FRANCISCVS

BREAKING: The EU today introduced the new requirement for all new cars registered in Europe to have installed cameras filming the driver’s face. The system is called Advanced Driver Distraction Warning, ADDW, and is part of the EU’s General Safety Regulation. The camera tracks the driver’s gaze, head movements and attention. According to the regulations, the system must be active from 20 kilometers per hour. At lower speeds, it should be able to warn if the driver looks away for too long, while the requirements become stricter at higher speeds. The requirement does not yet mean any obligation to record the driver for the authorities. Critics warn that the technology could pave the way for more extensive monitoring and recording in the car once the cameras, sensors and software are installed.

Flock Safety’s AI cameras are scanning 20 billion license plates every month, giving police the power to track any vehicle’s movements across cities and jurisdictions in seconds. The system doesn’t just read plates — it logs color, make, model, and details like bumper stickers or gun racks, then stores everything in a searchable cloud database. Police can reconstruct travel history, set alerts, and pull data from other agencies. The company says it played a role in about 1 million arrests last year and many police chiefs call it their most impactful tool ever. But this mass data collection is sparking a major backlash over privacy and the 4th Amendment. Critics argue it’s indiscriminate surveillance of everyone’s movements — not targeted policing — creating a permanent dragnet of innocent drivers without warrants. Flock claims no facial recognition is used and data is deleted after 30 days by default, with some safeguards in place. This may be true today, but we do not trust the safeguards, today perhaps they use safeguards....but we know government. This tool will be used for facial recognition and data used against innocent U S Citizens. This is big brother at this worse. Still, the core issue remains: constant tracking of every vehicle on public roads without suspicion. This is a violation of the 4th Amendment.

We know. They turned Chani into a scowling girlboss. In the books, she was one of Paul’s most loyal supporters. The one who saw him clearly and stood with him as he stepped into destiny. And yes, it’s obvious what they were trying to do. Undercut the hero. Reframe the story through a more modern lens. But reality is, there are older truths at work here… truths neither Herbert nor Villeneuve can fully suppress. Why? Because no matter how much you try to deconstruct it, the core of the story remains intact. The call to adventure still beckons. A young man is summoned out of obscurity into greatness. He faces trial, suffering, sacrifice. He becomes something more than himself. Courage. Heroism. Purpose. Destiny. Those truths prevail. You can try to frame that as a warning. You can try to surround it with doubt, irony, or critique. Herbert himself tried to do exactly that. He wanted Paul to be seen as dangerous, as a cautionary tale about charismatic leaders and messianic power. But audiences don’t experience it that way. They feel the ascent. They recognize the pattern because it’s older than the author. Older than the genre. Older than the medium itself. It’s myth. And myth doesn’t bend easily to intention. You see the same phenomenon in Starship Troopers. The director made it as satire… an exaggerated parody of militarism, nationalism, and propaganda. It was meant to be absurd, even grotesque. But what do people actually take from it? Duty. Brotherhood. Sacrifice. Service. The idea that citizenship is earned through commitment to something greater than yourself. The deeper layer wins. Because again, these are not modern constructions. They are ancient truths. The desire for meaning. The pull toward struggle. The admiration of courage and sacrifice. The instinct to follow strength, to rise, to become… more. You can dress it up in irony. You can try to subvert it. You can even openly argue against it. But if the structure is there, if the archetype is present, it will assert itself. The audience will feel it, whether they’re supposed to or not. The arc still resolves in the same direction: Toward greatness, destiny, and transformation of a man into something more. The story is not ultimately Villeneuve’s. And it was never fully Herbert’s either. It belongs to something older: myth and legend. The story escapes its author, because it points to something ancient and true.

Why did Europe conquer the world and not the Chinese or the Muslims? 🤔 "They didn’t have that dog in them. The Chinese didn't have that dog in them. The Muslims didn't have that dog in them. The Spanish, the Dutch, the English, the French... we had that dog in us."

Wargamers like me get drawn into pike and shot warfare because of the precise, beautiful, geometric aesthetics. Look at those. formations. Big squares with little squares on the corners. Very pleasing to the eye. Plus the guys in those formations have flashy, colourful, over-the-top clothing. 10/10 aesthetics.

🇺🇸⚡️- President Trump has announced that the United States will seek a rehearing on birthright citizenship. A rehearing must be called within 25 days of the initial decision and requires a majority vote, including a vote from a justice who initially voted with the majority. If a rehearing is granted, it will have to come from one of the conservative justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, who voted with the majority in the initial decision.

Trump on Platner: “It’s really a question of whether or not you believe the woman. A lot of people say big falsehoods… he’s in a bind.” Follow: @AFpost

NEW | Iran is willing to return to a large-scale conflict with the United States if necessary to secure its control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s behavior after the latest US strikes indicates that the Iranian regime values control over the strait more than avoiding renewed escalation with the United States.

UPDATE | A major claim is circulating around Anéfis: FLA/JNIM may have pulled back, and FAMa/Africa Corps may have regained ground. Anéfis has clearly been one of the key flashpoints since the July 4 attack wave. What is still not clear is who actually controls the town now. We can confirm fighting and competing claims around Anéfis, not the final outcome. So yes, possible pro-government recovery. But “significant victory” and “Anéfis firmly back under control” are still a step too far.

JUST IN: The Atlantic warns America is becoming “postliterate” as daily pleasure reading has fallen from 28% to 16% — & nearly 30% of adults now struggle to paraphrase or infer from a multipage text.

Trump: “The U.S. Space Force has cameras in orbit capable of reading the badges of Iranian officials as they enter nuclear sites.”

Prediction: Schools are just going to become diploma mills rather than take a firm stance against AI plagiarism because it's too popular with too many people and a hard line would mean practically nobody would enroll. This will in turn lead to degrees becoming even more de-valued than they already are, with things like proctored IQ tests for employment rising to take their place (Griggs vs Duke Power will probably be overturned by this court).

BREAKING: The US has begun striking bridges, hitting the Aq Tekeh Khan Bridge, in the Golestan Province of Northern Iran, and the Gorgan railway line, per Fars. This is the deepest US strike into Iran since March and the first US strike on Iranian transportation infrastructure since the April ceasefire.

>look up at the traffic poles >you live in an open air prison

Good American Excellence Morning

🇺🇸🇮🇷 - Note, Trump is resharing and AI generated photo posted by Open Source Intel, an X account that routinely steals posts from Rerum Novarum and other Telegram channels.

Percentage of births in New Zealand to ethnically Indian mothers: 2008 2.8% 2012 3.5% 2016 5.5% 2020 7.9% 2024 12.6%

US refineries are maxed out, but we can't build product storage because 1) end-user demand remains healthy and 2) we are exporting everything we can because the rest of the world is short on products. Meanwhile, prices have to keep going higher domestically to try and price out exports. And since the rest of the world is short, this only pulls prices higher faster. And since China lifted the product export ban, teapot refineries can buy whatever crude they want and still make money because refining margins are so elevated. The next big catalyst to watch is what China does with domestic fuel pricing. If it matches to global prices, watch out. Teapot refinery utilization will hit a new record high, which means the spread between crude and crack spreads will come down pushing crude meaningfully higher.

🇺🇸🇮🇷 - U.S. attacks targeted Chabahar's maritime traffic control tower, southern Iran. Confirmed by Mehr News.

BREAKING: At the direction of President Trump U.S. forces have began conducting strikes on Iran. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM): “At the direction of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”