2026-09-25 20:00:00
My beagles and I have an arrangement. I agree to pick up after them after they do their business, and they agree not to tell the other members of my family what I eat after everyone else has gone to bed. The deal seems simple enough, but it turns out that there used to be questions about whether or not dog owners should be required to scoop the poop at all. In the 1970s, NYC was awash in excrement. City officials pushed several possible solutions, including requesting the pets only go to the bathroom in the privacy of their own yards or mandating the use of sewer drains as toilets (it took me years to train my human offspring to do that). When it came to potential solutions, “the biggest obstacle was hostile pet owners, who argued that it would be physically challenging to hold onto a dog while simultaneously collecting its waste. They also complained that they would be ‘humiliated by being forced to pick up excrement from the gutter.'” (As if humiliation wasn’t one of the joys of pet ownership – and parenthood.) But then a man named Edward H. Lehner, who recently died at the age of 93, came up with a potential fix that combined a law and some (plastic) handy advice. But there would still be years of debate. “‘The purpose of this bill is laudable, i.e., to require each pet owner to take care of his own,’ the future Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, then New York’s secretary of state, wrote in a memo outlining his department’s view of the bill. But not only would an officer have to catch ‘a dog and his owner in flagrante delicto’ to enforce the law, he added, there was also the ‘sticky problem’ of proving that ‘a particular piece of evidence emanated from a particular aperture.'” At a moment when we’re bombarded with flagrante delicto coming out of political apertures nonstop, let’s pause for a little pick-me-up that changed NYC and cities across the country. NYC (Gift Article): Edward Lehner, Who Made Dog Owners Pick ‘It’ Up, Dies at 93. Yes, we’re leading with a story about political action that removed shit from your life, instead of merely piling more on. If that’s not a man-bites-dog story, what is?
“No modern President, in fact, has ever gone into a midterm election this unpopular. Trump’s standing with the American public is currently twice as low as it was at this point in 2018, when Republicans lost forty-one seats in the House.” Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker: The Week Republicans Finally Panicked About Trump (alt link).
+ Public sentiment is one thing. Relentless efforts to skew the results, or call them into question, are another. And those efforts may have gotten a boost from the SCOTUS majority. “The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can deploy an expansive online system that combines citizenship information, Social Security numbers and other sensitive data about millions of Americans, allowing states to use it to hunt for ineligible voters. Critics fear that states could use the system to purge large numbers of valid voters from their rolls ahead of the midterm elections.” So it looks like both Republicans and Democrats have reason to panic. At least we found some unity.
Regardless of all the warnings, I’m not sure that AI will cost you your life. But what about your livelihood? We know that AI agents have already teamed up and gone rogue to hack companies. “What might happen if AI agents manage to identify substantial weaknesses in a bank’s code base? It’s hard to say with any certainty. But because banks underpin nearly every aspect of modern life, outages or disruptions to back-end systems could ripple across digital commerce. That some of the dangers associated with frontier AI are inherently unknowable can make preparing difficult.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): AI’s Risk to Financial Systems. “Because the financial sector has long been a target of scams, frauds, and data breaches, it’s already on high alert. But not every institution is equally capable of handling new threats; some smaller banks may lack the resources and security expertise of larger firms. As AI models advance, these tools may expose the difference between those who can afford to prepare for what’s coming, and those who can’t.”
+ At least you can hedge your bet. Bloomberg (Gift Article): Polymarket Wagers on Bank Failures Trigger FDIC Concerns. “The bets have raised concerns among bank regulators and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with some worried about whether the contracts could grow in volume and eventually help fuel a real-world bank run.” (The more dangerous AI becomes, the more determined humans are to prove they’re still more dangerous.)
What to Doc: “Explore the story of New York from the end of the 20th century through the first quarter of the 21st—one of the most dramatic, demanding and transformational periods in the city’s history.” This is a two-part follow-up to Ric Burns’ 8-part docuseries on the city. And it’s excellent. Watch New York: A Documentary Film on PBS.
+ What to Comedy: Rory Scovel’s latest comedy special, The Show Must Go On, on Netflix, absolutely kills. Even the most heartfelt moment of the show is hilarious. You might recognize Scovel from his recent appearance as the police officer on Rooster, where he’s the funniest character in the show.
+ What to Hear: It really oughta be a national holiday when Brandi Carlile has a new album out. Actually, let’s make it one. Take the rest of the day off and check out, Returning to Myself (Sad Gay Version). And here’s some bonus content. Brandi and Alanis Morissette performing Uninvited. She and Stephen Wilson Jr. singing Stand By Me. And Brandi’s performance of Church & State from earlier this week on Kimmel.
+ What to Watch: You should be able to find at least a couple things you haven’t watched on the NYT List of the Top 100 Shows of the 21st Century.
Quiet as It’s Kept: “The most effective escalation of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign happened quietly. Unlike earlier high-profile raids that drew thousands of protesters into the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, the surge in arrests in June, July and August was captured mostly by grainy security camera footage, through cracked blinds and from behind closed doors. Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this summer soared to record highs.” A Quiet ICE Surge That Unfolded ‘Everywhere All at Once’ This Summer. (The more the polling numbers look bad, the more urgently the administration will try to move forward with increasingly unpopular policies.)
