Reuters.

Dear Commons Community,

Stocks tumbled yesterday on worries the U.S. economy could be cracking under the weight of high interest rates meant to whip inflation.

The S&P 500 sank 1.8% for its first back-to-back losses of at least 1% since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 610 points, or 1.5%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 2.4% as a sell-off for stocks whipped all the way around the world back to Wall Street. As reported by The Associated Press.

A report showing hiring by U.S. employers slowed last month by much more than economists expected sent fear through markets, with both stocks and bond yields dropping sharply. It followed a batch of weaker-than-expected reports on the economy from a day earlier, including a worsening for U.S. manufacturing activity, which has been one of the areas hurt most by high rates.

It was just a couple days ago that U.S. stock indexes jumped to their best day in months after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave the clearest indication yet that inflation has slowed enough for cuts to rates to begin in September.

Now, worries are rising the Fed may have kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high for too long. A rate cut would make it easier for U.S. households and companies to borrow money and boost the economy, but it could take months to a year for the full effects to filter through.

“The Fed is seizing defeat from the jaws of victory,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “Economic momentum has slowed so much that a rate cut in September will be too little and too late. They’ll have to do something bigger than” the traditional cut of a quarter of a percentage point “to avert a recession.”

The Fed needs to get its act together!

Tony

Simone Biles.  Getty Images.

Dear Commons Community,

Simone Biles proved once again this week why she’s called the greatest of all time after she became the first American gymnast to win the Olympic individual all-around competition twice. And as she and the world celebrated her accomplishments, she also chimed in with a comment on social media seeming to take a dig at former President Donald Trump.  As reported by CBS News.

“I love my black job,” she tweeted Friday, reposting images of her showing off her gold medal and silver “GOAT” necklace.

It’s a reference to something that Trump, the GOP nominee for president, said during his June debate against President Biden and reiterated during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists’ conference on Wednesday, a day before Biles’ individual all-around win.

Speaking to interviewer Rachel Scott of ABC News at the conference, Trump was asked to explain his misleading claim that “millions and millions of people” crossing the U.S.-Mexico border “happen to be taking Black jobs.”

When Scott asked what a “Black job” is, Trump responded, “A Black job is anybody that has a job. They’re taking the employment away from Black people.”

Since his initial remarks at the debate, people on social media have been commenting about what “Black jobs” are, and sharing some examples of their own.

One doctor, for example, posted a video of herself “heading to my Black Job” on June 28, saying “Black pediatricians are awesome,” while a general surgery resident posted a photo of herself in scrubs, captioned “me at my black job.”

And some politicians got in on the trend. “Donald Trump is about to find out being the President of the United States is a Black job,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said on July 22, alongside a photo of him and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Congratulations to Ms. Biles and all our Olympians!

Tony

Credit:  Washington Post.

Dear Commons Community,

A bipartisan bill expanding the child tax credit, as well as business deductions sought by corporate America, failed to advance in the Senate yesterday after overwhelming opposition from Republicans who feared giving Democrats a major win ahead of the November elections.

The 48-44 vote came amid debate about which party is more “pro-family” and whether the government should penalize people without children, or “childless cat ladies,” as Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, suggested in recently resurfaced comments that have drawn bipartisan criticism. As reported by the Huffington Post.

“If these folks are so pro-family, why aren’t they supporting paid family and medical leave? If they believe in families, why are they not supporting the child tax credit?” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) told HuffPost when asked about GOP opposition to the bill.

The legislation would have given low-income parents larger tax refunds, especially in households with multiple children. Tax analysts said a tax filer who has two children and earned $9,000 last year would receive a child tax credit refund worth $975 under current law, but $1,950 under the proposal.

The bill’s authors, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), said it would “help 16 million kids from low-income families and lift 500,000 out of poverty,” in part by allowing parents to claim the full tax credit for each of their kids, something they can’t do now.

Republicans complained that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) only brought the measure up for a vote six months after it was approved by the House (by a 357-70 vote) to help bolster the campaigns of vulnerable Democratic incumbents facing tough reelection fights in November.

Some GOP senators also warned about giving Democrats a major election-year legislative victory, insisting that they’d be better positioned to pass the legislation next year if they win control of the White House and the Senate.

But Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who voted to advance the bill, wasn’t convinced by that argument.

