This week in the news | 8 June 24
News from the past week, and a few other things.
👋 Hello Reader, I hope you had a great week.
Below you’ll find the “quick shot”—a supercharged summary of summaries, followed by the “slow brew”—longer summaries with select graphics, and comments from me.
THE QUICK SHOT 🚀
A supercharged summary of summaries
A lock icon (🔒) indicates articles behind a paywall, and a chart icon (📊) indicates an informative chart/graphic in “Slow Brew.”
North America
President Biden has issued a sweeping executive order aimed at curbing record migrant arrivals at the US-Mexico border that have left him politically vulnerable in an election year (AP). Meanwhile, the Biden administration is quietly offering “mass amnesty” to hundreds of thousands of migrants, an investigation has found (Telegraph). In late 2022, as thousands of migrants began to arrive in New York City, city officials scrambled to find places to house them, which led to a dramatic shift in the hotel landscape in New York and propelled the nightly cost of an average room to record levels (NYT🔒).
Latin America
Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico's first woman president in a historic landslide win, with preliminary results showing her winning between 58% and 60% of the vote (AP). In an interview with the Free Press, Argentina’s President Javier Milei discussed the dire economic crisis and the measures needed to address the country's issues, reflecting on Argentina’s past as one of the wealthiest countries in the world (YouTube).
Europe
The 80th anniversary of D-Day was commemorated with a ceremony in Deauville on the Normandy coast, where 48 American veterans of the historic day attended, most of them 100 years old or more (NYT🔒).
Middle East
The Israeli military rescued four hostages held in Gaza during a military operation, safely extracting them despite coming under fire (NYT🔒). Israel and Hezbollah are moving closer to a full-scale war after months of escalating hostilities, adding pressure on Israel’s government to secure its northern border (WSJ🔒). A gunman opened fire at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon early Wednesday and was shot and wounded by Lebanese troops, the country’s army said in a statement (WP🔒).
South Asia
Though Narendra Modi will take up a third term as India’s leader, the election was closer than expected, forcing him to rely on coalition partners that don’t share his Hindu nationalist agenda, shattering his aura of invincibility (NYT🔒).
East Asia
After meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for the first time, China’s new defense minister warned that those who support independence for Taiwan will face “self-destruction” (Defense News).
Space
SpaceX achieved a major milestone with its Starship rocket, successfully guiding the vehicle’s spacecraft to a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean in its fourth test flight (WSJ🔒). The first trip of Starliner, a 15-foot-wide capsule, with astronauts on board comes four years and six days after SpaceX launched its first mission with astronauts to the International Space Station, marking a milestone for Boeing (NYT🔒). China successfully landed a lunar lander on the far side of the moon, taking the mission one step closer to bringing back the first sample from the part of the moon that earthlings never see (NYT🔒).
Economy
National job openings fell to the lowest level in over three years, with the number of available positions translating to 1.24 openings for every unemployed person, suggesting a cooling labor market (Sherwood News 📊).
Business
A group backed by Wall Street heavyweights BlackRock and Citadel Securities is planning to start a new national stock exchange in Texas, aiming to take on what they see as onerous regulation at the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq (WSJ🔒📊). Despite a cooling labor market, there are still more job openings than unemployed people, with the latest data showing 1.24 openings for every unemployed person (Sherwood News). Federal regulators have given Amazon key permission to expand its drone delivery program, allowing drones to operate “beyond visual line of sight” (AP).
Energy
Saudi Arabia’s government began selling some of its shares in state-controlled oil titan Saudi Aramco, potentially raising as much as $13B by the end of the week (Sherwood News📊).
Auto
The Phoenix area is home to the largest autonomous-vehicle operation in the world, with Waymo One logging tens of thousands of rides every week in the Phoenix metropolitan region (WSJ🔒).
Real Estate
During the biggest apartment construction boom in decades, a growing number of developers are sitting on empty lots, unable to start or complete their projects due to higher interest rates, tighter lending conditions, and flattening rents (WSJ🔒📊). Airbnb hosts are emerging as a potent political force, forming advocacy groups to fight against new state laws designed to make it harder to turn homes into short-term rentals (WSJ🔒📊).
