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Bonnets, Blackness & Respectability Politics
What the Tuskegee dress code debate is really about — and why it isn't the false choice it's being made out to be.
SCGOP plans televised Republican Senate candidate debate for Aug. 3
A televised debate will give voters the opportunity to hear from candidates in the special Republican Senate primary race.
WisOpinion: 'The Insiders' debate who will pay the political price for rising energy costs
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, discuss which party has a better message on energy costs facing voters in the 2026 midterm election. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.
Does public health *need* MAHA?
Last week, our friend Dr. Craig Spencer sparked an ongoing volatile discussion with his Atlantic article “Public Health Needs MAHA.” Some have come out in strong dissent, others are cheering, and others are simply lamenting that we find ourselves in such a divided world to begin with. We will dare to dip our toes in these controversial waters, too. Does public health need MAHA? We think in some ways yes, and in other ways, no. MAHA leaders versus the everyday MAHA supporter The vitriol in this debate mostly comes from one collapsed distinction: the leadership of MAHA is not necessarily the same as the people who support it. Say “MAHA” and most people picture RFK Jr. Fair enough, as he coined the term and holds most of the power. And, yes, some MAHA followers treat Kennedy as something close to a saint. But talk to the grassroots, and it’s not a monolith. They’re Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. People who distrust vaccines and vaccine supporters. It’s a wide, eclectic coalition. The data backs this too: 4 in 10 Americans support the movement—that’s a lot of people! But according to polls, vaccines and medical choice (the issues most tied to Kennedy personally) are cited by only 4% as their reason for supporting the movement. For many, the motivations are much broader. Many MAHA supporters are signing up for the idea that “something needs to change” with health in this country. They’re asking good-faith questions about corporate influence on our health systems, health care costs, nutrition, chemicals, and clean air and water. These are all questions that plenty of public health professionals recognize as legitimate and also care about very deeply. Blurring the lines between the leadership and grassroots does real damage in two important ways: It hands the 4 in 10 exactly the narrative already fed—that the health ecosystem doesn’t listen, doesn’t care, and paints every critic with the same brush. It gives the actual bad actor more power. RFK Jr. has done irreparable damage and can’t be trusted. What the MAHA movement gets right A healthy population is something the public health field was literally built on, and many of these topics are things we have dedicated our lives to. Yet the MAHA movement has captivated nearly half the country in a way the public health establishment has failed to achieve. So that means MAHA is doing something right. Some of it may be timing (after a Covid-19 pandemic and deep frustration and mistrust with institutions). The movement also does three other things really well: 1. It gives a new, louder voice to system failures. While MAHA is not a monolith, one theme stays consistent across their stories: the system failed them. For some, it was the system that flooded their communities with opioids and then walked away. For others, it was the system that let their business collapse during Covid with no safety net in sight. For others still, it was the system that failed to help them manage a complex chronic illness, bouncing them from physician to physician without any real answers. And in many ways, our health ecosystems are failing Americans. Why are medical bills so incomprehensible? Why do some kids get a healthy school lunch and others don’t? Why do an epidemiologist and a MD/PhD student have to start newsletters in the middle of the biggest public health emergency in a century, just so people can get straight information? Because the systems failed. This deep-seated frustration driving many Americans to search for solutions elsewhere needs to be recognized. 2. MAHA has brilliant comms central to their efforts. MAHA figured out something most health institutions still have not: the information landscape changed. It’s participatory now, not top-down; influence runs through many nodes in a community, not one institution; and storytelling and telling audiences “what you really think” moves people more than data dumps do. MAHA goes where audiences are listening, using podcasts, social media, and memes in ways most health institutions would scoff at—but it works. 3. They are very good at organizing. A MAHA meeting feels like a rally: energy, speakers, music, and most importantly, an action for everyone. Someone’s writing the next policy brief, someone’s seeding a narrative, someone knows the next legislative deadline, someone’s sending the text messages for a campaign. None of this is new (ask the civil rights movement), but MAHA knows it works and has capitalized on it. What MAHA gets wrong This list could be much longer, and this newsletter has spent a lot of time covering it, but here are a few things: Poor use of scientific evidence. This is the fundamental problem with many MAHA policies: the hype outpaces the science, and experts are often villainized for pointing this out. MAHA leadership has traded real solutions for cheap wins. For example, instead of taking on the powerful food industry and passing real reforms, it has celebrated french fries made of beef tallow and taken out artificial dyes from still very sugary children’s cereal. These changes won’t move the needle on America’s diet. MAHA leadership has tried to dismantle vaccine access in the U.S. While many MAHA supporters emphasize other issues, the effort to change vaccine policy has become MAHA’s signature effort. This is not surprising given RFK Jr.’s extensive track record campaigning against vaccines. It has rallied behind the wrong leader. RFK Jr. has a decades-long track record of villifying doctors, scientists, and public health workers, well before he became HHS secretary. He is known for his decades-long work sowing distrust in vaccines as well as life-saving treatments like antiretroviral therapy for HIV. This is not a serious person who can move the needle on health in the U.S, and he has already done serious damage. Public health needs more than defense Defending the evidence is absolutely necessary so health in the U.S. doesn’t move further backward. The public health establishment is very good at defense. The problem is this defense often sounds like defending the status quo, which has failed many people. Public health needs to offer an alternative to RFK Jr.’s MAHA—one that is rooted in evidence, truly listens to and addresses people’s frustrations, and has innovative solutions and the courage to change the systems. How do we get there? Find common ground. Do you know what most people care most about? The abysmal cost of healthcare. Start there. Fight for the human loudly. Too often, communications and engagement center on science with a capital S, funding mechanisms, or the CDC/FDA/NIH. Not the person. So the public doesn’t see themselves in it. Instead, they see people fighting for the very powerful systems that they feel negatively impact their health and well-being. Let the public feel and hear that you see their frustrations, you get it, and you’re fighting for them within the system. Recognize when pro-science messages are alienating people. Facts absolutely matter, but angrily venting only alienates people further. Our friend Elisabeth Marnik recently wrote a New York Times article about her experience growing up unvaccinated and how listening