Nation on Edge

As the midterm elections approach, it’s worth remembering that the beauty of our system is the “little people” who help make sure it works.

They turn over their garages for polling places, gather up and transport the ballots, count the votes and accept the results in victory or defeat. 

But this year election officials are steeling themselves for a frightening possibility — that as Reuters says in a special report “the biggest threat to November’s elections might come not from foreign meddling or technical failures, but from the Trump administration itself.”

• “Reuters interviewed more than 50 state and local election officials from both political parties, including a dozen secretaries of state, the top election officials in their states. Nearly all said they are adopting new strategies to prepare for political interference, misinformation, cyber attacks and even threats of violence ahead of the midterms..“

• “Their efforts span jurisdictions large and small, in areas controlled by Trump’s Republican Party as well as the opposition Democratic Party.”

• “The preparations reflect growing alarm among state and local officials that the biggest threat to November’s elections might come not from foreign meddling or technical failures, but from the Trump administration itself, as the president seeks to expand the federal government’s role in elections…”

• “More than a dozen local and state election officials said they are hiring outside lawyers or seeking legal training for themselves and their staff to prepare for potential demands by the administration for access to sensitive voting records or election equipment.”

• “Nearly twice that many said they are expanding public outreach and social media campaigns to counter misinformation, including the false claims made by Trump and Republican allies that voting machines are unreliable and mail-in voting is inherently corrupt.”

• “And most said they are scrambling to fill gaps left by the Trump administration’s cuts to programs that help safeguard elections from cyber attacks and physical security threats. That includes ongoing work to fortify election offices with camera systems and bulletproof glass – a trend that began after Trump disputed his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, igniting waves of violent threats by Trump supporters against election workers.”

There is much more in this article, which captures the mood among those on the frontlines of a nation on edge. It’s most definitely worth a read.

HEADLINES:

• With Less Than Two Months Left, Here’s Who We Think Will Win the Midterms (NYT)

• US election officials preparing for chaos ahead of the midterms. (Reuters)

• Canada invited to become first ‘associate member’ of the EU (Euronews)

• Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board votes to immediately close venue for renovations (NBC)

• Kennedy Center stood as a symbol of the importance of arts for over 50 years (WP)

• Trump’s Name Must Stay Off Kennedy Center, Judge Rules (NYT)

• ICE is quietly firing new hires. For one recruit, it was devastating. (WP)

• US orbital weapons acknowledgment a landmark moment, US Space Command official says (Reuters)

• What the closure of Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline could mean for oil flows (AP)

• Trump Approves $2.8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel, Including 40,000 One-Ton Bombs (NYT)

• Iran war has led to US munitions shortfalls, Pentagon inspector confirms (BBC)

• Trump’s war shifts clean energy into high gear everywhere but here (Money Trail)

• Gavin Newsom Says He Won’t Run in 2028 if Kamala Harris Does (NYT)

• 3 dead after news helicopter reporting for NBC L.A. crashes while covering fatal bus collision (NBC)

• Lead you absorbed as a child may cause dementia as you age (WP)

• The Bay Area has become a brutal place to start a career — and not just in tech (SFC)

• Senate Votes to Block Crypto Bill in Major Blow to the Industry (NYT)

• Leaders at OpenAI, Google and Anthropic have reportedly been meeting regularly to discuss establishing a regulatory framework for the artificial intelligence industry, and President Donald Trump is not a fan. [HuffPost]

• The timing of AI leaders’ calls for a slowdown is too convenient to ignore (BI)

• China is preparing for the risk of AI escaping human control. (Reuters)

• China’s Top Spy Chief Warns A.I. Is a Threat to Party Rule (NYT)

• AI companies buoyed the U.S. economy. What happens if they slow down? (WP)

• As A.I. Fears Rise, Experts Suggest Focusing on the Humans in Charge (NYT)

• We’re not ready for superpersistent AI (Silver Bulletin)

• As the world debates the risks of AI, China closes the technology gap with the US (AP)

• Last-Ever Global Warming Report Released For Posterity (Onion)

Stormy Weather

Two hundred and fifty years ago, the framers of the U.S. constitution anticipated Donald J. Trump. The biggest threat to fair and free elections is a president who wants to be a king.

