2026-06-16 20:00:00
Meta’s Twitter-clone Threads just reached 500 million monthly users, which is further proof that humans are starved for community interaction, even when that interaction is only virtual and often unpleasant. Of course, we’re constantly reminded by endless expert-led studies that real-life human relationships are the key to health, happiness, and longevity. But, you may have wondered while considering this research whether these near-universal findings apply to all relationships. There are, it turns out, exceptions. And you probably know a few of them. “Relationships with people who are draining, critical, or otherwise difficult can compromise our mental and physical health. Shira Offer, a sociologist at Bar-Ilan University, in Israel, who has studied these so-called negative social ties, told me, ‘For a long time, social scientists have focused on the positive aspects of relationships. And finally, we’re also seriously dealing with the negative aspects.'” Olga Khazan in The Atlantic (Gift Article): There’s a Name for the People Who Drain You. (I must be an introvert, a misanthrope, or both, because I always thought that name was people.)
You might imagine that the best place to train to be a cybercrime fighter would be right here in front of your laptop. But, there may be a better place. The FBI built its own replica small town to simulate real-world cyberattacks. “Dubbed the Kinetic Cyber Range, the FBI’s small purpose-built town opened in February 2025 and features fully furnished houses, a hotel, a gas station and grocery mart, a courthouse, a hospital, and a power company — complete with roads and traffic lights — designed to mimic a real U.S. community.”
“The profound vulnerability of countries throughout Asia, Europe and elsewhere that depend on imported energy is supercharging the hunt for alternatives. In some places, like South Korea and Japan, that has led to an increased use of dirtier fuels like coal. But over the longer term, this energy shock — the second in just four years — is likely to accelerate a transition to renewables like solar and wind as well as nuclear power.” Could Trump have inadvertently become the leader on renewables? NYT (Gift Article): The Iran War Permanently Altered the Global Economy. Or as Ian Bremmer explains: “We could look back on this in 10 years and see that orange is the new green. Trump will have done more for renewable energy unintentionally than any other president in U.S. history.” Maybe Bremmer is right: Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool turns green after surface painted.
+ “The United States, for its part, looks weaker in the eyes of the world. The American military has shown itself unable to quash a much smaller opponent even as it burned through many of its long-range precision missiles and interceptors. The outcome damages this country’s ability to deter other potential adversaries. To begin to repair the damage, the United States would be wise to mend alliances in Europe, the Middle East and Asia that have been frayed by the war’s military and economic effects. The Pentagon will also need to modernize and prepare for the wars of the future. Neither is likely to happen under President Trump.” NYT Editorial Board (Gift Article): President Trump Lost This War. (This provides a pretty good summary of what just about every expert is saying. Even GOP officials aren’t getting on board with the memorandum of understanding – and no one has even been able to see it yet.)
+ Aside from the Iranian people who were promised that “help is on the way,” the person most concerned about this deal is probably Bibi Netanyahu. For years, he looked like one of the few Trump partners who wouldn’t end up under the bus. Maybe there are no exceptions. From saying Netanyahu has no f-cking judgment, to freezing him out of negotiations, to complaining about him at this week’s G7, Bibi seems to be getting run over by the wagon he hitched himself to.
+ Trump insists that the relationship with Bibi is still good, adding, “Without me there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.” Here’s the latest from The Guardian.
+ A headline for the ages from Politico: Trump is turning his attention back to Ukraine — and Kyiv’s allies are worried. (Somehow, Ukraine has managed to overcome both Putin and Trump over the past year and a half. It’s an incredible story.)
“The town that hosts the world’s largest convenience store smells like ass. For many decades, Luling, Texas, was regionally famous for its excellent barbecue, locally grown supersized watermelons, and the unpleasant rotten-egg smell of hydrogen sulfide, the toxic and highly flammable byproduct of its abundant oil wells. Some locals swear they can’t detect the odor; others profess to love the smell of their own farts, bragging that it’s the ‘smell of money.’ But today, Luling might be best known for a very, very large gas station. Four miles southeast of the town of about six thousand, rising out of the brush alongside Interstate 10, is the mother of all convenience stores—the flagship of Buc-ee’s, a Texas-based chain of ‘travel centers’ that has become a cult phenomenon and one of the state’s most eminent brand ambassadors. The 75,593-square-foot travel center—with its 120 gas pumps, more than two hundred employees, fifty-one bathroom stalls, nineteen urinals attended 24/7 by workers who flit in and out of an ’employees only’ janitor’s closet, food court of cowboy-hat-wearing staff chopping brisket, clerks chirping ‘Welcome in” to every visitor, stacks of deer corn, $1,499 deer blinds, and racks of in-house gummy bears and jerky—has the distinct odor of caramel-coated Beaver Nuggets. But really, it smells like money.” In The Baffler, Forrest Wilder takes us on a unique summer road trip: Leave it to Beaver.
There’s No Gravity Up Here: “We can say with certainty that this valuation makes absolutely no sense today. People are buying SpaceX in the expectation that others will buy too and push the price higher – that’s speculation.” Whatever you call it, the stock is going up. SpaceX vaults past Microsoft and Amazon’s market value as post IPO momentum builds.
+ In Fact It’s a Gas: “For years, federal health officials have warned about the risks associated with a supplement derived from the leaves of kratom trees that adherents say can kill pain or boost energy. Sold in gas stations across America, kratom has been linked to liver toxicity, seizures and thousands of deaths.” So this won’t surprise you. How an Addictive Gas Station Drug Found Allies in Trump’s Cabinet.
+ Death Notes: “The picture drawn most clearly by this new information is not the elaborate conspiracy that his murder would have required; rather, it is an unfortunate though not improbable convergence of longstanding institutional failures, human errors and chance events, which created an opportunity for Epstein to act on what was by then a well-established desire that he had already tried and failed to realize.” NYT Mag (Gift Article): The Untold Story of Jeffrey Epstein’s Death. (Now, let’s release the untold stories from his life.)
