911 We Have A Liar

9.9.26

Happy Wednesday! Welcome back to Common Sense with Ally Sammarco. Let’s break down the latest news.

Trump’s 9/11 Story Keeps Changing….With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, President Donald Trump is once again talking about what he says he witnessed in the aftermath of the attacks—but his stories have changed over the years. At an event Tuesday, Trump claimed that two firefighters lifted him off the ground near Ground Zero “right after” the attacks and carried him away because they feared a building would collapse. He later clarified on Truth Social that he was not at the World Trade Center on the day of the collapse, but “shortly thereafter.” Trump has also previously claimed he watched the second plane hit the South Tower, saw people jump from the Twin Towers from his apartment, and helped clear rubble at Ground Zero. Some of these accounts have not been independently verified, while his claim that thousands of people in New Jersey celebrated the attacks has been debunked.

Common Sense Takeaway: 911, we have a liar. If there’s anything we know about Trump, he’s going to lie and he’s going to make something about himself. We know he was nowhere near Ground Zero during and shortly after the attacks because he was in his office calling news channels talking about how his building is now the tallest in Manhattan. He’s a rotten person though and through, but this lie may be one of the worst.

Mifepristone Access Heads Back to Court….Access to the abortion medication mifepristone could once again be headed for the Supreme Court. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing arguments in a Louisiana-led challenge to the FDA’s decision to allow certified pharmacies and mail-order pharmacies to dispense the drug without an in-person requirement. Louisiana argues the FDA acted improperly when it changed the rules, while opponents of the challenge say restricting mail and telehealth access would create major barriers for patients, particularly those who live far from abortion providers. The Supreme Court has previously kept access to mifepristone in place while the litigation continues. The stakes are significant: medication abortion now accounts for more than 60% of abortions in the U.S., and the outcome of this case could affect access to mifepristone nationwide.

Common Sense Takeaway: The only purpose of this challenge by Louisiana is to make it harder for women to receive access to abortion drugs. Having to see a physician to make an extremely hard, personal, and often times embarrassing decision is a huge barrier between receiving care or not. Additionally, mifepristone only works until about 9-10 weeks gestation, meaning all abortions using this drug happen in the first trimester. This is a sick, sick effort by sick people.

AI Researcher Walks Away Over Safety Concerns….A 27-year-old AI researcher who worked at both OpenAI and Anthropic is leaving the industry, warning that the race to build increasingly powerful AI systems is moving too quickly. Jacob Coxon, who spent three years training AI models, said both companies are “playing with our lives” as they race toward systems capable of recursive self-improvement—where AI could potentially design and train more advanced versions of itself with limited human involvement. Coxon said he believes companies cannot safely develop AI that surpasses human intelligence without government intervention or a coordinated slowdown. His concerns were echoed by Anthropic safety executive Evan Hubinger, who said the company believes there is a risk AI could eventually kill all humans and estimated that risk at more than 10% over the next decade. The warnings come as AI companies continue competing to develop increasingly advanced systems, while the U.S. has no comprehensive federal law regulating AI models. More than 1,000 tech workers and leaders have called for a coordinated slowdown, and lawmakers have proposed legislation that would pause advanced AI development until a federal regulator is established.

Common Sense takeaway: If there’s one thing made clear here: we need action and we need it now. AI is developing too rapidly for government (which is not necessarily known for being fast and technologically savvy) to keep up with. We need to temporarily halt all development, until we can install guardrails around it, but that’s not enough. We need U.S. leadership to come to an agreement with other countries, like China, to do the same. This a scary warning, and we would be extremely foolish to not take it seriously.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading Common Sense with Ally Sammarco. If you enjoyed this newsletter, don’t forget to like and share. It means the world.

— Ally