2025-08-22 20:00:00
The FBI raided John Bolton’s home and office this morning, “to determine whether he illegally shared or possessed classified information.” Bolton is a former Trump advisor and a current Trump critic. The NYT (Gift Article) puts things mildly in its headline: Search of Bolton’s Home Shows Uneasy Mix of Retribution and Law Enforcement. “It is not clear what evidence the authorities have that John Bolton mishandled classified information, but President Trump’s efforts to punish rivals immediately stoked questions about the investigation.” Of course, those questions would a lot more difficult to answer if Bolton’s name didn’t appear on Kash Patel’s enemies list and the raid didn’t follow a very clear pattern of retribution — one we were repeatedly warned about during the election. TNR: Trump’s FBI Raid of John Bolton’s Home Looks Like a Five-Alarm Fire. “Whatever we end up learning about the rationale for the FBI’s early-morning raid on former national security adviser John Bolton’s Bethesda, Maryland, home on Friday, there’s plainly a major escalation underway in President Donald Trump’s use of law enforcement to persecute his perceived enemies and entrench his authoritarian power.”
“California leaders on Thursday approved a sweeping plan to elect more Democrats by redrawing congressional districts, delivering an immediate counterpunch to the gerrymandered map that Republicans in Texas are passing at the request of President Trump.” But to actually make the plan a reality, California will require voter approval. And that means the 20 unsolicited fundraising texts I get every day are about to increase dramatically. Maybe there’s no better metaphor for this era than the fact that we spend much of our day typing and sending the word STOP.
+ Newsom’s campaign against Trump isn’t just happening in the legislature. It’s happening on social media where it’s become an all caps free for all. Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (Gift Article): “Newsom has taken to trolling Trump on social media by imitating his bizarre rants, odd capitalizations, and affection for exclamation points.”
+ As the WSJ (Gift Article) reports, the GOP’s redistricting effort depends on Hispanic support. But can they depend on it? Hispanic Voters in Texas Are Starting to Turn on Trump. “An April poll by Unidos US, a nonpartisan Hispanic advocacy organization, measured the support of Trump’s first 100 days among Hispanic voters and found 61% of respondents in Texas and 59% nationally disapproved of his performance. The group overwhelmingly ranked cost of living and the economy as the most important issues, and a majority of Texas respondents said they believe current policies will make them worse off next year.”
“For decades, American presidents have relied on the expertise of foreign policy professionals to help guide them through tricky negotiations in high-stakes conflicts around the globe. President Trump has taken a different approach toward such experts: He’s fired them.” This is one of the reasons Putin gained a lot from last week’s negotiations and America gained nothing. NYT (Gift Article): ‘Flying Blind’: Trump Strips Government of Expertise at a High-Stakes Moment. (When you get rid of expertise, every moment becomes a high-stakes moment.)
+ And the beat goes on (and on and on). WaPo (Gift Article): Hegseth fires head of Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse. This is the agency that reported “that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been set back only a matter of months.”
+ NYT (Gift Article): F.B.I. Plans to Lower Recruiting Standards, Alarming Agents. “The new plan, current and former agents say, seems to be part of a larger effort by Mr. Patel to have the bureau focus more on street crime, rather than on complicated cases touching on financial fraud, public corruption and national security. Doing so, they added, will erode the bureau’s reputation as an elite law enforcement agency, known for its selectiveness about its recruits.”
+ The National Guard on D.C. streets will soon be armed.
+ Trump suggests Chicago is next for federal crime crackdown, followed by New York City.
What to Doc: Sunday Best on Netflix provides an entertaining and very timely look back at the rise of Ed Sullivan. Despite criticisms and threats, Sullivan broke barriers by booking Black artists on his massive show, and the audience loved it. It’s a reminder of what courage in media can look like.
+ What Else to Doc: Steven Spielberg and others share the story behind the making of Jaws. It wasn’t easy. The experience still haunts Spielberg. The fact that it’s already been 50 years since Jaws came out haunts all of us. Jaws at 50: The Definitive Inside Story. We’re gonna need a bigger lifespan…
+ What Also to Doc: Let’s just keep the documentary vibe going this week. I loved Billy Joel: And So It Goes on HBO Max. These artist produced docs never hit too hard, but this two-parter gives great insight into the origin of many of Joel’s almost unbelievable list of hits.
Fed Talks: “Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled a possible cut in interest rates in the near future, sending stocks soaring on Friday.” The market continues to react normally to financial news as if the rest of the news weren’t so abnormal. Can that trend hold? I touched on this issue earlier this week: The Burger and the King. Sometimes, the abnormal news crosses the chasm: Intel stock rises as Trump says chipmaker has agreed to sell stake to government.
