2025-07-17 20:00:00
NextDraft will be off for the rest of July, so you’ll have to moan without me. I’m just taking a quick Summer break to allow my family to interact with me when I’m not curled around my Macbook Air in the fetal positon. Of course, I’ll likely publish an occasional special edition if anything monumentally unexpected happens such as worldwide thermonuclear war or someone in the administration telling the truth. Something tells me you’ll get plenty of coverage of the top story currently obsessing the internet, and mainstream and alternate media sources: Epstein, Epstein, and more Epstein. While it may provide a modicum of pleasure to see some of his most ardent supporters throwing Schadenfreude at Trump, the broader aspects of this story are nothing to celebrate. The MAGA rage against the Trump machine is rooted in the belief in wild conspiracies that Trump helped spread, and that have taken hold in America. As Heather Cox Richardson points out “Trump owes his 2024 victory to QAnon followers, who believe a cabal of Democratic lawmakers, rich elites, and Hollywood film stars are sex trafficking—and even eating—children. PRRI, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that researches religion, culture, and politics, estimated that in 2024, about 19% of Americans believed in QAnon. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten noted yesterday that QAnon supporters preferred Trump to Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 by 61 points.” The anger at Trump is rooted in conspiracy theories about the government, not over some ethical concern that Trump himself may be on a list. Julie K. Brown is a reporter who has been covering the Epstein saga longer than almost anyone. As she explains in this very interesting interview, the current debate has been muddied by false beliefs and outright lies: “We have the forces of truth and facts, versus the forces of conspiracy that want to fan theories in order to further some kind of agenda, whether that’s a political agenda or—there’s a million agendas. Some of these influencers, their agenda is to get more viewers or more listeners. So there’s these competing forces here with journalism today, and it’s not just with the Epstein story, but with almost everything.” So while this is a story of a strongman trying to extinguish the flames of a fire he’s been pouring gasoline on for years, it’s also the continuation of another, broader story: Our shared reality going up in flames.
+ “If Trump and the MAGA media ecosystem can successfully spin the Epstein debacle into a conspiracy theory that helps them, or if they can make the story stop, it would suggest once again that his grip on the party and its base is total: an impenetrable force field no bit of reality can puncture. What if they fail? Maybe this is what it looks like when Trump loses his vise grip on his supporters.” Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Nobody (Not Even Trump) Can Control the Epstein Story.
+ Attorney General Pam Bondi has made her latest move to fend off the pressure to release additional Epstein files. She fired Maurene Comey (daughter of James Comey) who was the prosecutor in the Epstein case. Comey warns her former colleagues: ‘Fear is the tool of the tyrant.’
+ We don’t know what justice will look like in this situation. But we do know that the actual victims of Epstein’s crimes didn’t get much of it. As Julie K Brown reminds us: “Jeffrey Epstein abused probably at least 200 young girls, some of them reportedly as young as 12 years old, over a span of decades … This was just not Epstein having sex in his mansion with a couple of underage girls. This was a whole operation. And I think people sometimes lose sight of the fact that he was able to continue doing that because our federal government and our criminal-justice system failed these victims, and never really pursued this case with the seriousness and intensity that they should have from the very beginning.” And what of future victims? Well, as TNR explains, the State Department just chose a wild time to cut its human trafficking office. (In retrospect, I should have started my news break yesterday…)
While the media pressures on Trump are building, his GOP legislators continue to fall in line, on vote after vote. Even when it means undoing their own spending packages and ceding their own power. Senate approves cuts to NPR, PBS and foreign aid programs. “The Senate has approved the Trump administration’s $9 billion rescission package aimed at clawing back money already allocated for public radio and television — a major step toward winding down nearly six decades of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”
“Except for the fact that they have not technically committed any crimes, these are criminals. Except for the tiny, tiny, minuscule (I hate to even mention it) quibble that we have no evidence they’ve done any crimes, these people deserve to be locked up. Except for the minor, minor technicality that they haven’t violated any laws, other than by arriving here—which might not even have violated a law! We have asylum, or used to, before we decided to pull the rug out from under thousands of people—these are the worst of the worst.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Just a Tiny, Minuscule Technicality About the People Held at ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’
UK politicians will have a new challenge in the next election. Appearing to be cool to 16 and 17 year-olds. (That would definitely be enough to make me withdraw my candidacy). 16 and 17-year-olds to be able to vote in next general election, government plans. In the US, it’s weird that you have to be 18 to vote, but you can be a toddler and still get elected.
Health Trackers: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will be given access to the personal data of the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities, to track down immigrants who may not be living legally in the United States.”
+ Emil Ticket: The only sure things in life are death and taxes and the GOP going along with anything Trump wants. “Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance the nomination of Emil Bove, President Trump’s former personal attorney, to a lifetime federal judgeship. All the Democrats on the panel walked out and did not vote … Bove’s record in and outside the Justice Department has fueled opposition from 900 former DOJ lawyers who identify with both major political parties and a group of more than 75 retired state and federal court judges.”
+ Day Break: “The United States Department of Justice is recommending that a Louisville police officer receive a one-day prison sentence for his role in the deadly raid on Breonna Taylor’s home in 2020.”
