Teflon Gone

34/34, Plus Weekend Whats and Feel Good Friday

Let's not bury the lede. Trump said something true. In a rambling press conference the day after being found guilty on 34 felony counts, Trump explained that, "If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone." Fact check: True. And that's exactly the point. No one is above the law. Twelve ordinary New Yorkers established that America has no king. (Maybe it's time for the Supreme Court to come to the same conclusion.) We'll have to wait until July 5 to find out what sentence Judge Merchan will apply, but the political reactions were much more immediate. The only thing easier to predict than Trump's guilt is the way his cultish enablers have rushed to support him, and attack America's justice system. As the verdict was read, MSNBC probably induced more orgasms than P-rnhub. But as justice is served, it's also being damaged. WaPo (Gift Article): Even as Trump is found guilty, his attacks take toll on judicial system. "What’s notable here ... is that the entire Republican Party is marching in lockstep, along with right-wing media, claiming that the legal process has been weaponized, and therefore eroding public trust in a really vital institution."

+ House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted that SCOTUS would step in and overturn the conviction. "I think that the Justices on the court – I know many of them personally – I think they are deeply concerned about that, as we are. So I think they'll set this straight." These folks aren't satisfied with flipping our flags upside down. They want to do the same to our core institutions.

+ If they really want to set things straight, it would be more appropriate for the Supreme Court to step aside and let the more serious cases against Trump proceed. David Frum in The Atlantic(Gift Article): Wrong Case, Right Verdict. "It says something dark about the American legal system that it cannot deal promptly and effectively with a coup d’état. But it says something bright and hopeful that even an ex-president must face justice for ordinary crimes under the laws of the state in which he chose to live and operate his business."

+ What we don't know, and probably won't know for quite a while, is how this verdict will play out in the election—and that will come down to how the so-called low information voters in swing states react to these felonies. (On news days like this, I'm convinced America's low information voters are also its happiest citizens.) David Remnick in The New Yorker: Trump Is Guilty, but Voters Will Be the Final Judge. "Following the devastating judgment against Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court, voters will now decide to what extent they care. The question is whether any who remain undecided—particularly in the most critical precincts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Arizona—will be convinced that a felony conviction disqualifies Trump from a second term as Commander-in-Chief, or whether this most recent badge of dishonor is, in the end, of no greater concern than his well-documented history as a bigot, a fabulist, and an authoritarian intent on pursuing a second term inflamed by a spirit of vengeance."

Indeed, the case of Donald Trump now goes to a broader jury on November 5. In the end, this will be a story less about Trump’s convictions and more about America’s.

2

Pretty as a Picture

"She’s smiling and her hair is long. Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts. Her cheekbones are sharp, but her collarbone is sharper. You could swear you’ve seen her on Instagram." But she's not real. She's created by AI programs. And when you ask them to create a beautiful woman, their outputs are remarkably similar. WaPo (Gift Article) with an interesting look at what AI thinks a beautiful woman looks like. (I'm hoping AI spits out images of a handsome man that include a balding guy with love handles reclining on a couch behind a MacBook Air.)

3

A Fish Story

"Takahashi’s morning visits to Hayashi and many of San Francisco’s top sushi chefs are as anticipated as Santa’s. However, rather than a furry red suit and hat, Yoshi-san—as he’s known throughout the high-end sushi scene—typically dons a dark blue hoodie and a crooked smile. Rather than a sleigh, he often pulls up in his white delivery van. And his goods don’t hail from the North Pole, but from Tokyo’s legendary Toyosu fish market." The San Francisco Standard with a fun look at how San Francisco sushi restaurants catch their fish. And it all started at my family's favorite sushi restaurant here in Sausalito. The secret behind the city’s best sushi? One man and his van.

4

Weekend Whats

What to Book: "A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in an entirely different journey." And thankfully, that journey is written by Miranda July. All Fours: A Novel.

