The N.Y.P.D. Is Teaching America How to Track Everyone Every Day Forever: Wherever you go in New York City, there’s a good chance the police are tracking you. Drive into the city and traffic cameras will automatically photograph your car, capturing your vehicle’s license plate, make, model, color, distinctive markings and even passengers. Post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or TikTok and the N.Y.P.D. can scrape and store your messages, capturing your thoughts, plans, political statements and friend groups. For years, Americans have lived with the knowledge that th eir personal data was slipping into the clouds of tech giants and government agencies, even as the European Union has protected its citizens against digital surveillance. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/09/15/opinion/nypd-surveillance.html
Larry Ellison, a Media Mogul Like No Other: The database billionaire and his son, David, are Trump favorites. The family could soon control an empire that includes CBS, Paramount, Warner, CNN and a piece of TikTok. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/technology/larry-ellison-oracle-tiktok.html
How a complete stranger tried to steal my dead father’s home: In the midst of my grief, I learned I was also the victim of deed fraud. (Washington Post)
The human stain remover: What Britain’s greatest extreme cleaner learned from 25 years on the job From murder scenes to whale blubber, Ben Giles has seen it – and cleaned it – all. In their stickiest hours, people rely on him to restore order. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/sep/23/long-read-britain-extreme-cleaner-murder-ben-giles
Why Corporate America Is Caving to Trump: When broadcasters like CBS and ABC surrendered to the president, it looked as if they lacked backbone. The explanation runs much deeper. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/business/trump-disney-paramount-shareholder-capitalism.html
The Climate Change Paradox: Earth’s climate is chaotic and volatile. Climate change is simple and predictable. How can both be true? (Quanta Magazine)
Even without formal charges, Trump’s DOJ can punish critics: Prosecutors have struggled to find evidence Trump wants, but even an investigation can inflict high costs on foes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/23/trump-investigations-retribution-schiff-cook-james/
China Has a Different Vision for AI. It Might Be Smarter. With growing fears of an AI bubble, Beijing is charting a pragmatic alternative to Silicon Valley’s pursuit of artificial superintelligence. (Wall Street Journal)
Is TV’s Golden Age (Officially) Over? A Statistical Analysis Has “Peak TV” come to an end? Who better to comment on the unsustainable pace of content production than an executive who is being told to produce content at an unsustainable pace? https://www.statsignificant.com/p/is-tvs-golden-age-officially-over
A Far-Right Faction Took Power in Odessa. Then It Had to Govern. After hard-liners purged the civil workforce, they found it difficult to provide standard city services. Eventually, voters revolted. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/odessa-texas-far-right/
Auto Industry Is Flashing a Warning Sign on U.S. Economy: CarMax’s sales and profit plunged in the latest quarter, sending stock down 20%. https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/carmax-profit-plunge-signals-more-pain-ahead-for-tariff-strained-auto-sector-374966c7?mod=hp_lead_pos8&inf_contact_key=a5c8648c488783814946c848a2147d2b
CEOs say quarterly earnings reports pressure them. But where is that coming from? Companies typically get a long leash from hopeful investors https://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-investors-really-suffering-because-companies-report-earnings-every-3-months-39a14e91?st=Ft4A9f
DeepMind unveils new robotics AI model that can sort laundry: New technology advances reasoning capabilities in general-purpose machines in push to make them more useful https://www.ft.com/content/7843dfdb-7c60-46e7-a90a-dd54b7703f4a?inf_contact_key=f0e044c8d993a0c42bdc773d01912ec9
How popular is Donald Trump? Silver Bulletin approval ratings for President Trump — and all presidents since Truman. (Nate Silver)
This overlooked workout is key to aging better: Scientists say power—your ability to move quickly—is one of the first fitness skills to fade with age. And it’s not as hard as you think to build it back. (National Geographic)
A lot of powerful people just don’t realize how unpopular Trump is: The backlash to ABC/Disney canceling Kimmel shows why it’s important for businesses and the public to understand that two-thirds of Americans are not Trump voters https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/a-lot-of-powerful-people-just-dont.
