Welcome! A Massachusetts family says the state 𝕏took custody of their teenage daughter after they refused to affirm her as a boy, citing their Catholic faith.
‼️ PROBLEM: US 10-year bond yield hits 5.04% for the first time since 2007. - CNBC
📖 MUST READ: The Dangerous Ideology Behind the AI Warnings - Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar at The Free Press
📺 MUST WATCH: Jensen Huang took Donald Trump’s call in the middle of a conference. - 𝕏X
📰 HEADLINE: US confirms for the first time it has deployed space weapons - BBC
🏛️ NEWS: Supreme Court Halts Postal Service From Using Trump’s Mail-In Ballot Rule - NOTUS
📆 TOMORROW: The Federal Reserve is all but certain to announce a plan to raise rates at 2 PM tomorrow.
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New York’s Board of Regents voted Monday to phase out the Regents exams as a graduation requirement.
For decades, students have had to pass at least four exams, including math, English, science, and global studies, to earn a high school diploma. This year’s seniors will be the last class held to that standard. Starting next year, the tests become optional.
The timing is notable: Regents scores have been in free fall since the pandemic. Fewer than 6 in 10 New York seniors currently pass the exams, and Algebra II proficiency among city students has dropped from 69% in 2019 to just 44% last year.
On the same day, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the city is suing the Trump administration for retaining the ability to deny green cards to foreigners who are likely to end up on government assistance. The change is scheduled to go into effect on September 18th.
Related: Yes, Children Really Are Getting Dumber - WSJ (free)
Ben Shapiro on the threat of losing the AI race.
David Sacks to Dario Amodei: If you think frontier AI is gonna end humanity, why are you running a frontier AI company?
Saudi Arabia has increasingly found itself caught in the middle of the war between the United States and Iran. Now, the kingdom’s leadership is assessing dwindling options on how to respond.
In recent weeks, the Iran-allied Houthi militia in Yemen has repeatedly attacked the kingdom, threatening to throttle its ability to export oil and piling pressure on the global economy. But Saudi Arabia has been left frustrated and disappointed by President Trump’s reluctance to confront the Houthis, former diplomats and analysts say.
The kingdom’s diplomatic efforts to engage with Iran have also had limited results. A meeting planned on Monday between officials from Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries was abruptly postponed on Sunday night, as the gap between their positions remained vast.
“Right now the Saudis are really frustrated,” said Michael Ratney, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. “In some sense it’s their worst-case scenario.”
Full story at NYT (free).
Beijing imposed sweeping exit restrictions on Chinese citizens on Tuesday along with new rules for foreigners entering China, tightening scrutiny of individuals seen as endangering national security, including by violating technology export restrictions.
The measures allow the government to stop Chinese citizens from leaving the country for months or years if they engage in “criminal activities abroad” that threaten national interests or violate export controls that could harm “industrial and technology security.”
The restrictions are the latest sign of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s focus on national security and Beijing’s heightened attention to curbing the flow of talent and know-how in areas such as artificial intelligence, amid an all-out tech race with Washington.
Full story at WSJ (free).
China’s top spy chief has warned that artificial intelligence could pose a direct threat to the Chinese Communist Party’s hold on power, in what is the highest-level and most detailed articulation yet of how Beijing sees the technology’s security risks.
The unusually blunt assessment by Chen Yixin, the head of China’s Ministry of State Security, is in contrast to the warnings dominating the A.I. debate in the United States, which have focused on the possibility that A.I. could slip out of human control or pose a threat to humanity itself.
In an article published on Sunday in the state-run magazine China Cyberspace, Mr. Chen called for more party control over A.I. and stricter government oversight. This, he said, was necessary to protect political stability at home; to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns from “hostile forces”; and to compete militarily with countries like the United States.
Full story at NYT (free).
Military analysts have long warned that a conflict with China could consume US stocks of key munitions within days or weeks. That timeline has shrunk even further now that the Department of Defense has burned through a shocking number of its most sophisticated missiles in the war with Iran. The US not only needs to accelerate efforts to replenish those weapons — it ought to rethink their centrality to its warfighting strategy, too.
Although exact numbers are classified, multiple estimates suggest the war has decimated the supply of America’s highest-end munitions. Three are of particular concern: Bloomberg Economics estimates the US has fired off a third of its global supply of Tomahawks — long-range strike missiles used heavily in the early days of the conflict, before Iranian air defenses had been degraded. Even more alarmingly, the US may have used up more than half of its Patriot missiles and about 40% of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors, which are designed to knock out high-flying ballistic missiles. Smaller stockpiles of some newer strike missiles are reportedly near depletion.
The shortfalls will require years to close.
Full story at Bloomberg (paywall).
Hey Dario: Shut Up And Dribble -
WFBForeign investors prefer US stocks to Treasuries as debt worries grow -
FT(paywall)Trump said the GOP’s midterm convention outperformed the NFL. Ratings show otherwise -
CNNPennsylvania man accused of plotting ISIS attack arrested with rifle and 190 rounds of ammunition: DOJ -
FoxNewsCostco hikes motor oil prices and puts limits on how much members can buy -
CNBCSydney Sweeney’s nude advert exposes the hypocrisy of the woke Left -
The TelegraphNick Reiner prosecutors won’t seek death penalty in the killing of parents Rob and Michele Reiner, DA says -
NBC NewsAAA: New Vehicle Ownership Costs Hit $12,863 Annually -
AAA
For years, I’ve warned about the dangers of big banks using the financial system to push political agendas. But thanks to Consumers’ Research and the Open Banking Rule, consumers have access to more competitive banking options than ever before. That’s why I’m proud to stand with Consumers’ Research as they fight to keep you in charge of your financial future, not big banks that discriminate against conservatives and crush competition. Learn more about their work here.
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