+ Juul of Denial: “The Food and Drug Administration is allowing vaping brand Juul to keep its e-cigarettes on the market, providing relief to a company that has struggled for years after being widely blamed for sparking the teen vaping trend.”
+ Boomers Not OK: Here’s a stat that will probably surprise you. “The people most at risk from suicide aren’t those in crisis in adolescence or midlife, but men age 75 and older.”
+ Between a Rock and a Barred Place: “U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are in the Bay Area and visited Alcatraz Thursday morning as part of the controversial plan to reopen the federal penitentiary … Nancy Pelosi called the “the stupidest initiative yet.” (In other words, expect it to happen.)
ScooperMan!: “David Corenswet may technically be the star of James Gunn’s ‘Superman,’ but the Man of Steel’s dog — well, foster dog, really — Krypto is proving to have a real world impact too. Thanks to the film, there’s been a surge in dog adoption interest.” (People may want to adopt a CGI dog, since the pooch in the movie is entirely computer generated.)
+ Did the KissCam at a Coldplay concert just expose two people having an affair?
+ All right folks, see you in a couple weeks!
2025-07-16 20:00:00
It’s not exactly breaking news that social media can be a nasty place where cruelty and personal attacks carry more viral value than thoughtfulness and decency. And in the last few months, this trend is being led by example from the very top. “Since the Trump administration assumed power in January, the official White House social media accounts have taken on a sinister style of posting.” DHS sharing a photo of alligators in ICE hats to promote a new detention center or the The White House posting a supposedly funny ASMR video of deportees being shackled represent a fetishizing of cruelty, as an administration supposedly driven by a sentimentality for the past is actually breaking new ground when it comes to political trolling. Nathan Taylor Pemberton in the NYT (Gift Article): Trolling Democracy. “The key ingredient to this online soup is extremism: from nativism to racial science to casual neo-Nazism and textbook misogyny. Presented to followers via livestreams, memes and X posts, this deluge of far-right content has been called ‘slopulism’ — a vibes-based politics designed for social media and born from social media. These vibes, of course, are harsh. They’re antidemocratic. And they’re increasingly being embodied in the presence of figures staffing the second Trump administration.” What Lincoln called the better angels of our nature has been wholly replaced by the demonic bullying of our trolling.
+ This debasing of decency and celebration of bullying not only degrades our democracy, it’s also out there as online representation of America for the whole world to see. This is who we are now. And sadly, the words are being matched by the sticks and stones. We’re not just being desensitized to how we talk to one another. We’re being desensitized to how we treat each other. The Atlantic (Gift Article): In Trump’s Deportation Machine, Children Are Fair Game. “More systematically than in his first term, Trump’s administration is reaching into the federal immigration bureaucracy to roll back an array of protections for undocumented children, not only recent arrivals but also those who have only ever known life in this country. More and more, children are being picked up on family vacations, at traffic stops, and at worksites, and winding up in detention.”
+ Scheduling Note: After tomorrow’s edition, I’ll be taking the last couple of weeks of July off from NextDraft (unless, of course, there’s any really bigly news). I’m confident you can moan without me for a few days.
“Noor Siddiqui, the founder of an embryo-screening start-up and the guest of honor at the backyard event in Austin, offered a grand vision of custom-built algorithms and genome analysis that would help eradicate illness and disease … Siddiqui is a rising star in the realm of fertility start-ups backed by tech investors. Her company, San Francisco-based Orchid Health, screens embryos for thousands of potential future illnesses, letting prospective parents plan their families with far more information about their progeny than ever before. For now, her approach has been taken up mostly in her moneyed social circle. But one day, maybe not far off, it could change the way many babies are made everywhere — posing new moral and political questions as reproduction could increasingly become an outcome not of sex but of genetic preselection and data-mining.” WaPo (Gift Article): Inside the Silicon Valley push to breed super-babies. (Ironically, the biggest problem with today’s Silicon Valley investors and influencers is that they can’t stop acting like super babies.)
“As proud as he is of his cheese, Mr. Heiman knows that his company’s profitability these days is thanks less to Colby than it is to whey, the liquid byproduct of cheese making that helps to satisfy America’s seemingly insatiable appetite for added protein. Nasonville Dairy produces around 150,000 pounds of cheese a day, but just breaks even on most of it, especially the 40-pound blocks of Cheddar that are a cheesemaker’s stock in trade. What increasingly keeps the lights on is whey.” No Whey! … Whey… America’s Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry. “Whey, the liquid byproduct of cheese making, was once considered waste. Now it is a key ingredient in the protein powders that Ozempic users and weight lifters are downing in ever-greater amounts.” (Spolier alert: In a few years, they’ll tell us all this protein is killing us. It’s just the whey these things go.)
These days, the anti-tourism vibe in parts of Europe seems to rise with the summer heat. Nightclubs in Ibiza could be ground zero for the building frustration. And we’re not talking about noise complaints from locals tired of hearing the thumping bass from all-night foam parties. Over-partying tourists are actually putting a strain on the Island’s health system. “Drug-related calls from nightclubs are driving Ibiza’s ambulance services to collapse.” NYT (Gift Article): Club Drugs Strain Health System on Ibiza, Spain’s Party Island.
