Generally, with big issues, more voices are better than fewer.
Historically, states’ rights are of preeminent importance in American law and governance.
A ten-year ‘moratorium’ would allow actors at the top to seize some sort of technical or intellectual monopoly that would be very difficult to change once established.
The people who would be in position to do that are a transient group of individuals, unelected, unvetted, mostly unknown to the public.
How could allowing them alone to determine our AI future be better than allowing more voices, more jurisdictions, more transparency, more discussion and more thought?
Based on that line of reasoning, it would be better for our civilization to not do the moratorium. ABN
Like Trump, Putin is straightforward and as honest as a world leader can be. If he and Trump can forge a lasting, realistic relationship, all countries in the northern part of the globe will directly benefit while all others will indirectly benefit. We are on the edge of the largest technological advances in world history. I can see a time when these shitty little regional wars will come to an end. If properly navigated, the world of the future will be immensely wealthy compared to any time in the past. There is a philosophical point I sometimes go to which is that the future influences the present. I believe that is happening big time right now. ABN
Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos‘ lavish wedding reception came to a close in the early hours of Saturday as A-listers slipped away from the glittering celebration under the cover of darkness and through narrow Venetian canals.
Described as the ‘wedding of the century,’ the 61-year-old Amazon founder and 55-year-old former journalist exchanged vows in front of almost 200 VIP guests on San Giorgio Maggiore island on Friday.
Following the ultra-exclusive ceremony, the billionaire couple threw a star-studded reception attended by high-profile guests, including the Kardashian sisters, Oprah Winfrey, Ivanka Trump, Usher, and Orlando Bloom.
The extravagant affair – reportedly costing $20million and drawing ire from locals – was capped off with an eyebrow-raising gift from the bride.
While Bezos chose stylish ViBi Venezia blue velvet slippers for the gentleman guests, Sanchez gave the ladies black open-toe slippers from Amazon – seizing the opportunity to promote her billionaire husband’s e-commerce empire.
Late last night as the party wrapped, photographers captured Kim and Khloe Kardashian making a speedy getaway in a waiting water taxi.
The bleary-eyed sisters, true to form, posed for the cameras as the boat set sail – throwing up peace signs and making duck faces at the awaiting lenses.
A little while later, their supermodel sister Kendall Jenner made her own escape, weaving through the city’s canals and posing against the breathtaking backdrop of Italy’s finest architecture.
A new study has found that psychopaths show structural changes in particular areas of the brain that deal with things like impulse control and emotional regulation. This improved understanding may help to formulate targeted treatment and rehabilitation strategies.
Psychopaths appear to be walking contradictions, exhibiting (sometimes extreme) antisocial behavior while staying on the right side of a diagnosis of “insanity.” But as one of the strongest predictors of aggressive and violent behavior, it’s important to be able to accurately diagnose psychopathy, especially in the forensic setting.
A new study by US and German researchers has provided a greater understanding of psychopathy, using advanced brain imaging to pinpoint the structural changes that occur in the brains of individuals diagnosed with psychopathy.
The researchers focused on whether different psychopathic traits could be mapped to different brain regions. Psychopathy was measured using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), a 20-item scale scored from interview and file information, which has two main parts:
Factor 2: Antisocial behavior (e.g., deviance from an early age, aggression, impulsivity, irresponsibility, proneness to boredom).
Factor 1: Emotional detachment (e.g., lack of guilt or empathy, superficial charm, manipulativeness).
Psychopathic individuals were found to have a smaller total brain volume, about 1.45% less than non-psychopathic individuals. This was especially so in the cortex, the right subiculum (a part of the hippocampus), the anterior cingulate and insular cortices. These areas are important for social behavior, emotion, and self-control.
We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400% Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country. They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us, also. Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Things are getting very interesting as the clock ticks toward the end of the USMCA trade agreement.
Almost no one is watching the USMCA element because it quietly exists only in the background of events. However, pay close attention to the ancillary stories because they will eventually merge with the end of the USMCA and two bilateral trade agreements between the U.S-Canada and the U.S. and Mexico later this year.
NATO funding and Canadian economic independence, and by extension the EU and China, comes into the northern agreement. Border security and Mexican economic independence, and by extension immigration and China, comes into the southern agreement. The strength of MAGAnomic policy flows directly through both.
In the quiet sphere, a few days ago Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a key player in the trade program, announced sanctions against three Mexican financial organizations that underline the influence of the Mexican cartels and the Mexican government. [Treasury Announcement Here]
“The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued orders identifying three Mexico-based financial institutions—CIBanco S.A., Institution de Banca Multiple (CIBanco) [ORDER HERE], Intercam Banco S.A., Institución de Banca Multiple (Intercam) [ORDER HERE], and Vector Casa de Bolsa, S.A. de C.V. (Vector) [ORDER HERE]—as being of primary money laundering concern in connection with illicit opioid trafficking, and prohibit, respectively, certain transmittals of funds involving CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector. These orders are the first actions by FinCEN pursuant to the Fentanyl Sanctions Act and the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which provide Treasury with additional authorities to target money laundering associated with the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, including by cartels”. (more)
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is furious. “The Treasury Department hasn’t provided a single piece of evidence to show that any money laundering was taking place,” she said. “We aren’t going to cover for anyone, there isn’t impunity here. They have to be able to demonstrate that there was actually money laundering, not with words, but with strong evidence.”
Secretary Scott Bessent has provided all of the evidence above in the three orders. However, this U.S. Treasury action is going to cause a massive disruption to the financial system used by Mexican officials to remain in power. This is the key point.
