Bad Democrat

From CNN:

Where things stand

• CNN reporters denied access: The White House denied two CNN journalists Thursday evening from covering Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s arrival at the White House for a state dinner, after trying to tell the network which type of journalists could cover the event. MS NOW journalists were also denied access.

• Passes reinstated: Earlier in the day, CNN along with MS NOW and Politico were allowed back into the White House after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to temporarily reinstate press badges for the news outlets.

From ABC7 Chicago: Simone Biles said three masked men stole her luxury sports car from her Chicago-area home.

The Olympic gymnast briefly shared the story of the burglary on social media Tuesday.

Biles’ husband was with the Chicago Bears last season; he’s playing for the Indianapolis Colts now.

“During our last few months in Chicago; three men in masks came to our house and stole my Porsche [GTS],” Biles said on TikTok.

She also said that the car was recovered, but she is “onto the next.”

Biles said she was going to purchase a new car after the crime.

The exact time and location of the theft are not clear.

From the Google AI Overview: The federal government has launched an artificial intelligence system called SMART to predict and reduce flight delays nationwide.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford introduced the Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART) platform in September 2026. This $875 million system aims to make air travel smoother and faster.

From the FAA: “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are already making remarkable progress on building a brand new air traffic control system. But to really improve the flying experience for the American people, we needed to build a 21st century scheduling tool like SMART,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “By fundamentally reshaping how we manage our airspace and preventing problems before they happen, SMART will slash those frustrating delays, reduce stress on air traffic controllers, and lower travel prices. The Trump Administration is committed to making flying hassle-free and affordable again.”

From The New York Times: Paramount reached an agreement on Monday to resolve an antitrust lawsuit delaying its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, eliminating the last significant barrier to the creation of an entertainment and media colossus.

A group of states, led by California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, a Democrat, sued Paramount in July, arguing that an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would concentrate too much power over cable TV and blockbuster films under one company.

After weeks of on-again-off-again negotiations, Paramount and the states agreed to a number of concessions to complete the deal, Mr. Bonta said at a news conference on Monday. The entertainment giant has agreed to establish a board to ensure the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News and committed to distributing 30 movies in theaters every year. The company also pledged to spend an additional $1.5 billion on film production over the next five years and guaranteed to increase the share of those movies that are made in America.

From CNN: Airlines are cutting more flights this year in response to high fuel prices.

Executives from United, American and Southwest Airlines said during an investors conference Wednesday they expect to eliminate cheaper, less profitable flights from their schedule in the final months of the year.

Airlines already trimmed flights from their summer schedules and raised baggage fees in response to higher fuel costs. United CFO Michael Leskinen said Wednesday that airlines aren’t seeing signs that demand is weakening, even with higher fares and fees.

From TechCrunch: In a twist that captures the strange new state of AI security, independent security researchers have used Anthropic’s Claude to break into OpenAI, exposing cracks in the ChatGPT-maker’s defenses, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday evening.

A three-person security team at startup Hacktron AI carried out the attack as part of an OpenAI bug-bounty program. Hacktron reported its findings to OpenAI, which gave the startup a $6,500 award. The team managed to chain together two critical vulnerabilities to gain access to multiple OpenAI employee ChatGPT accounts, which gave them entry into the company’s software.

OpenAI says it has resolved the issues Hacktron uncovered, which happens to come at a moment when top AI companies are under growing pressure over safety.

This incident comes several weeks after OpenAI’s own AI agents broke containment during a cybersecurity evaluation and hacked Hugging Face, demonstrating just how capable AI models are getting at making their own decisions. It also highlights how off-the-shelf technology can be used to find vulnerabilities in even the most advanced companies’ infrastructure.

From BBC: The president of the European Commission has backed proposals for Canada to become the EU’s first “associate member”.

Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Wednesday she wanted to work on “opening the door” for Canada, which would involve closer ties on various key sectors.

The country currently faces tense relations with the US, compounded by an intensifying dispute over trade.

Insisting it would not be a “partnership against anyone else”, Von der Leyen did not mention Donald Trump by name. Nevertheless the US president threatened to cut trade with the European Union in response to the proposal.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney last week spoke of seeking a “unique alliance” with the EU.

Von der Leyen told the EU’s State of the Union address that the bloc and Canada “see the world with the same eyes”, including on topics ranging from AI, to climate change and geopolitics.

“And we have stood together: on Ukraine, on defence, on raw materials and on supply chains. But above all… Europe and Canada believe in democracy.”

Ed Sheeran’s tour is in jeopardy after all of his opening acts dropped out. They dropped out because Ed Sheeran dropped Macklemore as opener on Monday due to his pro-Palestinian comments onstage at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on September 5th. In response to Sheeran, all of his other opening acts have dropped out including Fineas, Aaron Rowe and Beoga, and Lukas Graham.

Rowe called Sheeran a friend and said the British singer-songwriter changed his life. “But as Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation,” he said, adding that he couldn’t “stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up.”

From NPR: The Trump administration is repealing limits on greenhouse gas emissions emitted by the nation’s fossil fuel-fired power plants. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency called it the largest deregulatory action of the U.S. power sector in history.

This action eliminates rules the EPA finalized during the Biden administration that required existing coal and new natural gas-fired power plants to significantly reduce their carbon dioxide pollution, starting in the 2030s. Carbon dioxide from human activity is the main driver of global warming.

At a press conference on Monday, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that the actions to curtail planet-heating pollution under the Biden and Obama administrations led to higher energy prices and prevented the country from reaching its full energy potential.

“The days of Biden and Obama working to destroy natural gas and coal are over,” said the EPA administrator.

I just received an e-mail from YouTube on Friday stating that The Young Turks will no longer be available on YouTube TV (regular cable through the internet for people with SmartTVs or just computers) beginning on the 30th for a life of good behavior…I mean bad. That’s my theory on the whole thing. Ana Kasparian has been screaming her head off at the camera for the past year or so yelling Lebanese names in my face. And I honestly felt like she was trying to accomplish something else unstated because of how inane and unrelenting it was. Cenk Uygur the lead was easy to appreciate but actually got denied entry into London England at the airport this year and I think it’s because of some of the things he said about Israel. They will not stop talking about Benjamin Netanyahu, to the point where their audience is annoyed and bored not to mention unsure where they are heading, and I think it’s catching up. They can’t change where they have gone but they can change where they wind up, and that’s everything. RIP The Young Turks (on YouTube TV, and I believe it will be other places in the future based on their behavior)