Technology & Cyber
Asia’s chip giants in South Korea and Taiwan are striving to maintain their edge over the U.S. in semiconductor production, leveraging lower costs and faster construction times despite U.S. efforts to boost its own capabilities (WSJ🔒📊). The new NSA chief expressed concerns over China’s clandestine efforts to preposition for future cyberattacks by infiltrating critical infrastructure networks without immediate data extraction (WSJ🔒).
Life & Health
A couple, both pronatalists, advocate for larger families despite societal pressures, arguing that the sacrifices associated with having children are worthwhile and pushing back against the idea that financial stability should be a barrier to having more kids (The FP). In the pandemic, social distancing measures, particularly the six-foot rule, were widely implemented despite a lack of scientific evidence supporting its efficacy, leading to significant societal impacts and ongoing debates about public health strategies (WP🔒📊).
Nature
Local officials in China admitted that Yuntai Falls, touted as the country's tallest uninterrupted waterfall, is enhanced by concealed water pipes to improve the tourist viewing experience (WP🔒). An 83-year-old woman was gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park while the animal was defending its space, illustrating the dangers of close encounters with wildlife (WP🔒) (NOTE: the most interesting thing I learned here is is that there are no buffalo in the US).
Travel
The busiest Memorial Day weekend in over a decade and a record year for summer travel means Americans should brace for disappointment when planning their next trip due to reduced flight schedules and trimmed seats by US carriers (Bloomberg🔒📊). The Maldives government will ban Israelis from entering the country in response to the ongoing war in Gaza, reflecting rising public anger in the predominantly Muslim nation (AP). Carnival Corp. announced the retirement of P&O Cruises Australia, merging it into the wider Carnival Cruises brand to optimize its operations, a move that was positively received by investors (Sherwood News📊).
Entertainment
Pat Sajak has taken his final spin on “Wheel of Fortune,” the game show he hosted for over 40 years. The legendary host, who announced his retirement last June, said goodbye to the multicolor prize wheel and puzzle board on his final episode Friday evening (WSJ🔒).
Sports
MLB banned Padres’ Tucupita Marcano permanently for betting on baseball, marking the first time since Pete Rose in 1989 that a player has been banned for life for this reason (NYT🔒). Remembering 10-Cent Beer Night, one of baseball’s most infamous fiascos, where excessive drinking and unruly behavior led to a forfeit and chaos at the Cleveland Indians' game against the Texas Rangers (WP🔒).
THE SLOW BREW ☕
A more relaxed approach to the summaries.
North America
Biden announces asylum restrictions to ‘control border’ (BBC)
President Joe Biden has issued a sweeping executive order aimed at curbing record migrant arrivals at the US-Mexico border that have left him politically vulnerable in an election year. Under the order, which took effect [4 Jun], officials can quickly remove migrants entering the US illegally without processing their asylum requests. That will happen once a daily threshold is met and the border is "overwhelmed", the White House said in a statement. Rival Republicans say Mr Biden has not gone far enough, while some of the president's Democratic allies - and the United Nations - have expressed concern.
Biden administration offering ‘mass amnesty’ to thousands of migrants (Telegraph)
Joe Biden’s administration is quietly offering “mass amnesty” to hundreds of thousands of migrants, an investigation has found, as the president faces a backlash ahead of the election. More than 350,000 asylum cases have been closed by the US government since 2022 for applicants who do not have a criminal record and are not seen as national security threats, the New York Post found. Although this means no official decision on asylum status has been made, it allows migrants to stay indefinitely in the US without fear of deportation.
Why N.Y.C. Hotel Rooms Are So Expensive Right Now (NYT🔒)
In late 2022, as thousands of migrants began to arrive in New York City, city officials scrambled to find places to house them. They quickly found takers: hotels that were still struggling to recover from the pandemic-driven downturn in tourism. Dozens of hotels, from once-grand facilities to more modest establishments, closed to tourists and began exclusively sheltering migrants, striking multimillion-dollar deals with the city. The humanitarian crisis became the hotel industry’s unexpected lifeline in New York; the hotels became a safe haven for tens of thousands of asylum seekers. Two years in, as the city’s peak tourism season is about to begin, the migrant crisis has helped dramatically shift the hotel landscape in New York. The conversion of hotels to shelters has sharply decreased the supply of rooms just as tourist demand has risen, nearly to prepandemic levels, and is projected to match a record high. The migrant shelters — along with other factors that include inflation, the loss of Airbnb short-term rentals and an expected decline in new hotel construction — have propelled the nightly cost of an average room to record levels.
