Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Nvidia has announced a new chip for PCs as it moves into the consumer market for devices integrated with AI technology. ‘This reinvention of the computer is as big of a deal as the reinvention of the phone into what we now know as the smartphone,’ Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang said as he unveiled the RTX Spark chip. Huang made the announcement on Monday as he delivered a keynote speech ahead of the opening of the Computex technology show in Taipei, Taiwan. Separately on Sunday, the US tightened its rules on selling Nvidia’s most advanced chips to Chinese firms. The RTX Spark is ‘a new superchip … for the era of personal AI agents – offering a new class of computer that moves from tool to teammate,’ Nvidia said on its website.” (06/01/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmp9mppvzro
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Commenters on my previous posts argued that I was overestimating how much abundance liberals had in common with libertarians, that my view might be correct for a few of the most libertarian members of the faction but not for most of them and, in particular, not for Yglesias. My view was based partly on his Substack post, which endorsed Ilya Somin’s proposal that libertarians attempt ‘to build bridges with the abundance camp on the center-left,’ partly on a few relatively libertarian Democrats of my acquaintance. What does ‘build bridges with’ mean in this context? Libertarians have limited political power on the right, Abundance Democrats even less on the left. What I am imagining is not a political alliance but an intellectual one.” (05/31/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/questions-for-abundance-liberals
Source: Politico
“Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell used one of his first major public appearances since leaving office to defend independent institutions while accepting an award Sunday honoring his efforts to preserve the central bank’s independence. Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library overlooking Boston Harbor, Powell called universities, courts, Congress and the central bank ‘the foundation and the embodiment of our democracy’ and argued that the Fed’s independence was a ‘priceless asset’ that must be protected. It was one of his most direct defenses of Fed independence, warning that a single administration’s decision to remove bank officials over policy differences would open the way for future elected officials to follow suit, ultimately undermining the credibility that the Fed has spent decades building.” (05/31/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/31/jerome-powell-profile-courage-award-jfk-00943963
Source: The UnPopulist
“The Disarray of Protestant Churches Is Bad News for American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Raymond R. Roberts.” (05/31/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-disarray-of-protestant-churches
Source: spiked
by Andrew Orloski
“Palantir, a data-analytics and logistics company, poses a challenge for its critics. ‘We make public services better,’ it argues. ‘They become more efficient and productive with our technology. Which means the taxpayer’s pound is being better spent. What exactly is your problem with that?’ … The temptation to see Palantir as a force for good is strong. However, politicians are strangely reluctant to take a gift horse to the veterinary dentist before accepting it. There are costs to any relationship, and some of these are quite subtle.” (05/31/26)
https://archive.is/taoqi
Source: SFGate
“Tina Peters, the former clerk convicted of participating in a scheme to chase election conspiracy theories promulgated by President Donald Trump, was released from prison Monday after the president successfully pressured Colorado’s Democratic governor into commuting her sentence. Peters’ release was confirmed by the Colorado Department of Corrections. The state agency said it would have no more information about the 70-year-old inmate. Her sentence was shortened by Gov. Jared Polis last month after Trump waged a lengthy pressure campaign against the governor an d his state. Peters served less than a quarter of her nine-year sentence. Peters was the first local election official to be charged with breaching security after the 2020 election. She snuck in an outside computer expert affiliated with My Pillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell — who himself denied that Trump lost the White House in 2020 — and the person copied the county’s Dominion Voting Systems computer server as it was updated in 2021.” (06/01/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/colorado-elections-clerk-set-to-be-released-from-22285435.php
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“After nabbing Cuba from a collapsing Spanish Empire around the turn of the twentieth century, America reigned over that island for over fifty years, using a mix of fascist strongmen and direct military occupation. The last bastard we propped up there was a bloodthirsty thug named Fulgencio Batista who is believed to be responsible for as many as 20,000 deaths in less than a decade. None of which seemed to bother the opportunistic democracy enthusiasts back in Washington and Wall Street, not so long as Batista gave them free access to Cuba’s sugar, tobacco, and railroads that is. It was only after Fidel Castro kicked Batista out of Havana in 1959 and made it clear that Cuba’s resources no longer belonged to Yankee conquistadors that America began its long war for ‘democracy’ in Cuba and it was a war defined by what can only be described as craven acts of barely covert terrorism.” (05/31/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/05/an-anarchist-defense-of-cuban-revolution.html
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“Primary care physicians—internists, general practitioners, family doctors, and pediatricians—are the key point of patient contact with the medical system. They have been leaving the medical profession in droves because their conditions of practice have become intolerable. These doctors are being pressured to see more patients in shorter appointments despite ever more complex cases and treatment options, even as they are required to spend more time at computer terminals entering patient data. One recent paper in the Journal of General Internal Medicine calculates that primary care doctors, to meet all of their clinical and clerical obligations, would literally need to work 26.7 hours a day.” (06/01/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/06/01/corporations-and-crisis-of-care-primary-doctors-corporations/
Source: Associated Press
“A blast on Sunday at a building in northeastern Myanmar said to have been storing explosives for mining has killed more than 45 people, according to rescue workers and independent media reports. About 70 other people were injured in the explosion that took place around noon in the village of Kaungtup, in Namhkam township. The area, located about 3 kilometers (2 miles) south of the Chinese border, is under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic armed group which has engaged in sporadic fighting against Myanmar’s [junta].” (05/31/26)
https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-deadly-explosion-5946c95f92ca91472fb30a57438234ec
Source: Libertarian Institute
“‘The Mad Dream of Conquest,’ Pt I.” (05/31/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/dangerous-history-podcast/dhp287/
