activescott's Notes

Donald Trump set off alarm bells earlier this week with comments that his administration should “take over the voting” in some states in the run-up to the 2026 midterms, which followed an unprecedented FBI raid on an election office in Georgia. Although election experts say it’s clear the president doesn’t have authority over elections, they warn the president’s corrosive rhetoric leaves little doubt about his intent.

For months, the Trump administration has stoked doubts about the integrity of American elections largely through lawsuits designed to create the impression states aren’t doing enough to keep ineligible voters off the rolls. That effort escalated significantly last week when the FBI raided the election office in Fulton county, Georgia and seized ballots, along with other materials, related to the 2020 election. Shortly after the raid, Trump escalated his attack even further, saying the federal government should take over elections.

“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” he said during a recent interview with Dan Bongino, the former deputy FBI director who has returned to hosting a podcast. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many – 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

This latest version of the SAVE Act would effectively require every American to produce a passport or birth certificate each time they register or re-register to vote. More than 21 million American citizens do not have those documents readily available. Roughly half of Americans do not even have a passport. Millions lack easy access to a paper copy of their birth certificate. Millions more women whose married names are not on their birth certificates or passports would face extra steps just to make their voices heard.

In addition, the SAVE America Act would eliminate or upend most methods of registering to vote. Mail and online registration would be essentially abolished, as would voter registration drives that add hundreds of thousands of citizens to the rolls every election cycle.

It would also direct states to send their voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security for inspection via the agency’s flawed citizenship verification tool. For months, Democratic and Republican states alike have been refusing similar requests from the Trump administration because of well-founded concerns about misuse of sensitive, private voter data.

The bill would also impose an unfunded mandate on election officials, saddling them with the responsibility of hashing out the practical details, leaving them to cover the costs, and threatening them with criminal and civil penalties if they get things wrong. It would also go into effect immediately, wreaking havoc on election administration.

There are already checks in place to ensure that only eligible citizens can vote. All available evidence, including from the Trump administration itself, indicates that only American citizens vote and the exceptions are vanishingly rare. States that have combed through their voter rolls looking for illegally cast votes – as Louisiana and Utah just did – have repeatedly confirmed that fact.

The outer wall is estimated to have required over 100,000 cubic metres (3.5 million cubic feet) of travertine stone which were set without mortar; they were held together by 300 tons of iron clamps.

However, it has suffered extensive damage over the centuries, with large segments having collapsed following earthquakes. The north side of the perimeter wall is still standing; the distinctive triangular brick wedges at each end are modern additions, having been constructed in the early 19th century to shore up the wall. The remainder of the present-day exterior of the Colosseum is in fact the original interior wall.

This is not a normal statement from a normal cabinet member of a major nation. 

This statement from Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir is the statement of a war criminal. 

The racist, extremist Israeli government does not deserve one nickel of U.S. support.

The best way to determine when trees need water is to check the soil. What you’re aiming for is moist — not soggy — soil. In the absence of rain or moisture, check the soil with a garden trowel to a depth of two inches. If the soil is dry to the touch, your tree needs water.

The rule of thumb for established trees is 10 gallons of water for each inch of the tree’s diameter.

Slow and deep is your best bet, which is why drip lines are the preferred method of watering (although spray from a garden hose will certainly work). Drip irrigation also loses less water to evaporation compared with overhead watering or sprinkler systems.

Allowing the soil to completely dry out — or allowing it to stay soggy — will result in a tree that is stressed and therefore more prone to disease and infestation.

Don’t forget to water your trees in the winter during dry spells. Just because they are dormant doesn’t mean your trees aren’t growing. Water when air and soil temperatures are above 40 degrees F and when there is no snow cover.

Cutting costs by cutting benefits is difficult, but the program can also achieve substantial economies of scale in the prices it pays for health care and administrative expenses—and, as a result, private insurers' costs have grown almost 60% more than Medicare's since 1970.[citation needed][106][original research?][107] Medicare's cost growth is now the same as GDP growth and expected to stay well below private insurance's for the next decade.

Health care spending in the United States, as a proportion of gross domestic product, is significantly higher than in other high-income countries, yet health outcomes are far worse. For example, average life expectancy is lower than in peer countries, while avoidable death rates are higher.

