Hard Pass

Since Trump returned to the White House this year, a record number of members are eyeing the exits as the Republican-led Congress has largely ceded its power to Trump's vision of the country.

With just under 15 months to go until the 2026 midterms, nine senators and 21 House members have announced they don't plan to run for reelection, each a modern record for this point before the election, according to an NPR analysis of congressional campaign data since 2017.

There is no Russian city called Leningrad anymore, but apparently no one bothered to tell Donald Trump.

Archive article:https://archive.is/BNBGH

Texas Democrats are claiming victory over their Republican counterparts in their redistricting clash and could return to the state, according to a new report.

Concretely, ABC News detailed that lawmakers are planning on returning to the state if Republicans effectively adjourn the special session called to that end on Friday.

In a release published on Tuesday, Democrats said they "have killed this corrupt special session on behalf of Texas families, exactly what we said we'd do when we left the state."

However, a spokesperson later told the outlet that plans could change if the GOP changes its strategy over the next days.

Good news at last

What’s next you tech bro wankers, is AI going to drink the pint for me?

… just when you thought they couldn’t force AI into any more things. The epitome of a solution in search of a problem

A POLITICO analysis found more than 130 bills aimed at regulating ultraprocessed foods and improving nutrition, over 60 bills restricting the application of pesticides and other chemicals, and more than 130 bills expanding vaccine exemptions or prohibiting mandates this year. Lawmakers also introduced dozens of bills to promote the use of psychedelics, authorize sales of raw milk and ivermectin, and ban the fluoridation of drinking water.

The measures emerging from state legislatures, long seen as testing grounds for federal policy, show how Kennedy’s movement to combat chronic disease has struck a chord across the country — even as it conflicts with traditional Republican views about regulating industry. The number of bills on the subjects has increased at least 45 percent from the prior year and in 2023 for the four states that convene biennially. The outpouring of interest in Kennedy’s agenda also shows how he has outmaneuvered a public health establishment that has condemned aspects of his agenda, such as expanding vaccine exemptions and ending water fluoridation, as unscientific and dangerous.

Leopards and faces

What are your thoughts? Any counter-counter points to the author's response to most concerns regarding open source?

A fresh expansion of UK crimefighters' access to live facial recognition (LFR) technology is being described by officials as "an excellent opportunity for policing." Privacy campaigners disagree.

The Home Office said today that more police forces across England will gain LFR capabilities thanks to ten new "cutting edge" vans being wheeled out, adding to those already in use by London's Metropolitan Police and forces in South Wales.

Seven forces will gain access to LFR vans as part of the latest expansion. These are: Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey and Sussex (jointly), and Thames Valley and Hampshire (jointly).

I haven't heard about thermodynamic computing before, but it sounds pretty interesting. As IEEE Spectrum explains , "the components of a thermodynamic chip begin in a semi-random state. A program is fed into the components, and once equilibrium is reached between these parts, the equilibrium is read out as the solution. This computation style only works with applications that involve a non-deterministic result ... various AI tasks, such as AI image generation and other training tasks, thrive on this hardware." It sounds almost like quantum computing to my layperson ears. [edit: fixed link]

Microsoft is being sued by a man who feels cheated by the current plans to sunset Windows 10. He makes some good points, but I doubt he'll win.