Washington is racing ahead on AI, moon reactors and laser weapons while ordinary people struggle with rising costs — a bad mix for anyone already stretched thin.

• Trump picked intelligence chief Jay Clayton to also run a new AI task force, stacking two big jobs on one person.
• Elon Musk is pushing the "super intelligence" rebrand, with the clear goal of replacing human workers.
• An OpenAI safety employee quit, warning the industry is moving too fast to get safety right.
• The US wants a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030, with Russia and China aiming for 2036 — scientists say the risks are real.
• A US Marine was arrested in Okinawa over the killing of a Japanese woman, and Japan has lodged a formal protest.

Outlook: Expect more spending on AI, space and weapons while household debt keeps climbing and the gap between Washington and regular people widens.