AI Summer, 03/22/26
Source: AI Summer
“Ryan Avent on self-driving cars and the future of the labor market.” (03/22/26)
https://www.aisummer.org/p/ryan-avent-on-self-driving-cars-and
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Tariffs Will Not Save Britain’s Steel Industry
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Eliot Wilson
“The Government’s approach to the UK’s steel industry has always looked like a cross between inveterate, unshakeable optimism and the panicked thrashings of a drowning man clutching for a flotation aid. An extremely charitable observer would argue that the Government had always had a very clear aim: to preserve Britain’s steel industry in order to safeguard employment in the sector and to provide resilience in manufacturing a product vital for growth and security. A more cynical mind might counter that someone who makes a wish as a penny is flipped down a well has a very clear aim. Without a practical, sustainable and realistic plan to achieve that aim, such airy, wouldn’t-it-be-nice ambitions are politically worthless at best.” (03/22/26)
https://fee.org/articles/tariffs-will-not-save-britains-steel-industry/
Meanwhile, in Sudan
Source: Quillette
by Brian Stewart
“While Iran, Israel, and Gaza have dominated headlines, a bloody power struggle among Sudanese warlords grinds on.” (03/22/26)
France: Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire elected Paris mayor, as National Rally fails to take key cities
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire has been elected mayor of Paris, beating the former rightwing minister Rachida Dati, with Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) failing to take key cities targeted in Sunday’s second round of local elections. Grégoire took a victory bike ride with future councillors in Paris on Sunday night to show that the French capital would continue its pro-cycling and environmental policies. … In France’s second city, Marseille, the mayor, Benoît Payan, won with his leftwing coalition including the Socialists and the Greens – holding back a rise of the RN. … Elsewhere, the former prime minister Édouard Philippe is now expected to kickstart his centre-right candidacy for the French presidency next year after being re-elected as mayor of the northern port town of Le Havre.” (03/22/26)
How to Fix It with John Avlon, 03/22/26
Source: The Bulwark
“MAGA Isn’t a Majority—So Why Is It Winning? (w/ Dan Cantor).” (03/22/26)
The Turning Point in Our Lives
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker
“The Covid period was a turning point in our lives. We saw how the system that rules us truly operates and that of which it is capable. We experienced the apotheosis of the corporatist planning state, as close to dystopian-level totalitarianism as we ever knew. We observed how the media, tech, elected and unelected government, and the medical industry all work together when the stakes are high. And we observed and experienced just how completely controlling this cartel can be once it is unleashed on the entire population.” (03/22/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-turning-point-in-our-lives/
Iran: Power Outages Reported in Tehran as Israeli Regime Attempts to Trigger Escalation Threats
Source: New York Times
“Residents reported blackouts across large parts of Tehran after heavy airstrikes struck multiple areas of Iran’s capital early Monday. It came shortly after Israel announced it would target Tehran’s infrastructure, without providing more details. … President Trump’s threat to strike power plants in Iran, which could plunge much of the country of 90 million people into darkness, has set off widespread fear and anxiety among Iranians at home and abroad. … Iranian officials responded defiantly on Sunday to President Trump’s threat to escalate attacks, warning that Iran would retaliate in kind if the United States or its allies widened their strikes against the country’s critical infrastructure.” (03/23/26)
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/23/world/iran-war-oil-trump
Trump Wants to Destroy Anthropic Because It Is Doing Congress’s Job of Preventing Him from Abusing AI
Source: The UnPopulist
by Adam Conner
“Over the last two weeks, the Department of Defense has initiated two wars: one against a nation with a long history of conflict with the United States; the other against one of the fastest-growing new companies in American history: Anthropic, the frontier artificial intelligence lab behind the popular Claude model. The DOD has effectively declared both Iran and Anthropic to be enemies of America, and though the weapons the DOD is using in each conflict differ dramatically — explosive missiles versus bureaucratic legal statutes — the department has made clear in both cases that its objective is to severely damage, if not totally destroy, the enemy. … Why this fight started and how the government has chosen to wage it are two separate questions, and conflating them is one of the major mistakes most coverage of this conflict has made.” (03/21/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trump-wants-to-destroy-anthropic
Unattended Baggage, episode 333
Source: Unattended Baggage
“The war is over! Long live the war!” (03/21/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-333-the-war-is-over-long
Trump: ICE gang will menace US air travelers due to TSA groper/ogler shortages
Source: Axios
“President Trump said Sunday he will send ICE agents to U.S. airports starting Monday to assist TSA officers who have been working without pay for more than five weeks during a partial Homeland Security shutdown. … acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Axios in a Sunday afternoon email that Trump ‘is using every tool available to help American travelers who are facing hours long lines at airports across the country — especially during this spring break and holiday season that is very important for many American families.’ [editor’s note: The best “tool available to help American travelers” would be shutting down the “security” checkpoints and sending that job back to airports/airlines where it belongs – TLK] (03/22/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/22/trump-ice-agents-airports-tsa-dhs-shutdown