Extra, Extra
App Year: “College admissions has always been filled with uncertainty, especially at schools like Duke where applications are plentiful and seats scarce. But when Guttentag started as dean three decades ago, the process was more forgiving: Duke accepted some 28 percent of applicants, and about 41 percent of them attended — the university’s yield rate. Since the turn of this century, the number of applications to the 67 most selective colleges in the nation, which includes Duke, has tripled — to nearly 2 million a year. That has translated into more stress and longer odds for a lot of applicants, and a much more complicated set of considerations for colleges, in terms of who to admit and when to admit them.” NY Mag Inside the Craziest College-Admissions Season Ever. (At least until next season…)
+ Abortion on the Ballot: “The Florida Supreme Court upheld Florida’s existing 15-week ban on abortions, which means the state’s six-week ban will soon become law. The Florida Supreme Court also approved the wording of a proposed state constitutional amendment protecting the right to an abortion in Florida, clearing it to go on the ballot this November as Amendment Four.”
+ Havana Bone to Pick: “A senior Defense Department official who attended last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, had symptoms similar to those reported by U.S. officials who have experienced ‘Havana syndrome,’ the Pentagon confirmed Monday.” Investigators have tried to brush off Havana syndrome reports. A 60 Minutes says not so fast. Havana Syndrome mystery continues as a lead military investigator says bar for proof was set impossibly high.
+ One Sided: “As for those who equate Trump and Joe Biden, that’s false equivalency. Biden has done nothing remotely close to the egregious, anti-American acts of Trump. We can debate the success and mindset of our current president, as we have about most presidents in our lifetimes, but Biden was never a threat to our democracy. Trump is. He is unique among all American presidents for his efforts to keep power at any cost.” Chris Quinn, Editor of Cleveland’s Plain Dealer, explains something to his readers that should also be required reading across journalism. Our Trump reporting upsets some readers, but there aren’t two sides to facts.
+ Public Enemy: Trump’s new publicly traded entity took a plunge on Monday after investors began to realize it’s garbage. Unsurprisingly, most of the company’s expenses are tied to interest on debt. That’s Trump’s whole business model: Borrow.
+ Bibi Guns for Iran: “Iran has vowed revenge after Israeli war planes destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least seven people, including a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds force.” While Iran is outraged, this will probably be viewed as one of the more popular moves Bibi has made of late. Mass anti-Netanyahu protests return in Israel.
+ Elon Way From the Top: Twitter’s value has dropped more than 70% since Elon Musk’s takeover. And now it looks like Musk’s terrible behavior on that platform is (finally) starting to impact Tesla sales as well. MoJo put together a short, explainer video on how Musk is using his platform to bring back centuries-old racist pseudo-science.
+ Five Star Witness: “Christopher Kinahan Sr is the head of the notorious Kinahan Organised Crime Group, which originated in Ireland and is otherwise known as the Kinahan Cartel. Irish police believe the gang has amassed profits of over $1 billion through the trade of illegal narcotics, arms trafficking and money laundering over the years.” And if Kinahan gets caught, it will likely be because of his habit of posting online reviews. Wanted Narco Boss Exposes Whereabouts by Posting Google Reviews.
