2026-01-22 20:00:00
From podcasts to documentaries to Netflix series, Americans are obsessed with murder mysteries. Whether we’re reading Agatha Christie or watching Knives Out, we can’t seem to get enough. But we’re currently encountering a new kind of murder mystery that’s sweeping across the nation — and given our reputation, it’s threatening the American way of life. The case being presented to us today goes something like this: People aren’t murdering as much anymore. In fact, violent crimes are down almost everywhere. That includes places where there are more police on the street, and places where there are fewer. The country is experiencing “a once-in-a-lifetime improvement in public safety despite a police-staffing crisis. In August, the FBI released its final data for 2024, which showed that America’s violent-crime rate fell to its lowest level since 1969, led by a nearly 15 percent decrease in homicide—the steepest annual drop ever recorded. Preliminary 2025 numbers look even better.” Henry Grabar in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Great Crime Decline Is Happening All Across the Country. “There are many plausible explanations for the recent crime downturn: sharper policing strategy, more police overtime, low unemployment, the lure of digital life, the post-pandemic return to normalcy. Each of these surely played a role. But only one theory can match the decline in its scope and scale: that the massive, post-pandemic investment in local governments deployed during the Biden administration, particularly through the American Rescue Plan Act, delivered a huge boost to the infrastructure and services of American communities—including those that suffered most from violent crime. That spending may be responsible for our current pax urbana.”
+ NYT (Gift Article): What’s Behind the Staggering Drop in the Murder Rate? No One Knows for Sure. “Researchers have long struggled to explain why crime fluctuates. Research has credited policing strategies and incarceration rates, mental health treatment and gun laws, the beautification of vacant lots and the phasing out of lead, which impairs brain development, from gasoline in the 1970s.” (We may never know for sure what’s causing the drop in violent crime, but at least in this case, the suspense is not killing us.)
Usually, the phrase We are not alone refers to the search for other intelligent life forms somewhere out there in the universe. These days, it feels like we’d be lucky to find intelligent life when consuming the daily news. But we are not alone. There are many people, including many leaders, who feel the same as you do when it comes to the attacks on American values. So let’s take note when they speak out. Today, Jack Smith testified in front of Congress. “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Democrat or Republican. No one should be above the law in this country.” (Believe it or not, that is still mainstream opinion.) Here’s Smith’s opening statement. “President Trump has sought to seek revenge against career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff simply for having worked on these cases. To vilify and seek retribution against these people is wrong. Those dedicated public servants are the best of us, and it has been a privilege to serve with them. After nearly 30 years of public service, including in international settings, I have seen how the rule of law can erode. My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in our country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted. The rule of law is not self-executing. It depends on our collective commitment to apply it. It requires dedicated service on behalf of others, especially when that service is difficult and comes with costs. Our willingness to pay those costs is what tests and defines our commitment to the rule of law and to this wonderful country.”
+ “I do not understand why you would mass pardon people who assaulted police officers. I don’t get it. I never will.” It’s critical to note that Smith is making these public statements knowing full well that Trump’s corrupted justice department will do ‘everything in its power’ to indict him. Here’s the latest on the hearing from CNN and NBC.
+ “I’m not naive. These guys are gonna try to take me down.” Gavin Newsom at Davos. Here’s the full conversation.
+ A couple exceptions like these not convincing you that we are not alone? Well, consider this from the NYT: The Voters Who Have Taken a U-Turn on Trump.
“When Kash Patel was nominated, we all knew in our bones that the bureau was going to be a very different environment than any of us had experienced before. He regularly referred to us as government gangsters. He was also the author of three children’s books in which he’s a self-styled wizard who saves King Donald Trump from the evil forces of the Justice Department.” The NYT Magazine goes deep with forty-five current and former FBI agents on the changes that are undermining the agency and making you less safe. A Year Inside Kash Patel’s F.B.I.
I spent many afternoons during third grade being forced to practice my terrible penmanship on the chalkboard in Mrs. Mitchell’s classroom. At one point, I paused and remarked, “Isn’t this punishment just making me better at doing cursive on a chalkboard when the real issue is that I’m not good at doing it with a pencil on paper?” The result? I spent many more afternoons during third grade being forced to practice my terrible penmanship on the chalkboard. This is all a long way of saying to the children of New Jersey: I feel your pain. Cursive Makes a Comeback in New Jersey Schools. “Proponents of cursive cite studies that link handwriting to better information retention and writing speed, and say … that knowing script can help people read the original U.S. Constitution.” (Maybe we should have that translated into block text, fingerpainting, hieroglyphics, or whatever it takes to get it back into the mainstream…)
Schoolyard Bullies: The federal government is going after the worst of the worst criminals … at your local primary school. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a 5-year-old on his way home from school on Tuesday and used him as ‘bait’ to knock on his front door to see if anyone was home.” (Feel safer?) Meanwhile, 2 Women Arrested Over Protest of Minnesota Pastor Linked to ICE. Sadly, things are likely to get worse before they get better. NYT (Gift Article): ICE Said Agents Can Enter Homes Without Judicial Warrant, Group Claims.
+ Oh That’s Rich: “In effect, inequality has become a race between the housing market and the stock market.” Rich Americans Had a Good 2025. Everyone Else Fell Behind. (It’s notable that this trend was in full effect during the Biden years, and still many of the richest of the rich felt they were being victimized by the system.)
