Reasonably Optimistic, 06/10/26
Source: Washington Post
“Do aliens exist? I asked an astrophysicist.” (06/10/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/do-aliens-exist-i-asked-an-astrophysicist/
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Why Democrats rejected ‘class traitor’ Steyer in California
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“Why couldn’t Steyer pull this off? What did his 12 years as a ‘donor-doer’ leave behind for his party? Quite a lot, mostly related to the ballot measures he funded before getting more tied to national politics. But as he grew more ambitious, Steyer embodied the Democratic Party’s problems.” (06/10/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/10/2026/why-democrats-rejected-class-traitor-steyer-in-california
The Oppenheimer of AI
Source: Law & Liberty
by Walter Donway
“Great scientists probably cannot be relied upon to control the perils of new technologies by exercising personal restraint.” (06/10/26)
The Long, Long Two Weeks
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Nothing is so permanent, wrote Milton Friedman, as a temporary government program. Six years ago, Americans learned that not only vaguely temporary measures go on and on, even precisely marked-out periods with clear starts and stops stated at the outset can be dragged on well past their expiration date.” (06/10/26)
Myanmar: Woman detained by police after American diplomat found dead
Source: CBS News
“An American diplomat was found dead in Myanmar’s largest city, the U.S. State Department said, and members of the diplomatic community in Yangon say a Thai woman has been detained by police in connection with the investigation. American officials in Thailand and the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar referred questions on the case to the State Department, which confirmed the ‘death of a U.S. government employee’ assigned to the embassy in Yangon but gave no other details. … According to three people in the diplomatic community in Myanmar, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, the man was found dead about two weeks ago at the Sakura Residence & Hotel.” (06/10/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-diplomat-dead-myanmar-woman-detained/
Microsoft will disable Office 2019 for Mac next month
Source: The Verge
“Microsoft’s Office 2019 apps for Mac will stop working next month, because the company isn’t renewing a certificate that validates Office licenses. Owners of Office 2019 for Mac are being warned they’ll have to purchase Office 2024 or a Microsoft 365 subscription if they want to continue editing documents. Microsoft previously promised that ‘all your Office 2019 apps will continue to function,’ when it announced end of support in 2023. The company then quietly updated that support note last month to remove the mention of apps continuing to function, replacing it with ‘Rest assured that all your Office 2019 apps won’t lose any data.’ Starting on July 13th, Office 2019 for Mac and Office 2021 for Mac will both run in ‘reduced functionality mode,’ allowing people to open files but not edit, save, or create new documents.” [editor’s note: If you purchased Office 2019, you made a mistake in buying from an untrustworthy company. Instead of taking the bait again, switch to e.g. LibreOffice, which is free – TLK] (06/10/26)
https://www.theverge.com/news/947518/microsoft-office-2019-for-mac-end-of-support-no-edit
The Political Orphanage, 06/10/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“The Emperor of Epcot: Walt Disney and Company Towns.” (06/10/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/the-emperor-of-epcot-walt-disney-and-company-towns
Why Did the President’s Son-In-Law Acquire A Nuclear Fortress in Albania?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat
“On a podcast this spring, Ivanka Trump described how she and her husband Jared Kushner came upon Sazan Island. A friend’s boat, a stop to swim, a captivation that would not release them. ‘We swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.’ … Sazan’s coastline is so forbidding that sailors gave it a name: Gryka e Xhehenemit, the Gorge of Hell. The slopes are studded with some 3,600 concrete bunkers, most of them one-man domes built to survive a nuclear blast, threaded together by ten miles of reinforced tunnels and a buried command center. In the water around the island lie World War II artillery shells, anti-submarine mines, and tons of undetonated ordnance, enough that the area is mapped as a hazard. Nobody walks barefoot up that.” (06/10/26)
Mitch McConnell’s Hemp Ban Betrays the Industry He Helped Create
Source: Reason
by Tosin Akintola
“Federal prohibition of hemp-derived THC products would destroy a $37.5 billion industry to solve a problem states are already handling.” (06/10/26)
https://reason.com/2026/06/10/mitch-mcconnells-hemp-ban-betrays-the-industry-he-helped-create/
Mali: Two journalists arrested in latest crackdown on freedom of expression
Source: ABC News
“Malian authorities arrested two prominent journalists in the past two days, the latest crackdown on freedom of expression by the West African country’s military leadership during a security crisis. … In Mali, public statements suggesting that the military is losing ground to jihadist groups often leads to charges. … In January 2025, Malian authorities banned the sale of the Pan-African magazine Jeune Afrique. Several French media outlets, including France24, TV5 Monde, and Radio France International, are also banned from broadcasting in Mali. Several opposition leaders have been imprisoned for criticizing the military regime.” (06/10/26)