Happy Friday, September 18th!
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.
I’M ALSO LOOKING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO DO MINI INTERVIEWS like the one below :) Tips, thoughts, concerns, good jokes, bad jokes, tea, etc?
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 🙏
REMINDER: if you have fun ways that you like to GOTV and are comfy sharing them, please send them my way!!! You can drop them here or just reply to this email!
Don Jr. had a big wedding. Reporters started following the money
All this kicked off on Monday with two stories that landed within hours of each other, one in The New Yorker and another from ProPublica. Together they did something the last decade of scattered scoops about the Trump family’s business dealings had never quite managed: They connected the dots. Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, is running Middle East diplomacy while raising billions more for his private investment fund from the same governments with which he is supposedly negotiating. (Salon, 9/17)
Newsom floats prospect of special session or executive action on AI
Newsom’s signature last year on California’s first-in-the-nation AI transparency and incident reporting law set off a cross-country tour of copycat lawmaking in states like New York and Illinois. And last week he signed two AI safety bills to regulate the kind of third-party safety checks now being called for by the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic. (POLITICO, 9/17)
Trump administration orders Kalshi to scrap AI price tracker over national security concerns
Commerce officials cited national security concerns when they told Kalshi to unpublish its AI-compute future curve, said people familiar with the matter. The product pulls together data from several markets that allow users to bet on the cost to rent Nvidia chips to create an overall picture of where AI compute costs are heading. Kalshi quietly complied, though many underlying markets remain open for trading. (Semafor, 9/15)
Wired launches new global app
It will feature a personalized daily digest of top Wired stories tailored to users’ interests. It will also allow subscribers to customize notifications and follow their favorite writers. The app will include new features meant to bolster its community relationships, such as extended story comment features and live “AMA” question-and-answer forums with Wired journalists and experts. It will also include a vertical feed of short-form videos in a dedicated tab that will include original reports. (Axios, 9/15)
Generation SOS: Why young people are increasingly being rescued from mountains
Social media has only further blurred the line between screen and reality, Trehearne says. Undertakings that would have seemed “incredibly abnormal” 15 years ago, like steep ski mountaineering in the Rockies, are now regular pieces of online content, “normalizing” routes that even he would deem complex. (CNN, 9/18)
Girls flag football is the fastest-growing high school sport
More than 102,000 girls played high school flag football in 2025-26, a 551% increase in the past four years, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. In 2024, just 12 states sanctioned high school girls flag football, viewed as a safer, more accessible version of America’s most popular spectator sport. Today, 23 states plus Washington, D.C., sanction it as an official varsity sport, and 3,990 schools reported participants in 2025-26. (Axios, 9/16)
At Restaurants, Phones Are Becoming the New Cigarettes
Today, phones are as common in a table-setting as napkins and silverware. If diners themselves aren’t pulling them out to check messages and social media, they’re likely in the background as others record Instagram videos or make FaceTime calls. Many restaurants and patrons alike are pushing back against the shift that has turned collegial, communal spaces into places to watch TikTok while you eat. (WSJ gift link, 9/13)
$1.1 billion from Nike co-founder will build Oregon’s first women’s hospital
The donation is particularly significant because it comes at a moment when U.S. hospitals are seeing far more pregnant patients who are also managing chronic health conditions like diabetes, hypertension, addiction, and behavioral and mental health issues. It also lands at the same time healthcare organizations are struggling with the impact of government funding cuts. (AP, 9/15)
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Is Wordsmaxxing With 1,400 New Definitions
Merriam-Webster, the venerable dictionary that traces its roots to a time before looksmaxxing and yacht rock, has added those words along with chili crisp, shapewear and cuffing season, to its comprehensive accounting of the English language. (NYT gift link, 9/16)
Meryl Streep Revealed as Voice of Lion Aslan in Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: ‘Profound but Not Pretentious’
“I wanted someone who was profound but not pretentious, who had gravitas but not morose self-seriousness. Someone who could communicate depth and pathos as well as joy and delight,” Gerwig told the outlet of casting Streep. The pair previously worked together on Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Little Women, in which Streep played Aunt March. (People, 9/17)
Extra Credit 🤓
Substacks That Really Substacked This Week 🤌
What do people actually know about our government? from Max Levy of The Short Answer
One policy that unites liberals and conservatives from Lakshya Jain of The Argument
Lots of good stuff ahead of the paywall!
Sneaky Links
TL;DR I’ve inexplicably started receiving codes to stuff… here are the things I actually like :)
My BNTO code for August 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 LUCYR10 for 10% off (we got bumped up from 7% woohoo!)
That’s all for now – I’ll see you on Tuesday!
Very well done! That article on phones becoming the new cigarettes is interesting, substituting one addiction with another lol