+ The Circular Files: Justice Department issues transcripts of interviews with Epstein ex-girlfriend Maxwell. (Pretty sure she was more than a girlfriend. And pretty sure this meager offering won’t quiet the controversy.)
+ Wait for It… “Seats many schools had assumed would be filled by now are still in doubt, at least partly because international students have struggled to secure visas or are opting to go elsewhere. Foreign students usually pay full tuition, so a big drop in their numbers leaves universities in a financial bind. Some schools also face a pullback in federal funding.” Bloomberg (Gift Article): Stanford, Duke Tap Waitlists to Fill Spots Before Classes Begin. (Like, right before classes begin.)
+ Cutting a Fine Figure: “The world’s leading authority on food crises said Friday the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine, and that it’s likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid.”
+ Biggie Small: “Yes, there are those still predicting rapid intelligence takeoff, along both quasi-utopian and quasi-dystopian paths. But as A.I. has begun to settle like sediment into the corners of our lives, A.I. hype has evolved, too, passing out of its prophetic phase into something more quotidian — a pattern familiar from our experience with nuclear proliferation, climate change and pandemic risk, among other charismatic megatraumas.” David Wallace-Wells in the NYT (GIft Article): A.I. May Be Just Kind of Ordinary. (Well, maybe a little extra ordinary…) And an interesting look at how young people are reacting to new market dynamics: California teens are ditching office jobs — and making $100K before they turn 21.
+ Wheels of Fortune: “Across the country, major college football parking lots might as well be outside the Chateau Marmont.” How car dealers became college football’s power brokers.
+ Garcia Released: Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been released from federal prison in Tennessee. That’s a lot of time served for someone else’s clerical error. He’s now awaiting a trial.
+ Hair to the Throne: “President Nayib Bukele defended the “disciplinary measures” which come as he tries to reshape every facet of life in El Salvador.” El Salvador’s Bukele polices school haircuts.
+ Getting Snippy at Clippy: It Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes.
We may be addicted to our devices, but at least we’re taking them outside once in a while. And then some. Outdoor Recreation Is Booming, According to a New Report.
+ Once feuding people can work together after all. Well, at least animals can. Cat gets job helping to train hearing dogs.
+ One person’s hurricane is another person’s swell. For Two or Three Days, a Surfer’s Paradise in and Around New York City.
+ “I gave all my Apple wealth away because wealth and power are not what I live for. I have a lot of fun and happiness.” Steve Wozniak at 75. I am the happiest person ever.
+ Colin Cummings, the greatest air hockey player of all time.
2025-08-21 20:00:00
I was recently talking to a couple teenagers about their reading habits (or lack thereof) when one of them explained: “Usually when you see someone our age reading for pleasure, they’re just being performative.” Reading seems like it requires a lot of work to virtue signal — compared to wearing a T-shirt with a catchy slogan, affixing a sticker to your bumper, or just having the NextDraft app on your iPhone homescreen. But it got me wondering about the current stats related to American reading habits. The latest research is not promising. “Leisure reading among U.S. adults 15 and older has dropped 40 percent in the past 20 years.” WaPo (Gift Article): Why so few Americans read for pleasure. This article won’t impact the trend, since browsing its findings definitely doesn’t qualify as reading for pleasure.
+ Not all of today’s printed media news is bad. The Onion Brought Back Its Print Edition. The Gamble Is Paying Off. According Chief Executive Ben Collins: “People like getting something in the mail that’s not f—ing awful.”
“Officials from the Trump administration have applauded the net outflow, asserting that pressures on government services have eased and that job markets have rebounded. And some supporters of the immigration crackdown say it hasn’t gone far enough. But experts predict looming negative economic and demographic consequences for the United States if the trend persists. Immigrants are a critical work force in many sectors, and the country’s reliance on them is growing as more baby boomers retire.” NYT (Gift Article): Immigrant Population in U.S. Drops for the First Time in Decades. For some proponents of this shift, reversing demographic trends trumps the economic damage.
“Empathy is usually regarded as a virtue, a key to human decency and kindness. And yet, with increasing momentum, voices on the Christian right are preaching that it has become a vice. For them, empathy is a cudgel for the left: It can manipulate caring people into accepting all manner of sins according to a conservative Christian perspective, including abortion access, LGBTQ rights, illegal immigration and certain views on social and racial justice.” Is empathy a sin? Some conservative Christians argue it can be. (Maybe they have a point because I have zero empathy for this perspective.)
“Here’s a short but by no means comprehensive list of items that patrons of Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine, can check out for free: A dumpling steamer. Cannoli-making tubes. A ukulele. A heated leg massager. A Happy Birthday sign. Easels. A foam ax throwing game. A KitchenAid mixer, in chrome or red.” NYT (Gift Article): Why Shop? In Maine, the Library of Things Has It All (Almost). “Items in high demand can be checked out for only a week, and include a grain mill for grinding fresh flour, a nut wizard to gather acorns and other nuts, and, this being Maine, a blueberry rake.” (As a city boy, I assume those are used to shovel blueberries into your mouth at a faster clip.)
