Extra, Extra
Operation Warped Speed: “U.S. employers added just 22,000 jobs in August, according to a report Friday from the Labor Department, while revised figures showed a net loss of jobs in June for the first time since 2020, in the midst of the pandemic.” (The job numbers could get even worse when Trump fires more of the people who measure the job numbers.) Also, US Manufacturing Activity Contracted in August for a Sixth Month.
+ Shareholder Value, Not Values: Tech leaders take turns flattering Trump at White House dinner. From Wired: All the President’s Tech CEOs. (For a second, it almost sounded like a televised cabinet meeting. It’s shocking how quickly this is what we’ve become.)
+ Hyundai is Cast: “Immigration authorities arrested hundreds of workers for a major South Korean battery maker at a Hyundai plant in Georgia, U.S. officials said Friday, calling it the largest ever Homeland Security enforcement operation at a single location.”
+ Netanyahu Goes There: “Netanyahu has the tacit backing of President Trump for this Gaza City offensive, despite hundreds of former Israeli security officials saying Hamas no longer poses a threat and that it’s time to end the war.” Israel is blasting through Gaza City neighborhoods.
+ Testosterone Infusion: “It is almost impossible to overstate the inanity of this move. The United States has a Department of Defense for a reason.” Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (Gift Article) on the soon to be newly named Department of War. Pete Hegseth’s Department of Cringe.
+ Keg Stand: NYT (Gift Article): Chicago Could Be a Powder Keg. “Its incursion into Chicago may begin with pursuing undocumented immigrants, but with its threat to also deploy National Guard troops or active-duty military to combat crime more broadly in the city — over the objections of Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois — the administration risks provoking large-scale civil unrest.” (I doubt the administrations sees this as a risk. They see it as a benefit.)
+ Darth Haul: Darth Vader’s lightsaber goes for over $3.6 million at movie memorabilia auction. (Damn. Bad guys are really in vogue these days…)