That is why we have three distinct branches of government — the executive, legislative and judicial — as well as an elaborate system of checks and balances to try and hold a runaway truck like Trump in check.

The Supreme Court’s decision Monday to reject Trump’s mail-in voting restrictions is a sign that the system is still working, if somewhat creakily and belatedly.

But the threat remains.

A critical layer of constitutional protection from Trump’s brand of autocracy is the control states exert over elections. Trump’s attempts to undermine state authority in this regard are unconstitutional. 

And since Trump is trying to overwhelm the state control of elections in numerous ways, Monday’s Supreme Court ruling was for him only a setback. 

The looming constitutional crisis remains.

HEADLINES:

• Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Restrictions on Mail Voting (NYT)

• Trump says no need for more AI regulation, slams Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei (CNBC)

• As Fears of A.I. Catastrophe Magnify, Washington Stirs, but Mostly Slumbers (NYT)

• Trump offered his own catchphrase when asked if artificial intelligence companies should slow down or if the government should regulate AI amid such calls from industry leaders. "Whoever wins AI, wins. It’s an expression I came up with, and it’s true," he said. [HuffPost]

• AI leaders warn the tech needs to slow down. Here are the moves behind the scenes. (WP)

• Trump’s Effort to Assert Control Over Elections Continues, Despite Court Loss (NYT)

• Why is Trump warning Zelenskyy not to hit Russian diesel refineries? (Al Jazeera)

• Trump suggested the United States could stay in Iran and "keep the ‌oil", drawing a parallel with a US push to take control of a fifth of Venezuela's vast oil reserves. (Reuters)

• Whistle-Blower: Federal Agents May Have Broken State Laws in Search for Voter Fraud (NYT)

• A terrifying four-hour documentary connects the dots of Elon Musk’s empire. Here are five takeaways. (WP)

• McConnell Returns to Senate After Three Months Away (NYT)

• Jamie Dimon says the American Dream is slipping away. The dysfunctional baby boomer retirement wave is a major part of the problem (Fortune)

• Alligator Alcatraz’ Used Small Cages as ‘Calming Areas,’ Report Says (NYT)

• Jared Kushner’s Dollar Diplomacy (New Yorker)

• States and Cities Sue Over Trump’s Policy to Restrict Green Cards (NYT)

• In an age of instant answers, educators say there’s a case for letting kids struggle a little (AP)

• Oracle begins a new round of layoffs (BI)

• Donald Trump Jr. And Wife Defend Lavish Wedding ‘Gift’ From Russian Oligarch (Forbes)

• AI-linked stocks slump after CEOs call for the slowing of development (Reuters)

• King Charles Will Convene A.I. Leaders Amid Calls to Slow Development (NYT)

• Democracy Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (Onion)

 

Opposites

By this point, it should be clear that whatever Donald Trump says is the diametric opposite of the truth.

So his denunciation of those calling for a slowdown in AI development as “negative forces,” ignores the fact that they are the leaders of the AI industry.

Trump is concerned with “winning” the AI race with China, and I'm sure a lot of people share his concern, but if we listen to those in a position to benefit most financially from such a Pyrrhic victory, they fear it would come at too great a cost.

That cost, of course includes the possible extinction of humanity. 

Trump’s position on AI is like his facetious offer to pay Americans $5,000 each if Republicans win the midterm elections in November, which has been perfectly satirized by our friends at The Onion:

“Trump Promises To Take $5,000 From Every American If Democrats Win Midterm.”

And, speaking of the elections, mail-in ballots are going out to voters in some states or will be soon.