+ If There Are No Objections… “The Justice Department’s senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object, according to people familiar with the matter.” (I’m beginning to think there’s some corruption going on at the Justice Dept.)
+ Tarped: “President Donald Trump’s name came off the Kennedy Center in the dead of night Saturday. More than 60 hours later, almost no one has seen it gone.” Trump’s name is off the Kennedy Center, but a tarp is hiding the proof.
+ News Re-Cap: Giants baseball has hit a real low point. And it’s not because the team has been terrible. In a controversy that only seems to be building, “several Giants players responded to Pride Night on Friday by writing Bible verses on their caps.” Grant Brisbee: Giants pitchers’ Bible verses on Pride Night caps show how they’ve missed the point. A lot of fans are furious. So is just about every beat writer. Giants pitchers didn’t just deface Pride uniforms. They alienated their fans and city. Mike Krukow, our beloved broadcaster: “I would just hope they would understand the demographic of San Francisco and respect people for who they are. What you do to your uniform, that has weight to it. You can offend people. And why would you do that?” (A question for the era.)
+ Winning Tie: “It took Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha all of his 40 years on Earth to make his World Cup debut. The long, long wait was worth every fleeting second. Vozinha recorded seven saves Monday, holding Spain’s star-studded lineup to a shocking 0-0 draw.” In the shock of the World Cup so far, 40-year-old Cape Verde goalkeeper keeps favorite Spain to 0 goals at World Cup. (He also managed to pick up about 7 million Instagram followers.) And from The Guardian: How Algeria won over a Kansas town – and became the World Cup’s unlikeliest love affair.
A company once ahead of its time is trying to turn back the clock. “Although the phone has Internet connectivity, it blocks web browsers and social media.” Commodore’s newest gadget is a flip phone that blocks social media and browsers.
+ In 1992, “McDonald’s replaced the fried apple pie with a baked version in most of the U.S., responding to growing consumer awareness of fat and cholesterol consumption.” McDonald’s is serving fried apple pie again for America’s 250th birthday. (Sounds pretty good, but I’m still celebrating with a Safeway Cake.)
+ Self-pleasure before bed is linked to falling asleep faster and sleeping better. (OK! OK! … I’ll try it.)
2026-06-15 20:00:00
We have a deal! Well, actually, we have a memorandum of understanding. And not everyone seems to have gotten the memo about how we should be understanding it. We won’t know what devil is in the details of the peace agreement with Iran until those details are ultimately ironed out over the coming weeks and months. But it sure doesn’t look like unconditional surrender. It’s also not looking better than the deal Obama negotiated with Iran (the nuclear issues are still subject to negotiation). In terms of lives, dollars, and reputation, Trump’s tearing up of the old Iran agreement could go down as the most expensive tantrum in American history. And I’m not using my own scorecard, I’m using Trump’s. “Mr. Trump said the United States intended to ‘annihilate’ Iran’s military capabilities, abolish its nuclear ambitions, topple its theocratic leadership and liberate its people, whom he encouraged to take over their government when the fighting had stopped. Just one week after the strikes started, he said Iran’s only path to a deal was an ‘unconditional surrender.'” NYT (Gift Article): Trump Winds Down the War He Started With Goals Unmet. Meanwhile, the region and the Iranian people (who were promised “help is on the way”) are left to deal with a more emboldened, more extreme, more entrenched, and less sanctioned regime.
+ “The United States has perhaps done worse than gaining nothing. Iran, while temporarily weakened, is now an even more powerful political actor: The regime in Tehran stood up to a massive U.S. onslaught, survived, and then inflicted pain on various states in the Gulf as punishment for going along with Trump’s war. The Israelis, for their part, have been left out in the cold.” Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Celebrates While America Capitulates.
+ “Initial details suggest that the agreement does nothing to curb Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, or its funding of regional proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, who have attacked Israel with their own arsenals. It could help Iran bolster those proxies by easing sanctions, which would allow billions of dollars to flow into its bank accounts. The deal’s terms when it comes to constraining Iran’s nuclear program — of greatest importance to Israel, and the greatest priority of Mr. Netanyahu’s career — remain undisclosed or still to be negotiated … Worse still for Mr. Netanyahu, who faces re-election in a few months and is behind in the polls, President Trump, the Israeli leader’s most valuable political asset, has publicly rebuked him multiple times in recent weeks.” NYT (Gift Article): Israel Counts the Ways That Netanyahu’s Iran Strategy Failed.
+ “Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz. They are going along the Southern ‘Highway,’ which is totally safe, secure, and pristine. There are other areas of travel, also!!!” So said Trump about the re-opening of the Strait, officially happening on Friday. Historians will note that the Strait was open before the war. Here’s the latest from The Guardian.
While the world celebrated the beautiful game, Americans were left to suffer an ugly spectacle at the White House. Monica Hesse in WaPo (Gift Article): The White House UFC fights showed us the America we needed to see. “MMA is a deeply violent sport, and always has been. We are a deeply violent country, and always have been. But there’s artistry to the MMA fight, and discipline, a body pushing itself to limits that are simultaneously sickening and exhilarating.
But the Ultimate Fighting Championship event that happened on Sunday night was not a celebration of a sport, it was a celebration of slop. It was a pseudo-patriotic grift that tried to convince us that fighters wheel-kicking each other for the chance of $1 million in crypto deserved the same level of hero admiration as the boys who launched onto the beach at Normandy; it was an infomercial that paused every seven seconds to advertise Starlink internet or Starry soda or Ram trucks or flavors of Monster energy drink that God forgot.” (The spectacle was made even less impressive when Josh Hokit ended his post-fight speech at the White House UFC event by yelling, “Michelle Obama is a man!” Michelle Obama is not a man, and Josh Hokit proved himself to be a sad excuse for one.)