Systemic inequities lead to pronounced disparities in care and outcomes for many racial and ethnic minority groups, low-income families, and rural populations.

Health system challenges include rapidly rising costs caused in part by market consolidation, inconsistent access to primary and specialty care, and administrative complexity.

We support independent research on health care issues and make grants to promote better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency in health care.

Healthcare in the United States is largely provided by private sector healthcare facilities, and paid for by a combination of public programs, county indigent health care programs, private insurance, and out-of-pocket payments.

The U.S. is the only developed country without a system of universal healthcare, with around 92% of the population covered under some kind of health insurance for some, or all of the year.

The United States spends more on healthcare than any other country, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of GDP;

In 2022, the United States spent approximately 17.8% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare, significantly higher than the average of 11.5% among other high-income countries.[

The asylum where Van Gogh lived in 1889-90 is set among some of the most beautiful scenery of Provence, just beneath Les Alpilles (the little Alps). Only three kilometres away is a soaring limestone crest, known as Le Rocher des Deux Trous (The Rock of the Two Holes). It has a skull-like appearance, pierced with eye sockets. The larger hole is nearly 3m high, the smaller one around half that.

Van Gogh included the Deux Trous in a pair of his landscapes, but because it is such an unexpected feature it has often been seized upon as evidence of the artist’s fragile mental state—the product of an overblown imagination.

The Senate on Tuesday approved a House-passed resolution directing President Trump to withdraw U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran after four GOP senators broke ranks and voted to undercut Trump’s authority as commander-in-chief. The Senate voted 50 to 48 to approve the resolution, which passed the House 215-208 earlier this month.

It does not need Trump’s signature because it is a concurrent resolution. But it does not have the force of law, even though it’s been approved by both chambers. It directs Trump under the 1973 War Powers Act to remove U.S. troops from hostilities against Iran except for elements of the armed forces that would be necessary to protect U.S. assets or allies from imminent attack.

Four Republicans voted for the measure: Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowsi (R-Alaska) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.).

Today, it must be said that the State of Israel is conducting an organized, systematic, state-funded campaign of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Not in the Gaza Strip, not in southern Lebanon, not in Syria, but in areas of the West Bank that are under the exclusive security control of the state and its security and law enforcement apparatus.

At the forefront of this campaign are the prime minister, Defense Minister Israel Katz and the rest of the cabinet, of course. The drive behind these acts is reflected in the statements and actions of senior ministers who seek the full annexation of the West Bank without their Palestinian inhabitants remaining there. I am referring specifically to Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and the other ministers who support, through word and deed, policies that amount to the expulsion of Palestinian residents.

Nothing can justify turning a blind eye to what is happening daily in Palestinian villages across the West Bank: pogroms, children and adults injured in and outside their homes, fields and property set ablaze, and large-scale theft – especially of cattle and sheep, the primary source of livelihood for many residents. Faced with all this, it is impossible to remain calm, forgiving or unwilling to confront the perpetrators, their supporters and their leaders.

The thousands of settlers involved in these crimes could not act without the assistance, protection, backing and funding provided by government agencies at both the local and national levels. Crimes of this scale – including serious sexual abuse, even if not exactly as described by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times – would not be possible without support at every stage. The Israel Police are, in practice, partners in what is taking place in the West Bank. They do not attempt to prevent these acts, despite their duty to do so. In many cases, security forces actively assist Jewish terrorists – and, remarkably, it is almost always the Palestinian victims who are arrested, rather than the perpetrators.