HEADLINES:

• Trump says ‘very negative forces’ raising exaggerated concerns over AI (Reuters)

• The Morning Risk Report: Congress Is Suddenly Waking Up to the AI Doomsday Threat (WSJ)

• House Speaker Johnson says Congress shouldn’t lead AI safety efforts (USAToday)

• Trump rejects Silicon Valley’s calls for AI slowdown (Telegraph)

• US Kennedy Center faces bankruptcy (WP)

• Vessel struck in Strait of Hormuz, UKMTO says, as prospects for U.S.-Iran diplomacy appear elusive (CNBC)

• Trump calls on Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian diesel fuel, saying attacks are causing a shortage (AP)

• Russian drone hits train near Ukraine-Poland border soon after dignitaries passed through (NPR)

• The new threat election officials fear: Trump’s federal government (WP)

• How Trump Is Wielding Power to Stifle Speech (NYT)

• Inside a Philadelphia barbershop, Black men debate their political past and future (AP)

• E.P.A. Expected to Erase Limits on Climate Pollution From Power Plants (NYT)

• Speaker Johnson says Congress could work with Trump to deliver $5,000 checks to Americans but there are no guarantees (NBC)

• The Low-T Myth (Slate)

• Mark Carney’s Audacious Bid to Make Canada an ‘Associate Member’ of the EU (WSJ)

• Here’s How You Know Trump’s Canada Tariffs Are Bombing (Bulwark)

• Where have all the Atlantic hurricanes gone? El Nino might bring record slow storm season (AP)

• White House Calls Journalist ‘Sick, Deluded Freak’ Over Natalie Harp Post (Newsweek)

• Indonesian passenger ship overturns, sparking search for at least 129 missing (NPR)

• He was close to a huge math breakthrough. Then he got scooped by AI. (WP)

• Users in Houthi-held Yemen tried to develop advanced weapons with AI, Anthropic says (AP)

• Top AI leaders unite to warn the technology is advancing too fast (WP)

• Trump Promises To Take $5,000 From Every American If Democrats Win Midterm (Onion)

Proceed With Caution

The leaders of the most advanced AI companies are calling for a slowdown in development of their own products.

Has this ever happened before in history?

According to the Times, “In an essay, the head of Anthropic laid out the rapidly advancing capabilities of artificial intelligence and said there needed to be greater safety controls across the industry.”

“Dario Amodei, the chief executive of Anthropic, called for a global slowdown.

“Top executives of other major A.I. companies quickly signed on to the effort. Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI; Elon Musk, whose SpaceX rocket company has been ramping up spending on A.I.; and Demis Hassabis, the chair of Google DeepMind, wrote in social media posts that they agreed on the need for a slower pace.

“For years, many of the top A.I. labs have been locked in bitter competition with one another. But as these systems have advanced, there has been some broader agreement among executives at rival companies that something needs be done.

“In his essay, Mr. Amodei stressed that he still finds A.I. capable of bringing “incredible benefits” to humanity, including potentially curing diseases and accelerating economic growth. But even so, he said the risks of A.I. were too great to not proceed with extreme caution.

“The measures I propose to advance the frontier at a safe pace will not be easy,” Mr. Amodei wrote. “But I believe we owe it to humanity to try.”

***

I think we have reached a critical tipping point on AI. We have to listen to the pleas from the people closest to the technology and find a way to enact a slowdown.

God help us if we fail.

Additional readings: 

Inside the Snowballing Conversations at A.I. Companies About a Doomsday (NYT)

Why It’s Difficult for Tech Companies to Rein In A.I. (NYT)

.

