Extra, Extra
Everything is Tariffic: Trump threatens to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in response to electricity duties. The market continues to slide. But one stock is getting some help (if it actually helps). Trump says he’ll buy a Tesla to support Elon Musk as the stock tanks. In other Elon news, he just called Sen Mark Kelly (a former Navy pilot and NASA astronaut) a traitor for calling for resumption of military aid to Ukraine. Seriously dude, go cybertruck yourself.
+ Drug Test: “Some were shot by vigilantes on motorbikes. Others had bullets in the head, execution style. In killing after killing, the police would only describe the victims as ‘drug suspects’ who had resisted arrest, a charge that rarely stood up to even minor scrutiny. And yet the slaughter continued with impunity, at the behest of the man who was elected president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte.” Duterte, the former Philippine president, was arrested on Tuesday in Manila and was flown to The Hague to face International Criminal Court charges of crimes against humanity. (Here’s a news quiz for you. Can you name the world leader who said this to Duterte? “I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing.”)
+ Forecast Away: “As hurricane forecasts improve, that translates directly into saving lives. When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, causing around $27 billion in damage, most forecasts could happen only a day or two in advance of a hurricane. Now, forecasts five days in advance can be as accurate.” Wow! That seems like a great advance! FastCo: He flew into the eye of Hurricane Helene and helped improve forecasts. Then Trump fired him. It’s a tough time to be a weather expert if you work (or worked) for the federal government. But some people are hiring. Hedge Funds Paying Up to $1 Million for Weather Modeling Experts.
+ Regime Change: “Wynn-Williams sees Zuckerberg change while she’s at Facebook. Desperate to be liked, he becomes increasingly hungry for attention and adulation, shifting his focus from coding and engineering to politics. On a tour of Asia, she is directed to gather a crowd of more than one million so that he can be ‘gently mobbed.’ (In the end, she doesn’t have to; his desire is satisfied during an appearance at a Jakarta shopping mall with Indonesia’s president-elect instead.) He tells her that Andrew Jackson (who signed the Indian Removal Act into law) was the greatest president America ever had, because he ‘got stuff done.'” The NYT (Gift Article) on Sarah Wynn-Williams insider account of the ethical fall of Facebook. “Careless People,” a memoir by a former Facebook executive, portrays feckless company leaders cozying up to authoritarian regimes.
+ This is Your Brain on News: The U.S. is making more seizures of illegal eggs than fentanyl at its Canadian and Mexican borders.
+ Ash Backwards: “Can you do me a favor? Can you stop scattering your dearly departed’s ashes all over my favorite golf course? I want to play Pebble Beach, not your grandpa. For that matter, stop dumping your meemaw’s sandy ‘cremains’ on Disneyland rides. Last year, somebody on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance pulled the stunt, forcing the ride’s shutdown for cleaning. What are parents in the next car supposed to tell the kids when a cloud of human ash hits them in the face?” Rick Reilly in WaPo (Gift Article): Please. Stop. Spreading. Human. Ash. In. Public.