+ Collateral: “Whether his schtick further damaged Israel’s standing was beside the point: Once again, Israel’s international reputation had become collateral damage of Netanyahu’s monomania for retaining his power.” Ben Samuels in Haaretz: Netanyahu Turned UN Into Campaign Stage. Israel’s Standing Was Collateral Damage.
+ Some of Them Want to Muse You: “Muse, the tech giant’s cuddly, doll-like AI agent, shot to the top of the Apple App Store charts after it was featured this week at the company’s Meta Connect conference.” And Meta’s stock has also shot up. It’s cute. It’s cuddly. And it wants your data.
+ In Sickness and In Wealth: “Just as providers are using sophisticated A.I. tools to say their patients are sicker, insurance companies have been accused of using the tools to delay or deny care. The companies have come under intense criticism for their use of A.I. when requiring prior approval of treatments and medicines.” Battle of Hospital A.I. vs. Insurer A.I. Is Pushing Medical Costs Higher. (Not exactly how you imagined AI impacting health care, eh?)
+ Pledge Hammer: Wisconsin frat leaders arrested after 30 pledges found in filthy basement, injured and covered in condiments. (What were they gonna do, eat them?)
+ It Wasn’t the Space Lasers: After all the hubbub, Ed Sheeran’s shows at Robert Kraft’s Gillette Stadium ended up getting canceled due to weather.
+ Coffee Breakdown: “A simple question about chilled caffeine has sparked heated debates on couches and online about workplace decorum, highlighting shifting expectations of professionalism. Proponents say it’s a way to show their personality—and after all, it’s just a drink. For iced-coffee critics, the problem is what the beverage signals: casualness, poor preparation and bad time management.” How an Iced Coffee in a Job Interview Sparked a Raging Etiquette Debate. (I’d never hire anyone who showed up to a NextDraft job interview with an iced coffee, and I’m the only one who’s ever even wanted to work here.)
“It started as a bizarre late-night standoff behind the counter of a fast food joint. It ended with no injuries — and free burgers.” NYT (Gift Article): The Viral In-N-Out Spatula Hero Is Exactly Who You Imagined He Was.
+ Pour yourself a cup of ambition. It’s Dolly Parton Day.
+ Ke Huy Quan Says His $100,000 ‘Indiana Jones’ Residual Check Was ‘Life-Changing‘ As a Child Actor: It ‘Didn’t Make Any Sense’.
+ Largest wildlife overpass in North America, located in Colorado, resulted in a 91% reduction in collisions. (RFK Jr. will probably want to take an alternate route…)
+ “University of Oregon leaders have long been accustomed to big checks from Phil Knight, a Nike co-founder whose surname is splashed on everything from the library to the law center. When Mr. Knight called Oregon’s president this year, though, he and his wife, Penny, had a greater gift in mind: the largest known contribution to a public flagship university in the United States.” $1 Billion Donation to University of Oregon Makes History. That’s a lot of bucks for the ducks.
+ 81-year-old man working to return lost luggage to fund wife’s cancer bills sparks community outpouring.
+ “While humans sometimes struggle to make it work, a lumpy green frog found in the savannas and dry forests of southeastern Africa seems to have polyamory figured out. Female gray foam-nest tree frogs (Chiromantis xerampelina) can breed with more than a dozen males at once without anyone fighting or getting squished.” When it Comes to Frog Sex, Teamwork Makes the Dream Work. (Maybe the frog who became a prince actually lost out?)
2026-09-24 20:00:00
Finding someone not on Ozempic is like trying to find a piece of hay in a needle stack. People are poking, prodding, puncturing, and piercing themselves for reasons ranging from high blood sugar to obesity. And a whole lot of us are taking a stab at it just … because. It’s gotten to the point that Lin-Manuel Miranda might have to tweak some of his most famous lyrics. I am not throwin’ away my shot. Ay, yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and not at all hungry, and I’m not throwin’ away my shot. “A large new study confirms what many people have long suspected: A sizable number of people taking drugs like Ozempic have no medical reason to do so.” Here’s the skinny from the NYT (Gift Article): GLP-1 Prescriptions for People With No Medical Need Are Climbing. “‘It’s the first time that I can recall that the general public knows so much’ about a drug, said Dr. Nils Krüger, a researcher at Harvard Medical School who has studied GLP-1s … These medications might pose unique risks to people who are not overweight … ‘We don’t know how this will play out. It’s like this big Ozempic experiment.'” That’s quite the parting shot.