Do One’s Damnedest: For those who subscribe to the pay attention to what they do school of thought, there’s this: “Two Russian cruise missiles slammed into an American electronics factory in a remote corner of far western Ukraine … The attack came as Russia carried out one of its largest airstrikes of the war.”
+ Bibi’s New Offensive: “Israel launched strikes on Gaza City overnight as it moved forward with a new offensive in the Palestinian enclave despite international condemnation and mounting domestic protests.”
+ Cutting a Fine Figure: New York appeals court throws out Trump’s more than $500 million fraud judgment. “Some judges of the state Appellate Division’s First Department agreed that Trump and his companies had engaged in fraud, but agreed with their colleagues that the award was an ‘excessive fine.'”
+ Who’s Your Daddy? “Since the first commercial DNA test débuted, in 2000, the market has exploded. A 2025 YouGov poll found that one in five Americans has taken a direct-to-consumer DNA test. A few years ago, a research team at Baylor College of Medicine surveyed more than twenty-three thousand customers of these kits and learned that three per cent of them had discovered that a person whom they’d believed to be their biological parent wasn’t.” The New Yorker: The Family Fallout of DNA Surprises. (I will never question my mom as my biological parent as long as she remains a subscriber with a consistent open rate.)
+ Bargaining Chips: “The failed payoff — a wad of cash in a red envelope stuffed inside an opened bag of Herr’s Sour Cream & Onion ripple potato chips — was made by Winnie Greco, a longtime Adams ally who resigned last year from her position as the mayor’s liaison to the Asian community after she was targeted in multiple investigations. She resurfaced recently as a consistent presence in his re-election campaign.” (I’m starting to wonder if modern politics is attracting our best and brightest…)
+ Sub Optimal: “Where protest movements take hold, symbols of resistance soon follow. In Washington, since the Trump administration has taken over the city’s police force and ordered the National Guard to patrol the streets, that symbol has taken the form of a person who flung a footlong sub. His name, colloquially, is ‘Sandwich Guy.'”
+ The Anti-Rainbow Fanatics: “A rainbow crosswalk was removed overnight outside of Pulse nightclub in Orlando, one of the most significant LGBTQ sites in Florida, as part of state and federal transportation officials’ aim to wipe ‘political banners’ from public roadways.” Rainbow crosswalk outside Pulse nightclub removed overnight. “The rainbow was first installed on Esther Street in 2017, a year after 49 were killed and 53 were wounded at Pulse.”
+ Bottom of the Barrel: Cracker Barrel outrages conservatives with new logo: ‘This is your Bud Light moment.’ (Our era is reaching unimagined levels of idiocy.)
“There it was: another A&W bag, containing a dozen or so french fries and, this time, two packets of ketchup. This was the fifth night, the fifth bag of fries, the fifth ‘Rodolphe.’ Two was a potential coincidence, three an oddity, four a puzzle. But five? I was obsessed.” The Great French Fry Mystery.
+ Via Kottke: YoYo Elevated to Performance Art.
2025-08-20 20:00:00
I keep wondering when the economy is going to crack and the market is going to drop. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want these things to happen. I just don’t understand how we can avoid this outcome when you add up the roughshod regulation removal, the haphazard, illogical, and inconsistent tariff policies, the smashing of trust in our economic data, the constant attacks on an independent Federal Reserve, the aggressiveness toward economic allies that is causing them to look elsewhere for trade, the counterproductive closed door policies when it comes to foreign students and workers, the ring-kissing required to operate big businesses, and the consistent (and celebratory) flouting of the rule of law. So every time I see a troubling economic indicator, I wonder, Is this it? The latest concerning sign of self-inflicted economic wounds is ironically happening beneath the golden arches. McDonald’s will slash combo meal prices to lure back inflation-weary diners. Is this just a reaction the fact that some meals at Mickey D’s have unhappily topped $18? Or is this a leading indicator that suggests it’s time to freak out and throw that bottle of ketchup at the wall?
+ “Many businesses stockpiled key supplies and components ahead of the tariffs, but the full effect of the import taxes is becoming more apparent as those reserves dwindle, dealing a final blow to some companies already struggling with other challenges.” NYT (Gift Article): American Businesses in ‘Survival Mode’ as Trump Tariffs Pile Up. Are these just random examples of perishing businesses or is this a sign that all the things we’ve been taught hurt the economy are starting to hurt the economy? I’d ask if you want fries with that question, but I’m afraid you can’t afford them…
“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats…They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.” That was a claim then candidate Trump repeated about Springfield, Ohio during the 2024 campaign. Now that campaign hogwash has been replaced by the realities of policies that are driving Haitian workers out of Springfield. An Ohio City Faces a Future Without Haitian Workers: ‘It’s Not Going to Be Good.’ They weren’t eating the pets. They were reviving the economy.
