“Former French Prime Minister François Fillon has been suspended for 10 years from the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest order of merit, after being found guilty of providing his wife with a fake job in which she was paid a salary using taxpayer money. The decision to suspend Fillon was published Thursday morning in the French official gazette. It was approved by President Emmanuel Macron after being recommended by the body tasked with handling disciplinary measures for the Légion d’honneur. The fake jobs scandal emerged during the campaign for the 2017 presidential election and cost Fillon a shot at the presidency, as he was a front-runner in the contest before the allegations emerged.” (08/20/26)
“I [Max Rangeley] talk through some of the complexities with respect to military AI and robotics, then talk through some different theories of consciousness, from neuroscience, physics and other fields, and what they mean for the possibility of machine consciousness.” (08/20/26)
“It wasn’t so many months ago that Democrats were debating about what their winning message should be for capturing control of Congress in November’s midterm elections and finally putting a needed check on President Trump. Should they stay laser-focused on Trump’s culpability for a laggard economy and American families’ affordability crisis? Or spotlight Trump’s overt and corrupt self-enrichment?
The answer, finally, became obvious to the ditherers: Both. Better late than never, the economy and corruption have merged as Democrats’ two-pronged cudgel against Trump. Midterm elections are, after all, a referendum on the president’s performance; the subservient Republicans on the ballot are simply his proxies.” (08/20/26)
“A Southern California lobbyist who interned in the Clinton administration with Monica Lewinsky has been making lofty claims to win taxpayer-funded contracts — but some of the cities and public agencies on his killer resumé say they couldn’t pick him out of a lineup. Jaime Rojas, president of Rojas Public Affairs, has been collecting thousands in taxpayer fees from a Southern California agency after he bragged about securing tens of millions in federal funds …. Rojas spoke before the Phelan Piñon Hills Community Services District board in January 2025, touting a record of securing more than $90 million in state and federal funding. The district subsequently awarded Rojas a contract paying $5,000 per month. But in documents submitted to that agency and others, Rojas’ firm has overstated or made up multimillion-dollar funding claims in writing while seeking taxpayer funds, including a three-year lobbying deal tied to Gypsum Canyon Memorial Park and a planned state veterans cemetery in Orange County.” (08/20/26)
“Bond yields edged higher on Thursday morning after pulling back sharply during the previous session following the Treasury Department’s move to dramatically ramp up government debt repurchases in a bid to shore up longer-dated debt. … The Treasury Department, led by Scott Bessent, said Wednesday it would double the size of its debt repurchases, mainly at the long-end of the yield curve. The move sent yields tumbling, with the 30-year yield plunging more than 10 basis points on the day and the 10-year note yield falling more than 6 basis points, reversing this week’s earlier advance. Treasury yields have been pushing steeply higher since June, touching levels not seen since before the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.” (08/20/26)
“Other Fox New hosts and contributors who ended up in the Trump administration include Sean Duffy, Jeanine Pirro, John Bolton, Larry Kudlow, Mike Walz, Dan Bongino, Sebastian Gorka, Mike Huckabee…There are more, but you get the idea. A preponderance of war enthusiasts, some for Iraq, others for Ukraine, all for Iran. O’Reilly supported all three wars. And since he was the biggest Fox star for sixteen years, one must assume he looms large in Trump’s consciousness. That makes his pathogenic influence especially menacing.” (08/20/26)
