Virginia Theological Seminary launches ‘Have Mercy’ resource for faith leaders; Episcopal News Service (ENS), June 17, 2025

Episcopal News Service (ENS); Virginia Theological Seminary launches ‘Have Mercy’ resource for faith leaders

"Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) has launched a new resource to help faith leaders navigate the current political climate.

Inspired by the sermon preached by VTS graduate the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde at the Service of Prayer for the Nation, “Have Mercy” is a series of essays and accompanying discussion questions that examine how foundational Christian commitments take on political significance.

The initiative was created by three VTS faculty members with the aim of providing a resource for alumni, Christian leaders and the faith communities they serve to explore the power of the Gospel in the current moment.

Each essay takes one core Christian belief or practice, rooted in scripture, and examines its significance for our political context. An essay on a new topic written by a member of the faculty at VTS and The General Theological Seminary (GTS) will be published every week during the summer of 2025.

The series launched with an essay by the Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D., Dean and President of VTS and President of GTS, based on a sermon he preached on the importance of inclusion and having a plurality of voices. It will be followed by essays on “Love your neighbor,” “Lift up the lowly,” and “God’s Weakness… God’s Power.”

Kyle Lambelet, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Ethics and Director of the Saint Nicholas Center for Faith and Justice, said: “Jesus preached a Gospel of love that challenged the political leaders of his day, so much so that after his public protest in the temple he was promptly tried and executed by the Roman Empire. It should not surprise us, therefore, that the Gospel of Jesus continues to confront even as it consoles, to challenge even as it inspires.”

The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D., Dean and President of VTS and President of GTS, said: “Our goal is not to be shrill nor crudely partisan. Instead, we strive to bring the eternal verities to this moment. And, as Bishop Budde did in that powerful sermon, to remind our country and our world of the values embedded in the Gospel and emerging from the prophets of the Hebrew Bible.”

The initiative was launched by three VTS faculty, Kyle Lambelet, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Ethics and Director of the Saint Nicholas Center for Faith and Justice, the Rev. Canon Altagracia Perez-Bullard, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Multicultural Ministries and Assistant Professor of Practical Theology, and the Rev. Ruthanna Hooke, Ph.D., Professor of Homiletics, emerging from a conversation during the faculty’s annual retreat in January 2025. Wanting to affirm the courageous voice of Bishop Budde and to encourage others to speak with such clarity of conviction, the three faculty members invited their colleagues to contribute short essays. “There is a lot of confusion about whether and how Christians should engage a pluralistic public,” Lambelet said. “These essays offer guidance for those of us in the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement regarding how we can be ministers of truth, healing, and justice.”

You can read the essays here: https://vts.edu/have-mercy-initiative/"

Evangelical Report Says AI Needs Ethics; Christianity Today, July/August 2025

  

DANIEL SILLIMAN, Christianity Today; Evangelical Report Says AI Needs Ethics

"The Swiss Evangelical Alliance published a 78-page report on the ethics of artificial intelligence, calling on Christians to “help reduce the misuse of AI” and “set an example in the use of AI by demonstrating how technology can be used responsibly and for the benefit of all.” Seven people worked on the paper, including two theologians, several software engineers and computer science experts, a business consultant, and a futurist. They rejected the idea that Christians should close themselves off to AI, as that would not do anything to mitigate the risks of the developing technology. The group concluded that AI has a lot of potential to do good, if given ethical boundaries and shaped by Christian values such as honesty, integrity, and charity."

Ohio libraries celebrate veto of budget measure censoring materials; Ohio Capital Journal, July 1, 2025

SUSAN TEBBEN , Ohio Capital Journal; Ohio libraries celebrate veto of budget measure censoring materials

"The General Assembly still has the chance to override the veto with a three-fifths vote, but it would do so after libraries and advocates across the state stood staunchly against the measure.

The Columbus Metropolitan Library posted a statement to their social media applauding DeWine’s veto, calling it “a significant win for intellectual freedom and the right of every Ohioan to freely access information at their library.”

Jade Braden, a circulation assistant for Worthington Libraries, said the veto “helps ensure that library professionals, not statehouse politicians, continue to make choices about how we serve our entire community, what materials we provide and how we display those materials in our libraries.”