He’s Just Not That Into You: “My ‘PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls—‘ hook, line, and sinker.’ Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” (This is Trumpspeak for “I value the time we’ve spent together, but I don’t think we should continue being friends.”) Trump disavows supporters pushing Jeffrey Epstein ‘bulls—. AP: With Epstein conspiracy theories, Trump faces a crisis of his own making.
+ Same Sh-t, Different Day: “Seemingly unfazed by President Donald Trump’s 50-day ultimatum to end the fighting, Russia launched hundreds of drones and missile strikes on six Ukrainian regions overnight.”
+ Deport in a Storm: “More than 1.4 million Afghans have fled or been deported from Iran since January during a government clampdown on undocumented refugees, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency. More than half a million have been forced into Afghanistan just since the war between Israel and Iran last month, returned to a homeland already grappling with a severe humanitarian crisis and draconian restrictions on women and girls, in one of the worst displacement crises of the past decade … They are being dumped at an overcrowded border facility in western Afghanistan, where many expressed anger and confusion to New York Times journalists over how they could go on with few prospects in a country where some have never lived, or barely know anymore. ‘I worked in Iran for 42 years, so hard that my knees are broken, and for what?’ [said] Mohammad Akhundzada, a construction worker.” A story that sounds a little too familiar about an action by government we used to consider our opposite. NYT (Gift Article): As Iran Deports a Million Afghans, ‘Where Do We Even Go?’
+ Mortgaging the Future: “President Donald Trump accused Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) of mortgage fraud Tuesday, and a senior administration official told The Washington Post that a criminal case had been referred to the Justice Department, in a sharp escalation of the White House’s attacks on vocal Trump critics.” Not surprising. Also, not democracy. Also, at least so far, just a Truth Social post and not an actual investigation.
+ Senior High: “The military shooter game has a predominantly young male user base, but Statham’s Twitch handle is TacticalGramma – a nod to the 60-year-old’s two grandkids. Her lifelong gaming hobby has become an income stream (she prefers to keep her earnings private, but says she has raised ‘thousands’ for charity), as well as a way to have fun, stay sharp and connect socially.” Gaming in their golden years: why millions of seniors are playing video games. (For the same reason everyone else does. To avoid reality.)
“Janudi Perera spent all spring looking for a retail job, but had no luck. So the college sophomore in Queens, N.Y., did what many around her do when a situation doesn’t go their way: She paid a witch on Etsy to cast a spell.” Etsy Witches Charge for Jobs, Sunshine and Knicks Wins. Business Is Booming. (Of course it is…)
+ “One local Grand Teton fox who’s embracing its inner sneakerhead has stolen nearly three dozen shoes in a Grand Teton campground, leading park officials to worry it’s becoming alarmingly habituated to humans.” A Fox Has Stolen 32 Shoes (and Counting) in Grand Teton. (Experts have theories, but we may not figure out why this is happening until we hear what does the fox say.)
2025-07-15 20:00:00
Beverly and Jeff Morris found a novel way to quit drinking. One day they turned on the water tap in their kitchen and nothing came out. It has something to do with their new neighbor in Newton County, Georgia. The couple drew water from a residential well until Meta broke ground on a new $750 million data center. “Months after construction began in 2018, the Morrises’ dishwasher, ice maker, washing machine and toilet all stopped working, said Beverly Morris, now 71. Within a year, the water pressure had slowed to a trickle. Soon, nothing came out of the bathroom and kitchen taps.” NYT (Gift Article): Their Water Taps Ran Dry When Meta Built Next Door. The dramatic impact of this kind of Zuck Suck may only impact relatively few families who live near an ever expanding number of internet and AI-powering data centers, but the water pressures don’t end there. “In the age of artificial intelligence, water has become as critical to data centers — which power the development of the cutting-edge technology — as electricity. The facilities pump enormous amounts of cold water into pipes that run throughout the buildings to cool the computers inside so that they can perform calculations and keep internet services like social networking humming. A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day.” All’s not well that ends a well.
“China Shock 2.0, the one that’s fast approaching, is where China goes from underdog to favorite. Today, it is aggressively contesting the innovative sectors where the United States has long been the unquestioned leader: aviation, A.I., telecommunications, microprocessors, robotics, nuclear and fusion power, quantum computing, biotech and pharma, solar, batteries. Owning these sectors yields dividends: economic spoils from high profits and high-wage jobs; geopolitical heft from shaping the technological frontier; and military prowess from controlling the battlefield. General Motors, Boeing and Intel are American national champions, but they’ve all seen better days and we’re going to miss them if they’re gone. China’s technological vision is already reordering governments and markets in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and increasingly Eastern Europe. Expect this influence to grow as the United States retreats into an isolationist MAGAsphere.” An interesting look at our increasingly heated competition with China. NYT (Gift Article): We Warned About the First China Shock. The Next One Will Be Worse.
