“Back in November 2021, Congress quietly added a clause to the sprawling ‘Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’ that would make Orwell blush. Section 24220 authorizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to require that every new passenger car include ‘advanced drunk-and-impaired-driving prevention technology.’ The provision is sold as a way to save lives, but alleges to do so by commanding vehicles to monitor drivers and refuse to operate when the software suspects impairment. In other words, AI will determine whether or not you can drive should you buy a new year model vehicle starting in 2027. This is neither a technical innovation nor a societal demand for greater security. It is a political choice that converts a privately owned car into a behavioral policeman.” (05/08/26)
“The Pentagon on Friday released a first batch of secret files documenting reported sightings of unidentified flying objects – some dating back to the 1940s – fanning speculation over whether extraterrestrial life exists. Reports of flying saucers and discs, and a sighting of an orb that resembled the ‘Eye of Sauron’ are among the incidents in the files, which are from the FBI, State Department and NASA in addition to the Pentagon. Interest in UFOs has been renewed in recent years as the US government investigated numerous reports of seemingly supernatural aircraft, amid worries that adversaries could be testing highly advanced technologies.” (05/08/26)
“Here’s a good current example of medical irony: the same week that our drug regulator, Health Canada, approved the first generic version of semaglutide — the active ingredient in weight-loss drug Ozempic — a major medical journal published findings highlighting the medication’s troubling connection to eating disorders. The timing couldn’t be more paradoxical: just as this powerful appetite suppressant becomes more accessible and affordable to millions of Canadians, we’re learning more about its potential to trigger dangerous psychological relationships with food.” (05/08/26)
“U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged strikes on land and at sea Thursday as President Donald Trump pursues a comprehensive deal to end the war. Central Command said U.S. forces were responding with ‘self-defense strikes’ in the country after Iranian forces launched missiles, drones and small boats at three Navy destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz …. Trump confirmed the attacks in a social media post, describing Iranian drones as getting ‘incinerated while in the air’ before being ‘dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave.’ He told ABC News that the U.S. strikes were a ‘love tap’ and that the ceasefire remains in effect. … Iran said the U.S. strikes amounted to a violation of the ceasefire, and said the U.S. targeted an Iranian oil tanker travelling through the strait, according to an Iranian statement carried by state media.” (05/07/26)
“Like a mad king of old, President Donald Trump spends hours wandering his palace, developing plans to better display his wealth and glory to an increasingly skeptical and antagonistic world. Occasionally he remembers his royal responsibilities and implements the right policy, though even then often for the wrong reason. Such as reducing the number of U.S. troops in Germany. At least it’s a start, though resulting from a fit of pique, since Berlin, like virtually every other government on earth, criticized his lawless, reckless attack on Iran, which is disrupting the global economy. He is threatening to do the same to Italy and Spain, whose political leaders also have denounced Trump’s bungled aggression, openly conducted on behalf of the Israeli government rather than the American people.” (05/07/26)
“The US trade court on Thursday ruled against Donald Trump’s latest 10% global tariffs, finding across-the-board tariffs were not justified under a 1970s trade law. The US court of international trade ruled in favor of small businesses that challenged the tariffs, which took effect on 24 February. The ruling was 2-1, with one judge saying it was premature to grant victory to the small business plaintiffs. The small businesses had argued the new tariffs were an attempt to sidestep a landmark US supreme court decision that struck down the Republican president’s 2025 tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.” (05/07/26)
“In the months leading up to the USA’s 250th birthday party, some debris from its 200th is making headlines. The New York Times‘s Jennifer Schuessler finds conspicuously ‘much less investment and enthusiasm overall’ for this year’s semiquincentennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence than the 1976 bicentennial, itself diminished by jaded jeers charging that ‘‘Buy-centennial’ huckersterism had sold out the true radical spirit of ’76’ (‘How a Historian Saved the Schlock of ’76,’ May 5). Schuessler chronicles plenty of ‘hats, mugs, playing cards and pickleball paddles’ currently being hawked under the aegis of Donald Trump, but compared to such bicentennial-branded excrescences of ‘unapologetic 1976-style schlock’ as toilet paper, diapers and condoms, even the output of a coauthor of Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life can be described on the pages of the Gray Lady as ‘tasteful.'” (05/07/26)
“Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of violating a unilateral two-day ceasefire announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin to cover the anniversary celebrations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany. … With no victory yet in sight for either side in a gruelling war of attrition, Putin announced a May 8-9 ceasefire to cover the celebrations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany – Russia’s most revered national holiday. Kyiv responded that a ceasefire just for the holiday was inappropriate and called instead for an indefinite truce to begin two days earlier, which Moscow ignored. The Russian Defence Ministry said 264 Ukrainian drones had been downed in the early hours of Friday …. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces continued to strike Ukrainian positions during the night on Friday, which he said showed Russia has not made ‘even a token attempt to cease fire on the front.'” (05/08/26)