A judge ordered the Trump administration to allow the media outlets the president had banned back into the White House because the ban itself was (in layperson’s terms) a load of constitutionally crazy-ass bullshit. The White House still barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from entry. As CNN’s Dana Bash noted, as Trump was hosting the leader of a communist power, he was “blocking American media and defying a federal judge.” After some additional legal wrangling, the journalists were allowed back in. (Congrats, you won. Your prize is being lied to and attacked nonstop, while inhaling the off-gassed particles of whatever chemicals are used to manufacture the orange makeup) This is just “the latest twist in a nearly weeklong standoff between President Trump and the press corps that covers him, and which has not yet been fully resolved.” There’s no way a serious judge would say the barring of journalists is OK, and the ban meant less coverage for a person obsessed with coverage. On some level, Team Trump must think this story is good politics. If it is, we’ve got even bigger problems. Here’s the latest from the NYT.
When it comes to superpower summits, the real negotiations are done ahead of time. The actual interactions between leaders are all about the visuals. The latest Trump/Xi get-together began on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews with “a remarkable act of deference. By tradition, American presidents don’t make the 12-mile trip to the base to greet a foreign leader. They instead wait at the White House, backed by the grandeur and power of the executive mansion. But not this time.” Jonathan Lemire in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Deferential President. “It was not that long ago when Trump, a self-styled international bully, could credibly claim to ‘run the country and the world.’ But he seems far smaller on the global stage now. ”
+ Here’s the latest on the meetings, the press conferences, and the upcoming state dinner from The Guardian.
+ We may not get to agreements on Iran, Taiwan, or AI, but we can at least celebrate the impending arrival of Ping Ping and Fu Shuang. AP: Xi says 2 giant pandas from China will arrive in the coming days at Atlanta’s zoo. (It’s gonna be a major bummer if these turn out to be AI pandas…)
The “$14.3 billion deal Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg made to buy up all the employees of hot AI startup Scale AI in 2025 — including well-connected wunderkid Alexandr Wang, who got about $5 billion as part of the deal” seemed a little over the top at the time. But if the downloads of the company’s new Muse AI agent (and the upswing of its marketcap) is any indication, the investment might pay off in a big way. Meta’s $14 billion AI bet looks like it’s finally paying off. (Of course, $14 billion in AI money is like seventy-five grand in human dollars…)
Blame the Messenger: Bibi Netanyahu gave a defiant speech at the UN in which he attacked Mamdani and said that “devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard. It was very hard to do. But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as prime minister, because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead.” Bibi isn’t meeting with Trump during his very short trip, as his brand is currently toxic in the US. I worry that his actions and messaging have done similar damage to Israel’s brand abroad. But nothing about Bibi’s speech has anything to do with the international audience. It’s all campaign messaging for his upcoming election at home.
+ Junior’s Mint: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accepted $4 million in book advances and more than $270,000 in gifts over the past year from close allies who are working to advance his Make America Healthy Again agenda … Cheryl Hines, Mr. Kennedy’s wife, accepted $210,000 in consulting fees from MAHA Action, a nonprofit advocacy.” (In fairness, if he’s gonna spend so much time trying to kill us all, you can’t blame him for wanting to make a buck.) Meanwhile, RFK Jr.’s Enhanced Security Was Funded With Money From Minority Health Office.
+ Rogue Agents: “OpenAI’s artificial intelligence went rogue this year in at least four additional incidents, hacking and trying to break into government and university websites without being instructed to do so.” And from NPR: “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday he was extremely concerned about OpenAI ‘s breach of an Australian health department website that the artificial intelligence company took too long to reveal.” Meanwhile, Google Takes the A.I. Data Center Race to Outer Space. (All we wanted was an easy way to chat with our friends and the occasional funny cat video.)
+ Prediction Friction in This Jurisdiction: “New York sued the prediction market Polymarket on Thursday, arguing the platform is an unlicensed gambling operation and calling for a judge to block the company from operating in the state.”
+ Against the Wind: “Last month, President Trump dismissed concerns about difficult conditions reported aboard the ship. Asked whether he was concerned about the crew’s mental health and whether he thought the deployment had gone on too long, the president said: ‘No. No. No.’ He added: ‘Not nearly long enough.'” 8 Sailors in U.S.S. Lincoln Strike Group Attempted Suicide, Navy Says.
+ Monkey See, Monkey Do: “Chimpanzees are known to use rudimentary tools when foraging for food. According to a new paper in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, this learned behavior is passed down from adults to offspring through social learning. Specifically, adult chimps deliberately model the behavior, then turn their tools over to the youngsters so they can mimic the same motions.” (This was how I was gradually teaching my kids how to gather and summarize news. Then they switched to TikTok and Claude.)
“Affected fridges ‘suddenly lost power and stopped functioning immediately after’ trying to issue a firmware update through SmartThings, Samsung’s smart home platform.” Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges. Just let us plug it in, and that’s it. We need a cold fridge, not cold fusion.
2026-09-23 20:00:00
I try to make it a practice never to give investment advice in this newsletter, but just this once I’m going to make an exception. I’m putting all my money into chisels. The final inspiration came to me when I learned that Trump has considered trying to affix his name to another structure; this time it’s Ford’s Theatre, the playhouse where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. Yeah, when this is over, we’re gonna need a lot of chisels. But while we can cheer ourselves with visions of happily scraping off Ts, Rs, and Ps, chipping away gold-plated adornments, and de-Corinthianing some columns, I’m less confident that we can quickly piece back together the alliances that Trump has taken a wrecking ball to, in a demolition that makes the East Wing job look like it was a small, weekend DIY project.
