“Norway has become the first country to propose a temporary ban on camera-enabled and AI-powered smart glasses in public spaces, amid growing concerns around privacy. Ars Technica reports that the Norwegian Government is proposing a blanket ban in selected public spaces where it believes people are vulnerable to being recorded without their consent. It follows the news this week that Dutch eyewear retailer Hans Anders has pulled Meta Ray-Ban glasses from over 400 stores. Venues where the use of smart glasses would be prohibited include parks, beaches, museums, schools, kindergartens, shopping centers, healthcare facilities, gyms, and public events. Private use of smart glasses, for example in wearers’ homes, would still be permitted.” [editor’s note: When you’re in a “public space,” no one should need your “consent” to film – TLK] (10/06/26)
“Robby Soave gives his radar on recent comments from Sam Altman and Dario Amodei highlighting the debate around the potential benefits and potential harms of AI.” (10/06/26)
“There are two kinds of love of country, Alexis de Tocqueville observed in Democracy in America. The first is a ‘sort of patriotic attachment’ that arises from the natural affections a man has for his birthplace and is ‘united to a taste for ancient customs, and to a reverence for ancestral traditions of the past.’ This kind of patriotism is instinctive, unreflective and transient. The second ‘springs from knowledge; it is nurtured by the laws; it grows by the exercise of civil rights.’ A man who loves his country this way understands that his own well-being is bound up with the prosperity of his country.” (10/06/26)
‘A growing subculture is determined to subordinate America to the authority of Catholic theology. But this project has been tried before: it ends in predictable horrors.” (10/06/26)
“Jim Bakker, a televangelist who once led a multimillion-dollar religious empire with his wife, Tammy Faye, before a sex sandal tarnished his reputation and a conviction for fraud and conspiracy sent him to federal prison, died Oct. 5. He was 86. His second wife, Lori, announced the death but not cite a cause or say where he died. He had a stroke in 2020. … Tammy Faye died in 2007. Their son Jamie changed his first name to Jay and became a tattooed, body-pierced preacher in Minneapolis who espoused somewhat liberal social views. In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Bakker’s survivors include a daughter from his first marriage, Tammy Sue Bakker Chapman.” (10/06/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“Equality before the law is a highly-contested principle, largely because there is no consensus on what it means for everyone to be treated equally. Does equality before the law mean that nobody believes himself to be superior or inferior to others? Does the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee that we must all enjoy the same social status? Can the Constitution ensure that no one feels slighted, ignored, or overlooked? Do citizens have a constitutional right to feel welcome and included in everything?” (10/06/26)
