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Websites Hate the Customer, Buck Passing

Click, click, click, click ... just one second ... click, click, click ... almost there. I’m trying to read an article to determine if it’s worth summarizing clearly and with a dose of pithy hilarity, but that’s not as easy as it used to be. I don’t mean the synthesizing, summarizing, and sharing. (Give me 16 ounces of coffee with a double-espresso depth charge, and I can still bring ChatGPT to its knees.) I mean the reading. It takes me more and more clicks to get through the overlays, ads, subscription boxes, and pop-ups just to read the lede. And that doesn’t even account for the time spent waiting for the scripts, cookies, and other trackers that are loaded onto my browser as soon as I land on a page—which sure feels like yet another punishment for agreeing to buy what the site is selling. It used to be that the customer was always right. When it comes to browsing news sites, the customer is always ripe. I’ve had better brand interactions with that Nigerian prince who used to email and ask for money.

Yes, as someone who obsessively reads a lot of articles across a lot of sites, it’s fair to say that I’m Patient Zero when it comes to this problem. But I’m hardly alone. A sad irony of this trend is that the more news sites struggle to get visitors, the more compelled they feel to suck every last drop of cash (and dignity) from those who make it through the commercialized maze. Another irony is that the worse the website reading experience gets, the more likely people are to settle for the AI summary version (the latest threat to a news industry already on life support). There are other ironies as well. It turns out irony is the last thing you can see on the internet without having to close seventeen boxes first. As my fellow old-school blogger John Gruber explains: “The web is the only medium the world has ever seen where its highest-profile decision makers are people who despise the medium and are trying to drive people away from it.” ‘Your Frustration Is the Product.’ “And the f-cking autoplay videos, jesus. You read two paragraphs and there’s a box that interrupts you. You read another two paragraphs and there’s another interruption. All the way until the end of the article. We’re visiting their website to read a f-cking article. If we wanted to watch videos, we’d be on YouTube. It’s like going to a restaurant, ordering a cheeseburger, and they send a marching band to your table to play trumpets right in your ear and squirt you with a water pistol while trying to sell you towels.’”

+ Shubham Bose: The 49MB Web Page. “I went to the New York Times to glimpse at four headlines and was greeted with 422 network requests and 49 megabytes of data ... To truly wrap your head around the phenomenon of a 49 MB web page, let’s quickly travel back a few decades. With this page load, you would be leaping ahead of the size of Windows 95 (28 floppy disks). The OS that ran the world fits perfectly inside a single modern page load.”

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What the Buck?

“The only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president.” That was Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard trying to answer Jon Ossoff’s questions about how much of a threat the intel community thought Iran posed before the airstrikes started. Gabbard was trying not to publicly disagree with the statements made by her boss (which isn’t easy since so many of those statements contradict one another). But that doesn’t make her statement any less disturbing.

+ So, according to our Director of National Intelligence, the buck stops with Trump. Does he agree? Not exactly. Israel says US helped coordinate gasfield attack, despite Trump’s claim he knew nothing about it. (Either he’s not in charge, or he’s lying. Both are bad options in these serious times.)

+ Energy producing sites are being hit across the region and markets are rattled. Meanwhile, “when asked in the Oval Office about using ground troops in Iran, Mr. Trump said: ‘I’m not putting troops anywhere. If I did, I wouldn’t tell you.’ Trump also made a Pearl Harbor joke during a meeting with Japan’s prime minister. (No, I’m not joking.) Here’s more from the NYT.

+ Fear, defiance, and anger: Iranians describe life under bombardment. Right now, they’re stuck between bombing and a repressive and violent regime. Does America owe the Iranian people freedom from both when this is over? “When Trump thought protesters might triumph, he made them extravagant promises. After it became clear that they weren’t going to quickly overthrow the mullahs, he treated them as disposable allies.” Franklin Foer in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Is Betraying Iran’s Pro-Democracy Protesters.

+ Pete Hegseth during his latest press conference: “May almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight. To the American people, please pray for them every day on bended knee with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.” (Well, someone just got himself removed from my Seder invitation list.)