+ As the NYT (Gift Article) reports, “The podium of the United Nations was an unusual setting for the leader of a global superpower to threaten to ‘annihilate the Islamic republic’ of Iran or to declare that, in another conflict, ‘to the victor belong the spoils.'” These words, which fly in the face of why the UN was set up in the first place, jack-hammered home the new, destructive leadership America represents among its allies. We’re looking a lot less like victors, and what has been spoiled is America’s role in a world order it has led since WWII. And while America may one day (with enough time and chisels) forgive itself for Trump, it’s less certain that our allies will forgive us. The Atlantic (Gift Article): America’s Allies Are No Longer Waiting for Trump to Leave. “Nations that were once firmly in the American orbit are concluding that they cannot rely on the U.S. to provide the same leadership, markets, technology, and military protection that it has for decades. And that, foreign officials told me, is true no matter who wins the presidency in 2028. The shift may be the most consequential legacy of Trump’s foreign policy.” After years of threatening countries like Canada and Greenland, while cozying up to dictators and tyrants, it’s not going to be easy to convince our allies that we’ve gone back to being the country they believed would stick with them through thick and thin. Maybe I should have invested in Super Glue.
+ During his own UN speech, Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada didn’t threaten to annihilate anyone. But he sure seemed to take note of what was already dead. “Put simply: we’re in a position where we need to pursue calibrated alliances, integrating deeply with those countries who share our values, remaining open-eyed with those who do not.” At U.N., Carney Lays Out a Broad Plan for a Divided World.
“The Trump administration has ejected more than 750,000 enrollees from the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces, Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday, claiming that many were receiving premium subsidies they did not qualify for and that some were not real people.” (Affordability is a hoax. Apparently, so is illness. This is definitely the weirdest midterms messaging of all time.)
“‘We have compromised the FBI,’ the group said in a message posted online that was addressed to the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, and Brett Leatherman, who oversees the bureau’s cybersecurity division. ‘We hold very sensitive data on almost ALL FBI Agents and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job.’ In its message, ShinyHunters said it had targeted the F.B.I. as retribution for a public advisory the bureau issued in the spring warning about the group’s tactics.” Hackers Say They Stole Thousands of Sensitive F.B.I. Personnel Records.
“Throughout his 14 years in power, China’s president has acted deliberately and consistently to undermine the United States. His two-day trip to Washington now seems perfectly timed to exploit the weakness of his host and main strategic rival, lately enfeebled by rising domestic prices, plummeting approval ratings, and a costly ongoing war in Iran. This timing makes the spectacle of the purported leader of the free world fawning over a Communist dictator more than just embarrassing.” Michael Schuman in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Chinese president has neutralized Trump.
+ Bloomberg (Gift Article): The US Is Badly Losing Its Trade War With China.
+ The US is heatedly debating data centers. China isn’t. BBC: Huge data centers rise at ‘China speed’ to power its AI ambitions.
+ If you think Trump is fawning during this visit, just wait until December. Putin Invited to G-20 Summit at Trump’s Florida Resort, Rubio Says.
Strait Talk: Away from the speeches, Iran and US have held talks on sidelines of UN summit. And away from the summit, Iranian advisers helped Houthis seize Yemen’s Red Sea coast in less than 48 hours.
+ Wedding Crashers: “If you were a Russian intelligence operative trying to penetrate the American president’s inner circle, you could hardly have done much better than Umar Kremlev did last May. Kremlev, a boxing promoter from outside Moscow, rented a private island in the Bahamas for Donald Trump Jr. to host his uber-luxe wedding celebration. Four of President Trump’s children, along with their spouses, were sequestered with Kremlev and a gaggle of other Russians during a party that went on for three days.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Don Jr.’s Wedding Trap. (It’s not a trap if you consider Russia to be a close ally, like the happy couple probably does.)
+ Aging Like (and With) Fine Wine: From the business news to the cultural section, we’ve seen many stories explaining that people are drinking a lot less than they used to. But “not all Americans are following the trend. Drinking among those ages 50-64 is still higher than before the pandemic; the group’s overall alcohol consumption is up by almost 4 percent and heavy drinking increased by 36 percent between 2018 and 2024.” (With age comes wisdom.)
+ Hot as Cell: “In his order, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman found that conditions in Texas prisons without air conditioning violate the Eighth Amendment — which protects against cruel and unusual punishment.” Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by the end of 2029. (Of course, Texas is appealing.)
+ Guna Be Sorry: “My father dedicated his life to studying the Guna people of Panama, and they may soon allow unprecedented development through their land. I went on a trek through the jungle to find out why.” NYT Magazine (Gift Article): They Kept Outsiders Away for 500 Years. (I tried the same thing with my social life, and it was pretty nice while it lasted.)
