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MrBeast Sales Slow, Angel Stock Falls, MUBI and Neon Look for Hits, and Will an NBA Franchise Set a Sales Record?

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) You probably remember egg prices spiking a few years ago. This led to a lot of debate between the pro-market/pro-competition/antitrust/Neo-Brandesian crowd and the center/center-right/center-left/abundance/libertarian crowd over the cause, whether it was the avian flu outbreak or whether industry consolidation led to price fixing, using avian flu as a convenient cover. Basel Musharbash wrote a whole investigation at BIG looking at it. Well, two years later, we have our answer: it was price fixing. The Justice Department found proof, via emails, of price fixing. Indeed, just the threat of an investigation brought prices down two years ago: I bring this up because at least half a dozen of my favorite political writers and pundits, who were skeptical about price fixing at the time, haven’t written any mea culpas on this issue. It’s really dispiriting and makes it much, much harder to trust their work on other issues. If you take a hard stand on an issue, then you get it wrong, you need to explain how and why you got it wrong. Or update your priors. This is how epistemological bubbles are formed! All of which is to say, it’s time for another installment of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. Last issue, I mostly focused on the “wrong” side of the equation, so today’s is a bit more balanced, but with one big mea culpa (though I still stand by my original concerns). Let’s dive right in! Subscribe CORRECTION: UFC Didn’t Release Subscriber Data (But Seems to Have Bragged About It Internally) In my analysis of the viewership of UFC Freedom 250, I wrote... “Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers.” Well, that datecdote did not come from a PR rep, but from great reporting from James Faris at Business Insider. The actual quote was this: “Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about a million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC event, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow told employees in a town hall on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the meeting told Business Insider.“ This wasn’t the biggest goof in the world; even Faris emphasized to me that this is more a “clarification” than a correction. Still, it sounds like, internally, the folks at Paramount were very happy about this result—and I’m guessing they were happy with this news getting out—even though the gains didn’t last through the quarter, dropping to 700K adds. RIGHT: MrBeast’s Struggles Continue... I’m very skeptical about MrBeast’s burgeoning media “empire” and, in particular, its $5 billion valuation, as I wrote earlier this year and last year. Sure enough, according to Business Insider, regarding its “booming” consumer products division_:_ “US sales volume grew 13% year-over-year in 2025, following a 33% leap the previous year, according to a presentation deck dated May 2026....A February 2025 investor deck viewed by Business Insider showed Feastables’ net revenue more than doubled in 2024 from 2023, to $215 million, and was forecast to grow 74% in 2025, to $375 million.” [Emphasis mine.] If you told investors that you projected 74% growth but delivered 13%,1 that’s not ideal. But it’s not just MrBeast. Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime had sales drop in half for their energy drinks. It’s one thing to build a successful entertainment company and an entirely different thing to succeed in the heavily-consolidated-but-also-very-competitive consumer packaged goods space! CPGs are dominated by a few firms with very wide moats compared to YouTube, which has few barriers to entry. These businesses require different skill sets and have completely different business environments. WRONG: Does the NBA Have an $8 Billion Bidder? Almost as soon as I published my article about the NBA’s finances, casting skepticism on NBA expansion, I saw this Front Office Sports headline: One group “claims to have already raised $8 billion” for the Vegas expansion team. I mean, wow. That’s just $2 billion less than what the Los Angeles Lakers were valued at when they were sold just last year. And they’re arguably the most popular team in the NBA. (Side note: the new owner is now under an investigation for fraud in how he went about financing the Lakers and the Dodgers purchases.) So much for the “dried up” language I used in that article. (This is why I usually stick to my “Entertainment Nuance Guy” tone in articles...) I went off old information—from April, when I read/heard about the NBA downplaying expansion efforts—instead of doing a quick double-check for new news. That said...if you read the article, the market for Seattle is “slow”, with just one reported bidder. So I wasn’t entirely off. This goof has annoyed me since I first published it, mainly because it undercut that article’s real point, which I stand by: NBA franchises are really overvalued right now. Now, I get why NBA teams are overvalued. When it comes to owning sports teams, it’s basically never wrong to assume that some rich person somewhere will care more about owning a team (or just being part of a group since they’re so expensive) than the actual financials. There are only so many teams to own, and opportunities to buy in preferred markets don’t come along very often. This explains why the teams sell for such high multiples (usually above a 10 to 12.5 revenue multiple, which is very high). You only need one person to overpay! Beyond the ultra-wealthy luxury good explanation, I worry NBA teams are becoming speculative assets. More and more private equity investors are buying into NBA teams. But the value, in owning a team, comes from selling it later, not any meaningful relationship to revenue or profit growth. In other words, the newer NBA owners are increasingly expecting someone later to buy their inflated asset. That’s not sound economics; that’s the “greater fool” theory at work.2 At some point, actually making money has to matter. Especially since revenue growth is now below the growth of the stock market. (And this matters because the NBA doesn’t have easy levers to pull to drastically lower their costs—half of their revenue has to go to players and then you actually have to run a team, including