Source: Understanding AI
by Kai Williams & Timothy B Lee
“For this story, one of us (Kai) looked through dozens of crash reports Waymo submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration between August 15, 2025 and March 16, 2026. He focused on 78 crashes involving driverless Waymos serious enough to cause an injury or an airbag deployment. Waymo likely drove more than 100 million miles during this time period, so it’s not surprising that Waymo was involved in dozens of crashes. But it’s striking how many of the crashes involved serious mistakes by other drivers. When Waymo’s vehicles did make mistakes, they were almost always mistakes of excessive caution.” (04/22/26)
“Senate Republicans green-lit their party-line plan early Thursday morning to send tens of billions of dollars to immigration enforcement agencies in the coming years. Senators voted 50-48 to adopt a budget blueprint for legislation that could fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol and other agencies for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term. The vote was almost entirely on party lines, with GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only lawmakers to break ranks. The vote just after 3:30 a.m. completed the first step in the GOP’s plan to approve roughly $70 billion in additional funding without help from Democrats, who have refused to fund the immigration agencies without a slate of new restrictions on how they operate.” (04/23/26)
“The economist Adam Posen on the effect of the war in Iran on the world’s economy and the darkening economic outlook for the United States.” (04/22/26)
“It is hard to believe that ‘once upon a time’ labor unions were enemies of government. Fedgov and State governments both. 150 years ago, and much more recently, the FedGov and States used the Army and National Guard (Organized Militia) to suppress labor union activities. Especially strikes. … Today, to some degree, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme. In Colorado, for example, we find the Regressive-controlled General Assembly (the Legislature, both upper and lower houses) pushing for government to treat labor unions like the senior house of the General Assembly. In some really stupid ways! Especially since what the unions want means government agencies snatching more power to micro-manage everyday life, and create opportunities for new government jobs (more government parasites) and fees and fines, and at the same time increase the incentives to shove campaign contributions into the pockets of politicians.” (04/22/26)
Source: Property and Environment Research Center
by Drew Bennett, Travis Brammer, Jerod Merkle, Kurt Smith, Shawn Regan, Temple Stoellinger, Arthur Middleton, Kristin Barker, Jacob Hochard, Patrick Lendrum, Erin Welty, Craig Benjamin, & Brian Yablonski
“Virtual fencing technology holds the potential to modernize and transform livestock management, with significant but still underexplored biodiversity conservation applications. The technology uses Global Positioning System-enabled collars on livestock and software-defined boundaries to provide a virtual alternative to traditional physical fencing, creating opportunities to remove or reduce physical fences.” (04/22/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Carolyn Iodice
“A new bill under consideration in California is facing criticism for censoring speech about immigration. Elon Musk has claimed the bill would ‘make investigating fraud illegal.’ One opponent has dubbed it the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act,’ named after the YouTuber known for filming alleged fraud at child care centers in Somali immigrant communities in Minnesota. But its sponsor says the bill simply protects immigrant organizations from threats of violence. So which is it? The bill, AB 2624, does two things. First, it allows people who’ve faced threats or violence for providing or receiving immigration services to join California’s ‘Safe at Home’ program, which allows people to keep their residential address out of state records. Second — and this is the part we’re focusing on — it limits what regular people are allowed to post online about immigrants and the people who help them.” (04/22/26)
“Pope Leo returns to Rome on Thursday after wrapping up an ambitious four-nation Africa tour in which he forcefully decried the direction of global leadership, denouncing despotism and war, and drew the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump. The first U.S. pope closed the nearly 18,000 km (11,185 miles) tour with a final Mass in a stadium in Equatorial Guinea, where tens of thousands began gathering in pouring rain before dawn for a last chance to see him. Leo told worshippers in a homily, his 25th speech over the 10-day tour, that the Christian message means ‘every people is set free from the slavery of evil.’ He urged them to live their faith with joy. The pope has taken on a new forceful speaking style during his time in Africa, in which he also visited Algeria, Cameroon and Angola.” (04/23/26)
