Romantic Interlude, Human Composting
As pioneering as I’ve been when it comes to newsletter writing (I think I sent my first edition about 45 minutes after email was introduced), it turns out I was even more ahead of my time when it comes to dating prowess. I had none; no prowess, no game, no romantic skills, no nothing. In other words, I’d fit right into today’s social environment in which all signs point to fewer young people finding love. The trend has resulted in a budding industry dedicated to helping people connect in real life. Faith Hill attended one organized event aimed at un-dooming modern romance, and it went something like this: “About 90 seconds into a three-minute hug with a stranger, I began to think that dying alone might not be so bad after all. I’d come to a candlelit loft in Manhattan for a ‘mindful singles event’ called The Feels, which was designed to be the opposite of the disembodied experience of dating apps. Participants, phones tucked away, paired up and attempted a series of ‘somatic awareness’ exercises, including staring into each other’s eyes, hugging, and holding a hand over each other’s heart.” (While I eventually got to first base, second base, and onward, I don’t think I got to “somatic awareness” until I’d been married for at least a decade). Hill explores the challenges and some of the pitched solutions (to the extent people actually want them) in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Great Romance Slump. “I interviewed dozens of researchers and single people across the country, endured a series of curious but fruitless dating events, and bravely subjected myself to some actual dates. The romance slump, I found, is a product of broader trends: souring gender relations, a transformed economy, the unevenness of social progress, and technology that both connects and isolates us. Millions of individual heartaches are rewriting the love story we’ve told ourselves for centuries.”
I Want A Turn
“The Democratic Party’s problems remain very real, but for the moment, Trump and the GOP have more serious ones. The most glaring one is Trump’s deep personal unpopularity. In the current polarized and dyspeptic political environment, all presidents seem to be unpopular, but Trump is in a different league. A CNN poll released last week measured Trump at 34 percent support, matching the low he reached in that poll following the January 6 insurrection. Still, that was better than his showing in the AP-NORC survey, which found his approval at 33 percent, just one point above a 2017 low. Quinnipiac University found Trump at 32 percent, the lowest ever in that poll.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Americans Are Turning on Trump.
+ Those are the challenges Trump faces at home. There are other ones abroad. WaPo (Gift Article): Trump keeps making threats. The world has stopped flinching. “The flabbergasting threats keep piling up — to weaponize trade, annex Canada, seize Greenland, abandon NATO, annihilate Iran — but the alarm bells have gone quiet.”
+ But don’t be fooled. Trump’s support is still ironclad among one very important constituency. Elected GOP officials. They still seem willing to back just about anything Trump wants — from a failing war with no strategy to this: Todd Blanche advances toward confirmation.
+ “This is the same Justice Department that has made so many misrepresentations and false statements in court over the last year and a half that judges are openly questioning whether its lawyers can be trusted. Despite all of that, Todd Blanche’s word is good enough for the senator whom Trump all but ousted by endorsing his Republican primary opponent.” Joyce Vance: The $1.776b Slush Fund Isn’t As Dead as Senators Cornyn and Tillis Seem to Be Willing to Believe. We know the deal is a joke. And we knew they’d agree to it anyway. As I wrote yesterday, the writing was on the wall, as surely as the seashells were arranged on the beach.
+ Aside from weaponization and the enablement of Trump’s lawlessness, what can we expect from Blanche’s tenure? For one thing… Blanche Privately Vows to Take Down Abortion Rights Next. “We don’t have complete victory yet, but we will have victory, and victory will be soon, and it will be permanent. If states have said, ‘We are going to protect the unborn and we’re going to protect every life from the moment of conception,’ we’re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations can’t attack that. They can’t do things like they’re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs.”
Can I Make Your Garden Grow?