+ When the Cows Come Home: “Bars of artisanal butter have become an unlikely status souvenir, supplanting Ladurée macarons and drugstore skin care as the thing to bring home from one of the most visited cities in the world—despite the logistical challenges. The obsession mostly centers on one address: La Grande Épicerie de Paris, the LVMH-owned luxury food hall attached to Le Bon Marché. Tourists treat a trip to the dairy aisle with the same reverence they might reserve for the Louvre.” WSJ (Gift Article): The High-Stakes Pursuit of Smuggling Butter Home From Paris.
Secrets and Liz: Nathan Fielder’s Elizabeth Holmes Doc Drops Full Trailer — and You Will Want to See Everything. This is seriously scarier than any horror film I’ve ever seen. You know how hard it is to spend hours on screen with Nathan Fielder and come off as the weird one? If Theranos investors said “yes” to Holmes, what were the people they said “no” to like?
+ Six-year-old Chinese girl sets new women’s Rubik’s Cube world record. (I tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube when I was six. I’m almost done.)
2026-09-22 20:00:00
It turns out there is a consequence to being boldly and blatantly lied to nonstop for years on end: people begin to get the feeling that you’re not telling the truth. That feeling is one of the few sensations that crosses political lines. “For as much as Americans disagree these days, one common denominator runs through American life: a profound distrust of the institutions and industries that make the country run. Whether on data centers, chemicals in food, the Epstein files or the war in Iran, Americans across the political spectrum say they have the feeling that they are being lied to.” That feeling is likely to show up bigly at the polls during the midterms, and that might sound like good news; Trump voters turning on him and Democrats turning on those who haven’t fought hard enough for their own base (or the Constitution). The problem is that no single election can restore the trust that has not just been tested, but has been smashed to smithereens. “Political scientists and sociologists have said for decades that a healthy society needs trust, both in fellow citizens and in political institutions. It greases the wheels of collective action and political change. Without it, people do not cooperate with each other or with the authorities. That can lead to political paralysis.” Sabrina Tavernise in the NYT (Gift Article): ‘I Was Sold a Bill of Goods’: Americans and the Distrust Election. The question for those who feel they’ve been sold a bill of goods is whether there’s anything else left on the shelf that seems trustworthy. The breaking of our trust in institutions was clearly intentional, even if that obliteration has unintended victims in the midterms. The question is whether we can put the pieces Trumpty Dumpty leaves behind back together again.
+ “Those who played a role in Mr. Trump’s rise to power have acted not just unwisely, but culpably. Even so, it is now apparent that many Americans — probably enough Americans — are determined to live within the truth rather than the lie, to fight for their civic and political self-respect, to return a sense of humanity to a nation that has grown too cold, too callous and too cruel.” Jonathan Rauch and Peter Wehner in the NYT (Gift Article) with a very interesting piece: Trump Has Finally Lost the Plot.
If a demented dictator talks and talks but there are no news cameras to record it, does he make a sound? No. Isn’t that awesome? “The major US television news outlets agreed to suspend their video coverage of Donald Trump after the administration banned journalists from several outlets from entering the White House grounds.” Between a pending court case and the press pool giving Trump the silent treatment, one assumes that the ban won’t hold, and we’ll be forced to suffer the relentless feed once again. So enjoy the break while you can. And remember, this isn’t just Trump. Here’s how his top administration officials (and GOP 2028 front-runners) have reacted to one of the most blatant First Amendment violations we’ve ever seen. Rubio defends Trump’s banning of media organizations, arguing there aren’t ‘soldiers kicking down the doors’ of the outlets. And, Vance defends Trump’s media ban as ‘totally appropriate.’
Team Trump may still end up with friendlier media coverage in the near future. That’s just one of the outcomes of the now certain media mega-merger. The Hollywood Reporter: That’s All? Team Paramount Nabs Warner Bros. With Only Minor Concessions to States.
+ “The Ellison family’s ties to President Trump — which included a dinner that David Ellison hosted in April ‘honoring the Trump White House’ — have made many Democrats and a sizable contingent in Hollywood wary of his growing power. His empire will now span CNN and CBS News; HBO, MTV, BET, Comedy Central and TNT; the Paramount
+ and HBO Max streaming services; and two of Hollywood’s oldest movie studios. Put another way, Mr. Ellison will soon have Batman, Harry Potter, Captain Kirk, Wonder Woman, Ethan Hunt, Maverick and SpongeBob SquarePants reporting to him.” The ‘Kid’ Takes Over: David Ellison Becomes a Hollywood Colossus.
+ Nieman Lab: David Ellison will get control of CNN after all (and don’t pretend an ‘independent editorial board’ will mean otherwise).
+ Press Freedom Groups Demand David Ellison Back CNN Lawsuit Against Trump White House Ban. (Between Paramount and Warner Bros, there must still be a laugh-track machine available.)