and empathetic conversation are the only ways to reach people that really work (a position backed by communication science). Her comments section was full of hateful comments from pro-vaccine individuals attacking her for daring to suggest we approach vaccine-hesitant individuals with empathy. It is possible to both stand firm behind scientific evidence and empathize with people who don’t trust it. Lean into politics smartly. Often, public health has shied away from politics: Don’t touch it, lest you get burned. But this fails to recognize that the third rail is what fuels the train: who is elected determines our budgets, our priorities, and our authority. Being political means being very savvy in strategy on both sides of the aisle, knowing your audience, and recognizing that political capital is as scarce as financial resources and needs to be allocated accordingly. Bottom line So does public health need MAHA? That’s not really the right question. Public health has a responsibility not to dismiss 40% of the country who feel heard by this movement and are frustrated that the system has failed them. And it has a responsibility to stick to the evidence and recognize MAHA leadership for what it is: a danger to our nation’s health. Both can, and should, be done. Love, YLE and KP A big thanks to Craig Spencer, who had the courage to put his neck out there to start a much-needed discussion at such a critical moment—one that is determining the identity of an entire field. Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD is completing an emergency medicine residency and research fellowship focusing on health literacy and communication. In her free time, she writes the newsletters You Can Know Things debunking health myths and rumors and The Public Health Roundup. Views expressed belong to KP, not her employer. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. The YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
Joe Barrett's WSJ piece on Archer debate ignores the politics behind the Astroturfed "rebellion" against the safety project
And traffic safety advocates who were interviewed for the article say they have issues with the reporter omitting other important info from the article.
Sphere Entertainment (SPHR) Stock Looks Reasonable On Cash Flow But Stretched On Earnings
Sphere Entertainment stock has delivered a very strong 360.9% return over the last 5 years, while the latest valuation checks are more cautious, with the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) estimate pointing to upside and market multiples suggesting the shares are already pricing in a lot of good news. Recent swings in the share price add to the debate about whether the current US$148.32 level offers enough margin of safety. Over 5 years, Sphere Entertainment has returned 360.9%, which puts today’s...
Burlington business owners’ open letter renews debate over harm reduction
The open letter pleads for city officials to address the ongoing struggles with homelessness, addiction, and public safety.
Curt Cignetti Says the SEC Whines Too Much
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti isn’t backing down from his confidence—and SEC fans are already firing back. Speaking at Big Ten Media Days, Cignetti made a bold claim that is guaranteed to spark debate across college football. “The Big Ten is the best league in football… We don’t run a hype machine up here in…
Expert: Testosterone, masculinity and the politics of “low T”
The Trump administration's decision to screen U.S. military personnel for testosterone deficiency has renewed debate about the hormone's role in health and performance. The move also reflects wider
After Hobbes vs Rousseau: Politics must move beyond human nature
Since the great debate between Hobbes and Rousseau, our political theory has been organised around a single question: is human nature essentially good or essentially corrupt? Graham Harman, the philosopher behind object-oriented ontology, argues that this is simply the wrong question to be asking. The real forces governing our collective fate - climate change, artificial intelligence, geography, and pandemics - are non-human; therefore, questions about human nature are not the central ones. Instead, Harman proposes a politics reorganised around our relationship to non-human objects and environments, in which quasi-government institutions incentivise and deter actions with the aim of extending the survival of the human race. “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This has become one of the most popular phrases among twenty-first-century intellectuals. Often misattributed to Fredric Jameson, it has been warmly embraced by such influential authors as Slavoj Žižek and the tragically departed Mark Fisher, and has fueled the notion that the major problem with the political Left is that it simply needs to become more speculative and creative. Naturally, this is never a bad idea in any human pursuit. But what if the political distinction between Left, Right, and Center itself results from a failure of imagination? SUGGESTED READING Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? By Robin Douglass This particular division has been with us only since the summer of 1789. During the simmering prelude to the French Revolution, it referred originally to the physical position in the National Assembly of radical figures on one side and loyal monarchists on the other. These positions are linked with two entirely different camps of modern political theory. On the Left we find a series of authors ranging from the moderate (Locke) to the supercharged (Rousseau) to the truly radical (Marx), all of them contending that exploitation of the many by the few justifies revolutionary overthrow of the existing order. On the Right they are countered by the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Schmitt, a group of thinkers convinced that corrupt human nature can be tamed only by force. In the words of the Nazi supporter Schmitt: “One could test all theories of nature and state and political ideas according to their anthropology and classify these as to whether they consciously or unconsciously presuppose [humans] to be by nature evil or by nature good.” This is the division we continue to face today, even in the daily retail politics of Western democracies.___Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims.___The most refreshing feature of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was their awareness that the forced choice between Rousseau and Hobbes (as they put it) is no longer sufficient. Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims. Far from being stationed “beyond good and evil,” we seem to be fully entangled with both. We are not naturally good or evil, Graeber and Wengrow contend, but naturally experimental and imaginative. They rest their case on the archaeological record, which seems to bear witness to numerous episodes of seasonally shifting governments and festivals, which vacillate in the same society (even in the same year) between the egalitarian and the dictatorial. Such praise of political experiment makes a good fit with the generally anarchist position defended by these authors. Yet it is also what I find most disappointing in their position. Although they are right that the forced choice between Hobbes and Rousseau falls short of what our new situation requires, the authors simply replace it with praise for the human being as a political tinkerer and performer. In other words, they give us just another theory of human nature, one that would not have been out of place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. What other options might we have?