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Well, this gives new meaning to White House Briefing... Things were continuing to go well for Katie Zacharia during her first week as White House Press Secretary. Just look at this headline: China tells Trump’s press secretary to visit ‘more often’ after toilet comments. If this had gone on any longer, she might have had to call an attorney. (A real one.) Thankfully, for her, for us, and for the world, not long after getting caught with her legal briefs down, this painful chapter has ended. It was over in less than half a Scaramucci (or roughly the amount of time it takes to explain the difference between a lawyer and an attorney at law). Talk about going from failing the Bar to lowering it. The news of the end of the Zacharia era came just after Trump explained to reporters that he told her, “Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider.” (He used the word honestly. Talk about adding insult to injury.) Zacharia can now take her conspiracy spreading and lies back to the private sector. And, of course, one imagines there will be a Dancing with the Stars appearance, followed by a memoir about her hours in the administration. The Trump era has eroded a lot of our most cherished institutions and values, but at least we still demand a certain level of merit when it comes to our official phonies, liars, sophists, fraudsters, and imaginary attorneys.
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Tech Meets Its Match
The British philosopher Paul McCartney once explained, “I don’t care too much for money. Money can’t buy me love.” Of course, at the time of his epiphany, no one had AI money. We are learning that AI alone can’t buy you love. At least that’s one of the revelations offered by the booming business of real-life matchmakers serving the newly rich and still lonely. “After 23 years as a matchmaker in Silicon Valley, Amy Andersen is accustomed to clients with money to spend and little time to spare. But lately, the founder of Linx Dating in Menlo Park, California, has noticed a new cohort coming through her doors: employees of companies such as Perplexity, Anthropic and Nvidia. Andersen says demand for her services has exploded over the past few years, driven in large part by the wealth created by the artificial intelligence boom, which is benefitting not just tech workers but people in adjacent industries, from law to real estate. Part headhunter and part dating coach, she scouts for possible matches both in the wild — at events, online and across social media — and within her proprietary database of some 25,000 eligible singles. Clients can get everything from image consulting and professional photo shoots to coaching before and after dates. Her current clients, men and women ranging from age 20 to 75, are willing to spend heavily to solve a problem that dating apps haven’t.” Bloomberg (Gift Article): The AI Boom Is Creating a New Market for $500,000 Matchmakers. Technology evolves, but some things never change. This story is basically a scene from Fiddler on the Roof, adjusted for inflation.
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Mutiny on the Bounty Paper Towels
“You wake up to a notification that a grocery-store employee will deliver all of the ingredients for the three recipes you saved last night to your ‘Weeknight Dinner’ folder. While you brew your coffee, a program browses online retailers to compare toilet-paper prices, and another solicits competitive bids for Sheetrock work you need done in the garage. During your commute, a bot moves your upcoming dentist appointment to avoid a scheduling conflict. On your lunch break, you get an alert that computers acting on your behalf noticed some unclaimed funds and class-action payouts in a state database and claimed them. Also, the machine has negotiated a cheaper internet plan. By the time you get home, the groceries are on your doorstep, and you’ve gotten back $150. This is the future that OpenAI, Meta, xAI, Google, and the rest are selling with a spate of always-on AI assistants that work for you.” Do you want that future? And what might it mean for the way the economy works? Matteo Wong and Charlie Warzel: Imagine Every AI Agent on Earth Buying the Same Cheap Paper Towels. (I can’t imagine this, because paper towels are one product I would never skimp on...)
+ Meanwhile: Rogue AI agent reportedly deletes full season of Swedish TV show.
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Weekend Whats
What to Doc: Judd Apatow is building a great catalogue of documentaries about some of our most talented and most interesting comedians. His latest just dropped on Netflix. Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald.
+ What to Binge: Season 4 of The Diplomat on Netflix is out and getting great reviews. Feel free to binge.
+ What to Cheer: Even if you’re not into basketball or the WNBA, you’ve got to tune in to watch a Valkaries home gameagainst the Dream. The Chase Center crowds are truly insane. You’ll be into the WNBA by the end of the game.
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Extra, Extra
These Are Not the Hombres You’re Looking For: The Atlantic(Gift Article): He Joined the Military. They Reported His Wife to ICE. She’s been here since she was six. The couple has four kids. Is this getting rid of criminals and the worst of the worst? Plus ... “’We’re almost dead in the water because our workforce is gone,’ said Scott Brannock, president of Jacksonville-based Tidewater Homes and the Northeast Florida Builders Association. ‘We have national builders who are missing projections, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars because they have slabs sitting on the ground and no one to frame.’” WSJ (Gift Article): The Immigration Crackdown Is Making It Much Harder to Build Houses. (Feel safer?) And... “As Hannah Arendt wrote ... ‘One is almost tempted to measure the degree of totalitarian infection by the extent to which the concerned governments use their sovereign right of denationalization.’” Michelle Goldberg in the NYT (Gift Article): Trump’s Attempt to Deport Ilhan Omar Is Another Leap Toward the Abyss. As the administration is threatened by the prospect of losing Congressional majorities, these strategies will only grow more urgent, and their record more abyss-mal.
+ The Gall is Coming From Inside the House: “The order to limit a satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations came from inside the White House.” Sickening.
+ Bend Shooting: “A teenager shot his way through locked doors at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Thursday, killing three children and a teacher, police say ... The suspect, identified as a 16-year-old Bend resident, was shot and killed inside the school by a member of the community who saw him enter the building and pursued him.” Teen kills 3 children, 1 teacher at Bend elementary school before being fatally shot by bystander. Here’s the latest from CNN.
+ Billionaire Citizens United: “If you’re a Democrat, new election filings show many of the party’s Senate and House nominees raising more than their Republican rivals. This campaign cash is the most important money in politics, because candidates can control it directly and buy ads at cheaper rates. If you’re a Republican, the same filings show that the G.O.P. has a significant advantage in money from super PACs and other outside groups tied to Elon Musk, President Trump and the party’s big donors. In many races, this edge has allowed the party to club Democrats with advertising even though Republican groups have to pay more for ads. In fact, both of these perceptions are true.”