“You could turn that around and say that a Republican House was able to pass meaningful tax relief for children and that’d be great for them going forward into the fall campaign. You could put the political argument both ways,” he said.

Progressives in the chamber, meanwhile, voted to advance the bill even though they didn’t think it included enough benefit for families.

The bill included several sweeteners for Republicans, including business tax breaks for research-and-development expenses long sought by corporate donors. It would also not cost the government money, according to budget scorekeepers, because it would crack down on abuse of the employee retention tax credit, or ERTC, a program from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic that encouraged business owners to keep workers on company payrolls. Republicans disputed that cost analysis, however.

Senator Vance, who missed Thursday’s vote, has repeatedly accused Democrats of being the “anti-child” party, citing, among other things, liberal concerns over the human impact on climate change. In 2021, for example, he argued that Republicans should “go to war” against the idea of deciding not to have children, suggesting that someone who focuses on building their career instead of making babies will be “a sad, lonely, pathetic person.”

Last week, he doubled down, saying, “This is not about criticizing people who for various reasons don’t have kids. This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child.”

But Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) took offense to his remarks.

“I said that it was offensive to me as a woman,” Murkowski told reporters Wednesday. “Women make their own determinations as to whether or not they’re going to have children or cats or dogs or how many kids they’re going to have.”

Murkoski has it right!

Tony

President Biden surrounded by the families of the released Americans. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

Dear Commons Community,

President Joe Biden yesterday celebrated an historic prisoner exchange that freed several Americans wrongfully detained in Russia, calling it a “feat of diplomacy and friendship” in remarks from the White House.

Biden was surrounded by family members of Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza as he spoke about the efforts involved in the swap, which is the largest since the Cold War involving 24 people and several countries. As reported by ABC News.

“This is an incredible relief for all the family members gathered here,” Biden said. “It’s a relief to the friends and colleagues all across the country, who’ve been praying for this day for a long time.”

Biden took a moment to describe the three American citizens and one legal permanent U.S. resident being brought back to the U.S. He said each was arrested, convicted and sentenced by Russian authorities “with absolutely no legitimate reason whatsoever.”

“And now their brutal ordeal is over and they’re free,” Biden said.

Biden, who officials said was directly involved in helping negotiate the deal, had gathered the families at the White House earlier yesterdday to inform them that the release was underway. Biden said he and the families were able to contact the freed Americans over the phone.

When asked what he said to them, Biden replied: “I said, ‘Welcome almost home.'”

The multipart prisoner swap is the product of months of detailed, painstaking negotiations, according to national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The nations involved also included Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey.

A senior administration official said even the day Biden announced he was no longer seeking a second term, he was on the phone working to secure this deal.

Sullivan, who addressed reporters at the White House daily briefing, choked back tears as he emotionally talked about the extensive effort to secure the deal and said it “was vintage Joe Biden rallying American rallying American allies to save American citizens.”

Biden, in his remarks, touted his administration’s work and the power of global alliances while also seemingly criticizing his Oval Office predecessor Donald Trump.

“For anyone who questions whether allies matter, they do. They matter,” he said.

“Our work did not start just on Day 1. It started before Day 1,” Biden said. “During the transition, I instructed our national security team to dig into all the cases of hostages being wrongfully detained, which were inherently — well, we inherited them from the private — the prior administration.”

“I wanted to make sure we hit the ground running, and we did,” Biden continued. “As of today, my administration has brought home over 70 Americans who were wrongfully detained and held hostage abroad. Many since before I took office.”

Later, when asked by a reporter about Trump’s repeated claims he could’ve gotten the hostages out of Russia without concessions, Biden took a more direct jab at his former political opponent.

“Why didn’t he do it when he was president?” Biden responded.

Speaking further on yesterday’s release, Biden noted several of the 16 individuals freed on Thursday were Russian political prisoners who “stood up for democracy and human rights” and were subsequently jailed by their own leaders. He took a moment to contrast that with the work of the U.S. and its partners.

“The United States helped secure their release as well. That’s who we are in the United States,” he said. “We stand for freedom, for liberty, for justice, not only for our own people, but for others as well. And that’s why all Americans can take pride in what we’ve achieved today.”

As he closed his remarks, Biden turned back to the families gathered in the State Dining Room, saying he couldn’t imagine what they’ve endured these last few years.

He then led the singing of “Happy Birthday” to Miriam, the daughter of Kurmasheva, an American-Russian journalist who was freed on Thursday. Biden said Mariam will turn 13 on Friday and will now be able to celebrate with her mother.