Latin America
Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as first woman president (BBC)
Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico's first woman president in an historic landslide win. Mexico's official electoral authority said preliminary results showed the 61-year-old former mayor of Mexico City winning between 58% and 60% of the vote in Sunday's election. That gives her a lead of about 30 percentage points over her main rival, businesswoman Xóchitl Gálvez. Ms Sheinbaum will replace her mentor, outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on 1 October. Ms Sheinbaum, a former energy scientist, has promised continuity, saying that she will continue to build on the "advances" made by Mr López Obrador, further building on the welfare programmes which have made the outgoing president very popular. On relations with Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States, which at times have been testy under her predecessor in office, she said she would ensure there would be "a relationship of friendship, mutual respect and equality".
Argentina’s President Javier Milei Has a Plan for His Country—Will It Work? (YouTube)
At the start of the twentieth century, Argentina was one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The capital, Buenos Aires, was known as “the Paris of South America.” A lot can happen in a hundred years. Argentina today is in grave crisis. It has defaulted on its sovereign debt three times since 2001, and a few months ago it faced an annualized inflation rate of over 200 percent—one of the highest in the world. What happened? Today's guest, Argentina’s new president, says it’s pretty simple: socialism.
NOTE: Fascinating interview.
Europe
D-Day at 80 (NYT🔒)
They were ordinary. The young men from afar who clambered ashore on June 6, 1944, into a hail of Nazi gunfire from the Normandy bluffs did not think of themselves as heroes. No, said Gen. Darryl A. Williams, the commanding general of United States Army Europe and Africa, the Allied soldiers “in this great battle were ordinary,” youths who “rose to this challenge with courage and a tremendous will to win, for freedom.” In front of the general, during a ceremony this week at Deauville on the Normandy coast, were 48 American survivors of that day, the youngest of them 98, most of them 100 years old or more. The veterans sat in wheelchairs. They saluted, briskly enough. Eight decades have gone by, many of them passed in silence because memories of the war were too terrible to relate. When the 90th anniversary of D-Day comes around in 2034, there may be no more vets. Living memory of the beaches of their sacrifice will be no more.
Middle East
Israel’s Military Says It Rescued Four Hostages (NYT🔒)
Four hostages who had been held in Gaza since Oct. 7 were rescued in a military operation on Saturday, the Israeli military said. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, told reporters that the rescue mission took place at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. He said Israeli forces located the four hostages in two separate buildings where they were being held by Hamas militants. They came under fire but managed to safely extract the hostages, he said.
Risk of War Between Israel and Hezbollah Builds as Clashes Escalate (WSJ🔒)
Israel and Hezbollah are moving closer to a full-scale war after months of escalating hostilities with the Lebanese militant group, adding pressure on Israel’s government to secure its northern border. Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization closely aligned with Iran, opened a battle front with Israel on Oct. 8, a day after the deadly Hamas-led raid inside Israel sparked the current war in Gaza. Hezbollah says that its attacks are in support of the Palestinians and that it won’t stop until Israel ceases its war in Gaza. Reluctant to open a second front, Israel initially responded to Hezbollah with tit-for-tat attacks, trying to calibrate its actions to avoid sparking a full-scale war. But in recent weeks, both sides say there has been a sharp rise in hostilities. Hezbollah has increased its drone and rocket attacks, hitting important Israeli military installations. Israel, too, has stepped up attacks, targeting Hezbollah sites deep into southern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley as well as senior military officials in the group.
Gunman opens fire at U.S. Embassy in Lebanon and is shot by army (WP🔒)
A gunman opened fire at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon early Wednesday and was shot and wounded by Lebanese troops, the country’s army said in a statement. The embassy, in a post on X, said that at 8:34 a.m., “small arms fire was reported in the vicinity of the entrance” to the mission. It added that the “facility and our team are safe.” An embassy official later confirmed that one of its security guards was injured in the attack.
