Alternate Shots!
Pope Leo, AI, Texas, and the Knicks.
(‘Alternate Shots”, Episode #29. Recorded 28 May 2026. Produced by Dale Eisinger.)
Mr. Haass’s latest newsletter was largely devoted to Pope Leo’s encyclical. This episode of ‘Alternate Shots’ begins with that, focusing on this (from Richard’s post):
What comes through loud and clear from the encyclical is a deep concern that the development of what will most likely prove to be a truly revolutionary technology is being dominated by a handful of individuals and corporations who ought not be allowed to wield such influence.
I’m of the view that AI will be an issue in the mid-term elections and a major issue, perhaps the major issue, of the 2028 presidential election. Intense populist politics aren’t going away anytime soon.
We also talked about the results of the Texas run-off primary for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination, which state Attorney General Ken Paxton won by a wide margin. Remarkably, he improved his vote total from the first primary election by a grand total of ~5000 votes. The rough numbers were 885,000 votes in the run-off, 880,000 votes in the first primary.
Cornyn won the first primary with ~ 900,000 votes. He got ~500,000 votes in the run-off. Had he received the same amount of votes in the run-off that he received in the first primary, he would have won. We talked about the “departed” 400,000 votes and what they might mean.
We also talked about the New York Knicks, who (according to Richard) seem capable of, if not destined to, winning the NBA Finals. The chances of that are probably none, but a man can dream.
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