HEADLINES:

• Houthi advance in Yemen puts U.S. in a new bind (Reuters)

• Strike on Iranian cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz kills 1, Iranian media say (AP)

• Heavy fighting erupts in Yemen as Houthis make new push (Al Jazeera)

• Oil routes in peril as attacks shut Saudi pipeline and Houthis threaten key waterway (WP)

• Gulf Tankers Are Running Out of Ways to Export Oil: ‘These Waters Aren’t Safe’ (NYT)

• Fresh attack squeezes Saudi oil (Reuters)

• Federal judge rules Trump plan to cut FEMA by 50 percent was unlawful (WP)

• Taxes wouldn’t fund $5,000 Trump ‘dividend’ if Republicans win midterms, says commerce secretary (Guardian)

• How Canadians are bracing for the impact of Trump’s trade war (Al Jazeera)

• Canadian boycott of US products pushes grocers to adapt, explore new supply sources (Reuters)

• Al-Qaeda regroups in Afghanistan, 25 years after 9/11 (WP)

• At home with Ukraine’s killer robots (Reuters)

• Jimmy Kimmel Threatens to Shake Up TV Landscape With Career Pivot After Late-Night Run (Globe)

• He was cleaning his garage. Then he found a file marked ‘SECRET.’ (WP)

• America’s hot, new retirement destination: Paris (BI)

• The Black Market for a Lifesaving Cat Drug (Reveal)

• Top A.I. Leaders Call for Slowing Down A.I. Development (NYT)

• OpenAI reveals another rogue AI attack (Politico)

• The week the AI freakout went mainstream (Vox)

• As AI fears grow, lawmakers are racing to turn alarm into action (WP)

• Savannah Bananas Commemorate 9/11 With Solemn ‘Macarena’ Performance (Onion)

 

Buying Time (How to Think the Unthinkable)

Okay, I know the topic of AI can seem overwhelming so normally I wouldn’t be recommending a 50-page report as a way to lessen that burden. But Plan A from the Berkeley-based AI Futures Project is an exception because at least it adds hope that we can find a way out of this mess.

Here is an excerpt from the plan describing the global attempt to “buy time,” projected for 2030. It is unsparingly realistic: 

“The problem with an intelligence explosion is the “explosion” part.

“The default trajectory is reckless and destabilizing. Each country and company is racing their competitors for AI dominance without time to think. Most likely, a ton of people will end up disempowered or killed. Maybe godlike AIs run circles around us and the age of humanity is over. Maybe a CEO or President establishes a permanent dictatorship. Maybe World War Three begins in the chaos, as countries without the best AIs fear losing their leverage. 

“Maybe everything is surprisingly smooth and we “only” automate all labor and render everyone unemployable in a radically transformed world. Even aspiring AI-enabled dictators are worried; there’s enough frontrunners that none of them have more than 50% odds of winning the power struggle.

“No one knows how to tell if AIs are trustworthy, and no one knows how to regulate superintelligent AI. Solving those problems looks like it’ll take years. Slowing down the intelligence explosion buys time to do so.

“It also helps prevent extreme concentrations of power, because it gives more time for groups that don’t directly control the world’s smartest AIs to wake up to what’s happening before they lose their leverage. Without a major slowdown, a rapid intelligence explosion will concentrate almost all the power into a tiny group of CEOs and politicians.”

***

In my view, this is a realistic picture of where we’ll be in four years, if AI is unchecked. The extremes are possible. We could well be living in a dictatorship here in the U.S., partly based on AI and partly due to Trump. We could easily be involved a worldwide war featuring drones and robot armies that can strike anywhere, anytime. 

Unthinkable disasters will have to become thinkable.

So that means we have to think now and think hard. And that is what the AI Futures Project is doing for us. It gives us a way to think about this unthinkable problem.

So now it’s our turn. One easy option is to read the plan. Another is to skip the plan and just support the nonprofit doing this work. Or call your representative in the House of Representatives or the Senate and urge them to get to work on AI.

Of course there’s another option. Do nothing and just hope for divine intervention.