+ “As the Trump administration’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ eliminates many clean-energy incentives in the U.S., China continues huge investments in wind and solar power, reportedly accounting for 74 percent of all projects now under construction worldwide.” Photos: The Scale of China’s Solar-Power Projects.
The pointlessness and cruelty of our foreign aid cuts and the growing fear when it comes to pointing out the truth, all wrapped nicely in one lead paragraph: “Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people abroad who need it. Nearly 500 metric tons of emergency food—enough to feed about 1.5 million children for a week—are set to expire tomorrow, according to current and former government employees with direct knowledge of the rations. Within weeks, two of those sources told me, the food, meant for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, will be ash. (The sources I spoke with for this story requested anonymity for fear of professional repercussions.)” The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food.
“According to the website Know Your Meme, the expression was popularized in 2024 largely in reference to anime characters and various celebrities. It generally refers to someone who does something repetitive to look cool and build, as Gen Alpha would say, aura. Dika, who seems preternaturally calm on the bow of a thin boat, dressed in black and wearing sunglasses, uses a series of repetitive movements in his dance, making him a perfect fit for the term.” What Is ‘Aura Farming’? This Tween Will Show You. (If it’s done on a boat, shouldn’t it be called Aura Fishing? Sorry, but internet fads come and go. Dad jokes are forever.)
+ ‘I created it myself’: The boy behind the viral ‘aura farming’ boat racing dance. “Although Dikha doesn’t recognize any of the celebrities who’ve copied his dance – he first says he knows Travis Kelce before admitting he doesn’t -he’s quickly becoming one himself – especially in his home country.”
From Mad About Vlad to Mad at Vlad: “Trump did not develop a new fondness for Ukraine or its president, Volodymyr Zelensky. He did not abruptly become a believer in the traditional transatlantic alliances prized by his predecessors as a counterweight to Moscow. Rather, Trump got insulted.” How Putin Humiliated Trump. According to Reuters, Putin is unfazed by Trump, will fight on and could take more of Ukraine. The threat of tariffs 50 days from now probably read more like a reprieve than an escalation. On Tuesday, The Financial Times reported that Trump, in a July 4 phone call, asked Zelensky, “Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow?” David Ignatius in WaPo: In squeezing Putin, Trump ‘escalates to de-escalate.’ (Sometimes, I’m not sure if these articles are intended to reflect Trump’s thinking or to influence it.)
+ Developing Story: “Having grown up in a Zionist home, lived the first half of my life in Israel, served in the I.D.F. as a soldier and officer and spent most of my career researching and writing on war crimes and the Holocaust, this was a painful conclusion to reach, and one that I resisted as long as I could.” Omer Bartov in the NYT (Gift Article): I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It. (This is a painful read, and you can choose to agree or disagree. What’s clear from an American perspective is that Bibi used to have to balance the pressure between his right wing and the Biden administration. Then one of those pressures got removed and replaced with the idea that maybe we could redevelop Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”)
+ Nicotine Age Wasteland: “It’s nicotine pouches, like the wildly popular Zyn, that are behind the most significant rise in accidental nicotine poisonings among young kids.” Nicotine poisonings soar in babies and toddlers. This mostly points to the massively increasing popularity of new nicotine delivery products. WaPo (Gift Article): The new nicotine product replacing e-cigarettes to addict teens.
+ Watch Party: “‘Severance’ Leads All Shows With 27 Nods, ‘The Penguin,’ ‘The Studio’ and ‘White Lotus’ Close Behind.” Here’s a look at this year’s emmy nominations. (As per usual, the nominations are limited to a relatively small number of shows and many great performances are left out. I can say that authoritatively since I use TV as my escape from 2025 news and thus, I’ve literally watched everything.)
+ Throw the Bum In: With his dad pitching and his brother catching, Cal Raleigh capped off his amazing first half by winning the MLB Home Run Derby. (For those non baseball fans. Raleigh is a switch-hitting catcher nicknamed the Big Dumper because of his formidable glutes.)
+ Unhappy Returns: “For reasons Holton doesn’t understand, the seller, called ‘Liusandedian,’ put her home address on its return labels … Customers dissatisfied with the car seat covers — judging by the company’s Amazon review page, there are many — shipped the products to an address that they thought was Liusandedian’s ‘return center.’ In reality, it was Holton’s home.” Amazon issue sends hundreds of packages to Bay Area woman’s home. (Same.)
“In 2004, her boyfriend — now husband — made her a new email address that included her nickname, the tooth fairy, to help organize her dental school applications and keep in touch with family abroad. About three years of mundane email later, Dr. Merchant got an unusual message. The subject line was ‘Calum’s tooth,’ and the message was urgent.” NYT (Gift Article): The Tooth Fairy Is Real. She’s a Dentist in Seattle.