+ “All of this was pure, distilled Trump. No previous American leader could plausibly have presided over the scene of a tattooed Brazilian fighter in a black cowboy hat and Lycra shorts running out of the White House, saluted by honor guards, with the intent of pulverizing another human being. He had built an Octagon on the lawn in part, surely, to troll his opponents, as he so often does, but what I saw in the fighting itself—in fight after fight after fight, seven in all—was an affirmative expression of Trump’s favorite kind of storyline: dominance and submission. This was not just a political stunt, but the best way he could imagine spending his 80th birthday.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Theory That Explains Trump’s UFC Fight. (The event also makes it look like Trump is leading a populist revolt when he’s really leading a billionaire boom. That will go down as the biggest gut punch of the night.)
+ And coming soon… Trump announces July Fourth ‘TRUMP RALLY’ on National Mall. (Might as well rename it the National Maul at this point.)
“A technology — known as plug-in, balcony or garden solar — is already enormously popular in Germany, in part because you can buy a kit for less than $600 at IKEA. It’s a small solar panel system, often producing up to 1,200 watts of electricity, or a little more than a refrigerator consumes, that you can affix to a wall, hang on a railing or prop up in a garden — and then plug directly into a wall socket. With the help of a small device called a micro inverter, it pumps electricity into your household circuits to offset your power demand. At least 30 states have passed legislation to legalize these plug-in solar kits or are considering similar bills.” Robinson Meyer in the NYT (Gift Article): The Tiny Solar Panel That Could Change America.
“So this is how it feels. It is giggling, weeping, spinning, convulsing, mosh-pitting, truck-honking, law-skirting, trumpet-playing, cowbell-ringing, off-key-singing, cigar-lighting, all-night-ing — remembering to remember it all, as if Knicks fans would ever forget. It is hugging strangers so hard they go airborne, fist-bumping cabbies as they crawl through concrete delirium, high-fiving kids on shoulders (and adults on shoulders), climbing stoplights and trees and scaffolding to wave the team flag higher, swiping utility cones and wearing them as hats because they are orange.” Knicks Give Their City Something New: Impossible Joy. (During their playoff run, the Knicks went 15 and Trump.)
+ The Knicks’ long-awaited championship was hardly the only big sports story over a jam-packed weekend. The Carolina Hurricanes took home the Stanley Cup, and at least for one night, the USMNT looked like the team fans always hoped it could be. And there was much more. Here’s a good overview of a fun weekend in sporting events, during which no one desecrated the White House or verbally attacked Michelle Obama.
British Evasion: “Starmer told a news conference that he will fight back if technology companies resist the move, and acknowledged some teens would try to find their way around a ban. But he said he is ‘not prepared to compromise on the safety and happiness of our children.'” Britain will ban under-16s from social media apps, including TikTok and YouTube.
+ California Reaming: “The California governor said in a video statement that federal agents had knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees in recent days as part of an effort to find a crime, demanding records and ‘abusing the grand jury process.'” Gavin Newsom says Trump directed DoJ to investigate him and his wife.
+ DOJ (Pronounced, Doge): “DOJ officials determined the transaction did not pose a threat to competition and declined to challenge it, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. The department approved the merger without requiring any divestitures, behavioral remedies or concessions.” In entirely unsurprising news, the Justice Department approves Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Let’s see what the states have to say.
+ We Will, We Will, Roku: “The deal—Fox’s largest to date—brings together a media company known for its live news and sports programming with the biggest provider of streaming platforms for connected TVs.” Fox to Buy Roku Streaming Service in $25 Billion Deal. (Both stocks are down on the deal announcement.)
+ Tren Crash: “Tren de Aragua has been labeled a terrorist organization by the US. Guerrero Flores was charged in a New York federal court with racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, including lending support to terrorists in crimes that stretched more than a decade.” Trump says leader of Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang killed in US strike.
+ Back (Rent) From the Dead: “The casting call seemed simple enough: An unnamed nonprofit was offering $75 in cash to people who could spend a couple of hours acting as zombies in a ‘mock demonstration.’ The scenes would be part of an instructional video, and actors were asked to wear tattered clothing and to be ready to have their faces painted. But when the group of 40 or so participants arrived at the filming site in Downtown Brooklyn on Thursday evening, things started to take a turn.” The Casting Call Was for Zombies. The Job Was Actually a Landlord Rally.
+ One Track Mind: “Imagine it’s the 1980s or early ’90s, and there’s a queue for the pay phone in a college dorm hallway. Students line up, waiting their turn for the once-a-week, brief check-in with a parent. That was the norm.” The norm has changed. NPR: Most parents track their 18- to 25-year-old kids on their smartphones. Is it healthy? Is anything on your phone healthy? Location tracking apps are just as addictive as everything else on your phone. And yes, kids, your mother and I are watching (but only because we want to be sure you’re going out and having fun.)
“Police in Peru took a novel approach to clamping down on drug trafficking Wednesday as they conducted a raid in Lima disguised as the 2026 World Cup mascots.” Depending on the drugs involved, this could have made for the trip of a lifetime. Peruvian police disguise themselves as World Cup mascots for drug raid.
+ “Recently, dates have surged in popularity as consumers increasingly turn away from processed snacks in favor of cleaner, more natural options. Last year, U.S. sales of the fruit rose 33 percent.” (This just proves the old adage: If you have a good business plan and you stick with it for 8 or 9 thousand years, it just might work.)
