“On Tuesday, Sept. 10, the Ultimate World Cruise made its final stop in Miami, returning to where it started. How do the passengers feel now that they’re returning to their normal routines? And what will they miss (or not) about their time at sea?”
“Fake food is always entertaining to look at and play with. I didn’t really have Hot Pocket experience, but it had a decent enough heft. It had a little bounce to it, so sometimes where it would go after it hit the wall was pretty funny. Trying to get the precision on that, when you hit it, you’re really proud of the smear — ‘Oh, that’s the one!’ That was fun.”
“Strikingly, one fifth of all Americans report having no access to any type of third place, whether commercial or public.”
“It has been a long 50 years, and as a guide to the American city, The Power Broker leaves us ill-equipped to confront and overcome the challenges that face us today.”
“What I am here to say is [on debate] night, Donald Trump was at the best any of us will ever see him again. This was the one place and time where he was meant to be prepared, coherent and presidential, where he was not surrounded by handlers, coddlers and sycophants. This was meant to be the one place and time where he was meant to keep his id and his ego in check, put voters and Americans first, and make a case for a second shot at the presidency. This was the one place and time where his worst and most self-indulgent impulses were supposed to be reined in. This was Trump on his best and most decent behavior, or at the very least, the best and most behavior he is capable of. We see how that went.”
““Every time I take care of a patient in this scenario, it makes me question why I’m staying here.”
“This is why Outside sent me to the park just a few weeks ago, during one of the busiest times of the year. They wanted me to observe our most basic tourists in the wild. Maybe I’d even get to see one die. Or, even better for my editors, maybe I would die while I was there. Maybe I’d look down my nose at the tourists around me only to end up as wolf food myself. Like most other Yellowstone visitors, I was not trained for the outdoors, I relish doing shit that posted signs yell at me not to do, and I often daydream about fighting bears (and winning!). I find danger tempting, which isn’t a good thing given that I can no longer swim a single pool lap without taking a break. Are people like me responsible enough to visit one of our national treasures without breaking it? Do we, as a population, know how to do national parks?”
RIP, Tito Jackson, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, member of the Jackson 5, brother of Michael.
“Here are some reminders of the painful reality Trump wishes we’d forget”.
“More to the point, the reason the media spends a lot of time reporting on right-wing violence is because there’s a lot of right-wing violence”.
“However, both cases represent the conservative effort to dismantle existing federal protections for reproductive and sexual health in favor of entrusting the matter to individual states to control as they see fit.”
“The otherwise healthy 28-year-old medical assistant, who had her sights set on nursing school, should not have died, an official state committee recently concluded.”
“Just how many Haitian immigrants have moved to Springfield, Ohio, in recent years? It’s a question at the center of the new national discussion about the city’s resurgence and ensuing struggles to accommodate its new growth. There’s no definitive answer, but we can say this: Almost every estimate you’ve seen is wrong—and too high.”
“In today’s 21-18 loss to the Commanders, the Giants scored three touchdowns, allowed zero touchdowns, and still lost the game. It was only the second time in NFL history that a team lost while scoring three touchdowns and allowing none.”
About damn time Van Chancellor was inducted into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame. What took so long? Anyway, congrats the Coach Chancellor for this well-deserved honor.
“What Vance came up with is not only surprising but, if understood properly, far more damaging than Trump’s original statement. The Trump plan, according to Vance, is to permit insurance companies to discriminate against people with preexisting conditions.”
“That speaks, in a lot of ways, to the way in which abortion access really wasn’t perfect pre-Dobbs. There were a lot of obstacles to getting care, and one of the biggest ones was cost.”
“Scammers are flooding Facebook with groups that purport to offer video streaming of funeral services for the recently deceased. Friends and family who follow the links for the streaming services are then asked to cough up their credit card information. Recently, these scammers have branched out into offering fake streaming services for nearly any kind of event advertised on Facebook. Here’s a closer look at the size of this scheme, and some findings about who may be responsible.”
“In the past two months, Microsoft has observed a notable shift in Russian influence operations tactics reflecting the changing U.S. political environment. Specifically, we have observed Russia pivot towards targeting the Harris-Walz campaign, with actors disseminating fabricated videos designed to sow discord and spread disinformation about the new Democratic nominee Vice President Harris.”
“Federal judges were warned Tuesday to be extra-vigilant in their cybersecurity practices because foreign actors may try to interfere in election-related cases in the coming months.”
RIP, JD Souther, singer and songwriter who performed with The Eagles and wrote “New Kid in Town” and “Best of My Love”; also an actor best known for Thirtysomething.
“For-profit prediction markets are driven by people attempting to impose simple resolutions to complex real-world events, on behalf of people who are trying to extract as much money from the system as possible. To fully open up elections betting by supposing that the wisdom of the crowds will keep things thoughtful and steady is a dangerous bet all its own—and we already have examples that demonstrate this.”
“Federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the controversial jurist who tossed out the classified documents criminal case against Donald Trump in July, failed to disclose her attendance at a May 2023 banquet funded by a conservative law school.” As the story notes, it’s not the first time she’s failed to fully comply with the law on this.
“As Elon Musk increasingly weighed in on politics in the last several years, he used his massive following on his social media app X to repeatedly amplify content from a company that appears to be at the center of an alleged Russian covert operation to manipulate U.S. public opinion ahead of the 2024 election.”
Two words: Mark Robinson.
Two more words: Olivia Nuzzi.
Another two more words: Corey DeAngelis. If you don’t know who that is, you really will want to click. Beyond that, I got nothin’. What a damn week.
Okay, now for two good words: Shohei Ohtani. Holy crap!
The GOP wrings their hands over Mark Robinson, but they are willing to look the other way from all the far, far worse things that Trump has done. It’s so funny and so horrifying at the same time.