2026-07-22 20:00:00
While you’re worrying about what happens if AI takes all the jobs and dominates humanity, here’s another possibility to consider. What happens if it doesn’t? Or what happens if it does, but the rise to dominance (or at least profitability) takes longer than expected? We’ve pushed all our computer chips onto the table. Economically, we’re all in. In fact, unlike a poker game where being all in means betting all the money you have left, we did that, and then kept borrowing more and more chips. It’s arguable that we’ve never been this pot committed on any economic bet in history. What if it all goes to pot? Annie Lowrey in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The AI Bubble Is No Ordinary Bubble. “The American stock market is booming, thanks to artificial intelligence. Tech giants are borrowing billions to acquire AI talent, purchase chips and hardware, and construct data centers. And market watchers are starting to get worried. They see financiers bulldozing giant piles of money to private AI start-ups with no realistic path to profitability, tech companies reliant on other tech companies for revenue growth, and non-tech businesses without a lot to show for their AI investments. The value of AI-linked firms has climbed $27 trillion in the past three years—an astonishing amount, equivalent to 36 percent of the value of the entire U.S. stock market today. Although future earnings could justify those valuations, as Dominic Wilson and Vickie Chang of Goldman Sachs argued in a note to clients, the profit expectations require Panglossian optimism.” (That term, referring to excessive optimism, comes from Dr. Pangloss, a character in Voltaire’s Candide, who repeatedly suggests, “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” If Voltaire knew that one day I could get that summary from AI instead of having to read the book, he may have never created the character. And I’m guessing if Dr. Pangloss were brought to life in 2026, he’d last through about 30 seconds of a Trump press conference before scratching his head and saying, “Whoa, actually, things look pretty grim.)
+ Because of the money, land, power, water, and technology required, coupled with the spending power of those who have enjoyed market gains, the AI boom/bubble is touching nearly every part of our economy, from the stock market to Main Street. NYT (Gift Article): Stocks and the Economy Are Increasingly Relying on the A.I. Boom. The “spending and investment have helped carry the U.S. economy through a tumultuous period of inflation, tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty. But it also creates a vulnerability: If investor confidence in A.I. falters, the economic activity built atop it could come crashing down. Bank of America’s monthly global fund-manager survey for July reported a bursting of the A.I. bubble as the key risk to financial markets. It’s also now the key risk to the economy.”
+ White House to Redirect Billions in Research Funds Toward AI, Away From Colleges.
+ Meanwhile, OpenAI Says Its A.I. Models Went Rogue and Attacked a Digital Library. (Phew, I was worried it might have attacked my portfolio…)
“France banned children under 15 from using social media on Tuesday, becoming the first country in the European Union to pass a blanket ban on the platforms as concerns grow worldwide over the harmful effects of digital content on kids.” The timing of these bans is interesting, given that we are moving quickly from the social media age to the AI chatbot age (with many of the same big tech companies in charge). A few years from now, people might be nostalgic for the times when their kids were addicted to social media.
At the very moment we’re fighting a war to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, Trump is doing a nuclear deal in the region. “A key provision of the new accord would have U.S. companies build a uranium-enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia if a joint U.S.-Saudi study determines such a step would be warranted. That stipulation would give the U.S. influence over the Saudi nuclear program and, Trump administration officials argue, a way to prevent it from being misused for military purposes. Yet the deal, which is expected to be submitted to Congress for review in the coming days, is certain to prove controversial among many lawmakers who oppose the spread of nuclear technology in the volatile Middle East.” WSJ (Gift Article): Trump Approves Landmark Nuclear Deal With Saudi Arabia in Big Win for Kingdom.
“Monday was Sea Day in Japan, a public holiday when many people escape the summer heat by swimming, surfing and lounging at the beach. But not Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Ms. Takaichi spent the holiday weekend rereading policy documents and dealing with a backlog of thousands of emails, according to a social media post on Tuesday. She wrote that she eked out a ‘full five hours of sleep for the first time in ages’ — better than the ‘zero to three hours’ she said she is accustomed to. And she said she spent her limited free time ironing undergarments, sewing fraying skirts and reinforcing loose jacket buttons.” Japan Is Startled by Prime Minister’s Grueling Sleep Schedule. “With her comments, Ms. Takaichi seemed eager to present herself as a down-to-earth leader who doesn’t stop working on behalf of Japan’s citizens. Instead, her post, which has been viewed more than 31 million times, has set off a national debate about work-life balance and the hazards of sleep deprivation.” (For Americans, this makes even less sense. Why doesn’t she just sleep during meetings, press conferences, and sporting events? Everyone knows that people who don’t sleep that much are woke…)
Triple Threat: “Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin are drastically different men, but they do have one important thing in common: Each thinks he is the smartest person in any room he enters. Alas, though, because they have all done the dumbest thing you can do as a leader — surround yourself with sycophants — they have all blundered into dead-end wars from which they can extricate themselves today only by eating a banquet of crow. Watch out. There is nothing more dangerous than a reckless leader faced with a plate of crow: Sometimes his instinct is to double down on a losing strategy instead.” Thomas Friedman: Three World Leaders. Three Incredibly Bad Decisions. Those bad decisions often escalate to targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, something Trump just threatened. “President Trump escalated his rhetoric against Iran on Wednesday, threatening to destroy a bridge or power plant in the country if its forces continued to target ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The threat on Truth Social, which Trump said could extend to targets in or near Tehran, echoed others he has made in recent days. Such attacks could be considered a war crime under international law.” Meanwhile, “at least six vessels reversed course in the Red Sea on Monday and Tuesday after the Iran-backed Houthi militia warned shipping companies to avoid Saudi Arabia’s ports.” Here’s the latest from the NYT.
