Extra, Extra
Cashing in Your Chips: “Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices are expected to pay the United States 15 percent of the money they take in from selling artificial intelligence chips to China, as part of a highly unusual financial agreement with the Trump administration.” NYT: U.S. Government to Take Cut of Nvidia and AMD A.I. Chip Sales to China. As the WSJ (Gift Article) explains: The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics. “A generation ago conventional wisdom held that as China liberalized, its economy would come to resemble America’s. Instead, capitalism in America is starting to look like China.”
+ It’s Good to Be the King: While the US government is taking a cut of the chip business, the Trumps are cashing in on everything else. How much is Trump pocketing off the Presidency? In The New Yorker, David D. Kirkpatrick takes a crack at adding things up. The Number. (He got to about $3.4 billion, and counting…)
+ Arms Race: “None of this is new … but [it’s] in the midst of an upgrade that adds one crucial element: arms.” The Verge: Inside the automated warehouse where robots are packing your groceries.
+ Suffragette Lag: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reposted and praised a video interview of a self-described Christian nationalist pastor whose church doesn’t believe women should be allowed to vote … In the CNN interview, Wilson also defended previous comments where he had said there was mutual affection between slaves and their masters. He also said that sodomy should be recriminalized.” (As crazy as you think these guys are, they’re crazier.)
+ Ebola Mode: “The Trump administration has said that it’s just reorganizing the bureaucracy and is prepared to handle biothreats. But our experience suggests otherwise. Without a leader from the NSC embedded in the White House and ready to coordinate other agencies, more people—including Americans—will get sick and die.” No One in the White House Knows How to Stop Ebola.
+ If The Suit Fits: Ski jumping’s suit-cheating saga rolls on as 5 Norwegians are charged. “The International Ski and Snowboard Federation said star ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, two coaches and a member of the service staff were formally charged as part of an investigation into ‘equipment manipulation.'” (I’m old enough to remember when Equipment Manipulation was a late night movie on Cinemax.)