South Asia
Needing Help to Stay in Power, Modi Loses His Aura of Invincibility (NYT🔒)
Though Narendra Modi will take up a third term as India’s leader, the election was closer than expected, forcing him to rely on coalition partners that don’t share his Hindu nationalist agenda. Suddenly, the aura of invincibility around Narendra Modi has been shattered. In an Indian election in which his party’s slogan had promised a landslide victory and Mr. Modi even repeatedly referred to himself as sent by God, the results announced on Tuesday were unexpectedly sobering. Mr. Modi, 73, is set to take up a third consecutive term as prime minister, after the Election Commission gave final confirmation early Wednesday that the parties that make up his coalition had collectively passed the majority mark in Parliament. It is a feat that only one other Indian leader has accomplished, and his Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., won far more seats than any other party. But instead of a runaway win, the B.J.P. lost dozens of seats. It now finds itself at the mercy of its coalition partners — including one politician notorious for how often he has switched sides — to stay in power, a sharp reversal a decade into Mr. Modi’s transformational tenure.
East Asia
Chinese defense head warns of ‘self-destruction’ for Taiwan supporters (Defense News)
After meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for the first time, China’s new defense minister paused in an outdoor hallway to wipe the fog off his glasses. Standing near the press, Adm. Dong Jun smiled. And to a member of the American delegation, he described the best place in China, in his opinion, to go see pandas. It was diplomacy in action. Two days later, Dong had a different tone. He gave a stern, at times strident, speech on the last day of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a defense summit in Singapore that draws officials from across the region. Dong warned that those who support independence for Taiwan — a rogue province in the eyes of China’s leaders — will face “self-destruction.” At another point, he said that the odds of “peaceful reunification” with the island nation are “eroding.”
Space
SpaceX Guides Starship Through Re-Entry and Splashdown, a Milestone for Musk’s Deep-Space Ambitions (WSJ🔒)
SpaceX achieved a major milestone with its Starship rocket, successfully guiding the vehicle’s spacecraft to a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean in its fourth test flight. Re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere has long been a top goal in SpaceX’s development of Starship, a massive vehicle that is core to NASA’s plans to return U.S. astronauts to the moon, and Elon Musk’s dream of interplanetary exploration. SpaceX said that it also managed a soft splashdown of the vehicle’s booster rocket in the Gulf of Mexico, another objective for the project. Thursday’s launch was the latest flight test of a rocket that SpaceX has called the most powerful ever built. Making Starship work would expand the company’s capacity to carry satellites into orbit, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is counting on a version of Starship to help ferry astronauts to the lunar surface.
Boeing Carries NASA Astronauts to Orbit in ‘Milestone’ Starliner Flight (NYT🔒)
The first trip of Starliner, a 15-foot-wide capsule, with astronauts on board comes four years and six days after SpaceX, the other company that NASA has hired to provide astronaut rides, launched its first mission with astronauts to the International Space Station. Boeing is now set to also provide that service, but a series of costly delays repeatedly kept astronauts from flying the company’s vehicle earlier. SpaceX, once seen as an upstart, has flown 13 crews to orbit in total. The long awaited flight of the Boeing vehicle is the latest step in NASA’s efforts to rely more heavily on the private sector for its human spaceflight program.
China Lands Spacecraft on Far Side of the Moon (NYT🔒)
China successfully landed a lunar lander on the far side of the moon on Sunday morning, the country’s space agency announced, taking the mission one step closer to bringing back the first sample from the part of the moon that earthlings never see. The Chang’e-6 unmanned probe touched down on the moon’s South Pole-Aitken basin at 6:23 a.m., China’s National Space Administration said in a statement. The far side of the moon is distinct from the near side, where the United States, China and what was then the Soviet Union have gathered samples. It has a thicker crust, more craters and fewer maria, or plains where lava once flowed. It’s unclear why the two sides of the moon are so different; the samples collected by Chang’e-6 could provide some clues.
Business
New Texas Stock Exchange Takes Aim at New York’s Dominance (WSJ🔒) 📊
A group backed by Wall Street heavyweights BlackRock and Citadel Securities is planning to start a new national stock exchange in Texas, aiming to take on what they see as onerous regulation at the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. The Texas Stock Exchange, which has raised approximately $120 million from individuals and large investment firms, plans to file registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission later this year, CEO James Lee told The Wall Street Journal. The goal is to begin facilitating trades in 2025 and host its first listing in 2026. The exchange is aiming to tap in to disaffection with increasing compliance costs at Nasdaq and NYSE and newer rules like one setting targets for board diversity at Nasdaq. Backers of the TXSE, as it is known, pledge it will be more CEO-friendly. Also behind the move is a shifting U.S. corporate landscape, with dozens of companies moving to states with more favorable regulatory and taxation policies. Texas is tied for second with New York in terms of the number of Fortune 500 companies, just behind California. Exxon Mobil, AT&T and American Airlines are based in Texas. Goldman Sachs broke ground last year on a Dallas campus that it said could house more than 5,000 employees.