2026-06-12 20:00:00
That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for the Manosphere. One day you’re heiling at a post-inauguration celebration, cutting aid to starving children, supporting racist far right politics, amplifying hateful and violent messages, and allowing deep fake nudes to spread on your social network, and the next day you’re the world’s first trillionaire, proving, yet again, that it’s never been a better time to be bad. This is like the Make-A-Wish era for evil Bond villains. Of course, it helps if they’re talented, business savvy, market makers, politically astute, future-focused, and in the AI industry. And thus, this message just in from Ground Control to Major Elon: Rocket Man just became Deep Pocket Man. “SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket and artificial intelligence company, blasted through records as it began trading on the stock market on Friday, making the world’s richest man its first trillionaire and signaling a new era of ultra-affluence and widening wealth inequality. The stock opened at $150 per share, more than the price finalized in its initial public offering Thursday at $135 a share. It rose to $165 in the first 30 minutes of trading.” NYT (Gift Article): Live Updates: Elon Musk Becomes World’s First Trillionaire as SpaceX Starts Trading. “Musk was worth around $350 billion in November 2024 shortly after he helped elect Donald J. Trump as president. His net worth has more than tripled in less than two years.” At this point, the only thing that had a faster exit velocity than a SpaceX rocket is the puke that just hit my laptop screen.
+ “The streets of black-and-white houses are blocked off by electronic access gates that encircle the city like a medieval moat. I watched a man who made the mistake of wandering inside the minimart get escorted out by armed guards in tactical gear. In this town, almost every communal space is private property. A company controlled by the world’s richest man owns nearly all of it. He shapes its future.” Amy Gamerman in the NYT (Gift Article) on Starbase, Texas, the city that Elon Musk built on America’s ragged hem at the southern border. Elon Musk Is Colonizing Earth. “Locals describe a highly secretive environment overseen by a company-affiliated city commission that rubber-stamps Mr. Musk’s vision, a place where even kindergartners are guided by his philosophies. Starbase is the newest manifestation of Mr. Musk’s political power. It is a beta test for a rising oligarchy that seems intent on transforming America from the inside out.” (In retrospect, ET got out just in time…)
+ Reuters: SpaceX demolishes IPO records. Of course, we’ve got some big competition on the IPO horizon. And some investors have stakes in all of them. WSJ (Gift Article): See the VCs and Family Offices at the Core of the Mega IPO Wave.
+ With those kinds of returns, these folks might even be able to afford the new VIP membership package at Erewhon.
The memorandum of understanding that provides the framework for a peace deal appears to be really happening this time. “Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that a final, agreed text of a peace deal between the United States and Iran had been reached. Islamabad is working with both sides to finalise next steps.” Here’s the latest from The Guardian and CNN.
“The specific incidents themselves are local, and related to a national issue, or even something to do with the city or the region that they take place in. What’s changed over the last five to ten years is that the international dimension has become much more significant. Particularly when there is video footage, an event in one country will be taken up by international far-right influencers and networks. And then that feeds far-right narratives and ideas in other countries, but also feeds back into the country where the narrative originated.” The New Yorker: How the Dangerous Rise in Anti-Immigration Politics Went Mainstream. (Today’s top story provides one clue.)
What to Eggers: Leave it to Dave Eggers to write an excellent and perfectly timed novel. His latest, Contrapposto, about art and artists, hits with particular force at this moment when we’re willingly handing our creativity over to machines. You can’t beat a human when it comes to art and storytelling, and that’s particularly true of this writer and this novel, which Andrew Sean Greer calls “a book of profundity, humanity, and ravishing beauty.” While you’re waiting for your copy to arrive, check out this interview with Dave on NPR’s Wild Card. Through 826 Valencia and other orgs, Dave has been working with young writers for decades. He has a message: “This is the first time in history when a whole generation is being told or tempted to have a machine write for them. You are one of one, unprecedented in the history of human evolution. There’s only one of you. So to give your voice to a machine to say speak for me, I’m going to be silent, is such a crime against yourself. It’s so dystopian, beyond anything I could do in a dystopian novel, and I did a lot.”
+ What to Watch: Alice and Steve on Hulu is a really fun and funny show in which Alice is devastated when her best friend Steve starts dating her 26-year-old daughter Izzy. The show stars Nicola Walker, Jemaine Clement, and Yali Topol Margalith. (Some trivia: Margalith is the granddaughter of Topol from Fiddler on the Roof, so she’s following in the family Tradition!)
+ What to Book: Few writers trace the way humans communicate and share information as well as Alex Wright. In his latest book, Empire of Ink: The Printers, Rogues, and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper, Alex “traces the evolution of the American news trade from the Revolutionary War to the dawn of the twentieth century, in search of the messy origins of modern media … As the American newspaper trade mushroomed from a tiny handful of publications in the mid-1700s to more than 20,000 by 1900, it evolved into a noisy, chaotic media ecosystem that often feels surprisingly familiar.” (One thing that kept coming to my mind. So many of our advances in tech and media have been about communicating with one another, while our latest advance (AI) seems more likely to isolate us from one another while we interact with a machine.)
+ What to Wear: Right now, you can score a NextDraft T-Shirt for only 13 bucks using the code LUCKY13 at checkout.
The Will to Be Ill: “When Dawid Zyla started studying measles in 2020 at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in San Diego, his colleagues sometimes questioned why he would devote his career to a virus of the past.” Sadly, it turned out that Zyla was ahead of his time. NYT (Gift Article): With Measles Roaring Back, the Search for a Treatment Is On.
+ Murder, She Boat: “In questioning Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a Foreign Relations Committee hearing, they revealed that the targeting decisions about which boats would be attacked did not take into account whether they had drugs or arms aboard. In other words, the military may have attacked—and may attack in the future—a boat that carries neither drugs nor weapons, yet somehow, according to the Trump administration, constitutes a military threat to national security.” No Guns, No Drugs—Why Did We Blow Up These Boats?
+ Going Postal on Voting: “The U.S. Postal Service has proposed a new rule that would allow it to refuse to deliver mail ballots in states that don’t turn over voter rolls to the federal government. The rule, proposed last week, is vaguely written but appears to establish broad authority for the agency to intervene in the mail voting process.” NYT (Gift Article): Postal Service Seeks to Block Mail Ballots in States Resisting Trump Demands.
+ Data Center Venter: In The Atlantic (Gift Article), Elias Wachtel argues that The Data Center Panic Is Overblown. And in a very deep dive, Andy Masley details why, in some ways, the AI water issue is fake. You can certainly find counter-narratives. But I think it’s worth noting that people wouldn’t be as universally against data centers if they felt better about AI in general.
