“Travelers could soon be allowed to bring full water bottles through some airport security checkpoints — a major shift from longstanding airport security restrictions. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is weighing whether to allow TSA PreCheck passengers to bring water bottles through security checkpoints, according to reports. The change would apply to a select number of airports across the United States. … TSA PreCheck, which allows eligible travelers to use expedited security lanes and typically keep their shoes, belts and light jackets on during screening, generally costs less than $100 for a five-year membership, according to the agency.” (09/10/260
“In Washington DC, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant buffs his nail on his shirt as he intervenes in support of the Japanese yen. Well, Japan is the leading foreign creditor of Washington’s borrowing. It holds $1.2 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities, and a country like ours, the world’s largest debtor, depends on the kindness of foreign lenders. Any meaningful liquidation of those holding would be a market shock that would drive interest rates higher. So, Scott Bessent is protecting the strained Treasury market with clever currency machinations. The secretary, like the president he serves, must be a stable genius.” (09/10/26)
“Tragedy has a way of unifying movements. For the Right, no recent event seemed more likely to generate such a galvanizing effect than the assassination of Charlie Kirk exactly one year ago. Kirk was the most famous conservative activist in the country, and his killing — sudden, bloody, and splashed across social media — was an act of staggering evil. Here was a man, by all accounts a decent husband and father, engaging college students in patient dialog, only to have his arguments answered by bullets. Yet the event didn’t bring the American Right together. Rather, it triggered infighting that persists to this day. To understand why, we have to be willing to honestly reassess the legacy left behind by the departed. We must even speak ill of the dead (for if we don’t, as Christopher Hitchens asked, who will?).” (09/09/260
“China’s passenger car exports in the first eight months of this year already surpassed last year’s total, an industry association said Thursday, though domestic sales continued to decline. Passenger car exports in August jumped 67.1% from the year before to around 890,000 units, driven by plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). China exported more than 6.2 million passenger vehicles in January-August. Exports of all types of vehicles totaled 7.1 million last year, CAAM data show, including about 6 million passenger vehicles. The world’s largest car exporter is on track to achieve 50% to 70% growth in full-year passenger vehicle exports, according to S&P Global Ratings.” (09/10/26)
“While the Treasury forces money changers to report on suspected immigrants, Homeland Security is having police pull people over for suspicious transactions.” (09/09/26)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Jillian C York & Eva Galperin
“The term ‘digital sovereignty’ has become ubiquitous. European officials invoke it in debates about cloud infrastructure, AI, semiconductors, and platform regulation. Governments throughout the global majority use it to argue for greater control over data and communications infrastructure and boost their economies. Companies market ‘sovereign cloud’ products designed to reassure their customers that their information stays under local jurisdiction. But digital sovereignty could be something more: an opportunity for users around the world to build more resilient, open systems and the skills and infrastructure to maintain them.” (09/09/26)
