u/ty04

> American AI companies say they take steps to ensure neutral responses that protect free speech. Still, the oversight board last month published research that found models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta were significantly less likely to criticize repressive governments than governments in freer countries.

> In one test, Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4 willingly created fliers criticizing President Trump and King Charles III, but refused to do the same for Chinese leader Xi Jinping or Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn, citing safety concerns.

> Authoritarian governments have long flooded the internet with propaganda to sway opinion, said Molly Roberts, a University of California San Diego professor who co-wrote the Nature paper. As they realize the strategy tilts AI responses in their favor, she expects them to double down.

Rules are still strictly enforced. Don’t be weird.

> The extreme heat and drought affecting large parts of Europe this summer could erase ​much of the economic growth expected across ‌the region, Dutch bank Triodos (TRIOd.AS) said in a report on Saturday.

> The bank, which specialises in financing environmentally and ​socially sustainable projects, estimates that heat-related ​disruption could shave around 1% off the European ⁠Union's gross domestic product, equivalent to roughly €180 ​billion ($208 billion) in economic losses, driven primarily by ​weaker labour productivity.

> The European Commission has forecast EU GDP ⁠growth of ​1.1%, while the IMF ​expects the euro area to grow by around 0.9%.

> France is expected to be the hardest hit, with recurring heatwaves reducing GDP by around 1.4% and ​potentially tipping ​it into ⁠an annual contraction of 0.6%.

> Peters, once a martyr to the MAGA cause, is now a free woman, feted by the stolen-election movement. The former clerk and recorder of Mesa County, Colorado, was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to nearly nine years in prison after prosecutors said she deceived colleagues to grant an unauthorized person access to voting equipment.

> But because Peters was convicted of state charges, the only person with the power to get her out was Colorado Governor Jared Polis. The Democrat bowed to extraordinary pressure in May and granted Peters clemency despite pleas from prosecutors, his clemency board, and election officials that her punishment was just.

> She walked out of prison repeating many of the unsubstantiated claims that helped land her behind bars. She immediately hit the MAGA circuit, appearing on podcasts and livestreams from locations that look straight out of Architectural Digest. She has crusaded against the machinery used to conduct American elections, insisting that votes have been flipped and that foreign adversaries could exploit future contests. She rails against prison conditions and calls for one of her critics—Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat—to be locked up.

The government of Pakistan wants to increase economic cooperation with Europe and the US but is facing resistance and violence from extremist Islamist factions in the country. Since cracking down on fundamentalist groups, such as banning the TLP and jailing many of its members there has been a significant decline in religiously motivated violence against minority groups. However officials fear there may be a violent backlash to these crackdowns in the future.

Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.

Submission statement: Opinion piece on why there is a sex recession

“Americans do seem more vigilant than playful these days. According to one 2025 poll from Marquette University Law School, 66 percent of 18-to-29-year olds and 60 percent of 30-to-44-year olds agreed that “most people can’t be trusted.” Rates of avoidant attachment style—the tendency to keep distant, essentially—have been rising. Political priorities have become dominated by a yearning for security: protection against financial instability, crime, replacement. And politicians are rushing to acknowledge (or exploit) those fears. These are not the conditions in which eroticism thrives.”

“Perhaps the “sex recession,” then, is merely a symptom of something bigger: an eroticism shortage, resulting from a great discomfort with uncertainty. If so, the stakes would be much higher than they were in 2006. It would mean that people aren’t just falling out of lust with their partner but struggling to connect, to feel deeply, and to be present for their own life.”

Bravo, Nolan

Interesting story about how a handful of American egg companies have been accused by the DOJ of coordinating to artificially increase the price of eggs in 2022-2024 by submitting fake bids to wholesalers. Three companies have reached financial settlements with the Trump administration for their participation in the scheme.

Submission statement: I hate protectionism I hate protectionism I hate protectionism I hate protectionism

how this is relevant to the sub: interesting case of the rise of GLP-1 use and other health fads causing demand shocks in the US dairy industry requiring building out new supply chains