“Once you acknowledge the truism that AI output is speech, almost all regulation of AI is ipso facto illegal. Government has no more legal right to regulate AI than it has to regulate the New York Times. Even if you’re a convinced doomer, you have to admit that the danger of existing LLMs is not ‘clear and present,’ much less ‘imminent.’ If the Supreme Court has an iota of consistency, the AI industry will be able — barring an anti-AI amendment to the Constitution — to fend off virtually all regulation with ease. Does the Supreme Court have an iota of consistency? Based on past performance, the jury is still out.” (03/25/26)
“Sarah Mullally has been formally installed as archbishop of Canterbury, marking the start of her public ministry as the first woman to lead the Church of England. The former nurse on Wednesday took her seat on the 13th-century Chair of St Augustine at Canterbury Cathedral before 2,000 guests that included heir to the British throne Prince William and his wife Catherine, as well as Prime Minister Keir Starmer and religious leaders. She will serve as the spiritual head of the global Anglican Communion, which has about 85 million members worldwide. … While Mullally’s appointment in October drew sharp criticism from the conservative Global Anglican Future Conference, made up largely of churches in Africa and Asia that oppose moves towards same-sex blessings and women’s leadership, the bloc this month abandoned earlier plans to appoint a parallel figurehead to rival Canterbury, opting instead to establish a new council.” (03/25/26)
“Drones coming from Russian airspace hit their territories, Latvian and Estonian authorities said on Wednesday. One drone ‘struck the chimney of the Auvere power plant’ in Estonia, the country’s internal security ISS said in a statement, while another fell on Latvian territory. The Auvere power plant, operated by the Enefit Power group, is located in northeastern Estonia, near the town of Narva on the Russian border. ‘These are the effects of Russia’s large-scale war of aggression,’ said ISS Director General Margo Palloson, expressing concern about ‘the occurrence of such incidents in the future.’ Prosecutors are supervising an investigation into the incident. Meanwhile, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said in a post on X that the drone that fell on Latvian territory was apparently Ukrainian.” (03/25/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
“This is not a partisan affair. Experts in military strategy, regional history, and current power dynamics in the Middle East — as well as American politics and geoeconomics — are struggling to make sense of the U.S.–Israel war launched on February 28 and warn that its escalatory spiral is spinning out of control. But just like when the bloom was off the rose in late 2003, when the insurgencies and sectarian violence started emerging in Iraq and it was becoming clear that the Bush administration had no plan for ‘what’s next,’ the cheerleaders and shills are rushing to battle stations today to do everything to maintain some sort of rationalization for the disaster unfolding right before our eyes. This time, these messaging force-multipliers, tied directly or otherwise to the political and military machinery behind this war, shouldn’t get off so easily.” (03/25/26)
“Among the classified records taken to Mar-a-Lago by President Trump were documents so sensitive that one had been distributed to just six people, while another set was relevant to his business interests. The disclosure, made to the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into the probes into Trump, offers new details about the types of records the president took with him to Florida after losing the 2020 election. The public is still barred from seeing former special counsel Jack Smith’s report surrounding the investigation that prompted him to bring Espionage Act charges against Trump after 300 documents with classified markings were discovered at his Florida estate. … The Justice Department on Wednesday called [ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)] ‘blinded by hatred of President Trump,’ and claimed without providing further details that the Smith memo contains ‘salacious and untrue claims about President Trump.'” (03/25/26)
“Last week, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission threatened to rescind the broadcast licenses of media entities that do not relate events in Iran or Ukraine as the Trump administration would like them to be related. He also attacked The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for the same reasons. This followed by one day a verbal attack on CNN by the Secretary of Defense who made known his bitter unhappiness with CNN’s coverage of the Iran war. Yet, CNN is not regulated by the FCC, which only regulates broadcast media — not cable or streaming; and newspapers, thanks be to God, are totally unregulated. So, what’s going on here? What’s going on is chilling.” (03/25/26)
“If the reported details are correct, the so-called plan includes many of the same unrealistic and maximalist demands that the administration has been making for the last year. It was based on the U.S. proposal from 2025 before the June war. It is hard to see why Iran would agree to such terms now when their government has more leverage than it had before. Strange as it may seem, the Iranian government is negotiating from a stronger position because of the war and the ensuing economic shock. If there is ever an agreement between the U.S. and Iran in the future, it will likely be on more favorable terms for Iran than if the war had never happened.” (03/25/26)
“Most political consultants will tell you that a quality they treasure in their clients is the ability to stay on message. In the world of political communication, that means limiting the opportunity for the mainstream media to talk about issues not in your candidate’s best interest and instead driving home a poll-tested and winning message. The more the candidate ‘stays on message’ the less opportunity there is for the media to cover the campaign in a less favorable light. Trump is by far the most accessible president in my lifetime. In contrast to his predecessors, he takes questions from the media seemingly every day. … All of Trump’s expounding on a wide range of issues should be a good thing. But it is not. Why? Because when a president answers multiple questions in a day, the White House loses control of what the media reports during that news cycle.” (03/25/26)