“That’s what this is all about. Families able to be together again, like they should have been all along,” Biden said. “So, I want to thank you again to everyone who did their part. In just a few hours, we’ll welcome home our fellow Americans.”

A great day for America!

Tony

PET scan results that are part of a study on Alzheimer’s disease at Georgetown University Hospita (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Dear Commons Community,

Good news for senior citizens who are having memory lapses. New blood tests may help doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s disease faster and more accurately, researchers reported Sunday.  As reported by The Associated Press.

It’s tricky to tell if memory problems are caused by Alzheimer’s. That requires confirming one of the disease’s hallmark signs — buildup of a sticky protein called beta-amyloid — with a hard-to-get brain scan or uncomfortable spinal tap. Many patients instead are diagnosed based on symptoms and cognitive exams.

Labs have begun offering a variety of tests that can detect certain signs of Alzheimer’s in blood. Scientists are excited by their potential but the tests aren’t widely used yet because there’s little data to guide doctors about which kind to order and when. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t formally approved any of them and there’s little insurance coverage.

“What tests can we trust?” asked Dr. Suzanne Schindler, a neurologist at Washington University in St. Louis who’s part of a research project examining that. While some are very accurate, “other tests are not much better than a flip of a coin.”

Demand for earlier Alzheimer’s diagnosis is increasing

More than 6 million people in the United States and millions more around the world have Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia. Its telltale “biomarkers” are brain-clogging amyloid plaques and abnormal tau protein that leads to neuron-killing tangle

New drugs, Leqembi and Kisunla, can modestly slow worsening symptoms by removing gunky amyloid from the brain. But they only work in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s and proving patients qualify in time can be difficult. Measuring amyloid in spinal fluid is invasive. A special PET scan to spot plaques is costly and getting an appointment can take months.

Even specialists can struggle to tell if Alzheimer’s or something else is to blame for a patient’s symptoms.

“I have patients not infrequently who I am convinced have Alzheimer’s disease and I do testing and it’s negative,” Schindler said.

New study suggests blood tests for Alzheimer’s can be simpler and faster

Blood tests so far have been used mostly in carefully controlled research settings. But a new study of about 1,200 patients in Sweden shows they also can work in the real-world bustle of doctors’ offices — especially primary care doctors who see far more people with memory problems than specialists but have fewer tools to evaluate them.

In the study, patients who visited either a primary care doctor or a specialist for memory complaints got an initial diagnosis using traditional exams, gave blood for testing and were sent for a confirmatory spinal tap or brain scan.

Blood testing was far more accurate, Lund University researchers reported Sunday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Philadelphia. The primary care doctors’ initial diagnosis was 61% accurate and the specialists’ 73% — but the blood test was 91% accurate, according to the findings, which also were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Which blood tests for Alzheimer’s work best?

There’s almost “a wild West” in the variety being offered, said Dr. John Hsiao of the National Institute on Aging. They measure different biomarkers, in different ways.

Doctors and researchers should only use blood tests proven to have a greater than 90% accuracy rate, said Alzheimer’s Association chief science officer Maria Carrillo.

Today’s tests most likely to meet that benchmark measure what’s called p-tau217, Carrillo and Hsiao agreed. Schindler helped lead an unusual direct comparison of several kinds of blood tests, funded by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, that came to the same conclusion.

That type of test measures a form of tau that correlates with how much plaque buildup someone has, Schindler explained. A high level signals a strong likelihood the person has Alzheimer’s while a low level indicates that’s probably not the cause of memory loss.

Several companies are developing p-tau217 tests including ALZpath Inc., Roche, Eli Lilly and C2N Diagnostics, which supplied the version used in the Swedish study.

Who should use blood tests for Alzheimer’s?

Only doctors can order them from labs. The Alzheimer’s Association is working on guidelines and several companies plan to seek FDA approval, which would clarify proper use.

For now, Carrillo said doctors should use blood testing only in people with memory problems, after checking the accuracy of the type they order.

Especially for primary care physicians, “it really has great potential to help them in sorting out who to give a reassuring message and who to send on to memory specialists,” said Dr. Sebastian Palmqvist of Lund University, who led the Swedish study with Lund’s Dr. Oskar Hansson.

