Alienation Nation

Fringe Benefits, Olympic Superman

There are few times we're more vulnerable than when we're in pain. Aisles you'd usually skip in your local pharmacy become shelves of treatments that suddenly seem worth a shot. Imagine if the people promoting those cures were also members of your online community, a friend group that really cared about you but that also shared some beyond-the-fringe beliefs. This is a story about alternate news sites that spread political nonsense that is beyond extreme. And it's a story about how many of those sites combine these falsehoods with a lot of backwards and dangerous health information. But it's also about something else that we too often ignore; a sense of belonging offered to the alienated. The politics are hogwash. The cures are a scam. But the community is real. The excellent Eli Saslow in the NYT (Gift Article): Racked by Pain and Enraptured by a Right-Wing Miracle Cure. "Michael Chesebro awoke to the same reality as he did each morning, with pain radiating up his spine and into his shoulders before he opened his eyes. He remained still for a moment, summoning the courage to reach from his bed to his night stand. He rolled onto his back, which was fused together with metal after almost 20 years as a paratrooper in the military. He extended his arm, which he had broken several times while wrangling bulls and horses on his ranch outside Cheyenne, Wyo. Finally, his hand found his cellphone, and he logged on to the online universe where he spent most of his days ... On the other end of his phone were hundreds of people in a live voice chat for Patriot Party News, one of about a dozen far-right media platforms that has grown in both size and influence over the past few years, not only by creating an ecosystem of disinformation but also by providing an authentic sense of community."

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You Talking to Me?

Of course, like you, I never use the internet to access adult entertainment. But if I did, the last thing I'd want to do is to carry on a conversation with the actual person behind the titillation. But many people do want those kinds of interactions and pay for the chance to foster them. What they don't realize is that they're actually communicating with a "chatter," one of several people paid to pretend they're who you think you're talking to. Which brings us to OnlyFans, "a p-rn-driven, subscription-based website where content creators and their followers can develop what it calls 'authentic relationships' by messaging each other. But many popular OnlyFans creators, including p-rn stars earning millions of dollars through the website, outsource the task of messaging their subscribers to paid impersonators known as 'chatters.' It is their job to coax subscribers into tipping the creators and buying more p-rn." A Reuters special report: A juggernaut fueled by a deception.

+ In the very near future, the idea of chatting with human impersonators will seem antiquated. You'll be talking to AI. Meta will help people build their own digital twins. Talking to my digital twin. Now that's my kind of community.

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Cane and Fable

"They were pushed into underage marriages so that they could cut sugar with their husbands. They were locked into years of debt by sugar mill contractors. Some, like thousands of other working-age women in this region, said they felt pressured to get unneeded hysterectomies to resolve common ailments like painful periods and keep working in the fields." Why were these horrific working conditions labeled as humane, sustainable, and green? NYT (Gift Article) in the sugar cane fields of India: How a Sugar Industry Stamp of Approval Hid Coerced Hysterectomies.

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Five Ring Circus

One of the early American highlights from the Olympics was the Men's Gymnastics team elatedly breaking a 16-year Olympic drought with a team bronze. And the highlight of that breakthrough was the internet sensation who had just one job (if you don't count the Rubik's cube he solved in under 10 seconds earlier in the day). Stephen Nedoroscik, America’s pommel horse hero. "When I was very, very young people would tell me, ‘One day you’re going to be an Olympian!' Back then I was just a dorky little kid. And now look at me — I’m a dorky adult, going to the Olympics."

+ One competition is already over. We have the Games' best photo. 'Conditions were perfect’: how the breathtaking image of Olympic surfer Gabriel Medina was taken.

+ Men's Olympic triathlon postponed as Seine remains too contaminated for safe swimming.

+ As you might imagine, dating apps in Paris are experiencing high volume.

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Extra, Extra

Ven Push Comes to Shove: "A heavy military and police presence was on the streets of Caracas with the aim of trying to disperse protesters and prevent them from approaching the presidential palace. Crowds of people chanted 'freedom, freedom!' and called for the government to fall." Venezuelans clash with police after disputed election result.

+ Heir 404: "An octogenarian heir to the Hermès luxury fortune, who sparked controversy last year over a plan to leave his money to his gardener, may not have much to give away after all." And no one really seems to know what happened to Nicolas Puech's money. Bloomberg (Gift Article): Luxury Heir Alleges His $13 Billion Hermès Fortune Has Vanished.

+ Israel Targets Hezbollah: "Israel’s military said Tuesday it carried out a strike on Beirut targeting the militant commander allegedly behind the deaths of 12 children and teens in a rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights over the weekend." Here's the latest.

+ Vote Moat: After Trump told a group of supporters that once this election is over, "You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians," many of his enablers took to the airwaves to say he didn't really mean it. Maybe they'll more convinced now that he's doubled down on the statement. (Here's an even better offer for Trump backers. You don't have to vote in this election, either.)

+ Narco, Polo, Narco, Polo: We're starting to get more details about the arrest of one of Mexico's most powerful cartel leaders. We may have to wait for the Netflix series to get them all. NYT(Gift Article): El Chapo’s Son Abducted Fellow Cartel Leader to the U.S., Officials Now Say. "Mr. Guzmán López, the lawyer said, waylaid Mr. Zambada García with a group of henchmen who handcuffed him, stuck a bag over his head and muscled him into a car and then on to the plane, where he remained bound throughout the flight."

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Bottom of the News

One of the signs of enthusiasm surrounding the Kamala Harris campaign has been a series of Zoom gatherings that have raised big money. Yesterday, the White Dudes for Harris Zoom raised more than $4 million with the help of The Dude. Another sign of enthusiasm: Almost 500 of you have purchased your Comma-La 2024 shirts and hoodies.