+ Meanwhile, some Florida farmers reduce crops as deportation fears drive workers away. (Feel safer?)
“Relying on signals produced when a paralyzed person attempts speech makes it easy for that person to mentally zip their lip and avoid oversharing. But it also means they have to make a concerted effort to convey a word or sentence, which can be tiring and time consuming … The team wanted to know whether they could decode brain signals that are far more subtle than those produced by attempted speech. The team wanted to decode imagined speech.” Using technology to give paralyzed people the ability to speak is a remarkable achievement. The fact that these implants are getting closer to knowing (and sharing) what people think is a little scary. These brain implants speak your mind — even when you don’t want to.
My third grade teacher regularly made me stay after school to improve my horrible penmanship. The weird thing was that she always made me do these after school assignments up at the chalkboard. When I suggested that it didn’t really make sense for me to practice cursive at the chalkboard when what she really wanted was for my pen-to-paper handwriting to improve, I was invited to stay even longer after school. These days, I never have to use cursive, on paper or on the chalkboard, but I still type with two fingers. Wired: The End of Handwriting. “For years, smartphones and computers have threatened to erase writing by hand. Would that be so bad?” (I jotted down an answer to that question in my notes, but now I can’t read what I wrote.)
Innies vs Outies: “In the hottest regions of the country, such as Texas, where I live, the climate crisis is not only changing our world; it is also dividing it. When the heat spikes during the summer, we morph into a two-party state: the cooled and the cooked. On one side, there is water, shade and air-conditioning. On the other, there is sweat, suffering and even, in the worst cases, death.” NYT (Gift Article): The New American Inequality: The Cooled vs. the Cooked.
+ Dem Bones: “Few measurements reflect the luster of a political party’s brand more clearly than the choice by voters to identify with it — whether they register on a clipboard in a supermarket parking lot, at the Department of Motor Vehicles or in the comfort of their own home. And fewer and fewer Americans are choosing to be Democrats.” The Democratic Party Faces a Voter Registration Crisis.
+ Thou Shall Not: “A federal judge in Texas temporarily halted on Wednesday a state law that would have required the Ten Commandments to be visibly displayed in every public school classroom by Sept. 1.” Judge Halts Texas Law Mandating the Ten Commandments in School. (Maybe people should spend less time pushing the ten commandments and more time following them.)
+ With Reservations: “Did you see what’s happening with the restaurants? They’re bursting. They were all closing and going bankrupt.” Trump says the National Guard in DC is making restaurants great again. Surprise. The numbers say the opposite. ‘The city is dead’: D.C. restaurant reservations drop amid federal crackdown.
+ Ain’t it the Truth? “Some of the officials were involved in gathering information and making assessments on Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election. Meanwhile, others had signed a public letter during Trump’s first term, supporting calls for an impeachment inquiry into the President.” Trump Administration Revokes Security Clearances of These U.S. Officials.
+ Map Quest: As the Texas GOP moves ever closer to approving a gerrymandered district map, Obama applauds Newsom’s California redistricting plan.
+ Nerd is the Word: “The leading theory about the origin of nerd is that it likely first appeared in print in the 1950 children’s book If I Ran the Zoo written by Dr. Seuss.” Nerd! How the word popularized by Dr. Seuss went from geeky insult to mainstream.
“To the casual observer, leg lengthening looks like a form of medieval torture, and earlier that day I watched as a physiotherapist gently lifted each of Frank’s new legs while he groaned with pain – straightening his hamstrings feels impossible, as if they might snap. He is in recovery from the first of two surgeries: this one broke his femurs to insert metal rods and add fixators. The second will remove the fixators after he has completed the key-turning process.” To some, travelling to Turkey to gain a few inches is a (very high) price worth paying. (Then when they fly home, they realize they can no longer sit comfortably in coach…)
+ “On June 14 of this year, Vitomir Maričić took one last gulp of pure oxygen and lay down in a pool. There he remained, cool as a sea cucumber, for 29 minutes and 3 seconds.”
+ Fuzzy the bear enjoys some ice cream at South Lake Tahoe shop.