The tests aren’t yet for people who don’t have symptoms but worry about Alzheimer’s in the family — unless it’s part of enrollment in research studies, Schindler stressed.

That’s partly because amyloid buildup can begin two decades before the first sign of memory problems, and so far there are no preventive steps other than basic advice to eat healthy, exercise and get enough sleep. But there are studies underway testing possible therapies for people at high risk of Alzheimer’s, and some include blood testing.

As someone who is approaching my 77^th birthday later this month, this is welcome news!

Tony

Andrew Feinberg – Communications Director of Kamala Harris Campaign

Dear Commons Community,

Donald Trump attended a Q&A with political journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago yesterday, where, despite some internal opposition to Trump’s presence, NABJ President Ken Lemon promised those assembled “the opportunity … to ask the tough questions” of the twice-impeached former president.

Trump, who’s grown accustomed to softball questions from right-wing reporters, was clearly out of his league.

ABC News’ senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, who served as a moderator, opened with a question addressing “the elephant in the room.” The question is worth reading in its entirety:

“You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying that they were not born in the United States — which is not true; you have told four congresswomen of color, who are American citizens, to ‘go back to where they came from’; you have used words like ‘animal’ and ‘rabid’ to describe Black district attorneys; you have attacked Black journalists, calling them ‘losers,’ saying the questions that they ask are ‘stupid’ and ‘racist’; you’ve had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort.

So my question, sir:  Now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?”

Trump responded by attacking Scott herself, avoiding any substance entirely. “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” he said, to gasps from the audience.

“Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network,” he told the journalist. “You’re a terrible network. And I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country.”

The back-and-forth only spiraled from there, despite softball questions from Fox News’ Harris Faulkner, who was also at the event as a moderator.

The Harris campaign pounced soon after the event concluded.

“Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign,” Harris spokesperson Michael Tyler said in an emailed statement.

Here are the five wildest moments from the panel, courtesy of The Huffington Post and journalist Aaron Rupar.

Trump panicked when asked why Black voters should trust him when he’s dined with a white supremacist at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump kept fuming even as the moderators moved on to new material, pausing amid a question about his age to refer to Scott as “this woman” and call her “very rude” and “nasty” while heckling an audience member.

Trump wouldn’t say if JD Vance is ready to be president.

When Faulkner asked Trump if his running mate would be “ready on day one” to step up as commander in chief, Trump side-stepped the question entirely.

“Historically, the vice president, in the terms of the election, does not have any impact. I mean virtually no impact,” he said. “Virtually never has it mattered.”

Trump questioned Kamala Harris’ identity and implied that a person could not be both Indian American and Black.

When Scott asked if it’s acceptable that Trump’s allies have called Harris ― who’s both the first Black and the first Asian American woman to serve as vice president ― a “DEI hire,” Trump again floundered.

“How do you define DEI?” Trump asked, apparently believing he had the upper hand. “Go ahead. How do you define it?”

“Diversity, equity and inclusion,” Scott responded.

“Ok… yeah, go ahead,” Trump replied, losing the thread. “Is that what your definition … Give me the definition, then.”

“That’s literally the words,” Scott said. “I just defined it, sir.” She then reminded Trump of her original question.

He responded that Harris “was always promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a couple of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black, so I don’t know ― is she Indian or is she Black? She was Indian all the way and then she made a turn and she became a Black person. And I think somebody should look into that, too.”

Trump then accused Scott of being “hostile” and “nasty” after she informed him that Harris’ ethnicity has never changed.

After the event, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Trump’s comments about Harris “repulsive.”

“No one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify,” she said, The Guardian reported. “She is the vice president of the United States. Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name. Period.”

Trump said he wanted to stop “people at the border from taking Black jobs.”

When Faulkner asked Trump why he’d joined ysterday’s event, referencing America’s racial divisions, Trump ran in an unexpected direction.

“My message is to stop people from invading our country,” he said.

“One of the big problems ― and a lot of the journalists in this room I know and I have great respect for ― a lot of the journalists in this room are Black,” Trump continued, prompting some laughter as people anticipated what he would say next.

“Coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs,” he said.

Gasps turned to laughter when Scott asked, “What exactly is a Black job, sir?”

Trump responded, “A Black job is anybody who has a job.”

Trump needed to be reminded that “innocent” Jan. 6 rioters have been convicted of crimes.

