Pentagon reveals hundreds of new Iran war casualties; Task & Purpose, July 26, 2026

MATT WHITE, PATTY NIEBERG, NICHOLAS SLAYTON , Task & Purpose; Pentagon reveals hundreds of new Iran war casualties

More than 600 troops have been wounded in the Iran war, officials disclosed Saturday, almost 200 more than previously known.

"The Pentagon revealed Saturday that more than 600 troops have been injured or killed in the conflict with Iran, a casualty total more than 200 higher than previously revealed publicly. The new figures were released as part of an apparent overhaul of the Defense Department’s official casualty reporting system, which now splits the war, for the first time, into two time periods. 

The new figures bring the current total of U.S. troops wounded in the war to 624, according to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS. As of Friday, DCAS listed the number of troops injured in the conflict at 420."

Trump Orders Warnings Placed at ‘Inaccurate’ Smithsonian History Museum; The New York Times, July 24, 2026

Robin Pogrebin and Zachary Small, The New York Times ; Trump Orders Warnings Placed at ‘Inaccurate’ Smithsonian History Museum

President Trump said the signage at the National Museum of American History would correct what a disputed White House report described as “extreme political activism.”

"President Trump on Friday ordered warning signs and exhibits installed outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to alert the public that the museum does not, in his view, accurately reflect American history.

The unusual directive, made through an executive order, was a considerable escalation of the president’s dispute with the Smithsonian and its history museum, which was the subject of a recent 162-page report. The report accused the museum’s director, Anthea M. Hartig, of “radical activist ideology” and the museum of undermining “faith in American institutions.”

The order went so far as to suggest that the signage inform potential museum visitors of locations where American history is better presented. The administration did not explain where the public would be redirected.

The Smithsonian declined to comment.

Mr. Trump’s order came just days after Ms. Hartig was grilled by Republican legislators in two congressional hearings, where she was accused of teaching “national self-loathing.”"

White House agrees to ethics provision in crypto bill; The Hill, July 21, 2026

 JULIA SHAPERO  , The Hill; White House agrees to ethics provision in crypto bill

"The White House has agreed to an ethics provision in a cryptocurrency regulation bill amid a final push to pass the legislation in the Senate.

The provision would bar all federal officials from offering or issuing digital assets, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) tasked with enforcing the measure, an industry source told The Hill following a meeting with White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt."

Mexico’s kidnapping crisis: 'How can they hold a World Cup?’ – video; The Guardian, July 4, 2026

 Tom Phillips,, Frances Rankin,, Analy Nuño,, Christopher Cherry,, Kyri Evangelou,, Noah Payne-Frank, and Katie Arnold,, The Guardian; Mexico’s kidnapping crisis: 'How can they hold a World Cup?’ – video

"As England prepares to take on Mexico in the Fifa World Cup, another battle is playing out just beyond the Azteca Stadium. More than 130,000 people have been forcibly disappeared in Mexico as cartel violence surges, leaving thousands of families searching for answers. They say the authorities have failed them and are demanding justice. The Guardian follows two families as they confront the police and challenge the government, determined to use football's biggest tournament to expose Mexico's disappearance crisis."

Skill games are unlawful, Pennsylvania Supreme Court finds; Pennsylvania Capital-Star, June 15, 2026

 PETER HALL, Pennsylvania Capital-Star; Skill games are unlawful, Pennsylvania Supreme Court finds

"State Attorney General Dave Sunday issued a statement calling the decision a “significant victory for consumers, taxpayers and the rule of law in Pennsylvania.”

“The Supreme Court recognized what our office has argued from the beginning – these machines operate as gambling devices and cannot legally exist without the same oversight, regulation and accountability as other forms of legalized gaming in the Commonwealth. Pennsylvanians deserve protections that ensure games are fair, transparent and operated within the bounds of the law,” Sunday said."