The memorandum is a 14-point "framework agreement"[12][13] and provides for an end to military strikes, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping toll-free for 60 days,[14] an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, and a 60-day extension of the ceasefire.[12] Iran indicated that it intended to charge fees for unspecified services to ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, though analysts questioned whether this would be legal.[15] Subject to a final deal, the Islamabad Memorandum would also include an at least $300 billion private fund designed to trigger investment in Iran in addition to the release of frozen Iranian assets.[16][17]

The Islamabad Memorandum also immediately waives, but does not eliminate, sanctions that Trump imposed on Iran's oil exports, allowing Iran once again to sell its crude on the world market and restoring a revenue stream worth hundreds of billions of dollars.[18] Major issues, however, were not settled in the framework agreement, which contains no accord on Iran's nuclear program or uranium stockpiles, although it does call for the downgrading of Iranian uranium from weapons-grade to reactor-grade following a final agreement.[12][19] These issues are deferred to future talks to take place over the 60-day ceasefire extension.[12] The framework agreement also does not mention the Iranian ballistic missile program or its network of non-state allies in the Middle East.[20]

Israel was not part of the U.S.-Iran negotiations over the MOU, and Israeli officials indicated that military operations will continue in Lebanon regardless of the MOU wording.[58] Israel bombed Beirut twice during the U.S.-Iran negotiations, nearly derailing the negotiations each time.[59][60]

After the preliminary MOU was signed, Pakistan and Iran said that the ceasefire halts "military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, effective immediately" but Israel rejected this contention.[4][20] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the rest of his government said that Israel was not bound by the agreement, with Netanyahu saying that the country would "preserve its freedom of action" against threats from Hezbollah in Lebanon.[20] While combat between Israel and Hezbollah was dialed back in the immediate aftermath of the memorandum's signing, the Hezbollah–Israel conflict continued.[20] Israel conducted a strike south of Beirut on June 14.[61] Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said that Israeli forces would remain in the territory in southern Lebanon seized since the start of the war,[62][63] adding that the 200,000 displaced Lebanese residents from the security zone would never be allowed to return.[64] Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rejected the memorandum, stating that Israel was "not subordinate to the United States" and that its security was "not up for bargaining".[64][65] Following the deaths of four Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, Ben-Gvir called for Lebanon to be "obliterated" and posted on X that "all of Lebanon must burn."[66][64][65] Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich similarly called for "opening the gates of hell" in Lebanon, repeating rhetoric he had previously used in March 2025 regarding the Gaza Strip.[64] A report by the Israeli outlet Channel 14 reported that Netanyahu refused a request by Vance to scale back the IDF's presence in Lebanon.[67]

On 14 June, the US and Iran announced the Islamabad Memorandum to end the war and the dual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.[124] On 15 June, the US military clarified its blockade will continue until the agreement is signed on 19 June.[125] On 17 June, Trump signed the memorandum at the Palace of Versailles following the G7 summit, and Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian signed it in Tehran.[1][126] On 18 June, the US military announced the removal of the naval blockade of Iranian ports.[127] Shipping was stalled in the Strait of Hormuz following Iran's claimed closure of the strait.

June 9, 2025

Waymo was the first to launch a driverless robotaxi service in 2020 and now operates in cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. By early 2025, total rides exceeded 10 million. This marked a ride-volume growth of over 5,500% since August 2023. It averages over 200,000 rides each week. They have about 1,500 vehicles now and also plan to add 2,000 more by 2026.

Pony.ai is a Nasdaq-listed autonomous driving startup that recently drew bullish analyst attention.

Pony.ai is launching its Gen-7 robotaxi vehicles in Shenzhen. They are partnering with Xihu Group and aim to deploy over 1,000 units. The company announced a deal with Tencent.

Profitability is expected by 2029, and strong funding is in place.

WeRide, a Nasdaq-traded company (WRD), posted Q1 2025 revenue of RMB72.4 million (US$10 million). This is a 1.8% increase from last year. Robotaxi revenue rose to RMB16.1 million, making up 22.3% of total revenue. This is a jump from 11.9% the previous year.

Analysts expect the company to turn profitable by 2027 but note regulatory and cost uncertainties.

Zero-emission vehicles made up around 23% of new medium- and heavy-duty truck sales in the state in 2024, according to a release from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.

Earlier this year, California’s clean-truck voucher program reserved $165 million to subsidize Tesla’s planned electric semitruck.

While dozens of companies — 60 in all — have active permits to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver, it’s far less common to receive permission for driverless vehicles. Only AutoX, Nuro and Waymo hold this driverless permit.

In December 2018, Zoox became the first company to gain approval for providing self-driving transport services to the public in California.

In September 2020, Zoox became the fourth company in the State of California to receive permit to test driverless automobiles on public roads.