When Scott asked Trump why, as someone who’s previously claimed to be the “law and order candidate,” he would pardon the rioters who assaulted the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump short-circuited.

“Those rioters who assaulted officers. Would you pardon them?” Scott asked.

“Oh, absolutely I would. If they’re innocent? If they’re innocent I would pardon them,” he replied.

Scott noted: “They’ve been convicted.”

As the crowd laughed in disbelief, Trump dismissed the validity of the judicial system, saying, “Well, they were convicted by a very tough system.”

Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona when asked about Trump’s display at the NABJ commented that it was the performance of “an old, desperate, convicted felon.”

Amen!

Tony

James Murdoch and his wife Kathryn, Prudence Murdoch, and Keith Tyson and Elisabeth Murdoch.  Credit…Danny Moloshok/Reuters; PA Images/Alamy; Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images

Dear Commons Community,

A major legal battle is brewing between Rupert Murdoch and his children over future control of Fox News and the rest of his media empire.  Rupert Murdoch has moved to change the family’s irrevocable trust to preserve his media businesses as a conservative force. Several of his children are fighting back. As reported by The New York Times.

Mr. Murdoch, 93, set the drama in motion late last year, when he made a surprise move to change the terms of the Murdochs’ irrevocable family trust to ensure that his eldest son and chosen successor, Lachlan, would remain in charge of his vast collection of television networks and newspapers.

The trust currently hands control of the family business to the four oldest children when Mr. Murdoch dies. But he is arguing in court that only by empowering Lachlan to run the company without interference from his more politically moderate siblings can he preserve its conservative editorial bent, and thus protect its commercial value for all his heirs.

Those three siblings — James, Elisabeth and Prudence — were caught completely off-guard by their father’s effort to rewrite what was supposed to be an inviolable trust and have united to stop him. Lachlan has joined on Mr. Murdoch’s side. Remarkably, the ensuing battle has been playing out entirely out of public view.

Last month, the Nevada probate commissioner found that Mr. Murdoch could amend the trust if he is able to show he is acting in good faith and for the sole benefit of his heirs, according to a copy of his 48-page decision.

A trial to determine whether Mr. Murdoch is in fact acting in good faith is expected to start in September. Hanging in the balance will be the future of one of the most politically influential media companies in the English-speaking world.

Representatives for the two sides declined to comment. Both have hired high-powered litigators. The three Murdoch siblings are represented by Gary A. Bornstein, the co-head of litigation at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Mr. Murdoch is represented by Adam Streisand, a trial lawyer at Sheppard Mullin who has been involved in estate disputes concerning Michael Jackson and Britney Spears.

Few media stories have been watched as closely as the succession battle over the Murdoch empire, both because of the irresistibly Shakespearean nature of the drama, and because of the empire’s outsize political influence. Mr. Murdoch’s decision in 2018 to formally designate Lachlan as his heir put to rest years of speculation over his wishes for the company.

What it did not do, though, was ensure that Mr. Murdoch’s wishes would survive him: The existing trust gives all four of his oldest children an equal voice in the company’s future.

The Murdoch family has been divided before. James and Elisabeth at one point competed with each other and Lachlan to eventually take over the company, and at various times they have clashed with one another and their father. James, who once helped run the company with Lachlan, left it in 2019 and now oversees an investment fund. Elisabeth runs a successful movie studio, Sister, and has for years sought to position herself as the “Switzerland” of the family, maintaining good relations with all.

But given Mr. Murdoch’s advanced age, this battle has all of the makings of a final fight for control of his sprawling media conglomerates, which own Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and major newspapers and television outlets in Australia and Britain. It has already driven a new wedge into the famously fractured family.

Politics, and power, are at the root of the struggle. Since Mr. Murdoch designed the trust nearly 25 years ago, the family’s political views have diverged sharply. During Donald J. Trump’s rise, Mr. Murdoch and Lachlan became more closely aligned, pushing the company’s most influential outlet, Fox News, further to the right, making the other three children increasingly uncomfortable.

Mr. Murdoch has called his effort to change the trust Project Harmony because he hoped that it might head off a looming family struggle when he dies, according to a person with knowledge of the family. But it has had the opposite effect.

After filing his petition to amend the trust, Mr. Murdoch met separately with Elisabeth and Prudence in London, hoping to win their support, this person said. Instead, they were furious. Elisabeth responded to the possibility with a string of expletives.

