Trans Plans: “Whether or not they are enacted, they allow conservative state legislatures to perform opposition to the ‘woke left’ and ensure evangelical voters show up to vote — even after the religious right achieved its decades-long goal of overturning Roe v. Wade last year.” The GOP’s coordinated national campaign against trans rights, explained.

+ Climate Model: “Chatbots’ habit of mirroring us back to ourselves goes back way further than Sydney’s rumination on whether there is a meaning to being a Bing search engine. In fact, it’s been there since the introduction of the first notable chatbot almost 50 years ago.” How the first chatbot predicted the dangers of AI more than 50 years ago.

+ Tunnel of Gov: “U.S. inspectors used to refer only a handful of drivers for cargo screening with powerful scanning equipment to check for illegal drugs.
But on a recent morning they routed every truck through a new drive-through machine the size of a carwash.” WaPo: U.S. deploys powerful scanners at border to fight fentanyl smuggling. (We should have deployed this on the Sacklers years ago.)

+ Frozen in Time: “Frozen human embryos can legally be considered property, or ‘chattel,’ a Virginia judge has ruled, basing his decision in part on a 19th century law governing the treatment of slaves.”

+ Duke Score: King Charles III has made his youngest brother the Duke of Edinburgh. (One could really accuse the royal family of nepotism.)

+ Red Bull: The red carpet at the Oscars will not be red this year. Red’s dead, baby. Red’s dead.