2025-08-19 20:00:00
Here’s a quick refresher on how to get people to believe in fake studies. First, write a bunch of fake studies. Then refer back to those fake studies as evidence to support your new research. Rinse (facts), and repeat. OK, it’s not quite that simple. To really take your phony findings mainstream, you need to be appointed to a powerful position by a someone who is a fan of fake research. Which brings us to RFK Jr’s appointment of David Geier as a researcher. “In the scientific community, Mr. Geier is infamous for the deeply flawed studies he conducted with his father, Mark Geier, claiming that vaccines cause autism. Researchers have long called attention to the serious methodological and ethical defects in their work. The Geiers once created an illegitimate review board for their research, composed of themselves, family members and business associates. They also promoted the drug Lupron, used for chemical castration and prostate cancer, as a supposed treatment for autism, charging $5,000 to $6,000 monthly for unproven therapies. As a result, Mark Geier’s medical license was ultimately revoked or suspended by all 12 states in which he was licensed, and David Geier was fined for practicing medicine without a license.” Now David Geier is at the forefront of government research to determine (again) whether there’s any connection between vaccines and autism. He has some history in this area. Bad history. In the past, “a whopping two-thirds of studies that claimed to have found a link were written by David and Mark Geier. These studies have been heavily criticized for using deceptive research techniques and flawed data.” Jessica Steier in the NYT (Gift Article): The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause Autism. (Garbage in, garbage out. It’s the story of science under this administration. And it could soon be the story of our bodies.)
+ “A major medical organization is splitting from the federal government in crafting recommendations for Covid-19 vaccinations, an unprecedented move that reflects a growing rift between the scientific community and the Trump administration’s health agencies.” National pediatrics group splits with RFK Jr. on Covid vaccinations. Meanwhile, RFK Jr.’s Wi-Fi and 5G conspiracies appear to make it into MAHA report draft. (How will the do your own research crowd do their research without WiFi and 5G?)
+ The manufacturing of false “research” and fake statistics is of course not limited to the health arena. It’s central to every move the administration makes. That’s why Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics when he didn’t like the data. This questioning of real data and pushing of fake data is at the core of nearly all of the administration’s moves. Trump brought in the national guard to patrol DC even though crime numbers were down. Now, the Justice Department is investigating D.C. police over alleged fake crime data. From Trump: “D.C. gave Fake Crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety. This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing! Until 4 days ago, Washington, D.C., was the most unsafe ‘city’ in the United States, and perhaps the World. Now, in just a short period of time, it is perhaps the safest, and getting better every single hour!” After getting bombarded with enough of this twisted data, people don’t know what to believe. And that’s precisely the goal.
“As the governor works with legislators this week to finalize a November special election over redistricting, fundraisers are hunting for donors to bankroll the crusade. Newsom is championing the effort as a fight for democracy to counter similar moves in Texas — but even in heavily Democratic California, his success is far from guaranteed.” Bloomberg (Gift Article) with an interesting look at Gavin Newsom’s efforts to sell a redistricting plan to big donors who have to come to terms with the notion that fighting fire with fire requires a little arson. Newsom Woos California Billionaires in Map Fight Against Trump.
From Alexander Vindman to Tom Nichols, there seems to be some consensus that the meeting between Trump, Zelensky, and European leaders could have been a lot worse. Or as Nichols explains: “Alaska is still part of the United States, America is still in NATO, and Kyiv remains free—and in this second Trump presidency, perhaps that counts as a good-enough day.”
+ “Diplomats pointed out that the remarkable spectacle of European leaders ditching their summer holiday plans to rush to Washington was prompted less by a rare opportunity to make peace than by the fear that Mr. Trump might attempt to bully Mr. Zelensky, as he did in a turbulent Oval Office meeting in February. This time, the fear was Mr. Trump would try to force the Ukrainian president into a one-sided, land-for-peace deal with Russia.” NYT (Gift Article): Europe’s Leaders Headed Off Giveaway to Putin, but Emerged Without a Clear Path. At one point, speaking about Putin, “Mr. Trump was overheard on an open microphone telling President Emmanuel Macron of France, ‘I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.'” (I’m not sure there’s a decibel meter on Earth that can measure how crazy that sounds…)
“As the minutes crawled by, he noticed that the birds were relieving themselves not just frequently, but regularly, each following a personal rhythm. Most of the 15 birds he recorded went every four to 10 minutes — more often than any other seabirds that have been studied.” NYT (Gift Article): These Majestic Seabirds Never Stop Pooping. “Streaked shearwaters keep a very regular rhythm throughout their daily foraging flights, shedding about 5 percent of their body mass every hour.” (That matches my output when reading the news.)
White Noise: “The community’s two architects — a classically trained French horn player who has livestreamed his own sex videos, and a former jazz pianist arrested but not charged for attempted murder in Ecuador — say they must personally confirm that applicants are white before they can be welcomed in.” The Founders of This New Development Say You Must Be White to Live There. (We’re in an era when the worst of the worst feel empowered to publicly celebrate their worseness.)