Days later, on Dec. 6, Mr. Murdoch’s representatives went ahead with the motion to make the changes at a hastily called special meeting of the trust in Reno, Nev. The representatives for the three children sought to adjourn the meeting and block the proposed changes but failed, according to the court decision.

The fight has left Mr. Murdoch estranged from three of his children in his twilight years. None of them attended his wedding to Elena Zhukova, his fifth wife, in California last month. (Lachlan did.)

Though the trust is irrevocable, it contains a narrow provision allowing for changes done in good faith and with the sole purpose of benefiting all of its members. Mr. Murdoch’s lawyers have argued that he is trying to protect James, Elisabeth and Prudence by ensuring that they won’t be able to moderate Fox’s politics or disrupt its operations with constant fights over leadership.

According to the court’s decision, Mr. Murdoch was concerned that the “lack of consensus” among his children “would impact the strategic direction at both companies including a potential reorientation of editorial policy and content.” It states that his intention was to “consolidate decision-making power in Lachlan’s hands and give him permanent, exclusive control” over the company.

The document makes it clear that Mr. Murdoch’s actions have pushed Elisabeth, Prudence and James into a joint posture against him. The siblings share legal counsel and are fighting to retain their voice in the company’s future, arguing that their father is trying to disenfranchise them. They say Mr. Murdoch’s move violates the spirit of the initial trust, enshrined in its “equal governance provision,” and that it was not done in good faith.

Good luck to Elizabeth, Prudence, and James.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

McKinsey & Company had an informative article entitled “Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI?” yesterday that examines the next stage of AI as moving from knowledge tool to action agent.  Here is an excerpt.

Over the past couple of years, the world has marveled at the capabilities and possibilities unleashed by generative AI (gen AI). Foundation models such as large language models (LLMs) can perform impressive feats, extracting insights and generating content across numerous mediums, such as text, audio, images, and video. But the next stage of gen AI is likely to be more transformative.

We are beginning an evolution from knowledge-based, gen-AI-powered tools—say, chatbots that answer questions and generate content—to gen AI–enabled “agents” that use foundation models to execute complex, multi-step workflows across a digital world. In short, the technology is moving from thought to action.

Broadly speaking, “agentic” systems refer to digital systems that can independently interact in a dynamic world. While versions of these software systems have existed for years, the natural-language capabilities of gen AI unveil new possibilities, enabling systems that can plan their actions, use online tools to complete those tasks, collaborate with other agents and people, and learn to improve their performance. Gen AI agents eventually could act as skilled virtual coworkers, working with humans in a seamless and natural manner. A virtual assistant, for example, could plan and book a complex personalized travel itinerary, handling logistics across multiple travel platforms. Using everyday language, an engineer could describe a new software feature to a programmer agent, which would then code, test, iterate, and deploy the tool it helped create.

Agentic systems traditionally have been difficult to implement, requiring laborious, rule-based programming or highly specific training of machine-learning models. Gen AI changes that. When agentic systems are built using foundation models (which have been trained on extremely large and varied unstructured data sets) rather than predefined rules, they have the potential to adapt to different scenarios in the same way that LLMs can respond intelligibly to prompts on which they have not been explicitly trained. Furthermore, using natural language rather than programming code, a human user could direct a gen AI–enabled agent system to accomplish a complex workflow. A multi-agent system could then interpret and organize this workflow into actionable tasks, assign work to specialized agents, execute these refined tasks using a digital ecosystem of tools, and collaborate with other agents and humans to iteratively improve the quality of its actions.”

The world of AI will surely move into an agentic stage.  Exactly when is hard to say.

The entire article is worth a read!

Tony

John Giles. AP Photo/Susan Walsh; AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File

Dear Commons Community,

Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted endorsements from mayors of border towns in swing-state Arizona yesterday in response to Republican criticism of her handling of illegal border crossings.

Harris’ campaign said she was backed by the mayors of Bisbee, Nogales, Somerton, and San Luis, as well as by Yuma County Supervisors Martin Porchas and Tony Reyes.

A week into the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, Harris is getting her campaign off the ground and refining her pitch to voters with less than 100 days before Election Day. Republicans are trying to make the border a political liability for Harris just as it was for President Joe Biden before he ended his reelection campaign.

Republicans say Harris did not do enough to clamp down on illegal immigration in a role they characterize as Biden’s “border czar.” House Republicans and a handful of vulnerable Democrats voted last week to rebuke Harris over the administration’s border policies.

