Sleeping with the Enemy

Sleeping Through History, Water's the New Oil

According to several accounts, Donald Trump dozed during the first day of his criminal trial. Faced with the prospect of finally being held to account for something, Trump fell asleep. In Freudian psychoanalysis this is known as going full toddler. It may have been one of the few times I've envied the defendant. Since Trump news has returned to the fevered levels we all hoped we'd left behind in 2020, I've been tempted to assume the fetal position, turn out the lights, unplug the devices, diaper up, and enter a self-imposed news coma. Wake me when Trump loses the election and pays for his crimes. Otherwise, don't wake me. You know how this nonstop coverage works, but it's worth a reminder that the breathless coverage you're seeing is not the breathless coverage being broadcast to the other side. On Monday, Trump sent out a fundraising email explaining that he had just angrily stormed out of the courtroom. There were two problems with this account: First, Trump calmly exited the courtroom. Second, when the fundraising email was sent, court was still in session and the defendant was still in the room. It's too ridiculous to be believed, but a massive number of Americans will believe it. PT Barnum may have been the greatest sociologist of all time. David Graham in The Atlantic: Trump’s Alternate-Reality Criminal Trial. As the trial unfolds, I'll try to compartmentalize it in this newsletter even if I fail to do the same in my mind.

+ Of course, this alternate reality is everywhere, and presents an ongoing threat to America and its allies. Consider a recent poll that queried which source of information people trusted most when it comes to the war in Ukraine. The most trusted source among GOP voters: Donald Trump. WaPo (Gift Article): One poll question summarizes eight years of Donald Trump.

+ One of the big questions about this particular case is why it's taken so long to get to trial. Sadly, one of the reasons was a corrupted DOJ. It's hard to remember all the scandals, so here's a refresher from Rachel Maddow.

2

Moby Click

"In the family tree of professions, submarine cable work occupies a lonely branch somewhere between heavy construction and neurosurgery. It’s precision engineering on a shifting sea using heavy metal hooks and high-tension lines that, if they snap, can cut a person in half." If they snap, they could also cut off your internet. A huge amount of internet data travels via underwater cables that run along the ocean floor. If something goes wrong, your connection with the world could sleep with the fishes. The Verge with an excellent interactive piece on The Cloud Under the Sea. "The world’s emails, TikToks, classified memos, bank transfers, satellite surveillance, and FaceTime calls travel on cables that are about as thin as a garden hose. There are about 800,000 miles of these skinny tubes crisscrossing the Earth’s oceans, representing nearly 600 different systems, according to the industry tracking organization TeleGeography. The cables are buried near shore, but for the vast majority of their length, they just sit amid the gray ooze and alien creatures of the ocean floor, the hair-thin strands of glass at their center glowing with lasers encoding the world’s data. If, hypothetically, all these cables were to simultaneously break, modern civilization would cease to function." (In my house, if Netflix buffers, my family ceases to function.)

3

Like Oil and Water

"Nearly a decade ago, Greenstone Resource Partners LLC, a private company backed by global investors, bought almost 500 acres of agricultural land here in Cibola. In a first-of-its-kind deal, the company recently sold the water rights tied to the land to the town of Queen Creek, a suburb of Phoenix, for a $14m gross profit. More than 2,000 acre-feet of water from the Colorado River that was once used to irrigate farmland is now flowing, through a canal system, to the taps of homes more than 200 miles away." Here's a really interesting report from The Guardian that portends a future when water is more valuable than oil. The corporation cashing in on America’s drought.

4

Getting Juice from a Stone

In a sharp reversal, "O.J. Simpson’s longtime attorney, who was named executor of the former NFL star’s will ahead of his death last week, has said he will ensure that any claim the parents of Ron Goldman make to retrieve the millions they were awarded in a 1998 civil judgment against the accused killer will be accepted by the estate." There's a bigger story here which relates Trump, Alex Jones, and others, and to just how long it takes for civil penalties to be paid off (if they ever are). Since 1997, OJ has owed tens of millions to the families of murder victims Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. How much did he pay off during his lifetime: Zilch.

5

Extra, Extra

Statute Had Limitations: "Supreme Court justices on Tuesday raised concerns about the Justice Department's use of an obstruction statuteto charge those involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The case that could have bearing on the election interference prosecution of former President Donald Trump." (Notably, Clarence Thomas didn't recuse himself from the case even though his wife was involved in efforts to overturn the election.)

+ Dust to Dust: "On Tuesday, federal officials posted new rules to protect coal and other miners from toxic silica dust, a growing problem in mines that has left thousands sick and dying. It took mine safety regulators 50 years to do what federal researchers had long urged."

+ Tehran and Tel Aviv: "Many Iranians also see the Iran-Israel confrontation now emerging from the shadows as being orchestrated by the Iranian government rather than reflective of the will of the Iranian people. This perception is underscored by a heavy police presence on the streets of Tehran - ostensibly about enforcing strict Islamic dress codes requiring women to cover their hair but which many suspect is mainly about crushing any possible protests." Iranians on edge as leaders say 'Tel Aviv is our battleground.'

+ Putin Context: Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Why Did U.S. Planes Defend Israel but Not Ukraine? There are several reasons. Here's a big one: "A part of the Republican Party, including its presidential candidate, does sympathize with the Russian dictatorship, does repeat its talking points, and does seek to appease Russia when it invades and occupies other countries."

+ Econ 101: "The extensive trade in American expertise presents a quandary for universities and policymakers in Washington: Where’s the line between fostering academic research and empowering a U.S. rival?" WSJ (Gift Article): Research for Sale: How Chinese Money Flows to American Universities.

+ Inmates/Asylum: "Conservative Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is joining Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in her efforts to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) after the Louisiana Republican announced plans to bring multiple foreign aid bills to the floor."

+ Fever Pitch: Indiana Fever select Iowa's Caitlin Clark No. 1 in 2024 WNBA draft. More notable is the coverage that the WNBA draft got on TV and online. How do you know women's basketball has become a much more valuable commodity? When Jake from State Farm gets the first hug. While the ratings are going up, the salaries are lagging. Caitlin Clark’s staggeringly low starting salary, briefly explained.

6

Bottom of the News

"The agency confirmed Monday that the 1.6-pound object was debris from a cargo pallet that had been intentionally released from the space station three years ago." Object that crashed into Florida home came from space station. Florida's reputation has reached outer space.

+ "It released a series of blank yellow and red billboards in the Netherlands that don't even carry the McDonald's golden arches logo. But the marketing creatives behind the campaign don't reckon you need to be told what is being advertised; the smell alone will get the message across." McDonald's new marketing: Billboards that smell like its French fries.