“When Turing wrote — and for most of the years since — it was possible to accept the hypothetical conclusion that, if a machine ever passed his operational test, we might consider it to be conscious. We were comfortably secure in the confidence that this was a very big if, kicked into future touch. However, the advent of large language models (LLM) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others has provoked a hasty scramble to move the goalposts. It was one thing to grant consciousness to a hypothetical machine that — just imagine! — could one day succeed at the Imitation Game. But now that LLMs can actually pass the Turing Test? ‘Well, er, perhaps, um … Look here, I didn’t really mean it when, back then, I accepted Turing’s operational definition of a conscious being …'” (04/29/26)
“Activists sailing on dozens of boats attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid say Israeli [pirates] intercepted them overnight Wednesday into Thursday, [abducting] the crews while the flotilla was sailing hundreds of miles (kilometers) from Gaza near the southern Greek island of Crete. The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail earlier this month from Barcelona. Organizers have said more than 70 boats and 1,000 people from around the world would be participating, with more vessels joining the original boats as the flotilla sailed east across the Mediterranean.” (04/30/26)
“For over 50 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Gag Rule has required defendants who settle enforcement actions to commit to a lifetime prohibition on denying or criticizing — or even permitting others to criticize — the agency’s allegations. In the SEC’s view, this prior restraint on speech is necessary to avoid the incorrect ‘impression’ that ‘the conduct alleged did not, in fact, occur.’ But in reality, the SEC’s Gag Rule systematically deprives individuals of the right to criticize their government.” (04/29/26)
“The Supreme Court on Wednesday further weakened the Voting Rights Act, ruling that a congressional map in Louisiana was a racial gerrymander even though it was drawn to comply with the landmark law aimed at protecting minority voters. The justices, split 6-3 with the court’s conservatives in the majority, told states they can almost never consider race when drawing maps to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which was enacted to protect minority voters who long faced discrimination in elections. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said that while there may be extreme situations where the use of race can be justified to draw a map, it was not in the Louisiana case. As a result, the new map was an ‘unconstitutional racial gerrymander,’ he added.” (04/29/26)
“Iran has proposed opening the Strait of Hormuz to all traffic if President Donald Trump removes his naval blockade of Iranian ports and ends his war against that country, according to the news outlets of Axios and Associated Press, which quoted regional officials knowledgeable of talks between Iran and mediator Pakistan. Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program would be undertaken in a later phase of the agreement. Despite all the U.S. tactical successes in blowing things up in Iran, the Iranians have the conflict’s strategic trump card of a stranglehold on international maritime shipping, which has drastically increased prices on petroleum-based products and other vital commercial items for the entire world. Above all, Trump is under pressure from Republicans to get rid of this tar baby before the 2026 mid-term elections …. Trump needs a face-saving way out of this self-imposed mess, and the first step is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.” (04/29/26)
“The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for the third straight meeting but signaled it could still cut rates in the coming months, moves that attracted the most dissents since October 1992. The Fed on Wednesday kept its short-term rate at 3.6% and retained language in its statement suggesting the next move would be a rate reduction. Three officials dissented in favor of removing the reference to a future cut, while a fourth, Stephen Miran, dissented in favor of an immediate rate cut.” (04/29/26)
“When the Left rules, they’ll tax you into the ground to fund their pet projects, regulate your speech, your guns, your business, your very thoughts, and call it compassion. When the Right has a turn, they’ll ramp up the surveillance, the wars, and the ‘law and order’ boot on your neck, all while waving a flag and quoting Scripture. Same result: your money, your time, your choices — stolen by someone with power. Only the propaganda differs.” (04/29/26)