There are still more job openings than people unemployed (Sherwood News) 📊
Looking to change up your job? There might not be as much choice as there was a couple of years ago. That’s the takeaway from national job openings data, which fell more than expected in April to the lowest level in over 3 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as the labor market continues to show signs of cooling. The new figures released yesterday showed that the number of available positions in the US for April was 8.06M — some ~300K less than the month prior — translating to 1.24 openings for every unemployed person, the smallest ratio recorded since June 2021 and down from a peak of 2:1 in 2022. With hiring rates slowing and quitting rates stalling, the latest job openings data suggests that the supply and demand for labor is normalizing back towards pre-pandemic levels; as such, bonds are surging ahead of Friday’s employment report, which is forecast to show the US adding 185K jobs for May.
Amazon gets FAA approval allowing it to expand drone deliveries for online orders (AP)
Federal regulators have given Amazon key permission that will allow it to expand its drone delivery program, the company announced Thursday. In a blog post published on its website, Seattle-based Amazon said that the Federal Aviation Administration has given its Prime Air delivery service the OK to operate drones “beyond visual line of sight,” removing a barrier that has prevented its drones from traveling longer distances. With the approval, Amazon pilots can now operate drones remotely without seeing it with their own eyes. An FAA spokesperson said the approval applies to College Station, Texas, where the company launched drone deliveries in late 2022. Amazon said its planning to immediately scale its operations in that city in an effort to reach customers in more densely populated areas. It says the approval from regulators also “lays the foundation” to scale its operations to more locations around the country.
It’s a Buyer’s Market for Boats, RVs and Other Pandemic Toys (WSJ🔒)
Buyer’s remorse isn’t universal, and it often takes a while to set in, but the Covid-19 pandemic saw more than its share of regrettable big-ticket purchases. Extra cash and a desire for social distancing pushed sales of recreational vehicles, boats, motorcycles and snowmobiles to multiyear or all-time records. Then the cost of living increased, remote working got harder and, crucially, the interest rates to finance shiny, new playthings surged. The result: Overflowing dealer lots at a time when plenty of lightly-used versions sit in driveways and marinas.
Energy
Saudi Arabia launches share sale at world’s largest oil company (Sherwood News) 📊
[On 2 Jun 2024], Saudi Arabia’s government began selling some of its shares in state-controlled oil titan Saudi Aramco — a planned offering that could see the country sell just over 0.6% of its 82% direct holding in Aramco, potentially raising as much as $13B by the end of the week. Producing more than 9 million barrels of oil per day — or nearly 10% of the world's total — Saudi Aramco is a behemoth that makes the rest of big oil seem almost unworthy of their moniker. Last quarter alone, Aramco generated over $27B in net income, more than western peers ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and BP put together. In fact, since 2020, Aramco has made $460B+... more than even Apple, which has made $384B over that period. At its current run-rate, raising $13B through a share sale is less than a month-and-a-half worth of profits. So, why sell any of its stake? The answer: the Saudi government has spending plans that are more than a match for its income.
Auto
All Hail Phoenix: America’s King of the Robo-Taxi (WSJ🔒)
The Phoenix area is home to the largest autonomous-vehicle operation in the world, and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego is a proud booster. Waymo One is an app-based ride service similar to Uber—except nobody’s behind the wheel. The app logs tens of thousands of rides every week in the Phoenix metropolitan region, the company said. The company also operates in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Real Estate
Developers Sit on Empty Lots After Historic Apartment Boom (WSJ🔒) 📊
During the biggest apartment construction boom in decades, a growing number of developers can’t make the numbers work to get started on their project, or can’t get the money to complete them. Higher interest rates, tighter lending conditions and flattening rents in parts of the country have left property companies from California to Florida waiting for financing that might not come soon. The amount of time the average apartment project spends between construction authorization and when construction begins has risen to nearly 500 days, a 45% increase from 2019, according to property data firm Yardi Matrix. Developers also are launching fewer projects amid the financing crunch. Multifamily building starts fell to an annual rate of 322,000 units in April, the lowest April rate since 2020, according to the Census Bureau.