+ Dipsticks and Stones: “The closing of the chokepoints at Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb and the Black Sea collectively imperils roughly a quarter of the world’s oil supply.” Global Economy Is Suddenly Fighting an Energy Stranglehold on Three Fronts.
+ New, New York State of Mind: Mamdani Calls Netanyahu a ‘War Criminal’ and Calls on U.S. to Arrest Him. (The mayor of America’s most Jewish city calling for the arrest of an Israeli prime minister. A few years ago, this would have qualified as an Onion headline.)
+ MaHachoo: U.S. measles cases hit 35-year record with months left in 2026. (Congrats, everyone!)
+ Trump and the Abstinence Administration: “A few weeks ago, Rena Dixon, the head of Fact Forward, a South Carolina nonprofit that offers adolescent health and sex education classes, got a letter from the Trump administration with crushing news. The government was terminating the organization’s $1.6 million grant from a federal program to reduce teen pregnancies, effective immediately. The administration’s priorities, it said, do not align with ‘content that encourages, normalizes or promotes sexual activity for minors.'” Government Overhauls Teen Pregnancy Program to Focus on Marriage and Starting Families.
+ School Papercuts: “An Instagram post turned one California student newspaper into a free-speech flash point. The students say they were just doing their homework.” A crazy story from Wired and my neck of the woods: A Teen Reporter Searched for His Community in the Epstein Files. Adults Freaked Out.
+ Getting a Kick Out of Soccer: World Cup Final Scores 63 Million Viewers, Smashing All-Time High for Soccer in the U.S. Yes, we’re getting into the beautiful game. But I feel like I still need to get up to speed on some of the traditions. ESPN: World Cup glory sees Fabián Ruiz and Gavi gifted their weight in tomatoes.
+ There’s No I in Comedy: “Second City has run improv workshops for the Chicago Blackhawks, the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball itself. The league’s rookie career development program uses Second City to prepare incoming ballplayers for the demands of the sport. ‘They’re not taking these classes because they want to be the next stars of S.N.L.,’ Kempf said. ‘It’s because they want to apply these skills to their personal and their professional life.'” NYT (Gift Article): What’s Funnier Than Athletes Learning Improv? (For Giants fans? Watching this season’s team try to pitch, hit, and field.)
“Last month, Olivia Rodrigo revealed how acutely she had noticed some of the fans lining the barriers at her shows. ‘People wear diapers so that they can be front row,’ she said, adding, to everyone’s absolute horror: ‘That’s been an experience as a performer that I have smelled.'” Pass the pit diapers! Why are fans wetting themselves (and worse) to stand front row at concerts?
+ Who is Jimothy? Seven things you need to know about the internet’s favourite raccoon.
2026-07-21 20:00:00
A coalition of billionaires is teaming up to fight a proposed wealth tax in California. The idea of a one-time, one-state wealth tax probably isn’t the ideal way to address the exploding economic divide in America. But it says something about the numbers at stake that one opponent alone, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has put $82 million into the effort. Despite the cries of victimization and calls to fix the system from many of the most fortunate Americans, one can make the argument that there’s never been a group of people who have benefited more from the confluence of technologies, markets, and policies than today’s billionaires. That’s one end of the American food chain. At the other end, there’s a struggle for food. In addition to the economic divide, many of the poorest Americans have seen the One Big Beautiful Bill take one big bite out of their SNAP benefits. At the very moment the richest are making historical gains, the poor are experiencing the deepest cuts in SNAP history. The administration’s strategy is to increase the paperwork and bureaucracy between people and food, and in places like Arizona, it seems to be working as intended. “The number of Arizonans getting SNAP benefits has fallen by about half in less than a year, a remarkable drop in nutrition aid that may preview the program’s future nationwide following a landmark law to limit assistance that President Trump championed last year.” NYT (Gift Article): Faced With Piles of New Paperwork, People Are Losing Food Stamps.
+ WaPo (Gift Article): 1.5 million children lost food aid since last July, analysis says.
Sometimes, recording a meeting makes perfect sense. Say you’re getting details about a potential medical treatment and you want to save and be able to share a summary of what your doctor explained. Sometimes, recording a meeting makes no sense. Say, you’re talking to someone at a bar or online about a date. Whether it makes sense in the moment or not, these days, it’s a good idea to assume that everything is being recorded. WSJ (Gift Article): This Conversation Is Being Recorded. They All Are. We’re being surveilled by the government and by corporations, and now we’re surveilling each other.
“Americans are aging rapidly and living longer, creating soaring demand for elder care when the industry is already buckling under the weight of chronic labor shortages.” So, this would be a really bad time to actively work to create a caregiver labor shortage. Hence, the administration is doing just that. Senior Living Facility in Distress as Immigrant Caregivers Are Forced Out. “Millions of immigrants, eligible to work in the United States, fill positions across the elder care industry such as nurses, dietitians, fitness instructors and maintenance technicians. And countless undocumented immigrants care for seniors in their homes, part of a vast informal economy. Immigration enforcement is choking both labor pools.”
+ The “war in Iran is raising oil prices, climate change is fueling record heat that is driving up demand for air conditioning and new data centers are straining America’s electricity supply.” So, this would be a really bad time to actively work to create more demand for energy. Hence, the administration is doing just that. The U.S. Is Pulling Back on Energy Efficiency Just as Prices Are Rising.