Europe is at war with Russia, whether it likes it or not: The fighting in Ukraine is only part of Russia’s wider war against the continent as a whole. It’s high time to recognize this reality and act accordingly. https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-russia-war-in-ukraine-nato-poland-romania-estonia/
The DOJ Is Using Bad Lawyering to End Fed Independence: The administration is making an extraordinary power grab in Trump’s push to fire Lisa Cook before Tuesday’s Fed Board meeting. (Bloomberg)
America Cannot Lose the Robotics Race: The most crucial challenge of the AI race is coming into view. We need to get in the running. https://a16z.substack.com/p/america-cannot-lose-the-robotics
“Movement Conservatism” was anything but conservative. Its supporters embraced the radical goal of dismantling a practical system that stabilized the country after the Great Depression and a devastating world war, a system that was based in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. However, they are now embracing something altogether different. (Letters from an American) see also The Plutonomy Is Still Going Strong: For the last 20 years, analysts have known that this is an economy by and for the rich. https://prospect.org/economy/2025-09-18-plutonomy-still-going-strong/
US Taxpayers Will Pay Billions in New Fossil Fuel Subsidies Thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill: A report finds that President Trump’s flagship legislation will grant $40 billion in new subsidies to the oil and gas industry over the next decade. (Wired) see also Big Businesses Are Doing Carbon Dioxide Removal All Wrong: The technology is needed to limit global warming. But corporations are supporting it in lieu of reducing emissions. (Wired)
• Hulu’s Futurama Gets the Insurer-Physician-PBM Scheme Right: Cartoon satire nails the vertical integration of health care giants like UnitedHealth Group, Cigna and CVS/Aetna. (Health Care Un-covered)
Casinos Aren’t The Holy Grail Developers Seem To Think They Are. Casino development frequently promises job creation and tax revenue, but research shows that proximity to casinos tends to depress local property values and rents The expansion of gambling, including online betting, has changed industry dynamics; failed luxury projects like Atlantic City’s Revel highlight competitive pressures Personal experience and market analysis suggest that casinos rarely deliver enduring community benefits, often leaving behind economic and social issues after developers exit. (Housing Notes
$3 Million Watches and Caviar for the Cat: How Becca Bloom Became the Queen of RichTok: The influencer unapologetically flaunts the trappings of her opulent life. Is she the Marie Antoinette of the digital age, or a new kind of relatable star? (Wall Street Journal)
American Democracy Might Be Stronger Than Donald Trump: Yes, Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. But the country has a few attributes that make it more resilient than you might think. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/09/19/american-democracy-resilience-00548910
The scam of all scams: The Trumps “debank” major customers from their “anti-debanking” cryptocurrency venture, and a CFTC nominee says the Winklevosses are blackballing him. (Citation Needed)
In Texas, Parents Fighting Vaccinations Say Their Movement Is Winning: Public health advocates hoped that the measles outbreak might persuade the reluctant to get shots. That has not turned out to be true. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/us/politics/vaccine-mandates-covid-measles.html
Scott Bessent, Sleazy Smearer: About the Treasury secretary’s vile, dishonest slander of the Fed. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/scott-bessent-sleazy-smearer
Are we living in a stupidogenic society? The cognitive muscles we no longer exercise https://substack.nomoremarking.com/p/are-we-living-in-a-stupidogenic-society?ref=thebrowser.com
My morning train WFH reads:
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• Why a 60/40 portfolio is likely to beat the S&P 500 through 2035: This stock and bond strategy is so disliked — and it’s probably your best investment move for the next 10 years. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-stock-and-bond-strategy-is-so-disliked-and-its-probably-your-best-investment-move-for-the-next-10-years-3759fdf2?mod=genPF_twitter_new&link=sfmw_tw
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• America Cannot Lose the Robotics Race: The most crucial challenge of the AI race is coming into view. We need to get in the running. (The a16z Newsletter)
• The death rays that guard life: We disinfect water before we drink it. Germicidal ultraviolet could make airborne disease as rare as those carried by water. (Works in Progress)
• The rise and rise of Zohran Mamdani: In a UK exclusive, the New York mayoral candidate says there’s no limit to the possibilities of his politics (New Statesman)
• Appeals court judges publicly admonish Supreme Court justices: ‘We’re out here flailing’ “They’re leaving the circuit courts, the district courts out in limbo,” one judge said during appeals court oral arguments that turned into a venting session about the high court’s terse emergency rulings. (Politico) see also How Originalism Killed the Constitution: A radical legal philosophy has undermined the process of constitutional evolution. (The Atlantic)
• A Vast ‘Cosmic Web’ Connects the Universe—Really. Now, We Can Emulate It. An emulator called Effort.jl can drastically reduce computational time without sacrificing accuracy, which could help solve longstanding mysteries about the cosmos. (404)
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