+ Bank Shot: “President Trump sued JPMorgan Chase for $5 billion on Thursday, alleging the nation’s biggest bank improperly closed his accounts over an unsubstantiated ‘woke’ belief that it needed to distance itself from him after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.”
+ This Time, It’s Personal: “Google is leveraging its artificial intelligence technology to open a new peephole for its dominant search engine to tailor answers that draw upon people’s interests, habits, travel itineraries and photo libraries.” All you have to do is let them analyze your emails and photos. Even if you don’t give AI access to this information, you’re probably sharing a lot. 5 things to avoid asking AI, according to security experts.
+ Hate the Sin, But Love the Sinners: “Sinners leads the 2026 Oscar nominations with a record-breaking 16 noms.” Here’s a full list of nominations and the snubs and surprises.
+ Double Talk: “The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that daytime and late-night TV talk shows featuring interviews with political candidates must comply with ‘equal time’ rules that give airtime to views of opposing candidates.” (Holy sh-t, yes. Let Kimmel interview them on live TV…)
Need more motivation to keep those New Year’s resolutions alive? Do it for the airlines! “As Americans slim down with the help of weight-loss drugs, U.S. airlines could be among the surprise beneficiaries, a new report suggests. That’s because the lighter a plane is, the less fuel it requires — and fuel is one of an airline’s biggest costs.” (It’s even more helpful if you can slim down enough to fit in an overhead compartment…)
+ The bathroom door scandal: why hotels are putting toilets in glass boxes.
2026-01-21 20:00:00
Speech! … Speech! This year’s gathering in Davos was ultimately a tale of two speeches. One that drew a standing ovation. One that drew gasps. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered an honest account of the rupture in the world order. He didn’t have to mention who ruptured it, but he did call for clear-eyed views and reactions to the dramatic change. I’ve often argued that Americans may forgive themselves for Trump, but our allies may not. The breaking point has arrived. “The middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” NYT (Gift Article): Canada Flexes on Global Stage With an Eye to Its Own Survival. “We placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals. And largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct: we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition … Recently, great powers began using economic integration as weapons. Tariffs as leverage. Financial infrastructure as coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited. You cannot ‘live within the lie’ of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.” Here’s the full speech in text and on video.
+ In The Atlantic (Gift Article), Robert Kagan goes deep on the American own goal, destroying the world order it has led for decades. America vs. The World. “For decades, much of the world supported a United States that acted on these principles and accepted America’s power, despite its flaws and errors, precisely because it did not act solely out of narrow self-interest—much less in the narrow, selfish interest of a single ruler. That era is over.”
+ While the headlines out of Davos on Wednesday were all about Trump’s insistence that the US military wouldn’t invade Greenland, his own meandering speech included a critique of Carney, saying, Canada “lives because of the United States” and should be grateful (which is a weird way of convincing someone you’re not the hegemon they described), confused Iceland and Greenland several times, waxed nostalgic about NATO calling him Daddy, and mumbled something (I’m really not sure what) about rare earths. From Bloomberg: A Stunned Davos Crowd Takes in Trump’s Case for Greenland.
+ It’s not unthinkable that the US could get a military and mineral deal related to Greenland. The bigger question is how these relentless attacks on our allies will impact our role in the world moving forward. WSJ (Gift Article): Greenland Clash Risks Undermining America’s Place in World Economic Order.
“There were no promises of an impartial investigation. There was no regret or remorse. There was little empathy for her family — for her parents, her partner or the children she left behind. From the moment the world learned about her death, the administration pronounced the shooting not only justified but an act of heroism worthy of praise and celebration. It isn’t just the lying; it’s that the lies are wildly exaggerated and easily refutable.” Radley Balko in the NYT (Gift Article): I’ve Covered Police Abuse for 20 Years. What ICE Is Doing Is Different. “The lies this administration is telling about Ms. Good aren’t those you deploy as part of a cover-up. They’re those you use when you want to show you can get away with anything. They’re a projection of power.”
“Nothing American or Canadian policy makers did—no amount of law enforcement, harm reduction, or opioid-settlement funds—made deaths start falling, the paper implies. America and Canada’s drug problem might be in China’s hands.” The Atlantic on some really good news that experts are racing to explain. The Real Reason for the Drop in Fentanyl Overdoses.
“The always interesting Bonnie Tsui on the connection between creativity and physical activity. “For someone who is not a professional swimmer, I spend an awful lot of time under water. I consider it an act of mobile meditation: Sensory input is muffled, so the chaos of the surface world eventually recedes. What’s left is activity—familiar, comforting, and hypnotic, almost second nature. My brain, normally trying to create order out of chaos, is free to fumble for deeper meaning. This is especially useful as a writer: I believe I generate my best material while swimming.” Why So Many Writers Are Athletes. (Can we change that headline to Why So Many Writers Attempt Physical Activity, No Matter How Embarrassing? I really don’t want my pilates instructor to extend my plank session to punish me for describing myself as an athlete…)
Bad Beats: “So far, even if fans are losing trust in the product, they’re still watching and the leagues keep making money.” Sports-Betting Scandals Are Ubiquitous. Whether Fans Will Care Is an Open Question. (I worry a lot less about whether the scandals will affect the betting business and a lot more about the way the betting business will create an era of gambling addiction.)