Airbnb’s Secret Weapon to Fight State Laws: Its Hosts (WSJ🔒) 📊
Airbnb hosts are emerging as a potent political force, often with the financial backing and organizational support of the industry that prefers to let the individual hosts be the face of the movement while the companies help behind the scenes. Hosts have formed countless advocacy groups across the U.S. under Rent Responsibly. They are swarming statehouses, flooding towns with letters and showing up at community meetings by the hundreds. Airbnb also helps leaders craft messages and keeps hosts in the loop about coming legislative hearings through its platform. Hosts’ rising political clout comes at a crucial time for the U.S. short-term rental industry, which is facing a wave of bills and rules designed to make it harder to turn homes into Airbnbs. New York City last year took the most aggressive step yet, eliminating nearly all short-term rentals when it began strictly enforcing registration rules. Other states and cities may follow suit.
Technology
Asia’s Chip Giants Hustle to Maintain Their Edge Over the U.S. (WSJ🔒) 📊
Asia’s chipmaking champions in South Korea and Taiwan are U.S. allies, often seeing eye-to-eye on security and politics. But on semiconductors, they are increasingly friendly competitors—and Seoul and Taipei, with clear advantages, aren’t sitting idle as Washington looks to muscle back into production. They offer lower costs, faster construction times and the benefits of an established supply chain. While a handful of Taiwanese and Korean companies are expanding their manufacturing footprints into the U.S., the most advanced technology is getting rolled out first back home. The stakes are high for these chip-dominant economies. Semiconductors represent about one-fifth of South Korea’s exports. Unlike America’s Silicon Valley, Taiwan relies on a so-called Silicon Shield—the belief that its chip sector is so vital to global trade that it can deter a Chinese attack.
Cyber
China Is ‘Prepositioning’ for Future Cyberattacks—and the New NSA Chief Is Worried (WSJ🔒)
As the U.S. military’s new cyber chief and the head of the nation’s main electronic spy agency, it is Gen. Timothy Haugh’s job to be concerned about China’s clandestine efforts to steal sensitive American data and weapons know-how. The U.S. believes the Chinese hacking network—known as Volt Typhoon among cybersecurity experts and U.S. officials—aims to “preposition” in critical infrastructure networks for future attacks. “We can see no other use,” said Haugh, who took charge of the National Security Agency and the military’s Cyber Command in February. “We see attempts to be latent in a network that is critical infrastructure, that has no intelligence value, which is why it is so concerning,” he said. Unlike other state-backed hackers who typically use tools to target a network and then take data, these Chinese intrusions involve neither. “One of the reasons we believe it is prepositioning is—there are not tools being put down and there’s not data being extracted,” Haugh said. U.S. officials worry that in a conflict over Taiwan, for instance, China could use its latent access to launch damaging cyberattacks against key pieces of infrastructure in America or allied countries—ranging from water supplies and power grids to transportation services—disrupting lives and potentially injuring civilian populations.
Life
I Want People to Have More Kids. Does That Make Me Far-Right? (FP)
My wife Simone and I are pronatalists. At the ages of 36 and 37, respectively, we have four children—and one day hope to have at least seven, but ideally as many as twelve. We know it’ll make life hectic. But our lives already are. So many in our cohort—millennials and Gen Z on the social left—say they can’t have a big family, or a family at all, because it’s simply too costly. Never mind that historically, the less money someone has, the more kids they have. The truth is, when some people say “I can’t afford children,” what they really mean is “I can’t afford children without sacrificing the quality of life I have grown accustomed to.” It’s not necessarily their fault. In the prevailing culture, instant gratification is prized, and in-the-moment discomfort is framed as inherently bad. For many in our cohort, asking someone to deny an impulse is absurd. Telling someone that, for the sake of future generations, they might have to live with less, is completely out of the question. Suggesting that the huge sacrifices associated with having children—including the discomfort that comes with disciplining them—might be worth it is beyond the pale. All of which is why we’re resigned to the idea that the legacy press will always frame Simone as a creepy tradwife—even though she’s an exemplar of the progressive idea that “women can have it all.” She’s a mother, CEO, and nonprofit leader, and now a candidate for state representative in Pennsylvania. If it helps get our message across to people, we’re willing to accept the media’s attacks on our character or our parenting.