___The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature… We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them___One fresh approach would be to treat politics within a broader framework than human nature, given that the polis does not exist in a vacuum filled exclusively with people. When Bruno Latour went to observe the baboons of Kenya with the San Diego anthropologist Shirley Strum, they jointly concluded that these primates were more socially interdependent than our own species. Each baboon is so reliant on the dynamics of the group that they find themselves locked into constant surveillance of their potentially dangerous peers. The group structure turns out to be inherently volatile. Humans, by contrast, are able to stabilize their societies to a large degree through the mediation of inanimate objects. Although one’s position in society may seem to fluctuate over time, considerable stability is produced through such items as apartment keys, wedding rings, and identification cards, all of them serving to secure us a place distinct from that of our fellows. The Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris has written at length about the crucial role of documents in establishing social relations, making him a hero among notaries in his country. Proper names and license plates cement our position amidst other humans, as do symbolic achievements such as graduation from a top university or distinguished wartime service with its various medals and ribbons. None of this is found among baboons, despite their closeness to us on the evolutionary tree: after all, we did share a common ancestor just 25 to 30 million years ago. SUGGESTED VIEWING The goodness paradox With Richard Wrangham The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature, whether understood in the manner of the Left or of the Right. We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them. But initially, it is true, we face non-human things primarily in the form of constraints. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to form a human civilization underwater, deep underground, atop Mount Everest, or in outer space. Human dependence on the non-social background takes on subtler form in discussions of political geography, especially unloved on the more idealistic Left. Consider the luckless position of Poland during World War II, sandwiched between Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other. By contrast, note the good fortune of the United States in not having a military peer positioned on any land border. Anglo-American geopolitics, since the writings of the American naval commander Alfred Thayer Mahan and the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder, has been wedded to the notion that one or more liberal offshore naval powers should prevent any authoritarian “heartland” regime from gaining effective control of Eurasia. That remains the case whether the opponent is the impatient Napoleon, the swashbuckling German Kaiser, the villainous Hitler, the murderous Stalin, or the industrial juggernaut Chinese. In their current Foreign Affairs article “Heartland vs. Rimland,” Michael Beckley and Hal Brands analyze the current and coming state of the world on the basis of these same rather durable principles. In recent years a similar outlook has been embraced, in inverted form, by the Putin-loving Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an icon of the Rightist intellectual underworld. For Dugin, the Anglo-Saxons are an evil force bent on destroying the spiritually superior people of the land: much like Athens in its failed war with Sparta, or Carthage in its eventual collapse against Rome. But the shared notion on both sides is that any strategy that fails to take geography into account is likely to end up as a defeated form of excessive optimism.___When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole.___More striking for us today than geography is the non-human object called climate, which threatens rimland and heartland equally. Even if we contend that humans are one hundred percent responsible for triggering the climate crisis, it remains non-human in the sense of being an independent force beyond our effective control. In a major work published just before his death in 2002, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould noted the tendency of evolutionary theorists to focus too closely on the fate of individuals in view of their successful or failed adaptation to circumstances. With climate change, however, we confront a force that goes well beyond the scope of any individual life. Whereas Richard Dawkins extended evolutionary questions downward from individuals to the sub-individual gene, Gould pushed it upward, speaking of entire species or clades as impacted by environmental change. The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago is only the most famous example of this sort. In the wake of that catastrophe, large animals needing abundant supplies of food were at a fatal disadvantage by contrast with the smaller birds and mammals of the planet. When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole. The effect is to shift our attention away from individual beings towards the survival of the group.In the United States in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked considerable backlash among those who asserted a nearly absolute degree of individual freedom. In California I encountered those who demanded that their businesses be allowed to reopen, that it was enough to cover their mouths but not their noses, or that they should have the right to enter any public area despite refusing vaccination. Yet public health is probably the clearest argument against libertarianism, which often merely asserts the autonomy of individuals against any claims of the commons. In normal times the individual is worth defending; under conditions that threaten the survival of part or all of our species, compulsion may be our only resort, as with perfectly reasonable blackouts and rations in wartime. To rebuild human society under the constraints of climate change will be one of the great challenges of the century to come, as will our improvised grappling with artificial intelligence. Such phenomena pose existential risks for humanity, and leave far less room for tolerance of individual brattiness. Cases are mounting of devastating wildfires caused by arson. Recently it was reported that there is even a website where one can bet on the location of coming wildfires, raising the specter of deliberate blazes set to collect on wagers. The death penalty has steadily lost support in a world where many stress the infinite value of human life. But if we focus instead on entire ecosystems, those who purposely burn the forests may begin to look worse than serial murderers.___The politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere.___So far I have spoken of force, authority, and punishment: measures sure to have greater appeal to those who identify with what we know as the Right. But other implications of the post-anthropocentric world are likely to have different backers. If non-human objects are seen as structuring political space, it stands to reason that they can no longer be introduced solely by the pace of technical breakthrough. Fields ranging from cybernetics to energy will demand increased politicization once they are reconceived not just as products of individual human investment, but as renovations of collective political geography. This need not involve world government, with its inherent risk of tyranny, but may involve quasi-governmental enforcers of prestige along the lines of a less corrupt FIFA or International Olympic Committee, punishing deviant states not with violence but with less tangible incentives.Politics will never lose its historic links with conflict and faction. But rather than factions aligned by differing theories of human nature, the politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere. This will prove just as incommensurable with the modern Left/Right spectrum as a globe is with a two-dimensional map.