HEADLINES:

• Trump Loses the Other Strait (Atlantic)

• Iran’s Second Front (Foreign Affairs)

• The Houthi advance in Yemen raises concerns about a key shipping choke point (ABC)

• As Saudi tensions with Iran-backed Houthis escalate, mediator Pakistan faces pressure to choose a side (Reuters)

• Iraq scrambles to address fallout from alleged militia attack on Saudi oil pipeline (CBC)

• Saudi Arabia has few options as it faces mounting threats from Iran and its allies (AP)

• Trump says united Ireland would be a ‘great thing’ on two-day visit to country (BBC)

• Contractor Blames Its Own Repairs, Not Vandals, for Reflecting Pool Failure (NYT)

• Trump Falls Asleep Onstage at September 11 Ceremony (TNR)

• Mistakes, mistrust and misdirection: 25 years after 9/11, its dark legacy continues to unfold (Guardian)

• Lutnick says Trump’s $5,000 checks for Americans wouldn’t rely on taxpayer funds (NBC)

• U.S. inflation accelerated last month as gas prices spiked, squeezing Americans’ finances (PBS)

• As diseases loom, CDC’s response to measles deaths stirs fears about agency’s reliability (NPR)

• The G.O.P. ‘Midterm Convention’ Invited the Faithful to Binge-Watch Trump (NYT)

• U.S. Postal Service Failed to Properly Handle Some Ballots During This Year’s Primary Elections, Audit Finds (ProPublica)

• McClatchy Makes Deep Job Cuts to Newspapers Around the Country (NYT)

• Bayer faces pivotal test of $7.25 billion Roundup settlement in Missouri court (Reuters)

• El Niño will soon become the strongest one on record. Track its wide-reaching impacts. (WP)

• The Truth About Brain Rot: It’s a Cry for Help (NYT)

• How Meta tried, and failed, to grab its employees’ data for AI (BI)

• The Original Sin of AI (Atlantic)

• After outrunning Bolt, China’s robot champion races towards real-world work (Japan Times)

• A.I. Could Possibly End Humanity. How Are Humans Supposed to Process That? (NYT)

• I Let an AI Agent Hack All My Gadgets—and I’d Do It Again (Wired)

• Here’s why it’s so hard to keep AI agents from going rogue (WP)

• A.I. Boom Poses Growing Public Health Threat, Former E.P.A. Officials Warn (NYT)

• MLB Attempts To Increase Fan Engagement By Providing Ball With Emotional Backstory (Onion)

Surviving (Plan A)

The AI Futures Project, a tiny nonprofit with offices in Berkeley, has published a positive vision for how humanity can harness the potential of AI without allowing it to destroy us.

Called “Plan A,” this document envisions a scenario whereby we delay the development of super intelligence until 2040 and allows dozens of companies all over the world to catch up to the frontier currently occupied by just a few players in the U.S. and China.

All AI research would be made public under this plan, and an international regulatory regime “of mutually assured compute destruction” would come into being.

Starting in 2027, according to Plan A, “America has two workforces now. The first is people, 165 million of them. The second is AI agents: millions of copies spun up and shut down every hour, working around the clock at superhuman speeds."

The result in Congress is the AI Transparency Act of 2027, an omnibus bill that does many things, some good and some bad, but doesn’t fundamentally change the situation.²⁰

The plan predicts that AI will be on the biggest issue on the ballot in the 2028 election cycle. There will be widespread awareness that unrestrained AI threatens humanity’s future, and fierce debate over what to do about it.

The outcome of the debate is the new President will declare that we must slow down AI development. To everyone’s surprise, then other superpower leading the AI race, China, agrees.

But neither side wants to slow down their AI development unless they can verify the other side is too. A verification scheme emerges involving the U.S., China and other countries as well.

After intense global debate, further AI development is delayed while processes are developed to ensure transparency and reversibility. “No one knows how to tell if AIs are trustworthy, and no one knows how to regulate superintelligent AI. Solving those problems looks like it’ll take years. Slowing down the intelligence explosion buys time to do so.”

There is much more to the plan; it is 50 pages long. But you get the idea from this, I hope, and I urge everyone to become familiar with the plan. I may publish more about this in the coming days.

