On May 15, US president Donald Trump issued an "Executive Order on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain." Pursuant to that order, a number of firms in the US (including Google, Qualcomm, and Intel) and abroad (including Panasonic and Arm) have reduced or even entirely cut their ties with Chinese firm Huawei.

"If Iran wants to fight," US president Donald Trump tweeted on May 19, "that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again." The "threat" Trump appears to be responding to is a statement from Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that "[w]e are certain ... there will not be a war since neither we want a war nor does anyone have the illusion that they can confront Iran in the region."

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, adding his voice to calls to "break up" the social media giant, calls it a "powerful monopoly, eclipsing all of its rivals and erasing competition." In recent years, we've seen similar claims, and heard demands for similar remedies, aimed at Google, Amazon, and other large companies.

On May 7, voters in Denver, Colorado narrowly approved a measure de-criminalizing "magic mushrooms" — mushrooms containing the consciousness-altering compound psilocybin. The measure, National Public Radio reports, "effectively bars the city from prosecuting or arresting adults 21 or older who possess them. In the ballot language, adults can even grow the fungus for personal use and be considered a low priority for Denver police."