El-Sayed in the hot seat for another foreign rental property, nearly $300K in additional income
Abdul El-Sayed released tax disclosures just hours before a debate, revealing a Dubai rental property and total assets worth up to $2.1 million.
Animal spillover? Lab leak? What the science says about the origins of COVID-19
The release of Dr. Anthony Fauci's pandemic diaries has rekindled the debate over the origins of SARS-CoV-2. Here's how scientists have weighed in.
Animal spillover? Lab leak? What the science says about the origins of COVID-19
The release of Dr. Anthony Fauci's pandemic diaries has rekindled the debate over the origins of SARS-CoV-2. Here's how scientists have weighed in.
The Science Behind the AI Panic Is Shakier Than You Think
A column by Sascha Lobo Is AI making us dumb? So asked DER SPIEGEL on its cover a while ago. After a few weeks of recovery and a therapeutic intervention with the help of my AI, I feel able to respond. That’s a bit unfair, of course; the article itself is more nuanced than the loud cover, the image of a schoolkid with dull prompt questions, or the subtitle: “AI is conquering the schools, and educators fear a disaster.” The short answer to “Is AI making us dumb?” is: no. The long answer is more interesting, and even carries a preliminary glimmer of the spectacular. Unfortunately, it requires a detour into the sphere of artificial intelligence, into the mogul-field terrain of technology assessment, the attention economy, and the destructive virus of cultural pessimism. Along with narrowing the scope to AI’s effects on education and work rather than on intelligence. Because the honest version of the question would be: Does AI help us learn and work, or not? Generative AI, which set off the still-ongoing hype with ChatGPT, has only existed in relevant distribution since late 2022, early 2023. For a technology-driven transformation of people and society, that is extremely short. For that reason alone, research is still in its infancy. And technology assessment is not a fast discipline anyway. Prominent voices from Elizabeth Eisenstein to RAND to Tom Wheeler say we still cannot conclusively judge the consequences of the printing press. Its invention is a mere 580 years back, and some scholars would rather not circulate assessments that might have to be retracted in two or three hundred years. We’re Going Through Growing Pains A phenomenon that already caused upheaval in social media research makes serious assessment of AI’s consequences even harder: the “moving target” problem of LLM-ology, as the linguist Sean Trott called it in 2025. AI develops so quickly and so unpredictably that researchers often end up studying snapshots of the past. There are concepts, from morphological analysis to anticipatory governance, for keeping research, planning, and regulation halfway meaningful anyway. But even with those, universally valid statements are rare. DER SPIEGEL - The German View is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe We should therefore treat findings about the interplay between humans and AI as far more procedural and situational. Unfortunately, this challenge comes at the worst possible time. We are going through growing pains: AI’s everyday impact has grown very large very fast, and with it the longing for guidance. Annoyingly, the body of solid knowledge has not exploded along with it. Experts cannot be moved to broad consensus on even banal statements about AI. Sascha Lobo, born in 1975, is an author and strategy consultant focusing on the internet and digital technologies. Together with Jule Lobo, he explores the debates of the day in the podcast “Feel the News – Was Deutschland bewegt” (”What Moves Germany”). Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says software developers are dying out. Bill Gates considers coders one of only three professions that will survive the AI tsunami. Top tech economists find virtually irrefutable arguments both for and against an AI bubble. The same naturally applies to the structurally youth-hostile debate over whether AI is good or bad for young people. The gap between the demand for insight and the supply of solid knowledge creates an orientation vacuum. This vacuum of AI cluelessness is filled, as the attention economy described by Georg Franck in 1998 would have it, with half-knowledge (funnily enough, often AI-generated), marketing, and self-marketing. After all, infinite money is at stake, along with academia’s best current shot at global fame. But this iridescent froth of interpretation operates more by the algorithmic principles of the digital public sphere than by seriously earned insight. That is why dramatized, fear-feeding claims about AI are so promising. It tempts parts of academia into distorted drivel, and parts of the media then sensationalize the published drivel once more. Was the Research Aimed at a Desired Result? How badly this can influence academia and public perception is demonstrated by one of the most-discussed studies on AI’s effects: “Your Brain on ChatGPT.” The MIT study by Nataliya Kosmyna also gets plenty of space in the SPIEGEL cover story. What was measured and interpreted: lower brain activity in people who write with AI assistance, compared to people who only google or write without any tools. As is common with preprints, the study has not yet been peer-reviewed, and it contains substantial weaknesses that experts have sharply criticized. The first round had 54 participants in three groups, the second only 18, who reportedly also came from MIT’s own orbit. There was no preregistration (committing in advance to what you want to find out with which data). In their analysis, Stanković et al. even discovered an opposite effect that the study does not further explain. Some measurement data has not (yet) been published. And the EEG analysis method used is considered too imprecise to support such far-reaching conclusions. The biggest criticism, though, is the suspicion of an activism-driven study. In an interview with Time, lead author Kosmyna said she published the study immediately, rather than after full peer review, because she feared politicians might otherwise decide to put ChatGPT in kindergartens. She considers that absolutely harmful. It is legitimate to hold such a view. It just seems unscientific to approach a study with it, and then to design the setup so that the