“The Fourth Amendment protects all persons from warrantless government searches and seizures of their persons, houses, papers and effects. It requires that warrants be supported by probable cause of crime and specifically describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. Last week, for the first time in the modern era, the government argued to the Supreme Court of the United States that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution did not outlaw general warrants.” (05/01/26)
“The zombies are everywhere. They’re staring at their phones as they carelessly cross the road. They’re constantly watching videos, sound-on and loudly, on airplanes or in store check-out lines. And they’re not Gen Z screenagers; now, the kids’ aging grandparents are quickly becoming the biggest screen addicts of all. … Last month Wired reported that a med student in India used AI to create a character named Emily Hart (a pretty blonde ‘MAGA influencer’ who claimed to enjoy posing in a stars-and-stripes bikini) and profited handsomely from the deception. In March the equally fake Jessica Foster, billed as a US Army service member, was exposed as a money-spinning AI fiction in a similar scam. Youngsters can spot AI from a mile away; it wasn’t Gen Z sending over cash.” (05/02/26)
Source: Chris’s Substack
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“The Jackson family is split down the middle on sanctioning the new film and critics have been similarly split, many voicing concern that its ‘sanitized’ version of MJ’s life sidesteps controversial charges of child molestation, which first surfaced in August 1993 and led Jackson to resolve a civil lawsuit in 1994 with the family of Jordan Chandler. A second series of molestation charges led to a 2005 criminal trial, in which Jackson was acquitted. Arguably, his reputation didn’t begin to recover until after his untimely death at the age of 50 in 2009. Conveniently, both the Broadway musical and the 2026 film end their time frame before any of this ugliness came to light.” (05/02/26)
“A wise man — possibly Winston Churchill — once said, ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ And if he’d lived long enough to see President Trump in office, he might have added, ‘Especially if you can turn it into a real estate project.’ In the aftermath of the chaos at the White House Correspondents’ dinner, Trump was presented with yet another opportunity to refocus his presidency on issues important to the American people. Instead, he chose to exploit the opportunity for his personal priorities. The real crisis, in his telling, was less about guns or mental health and more about America’s strategic shortage of sufficiently opulent indoor gathering spaces.” (05/01/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Laws aimed at pro-Palestine protests should always be looked at as efforts to ban criticism of Israel. That’s what we’re seeing in the UK as the prime minister encourages the prosecution of anyone who says ‘globalise the intifada.’ ‘If you stand alongside people who say globalise the intifada, you are calling for terrorism against Jews and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted,’ said Keir Starmer during a Thursday press conference. ‘It is racism, extremely racism and it has left a minority community in this country scared, intimidated, wondering if they belong. So, I say again this government will do everything in our power to stamp this hatred out.'” (05/02/26)
“Jürgen Habermas (1929–2026) dominated post-war European liberal philosophy. He dedicated his life to the rational foundation of a global liberal order and the post-national European Union. Loaded with philosophical terms, his writing does not invite the reader, yet there is pathos in the background. Habermas addressed the question of whether the Enlightenment was the cause of the German genocides and Germany’s own ruin.” (05/01/26)
“Long time ago, May Day was about celebrating Spring — for which rejoicing is appropriate. Over the last century, it has become International Workers’ Day. ‘In 1889, an international federation of socialist groups and trade unions designated May 1 as pro-workers day,’ informs the Wikidates.org website, ‘on the anniversary of the Haymarket Riots in Chicago (1886).’ Five years later, clearly opposed to cavorting with socialists, the U.S. established Labor Day on September 1, an alternative date to honor workers. Today, political rallies and protests are expected in major cities across the country.” (05/01/26)
“In its daily use of social media (three hours, 32 minutes on average), Latin America leads the world. Over the past quarter century, it has nearly tripled the number of people attending university and cut poverty by about half. This list of notable trends could go on, regardless of concerns about crime, corruption, and caudillo-style rulers. Together, however, they might help explain this latest news: Last year, the region saw the greatest improvement in key indicators of democracy, such as political participation and civil liberties, compared with Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. In fact, it was the only region to improve. And Latin America did so after seeing nine years of decline on the index of democracy compiled annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).” (05/01/26)
“In ‘It’s On You,’ Nick Chater and George Loewenstein turn from advocates of ‘nudging,’ subtle policy efforts to shape behavior without coercion, to critics who see it as ineffective and misleading.” (05/01/26)
