Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“The seven-strong ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party said Tuesday that it would seek to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections, because of the coalition’s failure to pass a law enshrining the decades-old exemption of Haredi yeshiva students from military service. Multiple opposition MKs promptly submitted bills for the dissolution of parliament, with the Yesh Atid party seeking to begin the process on Wednesday. Nonetheless, it was not immediately clear when and whether such a vote would be held, whether it would pass, and, if so, when elections might be held. In any case, general elections must be held no later than October 27, 2026. … UTJ, a core member when Netanyahu assembled his coalition after the 2022 elections, formally pulled out of the government and the coalition last year in the protracted dispute over the legislation.” (05/13/26)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/haredi-factions-back-dissolving-knesset-increasing-chance-for-early-elections/
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The U.S. Malignancy in Venezuela.” (05/12/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv6PqswaQ7I
Source: Independent Institute
by Jonathan Hofer
“As many are likely already aware, automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are high-speed cameras that can identify vehicles as they pass and record their time and location. Over the last decade, the technology has rapidly expanded across American roads and is found in nearly every major city. In a recent posting, I offered a rough estimate of how many ALPRs are deployed in California, suggesting the number is plausibly in the 9.3k–14.9k range, well above the 5k documented in the best records of the technology. However, there has been considerably less attention paid to whether or not the number of ALPRs changes the constitutional calculus. I argue that it does, and that it may render some elements of ALPRs unconstitutional.” (05/12/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/12/license-plate-reader-baton-passing/
Source: SFGate
“Meta Platforms said Wednesday it’s rolling out an ‘incognito’ mode for WhatsApp users to have private conversations with its AI chatbot, a move intended to ease privacy concerns about sensitive information that users share in chats. The social media company said in a blog post that incognito chat mode provides a way to have private, temporary conversations with Meta AI, its artificial intelligence assistant that’s been available on WhatsApp for a few years. Messages will be processed ‘in a secure environment’ that even Meta can’t access, won’t be saved by default and will disappear when exiting a session, Meta said. Generative AI systems have been dogged by privacy concerns because the large language models that underpin these systems are trained on vast troves of data, sometimes including personal information provided by users themselves in their conversations with AI chatbots.” (05/13/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/meta-launches-whatsapp-incognito-mode-to-22256790.php
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“Recently several dozen articles defending homeschooling have crossed our desktop here at The Price of Liberty. Unfortunately, they are vastly outnumbered by articles and comments attacking homeschooling. And at the same time, we are seeing more and more State governments and local school districts and boards working very hard (for the bureaucrats and politicians, at least) to come up with more ways to regulate and restrict homeschooling and ‘ensure’ that parents and their families and friends are ‘properly educating’ their children.” (05/12/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/05/12/homeschooling-under-fire/
Source: Common Dreams
by Jamie Beran & Rabbi Jill Jacobs
“When thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents invaded Minneapolis this past January, Twin Cities residents, and people across the country, jumped into action, trailing these agents, organizing major protests, and dropping off food and supplies to those understandably afraid to leave their homes. Both of our organizations, too, took action. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action leadership traveled to join a clergy day of protest alongside close partners in Minneapolis, and T’ruah sent some 50 rabbis to support dozens of their colleagues who live and work there. Lay people and clergy alike similarly stepped up in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and other cities targeted by major Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Minnesotans successfully diminished the massive ICE takeover of their city. This is a testament to the power of citizen organizing and action.” (05/13/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/ice-wants-silence
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump’s push to redraw the nation’s U.S. House districts received mixed results Tuesday as South Carolina senators defied his desires but Missouri’s top court upheld a new map that could help Republicans win an additional seat in the November midterm elections. … Trump urged South Carolina to redraw its congressional districts ahead of the November elections in an attempt to help Republicans win another seat. A House committee endorsed a map Tuesday that could eliminate the state’s only Democratic-held seat, and the chamber voted previously to let lawmakers return after their regular work ends Thursday to further consider redistricting. But the Senate had to give permission too. The 29-17 vote failed, coming just two votes short of the two-thirds needed, as five Republicans joined all Democrats in opposition.” (05/12/26)
https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-congress-voting-rights-trump-1ed6f8c68884b372efca79fbb50e343a
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“US Has Lost In Iran. Now Comes The Pain.” (05/12/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1XxygmAXroYGM
Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome
“Behold a right-left mind-meld on the economy. For decades, the thinking goes, corporations have captured a larger share of national income at workers’ expense. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D‑Massachusetts) says this is because ‘American workers don’t have enough power.’ On the populist right, meanwhile, this lamentable trend has happened as companies have ‘fattened profit margins by outsourcing their workforces.’ It’s a tidy narrative but mostly wrong.” (05/12/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/capitalists-world-arent-uniting-against-workers
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Donald Trump is due to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening, the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade, as he seeks to mend power and prestige weakened by the war in Iran. Trump will bring tech leaders, including Elon Musk of Tesla and Tim Cook of Apple, and plans for headline-grabbing deals. … neither side appears eager to allow the Iran crisis to derail broader diplomatic and economic engagement in the first of four potential meetings between Trump and Xi over the next year. The two countries remain locked in a fragile tariff truce reached last autumn after tensions threatened to erupt into a full-scale trade war. Trump has long complained about China’s trade surplus with the US, while Beijing has bristled at American export controls and sanctions.” (05/13/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/13/trump-china-summit-xi-jinping-talks
