Extra, Extra

Daniel’s Boon: While I’m mourning the LA fires today, I’m also celebrating the inauguration of my friend, the most-excellent Daniel Lurie, who has just been sworn in as the new Mayor of San Francisco. He’s a great guy and he’s set to lead a great city. Daniel, an inauguration and an appearance in NextDraft on the same day is heady stuff. Thanks for giving me at least one inauguration to celebrate this year.

+ Questionable Use Case: “The highly decorated soldier who exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI including ChatGPT to help plan the attack.”

+ Load Trip: “The Justice Department said Wednesday that it intends to release special counsel Jack Smith’s findings on Donald Trump’s efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election but will keep under wraps for now the rest of the report focused on the president-elect’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.” I’m not sure what difference these reports make in the near term. People saw the crimes in real time. They voted for him anyway. And related…

+ Heave Ho Oh No: “You’re not imagining it: An unusually large number of Americans are barfing these days.” Vox: This year’s no good, very bad norovirus season.

+ Graze Anatomy: “Perry, a Jerusalem miniature donkey, was first brought to California to help calm polo ponies, but instead he nipped at them, according to the project’s website. So in 1997, the ‘spunky’ 3-year-old was brought to Palo Alto’s Bol Park to live in a pasture set aside for donkeys to graze.” Why is the passing of a donkey in the NYT (Gift Article)? Perry the Donkey, Model for ‘Shrek,’ Dies at 30.

+ Needles and the Damage Done: We’re not the only country with some weird headlines. Belgium’s Federal Food Agency on Tuesday warned people to not eat their Christmas trees. (I nearly choked on my mezuzah when I read that…)