Sex, Lies and Secrets: A Federal Judge’s Trysts Go Public; The New York Times, June 11, 2026

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Mattathias Schwartz, The New York Times; Sex, Lies and Secrets: A Federal Judge’s Trysts Go Public

"The ensuing investigative report is a chronicle of sex, lies and ethical breaches, much of which is cloaked in secrecy because America’s federal court system affords judges broad deference."

Nobody needs AI to search the Internet, court says in ruling against Google; Ars Technica, June 10, 2026

ASHLEY BELANGER  , Ars Technica; Nobody needs AI to search the Internet, court says in ruling against Google

"Potentially impacting all AI search engines and chatbots known to poorly paraphrase source links, a German court has ruled that Google is liable for false statements in AI Overviews.

The preliminary ruling came in a case flagged by The Decoder, where two publishers found that Google’s AI Overviews incorrectly linked them to scams and other sketchy business practices. After smearing publishers by making affirmative statements like “Yes, [it] is known for dubious business practices and is often perceived as a scam,” Google failed to correct the misleading output, even after the publishers sent a cease-and-desist letter earlier this year.

Google tried the usual arguments to shield itself from liability for false statements in AI Overviews, such as arguing that most users understand that AI outputs aren’t always accurate and must be verified.

But the court found that, unlike traditional search engines that merely present lists of links to third-party statements, Google’s tool made “independent, new, and substantive statements” based on its own misinterpretation of links on the Internet.

That’s a problem, the court said, because while publishers may have been able to sue to stop third parties from publishing defamatory statements appearing in Google search results, only Google can correct the underlying algorithm and outputs displayed in AI Overviews. And because, at least initially, the company did not, it therefore “must be held accountable,” the court ruled. Beyond that, Google’s argument was deemed particularly weak, since the AI overview in this case “contains statements that do not appear in the search results at all.”

The court’s order—requiring a temporary injunction barring Google from spreading the false claims in any further AI Overviews—may have global implications, as the court seems to be the first to hold an AI firm liable for AI speech."

Trump library says no Twitter DMs can be found, despite evidence he sent them; The Washington Post, June 3, 2026

Nate Jones, The Washington Post; Trump library says no Twitter DMs can be found, despite evidence he sent them

Records show that Trump's first administration opted not to save DMs in its library archives, raising questions about compliance with the Presidential Records Act.

"The newly operational Trump Presidential Library, the entity responsible for preserving records from the White House, says that it cannot find a single Twitter direct message sent by a president who tweeted more than 25,000 times during his first administration.

This no-records response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Washington Post comes as the Trump administration argues it does not need to follow the Presidential Records Act, a law designed to ensure the public has access to records of the president after he leaves office. 

On Jan. 20, The Washington Post filed a FOIA request with the Trump library for all direct messages sent from the president’s Twitter accounts @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS during his first term."

Meet the Silicon Valley priest advising tech companies on artificial intelligence ethics; National Catholic Reporter, May 29, 2026

COURTNEY MARES, National Catholic Reporter; Meet the Silicon Valley priest advising tech companies on artificial intelligence ethics

"Fr. Brendan McGuire used to be a Silicon Valley technology executive. Now he's hearing their confessions. Today, the Irish-born pastor of St. Simon Catholic Parish in Los Altos, California, is helping to shape the moral conscience of the artificial intelligence industry.

Earlier this year, he was among the faith leaders invited by Anthropic, the AI company behind the chatbot Claude, to advise on the creation of an ethical framework to govern how the AI system handles complex moral questions.

McGuire, 60, holds engineering and computer science degrees from Trinity College Dublin and completed Stanford University's executive business program. He spent years in Silicon Valley as a technology executive before leaving it all behind to be ordained a priest of the Diocese of San José 26 years ago...

"I came from the industry," McGuire told OSV News. "My heart's never left it, but my heart is really with the Lord."

"I've always felt my role was to bridge those two worlds together," he said...

"Capitalism needs human guidance. And this is the human guidance the pope is asking for," he told a group of journalists after Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah spoke at the Vatican press conference with Leo to present the encyclical.