Health
In the pandemic, we were told to keep 6 feet apart. There’s no science to support that. (WaPo🔒)
Four years later, visible reminders of the six-foot rule remain with us, particularly in cities that rushed to adopt the CDC’s guidelines hoping to protect residents and keep businesses open. D.C. is dotted with signs in stores and schools — even on sidewalks or in government buildings — urging people to stand six feet apart. Experts agree that social distancing saved lives, particularly early in the pandemic when Americans had no protections against a novel virus sickening millions of people. One recent paper published by the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank, concludes that behavior changes to avoid developing covid-19, followed later by vaccinations, prevented about 800,000 deaths. But that achievement came at enormous cost, the authors added, with inflexible strategies that weren’t driven by evidence. “We never did the study about what works,” said Andrew Atkeson, a UCLA economist and co-author of the paper, lamenting the lack of evidence around the six-foot rule. He warned that persistent frustrations over social distancing and other measures might lead Americans to ignore public health advice during the next crisis. It’s still not clear who at the CDC settled on the six-foot distance; the agency has repeatedly declined to specify the authors of the guidance, which resembled its recommendations on how to avoid contracting the flu. A CDC spokesperson credited a team of experts, who drew from research such as a 1955 study on respiratory droplets. In his book, Gottlieb wrote that the Trump White House pushed back on the CDC’s initial recommendation of 10 feet of social distance, saying it would be too difficult to implement. Perhaps the rule’s biggest impact was on children, despite ample evidence they were at relatively low risk of covid-related complications. Many schools were unable to accommodate six feet of space between students’ desks and forced to rely on virtual education for more than a year, said Joseph Allen, a Harvard University expert in environmental health, who called in 2020 for schools to adopt three feet of social distance. “The six-foot rule was really an error that had been propagated for several decades, based on a misunderstanding of how particles traveled through indoor spaces,” Allen said, adding that health experts often wrongly focused on avoiding droplets from infected people rather than improving ventilation and filtration inside buildings.
Nature
Tallest waterfall in China is fed by pipes, officials admit (WaPo🔒)
Shrouded in mist and towering nearly twice as high as the Washington Monument, local officials describe Yuntai Falls as China’s “tallest uninterrupted waterfall” to the millions of visitors who flock to the protected landscape every year. But what they failed to mention until this week is that the cascade, located in China’s central Henan province, is boosted by a concealed network of water pipes. The admission came after footage taken by a hiker circulated widely on Chinese social media, prompting consternation online. It showed water gushing out of pipes that had been built high up into the rock face, feeding some — if not all — of the waterfall’s flow. In a statement Tuesday, tourist officials at the Yuntai Mountain scenic resort, where the waterfall is located, admitted that they had made a “small enhancement” to the otherwise natural waterfall to improve the viewing experience for tourists.
Yellowstone bison gores 83-year-old while ‘defending its space,’ park says (WaPo🔒)
An 83-year-old woman was seriously injured after being gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park and lifted into the air by its horns, officials said. The bison attacked her near the Storm Point Trail at Yellowstone Lake on Saturday, the National Park Service said in a Monday statement, adding that the animal was “defending its space.” The bison “came within a few feet of the woman and lifted her about a foot off the ground with its horns,” it said. The victim from Greenville, S.C., who was not named, was transported to Lake Medical Clinic and then flown by helicopter to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, according to the Park Service. The statement added that officials are investigating the incident.
NOTE: The most interesting thing about this article is that I learned there are no buffalo in the United States, only bison. Also, Bison are the largest mammals in the United States. You can learn more here:
https://sciencing.com/list-biggest-mammals-8317803.html
https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-buffalo-and-bison
Travel
Flying Will Be Messy This Year. See How Bad It Is Across the US (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
The busiest Memorial Day weekend in over a decade. A record year for summer travel. And chaos in the US airline industry. It all means Americans should brace for disappointment when planning their next trip. US carriers are adding seats this summer at the slowest pace since the pandemic, according to a Bloomberg analysis of data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Airlines have also trimmed about 6.2 million seats from their June-through-August US flight schedules compared to the highest number they’d planned in recent months, the data show. Hardest hit are cities such as Orlando, Atlanta and Columbia, South Carolina. Flights between New York City and Miami have been reduced the most of any route nationwide.
