Almanac for May 2, 2026
Today is Saturday, May 2, the 122nd day of 2026. There are 243 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1994, Nelson Mandela claimed victory for the African National Congress after South Africa's first democratic elections. Also on this date: In 1863, during the Civil War, Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Virginia; he died eight days later. In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Buck v. Bell, upheld 8-1 a Virginia law allowing the forced sterilization of people in order to promote the "health of the patient and ...
US military reaches AI deals with seven tech companies
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Friday that it has reached deals with seven tech companies to use their artificial intelligence in its classified computer networks, allowing the military to tap into AI-powered capabilities to help it fight wars. Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, ...
I love living here
This week’s Bouquet — From Mike Olson, Escanaba: One weekend night this past winter, I was eating in a local dining facility by myself and this group of six high school boys came in. They were laughing and yukking it up. They sat near me and continued their joyful banter. I asked one of them what was going on. He said that they had won a varsity game the night before and were out celebrating. Their comments spoke of good sportsmanship. They waited for their food and I kept listening. The topic went from their pickups to deer hunting to other sports and sport heroes. Their food ...
The ballroom amounts to taxpayer abuse
Some years ago, I was president of an organization called the Association of Opinion Journalists. Every year we would run a convention in a different city and end it with a celebration in the hotel's ballroom space. Our speaker on that closing night was usually some well-known political ...
Roots of political ugliness go deep
Longtime readers of The Mining Journal’s Opinion page are familiar with columnist Cal Thomas, a reliably conservative writer who has been around for a good many years. We have found that close readings of Thomas’ columns — he typically writes at least two per week and apparently never takes a day off — will reveal, to some degree at least, what Republican Party thinking is on this topic or that one. In fact, we know of some liberals who follow him for that reason alone, to get an idea what Republicans are saying behind the scenes. So, with that as a back drop, it was with a ...