“Protecting intellectual freedom is an ongoing battle in which we will always need to be vigilant,” Braden told the OCJ. “The fight for our community and their right to read is one we continually dedicate ourselves to.”"

ESSAY: Billionaire do-gooding is out. Naked oligarchy is in; The Ink, July 2, 2025

ANAND GIRIDHARADAS, The Ink; ESSAY: Billionaire do-gooding is out. Naked oligarchy is in

 "No one was ever going to announce that the era of performative elite do-gooding had ceded to the era of naked oligarchy. But this week three events made that eclipse clear.

The first was the multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos’s wedding, in Venice, to Lauren Sánchez, who would surely float if she fell into a canal. As celebrities poured into a city already strained by tourism, and the happy couple was photographed frolicking in a literal foam party aboard a yacht, there was an almost refreshing, well, nakedness to the avarice, to the carelessness, to the not-giving of civic fucks. There was a reminder of the omnipotence and the utter loneliness at the commanding heights: you can get anyone you want to your wedding, and the people you want are the people you’d invite if you told your assistant to run to the dentist’s office, pick up People magazine, write down names in it, and invite them. These are people who have everything, and who don’t have the thing everybody else does.

The second was the inevitable announcement by multi-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s charitable foundation, run with his wife, Priscilla Chan, that it is no longer focused on ending all the diseases, as it once promised. Rather, in the Trump era, it is focused on things that would not be any trouble to Trump. “Can we cure all diseases in our children’s lifetime?” read a screen behind the couple at a rehearsal in 2016. The answer turns out to be: No. The Washington Post, owned by the oligarch in the above item, nonetheless rightly warned, in the Zuckerberg-Chan case, of “the risks for communities reliant on wealthy private donors.”

The third event was the passage today of Donald Trump’s and the Republicans’ budget, a document of searing meanness that former Labor Secretary Robert Reich calls the “Worst Bill in History” — a “giant budget-busting, Medicaid-shattering, shafting-the-poor-and-working-class, making-the-rich-even richer bill.” Like the Bezos wedding and the Zuckerberg-Chan pivot, the bill had one refreshing quality, though. It made zero effort to mask its ugliness. It said the cruel part out loud.

There is a nakedness to our oligarchy now, and it is pruny as hell. But at least there is this: As far as I can tell, the era of highly performative elite do-gooding is passing."

Here’s how Trump’s megabill will affect you; CNN, July 1, 2025

Zachary Wolf and Tami Luhby , CNN; Here’s how Trump’s megabill will affect you

"Seniors, students, taxpayers, children, parents, low-income Americans and just about everyone else will be affected by the massive tax and spending bill being hashed out in real time on Capitol Hill...

Here’s what we know about how the Senate bill will affect… 

people on Medicaid: millions will lose coverage...

people who need help affording food: fewer will get it...

people with Affordable Care Act policies: more difficulty getting covered...

people who aren’t on Medicaid, Obamacare or SNAP: may still feel the cuts"

Trial Court Decides Case Based On AI-Hallucinated Caselaw; Above The Law, July 1, 2025

Joe Patrice, Above The Law; Trial Court Decides Case Based On AI-Hallucinated Caselaw

"Between opposing counsel and diligent judges, fake cases keep getting caught before they result in real mischief. That said, it was always only a matter of time before a poor litigant representing themselves fails to know enough to sniff out and flag Beavis v. Butthead and a busy or apathetic judge rubberstamps one side’s proposed order without probing the cites for verification. Hallucinations are all fun and games until they work their way into the orders.

It finally happened with a trial judge issuing an order based off fake cases (flagged by Rob Freund(Opens in a new window)). While the appellate court put a stop to the matter, the fact that it got this far should terrify everyone.

Shahid v. Esaam(Opens in a new window), out of the Georgia Court of Appeals, involved a final judgment and decree of divorce served by publication. When the wife objected to the judgment based on improper service, the husband’s brief included two fake cases. The trial judge accepted the husband’s argument, issuing an order based in part on the fake cases."

