Sign up

WIRED
Text • Will Knight

The Powerful Chinese Model Experts Warned About—and Waited for—Is Here

Z.ai’s latest AI model release could help companies secure their systems—or find its way into the hands of hackers.

Political Wire
Text • Taegan Goddard

Jeanine Pirro Pushes Hard to Keep Alleged Vandal in Jail

“Weeks after being rebuked by President Donald Trump for dropping cases related to alleged damage to the Reflecting Pool, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro is going to unusual lengths to try to keep behind bars a woman accused of vandalizing a memorial elsewhere on the National Mall,” Politico reports. New York […]

Political Wire
Text • Taegan Goddard

Mike Johnson Stokes Fears of Far-Left Takeover

“Speaker Mike Johnson on the campaign trail Monday aimed to stoke fears among voters that the Democratic Party is being overtaken by its far-left flank,” Politico reports. “Democrats are ‘in the midst of an open civil war’ between moderate and progressive factions, Johnson said at an event in Virginia while stumping for vulnerable Rep. Jen […]

Political Wire
Text • Taegan Goddard

Inside Ossoff’s Meticulously Viral Campaign

“Some battleground candidates are going viral for shooting from the hip. Jon Ossoff is doing it from a carefully controlled script,” Politico reports. ”Ossoff drew attention Sunday for calling out a little-known aide to President Donald Trump by first name on a Midtown Atlanta rally stage. It was part of a larger prepared speech that […]

Political Wire
Text • Taegan Goddard

Kindergarten Vaccination Rates Fell Again

“Vaccination rates among American kindergartners decreased during the 2025–2026 school year for all tracked vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday,” Axios reports. ”Exemptions from getting one or more vaccines increased in 41 states and the District of Columbia, growing to 4.2% from 3.6% the year before.” ”The drop-off coincided with […]

Political Wire
Text • Taegan Goddard

Trump’s Foreign Policy Misses Are Piling Up

Stephen Collinson: “As Donald Trump’s critics see it, he’s striking out badly on foreign policy.” “But the president is still taking mighty swings.” “His long-broken memorandum of understanding with Iran reached its 60-day expiration date on Monday. Instead of celebrating a nuclear deal that might have justified his war, Trump vented his frustration by finding […]

Political Wire
Text • Taegan Goddard

Parties Are Looking Past Alaska’s Primary

“Alaska voters are choosing candidates for November’s general election in a series of primary contests Tuesday, including a U.S. Senate race that will be among the most closely watched in the nation this fall,” the Associated Press reports. “The campaign featured over a dozen contenders in each of the top races — for Senate, U.S. […]

Gift Articles
Text

Jiří Pehe: Agrofertizace 2.0 aneb Uchvácení státu (respekt.cz)

respekt.cz/ranni-postreh/jiri-pehe-agrofertizace-2-0-aneb-uchvaceni-statu?gift=rtvqw35yi0

Gift Articles
Text

Wrexham left cursing profligacy in the first of four clashes to establish Welsh dominance (Gift Article) (nytimes.com)

nytimes.com/athletic/7516508/2026/08/18/wrexham-cardiff-parkinson-profligacy-transfers/?source=emp_shared_article&unlocked_article_code=1.6VA.nCv6.o26RFLN9PVYU&smid=ta-android-share

Gift Articles
Text

How Alliances Survive (foreignaffairs.com)

foreignaffairs.com/guest-pass/redeem/7EfANB1oI7I

Gift Articles
Text

Justice Department plans to send about 1,000 monitors to the polls this fall (washingtonpost.com)

washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/08/17/justice-department-plans-send-about-1000-monitors-polls-this-fall/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzg2OTM5MjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzg4MzIxNTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3ODY5MzkyMDAsImp0aSI6IjBhYzdhODkyLTYxODUtNDdmZi04ZTViLThmNjE0MWNkZGEzOSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy8yMDI2LzA4LzE3L2p1c3RpY2UtZGVwYXJ0bWVudC1wbGFucy1zZW5kLWFib3V0LTEwMDAtbW9uaXRvcnMtcG9sbHMtdGhpcy1mYWxsLyJ9.Jycq28DGUtyOlrtKrAUdoFLkVdoalDwZRKLBSXO26hs

The City Reporter
Text • Katie Honan

Mamdani Wants To Speed up NYC Government. He Could Tackle Cumbersome Agency Reports.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani answers questions during a City Hall press conference,

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has frequently spoken about his hopes of streamlining city government, cutting through the red tape and bureaucratic roadblocks that stymie progress. According to his Commission on Government Efficiency, one place he could focus is the thousands of data-heavy reports city agencies are legally required to publish on a regular basis. These reports […]

The post Mamdani Wants To Speed up NYC Government. He Could Tackle Cumbersome Agency Reports. appeared first on The City Reporter.

Seth's Blog
Text • Seth Godin

The Amazon tax

It’s not technically a tax. Taxes produce valuable public benefits, like medical research and parks. This is simply legal theft. Amazon makes nearly a billion dollars in profit from search ads. Every week. Each week, they sell merchants and publishers enough search-distorting ads to capture a billion dollars in revenue. Amazon makes enough in search […]

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent
Audio

Trump Rage Erupts Over Iran as Aides Leak Embarrassing Truth: He Lost

The 60-day deadline for a deal between Donald Trump and Iran has passed, and he’s in a lather over it. First Trump raged to Fox News of his displeasure with Oman’s negotiations with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s--t out of...

Political Wire
Text • Taegan Goddard

Why the White House Torched Jon Ossoff

“The White House hit back hard — for a reason — after Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) targeted close Trump aide Natalie Harp over the weekend,” Semafor reports. “The onslaught stems in part from Ossoff’s status as a potential presidential candidate.l ”But his comment that Trump ‘wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie’ landed […]

Gift Articles
Text

The world’s most influential economist is oddly unconvincing (economist.com)

economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/08/17/the-worlds-most-influential-economist-is-oddly-unconvincing?giftId=MDAzZTJhOWItODk0Ny00YTNlLTgwMzgtYzIxZThkZDEyZmMx&utm_campaign=gifted_article

Gift Articles
Text

Emmanuel Macron effectue sa dernière rentrée politique comme président de la République en appelant à ne pas céder au « défaitisme » (lemonde.fr)

lemonde.fr/article-offert/34637da05997-6748727/emmanuel-macron-effectue-sa-derniere-rentree-politique-comme-president-de-la-republique-en-appelant-a-ne-pas-ceder-au-defaitisme?lmd_medium=al&lmd_campaign=envoye-par-appli&lmd_creation=ios&lmd_source=default

Gift Articles
Text

On the salt with JCB and Andy Green for 400mph hydrogen record (thetimes.com)

thetimes.com/article/2dc32584-0c7f-4413-ad94-c4b420a81239?shareToken=fc2595606d477fcdd8b629afaa21b335

Gift Articles
Text

Fans asked to cover up shirts about trans athletes at Fever-Dream game (nytimes.com)

nytimes.com/athletic/7520262/2026/08/17/fever-dream-fans-trans-athlete-shirts-cover-up/?unlocked_article_code=1.6VA.Oxfy.ghLnj1P18Nyb&source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta

Gift Articles
Text

Half Nelson — the lingering sorrow of life on the margins (medium.com)

medium.com/framerated/half-nelson-the-lingering-sorrow-of-life-on-the-margins-8632e1d40fb6?sk=5a446f9bff42dfea703b5c77521b947c