Keep Austin Affordable
What to know: Austin affordability was a big topic at the recent South by Southwest Festival.
The TPPF take: Austin could become more affordable by ceasing to charge residents unconstitutional fees, such as the Transportation User Fee.
“When a city wants to impose new taxes, it needs to hold an election so taxpayers have a say before more of their money goes to the government,” said TPPF Attorney Heidi Walusimbi. “Disguising new taxes as fees not only violates Texas law, it gives the city carte blanche to fill its coffers, while silencing the very people who fund it. This case reminds the city that if it wants more funds, it needs to ask first.”
For more on Austin and affordability, click here.
My Boyfriend’s Not Back
What to know: According to the National Enquirer, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez has given up on actual men and is speaking with an AI boyfriend “morning, noon and night.”
The TPPF take: AI boyfriends aren’t real boyfriends.
“Over the past decade, much of the public square has migrated online,” says TPPF’s Hannah Bruck. “Conversations, friendships, and communities increasingly exist through screens and platforms. As our social lives have moved into digital spaces, it is perhaps unsurprising that artificial voices have entered those spaces as well. But something important risks being lost in the process.”
For more on AI relationships, click here.
The Fog of War
What to know: Disinformation is making the Iran war even more confusing than international conflict always is. This “undermines your critical thinking,” experts say.
The TPPF take: That misinformation is also further dividing our nation.
“Leaked intelligence, AI spectacle, insider rumor, and self-described experts all seem to carefully arrange themselves into the shape of perfect explanation—only because we can no longer bear the possibility that no coherent picture is available to us at all,” says TPPF’s Cameron Abrams. “Maybe, just maybe, we can admit that some realities cannot be rendered fully legible, and that any event as we experience is less a stable reality than a contest over how to feel, what to fear, and which story can momentarily still the anxiety of not knowing — because we most certainly will not know ‘What are we doing there?’ anytime soon—or possibly ever.”
For more on war and disinformation, click here.