Inside the battle for control of the Library of Congress; Federal News Network, July 1, 2025

 Terry Gerton , Federal News Network; Inside the battle for control of the Library of Congress

"Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Kevin Kosar. He’s a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. So those are interesting theories. And as you mentioned though, the library is a research library, not a lending library. So AI is not going to train itself on printed books. It needs electronic information. What is the impact on the day-to-day operations of the library and the copyright office?

Kevin Kosar Well, right now, certainly, it’s a little anxiety-provoking for people at the Library of Congress, this kind of peculiar state of, are we suddenly going to find ourselves answering to a new boss in the form of the president? They are more than aware of what’s happened at other executive agencies where the president has sent in people from the Department of Government Efficiency and started turning off people’s computers and telling them not to come into work and canceling contracts and doing any number of other things that are, you know, hugely disruptive to workers’ day-to-day life. So there’s that anxiety there. And if this move by the Trump administration plays out, it’s really hard to see what could ultimately occur. One thing that that’s clear to me is that if you have presidential control of the Library of Congress, then the Congressional Research Service is doomed. For those listeners out there who are not familiar with the Congressional Research Service, this is Congress’ think tank. This is about 600 individual civil servants whose job is to provide nonpartisan research, analysis and facts to legislators and their staff to help them better do their jobs. And if you have a president who takes over the library, that president can point the head of the Congressional Research Service and turn it into basically a presidential tool, which would make it useless.

Terry Gerton And the administration has sort of already said that it puts no stock in CRS’s products."

KY library book challenges rose 1,000% in 2024. That’s not a typo. What happened?; Lexington Herald Leader, June 30, 2025

John Cheves , Lexington Herald Leader; KY library book challenges rose 1,000% in 2024. That’s not a typo. What happened?

"Challenges to Kentucky public library books soared by 1,061% last year, rising from 26 incidents in 2023 to 302 incidents in 2024, according to a recently released state report. That eye-popping number is buried in small type at the bottom of page six of the annual Statistical Report of Kentucky Public Libraries, published in April by the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives."

Seattle libraries offer Narcan, fentanyl test strips to combat overdose epidemic; KOMO News, July 1, 2025

Joel Moreno, KOMO News; Seattle libraries offer Narcan, fentanyl test strips to combat overdose epidemic

"Although library staff have had access to naloxone for emergency use since September 2022, they began providing naloxone and fentanyl test strips for patrons to access themselves in April 2025.

“I feel like the library is doing a good job of providing those resources, but I have personally not seen them, so I'm glad to hear that,” said Sarah Kilpatrick, who was checking out materials at the central branch.

The library's supply of Narcan is available on a self-serve basis. Patrons can simply stop by a library location and pick it up without the need to provide ID, proof of insurance, or a library card to receive the medications.

“I support the decision," said the man who asked not to be identified. "Although they definitely should, and I believe are required to, take a little information from the person they are giving it to, because it is a very expensive product."

Others thought the library was possibly going too far with the program and potentially enabling people’s addictions.

“Educating people, that's OK, but I don't think supplying is a good way,” said NK Das, who questioned giving away free supplies of overdose reversal medication. “The library can educate people about drug use or the misuse of drugs, but I don't think that's the right way of doing things."

Meanwhile, others thought the program should be expanded."

Lisa Murkowski Gives Infuriating Defense of Vote for Trump Budget; The New Republic, July 1, 2025

Robert McCoy, The New Republic; Lisa Murkowski Gives Infuriating Defense of Vote for Trump Budget

"Murkowski today is perhaps best rebutted by the words of Murkowski eight years ago, when she held fast as Senate Republicans dangled deals before her in hopes of getting her to help repeal Obamacare: “Let’s just say that they do something that’s so Alaska-specific just to quote, ‘get me,’” she told reporters at the time. “Then you have a nationwide system that doesn’t work. That then comes crashing down and Alaska’s not able to kind of keep it together on its own.”"

An Ignominious Bill Passed By an Inglorious Body; The Bulwark, July 1, 2025

JONATHAN COHN, The Bulwark ; An Ignominious Bill Passed By an Inglorious Body

"THE LEGISLATION SENATE REPUBLICANS passed on Tuesday is probably going to kill a lot of people.

It sounds stark when you put it that way, but death is a stark thing. It’s also what can be reasonably expected from the GOP legislation, especially the cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act projected to leave nearly 12 million Americans newly uninsured.