Maldives will ban Israelis from entering the country over the war in Gaza (AP)
The Maldives government will ban Israelis from the Indian Ocean archipelago, known for luxury resorts, as public anger in the predominantly Muslim nation rises over the war in Gaza. The president’s office said Sunday that the Cabinet decided to change laws to prevent Israeli passport holders from entering the country and to establish a subcommittee to oversee the process.
The Economics of a Cruise (Sherwood News) 📊
On Monday, the world’s largest cruise company, Carnival Corp., announced that it’s retiring one of its flagship enterprises — P&O Cruises Australia — and folding it into the wider Carnival Cruises brand. Carnival said the move should help further optimize “the company's brand portfolio creating operational efficiencies”... which is just the kind of corporate jargon that investors love. In turn, the company’s shares rose 6% yesterday amidst a strong day for cruise stocks in general — an industry that, after nearly collapsing 4 years ago, has sailed back into profitable territory and is seeking to cut costs wherever it can. Indeed, 2023 was the first fiscal year since the pandemic that Carnival Corp. reported an operating profit (~$2B), after accruing cumulative operating losses of more than $20B between 2020-2022. So, if you were one of Carnival’s 12.5 million passengers last year, where exactly did your money go?
Surprising, Unsettling, Surreal: Roaming Through Saudi Arabia (NYT🔒)
To witness the kingdom’s profound transformation and assess its ambitious tourism projects, a Times journalist spent a month on the road there. Here’s what he saw.
Entertainment
Pat Sajak, the Iconic ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Host, Says Farewell After More Than 40 Years (WSJ🔒)
Pat Sajak has taken his final spin on “Wheel of Fortune,” the game show he hosted for over 40 years. The legendary host, who announced his retirement last June, said goodbye to the multicolor prize wheel and puzzle board on his final episode Friday evening. The farewell episode was filmed in early April.
Wheel of Fortune's most amazing solves ever:
Sports
MLB bans Padres’ Tucupita Marcano permanently for betting on baseball (NYT🔒)
For the first time since Pete Rose was kicked out in 1989, a Major League Baseball player has been banned for life for betting on his team’s games. Aided by tips from gambling companies, MLB found that Tucupita Marcano, a 24-year-old utility player for the San Diego Padres, placed 25 bets last season on the Pittsburgh Pirates as a member of that club — a cardinal sin in the sport, even though he was injured and unavailable to play at the time. In the same announcement Tuesday, the league also said it was suspending four other players for one year because they had placed bets on baseball games they were not directly tied to. That group includes one current big leaguer, Michael Kelly of the Oakland A’s, and two former big leaguers: Andrew Saalfrank of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who made three appearances in last year’s World Series with Arizona; and José Rodríguez, an infielder in the Philadelphia Phillies’ system who has played in one major-league game, with the Chicago White Sox last year.
Remembering 10-Cent Beer Night, one of baseball’s most infamous fiascos (WP🔒)
A half-century ago Tuesday, the Cleveland Indians offered fans beer for a dime, with a generous limit of six at a time, for a home game against the Texas Rangers. What could go wrong? Not much, except for streaking, drunk and stoned fans; beer cups, golf balls, rocks and batteries raining down on the field; and firecrackers popping throughout the stands, filling the ballpark with smoke. Oh, and players from both teams on the field, fending off some of the more adventurous fans. The infamous 10-Cent Beer Night ended with the umpires declaring a Cleveland forfeit, but that was the least of it.
NOTE: What a fun read! You can read more about the night here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Cent_Beer_Night
And there’s this fun video of the event that preceded the Ten Cent Beer Night a few nights before:
Have a great weekend!
The Curator
Two resources to help you be a more discerning reader:
AllSides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news
Media Bias Chart - https://www.adfontesmedia.com/
Caveat: Even these resources/charts are biased. Who says that the system they use to describe news sources is accurate? Still, hopefully you find them useful as a basic guide or for comparison.