+ What to AI: AI applied to the whole internet is interesting. But AI applied to a narrow set of content, like your own notes and research, could be even more useful. That's the goal of Google's NotebookLM. Jeremy Caplan always does a great job of explaining new tech productivity tools, so I'll let him take it from here. Make an AI notebook.

+ What to Wear: Cotton Bureau, the site where I sell my NextDraft shirts and sweatshirts is having a sitewide Friday sale. Enter the code FLASHSALEFRIDAY at checkout to get 20% off. That goes for any of the items in the NextDraft Store and across all of CottonBureau (where I buy all of my t-shirts).

5

Extra, Extra

Peace in the Middle East? "President Joe Biden announced Friday that Israel has proposed a three-part plan that would ultimately lead to a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, as well as the release of all hostages who have been held there for the last eight months. Speaking from the White House, Biden said that the proposal comes after intensive diplomacy carried out by his team." AP: Biden says Hamas is ‘no longer capable’ of carrying out another major attack against Israel. "This is truly a decisive moment. Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a cease-fire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it." (This is a long way from done, but let's hope peace is approaching.)

+ Quid Pro Go: "This is a change in policy, as the U.S. has publicly and repeatedly said it opposes the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to strike inside of Russia." U.S. gives Ukraine permission to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia, with caveats. (The change in policy indicates an increasingly dire situation.)

+ Bitter End: Wired: Gene-Edited Salad Greens Are Coming to US Stores This Fall. "Biotech giant Bayer plans to distribute mustard greens that have been genetically altered to make them less bitter." (Why mess with minor iterations? Let's just make them taste like Fruit Loops.)

+ Lickety Split: "The idea that specific tastes are confined to certain areas of the tongue is a myth that 'persists in the collective consciousness despite decades of research debunking it.'" NYT(Gift Article): The Textbooks Were Wrong About How Your Tongue Works.

+ Floating an Idea: After catastrophic floods, Vermont becomes first state to enact law requiring oil companies to pay for damage from climate change.

+ Orca or Nah? "Orcas very rarely go for boats — that’s supposed to be the idea, but something new is happening off the Iberian coast. Since 2020, from the top of Portugal down to southern Spain, sailors have reported almost a thousand similar attacks. Almost every day, every spring and summer, yarns from anguished captains attaching photos of their beat-up rudders fill up a Facebook group called Orca Attack Reports, which has more than 60,000 members." Rolling Stone goes deep on the Orcas story. The Mad Scientist and the Killer Whales.

+ Spelling Counts: "Bruhat Soma, a 12-year-old from Florida, bested the competition Thursday with his spelling of 'abseil,' a word used to describe descending a vertical surface area with a rope attached to one’s body." A 12-year-old from Florida has won this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee. (It's only a matter of time before ChatGPT licenses this kid's data.)

6

Feel Good Friday

"A teenager who has been unhoused for more than a year earned recognition as the valedictorian of his high school’s graduating class. Now, he is using his moment in the spotlight to say it is OK to accept 'a guiding hand' when needed."

+ How a fed up carpenter used GPS to find his stolen power tools — and 15,000 others.

+ "The first stegosaurus skeleton to go under the hammer is set to fetch millions of dollars in New York. But the extraordinary discovery was made by chance, thousands of miles away out west during one man’s birthday stroll."

+ Melinda French Gates to donate $1bn to women's rights groups.

+ Trial results for new lung cancer drug are ‘off the charts’, say doctors.

+ Preschool Teacher Donates Liver to Save Former Student's Life.

+ "Van Dyke has always said he’ll never retire. And he means it. 'I’ve just done my first soap opera!' he says excitedly of his guest spot in Days of Our Lives, for which he’s up for a Daytime Emmy. 'Never done that before! I played an old guy, of course, in a wheelchair. My wife played my attendant.' And there are still those aforementioned ambitions to take a one-man show on the road." At 98, Dick Van Dyke Is Still Going Strong.