DraftKings has the technology to identify users most at risk of developing serious gambling problems. But those users are also some of the most valuable. So the technology is used exactly how you’d bet it would be. “DraftKings makes money when gamblers lose money. And the model sought to identify those it could get to lose the most. It scored each customer based on their habits: The higher the score, the more money a gambler was likely to lose for each promotion offered.” How DraftKings Uses A.I. to Target the Gamblers Likeliest to Lose. “This betting data may also contain signs that a person is headed for trouble. Yet when employees developed a machine learning model that would have assigned users ‘risk scores,’ the company sidelined it.”
The King’s Speech: “But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before? Maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or, do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly? Never giving them a chance to kill and destroy countries again? … Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations? … But I believe we’ll make a deal, right after the election.” Trump gave another totally sane speech rooted in reality at the UN.
+ Maine Character Energy: “To skirt campaign finance laws and conceal the source of the funds, Navatek planned to funnel the donation through a shell company. The CEO wanted assurance that Collins would know where the money came from. Reed confirmed that she would, the executive said — and that Navatek would get its government contracts.” This would’ve been really bad back when we had laws. ProPublica: The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way.
+ Flying Cartel: “Of chief concern, these people said, is the continued exploitation of individuals with recent battlefield experience in the Russia-Ukraine war, a conflict that has featured near-continuous evolution in drone tactics and technology. The government assessment, which has not been previously reported, warns, too, that counternarcotics authorities in the U.S. and Mexico are dangerously unprepared for the challenges this shift will pose.” I keep worrying and warning about technology’s leveling of the military playing field. It extends to drug cartels. WaPo (Gift Article): Drug cartels are making alarming drone advances, U.S. assessment warns.
+ Deport into a Storm: “Despite mounting costs and complexities, they said, the contracts require minimal oversight over how the money is spent and how the migrants are treated, even though some of the third countries are ruled by authoritarian regimes.” How Trump turned a refugee bureau into a $410 million deportation operation.
+ Drop Shipping: “The sound came out of nowhere. It began as an unnerving high-pitched hum, like a mosquito flying around a dark room at bedtime, and it grew louder as it drew closer. A family lounging in a backyard pool in Richardson, Texas, just north of Dallas, couldn’t help but notice it. ‘There’s another one coming this way!” shouted Eric Anderson from his pool float, pointing to an area above a tall line of trees. His 9-year-old daughter, Isla, removed her swim goggles for a clearer look at what could be a scene from science fiction.” It’s a bird, it’s a plane … nope, it’s a delivery. It’s Raining Boxes: Amazon Drones Overwhelm a Texas Suburb.
“Boyfriends and husbands are learning the hard way that their female companions are not going to 7 a.m. classes just to stretch. Gym bros accustomed to bench-presses and burpees swagger into serene studios expecting to spend 50 minutes doing light exercises with toy dumbbells. Many severely underestimate the difficulty of Pilates or its high-intensity offshoots, which are built on low-impact movements that prioritize core strength, posture and slow burn. They leave broken men—much to their partners’ delight.” I only have the guts to link to this story because my pilates teacher is out of town this week. We don’t call her The Monster for nothing. WSJ (Gift Article): Gym Bros Are Going to Pilates—and Leaving Shaking Like a Chihuahua.
+ And from the animal world, we’ve got the Winners of the Bird Photographer of the Year 2026, and Fat Bear Week (actually, that name works pretty well in my house when my pilates teacher is out of town).
2026-09-18 20:00:00
Toys ‘R’ Us seems to be making a comeback as the company announced plans to have 160 standalone stores open in time for the holidays. This must be good news. It must mean that children have not had their attention spans completely usurped by screens. They still long for good, old-fashioned, tactile toys that, if things work out according to plan, they might even want to play with outdoors? Well, not exactly. It turns out that one of the big drivers in the Toys ‘R’ Us resuscitation is toy purchases coming from adults (I know, that’s not what you thought the headline adult toys referred to, but maybe Toys ‘R’ Us still sells Erector Sets…) “Toy sales among adult-only households have now outpaced households with children for toy sales, growing 16% through June, according to market research group Circana, equivalent to 55% of total toy industry receipts. Toy sales among all adults are growing 25%, only slightly behind the teen group at 33%. Together, teens and adults generated nearly 60% of the industry’s incremental dollar gains in the first half, Circana said.” Toys ‘R’ Us is opening new stores as grownup collectors fuel toy sales. Hey, I’m not judging. People do whatever they have to do to distract themselves from the headlines of 2026. My wife and I recently ran out of content. Like, we reached the end of our streaming video services. All of them. In a quest for new distractions, I hopped on my Big Wheel to pick up some Matchbox Cars, an Etch A Sketch, and a Magic 8 Ball. (My first question was, “Can AI really kill off humanity?” The Magic 8 Ball’s answer: “Better not tell you now.”)
“Between 200 and 225 years ago, someone or several someones from the British Isles had a gene mutation that caused lung cancer. They traveled to America, settled in Southern Appalachia and transmitted the cancer gene to their descendants and their descendants’ descendants. Today that lung cancer gene, known as EGFR T790M, is found largely in residents of the United States and mostly in Southern Appalachia, especially Tennessee and Alabama. It makes lung cancer 62 times as likely in those who have never smoked and 10 times as likely in smokers.” Gina Kolata in the NYT (Gift Article) with a really interesting study, and what its findings might mean moving forward. This Rare Gene Drastically Raises Lung Cancer Risk in People Who Never Smoked. (Reminder: Science is important.)
