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Robo-taxis are legal now

Robo-taxis are legal now

Anna Wiener writes: The California Public Utilities Commission—a state agency that regulates power, water, and telecommunications companies, as well as movers, taxicabs, rideshare services, and self-driving cars—is headquartered in a large, curved building on Van Ness Avenue, in San Francisco, that looks a bit like a sun visor. Last Thursday morning, a small group of protesters gathered on the steps in advance of the commission’s vote on whether to allow the autonomous-vehicle companies Cruise and Waymo to expand their fleets,…

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What if you knew what you were missing on social media?

What if you knew what you were missing on social media?

Julia Angwin writes: Social media can feel like a giant newsstand, with more choices than any newsstand ever. It contains news not only from journalism outlets, but also from your grandma, your friends, celebrities and people in countries you have never visited. It is a bountiful feast. But so often you don’t get to pick from the buffet. On most social media platforms, algorithms use your behavior to narrow in on the posts you are shown. If you send a…

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Have astronomers finally found a meteorite from outside the solar system?

Have astronomers finally found a meteorite from outside the solar system?

Astronomy reports: After an expedition that spent about 10 days scouring the ocean floor off Papua New Guinea with a magnetic sled, Harvard University astrophysicist Avi Loeb says he has collected more than 700 metallic spherules that are now undergoing detailed examination in his lab at Harvard as well as at least two other independent labs that he asked to help out. Loeb believes that many of these spherules, each less than a millimeter across (about the size of a…

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American democracy is cracking. These forces help explain why

American democracy is cracking. These forces help explain why

Dan Balz and Clara Ence Morse write: In a country where the search for common ground is increasingly elusive, many Americans can agree on this: They believe the political system is broken and that it fails to represent them. They aren’t wrong. Faced with big and challenging problems — climate, immigration, inequality, guns, debt and deficits — government and politicians seem incapable of achieving consensus. On each of those issues, the public is split, often bitterly. But on each, there…

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Threats, slurs and menace: Far-right websites target Fulton County grand jurors

Threats, slurs and menace: Far-right websites target Fulton County grand jurors

NPR reports: Before many people had a chance to fully read through the Fulton County, Ga., indictment against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants, malicious online actors had already done their work. On a far-right website, where the QAnon conspiracy theory originated, an anonymous user on Tuesday shared a list of the 23 grand jurors with their supposed full names, ages and addresses. Amid a torrent of other posts speculating on the race and religion of the jurors, and…

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Kenneth Chesebro, alleged architect of fake electors’ plot, followed Alex Jones around Capitol grounds on January 6th

Kenneth Chesebro, alleged architect of fake electors’ plot, followed Alex Jones around Capitol grounds on January 6th

CNN reports: When conspiracy theorist Alex Jones marched his way to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, riling up his legion of supporters, an unassuming middle-aged man in a red “Trump 2020” hat conspicuously tagged along. Videos and photographs reviewed by CNN show the man dutifully recording Jones with his phone as the bombastic media personality ascended to the restricted area of the Capitol grounds where mobs of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters eventually broke in. While the man’s actions…

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U.S. intelligence says Ukraine will fail to meet offensive’s key goal

U.S. intelligence says Ukraine will fail to meet offensive’s key goal

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. intelligence community assesses that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will fail to reach the key southeastern city of Melitopol, people familiar with the classified forecast told The Washington Post, a finding that, should it prove correct, would mean Kyiv won’t fulfill its principal objective of severing Russia’s land bridge to Crimea in this year’s push. The grim assessment is based on Russia’s brutal proficiency in defending occupied territory through a phalanx of minefields and trenches, and is…

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Biden to sign strategic partnership deal with Vietnam in latest bid to counter China in the region

Biden to sign strategic partnership deal with Vietnam in latest bid to counter China in the region

Politico reports: President Joe Biden will chalk up a fresh victory in his campaign to boost U.S. influence in the Indo-Pacific by sealing a deal with Vietnam next month aimed to draw Hanoi closer to Washington at a time of rising tensions with Beijing. Biden will sign a strategic partnership agreement with Vietnam during a state visit to the Southeast Asian country in mid-September, according to three people with knowledge of the deal’s planning. They were granted anonymity because they…

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Dead trees around the world are shocking scientists

Dead trees around the world are shocking scientists

Katarina Zimmer writes: As we hang far above the ground on a sunny October day, it would be easy to focus on the blue crests of hills and the small towns tucked in between. But Richard Peters, who’s with me inside a metal gondola mounted onto the maneuverable arm of a crane, points me instead to the tree canopy below, flushed with the gold and copper shades of fall. “That guy is definitely on his way to die,” he says…

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Ancient fires, spurred by human activity, drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

Ancient fires, spurred by human activity, drove large mammals extinct, study suggests

The New York Times reports: Wildfires are getting worse. Parts of the United States, scientists say, are experiencing wildfires three times as often — and four times as big — as they were 20 years ago. This summer alone, smoke from Canadian blazes turned North American skies an unearthly orange, “fire whirls” were seen in the Mojave Desert and raging flames in Maui led to disaster. Records of the distant past can reveal what once drove increased fire activity and…

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The cases against Trump aren’t criminalizing politics. He and his allies are politicizing crime

The cases against Trump aren’t criminalizing politics. He and his allies are politicizing crime

Quinta Jurecic writes: Following each new indictment of Donald Trump, the former president and his allies have wasted no time in attacking the case. Their complaints have gravitated toward one idea in particular: the notion that prosecutors have charged Trump for engaging in the normal work of politics. The latest indictment, in Fulton County, Georgia, is “an example of this criminalization of politics,” commented Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—who’d made a similar comment last month about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment…

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Documentary footage shows Roger Stone working to overturn 2020 election

Documentary footage shows Roger Stone working to overturn 2020 election

The Daily Beast reports: MSNBC’s The Beat aired exclusive footage Wednesday of Roger Stone working to overturn the 2020 presidential election—before the election had even been called for Joe Biden. The video, originally obtained by Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen for his 2023 documentary A Storm Foretold, shows Stone dictating to an associate on a laptop a strategy to thwart the will of the voters. “Although state officials in all 50 states must ultimately certify the results of the voting in…

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Fox executives are pouring cash into Joe Manchin’s campaign

Fox executives are pouring cash into Joe Manchin’s campaign

The Intercept reports: Since the 2020 presidential election, when Democrats emerged with a razor-thin majority in the Senate, Joe Manchin has been no stranger to his Republican colleagues: schmoozing with them on his houseboat, meeting to discuss concerns about President Joe Biden’s massive spending packages, and proving a consistent ally in derailing the aspirations of both Blue Dog Democrats and left-wing progressives. As the Democrats’ critical 51st vote, the West Virginia senator has repeatedly taken to Fox News to warn…

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Texas and others create ‘punitive’ barriers to EV transition

Texas and others create ‘punitive’ barriers to EV transition

Politico reports: Electric vehicle drivers in Texas have started to get some bad news in the mail. Starting in September, they’ll have to pay the state an extra $200 each year to register their climate-friendly cars and trucks. And if they want to buy a new EV, that will cost $400 upfront. State lawmakers imposed the new fee on EVs this spring to replace gasoline taxes lost to the switch to battery-powered vehicles. Supporters say it ensures every driver pays…

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