When people can’t pay for medical care they frequently don’t get it. And when people don’t get medical care, they’re more likely to die early from a preventable condition. That’s what you’ll find if you read the latest research, and what you’ll learn if you ask people working on the front lines of medical care."

The problems with California’s pending AI copyright legislation; Brookings, June 30, 2025

 John Villasenor, Brookings; The problems with California’s pending AI copyright legislation

 "California’s pending bill, AB-412, is a well-intentioned but problematic approach to addressing artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright currently moving through the state’s legislature. If enacted into law, it would undermine innovation in generative AI (GenAI) not only in California but also nationally, as it would impose onerous requirements on both in-state and out-of-state developers that make GenAI models available in California. 

The extraordinary capabilities of GenAI are made possible by the use of extremely large sets of training data that often include copyrighted content. AB-412 arose from the very reasonable concerns that rights owners have in understanding when and how their content is being used for building GenAI models. But the bill imposes a set of unduly burdensome and unworkable obligations on GenAI developers. It also favors large rights owners, which will be better equipped than small rights owners to pursue the litigation contemplated by the bill."

The Court Battles That Will Decide if Silicon Valley Can Plunder Your Work; Slate, June 30, 2025

  BY NITISH PAHWA , SLATE; The Court Battles That Will Decide if Silicon Valley Can Plunder Your Work

"Last week, two different federal judges in the Northern District of California made legal rulings that attempt to resolve one of the knottiest debates in the artificial intelligence world: whether it’s a copyright violation for Big Tech firms to use published books for training generative bots like ChatGPT. Unfortunately for the many authors who’ve brought lawsuits with this argument, neither decision favors their case—at least, not for now. And that means creators in all fields may not be able to stop A.I. companies from using their work however they please...

What if these copyright battles are also lost? Then there will be little in the way of stopping A.I. startups from utilizing all creative works for their own purposes, with no consideration as to the artists and writers who actually put in the work. And we will have a world blessed less with human creativity than one overrun by second-rate slop that crushes the careers of the people whose imaginations made that A.I. so potent to begin with."

AI is now screening job candidates before humans ever see them; The Washington Post, July 1, 2025

  Danielle Abril, The Washington Post; AI is now screening job candidates before humans ever see them

"Increasingly, job candidates are running into virtual recruiters for screenings. The conversational agents, built on large language models, help recruiting firms and hiring companies respond to every applicant, conduct interviews around-the-clock and find the best candidate in increasingly large talent pools. People who have experienced AI interviews have mixed reviews: surprisingly good or cold and confusing...

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a growing number of organizations use AI for recruiting to automate candidate searches and communicate with applicants during the interview process. Job applicants also are increasingly turning to AI to quickly tailor their résumés and cover letters, and to apply instantly. LinkedIn said applications for job openings have jumped 30 percent in the past two years, partially because of AI, with some jobs receiving hundreds of applications within a couple of hours."

Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package; The New York Times, July 1, 2025

Tony Romm , The New York Times; Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package

"Millions of low-income Americans could experience staggering financial losses under the domestic policy package that Republicans advanced through the Senate on Tuesday, which reserves its greatest benefits for the rich while threatening to strip health insurance, food stamps and other aid from the poor.

For many of these families, the loss of critical federal support is likely to negate any improvements they might have seen as a result of slightly lower taxes, experts said. That reality could undercut Republican lawmakers and President Trump, who insisted anew this week that their legislative vision would benefit the entire economy.

The latest evidence arrived in the hours before lawmakers finalized their signature legislation. Studying a since-amended version of the Senate bill, experts at the Budget Lab at Yale, a research center, concluded Monday that it would parcel out its benefits disproportionately.

Americans who comprise the bottom fifth of all earners would see their annual after-tax incomes fall on average by 2.3 percent within the next decade, while those at the top would see about a 2.3 percent boost, according to the analysis, which factors in wages earned and government benefits received.

On average, that translates to about $560 in losses for someone who reports little to no income by 2034, and more than $118,000 in gains for someone making over $3 million, the report found. Martha Gimbel, the co-founder of the budget lab, described the Senate measure as “highly regressive.”