The border endorsements offer a potential retort to that criticism, particularly in the only swing state that shares a border with Mexico.

“I trust her to meet the needs of border cities and towns without taking advantage of us for her own political gain, like her opponent,” Somerton Mayor Gerardo Anaya said in a statement. Somerton is a city of about 14,000 people in the state’s southwestern corner.

As vice president, Harris was tasked with overseeing diplomatic efforts to deal with issues spurring migration in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as pressing them to strengthen enforcement on their own borders. The Biden administration wanted to develop and put in place a long-term strategy that gets at the root causes of migration from those countries.

Immigration has been at the center of Trump’s political identity since he announced his first campaign in 2015. He paints a picture of a border that is out of control, threatening national security and the economy. If elected to a second term, he’s pledged to deport millions of people living in the country illegally.

Biden has both sought to crack down on new arrivals at the border and to offer new immigration pathways.

The restrictions he announced at the beginning of June cut off asylum access when arrivals at the border reached a certain number, infuriating immigration advocates who say the policy differs little from what Trump attempted. Then a few weeks later Biden announced a new program aimed at undocumented spouses of American citizens who had been in the country for a decade or more that could ultimately provide them a pathway to citizenship.

Border arrests have fallen from record highs last December.

John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, said in an op-ed to azcentral,  the time has come for my fellow Arizona Republicans to return to the core foundations of the Grand Old Party.

“Our party used to stand for the belief that every Arizonan, no matter their background or circumstances, should have the freedom, opportunity and security to live out their American Dream.

But since Donald Trump refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, Republicans have yet to course correct. The Republican Party with Trump at its helm continues down the path of political extremism, away from focusing on our fundamental freedoms.

Now more than ever, we need leaders who will put country over party.

I believe my party has a moral and ethical responsibility to restore faith in our democratic institutions. In the spirit of the late Sen. John McCain’s motto, ‘Country First,’ I call on other Arizona Republicans to join me in choosing country over party this election and to vote against Donald Trump.

He went on to state that Trump did not support Arizona cities

In Arizona, we have faced the brunt of misinformation, election denialism and an erosion of trust in our justice system.

The Grand Canyon State is ground zero in the fight against repeated false claims to disrupt our electoral process — from fake presidential electors attempting to undermine Arizona’s election, to a sham “audit” by Arizona Senate Republicans that was spurred by conspiracy theories.

Significant reforms to immigration and border policies that would have addressed the crisis at our southern border were blocked by Trump because he didn’t want the problem solved. He wanted to exploit it for personal political gain.

Since 2014, I have had the honor of being mayor of Mesa, the nation’s 36th-largest city and one of the most conservative. Under Trump, American cities didn’t get the support they deserved. Infrastructure week was made into a joke.

But under the Biden-Harris administration, Mesa has seen historic federal funding for the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, along with investments to make sure our streets and public transit systems benefit from modern technology.

With the CHIPS Act, Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden are delivering thousands of new jobs to Arizonans and helping us grow critical industries.

Harris is the competent leader we need.

Trump poses a serious threat to our nation. We can’t have a felon representing us on the national stage, let alone one who would threaten to abandon NATO and ruin our standing abroad.

We are in a moment that only happens once every few generations, when we have to defend democracy, and stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights. It is essential that we proceed in a manner that strengthens, rather than diminishes, public confidence in our democratic institutions.

What kind of country do we want to live in?

Vice President Harris is fighting to make sure Americans can get ahead and be safe from gun violence and to restore and protect the rights of women. Donald Trump, on the other hand, could enact the extreme and dangerous Project 2025 agenda if elected, which would roll back our rights and freedoms.

We can choose a future for our children and grandchildren based on decency, respect and morality — or succumb to the crudeness and vulgarity of Trump and J.D. Vance and the far-right agenda they would champion.

Arizona leaders like McCain and Sen. Mark Kelly have embodied the commitment to country over party. And it’s that same high caliber of character and leadership I see in Vice President Harris.

That’s why I’m standing with her. Kamala Harris is the competent, just and fair leader our country deserves. This year too much is at stake to vote Republican at the top of the ticket.

It will take Arizona Republicans, independents and Democrats standing together against a far-right agenda. Let us put country over party by voting to stop Trump and protect our democracy.

Well-stated, Mayor Giles!

Tony