It’s only a matter of time before they come up with a way to blame Biden for the diarrhea. “A day after federal health officials tied an outbreak of cyclospora to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by the large produce company Taylor Farms to Taco Bell, investigators are turning their attention to the farms in Mexico where it was grown and the facility that shredded it, according to administration officials.” Cyclospora Investigation Turns to Farms in Mexico. “As the investigation intensifies, Taylor Farms, among the nation’s largest producers of salad greens and vegetables, has hired a former Trump White House official. In a meeting on Thursday evening with the White House and F.D.A. officials, company executives sought to distance the company from the outbreak and cast doubt on the officials’ conclusion.” (This effort is gonna cost them a lot of lettuce.)
+ Bloomberg (Gift Article): The Cyclosporiasis Outbreak Is a Master Class in Miscommunication. (America is in the middle of a four year course.)
Everything is Being Taken Care Of: “Trump said he would ‘take care of’ the Houthi rebels if the Iran-backed militant group follows through on its threatened blockade of Saudi ports. ‘If something like that happens, we take care of it.'” (Phew.) Here’s the latest from The Guardian.
Canadian Fakin’: “Although the president has recently threatened tariffs against America’s neighbor in retaliation for wildfire smoke that poured into the northern part of the United States, administration officials said that the latest tariffs are unrelated. The levies take effect in 30 days, covering about $20 billion of Canadian goods.” (Just give some thought to how crazy the first part of that quote is…) Trump’s new 50% tariffs on Canada risk igniting a fresh trade war. (I doubt these new tariffs will go into effect, but the threat should help make our closest ally hate us even more.)
+ Ebola Acceleration: “The Ebola outbreak that was declared in eastern Congo on May 15 is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. The Bundibugyo virus responsible for the outbreak is less common than others that cause Ebola disease, and there is no approved vaccine or treatment.” At least 930 people have died in Congo’s Ebola outbreak.
+ Tate Accompli: “According to federal court complaints unsealed on Monday, British officials have accused both brothers of choking women, sometimes until they passed out, and then raping them.” Tate Brothers to Stay in Jail as New Details About Charges Emerge. How did these guys, who were already being held in Romania, end up free in America in the first place? You can probably guess. NYT (Gift Article from December): How a Manosphere Star Accused of Rape and Trafficking Was Freed. “Barred from leaving Romania, Andrew Tate courted powerful figures on the American right, from Tucker Carlson to Barron Trump. Then an extraordinary order let him go.” (So the immigration policy bars elder care providers but welcomes rapists.)
+ Cut! “Paramount’s owners were planning to have secured firm control of Hollywood rival Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of this week in a blockbuster deal that has the blessing of President Trump’s Justice Department. A federal judge has instead ground the process to a halt, at least for now.” Court ruling freezes Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.
+ What Supp? “The New York Times found hundreds of A.I.-generated doctors, healers and wellness influencers on social media touting the health benefits of supplements to American consumers. Many of these hyperrealistic looking ads promise medical miracles, and appear to be targeting older women, while making misleading health claims for a profit.” NYT (Gift Video): The Fake Influencers Selling Wellness on Your Feed. (In fairness, the AI-generated influencers were no less honest than the human ones pushing the same supplements…)
+ Mon Armor: “Surging interest in armored cars offers a window into American anxiety. The people who shop at Miami Armored, Daskal said, are concerned about carjackings, smash-and-grab thefts and road rage, which has become more prevalent in recent years, according to the Pew Research Center. But there is no doubt that, for some, an armored car is a status symbol — the ultimate luxury accessory for one-percenters who already own panic rooms, guard dogs and perhaps a desert bunker or two.” Now on the American Road: Bulletproof Cars.
“Goats spend a lot of time bashing their heads into things. Winning a headbutting contest shows other members of the herd who’s boss—but bumping heads is also a way to play or explore new objects, so it’s often assumed goats must be protected against head injury by the shape of their skull and strong neck muscles. A new study challenges that assumption.” Goats love to bash heads—but it might give them brain damage. (Wait until they try social media.)
+ “As prediction markets and prop betting gain popularity, more couples are integrating them into their celebrations.” Want to Bet on My Wedding? (Wanna bet on my RSVP answer?)
2026-07-20 20:00:00
When I was a kid, my parents instituted a rather draconian rule: No television during dinner. So my sisters and I ate faster, getting our family dinner times down to an average of about seven minutes. Back then, the concern was that the TV screen would distract us from our together time. Well, times have changed. These days, my wife and I practically beg our kids to join us around the big screen for some communal viewing. Compared to everyone scrolling on their own devices, TV time is together time. So it was cause for celebration when our kids, a couple of their friends, and both of our beagles spent multiple hours in the same room at the same time watching the same thing. It was a small victory, made larger by the fact that we were joined by way more than a billion other people doing the same thing. OK, it was still screen time. But at least it was together screen time. Mark O’Connell in the NYT (Gift Article): A Billion Eyes. One Shared Experience. “In these images, TV screens are not an oppressive, degrading or insinuating presence; they are a means not of erasing or escaping the world but of reaching and being reached by it. In a world where everyone experiences his own hyper-individualized flow of images and video and text, minutely optimized for maximum commercial extraction, the World Cup is a rare moment of shared attention.” My family even shared a screenless meal after the game. (And it lasted at least eight minutes.)
+ “Argentina probably held a 4-1 edge in terms of raw numbers, with at least 90 percent of those sporting Messi jerseys. But Spain matched the nervous, distressed Argentine fans in sheer volume, and when Torres drilled his shot — and Argentina missed two last-minute heart-stoppers — well, that was enough to start a celebration that will last for years to come.” From Spain with love: A World Cup final 50 million dreams in the making.
+ Even as hosts, America couldn’t change the beautiful game. But we did add one twist. A halftime show. As soon as I saw the Muppets covering the White Stripes, I realized that I definitely picked the wrong World Cup to stop sniffing glue.
+ The Ringer: 29 Reasons We Loved the 2026 World Cup.
