Extra, Extra
We Need to Talk About the Sycophant in the Room: “In President Donald Trump’s longest on-camera appearance of his second term, he soaked up credit from his Cabinet as he moved to assert personal dominance over more and more aspects of American life.
The president is saving whale populations on the East Coast, one Cabinet secretary said. University leaders are calling to discuss campus culture thanks to his pressure, said another. Debris from the Los Angeles wildfires was cleared in record time thanks to his executive order, declared a third. And a pregnant reporter’s unborn baby is safer thanks to the federal takeover of D.C. policing, she told the president.” In 3-hour televised Cabinet meeting, Trump soaks up flattery. (As a matter of personal sanity preservation, I never watch these sick displays. Sadly, the same is not true of the rest of the world. They are watching. And they recognize this behavior all too well.)
+ Go Pound Sandwich: “The grand jury’s rejection of the felony charge was a remarkable failure by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington and the second time in recent days that a majority of grand jurors refused to vote to indict a person accused of felony assault on a federal agent. It also amounted to a sharp rebuke by a panel of ordinary citizens against the prosecutors assigned to bring charges against people arrested after President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and federal agents to fight crime and patrol the city’s streets.” Prosecutors Fail to Secure Indictment Against Man Who Threw Sandwich at Federal Agent. (Never bring a ketchup-thrower to a sandwich throwing fight.)
+ Herd Stupidity: “The Food and Drug Administration approved the next round of Covid shots for the fall — but only for a smaller, high-risk group of people … Prior to this change, the CDC recommended Covid shots for everyone 6 months and older.”
+ Greenland Rover: “Denmark has summoned a senior American diplomat to demand an explanation after claims that figures connected to the Trump administration had infiltrated Greenland to conduct ‘covert influence operations.'”
+ Cracker Backer : Trump said he’s ended 10 wars. The Cracker Barrel logo wars makes it 11.
+ Smoking Hot: A new study “suggests that moderate increases in cumulative heatwave exposure increase a person’s biological age — to an extent comparable to regular smoking or alcohol consumption.”
+ Dormitory Glory: “This year, the National Retail Federation projects that American families will spend $12.8 billion on college-residence furnishings, up from a projected $6.7 billion in 2019. The jump isn’t just due to individuals spending more, an NRF spokesperson told me; a greater number of people are also choosing to buy dorm decor in the first place … The era of peak dorm decor is here.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): How Parents Hijacked the College Dorm. (My son just headed off to his second year of college with one new sheet from Target.) Another thing more common in dorms these days? Pets.
+ KPop Demon Hunter Gatherers: “The animated movie about a Korean girls band battling invaders from the underworld is now the most watched Netflix original film of all time, with 236 million views in 10 weeks. Nobody with children is surprised.” How ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Became Netflix’s Most Watched Movie Ever.