chance of a fitting desired result remains as high as possible. Ideologies Collide It is not easy to separate genuine AI insights from studies that trivialize and weaken well-founded AI criticism. The same goes for the opposing, AI-enthusiastic narratives, because the pro-AI side works against it with billions in resources. Ideologies collide, fed by egos, PR strategies, moral posturing, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Doomsday marketing makes the search even harder: AI companies can profit from warnings about the dangers of AI, whether through the notoriety of apocalypse narratives or because, in some target groups, danger translates into power. Some seemingly negative findings are therefore quite welcome in the AI industry. If you try to get at the findings presumably less influenced by interest groups, the picture in education seems relatively clear: AI can improve educational outcomes when the right AI is used the right way, namely pedagogically. Simply dumping an AI chatbot into a classroom, by contrast, accomplishes little. Huge surprise. But something else is also obvious: whether they are allowed to or not, kids use AI for school, which is why the controlled integration of AI tools into education is, in the medium term, entirely without alternative. In the world of work, the landscape of findings is more complex and requires more differentiation. A series of serious studies points to an AI effect that suits neither the alarmists, regulation fetishists, and AI opponents, nor the trillion-dollar corporations with their armada of paid scientists, PR professionals, and ecosystems: working with AI helps the inexperienced (at least for now) considerably more than it helps the pros, in certain fields of work, and provided they know how to use it correctly. Missing Domain Knowledge Among the experienced, the professionals, and the high flyers, by contrast, despite frequent time savings, partially negative effects and new problems are emerging. Take the jagged frontier problem: AI solves task A brilliantly and fails completely at task B, even though both look similar even to professionals. Or the verification-cost problem, in which AI’s greater productivity gets eaten up by the enormous effort of checking its output. Or the illusion of competence, because AI makes new domains seem easily penetrable, until you painfully discover that deep domain knowledge is missing. Taken as a whole, the effects of working with AI do lean positive. But the promise that AI works as a turbocharger for everyone and boosts practically everything simply refuses to materialize. The AI magic the world has been feeling since ChatGPT arrived in late 2022 has so far barely shown up in most companies’ numbers. The consulting firm McKinsey has coined a term for this, the “gen AI paradox,” and believes that work processes and corporate structures would have to be rebuilt quite fundamentally to realize AI’s benefits at scale. Reuters just reported that only 3.3 percent of Microsoft’s customers have subscribed to the AI package Copilot. That may be down to the product; in other areas we continue to see soaring successes and new AI triumphs. But after the first quarter of 2026, disillusionment is the word for all too many AI projects at traditional companies: because the promised revolution of AI agents has so far failed to arrive or been postponed, and because of the leveling effect that many of the studies cited here suggest. Against Inequality The societal effects, on the other hand, appear rather encouraging. Many previous technologies operated on the Matthew principle, named for the Gospel verse about giving to those who already have: they tended to reward the more competent and more privileged. AI, however, seems more often to have an equalizing effect once a threshold of access and education is crossed. Some anecdotal insights point in this direction, for example, how an unemployed man in Leipzig successfully defended himself in court in 2025 against fraud accusations from Germany’s federal employment agency — without a lawyer, armed only with ChatGPT. The AI made mistakes and cited invented court rulings, but in the end the man walked away unpunished. And a key capability of artificial intelligence is its capacity to learn: set up correctly and fed with data, it can keep getting better. It is a question of time, or more precisely of AI innovations and training data, until even free AI chatbots write better legal briefs than law graduates with perfect exam scores. Whether that will make anyone dumb is something the world’s press will surely inform us of in due time. Subscribe Leave a comment
Are Democrats ‘hyperventilating’ over the midterms? NewsNight panel debates
The issue that put Abdul El-Sayed on offense debating Haley Stevens
Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens clashed over campaign finance and experience in a key Democratic Senate debate.
6 Takeaways From Michigan’s Senate Debate Between Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens
At the final debate before next week’s Democratic primary for Senate, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Representative Haley Stevens showcased their wildly different ideological stances and political styles.
Dems clash over AIPAC money, ‘ogre’ attack and electability during crucial Senate debate
El-Sayed refused to apoelogize for the “ogre on a pike" remark that drew backlash from fellow Democrats, while Haley Stevens slammed him over his unreleased tax returns and roughly $300k in outside income.
Stevens and El-Sayed trade personal attacks and other takeaways from the Michigan Senate primary debate
The stark choice facing Michigan’s Democratic voters in the August 4 Senate primary was on display Monday night, as the two candidates closed their final debate by pitching themselves as best positioned to win a general election that could tip the balance of power in the Senate.
Stevens to El-Sayed: ‘Thank you for clarifying that you didn’t call me an ogre’
The two faced off in the final Michigan Democratic primary debate hours after POLITICO published a leaked recording of El-Sayed.
Rockstar Games and GTA co-founder chimes in on the raging physical games debate: "If people want that, companies should provide it"
Dan Houser and Lazlow quickly talk about digital and physical media, while promoting the American Caper comic series.