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Shop Til You Drop (And Give Me 20)

As more products are being delivered, what will get people to the mall? Put on your yoga pants and find out... “When Americans are out shopping these days, they are more likely to be buying Botox or boxing lessons than shoes or shampoo. Retail leasing by service-oriented tenants outpaced goods-based retail leasing for the first time ever, a reversal driven in large part by a proliferation of salons, spas and fitness studios.” WSJ (Gift Article): America Now Has More Spas and Gyms Than Stores Selling Actual Stuff.

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Everyone is Playing Ball

The big sports leagues made deals with the sports betting sites. So it’s not a big surprise that they’re making deals with the prediction markets that have become sports betting sites. MLB reaches agreements with Polymarket. Commissioner Rob Manfred: “I hope that it goes without saying that our primary concern, always first in our minds, is protecting the integrity of the game.” (And nothing protects the integrity of the game quite like doing deals with gambling sites.)

+ I know, I know. I’m a killjoy and we should just all enjoy our March Madness brackets. But I’m extremely concerned about these betting trends. He got hooked on betting at age 11. By college he gambled 15 hours a day. “When Malek decided to share his story, he initially focused on high schoolers — but he’s now increasingly booked for middle schools.”

+ I hit on this trend (and shared one of the better articles on the topic) last week. Talking ‘Bout My Degeneration.

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Extra, Extra

Where Credit is Due: Between oil prices, regional wars, and AI bubbles, you have enough to worry about when it comes to your portfolio. But here’s one more thing. It’s called ‘private credit’ — and it could lead to big trouble on Wall Street. “When private-equity firms and other companies that aren’t banks lend money to businesses, such as software companies and auto lenders. Banks often are more reluctant to lend directly to these businesses, which they see as riskier bets — but they’re still exposed to them, because banks do lend to private credit firms.” And the private equity market has been looking shaky lately.

+ That’s the Ticket: “In office, Mr. Trump signed an executive order to crack down on price gouging by ticket resellers and looked on as Kid Rock said that Ticketmaster, Live Nation’s selling platform, was ‘going to lose some money.’ Most important, the Trump Justice Department pushed ahead with a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation that was filed in 2024 by the Biden administration and ultimately joined by 39 states and the District of Columbia. Which is why it came as such a shock last week when, just a week after the case went to trial, the Justice Department announced it was all but surrendering.” (At this point, it was hardly a shock.) The Trump Administration Just Gave Live Nation the Gift of a Lifetime. What he promises has an inverse relation to what he does. Trump Vowed to Crack Down on Fraudsters, but He’s Pardoned Dozens.

+ Not Weighting Around: “Just about 10 weeks after it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the Wegovy pill is now estimated to be part of the daily regimen of about 400,000 Americans. And the field of weight-loss treatment is on the verge of even more head-spinning change.” Weight-loss treatment is on the verge of a dramatic shift – again. (These drugs are so effective and getting so cheap that pharma companies are having a hard time keeping placebo patients around. Obesity drug tests upended by placebo patients leaving early.)

+ Nostrildamus: “That vote included a ‘no’ from the Republican chairman, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, and a ‘yes’ from a Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.” Mullin’s DHS nomination advances to full Senate. (He’ll get confirmed. And we’ll never know where he smelled war.)

+ Nordic Pick: “If happiness were an Olympic event, the Nordic countries would be guaranteed a spot on the podium. Actually, all three spots on the podium. According to the latest edition of the World Happiness Report, the three happiest countries in the world are Finland, Iceland and Denmark.” (I don’t want to give a certain someone any ideas, but we could sure up our own national happiness average if we made them states 51 through 53.) “Finnish President Alexander Stubb reacted Thursday to his country being in first place again, saying: ‘I do not think there is a magic potion, but it helps to have a society which strives towards freedom, equality and justice.’” (Oh forget it. It doesn’t sound like a good cultural fit...)

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Bottom of the News

We’re learning that cockroaches develop long-term relationships. And those relationships flourish in part because the two cockroaches have each other’s backs. Literally. These roaches form exclusive long-term relationships after eating each other’s wings. (And I thought a hickey was overkill...)