+ Payback Time? “The ruling revealed an overlooked consequence of Trump’s pardon for some Jan. 6 offenders: Not only did it free them from prison but it emboldened them to demand payback from the government.” They ransacked the U.S. Capitol and want the government to pay them back.
+ Better Off Fed: “The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared likely to block President Donald Trump from immediately firing Democratic-appointed Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve board, a move that would prevent Trump from exerting greater influence over the powerful central bank that guides the economy.” (This, and the dropping of the Greenland military threats, combined to boost the market, bigly.)
+ Chips on the Table: “I think this is crazy. It’s a bit like selling nuclear weapons to North Korea and [bragging that] Boeing made the casings.” Trump didn’t give the only controversial speech at Davos. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei unloaded on both the administration and chip companies (including a really big one that invests in his company) over the decision to sell AI to China.
+ Faith In Nathan: “Nathan’s Famous, which opened as a 5-cent hot dog stand in Coney Island more than a century ago, has been sold to packaged meat giant Smithfield Foods in an all-cash $450 million deal, the companies announced Wednesday.”
“Two experimental payphones – one placed in San Francisco and the other in Abilene, Texas – are connecting strangers across party lines, allowing callers to speak directly with Democrats and Republicans in two of the US’s most ideologically opposed cities.” (OK, I’ll try it, but I’m calling collect…)
+ ‘Snow White,’ ‘War of the Worlds’ lead 2026 Razzie Awards nominations.
2026-01-20 20:00:00
The comedian Steven Wright has an old joke in which he describes a light switch in his house that does nothing. Every now and then, he would just flick it up and down. As he explains, “About a month later, I got a letter from a woman in Germany … saying, ‘Cut it out.'” I probably owe that same woman an apology, as I spent much of the last week hopelessly flicking many of the light switches in my house after suffering a system-wide software glitch. (Yes, my house features a layer of software between the switches and the lights because just turning them on and off seemed too efficient.) Faced with this challenge, I did what every modern, skill-free homeowner would do. I talked to ChatGPT. The responses were incredibly detailed, incredibly certain, and incredibly supportive of my efforts. I was doing all the right things, and there was no reason for me to get discouraged while dealing with a notoriously buggy software platform. It was the first time I attempted home improvement without anyone laughing. After I got the feedback from ChatGPT, I decided to check its work with Gemini. The advice about the next moves was largely confirmed. Both chat programs offered to summarize our discussion for my lighting contractor, in case I wanted to call in a professional. His human response went something like this: “None of that text from ChatGPT makes any sense at all. Be cautious asking it questions about that sort of thing. The answers it gives people are just ridiculous.” I took the human’s advice, which involved pushing one button for about ten seconds. And there was light, and it was good. While chat programs are at times amazing, I’ve realized through a series of exchanges that the programs are often simultaneously very certain and completely wrong. I think we’ve reached the Singularity, because that’s exactly how humans behave on the internet.
The experience got me wondering if the masters of the AI revolution might also be wrong on topics about which they have great certainty (and every incentive to hope things evolve as they say they will). Tim Higgins in the WSJ (Gift Article), with an interesting look at how some of these folks view the changing world: Why the tech world thinks the American dream is dying. “History is filled with technology booms that create new winners and losers. AI optimists like to point out that a rising tide has tended to lift all boats. What’s being talked about now—massive job loss to automation and the need for public safety nets, in the form of universal basic income—paints a dramatically different future. It’s still not clear there’s any appetite for so-called UBI, which runs counter to many Americans’ bedrock ideals of personal achievement. ‘I used to be really excited about UBI…but I think people really need agency; they need to feel like they have a voice in governing the future and deciding where things go,’ Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, said last year when asked by a podcaster about how people will create wealth in the AI era. ‘If you just say, ‘OK, AI is going to do everything and then everybody gets…a dividend from that,’ it’s not going to feel good, and I don’t think it actually would be good for people.'” Meanwhile, Elon Musk explains, “The transition will be bumpy. We’ll have radical change, social unrest and immense prosperity.” Maybe so, but maybe people who are really good at making a lot of money in tech aren’t necessarily really good when it comes to analyzing human desire and interactions. There’s no doubt this is an epic tech boom, and there will be serious changes ahead. But are we picking the right people to determine the direction and predict the future? Actually, what am I asking you for? I should be asking my lighting contractor…
The Greenland insanity has reached a fever pitch, as it brings together so many of Trump’s greatest hits. Antagonizing allies, a mentally ill obsession with the Nobel prize, constant bluster, endless lies, a false reading of history, random word capitalizations, and so much more. In his first term, there were some guardrails. Now there are just guard dogs, preventing anyone from slowing down the crazy train. Anne Applebaum sums things up in The Atlantic (Gift Article): “Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government and certainly not the Danish government, determines the winner of that prize. Yet Trump now not only blames Norway for failing to give it to him, but is using it as a justification for an invasion of Greenland.” Trump’s Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw. “He is locked into a world of his own, determined to ‘win’ every encounter, whether in an imaginary competition for the Nobel Peace Prize or a protest from the mother of small children objecting to his masked, armed paramilitary in Minneapolis. These contests matter more to him than any long-term strategy. And of course, the need to appear victorious matters much more than Americans’ prosperity and well-being.” (When it comes to anyone, especially in the GOP Congress, standing up to Trump, I worry that we have infinite straws.)