+ Talent Pool: “He made his name as a pop artist during the swinging 60s and was perhaps best known for his paintings of swimming pools that helped define the Los Angeles aesthetic.” David Hockney, revolutionary British artist famed for his pools and portraits, dies aged 88.
“The crowd was starting to realize that something was amiss when the interval went on for longer than they expected and Justin Hurwitz, the Academy Award-winning composer of the film’s score, came onstage. ‘Is anybody like an amazing sight reader?’ Mr. Hurwitz asked the crowd, adding that one of the musicians had fallen ill and had to go home. For the show to go on, he needed someone to step in on the keyboard.” Out of the Audience, Into the Orchestra: Aspiring Musician Saves the Show.
+ “Solar power crossed an important threshold in May, as a rapidly expanding fleet of photovoltaic projects supplied more US electricity than coal for the first time on record.”
+ A solar-powered rubbish-eating boat? The vessel chomping plastic waste out of the sea.
+ MacKenzie Scott just keeps giving. So does Melinda French Gates.
+ “Most kids running a lemonade stand worry about hailing down customers, whether they have enough ice and if the lemonade tastes sweet enough. But Parez and Jakkhi Reese encountered a different problem after someone called 911 on them.” Here’s what happened when law enforcement showed up.
+ Mariska Hargitay Sprinted From Her Broadway Show to the Knicks Game: “I Love My Husband … but It Might Have Been the Greatest Night of My Life.” The Hargitay and Jalen Brunson friendship story is all the feel good you need.
+ Great new San Francisco video featuring the narration of Peter Coyote (who narrated a book you may have heard of). Comeback City.
2026-06-11 20:00:00
Most of the employment stories related to the AI-fueled tech boom are about the potential job losses. But the extreme wealth and social media-inflamed rage of the era has led to at least one area of significant job growth: Bodyguards. “Bodyguarding is at least as old as Alexander the Great’s somatophylakes, or ‘body guardians,’ and the Praetorian Guard, which emerged to protect Roman rulers as the Republic gave way to imperial rule around 27 BCE. During that time, as now, the erosion of democratic norms and free discourse helped create a market to keep the powerful alive … Today, there are additional potential accelerants: a scummy soup of social media; unchecked inequality; and unrestrained bombast at every level of government and society, algorithmically optimized to reward the most controversial voices.” Grayson Schaffer in GQ: Meet the Bodyguards Signing Up to Protect America’s Frightened Billionaires. (Alt link.)
+ The violent speech online often bleeds into real life. So does the vigilantism. The merging of our on- and offline worlds is in full (and fully disturbing) view in this NYT (Gift Article) story about livestreaming vigilantes who ambushed an innocent man. They Tried to Catch a Predator. They Trapped Themselves Instead. “Akash had been ensnared by a business venture that traffics in public humiliation as entertainment. That he was innocent of what he was accused of only served to draw a bigger crowd.” The most vile aspects of social media sort of ruined the internet. Are they coming for real life next?
Donald Trump has publicly claimed that an Iran peace deal was right around the corner at least 38 times. It must be a pretty big corner as the ceasefire has been replaced by fighting and threats of more to come. “The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT. At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Here’s the latest from The Guardian, NBC, and NYT.
+ “It was a dramatic moment. President Trump seemed to be disclosing, on live television, a clandestine mission that involved spiriting away millions of barrels of oil, right under Iran’s nose. In Mr. Trump’s telling, the mission was so secretive that the Iranians were learning about it only at that very moment.” NYT (Gift Article): Trump’s ‘Secret Mission’ to Ferry Oil Past Iran Was Widely Disclosed. “While the operation was surreptitious enough — the U.S.-guided vessels have been turning off their transponders to avoid detection when crossing the narrow waterway — it could hardly have been news to Iran. Late last month, The New York Times published an article about the effort, reporting that U.S. Central Command had shepherded around 70 commercial ships through the strait.”
On the eve of what could be the crowning of the world’s first trillionaire, the WSJ (Gift Article) tries to put that number into perspective. “1 trillion pennies? That’s a flight to the moon. And back. Twice.” You Have No Idea What a Trillion Dollars Is—and We Have Proof. “Not long ago, the word trillionaire only appeared in The Wall Street Journal as hyperbole. It was an obviously exaggerated way of describing an inconceivable fortune—like calling someone a bazillionaire. But now that SpaceX is going public, it might just be something we call Elon Musk.”
+ SpaceX’s IPO is expected to make more than 4,000 employees millionaires.
+ Meanwhile… “The condemnation over anti-immigrant riots in Northern Ireland was being matched by another growing outrage in Britain on Thursday: that the world’s richest person was inciting the violence.” He’s definitely the richest. He may also be the most dangerous.
+ Yesterday, I led with an overview of what’s happening in Northern Ireland. Belfast and the Furious.
For the Knicks, a historic NBA finals game comeback culminated with a final seconds tip looked like a long-awaited championship tipping point. For the Spurs, it was the tip of the iceberg on a loss as brutal as the Knicks’ win was glorious. NBA Finals Game 4: Anatomy of Knicks’ comeback, Spurs’ collapse. (This just goes to show that there’s nothing like a June night in New York when Trump’s not there.)
+ “As far as we know, Ogugua Anunoby Jr.—better known as OG—does not, in fact, possess divine hands, but they are considerable, measuring 9.5 inches across and 9.25 inches in length. And they are, it seems, capable of divine acts so profound that they can alter history, confer NBA immortality, and bring momentary rapture to a city starved for basketball glory.” The Right Hand of God Game.
+ A Wu-Tang prayer, OG Anunoby, Jose Alvarado and the greatest comeback in NBA history.
