WHAT’S THIS? The Stringer publishes a news roundup—with a global bent.
Peacetime Precedent
The Chinese spy balloon incident has sent the U.S. into alert mode, and their straining eyes are seeing radar blips everywhere.
In eight days, the U.S. shot down four “high-altitude objects,” including the alleged spy balloon. The latest on Sunday, over Lake Huron. Pentagon officials say that there is “no peacetime precedent” to this flurry of activity over American airspace. An oddly foreboding phrase.
Whether these objects — UFOs, technically — are being noticed simply because the U.S. is in hyper-alert after the alleged spy balloon incident is unknown. But the U.S. is putting resources behind further militarizing its airspace.
WORLD and POLITICS
EARTHQUAKE: The death toll in the Turkish-Syrian quake has climbed to 37,000.
GET OUT: As tensions over the war with Ukraine escalate, the U.S. has advised Americans to depart from Russia to avoid “unpredictable consequences.”
MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE: Twenty-two attorney generals from states across the U.S. have voiced support for ending access to mifepristone, an abortifacient, in a Texas case against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
BLAZIN’ ISN’T FREE: Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch currently under sanctions, provided much of the early funding behind the U.S. cannabis industry, it turns out. It almost redeems the existence of nefarious Russian oligarchs. Almost.
BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
AUTOMATED COLLUSION: Information exchanges — which a number of industries, from healthcare to real estate to meatpacking, use to set prices — may not be kosher, after all. Those exchanges have been traditionally permitted so long as the information is anonymized. But the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust enforcement is weighing whether to restrict their use for enabling wage fixing and price fixing. Collusion does seem less offensive when it’s automated, but only slightly.
CRYPTO: The crypto exchange Kraken settled for $30 million with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to “staking,” a practice wherein users pledge crypto for future returns. Broad strokes, this is the S.E.C. asserting authority over crypto. Crypto stocks, unsurprisingly, took a hit.
PROFIT BEFORE POLITICS: Public pension officials in Kentucky refused to pull money from the investment firm BlackRock, saying that they’re putting profits above politics. Kentucky lawmakers had demanded that they divest because of the company’s “woke” environmental social governance (ESG) offerings. Others are also reconsidering their anti-ESG stance in the face of lost returns, including a possible bill rewrite in Indiana and the shutdown of a bill in North Dakota. In short, the Republican anti-ESG stance is less surefooted than it once was.
GIVING IS GETTING: U.S. direct investment abroad is ten times higher than it was in 1982. Foreign investments can open up foreign markets, of course, not to mention allowing companies to slash costs and enjoy tax breaks. So, to give is really to get in this instance.
UNHAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH: Disney joined the list of companies performing mass firings, cutting 7,000 employees (about 3 percent of its workforce). What’s a mouse supposed to do? Mikey’s got shareholders to answer to.
RE-EDUCATION
AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES: Florida Gov. Ron De Santis has suggested cutting ties with College Board, the company which runs advanced placement (AP) courses. At root, De Santis is upset with their AP African American Studies curriculum. The dynamic transcends the petty vendetta, though: As I’ve chronicled elsewhere, curriculum developers in the U.S. are under pressure, caught in the culture war fray between the likes of De Santis and those who want “inclusive” teaching materials.
CULTURE
BARD LIED (ALREADY): In its unpopular debut, Google’s AI chatbot, Bard, delivered misinformation, which doesn’t exactly counter the arguments that these bots are prone to falsehoods.
YOUNGER THAN THAT NOW: Enticed by the guaranteed profits of proven box office returns and the staying power of nostalgia, an increasing number of films are using algorithms to cast old stars in young roles. You know the saying: You’re only as old as your AI-generated face wrap.
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