The disparity owes largely to the fact that Republicans aim to pay for their tax cuts by slashing programs for the poor, including Medicaid and food stamps. The cuts amount to one of the largest retrenchments in the federal safety net in a generation. But the savings they generate only offset a fraction of the total cost of the bill, which is expected to add more than $3 trillion to the federal debt by 2034."

Trump celebrates harsh conditions for detainees on visit to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’; The Guardian, July 1, 2025

Richard Luscombe , The Guardian; Trump celebrates harsh conditions for detainees on visit to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

"Trump made no effort to challenge that narrative as he spoke to reporters before leaving Washington DC to travel to Florida, laughing as he made zigzag motions with his hands while offering advice to anybody thinking of escaping.

“The snakes are fast, but alligators [are faster],” he said.

“We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator. Don’t run in a straight line, look, like this, and you know what? Your chances go up about 1%. Not a good thing.”

At a press conference following the tour, Trump was equally dismissive of concerns about conditions in the Everglades, where the daily heat index in July regularly exceeds 100F (37.8C).

“It might be as good as the real Alcatraz. A little controversial, but I couldn’t care less,” he said."

Senate megabill marks biggest Medicaid cuts in history; The Hill, July 1, 2025

NATHANIEL WEIXEL  , The Hill; Senate megabill marks biggest Medicaid cuts in history 

"Senate Republicans on Tuesday passed the largest cuts to Medicaid since the program began in the 1960s, a move that would erode the social safety net and cause a spike in the number of uninsured Americans over the next decade. 

The tax and spending bill is projected to cost more than $3 trillion during that time, but it would be partially paid for with about $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid."

Murkowski Casts Decisive Vote for G.O.P. Policy Bill, Making an ‘Agonizing’ Choice; The New York Times, July 1, 2025

Annie Karni , The New York Times; Murkowski Casts Decisive Vote for G.O.P. Policy Bill, Making an ‘Agonizing’ Choice

"Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, on Tuesday cast the deciding vote for President Trump’s sprawling bill to slash taxes and social safety net programs, embracing a measure she acknowledged would harm Americans after securing carve outs to protect her constituents from its harshest impacts."

AI companies start winning the copyright fight; The Guardian, July 1, 2025

 Blake Montgomery , The Guardian; AI companies start winning the copyright fight

"The lawsuits over AI-generated text were filed first, and, as their rulings emerge, the next question in the copyright fight is whether decisions about one type of media will apply to the next.

“The specific media involved in the lawsuit – written works versus images versus videos versus audio – will certainly change the fair-use analysis in each case,” said John Strand, a trademark and copyright attorney with the law firm Wolf Greenfield. “The impact on the market for the copyrighted works is becoming a key factor in the fair-use analysis, and the market for books is different than that for movies.”

To Strand, the cases over images seem more favorable to copyright holders, as the AI models are allegedly producing images identical to the copyrighted ones in the training data.

A bizarre and damning fact was revealed in the Anthropic ruling, too: the company had pirated and stored some 7m books to create a training database for its AI. To remediate its wrongdoing, the company bought physical copies and scanned them, digitizing the text. Now the owner of 7m physical books that no longer held any utility for it, Anthropic destroyed them. The company bought the books, diced them up, scanned the text and threw them away, Ars Technica reports. There are less destructive ways to digitize books, but they are slower. The AI industry is here to move fast and break things.

Anthropic laying waste to millions of books presents a crude literalization of the ravenous consumption of content necessary for AI companies to create their products."

Hollywood Confronts AI Copyright Chaos in Washington, Courts; The Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2025

 Amrith Ramkumar,  Jessica Toonkel, The Wall Street Journal; Hollywood Confronts AI Copyright Chaos in Washington, Courts

Technology firms say using copyrighted materials to train AI models is key to America’s success; creatives want their work protected

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations; ProPublica, June 30, 2025

Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan and Alex Mierjeski , ProPublica; Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations

"There is nothing remarkable about a politician raising money for nonprofits and other groups that promote their campaigns or agendas. What’s unusual, experts said, is for a politician to keep some of the money for themselves.