+ For SF Giants fans, the Knicks game wasn’t even the greatest comeback of the day. Before their latest game, MLB teams were a combined 1-3,090 when trailing by 8 or more runs after 7 innings over the last 20 seasons. They’re now 2-3,090. And it ended with a walk-off grand slam by a rookie who went from promising to legendary with one swing. (Is this a big, national story of cultural significance like the Knicks-Spurs NBA finals thriller? No, but I’m the editor of the internet and I need to share an occasional story that doesn’t make me feel like throwing up. So, thank you for your attention to this matter.)
FIFA and the Fiefdom: “Paying rent to the Trumps was the choice of Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, who has made being close to Mr. Trump a top priority. He has lavished the president with praise, trophies and a medal. He has made pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago, the Trump National Doral golf club and even the ‘Melania’ documentary premiere. Mr. Infantino has publicly boosted the president through impeachments and plummeting poll numbers. It was all in service, Mr. Infantino’s supporters say, of ensuring that the World Cup, which begins this week, goes off without a hitch.” A Yearslong Effort to Woo Trump Culminates With the World Cup. Yes, we knew the mix of FIFA and Trump would make for a toxic corruption stew. But now it’s time to move past the ugly business and get on with the beautiful game.
+ A Sad Truth About Ally: Worried about something embarrassing or offensive happening during the World Cup that could sour the views our allies have of America? Well, maybe this will ease your mind. Only 11% of Europeans view US as an ally.
+ Little Boy Meets World: “A long-anticipated and dramatic global climate shift has arrived, federal forecasters said June 11 as they confirmed the start of El Niño conditions. The announcement also adds to mounting evidence suggesting this El Niño will be unusually strong, potentially supercharging droughts, heavy rainfall events and heat waves.” Forecasters expect a global weather powerhouse.
+ Slush Bucket Unkicked: “Behind the scenes, Justice Department and other Trump-administration officials have quietly assured allies that plans for some form of payout remain on track. I spoke with eight people familiar with the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund—including current and former Justice Department officials, current and former members of Congress, a defense attorney, and political operatives close to the administration. All said that Justice Department officials and people close to the White House have indicated that the payout idea has not actually been scrapped.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Isn’t Giving Up on His Slush Fund.
+ The Other AI Investment: “Some of the most powerful players in A.I. — led by some of my friends and former partners, to my great sadness — have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to forestall a more serious and meaningful debate about how A.I. should be governed. They have helped create political action committees to help defeat candidates who want strict regulations on A.I. and to promote those who can be counted on to stay out of their way. I believe this is a huge mistake.” We Can’t Let My Former V.C. Colleagues Buy Off Our Democracy.
+ Balloon Animals: “You might not think much about wind. Storms, sure, but you may not ponder the forces behind the soft, warm breezes that bend the switchgrass or the stiff, cold northers that sting the cheeks. You haven’t studied the physics of gases that yearn for stabilization and rush from high- to low-pressure areas. You don’t analyze the various wind currents flowing in different directions at different altitudes, moving like the traffic on some Dallas interchange in the sky. And why would you? You’re not a competitive hot-air balloonist.” Texas Monthly: The Rise and Rise of Balloon Racing’s First Family. (I’m a member of the first family of DoorDash.)
“Although this observation had nothing to do with his original research, it piqued his curiosity. ‘This was the first signal that something weird was happening.'” Nearly Everyone, Everywhere, Veers Left When Walking.
+ “A New York City pastry chef swirls vanilla-bean ice cream into a waffle cone, then dips the creamy soft serve into a vat of golden liquid to form a crispy shell. It’s not chocolate or butterscotch or peanut butter that’s coating this frozen dessert; it’s a thin, hardened layer of savory French butter, sprinkled with sea salt. And diners, no longer so fat-fearing these days, are eating it up.” Ice Cream Not Decadent Enough for You? Dip It in Butter. (Or just hook up a softserve machine to one of your ventricles.)
2026-06-10 20:00:00
President Trump just signed a bill into law that “gives his immigration and deportation agenda a nearly $70 billion boost for the rest of his time in the White House … His signature ended a nearly six-month fight over Department of Homeland Security funding that began with the shooting deaths of deaths of two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good.” Keeping outsiders out is a subject that is hardly limited to the White House, or even the United States. In Northern Ireland, the issue spilled out onto the streets after the violent stabbing of a man by a Sudanese asylum seeker went viral on social media. The “footage was posted by Tommy Robinson and other far-right figures, prompting demands for protests in response … X owner Elon Musk shared a post from Robinson announcing locations of protests, and another from the far-right Restore Britain party that read: ‘Do not make peace with evil. Destroy it.'” And destruction followed. “Masked men set houses, vehicles and a city bus ablaze in Belfast on Tuesday night, torching neighborhoods across the city … Ignoring pleas for calm from politicians and clergy, rioters rampaged through heavily immigrant neighborhoods in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, in some cases going door-to-door and causing some families to flee under police protection.
Men in balaclavas and hoods shouted ‘foreigners out.'” WaPo (Gift Article): A new wave of anti-immigrant violence hits U.K. as riots convulse Belfast.
+ Northern Ireland is hardly a hotbed of immigration. It “is the least ethnically diverse part of the United Kingdom, with just about 3.4 percent of residents from minority ethnic backgrounds.” That hasn’t stopped it from being swept up in this globalized version of the Troubles. “In some communities people feel left behind, struggling against a lack of jobs and opportunity. That helped create the conditions for anti-immigrant and far-right sentiment to grow and be picked up by fringe groups. ‘People being burned out of their homes is not new to Belfast,’ said Carl Whyte, a local councilor who grew up in the north part of the city, alluding to the sectarian conflict known as the Troubles. ‘And last night, we saw that being used toward immigrant families.'” NYT (Gift Article): Police Step Up Security in Northern Ireland After Night of Violence.