Baldur's Gate 3 players on PC can't decide if the latest third-person camera mod is a revelation or a crime against Larian's original vision
A new cinematic third-person camera mod for Baldur's Gate 3 is sparking debate among fans of Larian Studios' massive RPG.
Baldur's Gate 3 True Third-Person Camera Mod Goes Viral, Sparks Debate About Whether It Erases the Game's Identity
Baldur’s Gate 3 might be three years old, but it’s still the subject of much debate — and many new mods. One mod in particular has gone viral, leading some fans to say developer Larian should keep it in mind for its future games. Others, though, believe using it to play Baldur’s Gate 3 essentially amounts to heresy.
Phoenix Suns’ Starting Lineup Continues To Be Underrated
Despite landing Miles Bridges and boasting Devin Booker’s elite playmaking, critics rank Phoenix’s revamped starting five in the league's bottom third, fueling intense debate over their true potential.
The false dichotomy between capitalism and socialism in US politics
Opinion: The political debate in the United States over capitalism and socialism is centered on an over-simplified and false dichotomy, writes Dave Anderson.
California leaders split over war in Iran
California lawmakers and leaders are divided over the war in Iran, now in its fifth month, as debates over funding and presidential authority continue in Washington D.C.
Apple’s Smart Glasses Will Need to Overcome Meta’s Privacy Reputation
Company debated whether glasses will be able to record video.
'If People Want It, Companies Should Provide It': Rockstar Co-Founder Dan Houser Joins PS5 Disc Debate
"But I don't know that I personally care"
Linux creator has a simple message for AI holdouts: Fork off
Linus Torvalds says Linux developers should embrace AI coding tools or fork the project, ending a heated open-source debate.
Outgoing ESPN EVP David Roberts: ‘It’s not reality’ to keep sports and politics separate
Since roughly around the summer of 2016, when Colin Kaepernick’s protests coincided with the election of President Donald Trump, ESPN has faced constant criticism from both sides of the political aisle over its coverage of wider political and social issues around sports. While talent leads that debate on air and therefore receives the bulk of…
Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) And The Valuation Debate Around Its Global Expansion Story
Event backdrop and what is worrying investors Live Nation Entertainment (LYV), owner of Ticketmaster and the EDC music festival, is under scrutiny as slower sales growth, rising capital intensity and pressure on operating margins raise fresh questions about the stock’s risk and reward tradeoff. See our latest analysis for Live Nation Entertainment. Live Nation Entertainment’s share price has climbed over the past year, with a year to date share price return of 21.97% and a 1 year total...
Colorado Politics Calendar July 27-Aug. 2
CoPo’s weekly political calendar will help you find political and public-policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances, water meetings, book signings, county commission hearings, city council meetings and more. As a subscriber, […]
Michigan, Missouri primaries will again lay bare the Democratic divide over Israel
Fiercely fought primaries on August 4 in Michigan and Missouri will provide the next crucial tests in the debate over American policy toward Israel that has convulsed the Democratic Party this year.
The shrinking world of former president Joe Biden
Cancer treatment has sharply limited Biden’s post-White House life even as his upcoming memoir threatens to reopen debates over his health and presidency.
The shrinking world of former president Joe Biden
Cancer treatment has sharply limited Biden’s post-White House life even as his upcoming memoir threatens to reopen debates over his health and presidency.
Governance committee proposal advances after lengthy debate at North Shore Health
The North Shore Health Hospital board debated forming a governance committee during its July 23 meeting. After a half-hour of debate, the board voted to form a pilot committee to evaluate the appropriate nature of a governance committee made up of two board members and appropriate members of the public. The motion comes after a...
Myles Garrett ranked as NFL's best edge rusher by Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated ranked Myles Garrett as the best edge rusher in the NFL, which there should be little debate about.
The viral online attack on Pittsburgh doctors that sparked a national debate over vaccines
One by one, the faces of the doctors splashed across the screen in a dramatic video created to reach thousands of viewers with a simple message. The HPV...
In private call, Michigan Republican running for Senate sees himself in ‘good shape’ against one particular Democrat
As Michigan Democrats debate who is their best candidate for Senate, the presumptive Republican nominee, Mike Rogers, has a frank private assessment of the field.
California business owner says taxes and homelessness threaten his business
A ‘Fox News @ Night’ panel debates how the next California governor should address the economy and small businesses.
AMC Entertainment CEO says one long-running entertainment debate is finally over
For six years, the entertainment industry has been locked in a debate that touched everything from studio strategy to real estate valuations to the future of a 106-year-old American institution. The question was simple and existential: did streaming permanently replace movie theaters? July 20, AMC ...
Sophie Cunningham sparks social media meltdown by speaking out to protect women's sports
Sophie Cunningham told ESPN she wants to protect young girls in locker rooms and sports from competing against biological men, sparking debate.
Possible debate on the table for Talarico, Paxton in run for Senate
Rep. James Talarico is willing to do three debates, but nothing is finalized.
Maine gubernatorial candidates differ on debate format
Democrat Hannah Pingree announced a slate of four televised debates sponsored by local news outlets.
Byron Donalds wants 3 gubernatorial debates with David Jolly
It's not even August yet, but the GOP front-runner is ready for the Fall contest.
Modern Warfare 4 gameplay debut reignites community debate about how fast Call of Duty movement should be
Though many would argue it wasn't the best format, Infinity Ward finally showed off Modern Warfare 4 gameplay, and it's clear not everyone is on board.