coaching, training, travel, media expenses, and more—or raise revenues aside from one-off expansions in America and overseas.) I just don’t see how investors make their money back buying NBA teams, except for selling at a higher price later on down the line. But if revenue/profit growth continues to slow, at some point, someone will be left holding the bag. RIGHT: Baseball and Basketball are about equally popular. Related to the above, I wanted to cite two quick pieces of evidence for one of my other theories: that the NBA and MLB are about as popular as each other, but the NBA gets much, much better media coverage. One YouGov survey has that fans prefer basketball to baseball by 52% to 48%, which I’m guessing is within the margin of error for that poll. That’s virtually even, meaning they’re about the same popularity. Over on NBC, a recent Red Sox-Yankees game averaged 4 million viewers, higher than Sunday Night Basketball’s average of 3.4 million on the same network. A Yankees-Dodgers game averaged 3.9 million two weeks ago. Not every game averages this much, but it shows you that baseball isn’t far off from basketball, depending on the matchup. Altogether, the NBA is just slightly more popular than baseball, but NBC is paying MLB a fraction of what they pay the NBA, a point I’ve made before. RIGHT: Angel, MUBI and Neon Updates... I’ve long been skeptical about many of Hollywood’s buzziest startups/smaller indie studios. It’s not that they don’t make great movies—films like Anora and Everything Everywhere All at Once are amazing—or that they’re not (rightfully) pushing the majors to make better films, but...they get a ton of hype, and that hype often doesn’t live up to the reality or difficulty in scaling up. Starting with MUBI, well, The Wall Street Journal wrote a feature on MUBI’s struggles last April, best summarized by the subheader “After Sequoia valued Mubi at $1 billion, a left-wing revolt sent the indie film company into a tailspin”. MUBI lost $7.3 million on $200 million in revenue in Q4 2025, but reportedly hit a record 1.7 million subscribers at the end of Q1. As for Neon, Department M purchased a “significant stake” in the company earlier this year. How much is that “stake” worth? According to Deadline, “No financial figures for the Neon-Department M deal were disclosed.” So...that’s not great! If it was a big valuation, we’d hear about. Also, I found this curious: “Both Neon and Department M already have separate partnerships with Qatar. The Qatar Film Committee has a slate deal in place with the former, and a biopic production pact with the latter.” Color me skeptical about much Middle Eastern investment dollars. See: LIV Golf. Finally, as for Angel (formerly Angel Studios), their stock very, very slightly popped last month after Young Washington ($20 million budget) which made $45 million in the US, but their stock is still way down from its opening. Smaller Updates RIGHT: The WGA should focus on antitrust concerns! I’ve been on this for years. Post-WGA/AMTPT deal in 2023, I wrote an article for the Ankler calling on the WGA to focus and organize against industry consolidation. Sure enough, the WGA filed a lawsuit against the Paramount-WBD merger, and people are organizing around this issue now. I wish this energy had coalesced earlier (specifically to lobby Washington much earlier), but better late than never! WRONG: Actually, the chip shortage might be due to market manipulation. In my last “Long Reads for the Long Summer” article, I shared an article about how LLMs are causing memory chip prices to spike, which will make all electronics more expensive. Well, turns out, three RAM manufacturers control 90% of the market, and now a private lawsuit accuses them of price-fixing. So yeah. WRONG/UPDATE: The Odyssey will hold! Two weeks ago, I wrote, “As of this moment, we haven’t had a super-blockbuster, though The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday could all cross the $500 million mark. (At this point, The Odyssey would need a very strong hold to get there.)” Well, it’s safe to say it’s going to have that hold! It only dropped 30% in weekend two and IMAX screenings are sold out all month. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is also off to a great start. RIGHT: People are rushing to get shows out yearly. I’ve long been bullish on yearly, weekly-released shows, and Leslie Goldberg at The Ankler wrote about how many people in town are now listening. WRONG: Mark Carney reverses Canada’s stance on homegrown production. After writing about Canada installing domestic production quotas, Canada has backed off. WRONG: I don’t trust Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s online “views”. When I originally wrote about the latest Spider-Man film’s record-breaking trailer, I thought this was just YouTube views, but after watching this Corridor Crew video and doing more research, well, it’s all social views of the trailer globally. Really? That stat includes TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts views. Basically, I don’t trust it anymore. (This film will probably set record, but I trust the pre-sales data more.) RIGHT: Celebrity Production companies are still struggling. I’ve written about this for years, but the company that I didn’t track was Kevin Hart’s HartBeat, which was valued at $650 million but is struggling now and might just end soon, especially after Kevin Hart pulled his endorsement deals. And Bad Robot is moving to NYC. CORRECTION: SpongeBob is a “second run” title. In my 2025 recap article, I had _SpongeBob SquarePants_labelled as a “library” title, when it is still a “second run” show, with new episodes still coming out on Nickelodeon. CORRECTION: In my last “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong” update, I offered a correction from Doug Creutz and misspelled TD Cowen. Thanks, Grammarly! 1 Though he could have increased prices to make up for the gap, he couldn’t have increased them that much. 2 There’s a theory, which I think that Daryl Morey created and Bill Simmons popularized, that, to be successful building your team, you only need a handful of bad GMs in the league to take advantage of. To be clear, Daryl Morey’s theory was also for signing bad contracts, that you could always get out of bad contracts. Basically, there’s always someone who will make a bad trade. It’s not the same exact thing, but similar enough to the Greater Fool Theory that I really like it.

