Murdoch, He Wrote

Sons of Riches, Trump's Surrender

With all due disrespect to Musk, Trump, Zuck, and our disinformation peddling foreign adversaries, the name most associated with the cesspoolization of media and politics in America and beyond, is Murdoch. And it turns out, the intrafamilial intrigue and infighting that has plagued the family makes Succession look like Happy Days. What will the post-Rupert empire look like? The answer depends on court decisions and kids. "The legal drama was set to play out far from public view, in a Reno probate court—Nevada is known for its flexible estate laws—but it had global significance: The trial would determine who controlled the most powerful conservative media force in the world, one that had toppled governments and delivered Donald Trump to the White House. For the Murdochs, the stakes were also intensely personal. Depositions and discovery were surfacing years of painful secrets—intra-family scheming and manipulation, lies and leaking and devious betrayals. James and Rupert had barely spoken in years." McKay Coppins in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Growing Up Murdoch. "For now, James is left struggling to answer the question he found himself asking in the courtroom—how did we let it come to this? His 93-year-old father will, despite his most fervent wishes, die one day. And when he does, he will leave behind a family at war with itself—a bevy of estranged children and ex-wives exchanging awkward greetings at an expensive funeral." (I guess I'm lucky to have a healthy relationship with my family. I'd estimate at least 75% of my siblings are still subscribers.)

2

The Art of the Kneel

In the weeks leading up to the election, this is how Kamala Harris described Trump's view on Putin and Ukraine. "He talks about, oh, he can end it on day one. You know what that is? It's about surrender." In the past week, we've seen something that is in some ways even more aggressive than a surrender; an all out attack on our allies and the post WWII world order. In the course of week, Trump has blamed Ukraine for the war, parroted Putin talking points, referred to Zelensky as a dictator, held peace talks with Russia (but without Ukraine or Europe), and sent his VP to Munich to tell Germans and other Europeans to be more amenable to the far right.

+ Zelensky argued Trump was caught in a web of disinformationwhile Trump responded that, "Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle." Our most important global alliances have been turned into a particularly unhinged Trump rally.

+ "It is a week that has upended traditional alliances, left Europe and Ukraine scrambling to respond, raised fears for European security and put Russia where it wants to be: at the top table of global politics, without having made any concessions to get there." BBC: How Putin and Trump shook up the world in a week.

+ 4 thoughts on Trump's new world order from foreign relations expert Richard Haass. "We are moving away from the world with the United States in tandem with its allies — allies of 75, 80 years in many cases would work together in terms of building all sorts of organizations and principles to govern international relations." Great news for China, great news for Putin, bad news for our allies.

3

Dogey Style

DOGE claimed a savings of $8 billion on a terminated contract this week. It turns out is was actually worth just $8 million. But what are a few zeros when our new government efficiency experts also chose now to accidentally fire experts working on bird flu? These errors would be much bigger scandals if DOGE was actually about saving money or making government more efficient. As Tom Nichols explains in The Atlantic (Gift Article), it's really about The Death of Government Expertise. "The whole enterprise is an attack against civil servants and the very notion of apolitical expertise."

4

Those Were The Days

"Some soldiers returning from war long for the camaraderie and purposefulness of the deployment. Former co-workers gather and laugh about the nightmare boss who used to terrorize them. Some people miss the early, eerie first few months of the pandemic, when time seemed to have stopped. Periodically, social media bubbles over with people reminiscing about 2020’s empty streets, state-mandated personal space, and permission to do nothing. Nostalgia for terrible things may sound absurd, but many people experience it, for reasons that speak to the way people make meaning of their lives." Olga Khazan in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Why People Feel Nostalgic for Terrible Times. (I feel nostalgic for a few months ago.)

5

Extra, Extra

Purse Strings Attached: "Senators have in recent days made the case to Cabinet secretaries and other Trump officials to let money flow back into their states. They are trying to finagle exceptions to President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive orders or cuts made by billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service that freeze hundreds of billions of dollars, including money for farmers and infrastructure projects." WaPo (Gift Article): After ceding power of the purse, GOP lawmakers beg Trump team for funds.

+ Tiny Captives: "The abduction of the Bibas family has been seared into the Israeli national psyche. The campaign for their release has featured orange balloons to symbolize the redheaded boys as well as references to Batman, a character beloved by the toddler Ariel." NYT: Two Tiny Captives, Symbols of Hostage Crisis, to Go Home Dead, Hamas Says. More from Times of Israel. And from AP: Egypt is developing a plan to rebuild Gaza that counters Trump’s proposal to empty the region.

+ The Sound of Shame: "White House posts video of immigrants in shackles, calls deportation footage ‘ASMR.'" (What have we become...)

+ Jair Time: Brazil's ex-President Bolsonaro charged in alleged coup plot. (Maybe they'll sentence him to four more years as president.)

+ Away Games: "According to the complaint, the men were members of a South American theft group that burglarized the homes of athletes in the NFL and NBA while they were away or playing games at the time. The defendants are accused of stealing valuables worth more than $2 million." 7 men charged in connection with burglaries of professional athletes' homes.

+ Beating the Rap: Jury finds rapper A$AP Rocky (and Rihanna partner) not guilty in gun assault trial.

+ Kim Possible: "Nike had a really rough 2024: sales fell around the world, shares dropped 60% from a 2021 high point, and the company’s relationship with major retailers was damaged." Enter a new partnership with Skims. Nike wants to reach more women. Cue Kim Kardashian.

+ Age Ain't Nothing But a Number Cruncher: "Unlike other tax preparers, she doesn’t rely on software to guide her choice of deductions and exemptions or to do the sums. Instead, she punches keys on a Sharp desktop calculator, setting a tiny roll of printing paper atwirl, and then uses an electric typewriter to enter the numbers onto Internal Revenue Service forms." WSJ (Gift Article): They’re 100 Years Old—And Still Doing People’s Taxes.

6

Bottom of the News

"People hate feeling bored. We hate it so much that we spend hours mindlessly scrolling through our phones. Many of us would rather experience physical discomfort than sit quietly with our own thoughts, as a 2014 University of Virginia study found. Nearly half of participants sitting alone in a room for 15 minutes, with no stimulation other than a button that would administer a mild electric shock, pressed the button." Constantly scrolling on your phone? Why we can’t stand feeling bored.

+ It’s illegal to own a pet raccoon in Kansas. One man is trying to change that. "For the past four years, Lenexa resident Stephen Kaspar has been feeding and training wild raccoons that wander onto his property. 'It is the highlight of my life,' he said during a legislative hearing on Monday. 'These are the things that you do when you become an empty nester. You start playing with raccoons in the backyard.'" (I'll just stick with my current empty nester plan: Constant scrolling on my phone occasionally interrupted by a really heavy electric shock...)