+ At this point, we need Congress to step up. The military is planning for something they shouldn’t even be considering. And these aren’t the unqualified scrubs terrorizing women and children on our city streets. These are people who have sacrificed for a country the world barely recognizes. The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Military Is Being Forced to Plan for an Unthinkable Betrayal. “Attacking an ally would be a perversion of everything the armed forces have been trained to do.”
+ “When I took my post as secretary general of the Council of Europe just over a year ago, I did not think that I would ever have to write about the possibility of the United States taking military action against a member state. Yet here we are.”
+ Trump, sharing leaked texts and AI mock-ups, vows ‘no going back’ on Greenland. Here’s the latest as world leaders gather in Davos.
“Suddenly, the tense scene dissolved into slapstick. The federal officer slipped on a patch of ice and tumbled to the ground. A raucous roar of laughter and jeers erupted from the protesters surrounding him. He scrambled to his feet and marched on. But a few seconds later one of the protesters shouted, ‘He dropped his magazine!’ And sure enough, lying on the patch of ice was a fully loaded magazine from his automatic weapon. Dan Engelhart, one of the city’s parks commissioners, was standing nearby. He grabbed the magazine and turned it over in his hands. Well, we’re fucking close to civil war,’ he told me.” Lydia Polgreen in the NYT (Gift Article): In Minneapolis, I Glimpsed a Civil War. “From afar, this tragic and possibly criminal act of violence could plausibly be seen as incidental to President Trump’s mission to deport undocumented people from the country. But when I landed in Minneapolis on Monday and saw the size, scope and lawlessness of the federal onslaught unfolding here, I understood that Good’s killing was emblematic of its true mission: to stage a spectacle of cruelty upon a city that stands in stark defiance against Trump’s dark vision of America.”
+ A headline that captures our moment: Volunteers in Minnesota Deliver Groceries So Immigrants Can Hide at Home.
“Fueled by the perceived disrespect, desperate to prove it would not become a bottom dweller again, Indiana produced the football version of ‘Hoosiers,’ completing one of the most improbable turnarounds in sports history — winning its first national championship while becoming the first major college team since Yale in 1894 to go 16-0.” Indiana competed its storybook season behind coach Curt Cignetti and QB Fernando Mendoza, who transfered from Berkeley before this season, proving once again the value of a Cal education. How Indiana won college football’s national championship.
+ It was good news for a school normally associated with basketball. And it was, as I explained last week, good news for John Mellencamp.
Pocket Protector: “A review by the editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow.” NYT (Gift Article): How Trump Has Pocketed $1,408,500,000.
+ Pulling the Shrug Out From Under the Market: “The scale of the moves shows that investors’ willingness to shrug off earlier shocks — including the White House’s capture of Venezuela’s leader and its renewed attacks on the Federal Reserve — is beginning to erode.” Bloomberg (Gift Article): Wall Street’s Calm Shattered by Greenland and Japan Shocks.
+ Are You Putin Me On? Think it can’t get crazier? Think again. Trump invited Putin to be on his board of peace in Gaza.
+ Cheese Stakes: “To these seekers, the border between the two countries scarcely mattered: The cheese was the thing. Its cachet helped make the store, and the town, a destination, lending this remote and rural place an international appeal … Since President Trump took office, though, Greensboro, with about 800 residents, has been stung by a collapse in traffic from Canada.” NYT (Gift Article): A Vermont Town Was a Foodie Mecca for Canadians. Until Trump’s Threats.
+ First the Walkman, Now This: “When you think about the central piece of technology in your home, it’s probably not the computer, or the tablet, or even the smartphone. It’s the TV. This was true 50 years ago, and it’s still true today. Arguably, it’s more true today thanks to the rise of streaming services and video games and yes, increasingly even YouTube. And so it’s wild that despite this key focal point in everyone’s lives, the market for those actual televisions well, sucks.” And Sony just exited the market. Spyglass: Make TVs Great Again.
+ The Boy Who Cried Tariff: “The brunt of US tariffs — 96% — has been paid by US buyers, research from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank, found, while about 4% of the tariff burden was paid by foreign exporters.”
“For a cow, Veronika has had what might be considered an idyllic life. She lives in a picturesque town in Austria, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and glacial lakes. She is a beloved family pet, rather than a production animal, and spends her days ambling through tree-lined pastures. And when she has an itch, she scratches it — by expertly wielding a stick.” A pet cow named Veronika can scratch her own back with a broom — the first scientifically documented case of tool use in cows. (My beagles have mastered the art of getting others to scratch their backs. Who’s the tool now?)