Aug 4 • 11:55 AM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Graduate School of Management to host annual Welcome Reception, August 25

Students, alumni, faculty and staff are invited to celebrate the start of a new academic year.

Aug 4 • 10:06 AM EDT • Business • today.marquette.edu

Dr. Jolisa Williams Earns Women Leaders in Sports Resilience Award

BOWIE, MD — Bowie State University Interim Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation Dr. Jolisa Williams has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Women Leaders in Sports Resilience Award, one of the organization's prestigious BSN Sports Awards recognizing exceptional leadership across the sports industry.

Aug 4 • 9:49 AM EDT • Sports • bsubulldogs.com

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center Named Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report

RWJBarnabas Health hospitals are once again recognized for delivering exceptional patient care and outstanding clinical outcomes in the 2026-2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals edition for adult healthcare services.

Aug 4 • 8:19 AM EDT • Health • rwjbh.org

Politics & Power: Scandals, splits, uncertain road to November mean midterms are still in flux

Scandals, ideological schisms, and foreign‑policy crises have blurred the midterm map. Candidate quality, outside spending, and voter perceptions of the economy — plus President Donald Trump’s outsized role — will determine control of Congress.

Aug 4 • 7:24 AM EDT • Politics • news4jax.com

Patriots secondary emphasizing takeaways as practice intensity heats up

Kevin Byard’s challenge and a Dell Pettus interception set the tone for the defensive backfield this week.

Aug 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Northern Kentucky Magazine to induct four into 8th Annual NKY Business Hall of Fame

Staff report Northern Kentucky Magazine will present its 8th Annual NKY Business Hall of Fame celebration on August 12, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at Receptions in Erlanger. The new inductees are…

Aug 4 • 12:42 AM EDT • Business • nkytribune.com

Scientists just 3D printed one of the hardest metals on Earth

A new 3D printing technique can produce exceptionally hard tungsten carbide cobalt while using less of its expensive raw materials. By softening rather than fully melting the material, researchers created defect-free samples with industrial-grade hardness and opened the door to more efficient manufacturing.

Aug 3 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Ernst Names Small Business of the Week, Present Company

Read the release on Sen. Ernst's website here. Throughout this Congress, Chair Ernst plans to recognize a small business in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties. RED OAK, Iowa – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, today announced her Small Business of the Week: Present Company of Audubon County. Throughout the 119th Congress, Chair Ernst plans to recognize a small business in each of Iowa's 99 counties. "Present Company has been the gift that keeps on giving to Audubon for more than three decades," said Chair Ernst. "From helping revitalize Main Street to supporting countless local events and charities, Telia Carter and her team continue to present the very best of Iowa's entrepreneurial spirit. Their commitment to exceptional service, unique products, and hometown values proves that investing in your community always comes back around." Founded in 1990 by Nancy Oleson, Present Company opened its doors in downtown Audubon as a home décor boutique. After more than three decades of serving southwest Iowa, ownership transitioned in 2022 to Telia Carter. Under her leadership, Present Company has continued its tradition of personalized customer service while adapting its inventory to meet the needs of customers from Audubon and the surrounding communities. Today, Present Company remains a downtown Audubon staple, offering a carefully curated selection of gifts, home décor, apparel, jewelry, and specialty items. The boutique has earned a reputation for unique merchandise, friendly service, and a welcoming atmosphere that reflects the character of small-town Iowa. Stay tuned as Chair Ernst continues to recognize outstanding Iowa small businesses with her Small Business of the Week award. ###

Aug 3 • 5:56 PM EDT • Business • sbc.senate.gov

S&T honors Dennis and Janet Jaggi for transforming business education

Dennis and Janet Jaggi pose on July 30 with family members by the sign bearing their name in S&T’s Engineering Management Building with the whole family on July 30 in front of their sign in Engineering Management during the reception in their honor. From left: daughter-in-law Christie Jaggi, son Greg Jaggi, Dennis, grandson Nicholas Jaggi,...Continue Reading S&T honors Dennis and Janet Jaggi for transforming business education

Aug 3 • 5:42 PM EDT • Business • news.mst.edu

Tommy Sullivan and John Ziegler to Perform at LI Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame on Aug 16th

As part of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame Soundtrack to Summer Series, Musician Tommy Sullivan (a member of the Brooklyn Bridge) will perform LIVE music and Comedian John Ziegler will open with comedy set at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in Stony Brook Village (97 Main Street, Stony Brook, NY) on Aug. 16th from 3-4pm. The event is free for members or with general admission ticket purchase or $10 at the door concert ticket purchase. For details on this and upcoming events please visit https://www.limusichalloffame.... About Tommy Sullivan A life-long Long Islander and proud U.S. Army veteran, Tommy Sullivan enlisted in 1965 and was accepted to the United States Military Academy Band, where he created the first official rock group at West Point. Reentering civilian life in 1968, he helped create the Rhythm Method, a 7-piece Long Island band which was discovered by Johnny Maestro, then singing lead with the Del-Satins. The combined groups became the Brooklyn Bridge. As band leader and musical director, Tommy penned the group’s horn arrangements on every Bridge hit, including their gold record, Worst that could happen. Upon leaving the Bridge, Tommy co-founded Atlantic Records’ supergroup Ramatam, which was Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell’s first group following Hendrix’ death. For the second Ramatam LP Tommy wrote and orchestrated original material which featured select members of the NY Philharmonic Orchestra. Together with Johnny Maestro, Tommy co-produced Johnny’s final CD, Peace on earth. The critically acclaimed album features Tommy’s arrangements & orchestrations, plus several of his original songs. A Charter Inductee to the LI Music Hall of Fame, Tommy Sullivan continues to write, record, arrange and produce records, serve as musical director/ arranger/conductor for projects across many musical genres plus donates dozens of performances annually for numerous charity events. Tommy Sullivan’s dynamic and unique one-man show, A thousand memories, featuring his vocals and performances on four instruments, has been packing concert auditoriums, nightclubs, private parties–even vineyards-for the past several years. John Zeigler Born and raised in New York, John has performed stand-up comedy for close to 20 years and was the winner of the 2016 "Funniest Comic on the East Coast" Contest at Mohegan Sun. John's opened for such comics as Sebastian Maniscalco, Gilbert Gottfried, Jim Breuer and Robert Klein. He currently headlines clubs across the country and regularly tours with legendary comedian Bobby Collins. John recently released his Dry Bar Comedy Special and Getting My Affairs in Order.

