Transportation into the future is going to wear billionaire Elon Musk’s visionary garb. And this is the goal for The Boring Company: to solve one of the most miserable daily experiences on Earth: traffic

According to the thinking, cities are three-dimensional.

But transportation is still mostly trapped in a two-dimensional surface network

Roads, intersections, bottlenecks, traffic lights, accidents, construction, weather – everything gets stacked on the same flat layer until the entire system chokes

The Boring Company’s answer is simple but radical: Go underground

Build fast, low-cost tunnel networks under major cities and turn transportation into true 3D infrastructure

Right now, the focus is on making tunneling dramatically faster and cheaper with machines like Prufrock, which is designed to mine continuously while installing tunnel liner at the same time.

But the long-term vision goes much further: Local Loop tunnels could move people across cities without surface traffic, while future Hyperloop-style systems could connect entire cities at ultra-high speed

Imagine going from Los Angeles to San Francisco, New York to Washington D.C., or Dubai to Abu Dhabi in a fraction of today’s travel time – underground, electric, direct, and protected from surface congestion

That is the real mission: Building the missing third dimension of transportation

This is how you actually attack soul-destroying traffic at civilization scale.
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A bipartisan majority in the Republican-led House voted on Wednesday to end the war with Iran, the clearest rebuke yet of President Trump’s handling of the conflict and the subsequent economic fallout.

The war powers resolution passed by a vote of 215 to 208, with four Republicans joining Democrats in support.

The resolution had originally been set for a vote two weeks ago, but Republican leaders sent House members home early for a May recess when it appeared the largely Democratic- backed measure had enough Republican votes for passage. However, the extended break didn’t shift GOP support to kill the measure.

Ahead of the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended President Trump’s decision to attack Iran.

“Remember … Iran declared war on us 47 years ago. They chant ‘death to America.’ The president is trying to keep the people safe,” Johnson told reporters.

The vote is mostly symbolic. Democrats, despite multiple attempts, have been unable to pass a war powers resolution through the Republican-led Senate. Even if the measure passed in Congress, it would almost certainly be vetoed by President Trump, whose administration has questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act.

Still, Senate Democrats have been inching closer. Last month, they won support on a procedural measure to set up a war powers vote after a handful of Republicans broke ranks to join them. A final vote has yet to be scheduled.

House Democrats celebrated the vote, and called on the Senate to follow suit.

“Following repeated attempts to get sycophants in the Republican-controlled House to join us, House Democrats successfully passed our War Powers Resolution today to stand up for the American people and hold Donald Trump accountable. It is now time for Senate Republicans to do the right thing,” read a statement from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and his top two deputies, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and California’s Pete Aguilar.

The administration has furiously pushed against the effort in both the House and Senate. Wednesday’s vote signals his support for the war may be slipping even among some members of his own party.

Now more than 90 days into the conflict, some Republicans have expressed frustration that the war does not appear to have a clear end in sight. Talks to end the war have yet to gain clear traction, casting doubt on a fragile ceasefire. Just hours before the vote, Iran and the U.S. traded strikes in the Persian Gulf

Why Congress rarely pushes back when presidents deploy military force
The conflict began on Feb 28 with strikes by U.S. and Israeli forces on Iran. Under the 1973 War Powers Act, the president has 60 days to end hostilities if there has been no congressional authorization – though he is able to seek a 30-day extension. The same law also gives Congress the ability to end hostilities by voting on a resolution to end military action, subject to presidential veto.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., told reporters after the vote he chose to support the resolution because, “we have to follow the law,” referring to the War Powers Act.

“We’re past the 60 days, so you have two choices. You either follow the law or you change the law. You can’t violate the law. That’s not an option,” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick was joined in supporting the resolution by three other Republicans: Tom Barrett of Michigan, Ohio’s Warren Davidson and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

Following the Iran vote, top Republicans were also rebuked on a measure to provide aid to Ukraine. Six Republicans joined Democrats to move the measure forward, setting it up for a vote for final passage.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said he’s hoping to shore up even more GOP votes to help Ukraine.

“Three years down the road they are still fighting for their own freedom,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. “We can’t let them down.”

From NPR

American forces in recent weeks have helped coordinate the passage of dozens of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. officials, even as travel through the waterway remains risky amid stalled negotiations to end the war with Iran.

U.S. Central Command has guided around 70 commercial ships through the strait, traveling into and out of the Persian Gulf, in the last three weeks, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

The U.S. officials added that most of the vessels had turned off their transponders to avoid detection when going through the narrow waterway.

The officials declined to say what type of vessels were going through and what route they took, but one official indicated that at least one route was not close to the Iranian coastline. Ships passing near Iran without obtaining Iranian approval face the threat of an almost-certain attack by Iranian drones or missiles, U.S. officials said. Shipping analysts say the U.S.-guided crossings appear to follow routes that are closer to Oman.

Before the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, well over 100 commercial ships a day passed through the strait. So the U.S.-coordinated passages — an average of three a day over the three-week period — do not represent a big comeback for shipping. And because U.S.-guided crossings take place with transponders turned off, known as “dark” passages, shipping analysts say they cannot independently verify how many may have taken place.

Still, a steady passage of ships under U.S. guidance would suggest that some shipowners are willing to take the risk to get in and out of the Persian Gulf, where many vessels have been stranded for weeks, losing money and leaving their crews in trying conditions.

What you should know about anonymous sources. The Times makes a careful decision any time it shields the identity of a source. The information the source supplies must be newsworthy, credible and give readers genuine insight.

The U.S.-coordinated route is also an alternative for shipowners who don’t want to have to get permission from Iran or pay a toll to make the crossing. The conflict with Iran has led to a sharp reduction in energy supplies to world markets.