The Say Hey Kid and the Pay Day Kids
In 1979, Willie Mays got a gig as a “‘goodwill ambassador’ for the Bally’s Park Place hotel and casino in Atlantic City. It was not a full-time job. Mays’ job was basically to show up and be famous while doing meet-and-greets at corporate and charity events.” Back then, even that relatively minor connection with gambling was enough to get Mays banned from baseball. A few years later, Mickey Mantle suffered the same punishment for a similar transgression. Times—and values—have changed. Today, Major League Baseball has a casino as one official gaming partner and a betting app as another, and gambling has basically merged with professional sports. Just ask the players. The Athletic (Gift Article): MLB players reveal a modern toll of legal gambling: Threats, DMs and encounters.
+ If betting apps weren’t enough, now prediction markets are getting in on the action. Everyone knows that participating in prediction markets like Kalshi, especially when it comes to sports, is the same thing as betting. That’s why sports fans see prediction market ads everywhere, and why Kalshi is partnering with many teams, including my San Francisco Giants. The marketing push mirrors those of gambling companies because prediction markets are gambling companies. As Nick Brown, the Democratic attorney general of Washington, explains, “You can go onto a site and place money on the outcome of some sports activity. That’s the same thing as gambling.” One would assume that the notion that gambling is the same as gambling would be a self-evident and accepted truth. But this is 2026, and times—and values—have changed; so don’t bet on it. Here’s one thing you can bet on: When there’s something this obviously shady happening, the first family probably isn’t far from the action. “Last month, 44 states signed a letter attacking the platforms as a ‘new form of casino’ preying on young people.” But the federal government is doing everything it can to stop states from regulating the industry. Why? Just follow the money, Sonny: “In January last year, Kalshi hired Donald Trump Jr. as an adviser; his compensation included more than $300,000 in Kalshi shares, which have multiplied in value. Last year, the president’s son also joined Polymarket’s advisory board and bought a stake in the company via 1789 Capital, his investment firm.” NYT (Gift Article): Clash Between Prediction Markets and States Sets Off a Furious Political Battle.
+ The Trumps famously failed in the casino business. But they’ve found a business they seem really good at: government corruption for personal gain. WSJ (Gift Article): Drone-Defense Startup Needed Connections, so It Hired Eric Trump. “The agreement comes as the president’s two eldest sons have been amassing stakes in numerous small U.S. government contractors through investments or advisory work, positioning the brothers to benefit from spending and policy decisions by their father’s administration … It marks a notable pivot for the brothers, who for years were focused on their father’s turf of real estate, golf and branding. But since the start of their father’s second term, they have become highly active investors and advisers, also taking stakes in companies involved in tungsten mining and nuclear energy—while growing their crypto holdings.” (Say Hey Kid, meet the Pay Day Kids.) “”What’s remarkable about it is that it’s put in writing,’ said Jessica Tillipman, associate dean of government procurement law studies at George Washington University. An agreement like Eric Trump’s would be expected to trigger ‘the giant circle and red flag from the compliance department’ at a traditional U.S. corporation, she said.'” As a wise man once (or maybe twice) said: Times—and values—have changed.
Power Trip
“The surprise visit by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency to Moscow this week was to deliver a warning to Russia not to attack NATO countries.” The trip followed reports “that Russian President Vladimir Putin could try to test the resolve of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with a limited assault on an allied country in the next few years.” Part of this is related to concerns that Putin will act desperately as his invasion of Ukraine takes a toll on Russia. But concerns have also been heightened because Putin might see an opportunity to test the resolve of NATO because of Trump’s constant attacks on the organization (in particular, and allies in general), and this: US Patriot missile stocks in Europe are ‘beyond critical’ due to Iran war, officials say.
+ More from Thomas Wright in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Why Did John Ratcliffe Go to Moscow? The “U.S. intelligence community is concerned that Russia could carry out a limited attack on a NATO state, possibly even launching a small land incursion. Such an assault might thwart Russia’s own interests, prompting Europe to accelerate its military buildup and target Moscow’s sovereign assets. But Putin may see attacking a NATO country as an unprecedented opportunity to break the alliance, by manufacturing a crisis in which the United States fails to act.”
Any Hombre Will Do
ICE arrests have been sold as a way to get “bad hombres” off the streets. But “a surge in immigration arrests this summer has swept up thousands of people who had not previously been the focus of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign. They included people married to U.S. citizens, people who had entered legally and were pursuing an asylum claim, and others with a temporary legal status that the administration pushed to revoke … The share with a past violent criminal conviction fell to less than 4 percent.” ICE Arrests Soar as People With No Criminal Record Are Increasingly Targeted.
+ “An immigration officer facing state charges in connection with a shooting in Minneapolis was released from jail on Thursday after Republican officials in Texas prevailed in an extradition battle with their Democratic counterparts in Minnesota. “
Trading Seats for Suites
“As the US Open welcomes hundreds of thousands of people for Fan Week, they’ll notice that Arthur Ashe Stadium has a new look after extensive renovations. But if fans around the world look closely, they’ll see that what happened at Ashe is happening just about everywhere.” In short, the cheaper seats are being removed and more expensive boxes and suites are being added. The death of the cheap seat.
Extra, Extra
Glacial Movement: “At 8:37am on Wednesday, an enormous section of a glacier in the Himalayas sheared free and crashed onto the valley floor in Nepal’s Langtang national park, about 35 miles north of the capital, Kathmandu, near the mountainous Nepal-Tibet border. Such was the force of the event, it was initially reported as an earthquake of magnitude 4.4. The US Geological Survey later determined the tremor was caused by glacial rock and ice collapsing, registering a magnitude of 5.2. The collapse triggered a huge release of water, mud, rock and ice that thundered down valleys.” How the deadly Nepal and Tibet flash flood unfolded – a visual guide. Hundreds of people are missing (many of them tourists) and at least 389 have died in Nepal. Here’s the latest from The Guardian and the NYT.
+ Lake News! As if watching Sterling Point wasn’t enough to put you on Canada’s side, our clown in chief just signed an order renaming Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America.’ (Let’s sign an order renaming Mark Carney as President of all of North America.)
+ Unfriendly Fire: “A sailor who jumped from the USS Abraham Lincoln this month in what his wife described as a suicide attempt is now facing disciplinary action from the Navy.” (Surrender to enemies, attack allies. It’s a definite theme, folks.)
+ New Bag of Trix: “General Mills said Wednesday it has removed artificial colors from all its U.S. cereals, including Lucky Charms and Trix. The Minneapolis company has shifted to fruit- and vegetable-based dyes as well as colors derived from spices like turmeric and paprika to give its cereals their customary bright colors.” (You know it’s only a matter of time before they tell us that artificial dyes were actually good for us…)
+ A Pack of Liars: “Newly obtained documents indicate that the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, lied during two congressional hearings last year, when he told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation that a 2019 visit to Samoa had ‘nothing to do with vaccines.'” (He’ll probably get a promotion.)
+ Who’s Decaffing Now: “Why is decaf suddenly expensive? It involves a Colombian processing plant, a paint-stripper ban, and a supply chain that broke in several places at once.” Everything is connected. Or, Why Your Decaf Now Costs as Much as the ‘Good Stuff.’
Bottom of the News
It had something to do with measuring the health of soils, but let’s just be glad it happened. Why did 1,000 world citizens bury their underpants?