Ever feel like you get treated like dirt in life? Well, now you can have the same experience in death. Maryland is now the nation’s capital of human composting. “Human composting is a roughly month-long process that turns humans into nutrient rich dirt using bacteria, fungi and mulch. In the end, about three hundred pounds of soil is left over. Bones are pulverized and added to the soil and then some or all of it is given back to the family or placed in land conservation projects to help plants grow.” (I knew I’d eventually develop a green thumb.)
Endless Watch
“Nestled off a short dirt road in the Adirondack Mountains, just beyond the reach of cellular service, lies Trout Lake. Overlooking the water is a cabin owned by 48-year-old Hollywood stuntman Tom Place, something of a local legend, known more in this small Upstate New York community for his weekend recreational activities than his formidable IMDb credits he’s racked up as a Hollywood stuntman. Because for many years now, Place has been routinely diving beneath the lake’s surface in search of something he lost more than three decades ago: his Rolex Submariner.” GQ: His Rolex Submariner Fell Into a Lake 30 Years Ago. He’s Still Diving for It.
+ Might be time from Tom to re-watch this classic scene from Midnight Run.
Extra, Extra
Our Own Worst Enemy? “The dramatic rundown in precision, long-range missiles means U.S. President Donald Trump may have to rely more on riskier, piloted bombing missions if he relaunches large-scale attacks on Iran.” There are a lot of reasons for Trump to want to halt the Iran war. This is one of them. US has used ‘virtually all’ of its long-range precision missiles during Iran war, sources say. Meanwhile, “Iran and Oman have made progress toward a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a potential breakthrough that could help end the war in the Middle East.” Here’s the latest from The Guardian.
+ Worse for Wear: “Her driver had already pleaded guilty in criminal court to raping her vaginally, anally and orally while she was unconscious during a ride in Tampa one night in 2021. He was in prison, serving a 10-year sentence … [Now] Uber’s lawyer Taylor Silverberg zeroed in on Ms. Doe’s behavior on the night she was raped. Ms. Silverberg asked Ms. Doe exactly how much Tito’s vodka she had drunk, how many milligrams of Adderall she had taken and whether she had ‘felt regret’ about mixing the two. And she asked Ms. Doe what she had been wearing. ‘Can you describe the dress?’ Ms. Silverberg said. ‘Were you wearing heels or boots or flats?'” NYT (Gift Article): Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘What Were You Wearing?’
+ Antisocial Media: “To unmask anonymous online critics, DHS has sent hundreds of subpoenas to social-media companies, according to people familiar with the matter. Its agents have tracked down Americans at work and on the road, asking them to sign letters acknowledging their online speech about ICE ‘may’ be a crime.” WSJ (Gift Article): How ICE Is Weaponizing Social Media Against Its Critics.
+ Strait Up Profiteering: “Chevron reported its highest ever quarterly profit of $12.2bn, a fivefold increase on the same period last year. ExxonMobil reported a profit of $14.5bn in the second quarter, double what it made in the same period a year ago and its highest quarterly profit since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.” Oil companies are making so much money during the Iran war, even Trump is complaining about it.
+ You May Have Already Qualified: “As the number of high school seniors declines, more schools are shifting tactics and moving away from an ivory tower mentality to navigate the demographic cliff.” It’s not just about easing the admission process. It’s about admitting people before they even apply. Bloomberg (Gift Article): You’re In: Private Colleges Admit More Students Who Didn’t Apply.
+ A Goliath Named David: I’m against the Paramount/Warner merger. David Ellison in the NYT (Gift Article) makes his case, saying none of this is about market share. “The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN.” OK, then I’m really, really against the Paramount/Warner merger…
+ All Roads Lead to Country: “For the first time in history, country songs are claiming all five of the top five slots on the Hot 100.”
Bottom of the News
Think our politics are weird? “When 102 senators were sworn in for Colombia’s latest parliamentary session, they included 32 women, 69 men – and one cartoon elephant.”
+ A man who spent 550 Euros on a huge tattoo declaring England as World Cup 2026 winners has returned to the parlor to add the phrase ‘just joking!’ (Too bad we can’t just add that phrase to all of 2026.)