The priest is also skeptical of industry self-regulation. Transparency, he argued, is the necessary first step toward accountability.

"Transparency leads to accountability, and accountability leads to trust. And with trust we'll have responsible AI. But we can't get there without transparency," he said. "If we don't know how these things are being developed and what they're doing, then how could we regulate them? We can't."

Still, McGuire resists both techno-utopianism and techno-apocalypticism.

"There are those who … think it's going to destroy humanity. And then there are those on the other end who think it's going to be the great savior of humanity," he said.

McGuire said that he sits in between these two extremes."

A year after Trump fired a top ethics watchdog, there’s still no leader; The Washington Post, May 19, 2026

Dan Diamond, The Washington Post ; A year after Trump fired a top ethics watchdog, there’s still no leader

"Senate Democrats are pressing the White House to explain its plan for the Office of Government Ethics, more than a year after President Donald Trump fired the office’s Senate-confirmed leader and five months after its most recent acting director stepped down.

The Office of Government Ethics, an independent agency, works to prevent financial conflicts of interest and other ethical violations across more than 100 government agencies. It has historically served as a watchdog on government ethical standards, offering guidance to federal officials — and even rebuking the White House, as the office’s past leader repeatedly did in the first Trump administration."

White House must comply with Presidential Records Act, judge rules; Politico, May 20, 2026

 JOSH GERSTEIN, Politico; White House must comply with Presidential Records Act, judge rules

"A federal judge has ordered aides to President Donald Trump to continue to observe the requirements of the Presidential Records Act, despite a Justice Department opinion that found the law unconstitutionally intrudes on presidential power.

In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Bates concluded that the 1978 statute is likely constitutional and granted a preliminary injunction that essentially nullifies the opinion issued last month by DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel."

Pope decries rise of AI-directed warfare, saying it leads to a spiral of annihilation; The Associated Press via NPR, May 15, 2026

The Associated Press via NPR; Pope decries rise of AI-directed warfare, saying it leads to a spiral of annihilation

"Pope Leo XIV on Thursday denounced how investments in artificial intelligence and high-tech weaponry were leading the world into a "spiral of annihilation," as he called for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine during a visit to Europe's largest university.

Leo's speech at Rome's La Sapienza University marked the first time a pope has visited the campus since Pope Benedict XVI called off a planned speech there in 2008 in the face of protests from faculty and students...

In his speech, Leo denounced how military spending had increased dramatically this year, especially in Europe, at the expense of education and healthcare, while "enriching elites who care nothing for the common good."

He called for better monitoring of how AI was being developed and used in military and civilian contexts "so that it does not absolve humans of responsibility for their choices and does not exacerbate the tragedy of conflicts."...

"What is happening in Ukraine, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, and in Iran illustrates the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation," he said.

The pope said education and research must move instead in the opposite direction that values life "the lives of peoples who cry out for peace and justice!"

Leo has identified AI as one of the most critical matters facing humanity, especially its application in warfare and everyday life. They are themes he's expected to explore more fully in his first encyclical, due to be released in the coming weeks."

Lawyers raise ethical concerns over Pam Bondi’s conduct as Attorney General; WMNF, April 23, 2026

DARIA MIRONOVA , WMNF; Lawyers raise ethical concerns over Pam Bondi’s conduct as Attorney General

"Lawyers are raising serious concerns about what they allege is unethical conduct by Pam Bondi, former Florida Attorney General and until her recent dismissal, U.S. Attorney General, in a formal complaint to the Florida Bar and amid growing scrutiny within the legal community of alumni of her alma mater, Stetson Law School in Gulfport, Florida...

The outcome will not only address Bondi’s actions but also test whether the legal system will hold influential attorneys to the same standards as everyone else."

Congress is supposed to police its own ethics. Here’s why it falls short.; The Washington Post, April 23, 2026

 Karen Tumulty, The Washington Post; Congress is supposed to police its own ethics. Here’s why it falls short.