As AI grows, so does its influence on Florida politics
From political spending to data center debates, here's how AI is shaping politics in this election season.
1994 Classic, Originally a Box Office Flop, Ranked the 'Best Movie of All Time'
Among film fans, no topic is more hotly debated than the subject of what the greatest movie ever made is. While there will never be an official answer to such a subjective topic, a massive fan vote ha...
WATCH: Lawmakers reveal where they stand on congressional term limits after recent health scares
Ted Cruz says he authored a constitutional amendment to limit senators to two terms and House members to three as Congress debates term limits.
Costco adds hot fan favorite to food court menu as shoppers debate taste and value
Costco is expanding its famously affordable food court menu with a new $6.99 chicken strip meal and the addition has already divided shoppers over its flavor, breading and value.
Florida politics weekly recap: Voter data, campaign cash and 2 lawmakers in court
President Donald Trump's national address renewed the debate over election security this week, while newly released intelligence records put a spotlight on publicly available Florida voter-registration data.
Maine Dems rally behind Platner's far-left platform in scramble to court his followers: 'Beyond furious'
All candidates in the Maine Democratic Senate debate called for abolishing ICE just days after the fatal Biddeford shooting of a 25-year-old father.
Fed rate-hike voices swell before July decision, rates still seen on hold
Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack on Friday added her voice to a small but growing chorus of policymakers arguing the Fed may need to raise short-term borrowing costs to deal with persistently high inflation, setting up a charged debate at the central bank's July 28-29 meeting.
Ken Paxton’s campaign says he will debate James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race
Paxton's campaign said he plans to debate after Talarico challenged him to do so, though it did not commit to a specific host.
Adam Silver says WNBA star Caitlin Clark is a ‘political football’ amid Alyssa Thomas foul debate
Silver said the debate around Clark is “incredibly unfair to her” since she is such a great player who does not want attention like this.
Are American politicians too old?
The debate about how old is too old to serve in public office has resurfaced this week after the shock death of the Republican senator Lindsey Graham and the surprise return of Mitch McConnell, the 84-year-old senator who published a photo of himself in hospital after a long absence from the spotlight
Adam Silver calls Caitlin Clark a 'political football' as the WNBA keeps dodging reality
Adam Silver called the Caitlin Clark debate "political ping-pong" but declined to directly address reports he intervened in Alyssa Thomas' suspension.
NBA's Silver says Fever's Clark has become 'political football'
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Fever star Caitlin Clark has become a "political football" amid debates about officiating and physical play in the WNBA.
Silver says Caitlin Clark has become a 'political football' amid WNBA officiating debates
NBA commissioner Adam Silver says Caitlin Clark has become a “political football” amid debates about officiating and physical play in the WNBA, spurred by a recent play involving the star guard and Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas.
The great 340B debate: Point vs. counterpoint vs. finger points
From the right come heated calls for reform if not outright overhaul of the 340B Drug Pricing Program. From the left, vociferous insistence on letting 340B be, albeit with modest tweaks and fixes. From hospitals and drug manufacturers: finger-pointing.
Daylight Saving Time Debate Reveals Science Literacy Hole
While people debate "pros" and "cons" of permanent daylight saving time, one expert is more concerned about science literacy gaps emerging in the discussion.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen Insists Sony Killing Physical Discs 'Doesn't Matter at All' Because Video Game Sales Make Up So Little of His Business
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has sparked a fiery debate in the gaming community after remarking that sales of physical games are “totally irrelevant" to his business.
Congress debates: Should daylight saving or standard time be year-round?
Legislation to make daylight saving time year-round passed the U.S. House this week and is now being considered by the Senate. It comes as many Americans disapprove of how the U.S. manages time.
Trump officials want to make testosterone drugs easier to prescribe. Is that a good idea?
Officials under President Donald Trump want to make it easier for men to get a prescription for testosterone, the latest shift in a decades-long debate over the benefits and risks of replacing the hormone that affects sex drive, mood and other health factors.
ICYMI: Sen. Banks Joins The Evening Edit on Fox Business Network
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) joined The Evening Edit with Elizabeth MacDonald on Fox Business Network to discuss the debate over birthright citizenship and his Citizenship Act of 2026. Click the image above for the full discussion. Key Excerpts: Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.): “It’s very simple, I am taking a page right out of Justice Kavanaugh’s playbook in his concurring opinion […]
‘Social media bans are likely to make things worse’: psychologist Candice Odgers on kids, tech and mental health
She has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years and fears the debate obscures some of the biggest issues facing teenagers – from the impact of Covid to the health of their adult caregivers
Every Hit Counts: The new science behind football and dementia
After decades of debate fueled by courtroom battles, documentaries, and heartbreaking personal stories, the scientific picture linking repetitive head impacts to neurodegenerative disease is becoming sharper. A landmark study of nearly 20,000 NFL players replaces speculation with one of the strongest population-level analyses yet of how football, career length, and playing position influence the long-term risk of brain disease.
Warriors Tabbed a LeBron James ‘Dark Horse’ Amid Increased Optimism
The Golden State Warriors are chasing star free agent LeBron James, but their status is up for debate as he nears a decision. The post Warriors Tabbed a LeBron James ‘Dark Horse’ Amid Increased Optimism appeared first on HEAVY.
NewsNight panel reacts to viewer comment about Trump’s ICE operations
NewsNight viewers are welcomed to join the debate via CNN.com. One viewer says: “people elected trump for more deportations but not by any means… Especially violent means.” The NewsNight panel responds.
