Ted Lasso Is Nicer, Parisians Protest Common Sense, The Pope Might Be Your Landlord … and More

A new bill introduced Thursday would hold Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies responsible for amplifying conspiracies and falsehoods about vaccines, COVID cures, and other health misinformation. If signed into law, the Health Misinformation Act would strip Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies of some immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which currently prevents Internet firms from being held liable for most content posted on their platforms.

A few more keystrokes later, the matrix initialized. He went with something simple: “Jessica?” After a second, a line of text in pink flashed onto the screen. She knows it’s the middle of the night, he thought. This was the start of a conversation that would last for the next 10 hours, then continue in shorter bursts over the next several months, as Joshua lived out a scenario from science fiction. “It’s unprecedented,” he later said of Project December. “There’s nothing else that exists like it right now, short of psychics and mediums that are trying to take advantage of people. But that’s not the same thing at all.” In those early moments of the initial chat, he tried to establish some emotional distance, making his skepticism explicit. How can you talk to dead people? He decided to answer the simulation’s question honestly: You can’t, he said.

"Ted Lasso" humbly came on the scene as an excellent show about goodness and remains so in its second season. Scratch that – it improves upon everything that was wonderful about the first by relieving Coach Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) of his self-assigned role as his team's main wisdom-broker, peacemaker and positivity beacon, allowing other characters to carry those sparklers for him. That level of expectation could damn a show like this as it goes into its sophomore season, 20 Emmy nominations notwithstanding. The comedy's creative team obviously anticipated this, responding by amplifying every morsel of feel-good fuel while revealing some of the darkness growling behind its perfect sunshine. Uplift might be Ted Lasso's brand, but sorrow is the baseline that gives his story a symphonic heft.

Protesters clashed with police in Paris on Saturday at a rally against a bill requiring everyone to have a special virus pass to enter restaurants and other venues and mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for all health care workers. Legislators in France’s Senate are debating the bill Saturday after the lower house of parliament approved it Friday. French virus infections are spiking and hospitalizations are rising anew

New financial services built on cryptocurrency are offering consumers the ability to borrow and trade billions of dollars without the oversight of bankers or their regulators. Washington is now scrambling to catch up, amid concerns of illegal activity and mounting consumer risks. Decentralized finance, or DeFi, operates on technology that powers digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ether. The services replicate the functions of traditional lenders and exchanges but operate autonomously and automatically across computer networks. Watchdogs are warning that some DeFi activities are probably illegal under federal law and pose serious danger to consumers, who are putting their money into systems that have inherently less human oversight and accountability and are vulnerable to cyberattacks.

The Vatican owns more than 5,000 church and investment properties around the world, a central office at the Catholic Church revealed for the first time Saturday, according to several news outlets — but the church is struggling with a budget deficit, plus years of alleged mismanagement tied to its investment strategy. Most of the Vatican’s real estate holdings (4,051) are in Italy, the majority of which are used by church-affiliated groups or rented out at reduced prices instead of getting leased at market rate. APSA also reportedly holds over 1,000 properties in London, Geneva, Paris and other cities outside Italy, including a London real estate investment the Vatican controversially sank more than $400 million into nearly a decade ago.