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The Biggest Problem With AI Today

What’s the biggest problem in AI today? Is it cost, with token budgets being blown out of the water by agentic AI? Is it sustainability, with AI consuming electricity and fresh water? Is it ethics, with tech companies cramming AI into everything?

I think it’s deeper than that. Those are all symptoms of a much deeper-rooted problem: nobody’s making decisions.

Or more correctly, we’ve abdicated far too much of our executive function to AI. We’ve surrendered our thinking. 

Let’s dig in.

Part 1: Where This Issue Came From

On Friday afternoon, I was mulling over what I wanted to cover in this week’s issue. It’s a holiday weekend here in the USA, so not as many folks will be reading, and that’s okay. (I appreciate that YOU are) And I’ve covered a ton recently:

So on a whim, I set up a NotebookLM with the last 180 days of conversations from over 40 different subreddits, like r/marketing, r/chatgpt, etc. – everything around marketing, business, and AI. I connected it to Claude Code with the NotebookLM command line tool (the most token—efficient way for Claude to talk to NotebookLM), and then put all of my 2026 newsletters year to date into an input folder.

I asked Claude to compare what I’ve written about thus far this year with what folks are finding their hardest problems are with AI. Claude spit out a list of 10 major things derived from over 800,000 words of foaming at the mouth on Reddit that it thought might be good newsletter topics:

  • AI Visibility challenges
  • Agentic oversight is degrading
  • AI deployment is broken
  • 40-60% of company budget is wasted on the wrong models
  • AI is a rental
  • AI sycophancy is screwing up synthetic focus groups
  • AI detectors don’t work
  • AI is hollowing out corporations and no one’s hiring junior staff
  • People measure AI by tokenmaxxing
  • Marketers are basically unpaid labor for AI companies training data

Claude was REALLY pushing for me to write about how measurement is broken in marketing and AI today, and I might do that at some point, but that’s not what I see when I look at this laundry list. Yes, there are measurement issues in many of them, data issues in many of them, but… measurement being broken is the symptom of what I said earlier – we’ve abdicated executive function.

For those who aren’t analytics nerds, you know that measurement is a trailing indicator. It’s not a leading indicator.

Part 2: Executive Function Recap

As a reminder, I bucket executive function into four categories that I call PODS:

  • Plan: you think about achieving something in the future and make a plan to get there from here
  • Organize: you take what you have and try to make sense of it
  • Decide: you take what you have and make decisions about it
  • Solve: you solve the problems you have

Yes, there is more nuance to executive function than this, but this handy, short list is an easy way to see what our brains are doing. That’s critical thinking, one of the worst-named practices we have.

Why? Because critical thinking isn’t about being critical, per se. It’s about metacognition – the definition of which is thinking about thinking. When you’re thinking about how you think, you open the door to improvements, to growth.

Thinking about thinking means asking questions and reflecting – is this the best way to do something? How could I do this better? How could I derive more enjoyment from this thing I’m doing? It’s not criticizing yourself as much as it is recognizing what you’re doing and whether it’s working or not.

When you’re planning, organizing, deciding, and solving, you’re inherently thinking about thinking. Every time you plan, every time you bring order to chaos, you have to check in with your own brain to see if what you’re doing is moving you closer to the goal posts.

Executive function is one of the things that defines our sentience as living creatures. Every sentient creature from a mouse to us does these tasks. You’ve read or heard stories about crows fashioning tools from wire to solve problems, you’ve watched dogs and cats make decisions and plan. I’ve watched my own cat measure optically whether or not she can make a particular jump.

Properly prompted, today’s AI tools are superb at executive functions as well. Given the right frameworks, harnesses, and data, they can plan, organize, decide, and solve better than we can at most language-based tasks.

And therein lies the actual problem.

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UN Fires Whopping 70 Gaza Staffers in Wake of Israeli Claims Aid Workers Were Terrorists, as Tel Aviv Provides Evidence of Claims

While refusing to acknowledge that it is riddled with loyalists to Hamas, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has fired 70 workers in Gaza.