2025-07-14 20:00:00
I tend to steer this newsletter away from the dark, growing world of conspiracy theories, in part because I want to focus on reality-based coverage (I know, quaint, right?), and in part because I want to avoid even dipping a toe (or any other appendage) into the slimy, swampy, grim, bleak world of the dark fantasies and crazy-making theories that drive these stories. I get nauseated enough covering the regular news. But we’re going to have to go there. A Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theory deployed and spread by the MAGA crowd has come back to divide the movement and haunt Donald Trump. MAGA and its alternate news universe has long been promised a list of Epstein’s clients and connections that would supposedly prove some evil truth about democrats and elites. But in a very public U-Turn, they’re being told the list won’t be released, or there’s not a list, or to stop worrying about the list, or list, what list? It’s fair to wonder if Trump’s name is on the list if one exists. It’s also fair to be dubious that Trump’s name on some Epstein list would damage his standing with his base. But the debate over the list itself has become a raging war among Trump supporters who peddle in myths, many of whom currently occupy high positions in the administration. OK, I’m feeling that gross feeling building up. I’m going to step away and aggressively scrub myself with a bleach-dipped wire brush and let David French take over in the NYT (Gift Article): MAGA Is Tearing Itself Apart Over Jeffrey Epstein. “The Epstein story mattered so much in MAGA circles because it was a key element in their indictment of America’s so-called ruling class. Trump’s appeal to the Republican base isn’t just rooted in his supporters’ extraordinary affection for the man; it’s also rooted in their almost indescribably dark view of the American government. Why are they so keen to burn it all down? Well, if you believe your government is populated by people so depraved that they’d participate in and cover up the systematic sexual abuse of children, then you wouldn’t just want them out of office; you’d want them prosecuted, imprisoned and maybe even executed. And you’d want all the power you’d need to make that happen. And if you believe that the ruling elites would abuse children, then they’d certainly be the kind of people who’d gin up a Russia hoax or try to steal an election in 2020.”
+ The Atlantic (Gift Article): Conspiracy Theorists Are Turning on the President. “This is undeniably a turning point for the highly online among Trump’s base. The story of the client list had effectively morphed into a more palatable and plausible version of the QAnon conspiracy theory. As does QAnon, it features a secret ring of evildoers, though it doesn’t have certain ostentatious elements of that conspiracy (no harvesting blood). But both theories encourage people to disbelieve everything the government tells them. Until now, Trump and his appointees were positioned as exceptions to that rule—the deal was that if they got back into power, they would reveal all.”
+ Dan Pfeiffer (paywall) on why this controversy is different than all the other controversies, none of which seem to even make a dent. “The scandals that hurt aren’t the ones that make your opponents hate you more — they’re the ones that make your fans question why they love you.”
+ All this comes with the usual caveat that it is a fool’s errand to underestimate how much part of Trump’s base loves him. WaPo: How the Trump shooting supercharged beliefs in a divine right of MAGA. “Trump has long claimed that God was on his movement’s side, and attendees at Trump rallies have routinely described the events in spiritual terms.
But after the assassination attempt, many of his followers — and most notably Trump himself — more explicitly cast him as a divine instrument.” (I wish I had a divine instrument to delete this story from my brain.)
“Alissa managed to keep both kids on the countertop, one hand on each, still trying to reassure them. As the house came undone, she grabbed one in each arm. This is the part that will forever haunt me. If I or anyone else had been closer to them, we would have helped her. We would have grabbed one of the kids. But we didn’t know that we were about to be plunged into the water. We simply didn’t know. Alissa remembers two things after she and her children hit the water. She heard Clay coughing. And she heard Rosemary saying ‘Mama.'” An absolutely stunning first-person account of what it was like for a family to experience the ravaging Guadalupe flood. Texas Monthly: The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River.
I have a friend who occupied very high positions in the Pentagon, and I once asked him how long it would take for new technologies to begin to level the military playing field that has been dominated by the US for decades. He said, “Maybe 20 or 30 years.” That was about 20 years ago. Dexter Filkins in The New Yorker: Is the U.S. Ready for the Next War? “While the future of warfare is being invented in places like Ukraine, U.S. officials are looking on with a growing sense of urgency. For decades, the American armed forces have relied on highly sophisticated, super-expensive weapons, like nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and stealth fighters, which take years to design and cost billions of dollars to produce. (The country’s failures in Iraq and Afghanistan were not for a lack of technical prowess.) Since the end of the Cold War, these munitions have given the U.S. near-total dominance on land, sea, and air. But now the technological shifts that have stymied the Russian invasion of Ukraine are threatening to undermine America’s global military preëminence.”
With a remarkable turnaround from his devastating loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open, Jannik Sinner won their rematch in the Wimbledon Championship, solidifying what is emerging as one of the great rivalries in sports. The rivalry is not just notable because the two of them have raised the level of tennis, it’s notable because they’re good friends and treat each other with extreme kindness and respect. It’s not the first time this has happened in tennis, but Sinner and Alcaraz are proof that ferocious winners can also be incredibly gracious people. And we really need that reminder in today’s cultural and political climate. After losing the match, Alcaraz said of the rivalry, “It’s becoming better and better. I think it’s great for us, and it is great for tennis.” It’s great beyond tennis, too.
+ While the men’s tennis game has two clear leaders, the women’s side is refreshingly wide open. Iga Swiatek became the eighth consecutive first-time women’s champion at Wimbledon. And she did it in decisive fashion, beating Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0.