“If donors to these nonprofits are not just holding the keys to an elected official’s political future but also literally providing them with their income, that’s new and disturbing,” said Daniel Weiner, a former Federal Election Commission attorney who now leads the Brennan Center’s work on campaign finance."

DeWine vetoes library material restriction in Ohio budget; WFMJ, July 1, 2025

 

WFMJ; DeWine vetoes library material restriction in Ohio budget

"Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Monday vetoed a controversial provision in the state's new budget that would have imposed restrictions on public libraries regarding the placement of materials related to sexual orientation or gender identity.

The veto came as DeWine signed the state budget bill. In his statement, the Republican governor expressed concerns about what he described as the "vague restrictions" proposed for libraries.

"No child should have access to inappropriate materials or to materials that their parents or guardians deem inappropriate," DeWine said. "In Ohio, we have strong laws on obscenity and material harmful to juveniles, and the DeWine-Tressel Administration expects those laws to be enforced. Therefore, a veto of this item is in the public interest."

The provision, which had drawn strong opposition from library systems across the state, including the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County, would have required libraries to segregate such materials so they were not visible to patrons under 18.

Library advocates, including the Ohio Library Council (OLC), argued that the language was "overly vague and broad" and "ultimately unworkable." Aimee Fifarek, CEO and director of the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County, previously warned that complying with the mandate could force libraries to "close down" to review and re-code materials, potentially leading to "unconstitutional censorship."

Senate’s New A.I. Moratorium Proposal Draws Fresh Criticism; The New York Times, June 30, 2025

Cecilia Kang , The New York Times; Senate’s New A.I. Moratorium Proposal Draws Fresh Criticism

"Two senior senators have reached a compromise on an amendment in the Republican economic policy bill that would block state laws on artificial intelligence.

Senators Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, and Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, agreed late Sunday to decrease a proposed moratorium on state laws regulating the technology to five years from 10.

But Democratic lawmakers and consumer protection groups on Monday criticized new language in the amendment that would create a higher standard for the enforcement of existing tech-related state laws, including those for online child safety and consumer protections. Any current laws related to A.I. cannot pose an “undue or disproportionate burden” to A.I. companies, according to the amendment."

What Gives Carla Hayden Hope; American Libraries, June 28, 2025

Greg Landgraf  , American Libraries; What Gives Carla Hayden Hope

"The discussion concluded with a series of rapid-fire questions, one of which inadvertently demonstrated the folly of opposing diversity. Alexander asked Hayden about what food she doesn’t like. She responded immediately, “Brussels sprouts.” Alexander—a fan of the sprouts—was surprised. Hayden declared, “Just because I don’t like them doesn’t mean that you can’t eat them. Diversity is just having choices.”"

Philly has 3 librarians for 218 district schools. People from across the U.S. held a ‘read-in’ to call out problem.; The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 27, 2025

Kristen A. Graham , The Philadelphia Inquirer; Philly has 3 librarians for 218 district schools. People from across the U.S. held a ‘read-in’ to call out problem.

Peter Thiel’s Palantir poses a grave threat to Americans; The Guardian, June 30, 2025

Robert Reich , The Guardian; Peter Thiel’s Palantir poses a grave threat to Americans

"Draw a circle around all the assets in the US now devoted to artificial intelligence.

Draw a second circle around all the assets devoted to the US military.

A third around all assets being devoted to helping the Trump regime collect and compile personal information on millions of Americans.

And a fourth circle around the parts of Silicon Valley dedicated to turning the US away from a democracy into a dictatorship led by tech bros.

Where do the four circles intersect?

At a corporation called Palantir Technologies and a man named Peter Thiel.

In JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, a “palantír” is a seeing stone that can be used to distort truth and present selective visions of reality. During the War of the Ring, a palantír falls under the control of Sauron, who uses it to manipulate and deceive.

Palantir Technologies bears a striking similarity. It sells an AI-based platform that allows its users – among them, military and law enforcement agencies – to analyze personal data, including social media profiles, personal information and physical characteristics. These are used to identify and surveil individuals."