The agency, which has seen funding dry up in the aftermath of documented concerns from Israel, insisted its workers were untainted, according to The Times of Israel.

A statement announcing the cuts said “the dismissal of the staff is not part of a disciplinary process and does not constitute in any way a validation of the claims made against them.”

The cuts “were taken further to an assessment of the safety and security of UNRWA operations in Gaza,” the statement said.

The agency insisted that despite past Israeli claims, complete with evidence of UNRWA workers joining Hamas in terrorist activity, the claims from Israel remain unproven.

“UNRWA has repeatedly asked the Israeli authorities to provide information and evidence to substantiate allegations against individual UNRWA staff members in Gaza, but has received no response to date,” the statement claimed.

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Michigan Democrats Caught Posting ‘8647,’ Before Quickly Deleting Amid Backlash

The Livingston County Democratic Party in Michigan posted, and quickly deleted, an image featuring the numbers “8647,” a code widely understood as a call to assassinate President Donald Trump.

The post triggered immediate backlash before the party quietly deleted it.

The AI image showed the four-digit code prominently displayed on the shirts of former presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, George Bush, and Bill Clinton.

“86” is longstanding slang for eliminating something, while “47” refers to President Donald Trump, the 47th president.

The post was screenshotted and shared by Libs of TikTok before it could be deleted.

Party Chair Judy Daubenmier attempted to downplay the controversy by claiming the image was simply about impeachment.

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SELF-DEFENSE AGAINST THE MACHINE: Virginia Man Puts Warrantless Flock Surveillance on Trial

As millions of Americans passively consume state-sanctioned fireworks this Fourth of July, it is crucial to remember that Independence Day was not birthed from compliance, but from radical, unapologetic defiance against a monolithic empire. That raw spirit of 1776 has not been extinguished; it has simply shifted targets from a tyrant king to the digital panopticon. The surveillance state rarely takes kindly to those who blind its all-seeing eye, and the latest casualty in this modern war for liberty is a 41-year-old Suffolk, Virginia resident named Jeffrey Scott Sovern. Between April and October of 2025, local authorities allege Sovern channeled that revolutionary energy by systematically dismantling 13 Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras operated by the private surveillance behemoth Flock Safety.

Investigators claim Sovern separated the two-piece mounting poles and removed the tracking equipment with tools, targeting the $1,300 setups that include the camera, solar panel, and mounting hardware. For allegedly blinding the panopticon, Sovern now faces 13 counts of felony destruction of property, six counts of petit larceny, and six counts of possessing burglary tools.

The official narrative, conveniently laid out in a criminal complaint, asserts that after Sovern was arrested on October 17, 2025, on unrelated warrants, he outright confessed to disassembling the units. Police claim he admitted to keeping solar panels, batteries, and other hardware at his Nicklaus Drive residence, which culminated in a raid that allegedly recovered six of those stolen solar panels.

Unsurprisingly, a spokesperson for Flock Safety issued a statement expressing gratitude toward law enforcement for holding individuals accountable when their devices are damaged. Yet, this corporate applause completely ignores the glaring constitutional crisis created by the very existence of these devices on public roadways.

These ALPR networks act as an unconstitutional dragnet, indiscriminately logging the movements of innocent, peaceful individuals without a shred of probable cause. In fact, just a year prior in June 2024, a Circuit Court judge in neighboring Norfolk correctly ruled that collecting location data from the city’s 172 Flock cameras constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment, accurately likening the vast database to warrantless tracking devices.

The state’s portrayal of a clean, by-the-book investigation is already facing heavy public scrutiny. Individuals claiming to have been inside Sovern’s residence during the raid publicly asserted that police stormed the home, forced a resident to cower in a towel, and threatened everyone with handcuffs while refusing to immediately produce a warrant.

While disabling a device that is actively executing an unconstitutional search on your person might seem like a righteous defense of liberty, bringing that dismantled hardware into your home is a fatal tactical error. By allegedly harvesting the state-contracted property for personal use, Sovern crossed the threshold into petit larceny, handing the monopoly on violence the exact legal pretext it needed to execute a traumatic raid and levy multiple felonies.