+ “On a residential street draped in loyalist flags near Belfast’s Shankill Road, the masked men approached a house with a boarded-up window and a security camera stationed outside. As a woman from an ethnic minority background looked down from an upstairs window, some of the men rushed the front door and broke it down. With the air thick with smoke from fireworks, they attacked the downstairs windows with bricks. As they stormed the property, some claimed to be ‘liberating’ it. Graffiti nearby demanded ‘local homes for local people.’ A woman in the crowd said to her friend: ‘There’s wee girls inside.'”
+ The family of Stephen Ogilvy, the victim who was seriously injured in the original crime, issued a statement: “We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward. We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our healthcare system and hospitality sector and we depend on them to make our country work … [We don’t want this] terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.” I wonder if Elon Musk will amplify that message as well. Here’s the latest from BBC and BelfastLive.
“Fifteen years ago, the world’s billionaires collectively had $4.5 trillion. By 2024, their wealth had more than tripled to $14.2 trillion. Now, their combined wealth totals $20.1 trillion — an amount that is equivalent to nearly a fifth of the entire world’s total yearly output.” NYT (Gift Article): Billionaires’ Billions Are Increasing Faster Than Ever. “The stunning figures — calculated by the French economist Gabriel Zucman, director of the International Tax Observatory, a research organization funded by the European Union — reveal more than a surprisingly rapid increase in the concentration of wealth at the tippy top. They also reflect a series of important global trends: the growing dominance of a few technology companies leading artificial intelligence development; the shrinking slice of the economic pie that goes to workers; and a deepening inequality that will be handed down to the next generation.”
The World Cup always has its share of controversies and negativities before the games actually begin. But this year, the ticket prices, hotel vacancies, and general unwelcoming vibes in one of the host countries make things seem even less pitch-perfect than usual. Will, as is often the case, the actual matches achieve the goal of kicking the bad vibes to the curb? The Ringer: The 2026 World Cup Is an Experiment Like No Other.
“Throughout his life, Mr. Basinger (pronounced BAY-singer) devoted himself to pursuits that some would have dismissed as fanciful. As a young man, he walked from New York to San Francisco. He moved to Kenya on a whim, becoming fluent in Swahili after spending five years teaching at a rural school for boys. Perhaps most improbably, he became a musician for the National Theater of the Deaf. He was not deaf, but he mastered sign language and spent decades performing with, writing for and helping run the troupe.” And then he decided to try something else. NYT (Gift Article): John Basinger, Who Memorized All 12 Books of ‘Paradise Lost,’ Dies at 92.
Throw the Book At Em: “On July 17, 2025, at around 6 o’clock in the evening, President Trump’s top officials filed into the White House Situation Room — the secure bunker where classified and high-stakes national security matters are discussed and decided. This was where President Barack Obama, along with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the president’s national security team, watched the raid that ended with the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011. Now, however, Trump’s most senior advisers had gathered — without him — to figure out how to gain some measure of control over a very different kind of crisis threatening to engulf the presidency: the Epstein files.” Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan with an outtake of an upcoming book: Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files. (As per usual, this craziness makes for good book fodder, but no one is likely to be held accountable.)
+ Inflation and Other Blow Ups: Inflation Heated Up to 4.2% in May, as Energy Costs Continued to Bite. And the key driver of that inflation is heating up as well. Trump: “We’ll see what happens. But we hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them again hard today … We were we were really close to a deal. But they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers.” Here’s the latest from The Guardian and NBC.
+ Screen Passes: “The ingredient, bemotrizinol, works by blocking ultraviolet radiation. It filters out two kinds of ultraviolet rays: ultraviolet A, which contributes to wrinkles and skin aging, and ultraviolet B, which causes sunburns.” NYT: F.D.A. Clears Sunscreen Ingredient Long Used in Europe and Asia. In other sun news: Solar Passes Coal in Historic Shift for US Electricity Mix.
+ S.E.O. Brother, Where Are Thou? “According to Shopify, the best e-commerce platform is Shopify … If rankings produced by the very company at the top of the list seem unlikely to fool anyone, that’s because humans probably aren’t the target audience. Chatbots are.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Your Search Results Are Getting Sloptimized.
+ Prediction Market: “A Chinese company has been trying to develop artificial intelligence-powered technology that would enable authoritarian governments to not just monitor dissidents but also potentially predict who could become one in the future. The work, which appears to be in the research stage, is ripped out of dystopian science fiction, offering a glimpse of a world in which an authoritarian state is able to move against its citizens before they begin any public dissent.” China Aims A.I. at Predicting Who Could Pose a Political Risk.
+ A Whole New Ballgame: On second thought, maybe there should be crying in baseball… “Around the league, more and more often, catchers need a minute. It’s become routine to see the umpire call time as the catcher lies in agony, doubled over after yet another foul ball or spiked pitch caroms into a sensitive area.” The Athletic (Gift Article): Ball strike system: Why MLB catchers are getting hit in the groin more often. (In the case of the Giants this season, it feels like the same thing is happening to the fans.)
“Describing an elaborate ruse that ‘read like a movie script,’ Canadian authorities accused a longtime Air Canada pilot of fraud on Tuesday, saying he had flown many hundreds of hours over 17 years despite not having the proper credential to sit in the captain’s seat.”
+ Not all jobs are being taken over by AI. You can still apply to be the Head of Stonehenge.
2026-06-09 20:00:00
The beer-loving character Norm on Cheers, known for his famous barroom scene entry lines, once offered this gem: “It’s a dog-eat-dog world and I’m wearing Milk Bone underwear.” And that glass half-empty view on life was offered before the latest report on alcohol consumption. Long story short: BevMo? More like, BevLess. NYT (Gift Article): Health Risks of Alcohol Accelerate After One Drink a Day, Study Finds. “At one drink a day, the researchers found, there was an increased risk of premature death from an illness or injury directly attributable to alcohol, though it was small — one in 1,000 people. But the risk of premature death jumped to one in 25 for those who had two drinks a day, a level long considered safe for men, according to the study, which was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.” Sadly, this study is coming out in 2026, an American year when even the driest of teetotalers are lining up for a turn at the keg stand. These days, you have to pregame before reading the news. For those who find the drinking news hard to swallow, there is a competing study. “It suggested that moderate drinking (up to two drinks a day for men and one for women) was healthier than not drinking at all … Some of the panelists behind that report had financial ties to the alcohol industry.” What was the title of the study? The Next Round’s on Us?
