Reason Roundtable, 06/02/25
Source: Reason
“Artificial Intelligence Is Making Everything Weird.” (06/02/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/06/02/artificial-intelligence-is-making-everything-weird/
Netherlands: Regime coalition collapses after Wilders withdrawal
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“The Dutch coalition government led by Prime Minister Dick Schoof fell apart on Tuesday after Geert Wilders, the head of the far-right PVV (Party for Freedom), pulled his party out, citing differences with his partners over immigration policy. … Wilders had already indicated in late May that he was ready to bring about the fall of the coalition if his 10-point plan to curb immigration was not put into action within a few weeks. The plan included border closures for asylum-seekers, tougher border controls and deporting dual nationals convicted of a crime. … the plans were deemed unviable or even illegal by several political experts. Some also suggested that Wilders was looking to collapse the government by creating a crisis.” (06/03/25)
https://www.dw.com/en/dutch-coalition-collapses-after-wilders-withdrawal/a-72770240
In Dangerous Times, Train for Self-Defense
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“If you’re going to own a tool, it’s best to know how to properly use it. That’s as true for firearms as it is for chainsaws. Given the rising temperature of American politics, including escalating violence against people and property, my wife Wendy and I decided it was time to up our game when it came to self-defense. To that end, we enrolled in Gunsite Academy’s Defensive Pistol class.” (06/02/25)
https://reason.com/2025/06/02/in-dangerous-times-train-for-self-defense/
SCOTUS won’t review unconstitutional Maryland, Rhode Island gun “laws”
Source: USA Today
“The Supreme Court on June 2 preserved Maryland’s ban on assault-style weapons and Rhode Island’s ban on high-capacity magazines, declining to decide if they meet the high court’s controversial bar for gun restrictions. To not violate the 2nd Amendment, the court said in 2022, a restriction must be grounded in historic tradition. Lower courts have been struggling to apply this standard.” [editor’s note: To mee the ACTUAL constitutional bar, a gun restriction must not exist – TLK] (06/02/25)
How Kindness Became Criminalized
Source: The Dispatch
by Anastasia Boden
“States and localities are requiring approval for all manner of activities — including basic acts of kindness. America has a permission problem, and it goes well beyond requiring permits to pass out food. Occupational licensing helps put people into poverty by creating barriers to work, and other permitting requirements make it difficult for them to dig themselves out or receive assistance. And such barriers ignore a rich American tradition. Private charity in America goes back to before the founding. Neighbors, churches, and nonprofits have come to the aid of those in need long before bureaucrats demanded oversight. But studies show that, as the government took over that role, charity has shrunk. And as our permission society has expanded, charity has become more difficult. So, how does a society so deeply entrenched in a culture of permission walk it back?” (06/02/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/homeless-charity-criminalize/
Russian, Ukrainian regimes reach deal on new POW swap and handover of bodies
Source: Reuters
“Russia and Ukraine said they had agreed at peace talks on Monday to exchange more prisoners of war and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. The warring sides met for barely an hour in the Turkish city of Istanbul, for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a meeting in Turkey with U.S. President Donald Trump. But there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and Washington have all urged Russia to accept. Moscow says it seeks a long-term settlement, not a pause in the war; Kyiv says Putin is not interested in peace.” (06/02/25)
How Making GLP-1s Available Over the Counter Can Unlock Their Full Potential
Source: Cato Institute
by Jeffrey A Singer
“Drugs like Ozempic might not only address obesity but also alcoholism, smoking, and drug addiction.” (06/02/25)
Mali: Twin attacks on army bases, Timbuktu airport leave scores dead
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Twin attacks on two Malian army base in the northern city of Timbuktu and in the centre of the country left dozens of soldiers dead, as well as at least a dozen assailants, security sources and local officials said Monday. Timbuktu came under attack and shells were also fired at the airport where heavy gunfire was heard, the army, local officials and residents said. … ‘Our units on the ground report the death of 30 people on our side … Our men fought to the end but did not receive the necessary support,’ a security source in Bamako told AFP after the attack on what is one of the main military camps in the centre of the violence-plagued country.” (06/02/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20250602-militants-attack-mali-army-camp-in-timbuktu-sources-say
Covid Doubts Made You a Violent Extremist
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“Portraying doubts on COVID policy as a warning sign of domestic violent extremism unleashed the FBI to target anybody who howled against mandatory injections or the near-total destruction of their freedom of movement. That December 13, 2021 National Counterterrorism Center report may be only the tip of the iceberg of federal mischief. We may soon learn of far more direct machinations to vilify, undercut, or other stifle COVID critics.” (06/02/25)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2025/06/02/covid-doubts-made-you-a-violent-extremist/
Kamala Harris: Still Burdened by What Has Been
Source: Town Hall
by William Marshall
“I know we’ve all felt an intellectual aridity in our lives since Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign ended, along with her deep cultural insights that left us all in a state of awe. Who can forget the immortal words, ‘What can be, unburdened by what has been?’ What was more head-scratching than that turn of nonsensical phrase was the repetitiveness with which she said it. I don’t know about you, but my wife, in-laws and I turned it into a private intra-family laugh line, repeating it whenever we felt like cracking each other up in a group chat.” [editor’s note: OK, so Marshall and his family are easily amused … – TLK] (06/02/25)