Remember, the Customs and Border Patrol enforcement action in Los Angeles was not about deporting illegal aliens. The origination of the chaos in Los Angeles centered around the ‘customs” aspect of the CBP as they targeted local businesses that were operating as money laundering outfits for drug and human trafficking into the USA.
Again, for emphasis, the subsequent riots that took place in Los Angeles were NOT originated by deportation operations involving ICE; they originated from CBP and FBI operations involving Mexican money laundering. The ICE operations came as an outcome of encounters with illegal aliens who were working inside the Los Angeles businesses that were under investigation.
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that individual judges lack the power to issue nationwide injunctions as it delivered a historic ruling in a case about the right to birthright citizenship.
It was a landmark decision that was seen as a major victory for President Donald Trump in his ongoing battle with the judiciary.
Trump has complained about individual judges in liberal states being able to issue orders against his policies that apply across the country.
The ruling allows Trump’s executive order halting birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants to take effect in states and jurisdictions that did not directly challenge his action in court.
It could mean citizenship rules vary from state to state, pending ongoing litigation.
The court ruled 6-3 in favor of Trump, with all six conservative justices – including the three he appointed – siding with the president.
Speaking at the White House, Trump said: ‘This was a big one. Amazing decision, one we’re very happy about. This really brings back the Constitution. This is what it’s all about.’
Scientists have begun work on a controversial project that aims to create human DNA from scratch. World’s largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, has donated Rs 117 crore (10 million pounds) to start the project, which involves scientists from universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College.
“The sky is the limit. We are looking at therapies that will improve people’s lives as they age, that will lead to healthier ageing with less disease as they get older,” Dr Julian Sale, of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, who is part of the project, told the BBC.
“We are looking to use this approach to generate disease-resistant cells we can use to repopulate damaged organs, for example, in the liver and the heart, even the immune system,” he said.
As per Professor Matthew Hurles, director of the Wellcome Sanger Insititute, studying how genes and DNA regulate our bodies could help us pinpoint when they go wrong and ultimately develop better treatments.
“Building DNA from scratch allows us to test out how DNA really works and test out new theories, because currently we can only really do that by tweaking DNA in DNA that already exists in living systems,” said Mr Hurles.
Last night on CNBC Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff hinted that some stunning revelations around expansion of the Abraham Peace Accords would likely surface in the next week. Immediately thereafter, President Trump sent a message of support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, against a judicial effort targeting the Prime Minister.
Today, we start to hear of some rather stunning developments in the region that might explain multiple background stories, including the above and the severity of response from President Trump when he felt that Israel was overreacting to the Iran missile fired during the early hours of the ceasefire.
In a stunning development, Israel Hayom is reporting on the outlines of a peace agreement and long-term solution for the Israel-Gaza conflict. The report might explain why President Trump made bold moves in Syria recently, including the removal of all U.S./western sanctions and the close relationship between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MbS).
According to Israel Hayom, there was a 4-way call (Trump, Netanyahu, Rubio, Dermer) after the Iran strikes. President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to “fundamental principles in general terms” including:
♦ “Gaza hostilities will conclude within two weeks.” ♦ “Four Arab nations (including Egypt and the UAE) will administer the Gaza Strip, replacing the murderous Hamas terrorist organization.” ♦ “The remaining Hamas leadership will face exile to other countries (possibly Qatar and Turkey), while the hostages gain freedom.” ♦ “Multiple nations globally will accept numerous Gaza inhabitants seeking emigration.” ♦ “Abraham Accords expansion will bring Syria, Saudi Arabia, and additional Arab and Muslim countries to recognize Israel and establish official relationships.” ♦ “Israel will declare its willingness for future Palestinian conflict resolution under the ‘two states’ concept, contingent upon the Palestinian Authority reforms.” ♦ “The United States will acknowledge limited Israeli sovereignty implementation in Judea and Samaria.”
It’s new world. If this large peace deal holds, the Middle East will boom. At the same time the world can look forward to a very large wealth increase through robotic productivity and AI. This is a wonderful ’embarrassment of riches’ we all should celebrate. The Trump faction of the global elite has taken us to this point. Possibly by this example alone, Russia, USA and Europe will make a lasting peace based on many centuries of shared religion, heritage, genes, and culture. If Arabs, Jews and Persians can do it, so can white people. ABN
At Sayburç in southeastern Turkey, a few miles from the world-famous megalithic site of Gobekli Tepe, a very ancient engraved stone panel was excavated in 2021. The panel shows, from left to right, a charging wild bull, a man holding a serpent sitting or falling back before the bull, and a seated man holding his penis and flanked by two leopards.
After our flight to Istanbul took off from Baghdad International Airport I opened my laptop and re-read a research paper on the panel by Turkish archaeologist and art historian Dr Eylem Özdoğan. Titled The Sayburç reliefs: a narrative scene from the Neolithic, the paper, was published in the authoritative peer-reviewed journal Antiquity in 2022 and contained a photograph of the eponymous scene which is carved into the vertical aspect of a knee-high stone bench. Dated to around 8500 BC, the scene has the “narrative integrity of both a theme and a story in contrast to other contemporaneous images,” says Dr Özdoğan. Indeed in her view it “represents the most detailed depiction of a Neolithic ‘story’ found to date in the Near East, bringing us closer to the Neolithic people and their world.”1
In the same folder where I’d filed Dr Özdoğan’s paper I’d filed the high-resolution photograph of the complete panel which the photographer, B. Kosker, had kindly released on Creative Commons:2
American Buddhist Net 