To enforce the protection of their massive surveillance grid, the state didn’t hesitate to escalate its own aggression against a citizen. Investigators openly admitted in the criminal complaint that they obtained a search warrant for a GPS tracker, slapping it onto Sovern’s vehicle prior to his arrest to secretly monitor his movements and place him near the scenes of the disabled cameras.

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Flock Safety CEO Says If You Don’t Like His Pervasive Surveillance Cameras, You’re A Terrorist

Garrett Langley is the founder and CEO of Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based public safety technology company specializing in automated license plate readers and drone surveillance. 

In the video below, Langley refers to the organization ‘DeFlock’ that works to stop the expansion of his products, as terrorists.

Langely also freely admits his company tracks people. In the video he admits his company uses AI to integrate massive amounts of data to track anything that moves in the view of his devices.

The Flock System has also been disclosed to contain microphones and other capabilities, to track audio, bluetooth, etc.

This is not freedom, this is Big Brother.

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DSA Democrat Running for Governor of Wisconsin Wants Taxpayer Funded Gender Transition Care for Children

Francesca Hong is another DSA Democrat who is running for governor of the state of Wisconsin and she wants taxpayers to fund gender transition care for children.

As we have pointed out repeatedly, the left absolutely refuses to let go of this issue. They are determined to continue pushing the trans agenda, even for minors. They do not care what the public thinks about it, they are full steam ahead.

Would the people of Wisconsin actually endorse this position and put this person in the role of governor?

Breitbart News reports:

Socialist Candidate Francesca Hong Wants Taxpayer-Funded Gender Transition Care for Kids

Democrat gubernatorial candidate and State Rep. Francesca Hong said she supports using public funding to expand gender-affirming care, including for transgender youth.

During a January appearance on the Take 2 Podcast, Hong called for expanding access to gender-affirming care, saying Wisconsin should invest in clinics that provide the treatment, including for transgender youth.

“We have to look at expanding health care, especially gender-affirming care. And right now, when our hospitals are under threat of providing gender-affirming care, which hospitals have paused right now,” Hong said. “We have to make sure that communities are coming together to stand up for trans rights. Look at ways that we can invest in clinics to still provide that care, and be vocal about uplifting trans joy, and defending trans lives.”

Hong also added elected officials should continue defending transgender youth and resist pressure to back away from supporting transgender rights.

“It’s important that elected officials not cave to the pressures of not standing up for trans folks,” she said.

Like the rest of her communist DSA comrades, Hong also wants to stop immigration enforcement.

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10 Charts Show How America Has Changed In 250 Years

The United States has transformed from a collection of 13 eastern colonies into a transcontinental nation spanning 50 states, one district, and five major territories—a geographic expansion forged through land purchases and war treaties.

America’s two-and-a-half-century evolution includes not only geographic growth, but also transformations in population, family structures, wages, the housing market, and health.

Through data and graphics, here is a look at how the country has changed over 250 years.

Changing Face of America

In 1790, 95 percent of Americans resided in rural areas; by 2020, that figure had dropped to 20 percent.

This demographic shift transformed the rural landscape itself. More than 50 percent of rural residents lived on farms prior to 1940, but that share dwindled to a mere 5 percent by 2000.

Although the U.S. urban population surged from 5 percent in 1790 to 80 percent in 2020, this growth shifted heavily toward suburban and outlying areas after 1950, leaving central cities with less than half of the total urban population.

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ENDGAME: Russian Forces Conquer Ukrainian Bastion of Konstantinovka – Final Battle for Donbas Begins, With the Push for the Kramatorsk-Slaviansk Fortress Belt 

So, it begins.

Whatever else may be happening in the Ukraine war, the Russians won a major victory yesterday (3) and are about to deliver the final blow to the Donbas.

The Donbas, comprised of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, is the cradle of the war in Ukraine, a region torn by war since 2014.

As the Kiev-controlled part of Donetsk shrinks under constant Russian onslaught, the conquest of the gateway city of Konstantinovka paves the way for the endgame.

