Waxing Brazilian

Spy Factory, Oval Office Meltdown

"Artem Shmyrev had everyone fooled. The Russian intelligence officer seemed to have built the perfect cover identity. He ran a successful 3-D printing business and shared an upscale apartment in Rio de Janeiro with his Brazilian girlfriend and a fluffy orange-and-white Maine coon cat. But most important, he had an authentic birth certificate and passport that cemented his alias as Gerhard Daniel Campos Wittich, a 34-year-old Brazilian citizen." But there was another twist this spy story. This group of spies hadn't spent the last six years lying low so that they could eventually spy on Brazil. They were essentially becoming Brazilian so they could then spy on other countries. "Once cloaked in credible back stories, they would set off for the United States, Europe or the Middle East and begin working in earnest. The Russians essentially turned Brazil into an assembly line for deep-cover operatives." The NYT (Gift Article) with an incredible spy plot and the story of how it was uncovered before the operatives actually started spying. The Spy Factory. (One imagines the fluffy orange-and-white Maine coon cat knew what was up, but just didn't care.)

2

Justice Just Isn't

"That is not the way things have worked. The cardinal rule of prosecutors is to speak only through evidence and court filings. The department is supposed to abide by the dictum of charging crimes, not people. Naming and shaming is antithetical to its mission of pursuing justice impartially." NYT (Gift Article) on a corrupted Justice Dept plan to ruin people without the need for evidence. If Justice Dept. Can’t Prosecute Trump’s Foes, It Will ‘Shame’ Them, Official Says. Who is this official? Ed Martin. He was one of the very few Trump nominees to be too terrible to confirm (in part because of ties to a neo-Nazi and his enthusiastic support of Jan 6 insurrectionists). So he was given another job. "Mr. Martin has virtually no investigative experience. Instead he has signaled he intends to subject the president’s accusers to humiliations and inconveniences comparable to what Mr. Trump endured, to right perceived wrongs."

+ Before Martin failed to be confirmed, he launched an inquiry into one of Trump's perceived enemies. That inquiry continues. "A new criminal investigation into Andrew Cuomo will fuel concerns that President Donald Trump is living up to his promise to use the Justice Department to target his political enemies." Cuomo is running for mayor against Eric Adams. The Justice Department infamously dropped a strong case against Adams. Will targeting opponents and liberating crooks be an election strategy moving forward?

+ This is not just a story about who's running things in the Justice Department (and other institutions). It's also about who these people are replacing. Ed Martin now has the role once held by Liz Oyer. "In March, Oyer was asked to make a recommendation to Attorney General Pam Bondi to reinstate actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights, which were rescinded after a domestic violence conviction in 2011. Oyer reviewed the case and refused. Within hours, she says she was terminated."

3

Another Oval Office Circle Jerk

"Trump amplified false claims that White Afrikaners have been victims of a genocide, even showing video of crosses and earthen mounds that he said represented more than 1,000 grave sites of murdered farmers. The mounds were in fact part of a protest against the violence, not actual graves." Another Oval Office meeting with a foreign leader. Another international embarrassment. WaPo (Gift Article): Trump confronts South African president over violence against White farmers. To hammer home the way America is now viewed abroad, there was this exchange. "'I’m sorry, I don’t have a plane to give you,' Ramaphosa said, triggering some laughter and temporarily breaking the tension.' 'I wish you did,' Trump said. 'I would take it.'"

+ On that note, Trump was definitely being honest. Because the US just Formally Accepted Luxury Jet From Qatar for Trump.

4

I Know You Are But What Am AI?

"A few weeks into her sophomore year of college, Leigh Burrell got a notification that made her stomach drop. She had received a zero on an assignment worth 15 percent of her final grade in a required writing course. In a brief note, her professor explained that he believed she had outsourced the composition of her paper — a mock cover letter — to an A.I. chatbot." Burrell didn't actually use a chatbot and eventually got her grade restored after proving her case. "Still, the episode made her painfully aware of the hazards of being a student — even an honest one — in an academic landscape distorted by A.I. cheating." NYT (Gift Article): A New Headache for Honest Students: Proving They Didn’t Use AI. (If I ever get AI to replace me at NextDraft, the relief on my face will be a dead giveaway.)

5

Extra, Extra

On a West Wing and a Prayer: "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led a Christian prayer service in the Pentagon’s auditorium on Wednesday morning, during working hours, in which President Trump was praised as a divinely appointed leader." As Fred Wellman explains, "This is a clear and direct violation by a Cabinet member of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and is a direct violation of military norms, traditions, and regulations by the senior official of the entire military." Breaking: The Constitution at the DOD.

+ Sudan Onset: Judge rules Trump administration violated court order by attempting to deport migrants to South Sudan. (We're anxiously waiting to see if court orders still matter.)

+ Pump Up Your Life Expectancy: "For decades, as a cardiologist, I would always be emphasizing aerobic exercise to my patients, whether that was walking or bicycling or swimming or elliptical or you name it. I’d say to get at least 30 minutes most days. And that’s what I did myself. I didn’t really accept the importance of strength training until I began researching the book." How a scientist who studies ‘super agers’ exercises for a longer life.

+ That's the Ticket: "Amid an antitrust battle with the Justice Department, global entertainment company Live Nation is adding one of President Trump’s closest advisors to its board of directors. Richard Grenell, who is both Trump’s presidential envoy for special missions and the newly installed president of the Kennedy Center, was named to the Live Nation board on Tuesday." (Even for a ticketing company, these guys fell into line pretty fast.)

+ WHO Goes There: "China has pledged to give $500 million to the World Health Organization as the country is set to replace the United States as the group’s top state donor, expanding Beijing’s global influence in the wake of Washington’s retreat from international cooperation."

+ Ive Seen This Before: Former Apple Design Guru Jony Ive to Take Expansive Role at OpenAI. "OpenAI to buy Ive’s startup in $6.5 billion deal, as Ive and CEO Sam Altman work on new generation of devices and other AI products."

+ No Surrender: Bruce Springsteen is not backing down in the face of Trump's threats and social media obsession. He's repeated his comments and he just released a live EP that includes them.

+ Norm: George Wendt, Who Played Norm on ‘Cheers,’ Died at 76. He famously got a laugh every time he entered the bar. My favorite of his lines: "It's a dog-eat-dog world ... and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear." But there are plenty of Normisms to choose from. Here's a supercut of Every Time Norm Peterson Enters the Bar.

6

Bottom of the News

"The official NBA rulebook forbids the on-court use of any foreign substance 'designed or intended to provide ... a competitive advantage.' However, according to league memos, explicit exemptions are allowed for three categories: 'Rosin Powder,' 'Chalk or Liquid Chalk' and 'Hand Lotion (for hand maintenance).'" Inside the NBA's hand care obsession.

+ Seth Rogen's The Studio features a parody of a film about the Kook-Aid man. But you can't really parody Hollywood. Mattel, TriStar to Develop Film Based on Whac-a-Mole. If they need a title, I suggest: The Moles Whac Back.

+ Proposal to ban tush push in NFL fails by two votes. (Oddly, that's close enough for a tush push to have gotten them over the hump.)