OUR PICKSExtreme Wildfires Have Doubled in Frequency and Intensity | Permanent Nuclear Waste Storage | AI-Powered Super Soldiers Are More Than Just a Pipe Dream, and more
· Judge Rules to Protects Migrant Shelter on US-Mexico Border, Accuses Texas of Harassment
El Paso shelter’s constitutional rightsprotect records of migrants
· Columbia Removes Three Deans, Saying Texts Touched on ‘Antisemitic Tropes’
Nemat Shafik, the university president, called the sentiments in the text messages “unacceptable and deeply upsetting”
· AI-Powered Super Soldiers Are More Than Just a Pipe Dream
The US military has abandoned its half-century dream of a suit of powered armor in favor of a “hyper enabled operator,” a tactical AI assistant for special operations forces
· Extreme Wildfires Have Doubled in Frequency and Intensity in the Past 20 Years
These findings align with other evidence that wildfires are getting worse—such as the total area burned each year ratcheting up
· The Thorny Social Problem of Permanent Nuclear Waste Storage
Nothing assembled by human hands has stood for more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of years that the waste storage is expected to last
Judge Rules to Protects Migrant Shelter on US-Mexico Border, Accuses Texas of Harassment (AP / VOA News)
A judge blasted efforts by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to shutter one of the oldest and largest migrant shelters on the U.S.-Mexico border in a scathing ruling Tuesday, accusing the Republican of “outrageous” conduct over his claims that the shelter encourages migrants to enter the country illegally.
Judge Francisco X. Dominguez ruled that Paxton’s attempts to enforce a subpoena for records of migrants who have been served at Annunciation House in the past few years violated the El Paso shelter’s constitutional rights. The judge’s ruling prevents Paxton from seeking the records and protects the shelter from what Dominguez called “harassment and overreaching” by Paxton’s office.
Paxton’s office did not respond to requests for comment, but the state is expected to appeal.
Annunciation House is one of several nonprofit groups that help migrants from which Paxton’s office has sought information in recent months. Team Brownsville, which assists migrants who are dropped off by federal agents in the border city of Brownsville, received a letter demanding documents in May. Paxton is also suing Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley seeking testimony.
Dominguez wrote that he previously expressed concern that Paxton’s office had not identified which laws Annunciation House was allegedly breaking.
Columbia Removes Three Deans, Saying Texts Touched on ‘Antisemitic Tropes’ (Katherine Rosman, New York Times)
Three Columbia University administrators have been removed from their posts after sending text messages that “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes” during a forum about Jewish issues in May, according to a letter sent by Columbia officials to the university community on Monday.
The administrators are still employed by the university but have been placed on indefinite leave and will not return to their previous jobs.
Nemat Shafik, the Columbia president, described the sentiments in the text messages as “unacceptable and deeply upsetting, conveying a lack of seriousness about the concerns and the experiences of members of our Jewish community.” She said the messages were “antithetical to our university’s values and the standards.”
The announcement came about a month after a conservative website published photos that showed some of the text messages sent by the administrators.
