- The Trump regime is deploying National Guard troops to New York City and Chicago, ostensibly in order to crack down on the rampant crime that their sheeple believe to be found in those cities. Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois governor JB Pritzker are condemning this as an abuse of power, but of course Trump isn't letting that stop him and reportedly plans to declare a national emergency so as to be able to extend the 30 day time limit for the deployment.
- A judge has ordered the closure of the Trump regime's "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Everglades for environmental reasons. Naturally, the state of Florida, which has partnered with the regime on the facility, is appealing the decision.
- The Carney government is removing retaliatory tariffs on all American goods covered by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), ostensibly for the benefit of Canadian industry. Manitoba premier Wab Kinew doesn't think this is going to be helpful; for his part he thinks a better move would be to remove tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in the hope of reversing China's tariffs on Canadian canola. From Manitoba's point of view, as well as from an environmental point of view, that makes perfect sense. From a human rights point of view, trading with China doesn't look too good, but neither does trading with the US, so it's pretty much a wash. Unfortunately, Carney doubtless has bigger fish to fry; he has to be seen to be doing his utmost to save the Canadian auto industry, and removing tariffs on Chinese EVs would probably be a bridge too far in that regard.
- The Trump regime's firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer is raising alarm bells among investors. Trump had accused McEntarfer of manipulating statistics to make him look bad; his appointment of a partisan as her replacement has led to fears that future statistics actually will be manipulated. Of course it's harder for investors to bet against the US than it was for them to bet against Greece and Argentina after it came out that those countries were manipulating data, but there will presumably come a point when they can't pretend that the US is a good investment anymore.
- Connie Hedegaard, who served as the EU's first climate commissioner, is very concerned about the federation's backsliding on environmental issues in recent years. The Green Deal promoted by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is under heavy attack from rightwing populists; Hedegaard warns that the harms of climate change will ultimately fuel populism in the long run, so better to face it now than later. She's right, of course, but whether Europe's leaders have the courage to listen and stand up to the populists now is another question.
- Companies of all sorts are jumping on the AI bandwagon, but only 5% of those doing so are seeing any significant increase in their revenue according to a new report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nonetheless they keep investing in the technology, presumably because their investors expect them to and will fear that they won't be sufficiently innovative if they don't keep doing so.
- An engineer in Brighton, England was arrested for expressing support for a terrorist organization by wearing a T-shirt that the police initially thought said "Palestine Action". He was released when they looked closer at the shirt and saw that it actually said "Plasticine Action"; he admits that the design was deliberately meant to confuse the cops and is selling the shirts to raise money for a charity called Medical Aid for Palestinians (which hasn't been labelled a terrorist organization, at least not so far).
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