Moscow now focuses its attention on the Kramatorsk-Slaviansk Agglomeration, a heavily fortified area where Ukrainians have been preparing for this very day for the last 12 years.

According to the Russian MoD, the offensive is already moving beyond Konstantinovka’s borders, advancing towards Alekseevo-Druzhkovka and beyond, heading straight towards Kramatorsk.

Reuters reported:

“Russia’s military told Russian President Vladimir Putin on ​Friday that its forces had taken control of Konstantinovka in eastern Ukraine, a key locality whose capture Moscow has ‌long sought in its advance through the Donetsk region.

Putin, shown in videos visiting a command post and receiving a report from top commanders, praised the city’s capture as an important strategic achievement.”

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Paul Pelosi Under Investigation After Alleged Hit-and-Run

Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is under investigation after authorities say he hit a parked vehicle and left the scene Friday in Napa County, California.

The crash happened around 2:30 p.m. in the town of Yountville. According to the Napa County Sheriff’s Office, an unattended vehicle parked along Yount Street was struck, leaving it with heavy damage to the rear. A witness told deputies the driver stopped briefly after the collision before pulling away in a brown convertible.

“The witness provided deputies with the direction the suspect vehicle was last seen traveling,” a press release said, according to NBC News. “A short time later, deputies observed a [California Highway Patrol] vehicle parked behind a brown convertible car, which was partially blocking the roadway.”

Investigators later identified the driver as 86-year-old Pelosi. Authorities said Pelosi’s vehicle had extensive damage to the front passenger side. During the investigation, Pelosi acknowledged that he had hit something but said he did not realize it was another vehicle.

He told deputies he continued driving until his car could no longer be driven. Investigators said there was no indication alcohol played a role in the crash. Pelosi was not taken into custody because California law generally requires misdemeanor offenses to occur in an officer’s presence before an arrest can be made without a warrant.

Local authorities are now taking steps to review whether Pelosi should still have his license. The sheriff’s office confirmed it plans to submit a driver reexamination request to the California DMV—a standard protocol often used for older drivers. Meanwhile, the entire case file has been handed over to the Napa County District Attorney’s Office to determine if charges will be filed.

This isn’t the first time Pelosi has made headlines for a traffic incident in Napa County. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence following a late-night collision, which resulted in a five-day jail sentence.

According to the California Highway Patrol report from that incident, Pelosi was driving a 2021 Porsche on Walnut Drive when he pulled out to enter State Route 29, colliding with a Jeep traveling down the highway.

As Breitbart News reported at the time, “The speaker’s husband was arrested just before midnight Saturday (11:44 p.m.) in Napa County and booked into jail hours later — just after four o’clock in the morning — on two counts, according to the Napa County Criminal Justice Network.”

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First $1 Billion, Now $50 Million: Khanna Says Wealth Tax “Must Not Stop At Billionaires”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) – fresh off endorsing California’s November ballot measure to seize 5% of billionaire wealth – published a Substack essay Wednesday titled, no really, “Why I Support a Billionaire Wealth Tax.”

He makes it roughly a dozen paragraphs before explaining that it isn’t one.

“The tax should not stop at billionaires, it must reach centimillionaires,” Khanna writes, before spelling out exactly what that means: every fortune of $50 million and up, hit with a 2% federal levy on wealth above that line – every year, forever, on top of everything else you already pay. The vehicle is Elizabeth Warren’s Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, which Khanna notes he has cosponsored every single year it’s been introduced.

And before anyone reaches for the estate planner: Khanna wants the levy to pierce irrevocable trusts, with the tax billed to the grantor who set them up – because parking a fortune in a trust, in his telling, shouldn’t take it off the government’s books.

Former Microsoft executive Steven Sinofsky summed up the reveal in eight words: “Just like that, no longer a billionaires tax.“

Pirate Wires’ Mike Solana was less diplomatic, characterizing the scheme as an annual asset seizure in which the government tallies everything you own and demands a cut on top of your existing tax bill – now openly targeting anyone worth $50 million. His prediction for where the ratchet stops: “this ends with your 401k.”

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