Aug 3 • 3:39 PM EDT • Entertainment • iloveny.com

If Not AOC, Then Who?

What do we do if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decides not to run for president in 2028? It makes sense that many leftists are currently focused on calling on her to take the plunge. But the absence of a Plan B, or even much discussion about one, is worrisome. The US Left can’t afford to sit out the 2028 Democratic primary. Doing so in 2024 was a disaster: our abstention self-marginalized anti-billionaire politics from the national conversation and thereby gave space for Harris to pivot to the “center” (i.e. the policy preferences of corporate donors, establishment hacks, and AIPAC). Abstaining again in 2028 would be especially counterproductive since democratic socialists now have so much wind in our sails after our big electoral wins in NYC and across the country. It’s time to deepen our momentum, organization, and profile — not to retreat to the margins during America’s single most important political battle. Even more urgently, keeping Trump’s heir out of the White House may depend on whether leftists and the party’s unprecedentedly disenchanted base can force the Democrats in 2028 to take meaningful steps towards a very angry electorate and away from the corporate-consultant blob that has helped get us into this mess. If AOC (or Abdul El-Sayed) decides to run, we should enthusiastically go all in — DSA, fighting unions, progressive organizations, anybody who wants to see a better country and world. But, as far as I can tell from the outside, there’s a real chance that she doesn’t run. And we can’t just wait and see where she lands before discussing alternatives, since AOC’s decision might not come for quite a while, giving us little time to scramble at the last minute for an alternative. So we should start working now on getting a Plan B into motion, and recruiting a good candidate for the role. Here’s one idea. A Worker Candidate — Healthcare Not Warfare 2028 Run a union worker Leftists don’t need to always run experienced, well-known socialist politicians for high-profile contests. Lula, the current president of Brazil, began his political career as a metalworker militant who ran for governor of São Paulo in 1982. Especially in an era of institutional distrust, it’s possible to lean hard into making a virtue out of a working-class comrade’s distance from traditional politics. Experience abroad shows this clearly. Rachel Kéké — an immigrant hotel housekeeper — ran as the candidate of the leftist La France Insoumise for the National Assembly in 2022, defeating a former minister in the Macron government. The Belgian Workers’ Party in 2024 won its first Flemish seat in the European Parliament by running Rudi Kennes, a three-decade veteran of the Opel Antwerp auto factory. And the South Korean left in 2024 elected auto factory militant Yoon Jong-oh to the National Assembly. If a tiny French Trotskyist organization could make such a big splash in 2002 and 2007 by running a well-spoken postal worker cadre for office — the LCR’s Olivier Besancenot received about 1.5 million first-round votes — it’s not far-fetched to expect that a much larger organization like DSA, together with a broader coalition of the willing, could run this playbook to much greater effect. This is especially the case now that almost everything DSA does immediately becomes a national news story. We don’t need someone famous. We just need a charismatic, well-vetted comrade who works in a relatable working-class occupation — e.g. a nurse, or a worker in auto or construction, or at Amazon. Ideally, they have a compelling personal story or have been part of a significant strike or organizing campaign, but even those criteria don’t necessarily have to be deal-breakers. The main lesson of the Graham Platner fiasco isn’t that we should never run outsiders for office (the momentum he generated proves the exact opposite), but that they need proper vetting and roots in democratic membership organizations like DSA or a union. In any case, there are plenty of ways to signal working-class authenticity without resorting to Platner’s or Fetterman’s performative macho white dude affect. Better to have someone of any gender or race who is actually working class, with firm socialist politics, who can speak from experience about the day-to-day realities of trying to make it in America. There are surely at least a dozen such worker leaders in our movement nationwide; we just need to sit down and convince one that their personal sacrifice for the greater good (i.e. running for president) will be worth it. If we don’t have a frontrunner with a clear path to victory like AOC (or El-Sayed, were he to win Michigan), it’s better to embrace someone whose decision to run in itself tells an important story about US politics: workers have been iced out of our political system and are now fighting hard to break back in. The novelty factor, in itself, would generate press. And it would help democratic socialists signal to the American public that our movement’s defining characteristic is that we represent workers vs. bosses, not that we’re “the furthest left” force in American politics — a framework that suggests we’re extremists and that helps our opponents isolate us from non-college-educated voters by highlighting extremely minoritarian (and misguided) stances included in DSA’s platform like prison abolition. We don’t get many opportunities to speak to tens of millions of Americans; we need to use these opportunities to broaden our appeal beyond those already in our orbit. Run to polarize the 2028 primary and general election around “Medicare for All” and “End All Aid to Israel” Why should democratic socialists use our scarce time and volunteer energy to run in a race we’re unlikely to win? Running in the 2028 primary will not only recruit us scores of members (imagine having a DSA member intervening in eleven nationally televised primary debates!), but — more importantly — it has the potential to be a decisive leap forward towards an America that finally starts meeting the needs of working people instead of HMO and AIPAC billionaire donors. Polarizing litmus tests are good, actually — as long as they’re fought for around popular demands in a thoughtful and strategic way. Democratic socialists have an opportunity and responsibility to make the 2028 primary about two of the most widely and deeply felt issues of our moment: domestically, America’s unaffordable, family-breaking private healthcare system; internationally, America’s bankrolling of the genocidal Israeli government. A candidacy relentlessly demanding Medicare for All and No Aid to Israel would pose a sharp question to the American public, the Democratic Party, and other 2028 contenders: Why can’t working-class Americans afford their healthcare bills at the same time that our government is spending at least $3.8 billion yearly to fund an Israeli regime eager to keep dragging us and the world into more forever wars? Our candidate can agitate around a clear message: I’m running to give voice to all those working-class Americans who are struggling to get by. No matter what state