HOW FOX NEWS IS HIDING THE GOP’S BRUTAL MEDICAID CUTS; Media Matter, June 26, 2025

WRITTEN BY MATT GERTZ, RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM TYLER MONROE, Media Matters; How Fox News is hiding the GOP’s brutal Medicaid cuts

Network mentions of “Biden” are outpacing “Medicaid” 10-to-1 

"Fox News has mentioned Medicaid, the vital federal health insurance program that President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are seeking to slash, significantly less often than CNN or MSNBC have, and one-tenth as frequently as it has referenced former President Joe Biden and his family, according to a Media Matters review of the first five months of the Trump administration.

Media Matters identified 1,390 mentions of the word “Medicaid” on Fox’s original programming from January 20 through June 21, based on searches of the Kinetiq database of closed-captioning transcripts. By contrast, using the same method, we found that the network mentioned “Biden” 13,289 times during that period.

Notably, Jesse Watters’ prime-time show mentioned “Biden” 1,096 times compared to only 20 mentions of “Medicaid,” a ratio of 55-to-1. The broadcast referenced “Biden” more times than any other show on the network — including those that air for two or three hours each weekday — and “Medicaid” less often than any other weekday show with the exception of Gutfeld!, which is nominally a comedy program, and Fox News @ Night."

Carla Hayden, former Librarian of Congress, speaks on her dismissal, the future of libraries at Philadelphia event; WHYY, June 29, 2025

Emily Neil, WHYY ; Carla Hayden, former Librarian of Congress, speaks on her dismissal, the future of libraries at Philadelphia event

"Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden spoke at the Free Library of Philadelphia Parkway Central Branch on Saturday night, where she sat down for a fireside chat with Ashley Jordan, president and CEO of the African American Museum in Philadelphia...

In his introductory remarks, Kelly Richards, president and director of the Free Library of Philadelphia, said that Hayden has always been a “tireless advocate” for the library systems throughout her career. He said libraries are not just “repositories of knowledge” in a democratic society, but “vibrant centers of community life, education and inclusion.”

“Libraries have a reputation for being a quiet place, but not tonight,” Richards said, as audience members gave Hayden and Jordan a standing ovation when they entered the stage."

The US Copyright Office is wrong about artificial intelligence; The Hill, June 30, 2025

 THINH H. NGUYEN AND DEREK E. BAMBAUER, The Hill ; The US Copyright Office is wrong about artificial intelligence

"AI is too important to allow copyright to impede its progress, especially as America seeks to maintain its global competitiveness in tech innovation."

What the University of Virginia Should Have Done; The New York Times, June 30, 2025

 Timothy J. Heaphy, The New York Times ; What the University of Virginia Should Have Done

"According to The Times, Mr. Ryan’s departure was prompted by “demands by the Trump administration that he step aside to help resolve a Justice Department inquiry into the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.” The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department has been investigating the university for its alleged failure to eliminate D.E.I. programs and continuing to consider race and ethnicity in various programs and scholarships.

I served as university counsel at the University of Virginia from 2018 through 2022. During that time, it was my job to defend the university from unfounded allegations and investigations. The Justice Department has alleged that the university’s actions violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states, “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” Had I been university counsel last week, I would have advised my client to challenge what I believe to be a false allegation that the university’s policies are unlawful...

Mr. Ryan was known to urge the university to be both “great and good” in all its endeavors. His departure will result in a less inclusive university community, which will harm all students who choose the University of Virginia. It is a sad day for the university, which will suffer the consequences of this bad decision."

Microsoft says AI system better than doctors at diagnosing complex health conditions; The Guardian, June 30, 2025

 Dan Milmo, The Guardian; Microsoft says AI system better than doctors at diagnosing complex health conditions

"Microsoft has revealed details of an artificial intelligence system that performs better than human doctors at complex health diagnoses, creating a “path to medical superintelligence”.

The company’s AI unit, which is led by the British tech pioneer Mustafa Suleyman, has developed a system that imitates a panel of expert physicians tackling “diagnostically complex and intellectually demanding” cases.

Microsoft said that when paired with OpenAI’s advanced o3 AI model, its approach “solved” more than eight of 10 case studies specially chosen for the diagnostic challenge. When those case studies were tried on practising physicians – who had no access to colleagues, textbooks or chatbots – the accuracy rate was two out of 10.

Microsoft said it was also a cheaper option than using human doctors because it was more efficient at ordering tests."