Extra, Extra

Friendly Foes: “Russian and Chinese bombers flew together for the first time in international airspace off the coast of Alaska, in a new show of expanding military cooperation.”

+ Arson of a Bitch: It usually takes us a while to ever figure out what starts a massive wildfire. The currently growing Park Fire in Northern California is an exception. And the cause was a guy who pushed a burning car into a gully. Crazy. Meanwhile, another guy started a 36-acre wildfire by driving a truck for more than 4 miles with no tire.

+ Barry Picking: “The endorsement, announced by her campaign in a video, caps a week where the vast majority of people involved in the Democratic party, including convention delegates, lined up behind Harris after President Biden announced on Sunday that he was abandoning his bid for a second term.” The Obamas have endorsed Harris.

+ Search Party: “OpenAI is announcing its much-anticipated entry into the search market, SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine with real-time access to information across the internet.” (If you want to learn more about this new product, Google it.)

+ Seating Arrangement: “An unofficial motto of Southwest Airlines’ open seating process for its people boarding its planes was once, ‘You can sit anywhere you want — just like at church.'” Well, now your seat will depend on how much you drop into the collection plate. Southwest Airlines says ‘assigned and premium seating‘ will replace open seating plan.

+ Ethics Elegy: “‘Hillbilly Elegy’ contains an indictment of “conspiracy-mongers and fringe lunatics” who spread lies about Barack Obama’s religion and birthplace. And it laments the corrosive cynicism that led many in his white working-class community to embrace these falsehoods. Vance presented their views as self-defeating … Now Vance promotes all these things.” Of course, he’s not the only one who has traded former beliefs for nonsense in the name of power, which makes trying to understand it all the more important. NYT (Gift Article): The Unnerving Changeability of JD Vance. (Given his poor reception, Trump may be changing his opinion about Vance. And as history will show, when Trump drops support for a VP, it’s not pretty.)