What gives Plan A credibility in my eyes is it sounds realistic and achievable. It’s one of the first positive visions I’ve seen to help us manage what is increasingly looking like the greatest threat to our continued existence as a species.

Viewed that way, how can we not give it a shot? The AI Futures Project gives us options that suggest a way forward with an “Incremental AI Policy Wishlist:”

“Our main recommendation is to begin negotiating something like Plan A as soon as possible. But in this scenario, we depict Plan A happening imperfectly and only in the nick of time. So here is a list of less ambitious ideas that still help.”

• Transparency

• Enforce export controls

• Invest in verification R&D

• Limit AI R&D budgets

• AI Compute Tracking

• Improve government AI capacity 

I have been watching AI development for years now and tried to keep an open mind, given the potential this technology has for good, but I am convinced that the corporate gold rush currently under way if left unchecked will lead to disaster.

It will probably take an incident at least on the scale of Chernobyl, if not Hiroshima, to wake up enough humans to the mind-numbing realization that we are poised on the verge of destruction with AI.

Plan A offers us a way out.

HEADLINES:

• America marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11 (CNN)

• Empty seats, socialism and Trump dominate the Republican midterm convention (NPR)

• As Trump dominates convention, some Republicans quietly ask who comes next (BBC)

• Iran-Backed Houthis Take Effective Control of Key Red Sea Chokepoint (WSJ)

• Houthis hail operation as they take over Red Sea coastline (Al Jazeera)

• $5,000 Checks for Every American? What to Know About Trump’s Latest Promise (WSJ)

• Behind the Scenes, Vance Gathered Unvarnished Views of the Iran War (NYT)

• Houthis seize key Yemeni port of Mocha in drive to take control of Red Sea coast (Guardian)

• Oil soars to $109, pushing up chances of US interest rate increase (Al Jazeera)

• What Russia Is Really Up To in Europe (Atlantic)

• NATO allies foil a Russian subsea cable sabotage plot. (Reuters)

• A Year After Charlie Kirk’s Killing, a Divided Utah Campus Honors Him (NYT)

• Supreme Court blocks Missouri’s attempt to use Republican-drawn congressional map (NBC)

• US appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to restrict mail-in voting before midterms (Guardian)

• Trump’s census plan could reshape voting maps, eliminate race questions (Axios)

• Trump vs. the Blue Wave (Silver Bulletin)

• Trump Fury at Canada Gets So Unhinged Even GOPers Rattled (TNR)

• Jimmy Kimmel says show won’t air James Talarico interview on TV, citing FCC threats (NBC)

• Jimmy Kimmel’s Interview with James Talarico That the FCC Doesn’t Want You To See (YouTube)

• Jimmy Kimmel sends pointed message to FCC chairman after cancelation reports (Independent)

• Anthropic says it blocked misuse of its AI that could have supported biological weapons (AP)

• One resignation turned the embers of AI fear into a wildfire (Interconnects)

• We asked AI how it could kill humanity. Here’s what it told us. (BI)

• Inside a Perfect Storm — How Dangerous Is AI? (TPM)

• ‘Extinction’ warnings ramp up as more OpenAI, Anthropic researchers join calls for an AI slowdown (CNBC)

• For years, they warned AI could kill all humans. Now people are listening. (WP)

• Trump Claims He Was Falling Man (Onion)

The Ending

On the hottest day in a long time, with a breeze from my fan cooling my face, I thought about the end of the human race. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but a necessary one, given the stories in the current news cycle.

Along with many other people, I’ve been concerned about the known existential threats to humanity for much of my life. There is the danger of nuclear war, for example, or of climate change, or of an asteroid hitting the earth, or of a terrible pandemic.

But the latest and perhaps greatest immediate threat is from artificial intelligence.

***

Later on in my career, after journalism jobs had disappeared, I found work as a consultant to a number of technology startups. It was from the engineers at those companies that I learned how the software they were creating could become “smarter” over time, by reacting to user experiences.