"The U.S. Constitution could hardly be clearer about how unethical behavior on the part of members of Congress should be handled.

“Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member,” Article 1, Section 5 stipulates.

In other words, it’s up to the House and the Senate to police themselves.

That system’s effectiveness and shortcomings have been on stark display the past few weeks, which have seen three members of the House resign, rather than face the possibility of being kicked out."

Technology Leadership Includes a Duty to Care for our Most Vulnerable Populations; Santa Clara University Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, April 20, 2026

Ann Skeet , Santa Clara University Markkula Center for Applied Ethics; Technology Leadership Includes a Duty to Care for our Most Vulnerable Populations

"Notably, what Meta did not say after the verdict was that it was sorry for the harms children experienced."

The Onion Has a New Plan to Take Over Infowars; The New York Times, April 21, 2026

 Benjamin Mullin and Elizabeth Williamson, The New York Times; The Onion Has a New Plan to Take Over Infowars 

"When Infowars, the website founded by the right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones, came up for sale two years ago, an unlikely suitor stepped up. The Onion, a satirical news outlet, planned to convert the site into a parody of itself.

That sale was scuttled by a bankruptcy court. Now, The Onion has re-emerged with a new plan: licensing the website from Gregory Milligan, the court-appointed manager of the site.

On Monday, Mr. Milligan asked Maya Guerra Gamble, a judge in Texas’ Travis County District Court overseeing the disposition of Infowars, to approve that licensing agreement in a court filing. Under the terms, The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, would pay $81,000 a month to license Infowars.com and its associated intellectual property — such as its name — for an initial six months, with an option to renew for another six months.

The licensing deal has been agreed to by The Onion and the court-appointed administrator. But it is not effective until Judge Guerra Gamble approves it, and Mr. Jones could appeal any ruling. That means the fate of Infowars remains in limbo until the court rules, probably sometime in the next two weeks. Mr. Jones continues to operate Infowars.com and host its weekday program, “The Alex Jones Show.”

Can AI judge journalism? A Thiel-backed startup says yes, even if it risks chilling whistleblowers; TechCrunch, April 15, 2026

Rebecca Bellan, TechCrunch ; Can AI judge journalism? A Thiel-backed startup says yes, even if it risks chilling whistleblowers

"After helping lead the lawsuit that bankrupted media firm Gawker, Aron D’Souza says he saw something broken in the American media system: People who felt harmed by coverage had little recourse to fight back.

His solution is software. D’Souza says his latest startup, Objection, aims to use AI to adjudicate the truth of journalism. And for the price of $2,000, anyone can pay to challenge a story, triggering a public investigation into its claims. (D’Souza is also the founder of the Enhanced Games, an Olympics-style competition that allows performance-enhancing drugs and is set to debut in Las Vegas next month.)

Objection launched on Wednesday with “multiple millions” in seed funding from Peter Thiel and Balaji Srinivasan, as well as VC firms Social Impact Capital and Off Piste Capital. 

Thiel, who funded the Gawker lawsuit partly in defense of the individual right to privacy, has long been critical of the media. D’Souza says his goal is to restore trust in the Fourth Estate, which he argues has collapsed over decades. Critics, including media lawyers, warn Objection could make it harder to publish the kind of reporting that holds powerful institutions to account, particularly if that reporting relies on confidential sources."

Trump Library Saga Takes Dark Turn: Where Did Millions in Funding Go?; The New Republic, April 20, 2026

Greg Sargent, The New Republic ; Trump Library Saga Takes Dark Turn: Where Did Millions in Funding Go?

Four huge media conglomerates forked over $63 million in “settlements” earmarked for Trump’s presidential library. Democrats are trying to track that money—and the latest developments don’t inspire confidence.

"Last year, four huge companies pledged tens of millions of dollars to help fund the creation of Donald Trump’s presidential library, a planned monstrosity in Miami that—in a perfect Trumpian twist—may also double as a hotel. The companies—ABC; Paramount; Meta; and X, formerly Twitter—entered into the agreements with Trump to settle legal cases he’d brought against them, which experts had dismissed as dubious.

