Happy Tuesday, September 8th!
FYSA, every Tuesday and Friday, I’ll be in your inbox with the latest in politics, tech & social media, culture, and other relevant topics – and I’ll share some notes and tips on what I’m keeping my eye on.
And finally, if you enjoy this newsletter and want to share it with your network (and/or your chronically online friends), or buy me a matcha, that would be so appreciated 🙏
A Political Operative on the Verge of Self-Deportation
Rocha has many friends in Washington, but his attempts to change González’s situation have left him feeling powerless. “You mean I can’t call a senator? I can’t call the chairman of the Hispanic Caucus and just fix this shit?” he said, raising his arms incredulously. “No matter how many important people you know, no matter how much money you think you have, that you’ve made at this little firm—none of that matters.” He grew agitated thinking of Obama’s decision not to pursue immigration reform when he had legislative majorities. (The New Yorker, 9/6)
Trump Administration Again Asks Supreme Court to Allow Mail Voting Restrictions
Justice Jackson called for responses from the groups challenging the Trump administration rules by Wednesday at 4 p.m. She made no mention of the administration’s request that the justices allow the Postal Service rules to go into effect while they consider the case. That means that, at least for now, the administration is blocked from putting its plan into action. (NYT gift link, 9/4)
Nevada Republicans are testing the 2028 case against Gavin Newsom
Newsom has stumped for Democrats across the country this cycle, and he blitzed through the South this week, including a swing through South Carolina, whose Democrats will vote first, right before Nevada, in 2028. But Republicans are looking to weaponize Newsom’s Silver State swing in July, where Ford introduced him at a new Las Vegas field office as “the governor of the great state of California.” “Our next president!” an audience member shouted, eliciting cheers. (POLITICO, 9/7)
Senate GOP’s Midwestern governor’s problem
Strong candidates for governor can act as sheepdogs in tight Senate races, keeping Republican voters — and GOP-curious independents — moving in the party’s direction. That’s adding to GOP anxiety in Michigan and Iowa, where the Democratic gubernatorial nominees have led for much of the summer. In Ohio — a state President Trump won by 11 points — the governor’s race is tied. (Axios, 9/4)
Lucy’s note: totally randomly, here’s the Oath link where you can split your donation to all Dems running for Gov :) (and here’s one for just MI, IA, and OH Gov races)
Content creators drop the ball
There were “close to 100” influencers at this year’s tournament — up from 54 last year. But in a statement to ABC News, USTA spokesperson Brendan McIntyre emphasized that the influencers whose antics disrupted Osaka and Zakharova’s match were not credentialed by the organization. McIntyre also told The Athletic that media credentials were not given to Meg Radice and Audrey Jongens — two lifestyle influencers whose access to the US Open was revoked after they posted images of their badges to Instagram. (The Verge, 9/5 – free version)
‘Model fatigue’ sets in as AI labs race to roll out new versions at frenetic pace
First, Anthropic updated Fable and Mythos. Then came model enhancements from Meta and Google. OpenAI followed suit by releasing GPT-6 Astra. That was all this week, as a dizzying pace of modifications and upgrades hit the market from a handful of companies that are vying to stay at the forefront of the artificial intelligence revolution. (CNBC 9/6)
‘Those memories are being brought back out all the time’: Why you never really get over high school
Foulkes points out that teens are surrounded by the same people almost every day for years in a way “that just doesn’t really happen in adulthood, other than in the army or in prison. There is an intensity from the environment that goes beyond what’s happening inside their brains.” It’s this intensity that partly explains why these experiences stay lodged within us, says Prinstein, shaping how we make sense of social encounters for years to come. (BBC, 9/5 – free version)
Grab your Discmans out of storage. CDs are back, baby.
Even though cars no longer come with compact disc players and Discmans are harder to find than cans of Surge, CDs are back. Here it is, a midyear report from entertainment-data company Luminate that says sales growth for CDs is surpassing vinyl’s. Writes Luminate CEO Rob Jonas, “CD sales surged 16 percent to 16.3 million units, outpacing vinyl’s modest 2.4 percent growth.” (WaPo, 9/8 – free version)
Plastics Companies Are Writing Lesson Plans. What Could Go Wrong?
A new report from the nonprofit Plastic Pollution Coalition documents the many ways the plastics industry has been inserting its agenda into classrooms across the US—including through lesson plans and worksheets, hands-on science experiments, and a program called “PlastiVan” that travels from city to city teaching students about “the contribution plastics make to modern life.” (WIRED, 9/7 – free version)
How Gloria Steinem and Ms. Magazine Transformed the Publishing Industry
The first full issue, published in July 1972, featured Wonder Woman on the cover. It included an article from Ms. Steinem on how women voted, an essay from the activist Johnnie Tillmon on welfare and a petition supporting the legalization of abortion, called “We Have Had Abortions,” that was signed by 53 prominent women, including Ms. Steinem, Billie Jean King, Nora Ephron and Susan Sontag. It was a radical act at the time, when abortion was illegal. (NYT gift link, 9/4)
I research ‘gut feelings.’ Here’s how I know when to trust mine.
None of this means you should ignore a gut feeling when it shows up — quite the opposite. I often hear from patients that a persistent, nagging sense that something wasn’t adding up was what pushed them to ask for another opinion, request another test or refuse to let a symptom go unexplained. Sometimes, that instinct turns out to be lifesaving. When it is, it’s tempting to conclude that your “gut knew.” But it’s what you did after experiencing a gut feeling that helped. (WaPo, 9/7 – free version)
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Extra Credit 🤓
Substacks That Really Substacked This Week 🤌
Why Do We Love Dialect Quizzes? from Eleanor Stern of Wicked Tongue
How nationalists, theocrats and tech titans turned their backs on the future from Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor for Patterns by Naomi Klein
Sneaky Links
TL;DR I’ve inexplicably started receiving codes to stuff… here are the things I actually like :)
My BNTO code for September is 8Y8R4F for $20 off (if you know me IRL, you know my rant about the Nuulification of the 20-something city dweller)
I also have a code for CampSnap??? And I do love my CS8 camera from them but like I don’t think I said that online? Either way, it’s LUCYR7 for 7% off!
That’s all for now – I’ll see you on Friday!
And the gut feelings article actually caught my interest 👀 I’ve always been fascinated by how sometimes you just know something feels off…or even right, before you can explain why.
Yes! Bring back the late ’90s/early 2000s CD era! 👌 I’m honestly not mad about this. Am I the only one who thinks this is a good idea?