Source: Property and Environment Research Center
by staff
“A newly proposed federal rule changes how grizzly bears are managed under the Endangered Species Act and creates a smarter path for long-term recovery. The proposed tiered 4(d) rule rewards conservation success with greater state management flexibility, while keeping federal protections in place if populations decline. It’s a practical, science-driven approach that recognizes what recovery looks like on the ground.” (10/20/26)
https://www.perc.org/grizzly-bear-4d-rule/
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“The latest bugbear is ‘AI successionism’, the belief that AIs should succeed humans as rulers of Earth. But some critiques fail to distinguish between two different ideas. True successionism says that AIs should take over, killing humans or steamrolling over their interests. This is very bad: a compact description of the thing that AI safety is against. Handoverism says that humans should prioritize their own interests, but that those interests may be well-served by having aligned AIs in positions of control. Some people in AI safety, including me, find this latter position plausible.” (10/20/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/against-against-handover
Source: Liberal Currents
by Samantha Hancox-Li
‘People who believe their choices don’t matter choose poorly.” (10/21/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/disordered-institutions-make-disordered-publics/
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Australian independent lawmaker Helen Haines has had both of her legs amputated after being rammed by a car outside her electoral office, her husband said, as the suspected attacker appeared in court. Doctors amputated the MP’s left leg after an attacker hit her twice with his car in Wangaratta, northeast of Melbourne, on Monday, Phil Haines said. They tried to save her right leg but failed to do so, he told a news conference on Wednesday. … The suspect in the attack, revealed to be a 43-year-old man called Brendan Nugent, made a brief court appearance on Wednesday. … The suspect’s lawyer said he has a rare neurological condition called idiopathic transverse myelitis and is also recovering from a concussion, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.” (10/21/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/21/australian-mp-loses-both-legs-in-vehicle-attack-as-suspect-appears-in-court
Source: Yascha Mounk
“James Marriott on the End of Reading.” (10/20/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/james-marriott
Source: Reason
by Tosin Akintola
“On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it would ‘make $8 billion available for one-time payments to American farmers this harvest season to provide relief during temporary market disruptions and increased input costs.’ … The $8 billion program is part of a windfall of taxpayer money the Trump administration has sent to farmers as relief for harms caused by the president’s actions. Last December, the USDA sent $11 billion in one-time bridge payments to more than half a million farmers nationwide. Earlier this month, the USDA announced it would provide a record $13.8 billion in gross payments to agricultural producers to cover revenue losses.” (10/20/26)
https://reason.com/2026/10/20/trumps-8-billion-diesel-bailout-pays-farmers-for-a-problem-he-created/
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“My previous post proposed an economics course built around World of Warcraft. I have much less experience teaching statistics than teaching economics and I suspect the game is less suited for the former than the latter purpose but it does provide quite a lot of opportunities for observing data and trying to infer patterns from it so could be used to both explain and apply statistical inference. And I suspect that, as in the case of economics, application to a world with which the student was familiar and to problems of actual interest to him would have a significant positive effect on attention and understanding.” (10/20/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/statistics-with-world-of-warcraft
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Russia is ‘ready in principle’ to resume talks with the US and Ukraine on ending the conflict, Vladimir Putin’s top aide has said. Yuri Ushakov was speaking after Putin met US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Russian city of St Petersburg. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies have been pressing Moscow for an immediate resumption of the talks suspended in February, and Ushakov said a new round could be held next month. Russia has for months refused talks as it believes it is winning on the battlefield with Ukraine facing an acute shortage of interceptors against deadly Russian missile attacks. Witkoff went to St Petersburg after meeting Zelensky as well as the leaders of Norway and Finland in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on Monday.” (10/21/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq3djn5nxx12o
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott interviews Robert Wright, author of the book The God Test, about how AI will impact our future. They discuss the threats AI poses to our safety and our economies. And they talk about the right and wrong ways to minimize those risks without sacrificing the genuine benefits offered by the technology.” (10/20/26)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/10-16-26-robert-wright-on-the-threats-posed-by-ai/
Source: Indepenent Institute
by Stephen P Halbrook
“On October 15, I published a post arguing that true ‘sensitive places’ where guns are banned must have armed protection. The same day, a murderer broke into a ‘gun-free-zone’ school in Oregan and began shooting children and teachers. A dad of two girls at the school just happened to be driving by and grabbed his pistol, rushed into the school, and ‘neutralized’ the killer with several shots. He was a concealed pistol licensee. … the brave community member who entered the school and ended the carnage would have violated the law, but for a ‘choice-of-evils’ justification defense.” (10/20/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/20/saving-lives-at-silver-rail-elementary-in-bend-oregon/
