“Nigerian politician Peter Obi said he would run for president again in January after winning his party’s nomination, setting up another contest between incumbent Bola Tinubu and a divided opposition. Obi was declared winner of the Nigeria Democratic Congress primary on Sunday, less than a month after quitting an alliance that had tried to set up a single opposition challenger. The acceptance from Obi — who came third in the last election after galvanizing young voters — hit hopes among some opposition backers that he might return to the coalition. It prepares the ground for a re-run of 2023’s three-way contest that is likely to test whether public anger over rising living costs and insecurity can translate into votes against Tinubu, or whether the anti-government vote will once again be split.” (06/01/26)
“The common thread is that the hardest problems, those involving scale, complexity, or speed beyond human capacity, are exactly those where computation, AI, sensors, and biotech tend to have the most leverage.” (06/01/26)
“Strategy has sold some of its Bitcoin holdings. It marks the first time that the crypto treasury firm led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has sold any Bitcoin in four years. A regulatory disclosure shows that Strategy sold 32 Bitcoin over the past week for proceeds of $2.5 million U.S. The amount is small considering that Strategy owns more than 840,000 Bitcoin but is still significant as it suggests potentially larger sales in coming weeks and months. Strategy is under pressure to fund dividend payments on its high-yielding preferred stoc, which currently yields 11.5%. Already sinking, Bitcoin fell below $72,000 U.S. on news of Strategy’s sale.” (06/01/26)
“Disruptive plane passengers could find themselves banned from flying by all airlines under a new UK government proposal. It is understood that a scheme for carriers to share information on unruly travellers is being developed by officials at the Department for Transport and the Home Office. The proposal, which is still at the concept stage, could lead to airlines being required to notify the government of a disruptive passenger. A participating airline could then be alerted when the same marked person checked in for a subsequent flight. It would then be up to that airline to determine how to respond, but they would have the option of refusing to carry them.” [editor’s note: Sounds like the kind of thing that could easily be done with zero government involvement … and therefore SHOULD be done that way if it’s done at all – TLK] (06/01/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“‘California’s ‘Trump Tax Loophole’ is a billionaire-friendly tax break that lets the wealthiest commercial property owners avoid paying taxes based on what their properties are actually worth,’ proclaims Tom Steyer, candidate for governor of California, on his website. Steyer has described this ‘loophole’ in debates as if it is a special benefit for corporations, a ‘corporate real estate tax loophole.’ In the gubernatorial debate on CNN, for example, he declared: ‘I will on the first day [in office] call a special election to close a corporate real estate tax loophole that’s worth over $20 billion. … California government needs more money.’ But Steyer’s website admits: The ‘loophole’ is actually Proposition 13, the popular constitutional amendment that protects ordinary homeowners across the Golden State.” (06/01/26)
“Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday, accusing the company of putting profit over safety, fueling violence and pushing a product it knew could harm users. … The wide-ranging lawsuit accuses OpenAI of four counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices, two counts of negligence, two counts of violating product liability laws, and one count each of fraudulent misrepresentation and causing a public nuisance. The suit claims that OpenAI’s systems present a ‘great danger of addiction, cognitive decline, suicide, violence, and related harms’ to users.” (06/01/26)
“Liberalism, which Rosa Luxemburg called by its more appropriate name — ‘opportunism’ — is an integral component of capitalism. Liberalism ameliorates capitalism’s excesses. But capitalism, Luxemburg argued, is an enemy that can never be appeased. Liberal reforms blunt resistance, but later, when things grow quiet, are revoked. The last century of labor struggles in the United States provides a case study of Luxemburg’s observation.” (06/01/26)
