Extra, Extra
As Good as Gold: In some countries, an Olympic gold medal is worth its weight in gold … and then some. After the gold: A look at how some Olympic champions are being welcomed home. “In Pakistan, Arshad Nadeem brought home the javelin gold and reportedly got nearly $600,000 and two new cars — plus free gas for life.”
+ Freak Weather Sinks Yacht: “Police divers resumed searching Tuesday for six people believed trapped in the hull of a superyacht that sank in deep seas off Sicily, including a British tech magnate who was celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with the people who had defended him at trial.”
+ Tony Express: Antony Blinken is continuing to build his frequent traveler points with yet another tour of the Middle East. For the Biden administration, a ceasefire is clearly the top priority. Can they get it done? Every time they get close, we realize they’re not that close. Biden says Hamas ‘backing away’ from hostage-ceasefire deal, as Blinken heads to Egypt. The suffering in Gaza continues and in Israel, the protests around getting a deal done and returning the hostages have been constant and urgent. But time is clearly running out. Bodies of six Israeli hostages retrieved from Gaza.
+ Bye George: George Santos pleads guilty to fraud, which I suppose, makes this a good time to review his weirdest lies.
+ X Con: With his Twitter purchase, Elon Musk bought increased influence, a louder megaphone, and ruined the platform for many people. So I’d say that’s a win for him. The bankers who backed the deal? Not so much. “The $13 billion that Elon Musk borrowed to buy Twitter has turned into the worst merger-finance deal for banks since the 2008-09 financial crisis.” (Of course, some of these bankers likely participated in this weak deal to maintain access to the better ones.)
+ Plus Minused: “Disney is no longer asking a Florida court to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit on the grounds that the victim’s family had signed up for its streaming service Disney Plus.” I guess bad PR is more expensive than a lawsuit.
