Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: Law & Liberty
by Brent Orrell

“The standard account is that AI works best with a ‘human in the loop.’ This phrase emerges from minds deeply shaped by technology: the tech is the main thing, and the human is an occasionally useful add-on, the quality controller and manager of the machine-produced conclusion. This formulation has the relationship backwards. The biggest problem with AI, as many have noted, is that it does not ‘get it.’ Its utility collapses around questions of continuity, and intellectual and social context. And ‘getting it,’ as we have known all along, is the most important aspect of life and work.” (05/20/26)

https://lawliberty.org/forum/shaping-the-humans-who-run-the-machines/

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by David Vine

“Trump has indicated his intention to continue fighting wars with his proposal to fund the largest military budget in U.S. history: $1,500,000,000,000 ($1.5 trillion). This would send two-thirds of next year’s federal discretionary budget to what he calls the ‘Department of War’ (which is actually more honest than the official name, the Department of Defense). $1.5 trillion would be around a 50% increase over this year’s military budget and on par in real terms with the largest military budgets during World War II. Congress and the public must reject Trump’s $1.5 trillion proposal as the joke it is. They must also resist his plans to make a ‘supplemental’ request for up to $200 billion more for the war in Iran, which is already as unpopular as U.S. conflicts in Iraq and Vietnam. Congress should be cutting the war budget by hundreds of billions of dollars rather than irresponsibly inflating it further.” (05/20/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-increases-military-budget/

Source: Persuasion
by Francis Fukuyama

“Trump returned to Washington with little to show for his visit: only two agreements on opening Chinese markets to U.S. products, and no political help in the Middle East. China did agree to buy 200 Boeing aircraft (fewer than expected), but it has failed to follow through on similar announcements in the past. The White House also claimed that China has agreed to purchase $17 billion of agricultural products, but China has not confirmed this. It did not prevent Trump from claiming that they ‘did great trade deals’ and that the meeting was ‘a great success.’ It was the optics of the meeting that demonstrated how far Trump has fallen in Chinese eyes.” (05/19/26)

https://www.persuasion.community/p/what-xi-knows-that-trump-doesnt

Source: Los Angeles Times
by Daniel R DePetris

“By virtue of his own actions, Trump is now left with a series of policy options that range from least bad to terrible. None of them are ideal, and all of them carry some risk. For starters, Trump could resume the war. … Yet there are no guarantees that doubling down on military force will work. … What about continuing the status quo? While this contingency would be less costly than another round of bombing or a U.S. ground invasion, it’s unclear whether it would help or hurt negotiations toward a settlement. … Striking an agreement to end the war, return the strait to open traffic and restrict Iran’s nuclear program would be the most beneficial policy for the United States with the least amount of cost attached — not quite undoing the harm from Trump’s first-term decision to scrap the nuclear deal and his second-term decision to start a war.” (05/20/26)

https://archive.is/C1xAK

Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann

“Public debt now exceeds the economy as deficits and borrowing keep growing.” (05/19/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/19/milestone-national-debt/