you live in, who you voted for in 2024, or your background, it’s just plain common sense that we should make healthcare more affordable instead of spending billions to enable the Israeli government’s crimes against humanity. Every American who agrees with me when I say ‘Medicare for All — Not a Dime for Israel’ should make their voice heard through our campaign. Racking up a high number of votes for this agenda is a crucial way to show the Democratic Party and the country as a whole that we can’t keep supporting a life-destroying status quo in our healthcare system and in the Middle East. If we want to defeat Trump’s handpicked crony this coming November, we need to speak to ordinary people’s frustrations with the status quo — we can’t keep running the same tired establishment playbook and expecting a different result. For those highly engaged voters (or skeptical media pundits) who raise concerns about wasting votes, the candidate can take the time to explain why this isn’t the case: It's true I'm a long shot. But Zohran showed anything can happen — and voting for me is a pragmatic decision, not a wasted vote. In a heavily divided primary with a large number of candidates and a very discredited establishment, my campaign and the democratic socialist movement I’m part of are positioned to be the balance of power if we can get a large enough number of voters to loudly demand Healthcare Not Warfare. Since there’s a high chance no candidate will get to 50% in the 2028 primaries, the Democrats could very well be heading towards a brokered convention, where a disciplined, principled current committed to breaking from corporate donors can play an outsized role in making sure whoever ends up with the nomination raises the banner of single-payer healthcare and cutting aid to Israel. How exactly could running this sort of primary campaign be translated into actual leverage? The candidate replies: I’m aiming to win the nomination, but if I don’t achieve that goal, my delegates and I will pledge our support in the primary only for a candidate who agrees in the general election to call for ending US aid to Israel and establishing Medicare for All at home. These are both winning planks for November against the Republicans, and the only reason I can see that other candidates haven’t yet raised these is that they’re still more scared of the donor class than they are of the people. That needs to change. If Democratic leaders want young people, workers, and those sick of the status quo to show up in big numbers this November, they need to meet us halfway. In this way, whether or not we win the nomination, democratic socialists could still play a decisive role in 2028. The approach outlined here is similar to what radical left parties periodically do in parliamentary democracies like Denmark or Sweden when they find themselves as a junior partner electorally: they dictate to center-left allies what their terms would be for enabling, from the outside, the formation of a new government. Running a Healthcare Not Warfare candidate will make it significantly more likely that the 2028 Democratic candidate stands with ordinary people instead of donors on these two pivotal planks — a shift that will, in turn, make it easier to achieve the existentially important task of defeating MAGA’s heir in November. Look at how much popular traction the Uncommitted movement got with a similar strategy in 2024 with so little on-the-ground organization — surely we can go much further with a working-class candidate, a much bigger DSA, and a Democratic Party base that has turned against Israel, billionaires, and the hacks in the party who prop them up. Objections and Responses There are quite a few objections to this proposal, many of which are very reasonable. Let me briefly address each here. Socialists shouldn’t waste their scarce time and resources on a candidate unlikely to win. This is a good rule in general, but there are important exceptions, and presidential elections are the main one. There’s no other political contest that gets anything like this level of attention and engagement in the US, so if you want to be a serious force in nationwide politics, you basically can’t afford not to have a candidate. Far from being an overall drain on our resources, running a dynamic 2028 campaign would likely result in a major net increase in members and capacity. In that spirit, the very pragmatic Milwaukee sewer socialists — who mostly ran to win at home in Wisconsin — supported Eugene Debs’s propagandistic presidential campaigns, which they correctly saw as a crucial means of recruiting to the Socialist Party. And now that the (post-1972) Democratic Party gives more weight to voters than party operatives in determining its presidential nomination, it’s become feasible to run as a socialist in primaries without risking a split in the vote against the Republicans in November. We should just support Ro Khanna, who also supports M4A and ending aid to Israel. I like Ro Khanna and would enthusiastically vote and canvass for him for president were he to get the nomination. But there’s a real chance that Khanna’s bid for office doesn’t catch on; he lacks the grassroots organizational apparatus of DSA, and, because he’s not really of the Left or labor (despite his current very good positions), he’s unlikely to generate the type of buy-in and enthusiasm that a DSA candidate would. Moreover, Khanna would be running as an individual, not as someone emerging from and building an organized movement — his campaign would not likely focus on building sustained power from below, nor would it likely polarize the 2028 primary around M4A and Israel aid. Also, and not inconsequentially, the poor electoral results for Tom Steyer and Saikat Chakrabarti this spring suggest that there’s perhaps not much of a popular appetite in the Democrats’ base to support multi-millionaire class traitors. Much better, then, to run a democratic socialist worker. If by Super Tuesday it’s clear that our campaign has captured the main left lane in the primary, Khanna should drop out and endorse us; conversely, if he’s managed to capture this lane, DSA could at that point transform its Healthcare Not Warfare campaign into an independent campaign to elect Ro Khanna focused on winning (and holding him accountable to) those two critical planks. An openness to consolidating an anti-corporate candidate by Super Tuesday is a necessary component of the strategy I’m proposing, because otherwise we risk splitting the primary votes (per DNC rules, you need at least 15% to get any delegates to convention). We should convince Shawn Fain or Sara Nelson to run for president instead. I agree it’d be great if either ran for president, but my impression is that there’s basically no chance that will happen in 2028, because both are firmly focused on their union leadership duties (and, in the case of Fain, beating back a federal witch-hunt). This plan could have DSA end up endorsing a non-socialist, non-DSAer for president. That’s against our principles. It’s a myth, and bad politics, that socialists can’t ever support candidates who aren’t members of their organization and/or