Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is under investigation over alleged influence peddling and related crimes in the bailout of an airline during the COVID-19 pandemic. The High Court said on Tuesday that Zapatero’s office in Madrid was searched along with three other premises. The socialist, who governed Spain from 2004 to 2011, was summoned to testify on June 2. The investigation is tied to the 2021 state rescue of Plus Ultra, which received 53 million euros ($62m) through the state holding company SEPI during the pandemic. The case escalated in late December after several arrests, including businessman Julio Martinez Martinez, known as Julito, who is considered key to understanding the links between Plus Ultra and Zapatero.” (05/19/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/19/spains-former-pm-zapatero-faces-corruption-probe
Source: Law & Liberty
“The Future of Dynamism — with Virginia Postrel, hosted by G. Patrick Lynch.” (05/19/26)
https://lawliberty.org/podcast/the-future-of-dynamism/
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Kym Robinson
“Social media and our relationship to the digital realm inside our screens has twisted the real world into a filtered and inhuman perception. Influencers and content creators who falsify their image turn humans with imperfections into streamlined products for a cultivated audience, with particular aesthetics and quality they are now accustomed to. In turn, LLMs and these versions of AI all seek to duplicate the human experience or perspective through devious means of humanizing machines. LLM’s are expected to provide prose filled with flowery and grandiose language, its software chatting in a way the human being on the other end feels flattered and ingratiated towards. This cognitive bias can both affirm pre-established beliefs while also satiating the human ego to the point of addiction and dependency.” (05/19/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-so-called-ai-revolution-will-make-us-less-free
Source: Niskanen Center
by Gabe Menchaca
“Underlying every federal program are federal workers; underlying every federal worker is an obscure taxonomy that defines their job. Every year, when it hires a couple hundred thousand people, the U.S. federal government sends millions of signals about itself to the job market, its own workforce, and the broader country. A cursory glance through its job postings reveals some of the most obvious ones: that federal employment is narrow, bureaucratic, procedural, and intelligible only to insiders. It prioritizes and selects for task specialists rather than outcome specialists.” (05/19/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/classification-rules-everything-around-me
Source: SFGate
“A biotech company that aims to resurrect lost creatures said Tuesday it has hatched live chicks in an artificial environment — a development that was met with mixed reviews from scientists and critics of its de-extinction mission. Twenty-six baby chickens — ranging from a few days to several months old — were born from a 3D printed lattice structure that mimics an eggshell, according to Colossal Biosciences. Colossal previously announced it had genetically engineered living animals to resemble extinct species, including mice with long hair like the woolly mammoth and wolf pups that take after dire wolves. Colossal’s CEO Ben Lamm said the artificial egg technology could one day be scaled up to genetically tweak living birds to resemble New Zealand’s extinct South Island giant moa, whose eggs are 80 times the size of a chicken’s and would be difficult for any modern bird to lay.’ Lamm said.” (05/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/a-de-extinction-company-has-hatched-live-chicks-22266173.php
Source: EconLog
by David Hebert
“For your decisions, there are three options: you can get the decision right or you can get it wrong. ‘But Dave,’ you say, ‘that’s only two options!’ In the following nuance lies the heart of this piece: there are two ways in which you can be wrong. You can act when you shouldn’t have or you can fail to act when you should have. Getting things right all the time is not possible. So which type of mistake are you more likely to guard against? It depends on which one will get you fired. In most government settings, the answer is biased in particular (and predictable) ways.” (05/19/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/asymmetric-accountability
Source: Liberal Currents
by Janet Bufton
“Classical liberals must rejoin left liberals in fighting for emancipatory politics and against the illiberal right.” (05/19/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/liberalism-reunited/
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Prosecutors in Minnesota on Monday charged a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent with assault in connection with the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis in January during US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city. Christian Castro, 53, was charged with four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanour of falsely reporting a crime, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told a press conference. Castro was the second federal agent to be charged by Minneapolis officials in connection with Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, during which Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg, and two US citizens were [murdered] by federal agents.” (05/19/26)
https://archive.is/mb5gv