+ The Guardian: From half a million World Cup photos, why I love these the most.
+ Forest Trump: With that many people from around the world locked in on one event, you knew that you know who would want to be at the center of all that attention. Even if that included being booed by the crowd and suffering the humiliation of inserting himself into the winners’ photo op. The Athletic (Gift Article): Trump booed by World Cup final crowd, takes part in trophy presentation. What can I say, Needy Amin strikes again.
Nearly a third of all World Cup bets were placed on prediction market sites. But the federal government is betting no one will notice that they are online casinos. “For users, prediction markets operate almost indistinguishably from online betting platforms. However, they are technically investment sites. As such, they are not constrained by state and tribal gaming law. They are available in all 50 states — even those with no gambling — and the prediction market companies pay no state taxes.” Well, at least the states can regulate them, right? Not if the Trump administration has its way. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission “is doing its utmost to effectively nationalize gambling, leaving states powerless to control what has historically been under their domain.” The federal government typically left gambling to the states — until the prediction markets. These days, when it comes to ethical governance intended to benefit the greater good, bet the under.
“Efforts to contain Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo did not begin well. Patients fled a treatment unit in Mongbwalu, a mining town, after community members set it on fire. Residents assaulted a burial team in the town of Katana and forced the crew to turn over a coffin. People living in the Kpangba displacement camp drove out health workers searching for Ebola contacts; the assailants insisted that the victims had not died of the disease. Similar antagonism hampered Ebola responses in 2014-16 and again in 2018. Reactions like this would be easy to chalk up to poor education and anachronistic rituals.” Sadly, “scholars have seen similar responses across societies and throughout history.” That includes the reactions of many Americans to Covid. NYT Magazine (Gift Article): Why Epidemics Breed Rage at Health Workers.
As we’ve learned from the fighting in Ukraine to the Middle East, war is changing and it’s changing quickly. And the US (along with help from tech and defense companies) is racing to adapt. A.I. Drones Are Coming. We Are Not Ready. “The looming challenge for the United States is how to fast-track this technology while balancing the safety and ethics issues with other nations. All weapons are subject to existing prohibitions and restrictions under international humanitarian law. But autonomous weapons raise novel concerns. Humanitarian groups say it’s morally bankrupt to hand over lethal action to machines, no matter how advanced. Can technology reliably differentiate adults from children, or soldiers with guns from TV journalists with camera equipment, or a truckload of fighters from a truckload of war-injured? Can it ascertain if someone is surrendering?”
+ Fighting in the skies is changing. Next comes the change to ground wars. WaPo (Gift Article): Armed robots are on the horizon, as Silicon Valley pitches new military tech. “The administration is pushing the military to use AI, testing long-standing opposition to weapons systems that can pick and attack targets on their own.” (I don’t even trust tech companies to pick the right posts to show up in my algorithm, and they’ve already moved onto this…)
Searching for a Rational Rationale: Here’s the sad truth. The lunatic who ranted about imaginary election rigging and said we should tariff Canada because of smoke from their fires blowing into the US is the same lunatic running the war with Iran. “Two more Americans have given their lives in the service of their country. They died in an Iranian attack on a Jordanian air base; several more U.S. military personnel were injured and one is missing. The American people have a right to know why they died, and how many more of their sons and daughters President Trump is willing to risk in this war of choice.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Owes Americans a Better Explanation About Iran. (What if there isn’t one?) Meanwhile, the Pentagon is suffering from a major case of Low-T. The T in this case is for Truth. Pentagon Withheld Dozens of U.S. Military Injuries in Iran War. Here’s the latest from The Guardian.
+ Another Post Brexit Exit: ‘King of the North’ Andy Burnham becomes 7th British prime minister in a decade. (10 Downing Street has had more turnover than an AirBNB). Here’s the latest from BBC.
+ Deuces Wild: “The FDA initially announced Friday that iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms had tested positive for cyclospora, a parasite that can cause explosive bowel movements. Within 24 hours, however, the agency walked back its determination, claiming that the original lettuce sample was a false positive.” (Even if you don’t have any cyclospora-related GI issues, this CDC has you shitting in your pants.)
+ Tate Crimes: “Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested Saturday in Miami after U.K. prosecutors said they brought further rape and sex trafficking charges against them.”
+ Roach Clips: “Tens of thousands of protesters have defied police orders and descended on Delhi to demand the resignation of India’s education minister in one of the largest anti-government demonstrations in years.” Tens of thousands of Cockroach movement protesters defy police with Delhi march.
+ The Extra Mile: While you were watching the World Cup, you may have missed what was actually the most incredible athletic moment of the weekend. Josh Kerr set new World Record mile time, beating 27-year mark. Given today’s trends in track, the record may not last long. Elite Young Runners Are Becoming Freakishly Fast. Welcome to Trackflation.
Some people are worried that AI is becoming the new religion. Well, it’s coming for the old religions first. WSJ (Gift Article): Pastors Using AI to Help Write Sermons Grapple With Where to Draw the Line. “Half of all pastors say they use AI for brainstorming or idea generation, according to the Barna Group, a firm that studies U.S. faith trends. And roughly a quarter use AI to help write their sermons.”