who don’t call themselves socialists. Bernie, after all, was not a DSAer. And socialists abroad regularly make tactical decisions about if and when supporting a non-socialist candidate makes sense from the standpoint of promoting working-class interests, defending democracy, and building a socialist current in the process. If your “principles” prevent you and DSA from helping achieve the momentous stride forward of having a Democratic candidate in 2028 run on Medicare for All and ending aid to Israel, those “principles” are not very good. In fact, they actively undermine the causes they’re aiming to support. We shouldn’t confuse principles (working-class independence) with tactics (the best way to advance this in a given context). In my recent article in Catalyst on Milwaukee sewer socialism (I’ve uploaded the full text here), I have a section showing how similarly rigid rules about endorsements had to be eventually discarded in the old Socialist Party nationwide after WWI because they tended to lead socialists towards a sectarian abstention from broader anti-corporate electoral insurgencies beyond their party’s control. For what it’s worth, Lenin’s current under Tsarism frequently backed bourgeois candidates in the second round of elections and Lenin himself advocated that British Communists support Labour Party candidates; for his part, Kautsky in 1912 defended the German Social Democracy’s electoral pact with the Progressives in the runoffs. If our predecessors could be that tactically flexible in an era before the limits of their underlying strategic assumptions about intransigent class politics in capitalist democracies were made clear, then there’s no need to insist on being more tactically rigid today, after a century’s worth of accumulated experience. As long as you maintain your own political profile and organization while engaging in broader coalitional efforts, there’s zero inherent contradiction with the principle of political independence. More specifically: DSA and allied organizations should enthusiastically back Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed if AOC declines to run and he throws his hat in the presidential ring. (I have no idea whether he’s even considering this path, but there’ll surely be chatter about it if he wins his Senate race this November.) Though he doesn’t call himself a socialist, El-Sayed is a principled Berniecrat, a consistent fighter for Palestine, and would have a clear path to victory. Using the “s” word is far less important than whether a campaign fights for the interests of working people at home and abroad — and whether actively participating in it can grow the organized working class and the Left. And the same holds true if a less anti-corporate candidate were, under pressure, to adopt our two Healthcare Not Warfare planks. Why focus only on M4A and ending US aid to Israel? There are so many other important issues to fight for! Obviously there are many pivotal issues beyond healthcare and Israel, and our candidate — and especially our organizations involved in the campaign — should be prepared to speak on all of these. But one of the crucial lessons of the Zohran campaign is that you have to relentlessly stay on message if you want to cut through the noise. CNN and Fox News will want to talk about DSA’s views on Venezuela and abolishing the police; we need to polarize the debate on the widely and deeply felt issues that are most favorable for growing the Left, isolating our opponents, and winning urgently needed changes. One recent poll found 63% of Americans support M4A, even after respondents were told it would raise taxes and eliminate most private insurance. Another found that 74% of Democrats opposed “providing additional economic and military support to Israel.” And focusing on two demands sets the campaign up to be able to leverage its mandate to make clear demands upon other candidates (which we can’t do if we run with a laundry list of demands). Talking about a Plan B is a distraction from the more urgent work of building a groundswell of calls on AOC to run. It’s good for DSAers, fightback unionists, and progressive organizations to try to convince AOC to run. This proposal is meant as an addendum to pushes to get AOC to run and to line DSA up for that eventuality, not as a substitute for those efforts. But I’m worried that, like in 2024, we might eventually find ourselves with no time to find a viable alternative unless we start now. DSA, with its abundant deliberative processes, moves slowly. The approach you’re suggesting seems risky. If a DSA candidate runs but doesn’t receive a lot of votes, it’ll undercut our current national momentum. This is a reasonable worry. All big initiatives always carry risks, and the path I’m advocating is certainly not free of these. That said, if a Healthcare Not Warfare campaign doesn’t catch on like we envisioned, it’s a pretty simple pivot in March 2028 to explain that in the future we really need our standard-bearers like AOC, or our growing bench of national electeds, to step up in presidential primaries. Moreover, it’s worth noting that the risk of my Plan B proposal is on the whole significantly less than the risk entailed by an AOC run. We should all back her if she runs, since she’d fire up the base, provide huge openings for organizing, have a real shot at defeating a Republican (especially given MAGA’s unpopularity), be a great standard-bearer for our issues, particularly M4A and ending aid to Israel, and be less willing than mainstream candidates to capitulate to any anti-democratic machinations from Trump and co. But it’s also true that AOC could lose, which would be a devastating setback to the country and the Left. Or she could win and find herself unable to pass much, if any, of her (and our) program, a demoralizing prospect. So if we’re willing to take these risks with AOC (and we should), it follows that we should be able to take lower-level risks if she doesn’t throw her hat in the ring. What’s Your Plan B? The US Left is facing its biggest opening for growth and influence since the 1930s. Initiatives that would have been impossible a few months ago are now potentially feasible. A President AOC is now easier to imagine, but if she ultimately assesses that the risks aren’t worth the potential reward in 2028, we can’t be left flat-footed. So even if you’re not convinced by the specifics of my Plan B, I hope you can at least agree that it’d be a disaster for us not to have one — and not to start getting a Plan B into motion. Hopefully other organizers and political currents will put forward their responses and alternative ideas ASAP. The stakes are too high to just wait and see. More As always, please share this article widely. This newsletter depends on all you lovely people to get the word out. Thank you! I uploaded the full text of my Catalyst article on Milwaukee sewer socialism here (it’s updated and 3x as long as the version published earlier on this substack). If you haven’t yet, please make sure to subscribe to Catalyst here; I read every issue front to back, highly recommend. 🌹🎵 Ivan Lins (arranged by Arthur Verocai) — “General da Banda” 🌹🎵

