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I keep wondering when the economy is going to crack and the market is going to drop. Don't get me wrong. I don't want these things to happen. I just don't understand how we can avoid this outcome when you add up the roughshod regulation removal, the haphazard, illogical, and inconsistent tariff policies, the smashing of trust in our economic data, the constant attacks on an independent Federal Reserve, the aggressiveness toward economic allies that is causing them to look elsewhere for trade, the counterproductive closed door policies when it comes to foreign students and workers, the ring-kissing required to operate big businesses, and the consistent (and celebratory) flouting of the rule of law. So every time I see a troubling economic indicator, I wonder, Is this it? The latest concerning sign of self-inflicted economic wounds is ironically happening beneath the golden arches. McDonald's will slash combo meal prices to lure back inflation-weary diners. Is this just a reaction the fact that some meals at Mickey D's have unhappily topped $18? Or is this a leading indicator that suggests it's time to freak out and throw that bottle of ketchup at the wall?
+ "Many businesses stockpiled key supplies and components ahead of the tariffs, but the full effect of the import taxes is becoming more apparent as those reserves dwindle, dealing a final blow to some companies already struggling with other challenges." NYT (Gift Article): American Businesses in ‘Survival Mode’ as Trump Tariffs Pile Up. Are these just random examples of perishing businesses or is this a sign that all the things we've been taught hurt the economy are starting to hurt the economy? I'd ask if you want fries with that question, but I'm afraid you can't afford them...
2
Reigning Cats and Dogs
"They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats...They're eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame." That was a claim then candidate Trump repeated about Springfield, Ohio during the 2024 campaign. Now that campaign hogwash has been replaced by the realities of policies that are driving Haitian workers out of Springfield. An Ohio City Faces a Future Without Haitian Workers: ‘It’s Not Going to Be Good.' They weren't eating the pets. They were reviving the economy.
+ Meanwhile, some Florida farmers reduce crops as deportation fears drive workers away. (Feel safer?)
3
Collect Your Thoughts
"Relying on signals produced when a paralyzed person attempts speech makes it easy for that person to mentally zip their lip and avoid oversharing. But it also means they have to make a concerted effort to convey a word or sentence, which can be tiring and time consuming ... The team wanted to know whether they could decode brain signals that are far more subtle than those produced by attempted speech. The team wanted to decode imagined speech." Using technology to give paralyzed people the ability to speak is a remarkable achievement. The fact that these implants are getting closer to knowing (and sharing) what people think is a little scary. These brain implants speak your mind — even when you don't want to.
4
The Typing is On the Wall
My third grade teacher regularly made me stay after school to improve my horrible penmanship. The weird thing was that she always made me do these after school assignments up at the chalkboard. When I suggested that it didn't really make sense for me to practice cursive at the chalkboard when what she really wanted was for my pen-to-paper handwriting to improve, I was invited to stay even longer after school. These days, I never have to use cursive, on paper or on the chalkboard, but I still type with two fingers. Wired: The End of Handwriting. "For years, smartphones and computers have threatened to erase writing by hand. Would that be so bad?" (I jotted down an answer to that question in my notes, but now I can't read what I wrote.)
5
Extra, Extra
Innies vs Outies: "In the hottest regions of the country, such as Texas, where I live, the climate crisis is not only changing our world; it is also dividing it. When the heat spikes during the summer, we morph into a two-party state: the cooled and the cooked. On one side, there is water, shade and air-conditioning. On the other, there is sweat, suffering and even, in the worst cases, death." NYT (Gift Article): The New American Inequality: The Cooled vs. the Cooked.
+ Dem Bones: "Few measurements reflect the luster of a political party’s brand more clearly than the choice by voters to identify with it — whether they register on a clipboard in a supermarket parking lot, at the Department of Motor Vehicles or in the comfort of their own home. And fewer and fewer Americans are choosing to be Democrats." The Democratic Party Faces a Voter Registration Crisis.
+ Thou Shall Not: "A federal judge in Texas temporarily halted on Wednesday a state law that would have required the Ten Commandments to be visibly displayed in every public school classroom by Sept. 1." Judge Halts Texas Law Mandating the Ten Commandments in School. (Maybe people should spend less time pushing the ten commandments and more time following them.)
+ With Reservations: "Did you see what’s happening with the restaurants? They’re bursting. They were all closing and going bankrupt." Trump says the National Guard in DC is making restaurants great again. Surprise. The numbers say the opposite. ‘The city is dead’: D.C. restaurant reservations drop amid federal crackdown.
+ Ain't it the Truth? "Some of the officials were involved in gathering information and making assessments on Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election. Meanwhile, others had signed a public letter during Trump’s first term, supporting calls for an impeachment inquiry into the President." Trump Administration Revokes Security Clearances of These U.S. Officials.
+ Map Quest: As the Texas GOP moves ever closer to approvinga gerrymandered district map, Obama applauds Newsom’s California redistricting plan.
+ Nerd is the Word: "The leading theory about the origin of nerd is that it likely first appeared in print in the 1950 children's book If I Ran the Zoo written by Dr. Seuss." Nerd! How the word popularized by Dr. Seuss went from geeky insult to mainstream.
6
Bottom of the News
"To the casual observer, leg lengthening looks like a form of medieval torture, and earlier that day I watched as a physiotherapist gently lifted each of Frank’s new legs while he groaned with pain – straightening his hamstrings feels impossible, as if they might snap. He is in recovery from the first of two surgeries: this one broke his femurs to insert metal rods and add fixators. The second will remove the fixators after he has completed the key-turning process." To some, travelling to Turkey to gain a few inches is a (very high) price worth paying. (Then when they fly home, they realize they can no longer sit comfortably in coach...)
+ "On June 14 of this year, Vitomir Maričić took one last gulp of pure oxygen and lay down in a pool. There he remained, cool as a sea cucumber, for 29 minutes and 3 seconds."
+ Fuzzy the bear enjoys some ice cream at South Lake Tahoe shop.