2026-07-17 20:00:00
After lying about elections nonstop for more than a decade, you’ll never guess what Trump did next. Spoiler alert: He lied. As I mentioned yesterday, the plot of his ongoing series, Gov Island, USA, is always the same. So last night’s script was hardly a cliffhanger, though this episode was particularly lackluster. His primetime address, the latest attempt to make Americans mistrust election results, didn’t even feature particularly compelling lies, earning him a lot of headlines like this: In primetime speech, Trump doesn’t provide evidence for illegal voting. And the obsessive focus on an election that happened six years ago is hardly a winning political message heading into the midterms. Trump rehashing old electoral grievances when persuadable voters are hyper-concerned about affordability would be almost as crazy as having a Secretary of Defense ignoring an ongoing war to talk about testing troops for Low-T. As David Frum explains in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Dooms His Own Party. His “message makes psychic sense for Trump. He’s probably going to lose at least one congressional chamber in November, perhaps two, and he desperately needs an explanation as to why it’s not his fault. But the message makes no sense for the Republicans who are actually on the ballot in 2026.”
+ So, you might be wondering, what was the point? Well, this isn’t just one pathetic lunatic embarrassingly spewing more rambling lies about an election he lost. It’s an entire political party lining up behind him, bending the knee, kissing the ass, and selling their souls—along with the soul of democracy. And as the NYT (Gift Article) reminds us, Trump and his conspiracy-peddling accomplices have the Full Weight of Government to Bolster False Their Election Claims. “The president’s ability to bring a whole-of-government approach to shape how Americans view their elections — and potentially who gets to vote — has alarmed public officials and election experts across the country.” The DHS Secretary is already making the rounds, pledging to aggressively pursue voter fraud cases. And the goal here, of course, is not to relitigate 2020. It’s to pre-litigate 2026. It’s not about hindsight. It’s about foreshadowing. Joyce Vance: “What is important is understanding what he’s trying to do: He’s searching for a way to legitimize interference in an election he knows his party is going to lose in November.”
+ Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee (and a particularly sharp dresser) on what these easily provable lies are really all about. “It’s about setting the stage for Donald Trump to reject the results of the upcoming elections.”
Lettuce Pray… The fan, it turns out, was only the beginning. The shit has hit everything across several states. Now, “federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of the widespread outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora.” The lettuce was sold by Taylor Farms, a firm also “tied to a 2013 cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to salad mix and a 2024 E. coli outbreak tied to onions served at McDonald’s.” This isn’t just about Taco Bell or one megafarm. The exploding story about explosive diarrhea has customers worried, which leaves the CFOs of any restaurant that sells salads shitting in their pants.
+ Bloomberg (Gift Article): Why Do We Need Explosive Diarrhea to Remind Us Public Health Matters?
+ “Donald Trump promised federal cuts under the Elon Musk–led Department of Government Efficiency would ‘drive out the massive waste.’ Indeed, waste is now being expelled on an incredible scale, across the country.” TNR: DOGE Gutted the Office Researching the Explosive Diarrhea Parasite. (Trump and Elon have been spreading shit on social media for years. Now, they’ve jumped over to the terrestrial world.)
“My biography is 90 pages long and should be shorter. It combines facts about me that are widely available on the internet, such as where I grew up, with generic insights that could be true of anyone, like a horoscope spread over dozens of pages. ‘You cannot understand Kashmir Hill without understanding her contradictions,’ my biographer wrote, along with an excruciatingly long description of my elaborate coffee-making ritual. (Fact check: My husband does it.)” Kashmir Hill in the NYT (Gift Article): I Got Slopped. “Someone used A.I. to write my biography. Thousands more of those books are polluting Amazon. Who is behind all this drivel?”
What to Watch: Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Richard Gere lead a top-notch cast in a couple seasons of the CIA thriller, The Agency on Paramount Plus. The plot can sometimes be a little too complicated. But just ignore those moments. Season one is good, season two is better.
+ What to Movie: You can now see what all the fuss was about when it comes to the (not that scary) hit movie, Obsession, from your own couch. It’s available to rent on AppleTV and other platforms. The only thing worse than unrequited love is overly requited love.
+ What to Contextualize: A Philosopher’s One-Word Theory to Explain Why the World Feels So Weird. Derek Thompson talks to Agnes Callard about her Uni-context theory. You can read the interview above or watch it here.
Cease Has Desisted: “The US hit bridges, energy facilities and a key Iranian port on Friday, expanding its aerial campaign against Iran.” And, an Iranian strike damaged a Kuwait desalination plant.
+ Gentlemen, Start Your Lettuce: “Andy Burnham was officially declared leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, promising to bring hope to the British people and purpose to the floundering government as he cleared his final hurdle to take office as prime minister next week.” And then, the clock will be running.
+ Thin ICE: “The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told The Associated Press.”
+ Pushing All Chips on the Table: “Data centers and the other infrastructure for A.I. involve staggering sums of money. These cascades of A.I.-driven cash have enriched diverse segments of the stock market, from semiconductor makers to engineering companies to utilities to energy producers. A.I. money is bolstering the entire U.S. economy, contributing perhaps 1.1 percent to the nation’s economic growth, JPMorgan Asset Management estimates. But where’s that money coming from?” Hint: Loans. NYT (Gift Article): A.I. Is Running on Borrowed Money.
+ Social Lubrication: The Researchers Who Want Dads-to-Be to Stop Drinking. “If you’re ‘actively trying to have babies,’ one expert told me, ‘both the man and the woman should be abstaining” from alcohol.” (OK, so the sex won’t be as fun, but it will be more effective?)
+ First to Market: You know how Trump uses social media posts to manipulate markets and make big money for his family and other insiders? Well, the market wants a piece of that action. Truth Social to sell Wall Street firms the ‘fastest’ access to Trump’s posts.
+ Mex and Balances: As if our international relations weren’t already strained enough, Chipotle is opening its first location in Mexico.
My daughter was one of the brave few who attended an overnight screening of The Odyssey. That’s not the feel-good news, as her comings and goings kept me up most of the night. But it occurred to me that my kids and their friends go see movies all the time, in the real world, on big screens, out of the house, with other people. That’s the feel-good part. Zoomers Are Going to the Movies. This Is Great News for Everyone.
