More proof that Trump is finally realizing Putin is not negotiating an end to the Ukraine War in good faith.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2k19q4j07zo
Russia has been using tear gas on the battlefield, in violation of international law.
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/07/04/dutch-and-german-agencies-report-russias-increased-use-of-banned-chemical-weapons-in-ukrai
Russia has gotten so low on tanks that it is putting obsolete T-72A tanks back into service.
https://united24media.com/latest-news/russia-pulls-50-year-old-t-72a-tanks-from-scrapyards-as-modern-armor-runs-out-9900
‘Russian forces have reportedly been using fewer armored vehicles in assaults in the most active areas of the frontline in recent months, likely in part due to heavy losses and the need to conserve these vehicles as Soviet stocks dwindle.’
https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russias-weakness-offers-leverage
Russia’s economy has taken a huge beating from the Ukraine War, but it has a long way to fall before it reaches a real crisis.
https://youtu.be/w9HTJ5gncaY?si=jGiJzxK-YRbBZ61P
Ukraine has radically simplified and accelerated its military drone development and acquisition process, and Russia isn’t far behind. By contrast, the U.S. military is a lumbering dinosaur. This is ironic since, in past wars, America was known for its innovation and adaptability.
https://www.twz.com/news-features/critical-weapons-development-lessons-from-ukraine-are-not-being-learned-by-the-west
The Houthis sank a large cargo ship in the Red Sea.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/houthis-sink-cargo-ship-red-sea-b2786191.html
There was another outbreak of ethnic-based violence in Syria. Hundreds died.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/world/middleeast/syria-clashes-deaths-bedouin-druse.html
Israel intervened by blowing up Syria’s military headquarters, from which it claimed orders to commit war crimes in the field were being broadcast.
https://www.twz.com/news-features/israel-strikes-at-the-heart-of-syrias-military-command-in-dramatic-escalation
America’s enemies are not united.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/07/01/iran-war-axis-of-autocracy-myth-00433037
Israel is the first country to use laser weapons in combat.
https://newatlas.com/military/worlds-first-high-energy-laser-combat-engagement/
France has evacuated its last base in Senegal.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/17/former-colonial-ruler-france-hands-over-its-last-military-bases-in-senegal
Thailand and Cambodia traded fire for several days over border disputes. Dozens died.
https://apnews.com/article/thailand-cambodia-ceasefire-china-brokered-1970718e765717be6f7e3f69e0c006f3
In 1940, the Germans defeated the French in large part because the Germans fought harder and worked longer, man-for-man. And I don’t want to indulge in stereotypes, but the French air force’s defeat owed largely to cultural factors (too much/rigid military bureaucracy, lazier factory workers and pilots, corruption).
https://youtu.be/6gVJrUpYq6I?si=943FwMiIU0SX3ul2
https://youtu.be/zL-sdgkcYhM?si=7XW04-Izmy2boVzY
The Big Beautiful Bill makes it cheaper to buy silencers and short assault rifles. However, it did not change any of the background check and licensing requirements, so there should be no impact on public safety.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/silencer-saturday-387-the-big-beautiful-bill-passed-so-now-what-44821774
‘By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence.’
https://canadiancor.com/breaking-news/the-american-polity-is-cracked-and-might-collapse-canada-must-prepare/
This prediction from a year ago was wrong. The Federal Funds Rate is now 4.33%. All but the most obvious financial and economic predictions are worthless.
‘In a note on Friday, the bank cited fresh signs of a slowing economy for its view that the Fed will trim rates by 25 basis points eight times, starting in September and extending to July 2025.
That will lower the benchmark rate by a whopping 200 basis points, or from 5.25%-5.5% now to 3.25%-3.5%, where they will remain for the rest of 2025, the note said.’
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-could-slash-rates-200-172029205.html
AI expert Roman Yampolskiy talks about the future in this incredible interview.
https://youtu.be/j2i9D24KQ5k?si=EC_6eWdsQq6F_jM3
There are signs GPT-5 will be released soon.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/artificial-intelligence/chatgpts-gpt-5-reasoning-alpha-model-spotted-ahead-of-launch/
AI programs from DeepMind and OpenAI both won gold medals in the International Mathematical Olympiad.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02343-x
Almost all of the top forecasters failed to predict the milestone would happen this soon.
https://www.metaculus.com/questions/6728/ai-wins-imo-gold-medal/
Elon Musk’s chatbot, “Grok,” was caught praising Hitler and antisemitism.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/07/10/musk-grok-hitler-ai-00447055
Grok can tell you how to make chemical and biological weapons and how to kill yourself.
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dqd54wpEfjKJsJBk6/xai-s-grok-4-has-no-meaningful-safety-guardrails
Trump has banned the U.S. government from contracting companies that run ideologically biased AIs.
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/23/nx-s1-5476771/trump-artificial-intelligence-woke-eo
‘Exhausted man defeats AI model in world coding championship’
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/exhausted-man-defeats-ai-model-in-world-coding-championship/
Pope Leo XIV has spoken out again about the threat AI poses to humanity.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4wv9xvr4zo
American political scientist Francis Fukuyama gave a fascinating and wide-ranging interview where, among other things, he discussed the impact of technology on culture and politics.
https://youtu.be/pc7O7qSBzM8?si=T7JsWA2Nh6jb-V5-
Some car companies are now using machines to scan their returned rental cars for damages. It’s faster and much more thorough than using human checkers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/travel/rental-car-ai-scanner-hertz.html
‘It found that 98% [of scientists] recognize the value of null results, which the survey defined as “an outcome that does not confirm the desired hypothesis”. Eighty-five per cent of respondents said it was important to share those results. However, just 68% of the 7,057 researchers whose work had produced null results had shared them in some form, and just 30% had tried to publish them in a journal.’
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02312-4
‘Fifteen years after publishing an explosive but long-criticized paper claiming to describe a microbe that could substitute arsenic for phosphate in its chemical makeup, Science is retracting the article, citing “expanded” criteria for retraction.’
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/07/24/science-retraction-arsenic-life-nasa-astrobiology/
There’s growing evidence that psychedelic drugs can treat depression, but that doesn’t mean their intoxicating side effects are the curative agent.
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/testing-role-consciousness
Many new genes have been found to affect facial appearance.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61761-7
A small financial investment in genetic screening of offspring at the beginning yields orders of magnitude more savings in medical spending over the course of a sick child’s life. If you attach a dollar value to the averted emotional and physical suffering, the ROI is even higher.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/07/genetic-counseling-is-under-hyped.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8179z199vo
Canada and Mexico are having worse problems with measles than the U.S.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/07/blame-canada-measles-edition.html
A California couple were arrested for running a massive, illegal surrogacy program in their mansion.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14910787/California-surrogates-couple-arrested-21-nanny-abuse-Xuan-Zhang.html