They explained to me that their products would learn almost as if they were children to become faster, more efficient and more successful at the tasks their creators wanted them to master.

But all of that was kid stuff compared to AI, which advances at hyper speed, driven by market competition and the vast fortunes awaiting its creators. This week, the alarm has been sounded once again by industry insiders that AI may well destroy life as we know it within the next decade.

The thought of this makes me sick. I’m not at all sure whether I’ll still be here a decade from now, but most of the people I love certainly will be, and the thought of them perishing in some sort of an AI-induced catastrophe is simply inconceivable.

But we have to be able to conceive of that. The leading companies in AI are literally begging for regulation. As part of their case, they are issuing ever-more scary predictions.

Meanwhile, the rest of us cannot just sit here as if we assume these industry insiders are like the boy who cried “Wolf!”

After all, we know what happened in that story.

HEADLINES:

• US strikes five Iranian oil tankers, as Iran attacks 10 ships, Jordan base (Al Jazeera)

• US-Iran tanker attacks signal a dangerous new phase in war (CNN)

• Hegseth is shaking up the Pentagon as the US wages war - but at what cost? (BBC)

• Andreessen- and Thiel-backed defense startup opens U.S. missile factory as it exits stealth (CNBC)

• ‘Surge in construction’ at suspected Iranian nuclear site, analysts say, as US considers ways to strike deep underground (CNN)

• Trump says every adult American will get $5,000 if Republicans win midterms (BBC)

• Trump officials propose sweeping changes to the census that would reshape voting maps (NPR)

• Missouri court opens contempt probe into Republican official over redistricting fight (NBC)

• Missouri Supreme Court Sets Contempt Hearing in Fight Over House Map (NYT)

• Ballots discounted for late postmarks surged in vote-by-mail states Washington and Oregon after Postal Service changes (AP)

• Trump makes GOP midterm convention about himself, much to Democrats’ delight (WP)

• O’Reilly: Republicans ‘still running in the old model’ (The Hill)

• Trump gave Natalie Harp and 2 other aides $45,000 holiday gifts, disclosures show (Politico)

• Germany’s Merz accuses AfD of promoting ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Bundestag clash with Weidel (EuroNews)

• Germany’s Merz attacks AfD in stormy debate after far-right election win (BBC)

• The Theme Park at the Heart of France’s Culture War (NYT)

• Cubans are pushed to the breaking point as crises take their toll (NBC)

• How Canada decided to hurt its own economy, raise its inflation—and most Canadians approved because they’re so angry at Trump (Fortune)

• For Years, John O’Neill Warned of Al Qaeda’s Threat. Then He Died on 9/11. (PBS)

• An unnamed donor responds to global aid cuts with a record gift for the nonprofit Americares (AP)

• Amish Country Is Seeing a Major Measles Outbreak. RFK Jr. Is Making It Worse. (Truthout)

• A journalist coined ‘the Bible Belt’ 100 years ago – it’s been oversimplifying the South ever since (The Conversation)

• Lindsay Clancy juror had reasonable doubt but would not agree to acquit, foreperson says (Guardian)

• Hit TV show ‘South Park’ becomes ‘South America’ in apparent reference to Trump’s geographic name changes (CNBC)

• ‘Gambling with our lives’: Anthropic researcher quits, warns against self-improving AI (TechCrunch)

• OpenAI claims GPT-6 Astra is an ethereal ‘Alien Mind’ with AGI-like qualities — company warns of alignment challenges as new frontier leader emerges (Tom’s)

• A Quieter Kind of AI Breakthrough (WSJ)

• Sergey Brin is cooking up Google’s AI destiny (BI)

• Meta Rolls Out A.I. Agent That Can Send Your Emails and Book Your Travel (NYT)

• High School Football Coach Has Good Feeling About New Player Called ‘Thunder Beef’ (Onion)