+ Dead Lines: “The interview triggered a feeling that has become exceedingly familiar over the past three years. It is the sinking feeling of a societal race toward a future that feels bloodless, hastily conceived, and shruggingly accepted. Are we really doing this? Who thought this was a good idea? In this sense, the Acosta interview is just a product of what feels like a collective delusion. This strange brew of shock, confusion, and ambivalence, I’ve realized, is the defining emotion of the generative-AI era. Three years into the hype, it seems that one of AI’s enduring cultural impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it.” Charlie Warzel in the The Atlantic (Gift Article) after watching an interview with a dead person. AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event.
+ Weird Flex, But OK: “Teachers from New York and California who apply to teach in Oklahoma will now have to answer questions meant to screen out “woke indoctrinators” with left-wing views — the latest attempt by Oklahoma officials to push the state’s education system rightward.” Oklahoma will test some incoming teachers with ‘America-first’ exam. (Moves like this should help Oklahoma maintain its educational rank among states. It’s currently 50th.)
+ Every Cop is a Criminal and All the Sinners Saints: “A Maine police officer arrested by immigration authorities has agreed to voluntarily leave the country, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Monday.” (Feel safer?)
+ Error Force: Air Force’s top uniformed officer is retiring early in latest Trump military shake-up. Apparently, being a command pilot with more than 4,600 flying hours is too woke.
+ The Man With the Golden Pen: “Mr. Caroff’s designs were familiar, but his name was not. He did not sign much of his work and largely avoided self-promotion.” But from the James Bond logo to posters for hundreds of movies, you definitely know his work. Joe Caroff, Who Gave James Bond His Signature 007 Logo, Dies at 103. From from John Gruber: “Caroff had a remarkably accomplished career. He created iconic posters for dozens of terrific films across a slew of genres. The fact that he created the 007 logo but only earned $300 from it is more like a curious footnote than anything.”
“In a huge multi-decade operation, the whole of the Arctic town is being moved as an iron ore mine operated by the state-owned mining company LKAB weakens the ground, threatening to swallow the town.” This sounds like the plot for a particularly bleak Netflix miniseries, but it’s real. The ‘big church move’: Swedish town begins to roll historic building 5km.
+ Some photos to finish this edition: Images of community from NPR station photographers. And here are The Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025 Finalists.
2025-08-18 20:00:00
When Italy’s Jasmine Paolini played Veronika Kedermetova at the Cincinnati Masters over the weekend, the score showed no Russian flag next to Kedermetova’s name and her nationality wasn’t mentioned by the arena announcer when she walked on the court. That’s how it is for Russian athletes since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But while these athletes’ nationality is shunned, the madman, expansionist, war criminal responsible for that shunning was welcomed onto America soil and back into the international arena by a clapping US president standing on a long red carpet. This was just one of many visuals and deal points that turned the Alaska summit into a new low point for American leadership. As Anne Applebaum explains: “There is not much else to say about yesterday’s Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, other than to observe the intertwining elements of tragedy and farce. It was embarrassing for Americans to welcome a notorious wanted war criminal on their territory. It was humiliating to watch an American president act like a happy puppy upon encountering the dictator of a much poorer, much less important state, treating him as a superior.” Of course, none of this comes as any surprise. The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Has No Cards. By immediately giving up his demand for a ceasefire and embracing Putin on the global stage, he reminded the world that American policy is a few cards short of a deck.
+ Which brings us to today’s follow-up summit with Zelensky, who is being joined by a large group of European leaders. They are obviously there to sway, cajole, convince, and even manipulate an American president into understanding that in the battle between a brutal, expansion-minded, invader and Western Democracy, the latter is the good guy. If history is any indicator, that won’t be an easy sell.
+ Trump spent part of his press appearance with Zelensky arguing against mail-in voting, which he said Putin explained could never be fair. No, I’m not making that up. There were also more jokes about Zelensky’s attire. I’m guessing no one is laughing harder than Vladamir Putin. Let’s hope that, behind the scenes, European leaders can remind Trump of whose side we’re supposed to be on. The talks mostly focused on two issues: Land and security guarantees. Here’s the latest from the NYT, BBC, and NBC.
“In the end, Democrats said they had decided to return only after they had denied a vote during a first special legislative session, a move that drew national attention to Mr. Trump’s push for a rare mid-decade redistricting and helped propel Democratic states to begin their own redistricting efforts. On Monday, California state lawmakers were expected to move forward on a measure to redraw the state’s congressional map to favor Democrats and counteract the changes in Texas, a move championed by California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.” NYT (Gift Article): Texas Democrats End Walkout, Allowing Redrawn Map to Pass.