+ In unrelated (in every way) sports news: Trump Steals Soccer Champions’ Spotlight, Gets Booed by Fans.
Surprise! In a continuation of his recent turnaround on the issue, Trump announces weapons for Ukraine and threatens Russia with tariffs. “We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need because Putin really surprised a lot of people,” Trump said. “He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening.” (Editor’s note: Putin surprised one person.)
+ Don’t Jump to My Defense: “Many of these people came to work at Federal Programs to defend aspects of our constitutional system. How could they participate in the project of tearing it down?” Two-thirds of the DOJ unit defending Trump policies in court have quit.
+ Rosie Outlook: “Employers have long had response plans for extreme weather, active shooters, and other workplace emergencies. Now, some are quietly preparing for immigration raids, too — even if they believe everyone on their payroll is legally permitted to work in the US.” Meanwhile, Trump Thinks He Can Take Away Citizenship From Anyone He Doesn’t Like. “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
+ Hunger Aims: “Ms. Bialecki started as a volunteer [at the Easthampton Community Center and Food Pantry] 25 years ago and has managed the operation for the last 17. She’s the only paid employee; she works every day except Christmas and makes $32,400 a year. She had planned to retire, but has stayed on to help everyone through what now seems like the unraveling of the country’s defenses against unnecessary illness and hunger.” The excellent Tracy Kidder in the NYT (Gift Article): A New Era of Hunger Has Begun. “Cutting SNAP will dramatically increase the pressure on food banks. Their pantries represent a model of decency, of coherent community efforts on behalf of people in need.”
+ There’s an Old Sheriff in Town: “Last year, 1,260 people were killed by law enforcement—the highest level since data-crunching organizations began keeping track a decade ago. A major factor driving the upward trend is surprising: Sheriff’s departments that generally patrol more rural slices of America are killing more civilians.” WSJ (Gift Article):
The Rapid Rise of Killings by Police in Rural America.
+ Grok Bottom: “On Friday, independent AI researcher Simon Willison documented that xAI’s new Grok 4 model searches for Elon Musk’s opinions on X (formerly Twitter) when asked about controversial topics.” New Grok AI model surprises experts by checking Elon Musk’s views before answering.
+ Island Fever: “The reality-TV sensation has shattered viewership records and taken over sports bars—and defied conventional wisdom about who watches reality dating shows.” GQ: The Boyfriends Who Love Love Island Tell All. (Let’s not overthink-piece this. All the partipants are basically in swimsuits all the time.)
“The posts have since been deleted, but widely circulated screenshots show Elmo apparently calling for violence against Jews and calling for the release of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.” Antisemitic posts appear on Elmo’s X account after hack. (Well, I hear Elon is looking for a new CEO of X…)
+ About 1,500 tarantulas found hidden in cake boxes at German airport. A customs spokesperson said they had been tipped off by a “noticeable smell” that did not resemble the expected aroma of confectionery treats.
2025-07-11 20:00:00
Low hanging fruit. Circling back. Let’s take this offline. I don’t have the bandwidth to list all the various buzzwords and aphorisms that emerged in the early days of the internet business. Catchy phrases of the moment have probably always been a part of human communication trends. Until now, our clichés have come from a tendency to imitate each other. But these days, we’re imitating a machine. “Words frequently used by ChatGPT, including ‘delve’ and ‘meticulous,’ are getting more common in spoken language, according to an analysis of more than 700,000 hours of videos and podcasts.” Scientific American: ChatGPT Is Changing the Words We Use in Conversation. Of course, ChatGPT developed its word patterns from imitating us. Now we’re imitating it. Then it will imitate us imitating it. It seems inevitable that we’re going to get down using to fewer and fewer words until we arrive at just one. My guess is that it will be Ugh.
“It was 5:44 p.m., according to minutes of the meeting. At that moment, the prime minister was forced to choose between the chance of a truce and his political survival — and Netanyahu opted for survival. There was no cease-fire plan, he promised Smotrich. ‘No, no, there’s no such thing,’ he said. And as the cabinet discussion moved on, Netanyahu quietly leaned over to his security advisers and whispered what must have by then become obvious to them: ‘Don’t present the plan.'” NYT Mag (Gift Article) with a detailed look at How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power. And placing his own political survival at the top of his post-Oct 7 to-do list means placing others things further down the list, like limiting unnecessary death and destruction in Gaza, negotiating the release of all the hostages, and establishing a regional peace. Meanwhile, the strategy has created more negative views of Israel around the world, and sadly, by extension, more energy for already rising tide of worldwide antisemitism. Of course, in 2025, the world doesn’t exactly have a shortage of leaders who put their own political survival above the greater good.
In Moby Dick, Herman Melville wrote, “Two thirds of this terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer’s. For the sea is his; he owns it, as Emperors own empires.” These days, emperors own Nantucket, too. As you can tell by the number of visitors, Nantucket is unique in many ways, but it’s also representative of an increasingly common storyline. The ever-expanding economic divide has made some places so expensive that people like teachers, police officers, firefighters can’t afford to live there. NYT (Gift Article): Nantucket’s Workers Are Living on the Margins.
