The Opinions, 05/21/26
Source: New York Times
“MAHA Is No Longer Useful to Trump.” (05/21/26)
America keeps falling uphill. That’s Beijing’s big blind spot.
Source: Washington Post
by David Ignatius
“Hold off on those announcements of the dawn of the Chinese century.” (05/21/26)
NATO Should Stay Out of Iran
Source: Liberal Currents
by Matthew Downhour
“Dragging NATO into Iran, or making American participation in NATO contingent on action in Iran, threatens to erode the basics that make NATO functional in the first place. And European NATO states (and Canada) would be foolish to give in to this petulance — there is no formal understanding, ethical motivation, or even pragmatic consideration that would obligate or even argue in favor of Europe joining this American misadventure. If the Iran war is a test for NATO, it is a test of whether the alliance can retain a defined mission, or whether it will be subjected to perpetual mission creep. In the latter case, it cannot possibly survive.” (05/21/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/nato-should-stay-out-of-iran/
Trump’s $1.776 billion settlement fund is ripe for abuse
Source: USA Today
by Dace Potas
“This is a fund with no congressional oversight resolving grievances outside the normal judicial process. Everyone involved in its creation ultimately works for Trump, either in his capacity as president or as a private citizen. Despite the Justice Department’s claims otherwise, it is difficult to imagine this becoming anything other than a partisan mess. Even if Trump or members of his family never directly receive money from the fund, it is impossible to separate his interests from the arrangement.” (05/21/26)
Rising, 05/21/26
Source: The Hill
“Kevin O’Leary destroys Gen Z: Stop Spending $28 on lunch!” (05/21/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5875554-rising-may-21-2026/
It’s Not Just ICE Stockpiling Weapons — the IRS, EPA, and Other Feds Are Arming Up Too
Source: Reason
by CJ Ciaramella
“An armed IRS agent roaming the streets should send shivers down the spine of any freedom-loving American.” (for publication 06/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/21/beware-the-blob-of-federal-police/
How the “Mythos Moment” Can Lead to Better AI Policy
Source: The Dispatch
by Steven Weber
“For more than three years, public debate about the risk-benefit balance around artificial intelligence has been dysfunctional bordering on ridiculous, hostage to a binary so crude it would embarrass a freshman seminar. On one side are the ‘doomers,’ who are portrayed as insisting that frontier AI is an existential threat requiring immediate radical constraint. On the other are the ‘boomers,’ who treat any suggestion of oversight as a sci-fi-coded slowdown that would hand American technological supremacy to China. Each camp has its prophets, forums, think tanks, and a remarkable capacity to mistake assertion for argument. But the world just changed, and that dialogue is ready to end. That’s good news for amplifying the upside potential of AI.” (05/21/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/artificial-intelligence-mythos-regulation-innovation/
DC: Taxpayer spending on “exorcisms” derails Senate testimony
Source: Fox News
“Sen. John Kennedy [R-LA] railed against California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, which is facing scrutiny from the Trump administration over fraud allegations, as Kennedy highlighted reports during a Tuesday hearing that the state covers exorcisms and other faith-based healing practices. Medi-Cal’s spending practices have faced growing scrutiny as California’s Medicaid spending has more than doubled since 2019, rising from roughly $100.7 billion to a projected $222 billion in 2026. Just last week, the Trump administration suspended $1.4 billion in federal funding for California home health and hospice programs after Vice President J.D. Vance’s anti-fraud task force identified an estimated $600 million in suspected fraud within the state’s Medicaid system. Kennedy alleged during his line of questioning to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that taxpayer dollars were being used to cover the cost of exorcisms, a religious practice most commonly associated with the Catholic Church, and other indigenous spiritual practices.” (05/21/26)
Half the Answer, episode 84
Source: Liberal Currents
“Trent and Caitlin discuss recent AI news, Sam Altman’s troubles legal and otherwise, labor organizing as a strategy against the worst fears of AI experts, and whether Richard Dawkins is conscious, in this news digest episode with linguist and AI researcher Hagen Blix.” (05/21/26)
Trump’s Beijing Visit Shows the Limits of Diplomacy
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“President Donald Trump’s recent two-day summit in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded much as anticipated. In an article written ahead of the trip, I noted that expectations for substantive breakthroughs in the fraught Sino-American relationship were likely to be disappointed. The events of the visit bore this out. While the tone was notably, and welcomely, warmer than in recent years and both sides touted ‘fantastic trade deals,’ the core structural tensions — trade imbalances, technology restrictions, Taiwan, and regional security — remain largely unaddressed.” (05/21/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/trumps-beijing-visit-shows-the-limits-of-diplomacy