Source: SFGate
“Two Oakland Police Department officers are facing federal charges after allegedly conspiring with a federal aviation official to fake their helicopter pilot certifications. Prosecutors said the scheme happened between July 2023 and March 2024, when the two officers, Brandon Mart and David Mac, allegedly worked with William Miller, an aviation inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration, to fraudulently receive their certificates. The officers are accused of submitting fake documents related to ‘checkrides,’ according to an indictment filed on Aug. 27. A checkride, which is required to obtain a pilot certification, includes a practical flight test with specific maneuvers and an oral exam covering topics like aviation regulations and aircraft systems. The indictment alleges Mart received three fraudulent checkride certifications and Mac received one, even though the officer failed to complete all of the requirements or some checkrides never occurred at all.” (09/14/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/oakland-police-pilot-fraud-22431888.php
Source: Politico
“AI regulation’s strange bedfellows.” (09/15/26)
https://traffic.megaphone.fm/POLL3490521412.mp3
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
‘In an election year when Democrats are featuring wannabe communists, why are Republicans demonstrating a similar lack of sanity?” (09/14/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/09/14/minus-the-five-grand/
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish & David Dayen
“The statement from former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon that AI ‘could kill us by the end of the decade’ has triggered the most hostile setting for sound public policy: mass panic. Events since Coxon’s viral comments have only deepened the frenzy. A senior employee at Anthropic, Evan Hubinger, backed Coxon up (‘We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!’) and estimated the chances that AI could cause human extinction at more than 10 percent. Late last week, Anthropic said it had halted ‘several efforts by scientists’ whose research could have developed biological weapons, The New York Times reported; on Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI’s artificial intelligence agents attacked the software service RubyGems two months before they attacked Hugging Face.” (09/15/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/09/15/artificial-intelligence-open-ai-anthropic-congressional-democrats/
Source: United Press International
“A cooling tower at Yankee Stadium is one of 10 in the South Bronx that has been ordered for disinfecting on Monday after testing positive for Legionella bacteria. The cleaning order by the New York City Health Department follows an outbreak of a new Legionnaires’ cluster in the South Bronx. A tower at Lincoln Hospital and another at Boricua College Bronx Campus have also been flagged for cleaning. … New York City health officials announced the first fatality related to the cluster on Friday. Health officials were investigating the origin of the cluster and have tested 24 cooling towers so far.” (09/14/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/09/14/legionella-bacteria-new-york-city-yankee-stadium/9271789414363/
Source: The Corbett Report
“Applied POSIWID.” (09/14/26)
https://corbettreport.com/applied-posiwid-solutionswatch/
Source: Reason
by Josh Pauzé
“Conservative [sic] YouTuber Nick Shirley has taken his anti-fraud crusade to California, but a recently passed law, coined by conservatives as the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act,’ is threatening to derail him, or so he says. Now Shirley is challenging it in federal court. Shirley outlined his argument in a recent YouTube video, claiming that the legislation is a blatant violation of the First Amendment created in response to him exposing fraud across California. In his suit, he also alleges that it discriminates based on the content and viewpoint of speech and is unconstitutionally ‘overbroad and vague.'” (09/14/26)
https://reason.com/2026/09/14/the-stop-nick-shirley-act-yet-another-anti-doxxing-law-that-chills-free-speech/
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The US Supreme Court has rejected President Donald Trump’s plan to restrict voting by mail before November’s midterm elections, in a setback for the White House. The justices upheld a federal judge’s order that temporarily blocked the US Postal Service (USPS) from moving forwards with new requirements for postal ballots. But it is unlikely to be the final word on the matter. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative, agreed with the ruling, but indicated he might later rule in Trump’s favour as litigation in the case continues. … Kavanaugh wrote in the opinion that there was ‘at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service’s statutory authority’. But he argued that ‘applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious’. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, also conservatives [sic], dissented.” (09/14/26)
https://archive.is/aEcU2
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“Blake, Lovecraft, and Tolkien – not to mention the original Celtic myths – all share a common theme: a deep ambivalence about technology which finally settles into determined opposition. … I was thinking about all this when trying to figure out why a mob of thousands of people terrorized north Britain in the 1810s while shouting ‘King Ludd! King Ludd!’ And why it took an army bigger than the one Wellington was leading against Napoleon to put them down. And why people regularly accuse me of being associated with them.” (09/14/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/king-ludd
Source: Reason
“Is AI Really an Existential Threat?” (09/14/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/09/14/is-ai-really-an-existential-threat/
