Are policymakers ready for the potential impact of AI on the labor market?

Source: Orange County Register
by Rafael Perez

“At some point in the future, AI and robotics will be advanced enough to perform nearly all of the jobs currently performed by humans. Such a future will require that we radically change the relationship that we have with the economy and the means of production. Corporations will be forced to share their revenues as a universal basic income if they want to exist at all. However, before we achieve complete automation, there will be a period of gradually increasing AI adoption that will present unique challenges that cannot be so straightforwardly remediated (relatively speaking) as a world with full automation. So, what does a world look like where artificial intelligence has led directly to an unemployment rate comparable to or exceeding that of the Great Depression (25%)?” (12/17/25)

https://archive.is/CuPAl

Venezuela blockade finally putting US Navy where its mouth is

Source: New York Post
by staff

“Blockading Venezuela’s oil shipments finally gives teeth to a sanctions regime that dictator Nicolas Maduro has only scoffed at, offering real hope for a peaceful transition of power. The criminal gang ruling from Caracas has operated under a variety of sanctions for two decades, yet the Chavez-Maduro regime is still firmly in control. Targeted and political sanctions — mostly aimed at high-ranking individuals — did little to moderate political repression, subversion of neighboring nations or plotting with the gangs that rule Cuba and Iran. In the Biden years, Washington pursued a feckless policy of sanctions relief, allowing Caracas to trade oil and gold. But hopes that Venezuela would rejoin the international order as a respectable partner were dashed in 2024 when Maduro declared himself the victor of (yet another) openly corrupt presidential election.” (12/17/25)

https://nypost.com/2025/12/17/opinion/venezuela-blockade-finally-putting-us-navy-where-its-mouth-is/

France: “Doctor Death” who poisoned patients jailed for life

Source: BBC News [UK State Media]

“A former anaesthetist has been jailed for life for intentionally poisoning 30 patients, 12 of them fatally. Frédéric Péchier, 53, was convicted Friday at the end of a four-month trial in the eastern city of Besançon. In one of France’s biggest ever medical malpractice cases, Péchier was found to have introduced chemicals like potassium chloride or adrenaline into the infusion bags of patients.” (12/18/25)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2epv08xwz7o

Court blocks Michigan ban on “conversion therapy” on free speech grounds

Source: Seattle Times

“A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked Michigan’s ban on conversion therapy for minors who are LGBTQ+, declaring it violates the First Amendment rights of therapists and counselors. In a 2-1 opinion, the court said the law illegally restricts speech that reflects the moral beliefs of therapists. It set aside a lower court’s ruling and granted a preliminary injunction sought by Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties. ‘The Michigan law discriminates based on viewpoint — meaning the law permits speech on a particular topic only if the speech expresses a viewpoint that the government itself approves,’ Judge Raymond Kethledge wrote, joined by Judge Joan Larsen. They noted that the law permits counseling that helps someone undergoing a gender transition.” (12/17/25)

https://archive.is/P0Emw

This Is What Presidential Panic Looks Like

Source: The Atlantic
by Tom Nichols

“The president of the United States just barged into America’s living rooms like an angry, confused grandfather to tell us all that we are ungrateful whelps. When a president asks for network time, it’s usually to announce something important. But tonight, Donald Trump did not give anything like a normal speech or address. He was clearly working from a prepared text, but it sounded like one he’d written—or dictated angrily—himself, because it was full of bizarre howlers that even Trump’s second-rate speech-writing shop would probably have avoided …. We could take apart Trump’s fake facts, as checkers and pundits will do in the next few days. But perhaps more important than false statements—which for Trump are par for the course—was his demeanor. Americans saw a president drenched in panic as he tried to bully an entire nation into admitting he’s doing a great job.” (12/17/25)

https://archive.is/pUava

How DEI Is Destroying the American Family

Source: Association of Mature American Citizens
by Shane Harris

“Discriminatory ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ (DEI) policies have been enshrined in virtually every major American institution for more than a decade now. While conservatives have made some laudatory progress in turning the cultural tide against DEI, the fallout on the American economy and, even more devastatingly, the American family, is only just beginning. This week, Compact Magazine published what may be the most important long-form essay of the year. ‘The Lost Generation’, authored by aspiring screenwriter and odd-jobs aficionado Jacob Savage, describes in specific, heartbreaking detail the economic carnage that DEI has wrought on young men, and young white men in particular. Savage provides staggering statistics on the race and gender-based overhaul of hiring practices in journalism and academia to highlight how DEI has fundamentally transformed the American workplace.” (12/17/25)

https://amac.us/newsline/politics/how-dei-is-destroying-the-american-family/