Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, 09/16/26
Source: Politico
“A turning point on AI.” (09/16/26)
Constitution Day and the Role of Lawyers Every Single Day
Source: Checks & Balances
by Mary Smith
“In 2023, as I was preparing for my term as American Bar Association (ABA) President, I thought about what issue should be the focus of my term as president. Recognizing that while the ABA had a long history of focusing on the most important legal issues, it was important to focus not solely on a legal issue but the most critical issue of our time. I kept coming back to the single most important issue facing our country today: threats to democracy.” (09/15/26)
https://chkbal.substack.com/p/constitution-day-and-the-role-of
The AI “Threat” is Replacing Covid and “Global Warming”
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ryan McMaken
“[L]ast Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, in an article titled ‘We Must Pace the Frontier,’ called for extensive government regulation of AI firms. Amodei insisted that, unless governments step in to control the AI industry, then there will be insufficient ‘guardrails’ to prevent ‘losing control of AI systems, misuse of AI for cyberattacks and bioterrorism, and serious economic disruption.’ … whenever we see a group of politically active billionaires agree that government should have more power, we should be alarmed, to say the least.” (09/15/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/ai-threat-replacing-covid-and-global-warming
The Protect College Sports Act Shows How Much the GOP Doesn’t Care About Limited Government Anymore
Source: Reason
by Jason Russell
“Democrats backing a big-government bill that decides how college sports ought to be run is largely unsurprising. But Republicans backing the bill show that the GOP has little to no semblance of a party that’s interested in limiting the size and scope of government anymore. The backers of the bill believe politicians, not the NCAA, should decide how many transfers are allowed. They think politicians, not conferences, should set a compensation cap on how much schools can pay athletes. They think politicians, not athletes and businesses, should get to decide what is a legitimate private contract. They think politicians, not the colleges, should decide how many schools are in the Big Ten and SEC. … They even think politicians, not the NFL or broadcasters, should get to decide when professional football games are on TV.” (09/15/26)
South Korea: Court orders North Korean regime to pay $32.5 million for blowing up office
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A court in Seoul has ordered Pyongyang to pay roughly $32.5m for blowing up an office in North Korea in 2020 that was intended to foster better relations between the two neighbours. ‘The court has ruled the North should pay the South Korean government 44.6 billion won in damages,’ a spokeswoman for the Seoul Central District Court told the AFP news agency on Wednesday. The lawsuit over the destruction of the Inter-Korean Liaison Office marks the first time the South Korean government has sought damages directly from the North Korean state, media reports said.” (09/16/26)
Free Speech Unmuted, 09/15/26
Source: Hoover Institution
“Spoiler Alert: Can You Get Sued For Revealing A Plot Point? | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer.” (09/15/26)
Violence is now a gendered issue
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Chapin Lenthall-Cleary
“Acceptance of violence against speakers used to be a liberal thing. No longer.” (09/15/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/violence-is-now-a-gendered-issue
Without This Concept, Liberalism Is Nothing
Source: Persuasion
by Jeffery Tyler Syck
“The idea of an egalitarian human dignity at the heart of the political order was not just Jefferson’s quirky view of liberal government and society. For most of liberalism’s early history, liberal thinkers saw themselves as making more universal and secular the Christian idea of the Imago Dei—that everyone is born with God Himself reflected in their being. Yet, over time, liberals changed emphasis. Between Jefferson’s time and our own they started championing legal proceduralism, free market economics, and religious freedom. To be sure, these are valuable aspects of liberalism and should be defended. But none alone has the moral force and philosophic weight to anchor an entire approach to politics.” (09/15/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/liberalisms-most-important-idea
Nvidia chief rebuffs AI panic even as Democrats demand action
Source: SFGate
“California lawmakers are demanding Congress immediately pass artificial intelligence safety laws as panic grips much of the tech industry over fears of AI leading to human extinction. Reps. Sam Liccardo and George Whitesides, Democrats from California, co-signed a letter late Friday to House Speaker Mike Johnson urging the Republican leader to take immediate action on the ‘catastrophic risk’ that the new technology poses and requesting that Congress not leave the capital until a new AI safety measure is passed. The letter came just days after an Anthropic safety researcher resigned from the San Francisco company and warned that there’s a 10% chance AI could kill all humans within the next decade. The disclosure set off a wave of panic across the country. President Donald Trump and Johnson downplayed those fears over the weekend and emphasized that if American regulators slow down AI development, the U.S. could risk falling behind China.” (09/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/anthropic-congress-ai-panic-22431156.php
Politics Politics Politics, 09/15/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Ohio Governor Ads Get Spicy! Crypto, Congress, and Campaigning for President (with Tim Ryan).” (09/15/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/ohio-governor-ads-get-spicy-crypto