2026-01-16 20:00:00
Lately, the headlines have hurt. So let’s close out the week with a brief respite and focus instead on a story that hurts so good. It’s hard to explain to the non college football fan just how unlikely it is that Indiana would find itself as the undefeated favorite to win a national championship on Monday night against Miami. Before Curt Cignetti showed up at his first press conference as the new football coach at a basketball school in December of 2023, where he famously proclaimed, “I win. Google me,” things were bleak. “In 1976, then-coach Lee Corso called timeout in the second quarter to snap a photo of the scoreboard with Indiana leading Ohio State 7-6. They lost 47-7. In the 1990s and 2000s, some tailgaters never made it inside the stadium, which prompted coaches to rally students to show up.” No one needs any rallying to show up now. But Indiana’s unexpected rise to the top echelon of college football isn’t the only unusual part of this story. So is the identity of their number one, longtime backer. “The program that opened the season as the losingest team in Division I football history now stands one game away from its first championship—and it hasn’t gotten there via the pursestrings of one of the world’s richest people. In fact, the Hoosiers’ most prominent booster isn’t a tech genius or hedge fund titan. It’s the guy who wrote ‘Jack & Diane.'” These lyrics, Little ditty ’bout Jack and Diane, two American kids growin’ up in the heartland. Jacky gon’ be a football star, Diane’s debutante backseat of Jacky’s car are about the only association the average person (or even some pretty good AI) can make between John Mellencamp and the gridiron. But it turns out that Mellencamp is a major backer of Indiana football. How major? Well, the team’s practice facility is named the John Mellencamp Sports Pavilion. WSJ (Gift Article): The Chain-Smoking Rock Star Who Made Indiana Football Hurt So Good (backup link). “In recent years, the school gifted the Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer a wooden shack affixed to the top of the stadium. There, Mellencamp—a self-described ‘anti-social guy’ —could take in a game exactly the way he wanted to. ‘I set up there, nobody bothers me,’ Mellencamp said. ‘And I can smoke.'” Win or lose, Hoosiers and underdogs everywhere should enjoy these moments while they can. After all, life goes on, long after the thrill of livin’ is gone…
“President Trump’s sweeping effort to tamp down illegal immigration, using masked federal agents who film their interactions with cellphones and often question American citizens about their legal status, has set off a surge in confrontational activism fueled by both large liberal advocacy groups and hyperlocal neighborhood networks. In Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, established groups representing labor and immigrant rights have provided funding and organized downtown rallies against the Trump administration. But fierce opposition to ICE and the Border Patrol has also sprung up through block clubs, neighborhood group chats, school Facebook groups and Catholic parishes, stretching beyond the typical Democratic voter base.” And with that, one of Trump’s more popular issues became one of his least popular. NYT (Gift Article): How ICE Crackdowns Set Off a Resistance in American Cities.
+ That’s not to say the resistance is bothering Trump. The chaos and violence have long been his aim. “The goal all along, it appears, was something like what’s happening today in Minnesota: a street-theatre carnival of violence, mostly instigated by the federal government itself, in an effort to create a genuine security crisis that Trump can then step in to resolve.” Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker: The Minnesota War Zone Is Trump’s Most Trumpian Accomplishment. “Minnesota is his legacy. It is American carnage made real.”
+ People don’t seem to be as likely to buy the lies about the Minneapolis shooting as they were during past scandals. Even if the org formerly known as CBS News is trying to help. “Some CBS News employees expressed concern after the network cited two anonymous ‘US officials’ on Wednesday to report that the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis suffered internal bleeding to the torso after the incident.” (The only thing suffering from internal bleeding is the Constitution.)
If you’re susceptible to nausea, vomiting, or banging yourself on the head I could’ve had a V8 style, you might want to stop reading now. Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado gave Trump her Nobel Peace Prize. It’s hard to blame Machado. These are the obvious psych-ops on Trump, and this is how nations and individuals know they can curry favor with our dear leader. It’s sad, but this is us.
+ Jimmy Kimmel offered the president his choice of several of his trophies (even his Webby) if he agrees to pull ICE out of Minneapolis. F-ck it, for that, I’m willing to throw in my award for best email newsletter of 1999. And it’s a beaut.
What to Watch: Between awards shows, talk shows, and a whole lot of marketing, you’re probably aware that The Pitt on HBO is back with its second season. It’s a really a good show. My teenage daughter and I both love it. That’s got to mean something.
+ What to Doc: The Stringer on Netflix is an interesting and controversial documentary in which investigators try to uncover the truth about who took an era-defining photo from the Vietnam War. In our snap-judgement era, when we’re constantly being lied to by those at the very top, it’s worth considering how much digging it takes to get one answer about one photo that’s still being debated after a half century.
+ What to Wear: The NextDraft Store, home of some of your favorite shirts and hoodies, is having a 20% off sale today. Enter the coupon code Flashsalefriday under Discounts during checkout.
Uncle Scam Wants You: “The scam center, Shunda Park, opened for business in 2024 with more than 3,500 workers from nearly 30 nations, including Namibia, Russia, Zimbabwe and France. Some had been kidnapped and enslaved, but all had become skilled in the art of the online grift. When the scammers bilked $5,000 out of someone, they struck a Chinese gong. A $50,000 shakedown earned a celebratory pounding of a giant drum, then an offering to a Chinese deity resplendent in his golden altar.” An NYT (Gift Article) Photo Essay: At This Office Park, Scamming the World Was the Business. “While each nationality required a different approach — for Americans, one scammer told me, the preferred mark was ‘white old men’ — the general approach was the same: an online foray by a sympathetic and attractive person, followed by an invitation to participate in a select investment opportunity.”