+ Fan Photos: When the World Cup came to town. And Game Photos. AP photographers pick their favorites. Plus, A Tribute to the Mathematically Marvelous Soccer Ball.
+ Brain implant helps paralyzed man to feed himself and drink from cup.
+ At 91, He’s Hiking the Appalachian Trail. Again. (Interestingly, the thing I’m most looking forward to in my 90s is not hiking.)
+ America’s Enterprising Spirit Is Booming After Decades-Long Slump.
+ The pigeon came to them seeking help’: California firefighters give oxygen to suffering bird.
2026-07-16 20:00:00
Find me 11,780 things to watch tonight other than Trump’s primetime address that will feature his latest lies about, and efforts to overturn, legitimate election results. Sorry, I’ve seen this show before. Nonstop. The show officially jumped the shark when Trump incited the January 6 insurrection, later pardoned its participants, and was never punished, but was instead rewarded with a second term, more support from sycophantic GOP officials, more power via the Supreme Court, and more election-denying enablers across the administration — and the country. But viewership remains strong and the production is sure as hell making more money than ever. So, the show must go on.
While efforts to find 11,780 votes in Georgia and the Jan 6 nightmare were among the worst episodes, the show started long before that. Trump’s attack on American democracy began, oddly, after he won the presidency. Weeks after his unlikely electoral victory, Trump argued that he would have won the popular vote as well, had the election not been rigged. Here’s his tweet from November 27, 2016: “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” When thousands of Stop the Stealers gathered in front of the White House on January 6, it was a chapter of a story Trump had foreshadowed before he had even taken office. And, tonight we get another episode of America’s most damning reality show, Gov Island, USA. Same unbelievable storylines, but with more producers and showrunners, and a lot more people in on the plot. Even after all these years, the networks are still struggling to decide whether to air the lies live. You don’t have to struggle. Skip this rerun.
+ Just because I’m not watching doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention. As Jim Himes (a great guy, and the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) explains in the NYT (Gift Article): Trump’s Election Denial Has Never Been More Dangerous. “After the 2020 election, our intelligence community found ‘no indications that any foreign actor attempted to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections by altering any technical aspect of the voting process.’ That assessment reflected a rigorous look at all available information and expert judgments by nonpartisan professionals. In fact, there’s been no evidence of successful interference in the tabulation of votes in any federal election since I have been on the intelligence committee, and I have seen no credible intelligence that the upcoming midterms will be different. Those are the facts. But ahead of this year’s midterms, Mr. Trump is setting the stage to undermine the confidence of the American people in our elections. He has packed his administration with election deniers and hired an acting director of national intelligence with zero national security experience and a history of abusing his position to target political opponents. The F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, has made his career chasing the president’s conspiracy theories, most recently with the devotion of massive resources to a sham investigation in Georgia.” (Jim, Jim, Jim. If you’re going to insist on including lines like “Those are the facts” in your script, this show will never be a hit…)
+ “The big change since 2020 is that people who mistrust election results are highly active, particularly in swing states. The even bigger change is that some of them have risen to positions of power in those states, where they can affect voter rolls, election machines, and county tallies. Nowhere is this more true than Georgia, where I recently visited to meet some of the election skeptics who are—wait for it—now helping run elections.” Hanna Rosin in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Election Deniers Are in Charge Now. (Consider that Trump cabinet nominees, including Jay Clayon just yesterday, refuse to say who won the 2020 election. And they get confirmed anyway. What should be disqualifying has become a prerequisite.)
+ The plot points are the same, but our protagonist faces an even more existential struggle. Why? Trump approval stuck in the 30s amid pessimism on Iran and economy, poll finds. I’m no script writer, but I’m pretty sure that means you can expect things to escalate.
Why do so many individuals and organizations seem to be cool with the protagonist of today’s top story, even as he plots to damage democracy? Because, in a transactional system, short-term gains outweigh longterm risks. WSJ (Gift Article): The Mystery Money Powering Trump’s Second Term. “The president and his allies have built a network of groups financed by wealthy donors and businesses that is advancing his priorities with little public disclosure.”
+ It may not be pretty, but it works. Trump quietly clears the road for Musk’s Cybercab.
You may not be able to make money while you sleep. But that doesn’t mean no one is. In fact, your sleep has become big business. Bloomberg (Gift Article): Americans Are Exhausted. There’s a $3,000 Mattress Cover for That. “Buy a pricey Oura Ring or Apple Watch for sleep tracking? Of course. Fill our medicine cabinets with sleeping pills, potions, gummies and elixirs? Obviously. An $89 celeb-approved eyelash-protecting silk sleep mask? Sure. Sound machine? That’s plebe stuff. Real sleepmaxxers prefer Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds, practically a steal at around $100. Soon you can get your hands on a Kimba, an ‘AI-powered scent therapy’ machine, currently available for preorder; $299 will get you a bedside setup and six months of personalized scents. For big spenders, there’s a $3,000 body-temperature-regulating, manosphere-endorsed mattress cover. Some couples are willing to go even further, outfitting totally separate bedrooms.”
