“For nearly a century, mainstream American cinema has regurgitated, devoured, and re-regurgitated the same foaming popcorn mythology in which it is presented as basic common sense that America is always the good guy and that every foreigner with a funny accent who stands in his way is a totally otherized human bowling pin who exists for the sole purpose of being obliterated again and again and again in a voluptuous bacchanalia of endless machine gun barrages and bottomless stacks of bloodless corpses. Your average American is raised on a steady diet of this schlock with a side of paint-by-the-numbers public school history teachers who can turn any warzone into a beige labyrinth of names and dates to memorize for next week’s ludoviko scantron test.” (04/19/26)
“New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is pushing for ‘$30 in ’30,’ to raise the city’s minimum from $17 today to $30/hour by the end of the decade. Supporters applaud lawmakers granting struggling workers a ‘living wage.’ The logic seems clear: Wage hikes boost incomes, making life more affordable. But although increases to the minimum wage help those lucky enough to keep their jobs, hours and benefits, they hurt many more.” (04/19/26)
Source: Radio France Internationale [French state media]
“Billionaire Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris, where investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content. Musk, the world’s richest man, and Linda Yaccarino – the former CEO of X – have been called for voluntary interviews on Monday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. It is unclear whether either will attend. Prosecutors said the interviews would allow executives to ‘present their position’ and outline compliance measures. They described the inquiry as a ‘constructive approach’ aimed at ensuring X complies with French law.” (04/20/26)
“Adrian forgets to push a button, Alex still trying to crawl out of his dark hole, you can trust us when we urge you not to trust us, Anthropic just became the most powerful entity on Earth …” (04/19/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“My previous post provided an example of the use of past legal systems in understanding our present legal system: the logic of feud law applied to high tech patent litigation. There are others, some of which suggest changes we might want to make to our system, ideas we could steal.” (04/19/26)
“Are America’s top scientists being kidnapped or disappeared by a foreign adversary? Right-wing media are abuzz with speculation that 11 different individuals working on issues related to secret technology or the investigation of extraterrestrial life have been picked off one by one: murdered, kidnapped, disappeared. The stuff of The X-Files, in short: ‘The truth is out there,’ but shadowy forces don’t want you to know. After working its way through the conservative press and the online Right, this narrative got a major boost last week, when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the administration was looking into the matter. … Fortunately, this entire narrative appears to be, to put it gently, complete nonsense.” (04/19/26)
“A man was shot and killed after police say he forced his way inside a Phoenix home overnight. Just after 3:15 a.m. on April 18, officers said 25-year-old Isaac Nathaniel Cordova-Fregoso forced entry into a home near 74th and Pueblo Avenue. The residents inside confronted the man and shot him at least once. Cordova-Fregoso was found inside the home with at least one gunshot wound. He died at the scene from his injuries.” (04/19/26)