“But the flood of financially incentivized ‘slop’ has also given way to a strange new internet, where social media feeds overflow with unsettlingly lifelike imagery and even real videos can appear suspect. Some viral clips now barely rely on humans at all, with AI tools generating not just the imagery but also the ideas.” WaPo (Gift Article): Making cash off ‘AI slop’: The surreal video business taking over the web. (As with all of the stories, you have to remember that these technologies are only getting warmed up. In movie parlance, we’re still just watching the previews.)
“Between 1990 and 1998, the number of Americans who said they roller skated grew from 3.6 million to 27 million, making it one of the fastest growing exercise fads in modern American history. Today, fewer than 6 million Americans say they roller skate; the whole boom has practically collapsed.” Pickleball isn’t the first sport to explode in popularity. It’s not even the first racket sport to do so. But it’s having a moment, and “it might be the fastest-growing sport in modern American history.” Derek Thompson: How Pickleball Explains American Culture. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Must Be the Money: “To save the lives of infants and small children living in low- and middle-income countries, there are a handful of tried and tested tools, like anti-malarial drugs, bed nets and vaccines. The results from a massive experiment in rural Kenya suggests another: cash.” NPR: Researchers discover a secret weapon that saves babies’ lives.
+ Operation Warped Speed: “The federal government also offered hefty incentives: up to $50,000 in signing bonuses and up to $60,000 in student loan forgiveness. No undergraduate degree is required. DHS also lifted the age cap for law-enforcement roles … ‘America has been invaded by criminals and predators,’ the agency says on its recruiting website. ‘We need YOU to get them out.'” $50,000 Signing Bonus, No Age Caps: The Blitz to Hire ICE Officers. One of their social media campaigns encourages applicants to “deport illegals with your absolute boys.”
+ Defense Mechanism: “If the United States abandons mRNA, it will not simply be forfeiting a public health advantage. It will be ceding a strategic asset. In national security terms, mRNA is the equivalent of a missile defense system for biology.” NYT (Gift Article): America Is Abandoning One of the Greatest Medical Breakthroughs.
+ The A Team: “Grammarly is launching several new AI agents for specific writing challenges, from educators trying to detect plagiarism and AI-generated text to students looking to gauge reader reaction to their paper, needing help with citations, and even seeing their predicted grade.” (It’s only a matter of a time until a student sues a teacher for giving them a B on a paper that AI said deserves an A.)
+ Letter RIP: MSNBC will soon be renamed as MS NOW, meaning “My Source for News, Opinion and the World.” (They would have been better off going with TCBY.)
+ Snap Decisions: “Former NFL players now entering retirement age are more likely to be living with chronic pain or a disability, are more depressed and anxious, and are far more likely to report having some type of cognitive decline than the average American man … Yet, in spite of all that, the vast majority say they would do it all over again, and that playing football had a positive effect on their lives.”
+ Thinking Inside the Box: Looking for a solid, short-term economic indicator. Consider cardboard. “US box shipments—that is, volumes of empty packaging materials sold to retailers, which in turn use them to ship orders to warehouses, storefronts and Americans’ doorsteps—fell to the lowest second-quarter reading since 2015.”
“The Cambridge Dictionary defines skibidi as ‘a word that can have different meanings such as ‘cool’ or ‘bad’, or can be used with no real meaning as a joke’, an example of its use is: ‘What the skibidi are you doing?'” That might be a good question to ask dictionary editors. ‘Skibidi’, ‘delulu’ and ‘tradwife’ among words added to Cambridge Dictionary.
+ The Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee somehow caught a ball between his knees in center field. (Sadly, I wasn’t wearing my Hoo Let the Dogs Out shirt at the time.)
2025-08-15 20:00:00
Freeze. Don’t move. Remain in place. Don’t leave me this way. Oh, won’t you stay just a little bit longer. None of these requests are really necessary in America these days. We’ve long been known as a country of movers and shakers (an attribute that was core to our economic growth), but for a variety of reasons, we’ve become more known for inertia. (We still move and shake, but mostly just in the fetal position in front of our laptops.) “For generations, Americans have chased opportunity by moving from city to city, state to state. U.S. companies were often quicker to hire—and to fire—than employers in other parts of the world. But that defining mobility has stalled, leaving many people in homes that are too small, in jobs they don’t love or in their parents’ basements looking for work.” WSJ (Gift Article): Nobody’s Buying Homes, Nobody’s Switching Jobs—and America’s Mobility Is Stalling.
+ This lack of locomotion shouldn’t come as a static shock because I’ve covered it before: The U-Haul of Mirrors: “I move so rarely from the couch indentation where I write NextDraft that my kids occasionally place a finger under my nose to see if I’m still breathing. But these days, more and more Americans are not moving; at least not from their communities. A country that was once defined by how often people moved has changed dramatically in recent decades—and the trend has left other core characteristics like entrepreneurship, innovation, growth, and social equality stuck in the mud.”
“Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to Alaska that he wasn’t having the meeting to broker a deal on behalf of Ukraine, but said instead, his goal was getting Putin to the table. He also stopped short of promising security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war. Trump said he spoke to Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko — a staunch Putin ally — ahead of the summit.” The expectations keep getting set lower for today’s summit. Why let Putin have the win of sharing the table with America if there’s no upside? Consider that, “given an ICC war crimes warrant, there aren’t many places that could host Putin right now.” Here’s the latest from CNN, BBC, and the NYT.
+ The Atlantic (Gift Article): The U.S.-Russia Summit Is Already a Win for Putin.
+ Russian Foreign Minister Turns Up in Alaska With U.S.S.R. Shirt.
“Despite tech companies’ professed desire not to burden others, they often push regulators to impose some of the upgrade costs on everybody. They contend that data centers bring jobs to the area, and that grid upgrades will ultimately help local businesses and residents.” NYT (Gift Articles): Big Tech’s A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone. This is a story about energy prices, but it’s also a story about how far big tech has integrated itself into our lives. A very few companies are everywhere, including the grid. They are the taking over every level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. (If you don’t know what that is, ask Google Gemini or ChatGPT or some other big tech co.)
What to Book: Among Friends by Hal Ebbot is an incisive look at adult friendship, both in good times and under stress, as the author “examines betrayal within the sanctuary of a defining relationship, as well as themes of class, marriage, friendship, power, and the things we tell ourselves to preserve our finely made worlds.” Ebbot takes you inside the minds of the key characters and doesn’t let you, or them, out.
+ What to Show: “After Molly receives a diagnosis of Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, she decides to leave her husband and begins to explore the full breadth and complexity of her sexual desires for the first time in her life.” That show description always sounded a little too odd or a little too depressing for me to want to get started with the series. But man am I glad a did. It’s funny, sharp, and often uplifting. And the performances are some of the best of year. Don’t miss Dying for Sex on Hulu.
School Bullies: “On Thursday morning, educators fanned out to Los Angeles public schools to do many of the things that are done every year on the first day of school to help families feel safe. They high-fived students and greeted parents dropping off their children. But this year, there was another task at hand: Looking out for federal immigration agents.” In L.A., Fear of ICE Raids Created a Tense First Day of School. (Feel safer?)
+ Newsom Kind of Wonderful: Gov. Gavin Newsom calls for a special election to allow for a new congressional map in California. Trump responded to the press conference by reminding everyone why these tough stances in blue states are increasingly necessary. Border Patrol Agents Show Up in Force at Newsom Rally. Meanwhile, from NYT Mag (Gift Article): How the Democrats Became the Party That Brings Pencils to a Knife Fight. “Will the battle over Texas’ gerrymandering lead to a new era for the party?”
+ District’s Attorney: “The Administration’s unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call DC home. This is the gravest threat to Home Rule that the District has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it.” DC sues Trump administration over police takeover.
+ Rhyme and Reason: The Atlantic (Gift Article): Why So Many MIT Students Are Writing Poetry. (Because poetry will soon pay more than coding?)
+ Reboot Camp: “While traditional kickboxing comes with the risk of blood, sweat and serious head injuries, the competitors in Friday’s match at the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing faced a different set of challenges. Balance, battery life and a sense of philosophical purpose being among them.” Box, run, crash: China’s humanoid robot games show advances and limitations.
+ Searchin’ for My Lost Shaker of Salt: “All of this conversation about smelling salts piqued my curiosity. Based on these heartfelt testimonials, it seemed as though having this little pick-me-up was a critical part of playing in the NFL. I simply had to know how smelling salts could impact my world. Would they give me a rush strong enough to trigger the writing version of a 75-yard touchdown?” Why Do NFL Players Love Smelling Salts? I Tried Some at Work to Find Out. (News curators prefer sedatives…)
+ Going Down a Bunny Rabbit Hole: Here’s Why Rabbits Are Sprouting Tentacle Horns. (Spoiler alert: Because it’s 2025, why else?)
Artists, authors, scientists, innovators. Meet Time’s Girls of the Year 2025.
+ “This is a significant decision for the family, and one we haven’t taken lightly, but it feels like the right time to transfer our entire shareholding into an employee ownership trust.” Founder to hand over UK’s biggest toy shop chain to staff.
+ A 10-year-old chess prodigy from north-west London has become the youngest person to earn the woman international master title.
+ With a Shovel and a Dream, a Woman Finds a 2.3 Carat Diamond in Arkansas.
+ FluMist, a vaccine nasal spray, can now be used at home.
+ Diabetes patient produces own insulin after gene-edited cell transplant.
+ She might be the world’s best receiver: Meet Isabella Geraci, U.S. flag football star.