“Pete Hegseth wants a manly military. And he really, really wants you to know how badly he wants a manly military. In his 2024 book, The War on Warriors, Hegseth worried that the military risked becoming ‘effeminate, and apologetic’; he insisted that what liberals really want is “soft men, and a weak military,” and he scolded ‘Pentagon pussies’ who refuse to stand up for soldiers on the battlefield. As secretary of defense, Hegseth has blocked the promotion of female military officers, removed the first woman to lead the Navy, and ordered a review of women’s ‘effectiveness’ in ground-combat roles. He has also used the Defense Department’s social-media channels to post a steady stream of tougher-than-thou videos. The latest entry in this genre came earlier today, when Hegseth announced that he is requiring every service member over 30 to have their testosterone tested annually.” Pete Hegseth Wants YOU to Test Your Testosterone. (How do you say you’re the worst lay ever without just actually saying you’re the worst lay ever…)
Get the Low Down: “The Food and Drug Administration approved a daily pill on Thursday that can lower cholesterol levels far below what can be achieved with statins, the cheap cholesterol-reducing pills.”
+ Board of Piece: “Even the envisaged pilot scheme – involving a temporary camp for a tiny fraction of Gaza’s 2 million displaced people, with a Palestinian administration, police and a small international security force – is not expected to take shape before the end of the year.” Trump’s Board of Peace drops full Gaza recovery plan in favour of tiny pilot scheme. Meanwhile, the administration’s focus is definitely elsewhere in the region. Here’s the latest on the stepped-up fighting in Iran (and its neighbors).
+ The Young and the Wrested: “President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shook up his wartime government, drawing thousands into the streets Thursday across Ukraine to protest the ouster of his youthful defense minister — seen as an innovator of the country’s successful drone technology but who clashed with the traditional military establishment.” Mykhailo Fedorov is the tech-savvy leader behind many of Ukraine’s drone advances, and he’s very popular from Kiev to Silicon Valley. This is a story to watch. Zelenskyy fires Ukraine’s tech-savvy defense minister in government reshuffle.
+ Speech Recognition: “President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator is believed to have made tens of thousands of dollars by placing bets on more than a dozen of Trump’s speeches on the prediction market Kalshi.” (Do the people who predicted stories like this win anything?)
+ Trial and Jair: “President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose tariffs on Brazil — even though it is one of the few Latin American countries with which the US has a trade surplus — in response to what he said is the unfair prosecution of the former Brazilian president and his close ally, Jair Bolsonaro.” US slaps 25% tariffs on Brazil.
+ Houring Inferno: In what is part of a bigger story about trying to keep temporary, unconfirmed prosecutors in place, Trump fired a new US attorney in Seattle an hour after federal judges appointed him.
+ Backpact: “Mr. Conner and Mr. Newman began their efforts in 2018 with a few armfuls of backpacks. By 2026, they and almost 40 volunteers had distributed more than 180,000 packs to people living on the streets of Manhattan.” The couple, who died within a few days of each other, provided needed supplies, like socks and wet wipes, to people living on New York City’s streets.
Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal will face off in the World Cup finals on Sunday. But it’s hardly their first meeting. That came back in 2007, when Yamal was five months old (and probably already pretty good at soccer). And we have the (famous and once again viral) photo to prove it. The remarkable story of Lionel Messi’s meeting with a baby Lamine Yamal.
2026-07-15 20:00:00
In an era when Americans don’t seem to be able to agree on anything, a huge majority of people have found middle ground over data centers. Whether it’s energy suckage, climate concerns, noise pollution, water woes, old-fashioned Nimbyism, or just a general feeling of ill will when it comes to AI and big tech, people across the country are crossing the political aisle in opposition to the building of new data centers. While it might seem obvious that humans wouldn’t want to welcome their invading machine overlords with new housing, the negative vibes around data centers are relatively new, and the shift came quickly. “Around seven in 10 Americans now oppose the construction of local data centers to power artificial intelligence. Last fall, people were almost exactly evenly split when asked if they’d support a new data center nearby. Now there’s a 50-point gap. That is an absolutely crazy swing, much bigger than the reversals you tend to see when a new president comes into office or even when someone declares war.” David Wallace-Wells and Robinson Meyer in the NYT (Gift Article): Is This the Fastest Opinion Shift in American Politics? Beneath the broad agreement, some of the old political divides still live on. “What’s interesting is that, at this point, data centers’ net support — Would you support a local data center in your community? — is underwater among all parties: Republicans, independents, Democrats. If we ask, well, what if it was powered only by renewable energy? Then Democrats are more likely to like it, and Republicans are more likely to oppose it.” Craziness is like cockroaches. It can survive anything.
+ Data Centers to Add Billions in Power Costs in 13 States. (Tell people the cost is for AI and they’re up in arms. Tell them it’s for streaming Love Island and they’ll explain that everything has a price.)
+ New York becomes first state to impose one-year pause on new AI datacenters.
+ Most things in tech seem to become more efficient as they scale. AI data center needs just seem to grow bigger and bigger. “The problem is not simply that AI is being deployed so widely or quickly. Other computer technologies have seen similarly massive growth without triggering such a large spike in electricity or a shortage of computer components: Video and music are now streamed around the globe, accounting for many terabytes of internet traffic daily; the smartphone boom required the manufacturing of billions of devices that are now transferring huge amounts of data; billions of household devices are also now part of the Internet of Things; and whole industries have moved their operations to cloud software, which is hosted not in the sky but in, yes, data centers. The problem with generative AI, in the industry’s own jargon, is that it does not scale.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Generative AI Is an Engineering Disaster.
+ Not everyone is against data centers in their backyard. For example, there are those whose backyards just became unimaginably valuable. WSJ (Gift Article): The Americans Striking It Rich in the Data-Center Buildout. “The men told the Kilitis that their 89-acre farm in this rural town of 4,000 might be worth more than $20 million … The couple thought the fields where the family raised and butchered hogs would be lucky to fetch even a fraction of that.” (It turns out a server farm can bring home more bacon than a hog farm.)