What to Book: “A teenage girl breaks free from her father’s world of isolation to discover that her whole life is a lie.” She also learns a lot about what we got right and what we got terribly wrong during the early days of the internet. A new novel from Janelle Brown, What Kind of Paradise.
+ What to Watch: Idris Elba and John Cena star as a president and a prime minister who find themselves left to their own devices (with a lot of help from Priyanka Chopra Jonas) to fight for their survival and that of NATO. It’s one of those action comedies that are so popular these days, but it’s better than most of them. Heads of State on Prime.
+ What to Pocket: Many people have been bummed to learn that the popular read-it-later app Pocket has shut down. But there’s a replacement. I’ve been testing it. It’s off to an excellent start and it’s being rapidly improved by some excellent product engineers and designers. Introducing Save with Folio.
A Taxing Endeavor: Trump announced another tariff on Canada. The market, used to these threats, had a ho hum reaction. But this chaos will not come without a cost. The Atlantic (Gift Article): Start Budgeting Now. “Traders have figured out how to make money from the short-lived dips that Trump periodically causes, calling it the ‘TACO trade,’ for ‘Trump always chickens out.’ But Trump is not doing nothing. Businesses are struggling to negotiate the uncertainty created by the White House. Trump’s tariffs are forcing up consumer costs and damaging firms. And the latest renewal of the trade war will make the economy worse.” The latest move has been to send tariff letters to other countries. Most leaders are angry when they get them. But not everyone. Shunned Myanmar leader thrilled at US contact after Trump tariff letter. (Trump gives a gift to undemocratic regime. Shocker.)
+ Kash App: “Some senior officials who have taken the test have been asked whether they said anything negative about the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel.” The F.B.I. Is Using Polygraphs to Test Officials’ Loyalty. (No one is asking if they’re loyal to the country.)
+ Different Times: Can we still call them one in a thousand year storms when they come four times in a week?
+ Skating on Thin ICE: “DHS is urging law enforcement to treat even skateboarding and livestreaming as signs of violent intent during a protest, turning everyday behavior into a pretext for police action.” Wired: DHS Tells Police That Common Protest Activities Are ‘Violent Tactics.’
+ She’s Got My Sleep Number: Justice Jackson Says ‘the State of Our Democracy’ Keeps Her Up at Night. (She can always text me. I’m usually up for the same reason.)
+ Island Fever: “For much of this year, Cassidy Crosser made sure to answer all her spam phone calls. ‘Hello? Love Island?’ she would ask, hoping to hear that after applying three times, she had finally been cast on the hit reality dating TV show Love Island USA. ‘Obviously I didn’t hear back. Because I’m not in Fiji.'” ‘Just Tan and Be Hot and Single’: The People Fighting to Be on Love Island. (I’m not tan, hot, or single. But I’m definitely gonna start answering spam calls with, “Hello? Love Island?”)
“My father-in-law, Claude, did not live an opulent life. He lived in ways to which we all should truly aspire.” An obituary with a broader message: A tribute to an uncommon man.
+ First malaria treatment for babies is approved.
+ Ukrainian doctor drives a child’s heart through Russian attack to perform a life-saving transplant.
+ Stella McCartney’s new plant-based sneakers can be composted. (And they sound like they’d probably taste pretty good, too.)
+ ‘One in a million’: teen surfer found on remote island 14km off Australian coast.
+ Tiny pet dog credited with helping to save hiker trapped in Swiss glacier. (I don’t think my beagles would ever forgive me if I took them for a walk on a glacier.)
2025-07-10 20:00:00
Why settle for being the king of America when you can be king of the world? In his latest round of tariff whac-a-mole, Donald Trump has threatened to hit Brazil with a 50% tariff because he doesn’t like that way that country’s legal system is treating its former president. “I knew and dealt with former President Jair Bolsonaro, and respected him greatly, as did most other Leaders of Countries. The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace. This Trial should not be taking place. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!” If you’re wondering what Trump sees in the former president of Brazil, consider that Bolsanaro is facing charges of a coup attempt that included a storming of the Brazilian capital. This isn’t the first time Trump has inserted himself into the legal proceedings of another country. Just last month, he called on Israel to drop its “witch hunt” corruption charges against Bibi. Such a call is of course wildly inappropriate. But we’ve crossed an entirely different line when an American president deploys his pretty much non-existent tariff powers against a country with which we have a trade surplus because he finds he has so much in common with one of its criminal defendants. To the extent that any of them stick, these tariffs are ultimately a tax on the American people. The way they’re being bandied about is taxing American democracy.
+ Bloomberg (Gift Article): “Trump has previously used tariff threats to accomplish other geopolitical goals. In January, he announced sweeping tariffs on Colombia before abruptly pulling the threat after reaching a deal on the return of deported migrants. He’s also put 20% tariffs on China for its alleged failure to stop the flow of fentanyl to the US, and threatened BRICS nations with higher duties for undermining the dollar. Still, it’s unprecedented for the US to add a tariff onto a foreign country to stop a judicial proceeding.” Trump’s 50% Levy on Brazil Shows World Nothing Is Off Limits.