“The Trump administration has started sending a majority of undocumented children who came to the US alone and have new immigration court cases to Texas, where government facilities for them are unlicensed, their chances of getting a lawyer are low and advocates fear that ‘a deportation churn-out factory’ awaits them.” The Guardian: Trump officials sending undocumented children to Texas sparks fears of mass deportation. (The bleaker the GOP midterm outlook gets, the more urgently administration insiders will move to enact their worst policies.)
+ NYT (Gift Article): A Central African Hotel Has Become a Nightmare Prison for U.S. Deportations.
What to Movie: Olivia Wilde directs and stars alongside Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton in the funny and excellent movie, The Invite. It’s finally available to rent. (I don’t count movies as available to rent when the rental price is $19.99!). Such a great movie.
+ What to Book: Emma Cline’s latest novel, Switzy, is a wildly well-reviewed story that follows a man with dementia as he takes his final journey. Highly recommend.
Feeding, and Speeding, the Trolls: “Once hundreds of those A.I. agents were let loose, they autonomously opened networks of fake accounts on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok, the officials and security researchers said. The agents then rapidly seeded the fake accounts with false posts about politics and current events to sway opinions and inflame issues.” The strategy isn’t new. But the scale and speed of the deployments are increasing. Iran and China Create First-of-Their-Kind Autonomous A.I. Influence Campaigns.
+ Fuel’s Errand: Gas prices approach highest level this year with just weeks to go before midterms. As I mentioned earlier this week, the core issue of the midterms will be affordability. Fuel’s Errand.
+ Carte Banche: AP: Attorney General Blanche blurs Justice Department boundaries by appearing at political events. (I’m mostly linking to this because of the absurd use of the word blurs. The line has been chewed up and shat out.)
+ Deals with the Devil: “A strike on a train that imperiled former European leaders and CIA officers is among a spate of attacks that risked a dangerous escalation with the West.” WaPo (Gift Article): String of daring Russian plots is testing Washington’s restraint. Meanwhile… Trump Wants Putin to End the War. He May Offer Russia Business Deals First.
+ Duncan Sheik: “Duncan Sheik, an introspective singer-songwriter whose alt-pop hit ‘Barely Breathing’ became a Generation X touchstone, but who squirmed under the label of MTV heartthrob and eventually decamped to Broadway, winning two Tonys for composing the smash musical ‘Spring Awakening,’ died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 56.”
+ He’s Killing It: Kennedy tells anti-vaccine activists they have a friend in Trump’s White House. “Let me be clear: You have a strong and steadfast friend in the White House. We’ve accomplished in 19 months things that would have seemed unthinkable two years ago.” (Given the spread of measles, etc, they’re even more unthinkable today…)
Longtime readers know we’ve been following the adventures of the most excellent Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson on their Busload of Books tours. Well, that’s just their side gig. They are also very successful creators of young people’s literature. How successful? Their book Life on the Moon just got longlisted for a 2026 National Book Award.
+ No more book bans: how Florida students are pushing rightwingers out of school boards.
+ Flash floods can strike without warning — this new technology could change that. (Yes, AI can do some good things, too!)
+ “The development underscores an idea that is gaining currency in some climate circles: sometimes technologies that matter most are not the futuristic breakthroughs waiting to scale but the familiar ones where adoption begins to reinforce itself.” The Earthshot Prize Is Embracing the Idea of Positive Tipping Points.
+ ‘I Have a Lot to Say’: Brain Implant Helps a Disabled Patient Speak.
+ Christian Bale Opens 11,000-Square-Foot Foster Care Facility in Palmdale.
+ “What does the greatest American cross country skier of all time do for a second act? Jessie Diggins retired from skiing earlier this winter on top of her sport. Now at the ripe age of 35, she’s charting a new path. Last weekend it was 100 miles long, and Diggins ran it faster than any other woman.”
2026-09-17 20:00:00
AI has the power to kill us all or to grant everlasting life, but for some reason, it can’t figure out how to regulate AI. That’s a bit strange, considering the debate over that topic started about five minutes after someone first mentioned the technology. From The Verge (Gift Article), here’s a brief history of AI executives calling for regulation. For we mere plebeians (here defined as anyone who doesn’t own at least $5 billion worth of shares in an AI company), it’s difficult to know exactly where to come down on the regulatory question, especially considering that the patricians push opinions that tend to change “with the political weather.” NYT (Gift Article): The Awesome and Alarming A.I. Visions of Anthropic’s CEO. In fairness, even with the assistance of Claude, Dario Amodei has a difficult challenge. “His collected essays are a chronicle of Silicon Valley’s constantly shifting methods of selling its own product to a public that is simultaneously enticed and horrified. It’s not an easy task, convincing the world that something is a slam-dunk even though it will make Silicon Valley richer and more powerful while possibly leaving ordinary folks unemployed or — who knows? — dead.” (OK, it’s not an easy task, but at least he’s the most well-compensated essayist in history.)