+ See No Evil, Hear No Evil: “In my experience, many leaders harbor deep concerns about Mr. Trump’s lawlessness, weaponization of the government, and interference in markets. They refrain from public criticism not because they find nothing to criticize but because they’re intimidated. Such fear is understandable. Even so, when the business community and our leaders cease to speak out on matters of public concern, they turn their backs on the foundations of our country’s success.” Robert E. Rubin with a question we’ve all been asking: Why Have Business Leaders Gone Silent?
+ A Trump of Coal: “This time around, the Trump administration has gone much further to rescue coal, with more success. Last year, the amount of electricity produced by coal increased 13 percent, and retirements have slowed.” But it’s not cheap. It’s not clean. And it probably doesn’t make much sense, even for many in the coal business. Trump Wants to Halt Almost All Coal Plant Shutdowns. It Could Get Messy.
+ Managing Expectations: Trump says he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the US controlling Greenland. Here’s a little history on the matter from a comedian based in Denmark: Dear America, We’d Like to Speak to the Manager. “You see, we know the Greenlanders. They’re a proud Indigenous people who are not interested in being Americans. You can’t just buy them off. So Trump is running wild. He’s kidnapping presidents. He’s invading other countries without congressional approval. And frankly, we don’t want that mess spilling into Greenland or Europe — or Legoland, for that matter.”
+ Doing Time and Again: Trump has issued so many pardons to so many undeserving recipients that he’s having to double up. “In 2021, a convicted fraudster named Adriana Camberos was freed from prison when President Trump commuted her sentence. Rather than taking advantage of that second chance, prosecutors said, Ms. Camberos returned to crime. She and her brother were convicted in 2024 in an unrelated fraud.” Trump pardons a convicted fraudster for the second time.
“Kids who never met me cared about me enough to put hard work into a vehicle to make sure myself and my kids were safe … I got to meet all of them; it was breathtaking.” WaPo (Gift Article): High school students fix up cars, then hand the keys to single mothers.
+ Adrian Stubbs, a guard at Maryvale High School in Phoenix, enjoyed a historic game on Tuesday night, when he scored 100 points — in three quarters.
+ San Francisco to make childcare free for families earning up to $230,000.
+ Scientists Develop Spray-On Powder That Instantly Seals Life-Threatening Wounds. (I’ll believe it when I see it on The Pitt.)
+ Rescue dog found after 54 days in wilderness on Vancouver’s North Shore.
2026-01-15 20:00:00
It can be overwhelming to keep constant track of all the badness in the news (trust me, I know), so let’s just consider the past 24 hours or so. America’s European allies are sending troops to Greenland to defend against the administration’s relentless threats to take it over. Trump again blamed Zelensky, not Putin, for delays in getting a peace deal done. Trump, who led an insurrection and then pardoned its participants, is now threatening to invoke the insurrection act in response to Minneapolis protests, which erupted in response to the murder of an innocent person whom the administration has relentlessly blamed for her own death. After invading Venezuela without Congressional approval (or even advance knowledge), the administration has begun selling Venezuelan oil, with some of the proceeds being held in a bank located in Qatar. The FBI raided the home of a Washington Post journalist, an act that has drawn only silence from the newspaper’s owner. Four more Democratic lawmakers said on Wednesday that they were being investigated for their participation in a video urging military service members to resist illegal orders. And in an interview with Reuters, Trump again tossed out a familiar refrain about the midterms: “When you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.” This list, while exhausting, is hardly exhaustive. It’s also not surprising. Antagonizing allies abroad and using the corrupted levers of government to punish perceived enemies at home is the Trump Doctrine. And beyond that, it’s just about exactly what we expected when Trump was elected. “Both ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis and Trump’s threatened seizure of Greenland are part of the same story: An increasingly unpopular regime is rapidly radicalizing and testing how far it can go down the road toward autocracy.” NYT (Gift Article): The Resistance Libs Were Right. I’d say these predictions came from a lot more people than the resistance liberals. I know this because I’ve been linking to stories predicting just these outcomes for years. Of course, being right about Trump (which amounted to little more than merely repeating what he and his wrecking crew said they planned to do) offers little solace. The big question now is how decent Americans, and their leaders, will respond. My take is that anyone who wants to be the next president should grab a bullhorn and head to Minneapolis. Pro democracy Americans are desperate for strong leadership. I’m not ready to predict they’ll get it.
Many of Trump’s moves are wildly unpopular. That includes the threat to take over Greenland. “The president’s obsession with Greenland is especially dangerous because it has no real constituency: Trump is determined to get the island, it seems, only because Denmark and the rest of the world are telling him that he can’t have it. As is so often the case, telling Trump not to do something makes him more determined to do it.” Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Is Risking a Global Catastrophe. “Most Americans probably couldn’t care less about Greenland, but they will be forced to care—tragically, too late—if Trump’s gambit engulfs the world in flames.”
“While caring for an aging person can be financially and emotionally draining for adult children, the undertaking raises a separate set of challenges for spouses … The ranks of older adults caring for fellow older adults are only expected to increase as lifespans lengthen and family sizes shrink: Adults 65 and older are projected to account for about 1 in 4 Americans by 2050, up more than 30 percent from 2024. That compares with 1 in 10 in the 1980s.” WaPo (Gift Article): Why more seniors are being asked to care for their partners — alone.
