Extra, Extra

Blame the Messenger: Bibi Netanyahu gave a defiant speech at the UN in which he attacked Mamdani and said that “devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard. It was very hard to do. But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as prime minister, because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead.” Bibi isn’t meeting with Trump during his very short trip, as his brand is currently toxic in the US. I worry that his actions and messaging have done similar damage to Israel’s brand abroad. But nothing about Bibi’s speech has anything to do with the international audience. It’s all campaign messaging for his upcoming election at home.

+ Junior’s Mint: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accepted $4 million in book advances and more than $270,000 in gifts over the past year from close allies who are working to advance his Make America Healthy Again agenda … Cheryl Hines, Mr. Kennedy’s wife, accepted $210,000 in consulting fees from MAHA Action, a nonprofit advocacy.” (In fairness, if he’s gonna spend so much time trying to kill us all, you can’t blame him for wanting to make a buck.) Meanwhile, RFK Jr.’s Enhanced Security Was Funded With Money From Minority Health Office.

+ Rogue Agents: “OpenAI’s artificial intelligence went rogue this year in at least four additional incidents, hacking and trying to break into government and university websites without being instructed to do so.” And from NPR: “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday he was extremely concerned about OpenAI ‘s breach of an Australian health department website that the artificial intelligence company took too long to reveal.” Meanwhile, Google Takes the A.I. Data Center Race to Outer Space. (All we wanted was an easy way to chat with our friends and the occasional funny cat video.)

+ Prediction Friction in This Jurisdiction: “New York sued the prediction market Polymarket on Thursday, arguing the platform is an unlicensed gambling operation and calling for a judge to block the company from operating in the state.”

+ Against the Wind: “Last month, President Trump dismissed concerns about difficult conditions reported aboard the ship. Asked whether he was concerned about the crew’s mental health and whether he thought the deployment had gone on too long, the president said: ‘No. No. No.’ He added: ‘Not nearly long enough.'” 8 Sailors in U.S.S. Lincoln Strike Group Attempted Suicide, Navy Says.

+ Monkey See, Monkey Do: “Chimpanzees are known to use rudimentary tools when foraging for food. According to a new paper in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, this learned behavior is passed down from adults to offspring through social learning. Specifically, adult chimps deliberately model the behavior, then turn their tools over to the youngsters so they can mimic the same motions.” (This was how I was gradually teaching my kids how to gather and summarize news. Then they switched to TikTok and Claude.)