Todd Blanche is answering questions from Senators as his Attorney General confirmation hearing gets underway. He’s Trump’s personal lawyer, he has further weaponized the Justice Department, he’s withheld Epstein files and given Ghislaine Maxwell a prison upgrade, he’s targeted the media, he pushed for the fund that would compensate Trump allies (including J6ers), and he’s otherwise wholly unqualified for the job. And with that, he opened the hearings by explaining that as acting Attorney General, he has been “restoring trust” in the DoJ.
+ “On Monday, two days before the Senate hearing to consider Todd Blanche’s nomination to become the nation’s chief law enforcement official, a federal judge strongly suggested that he may not even be fit to practice law. Of all the powers Americans give their government, none can curtail personal liberty like those of the Department of Justice, and this editorial board has listed the ways Mr. Blanche has abused that authority. He has celebrated the Jan. 6 rioters. He has misled Congress under oath. He has said it is Mr. Trump’s ‘right,’ and ‘indeed it is his duty,’ to use the department to investigate people he ‘has had issues with.'” NYT Editorial Board: We’re About to Find Out Whether Republican Senators Can Still Say No. (Don’t get your hopes up…)
+ In other confirmation news, Trump intelligence pick Jay Clayton refuses to say Biden won 2020 election.
+ Think we’re getting closer to a moment when insiders finally stand up to Trump? Maybe. But then again, maybe not. Treasury Unveils New $1 Gold Coin With Trump’s Face on It.
“According to the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based policy group, one of every four vehicles sold globally in 2025 was battery-powered. Analysts with Bloomberg have predicted that in the next decade, that number will more than double, putting gas-powered cars — for the first time ever — in the minority of overall new vehicle sales. Overseas, Asian and European manufacturers have spent years preparing for this eventuality, dumping billions into the development of battery technology.” Sadly, American carmakers have been going in reverse, a move that has cost them dearly in the short run, and could be even more costly in the long run. NYT Magazine (Gift Article): The American E.V. Has Been Crushed. Will It Take the U.S. Auto Industry With It? (Instead of plugging into the future, America is sticking its finger in the socket.)
Frozen yogurt always seems to make a comeback. And each time, the new iteration of the product comes with health promises related to the latest dietary trends. And each time, I doubt the health benefits but eat it anyway. Vox (Gift Article): What the current froyo renaissance is really about. “The third wave of froyo resembles the previous crazes in one key way: The dessert is still marketed and perceived as a healthier choice than other treats. Every time it comes out of hibernation, frozen yogurt has revealed something about the diet culture of the moment, and this resurgence is no different.”
Asking the Impossible: “Three words of advice for President Donald Trump as he tries to extricate himself from the mess of the Iran war: Just stop talking. Let America’s overwhelming military and economic power do the work.
Trump’s daily barrage of bluster and braggadocio amounts to negotiating with himself. He declares victory one day, resumes war the next. He praises Iran’s leaders, then calls them ‘scum.’ He foolishly announces a 20 percent fee for protecting the Strait of Hormuz and then rescinds the rash proposal the next day. Trump must imagine this nonstop trash talk gives him leverage. He’s wrong. It makes him look weak in the eyes of Iran and the world.” David Ignatius in WaPo (Gift Article): Trump pushed the reset button. This is Iran Fiasco 2.0. Here’s the latest on the fighting and the bluster that has replaced negotiations from The Guardian.
+ Trafficking in Bullshit: “Trump said Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement should continue traffic stops after two deadly shootings within a week, seeming to contradict a new policy to halt them. To remove criminals from the country, ‘we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!’ the president wrote on social media.” Trump says ICE should do traffic stops, despite new suspension after shootings.
+ Write Wing: A day after 12 states moved to block the merger, Hollywood Writers Sue to Block Paramount-Warner Deal. And here’s a plot twist that is almost too cliché at this point for any Hollywood writer to include in the story. ProPublica: FCC Officials Took Pricey Gifts From Paramount as the Company Needed Approval for Billion-Dollar Deals.
+ Sandwich Generation: “On Thursday night, Donald Trump will blast out his version of what happened in the 2020 presidential election and try to build on the Big Lie that he’s been perpetrating for years — that he, not Joe Biden, should have won. That the election was rigged.” Margaret Sullivan on how the media should handle it. (They’ve certainly had enough practice by now.) What we need right now is a big, juicy truth sandwich.
+ Bank Shot: “The Wall Street giant’s market cap stood at about $935 billion. It would be the first bank to ever join the $1 trillion market cap club.” JPMorgan is closing in on a $1 trillion market cap after posting record profits. (This is a trend. Big banks are experiencing bigly good times.)
+ Influencers: “A decade-by-decade look at the books, music, art and ideas that shaped society.” WaPo (Gift Article): The 25 most influential works of American culture. (Moby Dick is in, NextDraft is left out? Please…)
+ Stuck in the Middle Without You: United’s latest Economy Plus gambit? Kick out the middle-seat passenger for more space.
+ Looking Down: The Atlantic (Gift Article): Winners of the International Aerial Photographer of the Year. (Wow.)
“He went into the bank with the cat in his arms, and he walked up to a bank employee and said, ‘Can you hold this?’ And then he wrote a note and handed it to a bank teller and it said, essentially, ‘Give me all your cash.'” Cat burglar steals kitten, tries to rob bank in Maryland, gets caught instead. (Anyone who thinks a cat would be a human’s accomplice should be able to get off with an insanity plea…)
+ WSJ (Gift Article): This Chicago Spirit Quadrupled Sales With Ads Likening It to Fermented Back Sweat. “Last year, a campaign called ‘Malört Tastes Like’ featured consumer comparisons to ‘fermented back sweat’ and ‘moist dumpster residue.'” Hey, at this point, whatever it takes to get a decent buzz…