Debate over horse-drawn carriages in NYC goes back decades
An outright ban was first proposed by Council Member Tony Avella in 2007.
Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) Stock Still Looks Like A Bargain Despite Earnings Risks
Flutter Entertainment stock is coming off a steep share price decline over the past year while valuation checks still lean cheap, and that contrast is now front and center for investors watching renewed interest following high profile buying from Michael Burry. Over the last 12 months, Flutter Entertainment shares have fallen 63%, which puts the focus squarely on whether the current price already reflects the recent pain. Michael Burry’s long position and the wider debate around how tighter...
Experts Debate How MAHA Is Reshaping Food Science and Regulation
Experts at IFT FIRST examined how the MAHA movement is influencing food regulation, ingredient reformulation, consumer expectations, and food science.
Social media erupts with mockery as Dem Senate candidate's pep talk goes viral: 'Is this for real?'
Haley Stevens' campaign speech sparked online ridicule as critics question her charisma against Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate primary race.
How the war in Ukraine impacts the law and politics of security guarantees
The paradoxical revival of security guarantees Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has revived the concept of security guarantees. Their content and scope have been central to scholarly and political debates about Kyiv’s resistance to the Russian aggression (see here and here). Yet, this revival highlights a paradox: if existing arrangements had been effective, […]
House passes Daylight Saving Time reform as Trump signals support for ending clock change
The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House with bipartisan support, but Senate skepticism and debates over circadian rhythm and road safety loom ahead.
Senate Democrats Block Defense Bill Over War in Iran
The vote reflected how the political debate over the conflict in the Middle East has sapped bipartisan support for a normally popular measure.
Mountain Brook passes home business ordinance after more than a year of debate
Mountain Brook passed an ordinance limiting home-based client businesses, giving affected owners a year to comply or close.
Government failing Farage over security, says Jenrick
It comes as the police investigation into Ann Widdecombe's death sparks renewed debate over politicians' security.
Chris Mason: Investigation into Widdecombe's death rekindles debate over how to protect politicians
Many MPs blame social media for normalising violent language and abuse, the BBC's political editor writes.
Indiana Fever Fans Debate Sophie Cunningham's Gesture Toward Justine Pissott
Sophie Cunningham had a brief exchange with Justine Pissott during Indiana Fever’s win over the Las Vegas Aces.
FOX Business anchors reveal wildly overpriced popular products
FOX Business anchors discuss products they believe are widely overpriced. Answers include bottled water, Dyson hair dryers, luxury handbags, and McDonald's value meals, sparking a lively debate about quality versus cost among the panel.
VFW cartoon showing veterans facing a firing squad sparks calls for an investigation
A cartoon depicting a firing squad of bureaucrats and media with rifles aimed at US veterans has prompted a powerful congressman to call for an investigation into one of America’s oldest veterans advocacy groups, stoking a debate over free speech for political satire.
Lorde AI glasses criticism Sparks Privacy Debate
Lorde AI glasses criticism highlights public discomfort with smart glasses amid privacy concerns and celebrity endorsements at major music festivals.
Politics Now: July 11, 2026
This week on Politics Now with host John Langeler: The debate over rules for data centers continues, in Clark County and Boulder City Congressional District 3 Republican candidate Marty O’Don…
Microsoft defends Asha Sharma, says she is an American CEO and Xbox layoff had nothing to do with H-1B
As Asha Sharm, the CEO of Xbox, came under vicious trolling after the gaming division of Microsoft announced the elimination of 3,200 positions, Microsoft came to her rescue and clarified that it had nothing to do with replacing Americans with foreign workers. Frank X Shaw, the lead for the communications for Microsoft, also addressed the 'Indian-origin' angle of the immigration debate and called Asha an American born, educated CEO from Wisconsin.
Colorado Politics Calendar July 13-19
CoPo’s weekly political calendar helps you find political and public policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances, water meetings, book signings, county commission hearings, city council meetings and more. As a subscriber, […]
Maine candidates hoping to fill Platner’s place have similar politics
A ‘Fox News @ Night’ panel debates the fallout from Graham Platner’s withdrawal in the Maine U.S. Senate race.
A demand for debates and Trump on voting: CT Politics news
Plus: Fazio's energy plan, CSCU chancellor investigation, a Sikorsky helipad at the White House and Chris Murphy on special education.
Guest Post: The Cognitive Center of Gravity: Why the AI Entertainment Debate is a National Security Imperative
Success in modern conflicts does not necessarily go to the side with the better warfighting, per se, but may go to the one that most quickly produces and proliferates a convincing narrative support…
Mountain Brook will soon decide if your neighbor can run a business from home
After years of debate, the city will vote on an ordinance that will limit the kinds of client based businesses allowed to operate in homes.
TN Politics: Final MSCS forensic audit raises political concerns
The complete report points to more than $100 million in "waste, fraud and abuse." Who fixes the problem is still being debated.
Cowboys news: Debate over how much Von Miller could add
Check out today’s latest and greatest news surrounding America’s team!
Mississippi mobile sports betting debate resurfaces amid lieutenant governor warning
Mississippi’s debate over mobile sports betting has resurfaced after Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann posted a warning on X urging the Senate to reject the measure.
Scientists Say a Critical Ocean Current System May Already Be Past the Point of No Return
Scientists have long debated whether the AMOC is nearing collapse, but the latest findings are certainly alarming.