaires Wait in the Wings' to Back Nigel Farage for PM
Read our Digital & Print Editions And support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system SUBSCRIBE TODAY Reform UK has received the most donations of any political party by far so far this year according to data released on Thursday by the Electoral Commission. Over the last quarter Reform UK was the biggest recipient of political donations out of any UK political party by a long way. At a total of £10,293,511, Reform received almost four times the donations of Labour (£2,190,340) and more than twice those of the Conservatives (£4,662,110). Although Reform had reportedly been struggling to raise funds earlier this year, the £10.2 million takes them one quarter of the way to their stated goal of a £40 million war chest to prepare for the next general election. Donors to Reform included £490,000 across two donations from the party's treasurer and billionaire property developer Nick Candy. Candy has been charged by the party with the task of leveraging his contacts and experience to fundraise. Earlier this year Candy told the Financial Times that there were several billionaires waiting in the wings to join Reform. At the time, Reform's intake of donations seemed lacklustre and it was reported that they were struggling to fundraise. One Conservative source told the FT in July that "people would have expected Reform to eat our lunch, but it just hasn't happened", however Reform has now managed to leapfrog the Conservatives in financial terms. The £10.2 million figure, and the discrepancy between Reform's donations and those of the Conservatives, highlights Reform's increasing dominance over the right-wing of British politics despite having just five MPs. Crypto Investor Donates £9 Million to Reform UK as Nigel Farage Plugs His Company and Tells Industry 'I Am Your Champion' The Reform leader recently used media interviews to back Christopher Harborne's company while promising to cut taxes and regulations on crypto firms Adam Bienkov Reform received donations from several ultra-high-net-worth individuals, including former Tory donors, that unlike Candy are not formally part of the party. The most controversial of these was a £9 million donation from Christopher Harbourne, a businessman who has invested heavily in the cryptocurrency firm Tether. The company has recently come under fire for allegedly being used for money-laundering and sanctions evasion in Russia. According to the Guardian, The National Crime Agency has spent the past four years investigating a multibillion-dollar scheme that exchanges cash from drug and gun sales in the UK for crypto, with the "vast majority" of funds seized by the NCA and others being issued by Tether. The scheme has enabled "sanctions evasions and the highest levels of organised crime, including providing money-laundering services to the Russian state", the agency has said. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Harborne. It was Harbourne that paid £28,000 for Farage to attend Trump's inauguration in January. Farage has recently been courting the cryptocurrency sector, promising he will be their "champion". Harbourne also has interests in aviation fuel and the defence firm QinetiQ. Other donations included 130,000 from Bassim Haidar, a fintech and telecoms magnate who once advised Amnesty International and the World Economic Forum both of which Farage has railed against. Haidar, a former Conservative donor, has pledged to donate £1 million to Reform. He gave a further £225,000 of these pledged funds between January and April this year. Haidar told the Telegraph in 2024 that he had "left" Britain and lamented that Labour's abolition of the non-dom tax regime had rendered the country "no longer interesting" for wealthy investors. However, he remains listed at his One Hyde Park flat address in London, meaning he continues to be eligible to donate to the party. In a sign that right-wing media magnates are also increasingly backing Reform UK, the party also took £50,0...