“Federal guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, along with two days of muscle-strengthening activities. But the payoff starts much earlier: Even four to five minutes of vigorous physical activity every day has been linked to longevity benefits.” (Whether or not opening 75 news tabs meets this requirement remains an open question among kinesiologists.) But which activities in particular are linked to longevity? Well, consider yourself lucky if tennis is your racket. “One study from Denmark found that tennis players lived almost 10 years longer than their sedentary peers — and longer than soccer players, swimmers and the other recreational athletes included in the analysis. Other research from Britain and the United States followed people for about a decade and found that playing racket sports was linked to a lower risk of death during the follow-up period than any other sport or form of exercise studied. These findings don’t prove that tennis causes people to live longer … Still, experts believe that tennis’s unique blend of physical, cognitive and social challenges contribute to healthy aging.” NYT (Gift Article): The Best Sports for Longevity. (For some reason, I think this is all a backhanded way of implying that pickleball will kill you.)
Ice Price: Immigration was considered one of Trump’s winning issues just a few months ago. The past few months, especially the past few days, have changed that. Trump has made ICE a 70-30 issue — for Democrats. And from Dan Pfeiffer: “Trump’s ability to bend reality to his will is the foundation of his political success. It’s how he has survived so many moments that would have ended other politicians’ careers. But it is not working this time. In what may be the most high-profile failure of the Trump media machine, the American people are not falling for Trump’s lies. This is an important moment, with serious implications for Trump’s near-term political standing and for the longer-term politics of immigration in America.” How Trump is Losing the Fight on the ICE Shooting. The lack of popular support appears to be making the administration double down. NYT: Under Trump, a Shift Toward ‘Absolute Immunity’ for ICE.
+ Xi Loves Me, Xi Loves Me Not: “Donald Trump’s tariff war occupied US allies for much of last year. Now, President Xi Jinping is welcoming a procession of leaders looking to mend fences with the world’s other major economy.” Bloomberg (Gift Article): Xi Welcomes Stream of Leaders Shaken by Trump’s New World Order. And from WSJ (Gift Article): Canadian Leader Spurned by Trump Finds a Warm Embrace in China.
+ Strike That, Reverse It: “After a tense day of confusion and backroom negotiations, the Trump administration moved Wednesday night to restore roughly $2 billion in federal grant money for mental health and addiction programs nationwide.”
+ Owning the Lib: “Manufacturing employment has declined every month since what Trump dubbed ‘Liberation Day’ in April, saying his widespread tariffs would begin to rebalance global trade in favor of American workers. U.S. factories employ 12.7 million people today, 72,000 fewer than when Trump made his Rose Garden announcement.”
+ Prix Fix: “A college basketball point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 players on 17 NCAA Division I teams resulted in dozens of games in the previous two seasons being fixed by a gambling ring that included a former NBA player, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.”
“Former NFL player Matt Kalil is suing his former wife, Haley Kalil, claiming that she violated his right to privacy during a livestreamed interview by describing his genitals as being too big. Haley Kalil … referenced Matt’s genitalia, claiming that his penis was like ‘two Coke cans, maybe even a third,’ and described the daunting dick as the primary reason for the couple’s divorce.” An NFL Player Sued His Ex-Wife Over a Privates Revelation. The Case Could Be Huge. (Luckily for my wife, I’m not litigious.)
2026-01-14 20:00:00
During a visit to Ford yesterday, President Trump responded to an employee who heckled him about the Epstein files by flipping the bird and mouthing the words, “F-ck you.” The sentiment from American car manufacturers—not to mention Mother Nature—is likely mutual. After all, Trump has helped to throw the US electric vehicle industry into reverse, and that move has left a trail of red ink in its wake. From Bill Saporito in the NYT (Gift Article): $25 Billion. That’s What Trump Cost Detroit. “It is a critical part of every chief executive’s job to anticipate the future. Failing to recognize and adapt to change can be the difference between thriving or disappearing. That’s why corporate leaders are continually bracing their companies against a host of possibilities: another pandemic, global conflict, rising interest rates, climate change and competitors that arise from nowhere. But it is pretty difficult to futureproof your company against stupid. This is exactly what the American automobile industry is facing as a result of Donald Trump’s gratuitous war against electric vehicles.” (Rage anxiety is the new range anxiety.) Environmental matters aside, this reversal of policy, and fortune, is worth a few expletives because it puts America behind in a key growth market that’s thriving abroad and further delays the buildout of the infrastructure required to put an end to the perennial question, “Where do I plug this thing in?”
+ Industry matters aside, I’ve found EVs to be more convenient, faster, quieter, and generally better to drive. I wonder if anyone has an extension cord long enough to reach Europe or China. North America was the only market where EV sales were down last year. Even in the US, the current slowdown could be a temporary speedbump. GM CEO Mary Barra: “Once someone buys an EV, they’re 80% more likely to buy another EV … Our destination is to get to the all-EV future we’ve been talking about.” In the meantime, that future is being turned into a demolition derby.