Aug 3 • 12:50 PM EDT • Politics • laborpolitics.com

Ian-credible Science: Oobleck

Each week, we bring you a quick and easy experiment you can do at home to explore a concept in science. This week, we’re exploring rheology by making oobleck.

Aug 3 • 11:36 AM EDT • Science • kotatv.com

A $1,399 starting price for the iPhone 18 Pro doesn't seem credible

We know for sure that Apple will increase iPhone prices when the iPhone 18 Pro launches next month. The company...

Aug 3 • 9:05 AM EDT • Technology • 9to5mac.com

Dr. Crystal Miller Named Public Health Hall of Fame Distinguished Leader

The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department is proud to announce that our Commissioner of Health, Dr. Crystal Miller has been selected as this year’s Public Health Hall of Fame Distinguished Leader by the University of Kentucky College of Public Health. This honor recognizes Dr. Miller’s exceptional leadership, unwavering commitment to public health, and the lasting impact

Aug 3 • 8:51 AM EDT • Health • lfchd.org

How the brain finds order in visual chaos

Study of ensemble perception in mice finds that the early visual cortex does more than just relay information

Aug 3 • 1:03 AM EDT • Science • advancedsciencenews.com

Entertainment Notebook: New film The Floaters focuses on Jewish summer camp; Idol Drag Queen to perform

I received an advance screener of the new motion picture The Floaters, which follows struggling musician Nomi (Jackie Tohm) who accepts a last-resort job from her overachiever best friend Mara

Aug 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • thesuburban.com

Mathematicians prove perfectly fair elections are impossible

Mathematicians have shown that no electoral system can perfectly balance local representation, proportional national results, and a fixed-size parliament once enough parties compete. A newly proposed voting method could soften these unavoidable trade-offs and produce outcomes that are much closer to fair.

Aug 2 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

SpaceX is planning a rocket-launching spaceport in coastal Louisiana. Here are the plans.

After months of speculation, a source close to the deal has confirmed an 18-mile stretch of coastal south Louisiana called Pecan Island will be the site for a new space port for Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Aug 2 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • nola.com

Nell Nolan: Floral Trail 2026, Friends of Music, Meacham reception

Floral Trail

Aug 2 • 5:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • nola.com

Devin Bush 2026 Chicago Bears Season Preview

During this last offseason, the Chicago Bears made a notable change at linebacker. Tremaine Edmunds was the Bears starter last season, but now it looks to be Devin Bush. Considering that Edmunds had a good season in 2025 with four interceptions, 112 tackles, and three tackles for loss (13 games), it’s not as if he’s a bad player.

Aug 1 • 9:03 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Henry Winkler says just 1 ‘Happy Days’ actor let fame go to his head

Henry Winkler says that the set of ‘Happy Days’ was completely ego-free — except for one recurring guest star who didn’t get the memo.

Aug 1 • 5:20 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

‘It’s unacceptable’: Cleveland Browns owner says fans ‘deserve better’

The Cleveland Browns have not performed well the past two seasons, and team owner Jimmy Haslam knows it. However, despite the recent struggles, it sounds like Haslam is optimistic about this season. During a recent interview, Haslam acknowledged the team’s frustrating record the past two years, but he made it clear that he thinks the…

Aug 1 • 4:03 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The last day of an American factory

A Trump donor called for an end to offshoring. Then his company moved much of this plant’s work to China.

Aug 1 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Montgomery Co. lifts all remaining health advisories for Potomac River shoreline related to sewage spill

Montgomery County lifted all its remaining health advisories for the Potomac River shoreline and river sediment related to the failure of the Potomac Interceptor.

Jul 31 • 6:59 PM EDT • Health • wtop.com

Efforts Continue to Stabilize LINK Spacecraft for NASA’s Swift Boost

Teams at Katalyst Space are making progress slowing the spin of their LINK spacecraft, which is designed to boost the orbit of NASA’s Swift.

Jul 31 • 6:28 PM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov

San Francisco’s Hims & Hers sued over customer privacy, subscriptions

Federal and state regulators sued San Francisco-based Hims & Hers, alleging deceptive prescription billing, difficult cancellations and the improper sharing of sensitive health information.

Jul 31 • 5:01 PM EDT • Health • sfchronicle.com

$4 Million Commitment Will Help UT Health Sciences Expand Health Hubs to Bring Preventive Care to More Communities Across Tennessee

Community and healthcare leaders, friends and partners of UT Health Sciences gathered to celebrate UnitedHealth Group’s announcement of a $4 million commitment to expand the neighborhood health hub model developed at the university from five to 13 across the state by the end of 2027.

