The house always wins. It's an adage that always holds up. Well, almost. On occasion, the house loses, like when Donald Trump runs the casinos. These days, Trump is running a much larger game with much higher stakes. Is an American economy that seemed to hold all the cards just a few months ago headed for a historically bad beat? Well, if you're placing your bets, you might want to check with Las Vegas first. The sin city has often served as a bellwether for what's in the cards for the broader American economy. Economic uncertainty, tariffs, and a hit to international travel are taking a toll. NPR: Las Vegas sees drop in tourism, hinting at broader economic woes facing the US. "Summer is typically a slower season for Las Vegas given its heat, and June was a quieter convention month than last year, according to experts on Las Vegas tourism. But the dip in tourism also comes amid growing concerns over the impact of President Trump's global trade war and immigration policies on international travel to the U.S. Meanwhile, rising prices and tariffs appear to be changing how American consumers are spending their money."
+ Don't like Vegas as an economic indicator? How about breakfast? "At Wendy’s Co. and McDonald’s Corp., diners are cutting back on Maple Bacon Chicken Croissants and McGriddles, even as both chains have offered discounts. Breakfast is doing worse than sales at other times of the day, executives at the two companies said this week. 'When consumer uncertainty increases and consumers choose to eat another meal at home, breakfast is often the first place that they do that with.'" Fast-Food Breakfast Sales Fade as Diners Eat at Home, Skip Meals.
+ Maybe it's not actually the economy driving these trends. GLP-1s could be driving down appetites and addictions. Some businesses are reacting by getting small. NYT (Gift Article): Ozempic Is Shrinking Appetites. Restaurants Are Shrinking the Food. I wonder if they can come up with a weekly injectable to suppress the appetite for destruction.
2
Kiss the Ring
"The exchanges highlight how corporations have changed their lobbying strategies to adapt to a uniquely transactional president who prioritizes wins and deals. Executives who have long outsourced the messy practice of lobbying to consultants or dark-money groups have learned that the best way to shape Trump’s policies is often through a late-night call to the president or a visit to one of his golf resorts." WaPo (Gift Article): America’s CEOs come to the White House bearing gifts and flattery. (Or what Colbert calls, The Apple iKiss.)
3
A Bubbling Cauldron
"A decision in the Perrier case is due in the coming months. It follows revelations in the French media about illicit filtration systems that have been widely used in the industry, apparently because of worries about water contamination." The big story here isn't that some supposedly natural water has been treated before hitting the bottle. The big story is why companies feel the need to filter. And that's a climate story. Is Perrier as pure as it claims? The bottled water scandal gripping France.
4
Weekend Whats
What to Book: "In the fall of 1980, when I was fourteen, a friend of my parents named Naomi Shah fell in love with me. She was thirty-six, a mother of two, and married to a wealthy man. Like so many things that happened to me that year, it didn’t seem strange at the time." Playworld by Adam Ross is an epic coming of age story about a teen actor set in NYC in the 80s that more than lives up to its stellar reviews. It's so great.
+ What to Doc: I really didn't have much interest in Jayne Mansfield. And I haven't watched that many episodes of Law and Order SVU with Mariska Hargitay. So I'm not sure why I found myself watching Hargitay's doc My Mom Jayne on HBO Max. But I'm sure glad I did. In many ways, it's the story of one of America's first social influencers. And it's also a consistently jaw-dropping uncovering of Hargitay's broader family history.
5
Extra, Extra
Vlad Handing: "Such an outcome would represent a major win for Putin, who has long sought direct negotiations with the US on terms for ending the war that he started, sidelining Ukraine and its European allies. Zelenskiy risks being presented with a take-it-or-leave-it deal to accept the loss of Ukrainian territory, while Europe fears it would be left to monitor a ceasefire as Putin rebuilds his forces." Bloomberg (Gift Article): US and Russia Plan Truce to Cement Putin’s Gains in Ukraine.
+ Dealer's Choice: "Directing the military to crack down on the illicit trade also raises legal issues, including whether it would count as 'murder' if U.S. forces acting outside of a congressionally authorized armed conflict were to kill civilians — even criminal suspects — who pose no imminent threat." (Legal issues. Ha, ha, ha.) NYT (Gift Article): Trump Directs Military to Target Foreign Drug Cartels.
+ Austin City Limitless: "As Texas Republicans try to muscle a rare mid-decade redistricting bill through the Legislature to help Republicans gain seats in Congress -- at President Donald Trump's request -- residents in Austin, the state capital, could find themselves sharing a district with rural Texans more than 300 miles away." (A person could get carpal tunnel just trying to trace this map...)
+ Justice Just Isn't: "The acting U.S. attorney in Albany sent Ms. James’s office two subpoenas, one of which was related to the civil fraud case, which led to Mr. Trump being penalized more than half a billion dollars." Justice Dept. Subpoenas Office of Letitia James, Who Sued Trump for Fraud. The Justice Dept is being turned into a personal retribution tool.
+ Bibi Guns For More: "The chorus of condemnation from longstanding European allies, Arab governments and the families of hostages held by militant groups in Gaza reflected Mr. Netanyahu’s intensifying clash with foreign nationsand the supporters of hostages." Netanyahu Broadly Criticized at Home and Abroad After New Gaza Plan. (How are those protests at Kamala rallies looking in retrospect?)
+ Pop Goes the Measle: Human ingenuity solved measles. Then human stupidity stepped in. WSJ (Gift Article): The Race to Find a Measles Treatment as Infections Surge.
+ Pepe Le PU: The inclusion of butter in a UK recipe for cacio e pepe draws outrage from Italian media. (I miss the days when this would have been the top international conflict story...)
6
Feel Good Friday
"The journey was no longer impossible, but that didn’t make it any less audacious. One great waterway, newly freed from the stranglehold of four hulking dams. More than 300 miles, through some of the most intense rapids in the West. And 15 young kayakers, nearly all of them new to the sport." 15 teens. 300 miles. One mighty ancestral river, running free.
+ "After finding the homeschooling life confining, the teen petitioned her way into a graduate class at Berkeley, where she ended up disproving a 40-year-old conjecture." At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery. (Go Bears.)
+ This weekend, Jen Pawol will make history by becoming the first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball game.
+ "They knew they were risking their lives, venturing out in the aftermath of a rebel takeover of their city, where U.N. experts were documenting hundreds of beatings, arrests and executions by the rebels, as well as grave crimes committed by fleeing soldiers. But all three had the same objective: to get back on the basketball court." Congo’s Teens Brave Bombs, Rebels and Abduction to Play Hoops.
+ Helsinki went a full year without a traffic death. How did they do it?
+ Dog Heroically Leads Stranger to 2 Unconscious People in Need of Help. (They're still looking for the cat that knocked them out.)
Go Bears is right!!!