“Mr. Allred, a recruiter at a trucking company, does not like people who enter the country illegally. He believes they are ‘an army of takers,’ filling spots in emergency rooms and schools that American citizens have to pay for. He does not like President Trump, either, but one of the reasons he voted for him last year was that it seemed as though he would actually take action on immigration. ‘We don’t have an industrial base anymore,’ Mr. Allred told me over dinner at his apartment in Bentonville. ‘We have trillions in national debt. It’s impossible. We can’t take on millions more people. It’s financially not possible.’ But something has happened in Mr. Allred’s life that is bumping up against this view. He finally met, and married, the love of his life. And his wife is in the country illegally.” NYT (Gift Article): Against Illegal Immigration, but Married to Someone Here Illegally.
“Less than a quarter-century ago, the United States had about 40 journalists per 100,000 residents on average. Now, the equivalent number is 8.2 Local Journalist Equivalents, about a 75% decline. This means that big chunks of the country have severe shortages. Stunningly, more than 1,000 counties — one out of three — do not have the equivalent of even one full-time local journalist.” The lack of journalists covering local politics and news is bad. And it’s made worse by the social media (and soon AI) garbage that’s filling the void. Local Journalist Index 2025.
We’re told stories of profitable ideas that were sketched on the back of a napkin. Well, they’ve got nothing on one sketched on the back of an air-sickness bag. The original Hermès bag made for Jane Birkin just sold at auction for 7 million euros. (Ironically, that’s a price so high the purchaser may experience some nausea.) “The bag was born of a fortuitous encounter on a London-bound flight in the 1980s with the then-head of Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin recounted in subsequent interviews that the pair got talking after she spilled some of her things on the cabin floor. Birkin asked Dumas why Hermès didn’t make a bigger handbag and sketched out on an airplane vomit bag the sort of hold-all that she would like. He then had an example made for her and, flattered, she agreed when Hermès asked whether it could commercialize the bag in her name.”
Whistle in the Dark: “If they can do this sort of thing to Abrego Garcia, to 238 people that nobody knows, and send them to CECOT forever with no due process, they can do that to anyone. It should be deeply, deeply worrisome to anyone who cares about their safety and their liberty, that the government can, without showing evidence to anyone of anything, spirit you away on a plane to wherever, forever.” NYT: Justice Dept. Whistle-Blower Warns of Trump Administration’s Assault on the Law.
+ No Subtitles or Subtleties: “There was confusion and anger in Liberia on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump praised the English skills of President Joseph Boakai.” (English is Liberia’s official language. And we have become the world’s official laughing stock.)
+ Class in Session: Federal judge pauses Trump’s birthright citizenship order in class action suit. (Class action suits are the latest attempt to deal with recent SCOTUS rulings.)
+ Banana Jubilee: “Somewhere along the line, though, the Bananas broke containment. They graduated from minor-league parks to major-league venues, selling out legendary ballparks such as Fenway Park and Camden Yards. During a recent weekend in Los Angeles, Bananas tickets sold on the secondary market for more than tickets to an actual Dodgers-Yankees World Series rematch.” Why the Savannah Bananas — not the Dallas Cowboys — are America’s Team.
+ Young Blood: An estimated 1 in 3 teens and preteens, ages 12 to 17, have prediabetes.
+ Cereal Number: “Ferrero, the family-owned maker of Nutella, has agreed to buy the iconic American maker of Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes, combining two of the world’s most storied sweet brands.” Nutella-maker Ferrero to gobble up cereal giant Kellogg for $3.1 billion. (Which is probably a lower valuation than the average pre-launch AI company.)
+ Nick Knack: “The next time you rent a car, that ding on the door might not slip under the radar. Powerful new A.I.-driven tools are helping Hertz and other companies catch every little scratch, and puzzled renters are being asked to pay up.” NYT (Gift Article): A.I. Is Making Sure You Pay for That Ding on Your Rental Car.
+ World War Tea: “Matcha’s meteoric rise in popularity, along with a proliferation of resellers who buy large quantities of the tea from the small number of Japanese vendors who produce it each year, has triggered a global shortage and a steep jump in prices. The market turmoil has spurred a fierce debate among the matcha faithful about who exactly is responsible for the dwindling supply—and who deserves to drink it.” WSJ (Gift Article): Matcha Lovers Are Turning Against Each Other Over Global Shortage. Plus, Japan struggles to fend off a world without enough matcha.
“Even in an age where flying is a fairly regular occurrence, there are some things that you never forget about your first journey on an airplane.That visceral thrill of being pushed back into your seat as the plane accelerates toward take-off, the jitters that accompany your first bout of turbulence, and the SLUUUUURP sound in the lavatory.” The engineering is surprisingly simple and remarkably clever.
+ Ozzy Osbourne collaborates with chimpanzees on abstract expressionist paintings. (Call me when they collaborate on realist paintings.)
+ Photos from this year’s Running of the Bulls (an event that somehow explains much of human behavior).