“What happens in Greenland doesn’t stay in Greenland. Turns out, the fate of the world’s largest island has outsize importance for billions of people on the planet. That’s because of the one thing that Greenland is quickly losing: ice … As the Arctic warms, potential new trading routes open up, as well as access to mineral riches, including those that are vital for clean energy technologies useful for slowing climate change. In short, climate change makes the Arctic more accessible and more of a strategic target for world powers, a fact not lost on President Trump.” NYT (Gift Article): Why Greenland Matters for a Warming World.
+ Of course, for Denmark and Greenland, the climate threat is being exacerbated by climate change’s chief accomplice. And he’s being taken literally and seriously. Denmark’s Army Chief Says He’s Ready to Defend Greenland. Meanwhile, “Sweden’s prime minister said today that his country would also be sending soldiers to Greenland.”
+ Nothing attracts Trump like the combination of climate change-induced disasters and the prospect of antagonizing an ally. So he’s insisting that America must own Greenland. Predictably, that set up for a tense meeting among regional representatives visiting DC today. Here’s the latest from The Guardian: ‘Our perspectives continue to differ,’ say Danish and Greenlandic ministers after US meeting. (It’s endlessly sad to see America’s leaders treating our longtime allies almost as badly as it treats our own citizens.)
“It is exceedingly rare, even in investigations of classified disclosures, for federal agents to search a reporter’s home. A 1980 law called the Privacy Protection Act generally bars search warrants for reporters’ work materials, unless the reporters themselves are suspected of committing a crime related to the materials.” NYT (Gift Article): F.B.I. Searches Home of Washington Post Journalist in a Leak Investigation. (If they find classified docs in her bathroom, she gets to be president.)
+ WaPo (Gift Article): FBI executes search warrant at Washington Post reporter’s home. “Investigators told Natanson that she is not the focus of the probe. The warrant said that law enforcement was investigating Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator in Maryland who has a top-secret security clearance and has been accused of accessing and taking home classified intelligence reports that were found in his lunchbox and his basement … In December, [Hannah] Natanson wrote a first-person account about her experience covering the workforce as President Donald Trump’s administration created upheaval across the federal government. She detailed how she posted her secure phone number to an online forum for government workers and amassed more than 1,000 sources, with federal workers frequently reaching out to her to share frustrations and accounts from their offices.”
+ I thought the administration was proud of the damage it’s done to offices across the federal government. Why wouldn’t they want the story out there? “Donald Trump’s destruction of the civil service is a tragedy not just for the roughly 300,000 workers who have been discarded, but for an entire nation.” Franklin Foer in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Purged.
“Over the past several months, the ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Magic Mike’ star has had eight trademark applications approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office featuring him staring, smiling and talking. His attorneys said the trademarks are meant to stop AI apps or users from simulating McConaughey’s voice or likeness without permission—an increasingly common concern of performers.” WSJ (Gift Article): Matthew McConaughey Trademarks Himself to Fight AI Misuse. (Hey, if I looked like Matthew McConaughey, I’d trademark myself, too…)
Send Out the Troops: “U.S. intelligence has assessed that if the United States were to conduct a military strike against Iran, Tehran would retaliate by again attacking military bases in the region.” U.S. Moves Some Personnel From Key Air Base as Tensions Mount With Iran. (The same move was undertaken before the bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites.) Here’s the latest on the protests and the retaliation from CNN.
+ Export in a Storm: “The enormous trade surplus for the full year came despite efforts by President Trump to use tariffs to contain China’s factories. The tariffs reduced China’s trade surplus with the United States by 22 percent last year. But Chinese factories increased sales to other regions, in many cases bypassing American tariffs by shipping goods to the United States through Southeast Asia and elsewhere.” NYT (Gift Article): China Announces Record Trade Surplus as Its Exports Flood World Markets.
+ Visa Versa: “The State Department said Wednesday it will suspend the processing of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and Somalia, whose nationals the Trump administration has deemed likely to require public assistance while living in the United States.”
+ Grant Rant: We’ve made some good progress in the fight against drug overdoses in recent years, and we know from the boat bombings that the administration cares deeply about the drug issue. Oh, wait. Trump administration sends letter wiping out addiction, mental health grants.
+ Elon Story Short: “This is a moment when those with power can and should demand accountability. The stakes could not be any higher. If there is no red line around AI-generated sex abuse, then no line exists.” Charlie Warzel and Matteo Wong in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Elon Musk Cannot Get Away With This. For now, as I’ve argued, he’s not only getting away with it. Between massive funding rounds and new government contracts, he’s thriving with it.
+ Can You Jeer Me Now? “The first big outage of 2026 is here, as Verizon customers across the US … complain that service has been spotty or nonexistent starting at around noon ET.” (I wondered why I hadn’t received any political fundraising text spam for five straight minutes…)
“A trending mobile app is making it hard to ignore just how lonely and bleak modern life can feel for some”… The app enables users to “add an emergency contact to the app and then check in daily by tapping a bright green round button with a cartoon ghost at the center. If a user fails to check in for two consecutive days, the app sends an email to their emergency contact on the third day.” An App Called ‘Are You Dead?’ Is Climbing the Apple Charts. (I wish I’d known about this app sooner. It’s a lot easier way to provide proof of life than sending out a couple thousand words every day…)