India vs. Pakistan, Trump vs. Canada, & ChatGPT vs. Your Mental Stability

May 7, 2025

Hello, readers – happy Wednesday! Today, we’ll be talking about Houthis, India vs. Pakistan, Trump’s meeting with Canada, Germany’s chancellor, an attempt to save Hollywood, trans members of the military, and ChatGPT getting a lil creepy.

Here’s some good news: A new study has found that it’s safe for people with celiac to kiss someone who has just consumed gluten, so go ahead and go on that date to the Italian restaurant you’ve been eyeing! Also, almost all new homes in England will be fitted with solar panels during construction within two years.

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy

The Houthis Get Hammered

(Sana’a Airport after Israeli strikes by Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The U.S. has bombed Yemen’s Houthi rebels into submission. Yesterday, President Trump announced that representatives from the rebel group reached out to the White House on Monday night, indicating that “they want to stop the fighting.”

Soon after that announcement (which was met with a healthy dose of skepticism, like most Trump announcements), Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi confirmed that the Houthis had reached an agreement with the U.S. thanks to his country’s mediation. “In the future, neither side will target the other,” he tweeted, “including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping.” A top Houthi official confirmed the agreement, adding, “We will definitely continue our operations in support to Gaza,” likely meaning that other countries’ ships – including Israel’s – will still be targeted.

Israel piled on the bad news for the Houthis and Yemen yesterday, conducting missile strikes on Sana’a International Airport, the country’s main international hub. The IDF claimed that the airport “is used by the Houthi terrorist organization for the transfer of weapons and operatives, and is regularly operated by the Houthi regime for terrorist purposes.” The entire facility has been shut down for rebuilding.

A Blow-Up On The Border

The border conflict between India and Pakistan quickly boiled over yesterday after simmering on the back burner for about two weeks. Early in the morning local time, India announced that it had conducted missile strikes on nine sites in Pakistan. Pakistani officials confirmed six of the strikes, adding that they’d killed eight people and wounded at least 35 others.

India said it only conducted the strikes after it found evidence “pointing towards the clear involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists” in last month’s terror attack on Indian tourists in the Kashmir region. The Indian military added that the multiple strikes were “measured, responsible and designed to be nonescalatory in nature,” and claimed that they’d only hit “known terror camps.”

The Pakistani military claimed that it downed at least two Indian planes in relation to the attacks, and Indian news channels confirmed that at least one fighter jet was shot down in Pakistan’s airspace, without saying which country it belonged to. Pakistan also promised that the attacks “will not go unanswered,” vowing a response at “a time and place of its own choosing.”

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Carney Joins The Trump Carnival (Temporarily)

(Trump & Carney by Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the White House yesterday to meet with President Trump. The meeting started relatively cordially, but grew increasingly tense as it went on, which makes sense given the White House’s recent stance toward Canada and the fact that Carney recently won his seat by campaigning on an anti-Trump platform. “As you know from real estate, there are some places that are not for sale. And Canada is not for sale, it will never be for sale,” Carney told Trump at one point.
“Time will tell. It’s only time. But I say never say never,” Trump replied. “I’ve had many, many things that were not doable and they ended up being doable and only doable in a very friendly way.” The rest of the meeting was about as productive as that exchange, with Trump telling Carney that he would not lift 25% tariffs on a wide range of Canadian goods, or the 10% tariffs on Canadian oil.

Merz Makes History (Not In A Good Way)

Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, elected a new chancellor yesterday after two rounds of voting. Friedrich Merz, the head of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), was expected to win the chancellorship after a single vote (like every other German chancellor before him, but fell six votes short of the required 316-vote majority.
“The whole of Europe, perhaps the whole world, is watching this election,” said Bundestag President Julia Klöckner after the first vote failed, adding, “I appeal to everyone to be aware of this special responsibility.” After that historic defeat, Merz eventually won the chancellorship with 325 votes in his favor.

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A Culture War Court Battle

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that President Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military can move forward. Unsurprisingly, the three liberal justices dissented. Seven individual transgender service members had sued to block the ban.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was seen in a video posted on the Defense Department’s Twitter/X account saying, “No more dudes in dresses. We are done with that s—.” There are about 4,000 transgender people currently serving in the military, according to DOD data, out of around 2.1 million total active service members.

No Incentives In Trumpland?

Yesterday, we told you that President Trump was considering implementing 100% tariffs on films made abroad. In response, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has offered to work with Trump to boost U.S. film production, including proposing a $7.5 billion tax credit program. “America continues to be a film powerhouse, and California is all in to bring more production here,” Newsom said.
The tax credit program would be the biggest government tax initiative for the film industry in the country’s history and the first at a federal level. Movies have increasingly been made out of the country, partly for tax reasons and partly because nobody wants to watch “Fast & Furious: Omaha Drift.” On Monday, shares in media companies and movie theater chains fell after Trump proposed his levies.

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Chatting You Off The Deep End

AI chatbots might be driving people ‘round the bend, or at least driving already-unstable people further into instability. According to Rolling Stone, people are increasingly posting about loved ones being pushed into destructive patterns of thought after “talking” with ChatGPT and other AI chatbots for extended periods. Symptoms include people thinking that they’re being sent on sacred missions by AI, developing baseless theories about physics or the government, or even that they’ve magically developed superpowers… with the help of a computer algorithm.
“He became emotional about the messages and would cry to me as he read them out loud,” said one woman of her ex-husband. “The messages were insane and just saying a bunch of spiritual jargon,” including ChatGPT calling her husband a “spiral starchild” and “river walker.” The AI apparently encouraged his belief in a “conspiracy theory about soap on our foods,” and supported his paranoia about being watched. Another man told the outlet that his wife was “changing her whole life to be a spiritual adviser and do weird readings and sessions with people — I’m a little fuzzy on what it all actually is — all powered by ChatGPT Jesus.”
The stories began emerging after OpenAI was forced to fix ChatGPT following a recent update to the chatbot that made the text algorithm act “sycophantic” and “overly flattering or agreeable,” leading OpenAI to revert the patch. Beyond that single update, the phenomenon highlights a concerning use pattern with AI chatbots – as people get lonely (or can’t afford therapy), many find themselves “developing” a “relationship” with ChatGPT. Check up on your loved ones, or else Sam Altman’s nightmare machine will make them wacky!

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