Now there’s been an important new turn in this saga. The four companies have provided fresh information to Senate Democrats in written responses to their questions. For these Democrats, those responses—obtained by The New Republic—raise more questions than they answer. 

In these formal replies, all four companies confirmed that they did pledge that money to Trump’s library—itself a notable development. More importantly, however, the Democrats say the responses reveal that the money is still largely unaccounted for.

“Not one of these companies can say with any clarity where their multi-million-dollar donations to Donald Trump’s library slush fund are, or where they will go,” Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who’s taken the lead in tracking this money, tells me in a statement."

Bondi tried to kill ethics investigations. Now she'll face one. | Opinion; USA TODAY, April 7, 2026

Chris Brennan, USA TODAY ; Bondi tried to kill ethics investigations. Now she'll face one. | Opinion

A broad coalition of lawyers and legal groups will once again accuse Pam Bondi of misconduct for using her former position to serve only Trump and not the Americans she swore to serve.

"Bondi has another fight coming – a broad coalition of lawyers and legal groups is planning to refile an ethics complaint against her with The Florida Bar. The group will once again accuse her of misconduct for using her former position as the nation's top law enforcement official to serve only Trump and not the Americans she swore to serve...

Bondi, before she got fired, proposed a new federal regulation that would give the attorney general the power to hijack the processes that state bar associations use to investigate ethics complaints filed against Department of Justice lawyers. The 30-day period for public comment about that ended on April 6.

More than a million people left comments on the Federal Register, and it looks like the bulk of them opposed Bondi's proposed regulation. They don't want the DOJ to shield public servants from ethics complaints."

Napa Valley Schools Emphasize Honesty, Ethics in AI Policy; GovTech, April 2, 2026

 Atmika Iyer, The Modesto Bee, Calif. via GovTech; Napa Valley Schools Emphasize Honesty, Ethics in AI Policy

"10 principles for AI use in Napa schools

1. Teaching and learning: AI should be used to personalize and enhance the learning experience for each student and to support digital citizenship and literacy.

2. Staff usage: AI should be used as a tool to augment and support, rather than replace, staff in the performance of their duties and responsibilities.

3. Ethical use and transparency: AI should be used ethically and transparently by all staff and students, with careful consideration of potential biases, and in compliance with all applicable intellectual property and copyright laws.

4. Accountability and responsibility: AI should be used in a manner that ensures accountability by those who use it and that those who use it are responsible for such use, including when and how it is used.

5. Academic honesty: The district should allow artificial intelligence tools to be used only in ways that support learning — such as research, skill development, or teacher-approved assistance — and prohibit any use that replaces a student’s original thinking or results in cheating, plagiarism or other acts of academic dishonesty.

6. Equity and access: AI should be implemented in a manner that ensures equitable access and opportunity for all students, regardless of background or ability, and for all schools across the district.

7. Secure and private: The district should prioritize security and privacy when changing existing practices or adopting new practices regarding AI.

8. Professional development: The district should provide ongoing professional development for staff, with a particular focus on the ethical and responsible use of AI.

9. Community engagement: The district should engage with the community to share these principles, to educate the community on AI, and to discuss the permitted and prohibited uses of AI in the district.

10. Continuous improvement: The district should regularly evaluate the use of AI by students and staff, and adapt its policies, procedures and professional development to align with best practices and evolving technologies. The district reserves the right to remove access to previously approved AI platforms.

(Source: Napa Valley Unified School District’s Board Policy Manual)

In a bid to develop a set of guidelines for responsible use of technology, the district convened an AI council of 30 stakeholders including parents, teachers, students and staff in May 2025. The council met five times to review CSBA’s policy and make a recommendation to the board.

In addition, the council developed guidelines for AI use for all stakeholders. These will be shared in the 2026-2027 school year. Amid rapid technological developments, the district plans to update them regularly."