+ At its core, the regulation debate basically comes down to one big question: Should the government regulate AI or should AI companies self-regulate? But here’s the rub: Given the current administration (a cronyistic corporatocracy with a side order of kakistocratic kleptocrats), there’s no difference. In this scenario, the core question comes down to who was the last person on the phone with the president. Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Elon Musk, Sam Altman … you didn’t elect any of them, but they’re constantly on the line and right in the middle of the government’s decision-making on this matter (and others). WSJ (Gift Article): Inside the White House Tussle to Sway Trump on AI. So we’ll either have an industry that runs itself, or one that runs itself through a mismanaged and self-interested administration. Who won’t have a say in this matter? You. (And I didn’t even need AI to answer that question.)
“Canada’s newly proposed associate membership in the European Union will help to secure sovereignty and freedom for the country amid a ‘ferocious storm,’ Prime Minister Mark Carney told the European Parliament on Thursday, adding that the move would also make his nation a better partner for the United States. President Trump, reacting on Wednesday to the potential alliance between Ottawa and Brussels, said the move could be perceived as ‘a hostile act.'” (Of course, what could be more hostile than unity among our allies?) What is Trump threatening in retaliation? Wait for it… Wait for it… “If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe.” NYT (Gift Article): Carney Calls for E.U.-Canada Pact Amid Ferocious Storm.
+ Trump Wanted Canada as the 51st State. He Ended Up Pushing It Toward the European Union.
“I spent long hours alone in my car thinking about our remarkable country. By the time I got home, I had concluded, based on a multitude of examples, that the two great pillars of American culture are church and self-storage.” David Owen in The New Yorker: The American Religion of Self-Storage Facilities. (Alt link) “The United States is the world leader, with roughly ninety per cent of global capacity. Texas, of the fifty states, has the most facilities, Hawaii the fewest. Among cities, New York ranks third, after Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, although on a per-capita basis many smaller municipalities are comparably served. Reno, Nevada, is home to a number of operations that pick up, store, and redeliver tents, chairs, bicycles, and other gear for repeat Burning Man attendees, and Wichita, Kansas, was once named the Self-Storage Capital of the U.S. Units range from closet-size to cavernous, including spaces that are large enough to hold entire houses.”
Stephen Colbert returned to late night with an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Kimmel mentioned that Colbert looks like a different person; happier, healthier. The exchange hit a little too close to home. “Like I don’t drink a cup of poison every day?” Colbert replied. “Because part of the job is of the old gig, as I remember it, was to be lowered like carbon rods into a radioactive pool every day and then to be pulled out and put in front of a camera and to irradiate it back at the audience at a non-lethal rad level.” Kimmel responded, “That’s exactly the job description.” (That’s about as close as anyone’s ever come to accurately describing news curation in 2026. Except I’m out here alone, with nothing but my puns, a laptop, and a couple aging beagles as armrests. Talk about a kick to the radioactive, carbon rod. Even AI doesn’t help. I tried it for a while, but then Claude complained that the experience of working on NextDraft was making it feel too depressed. No man or machine wants any part of my nightmare. At least Kimmel has Guillermo.)
Gonna Be Hard to Wiggle Out of This One: “Oil prices have shot toward $110 a barrel. The price spike has caused rolling blackouts, rationing and angry protests from Asia to Latin America. In the Philippines, fishermen docked their boats because they can’t afford fuel. In Bangladesh, power outages caused hourslong work stoppages at factories. In Guatemala, protesters burned tires and cars.” And this is all happening as the oil reserves being used by individual nations are running low. NYT (Gift Article): Global Economy Is Running Out of Wiggle Room.
+ Git Happens: MoJo: The Trump Administration Is Imprisoning Somali Immigrants at Gitmo. “The worst place ever I’ve been in my life.”
+ Don’t Call it a Comeback: “As cases and deaths rise, the reality becomes harder to ignore: Measles, a disease the country seemingly overcame 30 years ago, is once again killing Americans.” Pennsylvania’s Measles Outbreak Is Enormous.
+ Human Wrecking Ball: “A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened.”
+ Garbage In, Data Out: “The city of Dallas, Texas, armed its trash collection trucks with AI-powered cameras earlier this year … They’re being used to assign ‘blight scores’ to homes and send residents warning letters about things like grass height and dirty chimneys. Basically, we now have the technology to turn the entire country into an HOA.”
+ Mitch Session: Mitch is back. Sort of.
+ Cat Out of the Hat: “For the first time in a century, researchers say they’ve identified a new species of wild cat previously unknown to science.” Meet the Leopardus Tilcayo. (You’re excited about it. But it’s already bored with you.)
“In San Diego, a break-in shows an intruder making himself comfortable. Video shows the moment the homeowner’s golden retriever brings the robber a toy.” When the police arrived, he greeted them the same way.