+ Guess which report is being adopted by the administration? “A study commissioned by President Joe Biden’s administration to investigate alcohol-related health harms was released independently on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump’s administration decided not to feature the researchers’ findings in new dietary guidelines as it faced pushback from the alcohol industry and a congressional committee.” Is it any wonder that reading these stories, as much as anything else, is what led to my drinking problem?
Drones are just being used to fight wars. They’re now being used to carry out rescue missions. “The unmanned surface vessel, a Saronic Corsair, located the crew, who had spent two hours in the waters off the coast of Oman and brought them to shore, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesman for U.S. Central Command.” Drone boat rescues crew of downed US Apache helicopter near Hormuz.
+ “In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said he had been informed ‘that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz.’ While the pilots were uninjured, ‘the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.'” This comes just days after Trump said Israel must not respond to a series of Iranian missile attacks. The only thing consistent about Trump’s war pronouncements has been the claim that a peace deal is right around the corner. “Including the period before the ceasefire, he’s done it at least 38 times. That’s the number of times he’s said directly — in social media posts, public appearances and phone calls with the media — that a deal was nigh or claimed Iran was desperate to cut one.” Here’s the latest from The Guardian.
+ Conflicts are on the rise globally, at the highest level since WWII.
“As bad as this situation is, we have a playbook for addressing such crises. But it requires a huge team effort — and this time, the United States has undermined its ability to help by shuttering U.S.A.I.D., cutting staff at C.D.C. and withdrawing from the W.H.O. Thousands of people could pay the ultimate price for that recklessness.” Jeremy Konyndyk in the NYT (Gift Article): This Could Be the Worst Ebola Outbreak in History.
+ In a parallel universe, you might think that Elon Musk being a key architect and enabler of these terrible cuts would mean some more ethical investors would be rooting against the SpaceX IPO that will likely make him the first trillionaire. But in this universe, just about everyone is in on the deal. WSJ (Gift Article): University Endowments Are About to Strike It Big on the SpaceX IPO. Forget USAID, Nazi salutes, and wanton racism. With the money at stake, universities don’t even care that Elon doesn’t like universities.
The Knicks had won 13 straight playoff games. Trump showed up at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks lost. Call it the Curse of the Babyno. Trump couldn’t have had much fun at the game. And I’m not just saying that because the Knicks lost and Trump, always the norm breaker, fell asleep in the city that never sleeps. President Trump roundly booed by New York crowd at NBA Finals Game 3. Trump spent much of his life trying to be loved in his hometown. He couldn’t make it there. Donald Trump Got Absolutely Destroyed By Boos At The Knicks Game. (Of course, even in getting booed, Trump was still the biggest story in the biggest show in the biggest town, and that’s how he likes it.) We won’t know until the finals are over, but maybe Trump didn’t curse the Knicks. He just cursed the world and the Knicks are part of the world.
Reality Bytes: “It took Farid just a few minutes to confirm the video had been made using artificial intelligence. ‘Looking at videos like this is sort of my life,’ he said. ‘Some mornings I’m watching videos of people getting their heads chopped off before I’ve even rubbed the sleep from my eyes.'” When reality is in doubt, news editors ask this Berkeley professor: Is it AI? (But there’s only one of him and AI is getting better every day…)
+ Crypto Apocalypto: “A Reuters examination shows that the Trump family has used this [crypto] template to generate at least $2.3 billion in profit from investors since Trump retook the presidency. On the other side of that cash bonanza for America’s first family: the more than a million investors whose net losses totaled $2.3 billion at the end of April.” Under the Trump crypto playbook, the family always wins. Investors don’t. (I’m still looking for something positive about crypto…)
+ Getting Dark in Cuba: “US President Donald Trump’s push to force change in Cuba by cutting off almost all fuel shipments to the government is depriving the nation of 10 million people of access to water, food and healthcare, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Monday in a statement.” Bloomberg (Gift Article): UN Says Children Are Dying in Cuba Because of Strict US Sanctions.
+ Welcome Splat: “Omar Artan, from Somalia, was set to be the first official from his country to officiate at the World Cup but was turned back in Miami after flying in from Turkey. He has said that he was interrogated for 11 hours, then held in a cell before being sent back to Turkey. FIFA has said it has no power or influence over immigration issues.” Omar Artan held in cell before US border force shattered World Cup dream. (Feel safer?)
+ Pratt Fall: ” He wrote a memoir called ‘The Guy You Loved to Hate.’ He’s dabbled in rap, releasing a song called ‘I’m a Celebrity.’ He started a company selling crystals claimed to have healing properties. But Spencer Pratt was not able to pull off his latest venture — an improbable bid to become mayor of Los Angeles.” The rise and fall of ‘The Hills’ star Spencer Pratt’s improbable campaign for Los Angeles mayor. (It’s still disturbing how well he did.)
+ QBet: “The reaction around college sports was nearly unanimous, with the idea of Brendan Sorsby playing in 2026 after admitting to thousands of bets on sports — including 40 on his own team — representing the latest crossroads for an industry that has faced a dizzying number of them in recent years.” Coaches, ADs ‘disgusted,’ ‘stunned’ with Brendan Sorsby ruling. Should anything about betting and college sports still be able to stun us at this point?
“Attorneys for Nick Reiner, 32, filed a lengthy petition in a Los Angeles court Monday seeking access to his trust, which he was supposed to begin receiving two years ago. The petition says that their client has been denied access despite ‘unambiguous instructions’ left by his parents on how to disburse the funds in the trust that was established in 1993.” Even by today’s standards, this is a shocking headline: Nick Reiner seeks access to the trust fund his parents left to pay for his defense in their killings.