Jul 31 • 1:43 PM EDT • Health • news.uthsc.edu

Layla Kiffin’s new business aims to bring a first-of-its-kind experience to Baton Rouge

Layla Kiffin is bringing a new heated fitness concept to Baton Rouge with the launch of Livin Studio, a workout and recovery studio near Tiger Stadium that is scheduled to open by the end of August. … Already an INSIDER? Sign in. Already an INSIDER? Sign in

Jul 31 • 10:51 AM EDT • Business • businessreport.com

Home Entertainment Installations Hold Steady in 2025, With Integrators Bullish on What Comes Next

Large screens, immersive audio, and a new kind of flex space are reshaping home entertainment installations, per CE Pro research.

Jul 31 • 10:46 AM EDT • Entertainment • cepro.com

Republican Victor Marx taps George Markert as his lieutenant governor pick in Colorado’s gubernatorial race

Colorado Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx named George Markert, a retired Marine colonel, as his running mate for lieutenant governor Friday morning, saying the former U.S. Senate candidate will bring “exceptional character, proven leadership and a lifetime of serving others” to the ticket. Marx is facing Democratic nominee Phil Weiser, the state’s attorney general, and […]

Jul 31 • 10:38 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

What Dad Eats Before Conception May Influence Baby's Health

By HealthDay Staff HealthDay ReporterFRIDAY, July 31, 2026 (HealthDay News) — When it comes to preparing for a healthy pregnancy, the focus is usually on moms. But new research suggests dads' nutrition plays an important role, too. "Maternal nutrition and health before, during and after the baby's ...

Jul 31 • 9:07 AM EDT • Health • usnews.com

The extra benefit of Eagles' deceptive new offense

The Eagles’ new offense is also benefitting Vic Fangio’s defense, which will face it every day in practice.

Jul 31 • 7:00 AM EDT • Sports • nbcsportsphiladelphia.com

This Android phone maker has created a model with no bezels around the display

TECNO has figured out a way to create phones with truly bezel-less displays and will show off its concept phone at IFA 2026 in September.

Jul 31 • 4:00 AM EDT • Technology • androidauthority.com

Tecno's New Concept May Be The First Truly Bezel-Less Smartphone

Tecno is teasing a truly bezel-less smartphone concept and it'll reveal it at IFA 2026.

Jul 31 • 4:00 AM EDT • Technology • engadget.com

NJ Chamber of Commerce to Honor 10 Women Business Leaders and Advocates Who Are Making a Difference

These Exceptional Women Will Receive the NJ Chamber’s ‘Women of Inspiration’ Awards The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce announced today that it will honor 10 exceptional women who have used talent and hard work to create economic opportunities and help make New Jersey a better place to live and work. The women will be recognized[...]

Jul 30 • 1:45 PM EDT • Business • insidernj.com

The new "science golden age" looks suspiciously like a grift

This edition of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 The Trump regime is trying to usher in a “Golden Age in Science” where scientific research is run like a Trump family business, artificial intelligence is all that matters, profit is everything, and expertise is for chumps. Or at least that’s the vision emerging from a new 123-page “Report to the President” from Michael Kratsios, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In a normal administration, you could probably skip over learning about a science policy document — but this is no normal administration, and this is no normal science policy document. Instead, it’s Trump’s attempt to end the actual golden age of science that was kicked off in 1945 with the publication of '“The Endless Frontier” by Vannevar Bush. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) [ Harmeet Dhillon demonstrates danger of posting through it ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Liz Dye · Jul 29 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Bush, at President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s request, laid out a vision of federal support for science that centered on funding universities to do basic research, saying that as long as those institutions were “vigorous and healthy and their scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems in Government, in industry, or elsewhere.” Kratsios’s report is supposed to be the successor to Bush’s, and even apes the format, but this isn’t really a document about science policy. It’s one about ending science research as we know it in favor of shoveling cash at big tech companies. While it might be temping to wave this away as an aspirational policy document, Trump has already begun to shift billions in research funds to AI projects and has taken a hatchet to science funding across the board. He’s teed up the shift Kratsios proposes here, and since neither Congress nor the Supreme Court seem inclined to stop him from doing whatever he wants with taxpayer money, it isn’t doomering or hyperbole to say we are staring down the barrel of a world where the only “science” the government intends to support is for-profit tech and defense advancements. Science for dummies Part of how you can tell this isn’t a document about science is that you are immediately faced with an absolute wall of business-speak of the worst sort. Did you know we must “tightly couple our science and technology enterprises to ensure that groundbreaking ideas invented in the United States are rapidly prototyped, tested, manufactured, and scaled domestically”? You do now! That tone isn’t surprising, because Kratsios has no background in science or research. He has a bachelor’s in political science and spent most of his career working for Peter Thiel at Thiel Capital. After a stint in the first Trump administration as Chief Technology Officer, where he also did not do any science, Kratsios was tasked in 2020 with overseeing the Pentagon’s research budget for a brief time, a position that, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “carries a great deal of power in terms of dictating investment allocations.” He spent the Biden years at Scale AI as “head of strategy,” which you will also note is neither a science nor a research job. But Scale AI has contracts with the Department of Defense and, as the Washington Post wrote in 2023, “has been aggressively pitching itself as the company that will help the US military in its existential battle with China.” And now you have the necessary background for our new golden age, which is going to be a golden age of taking money away from scientists and universities and giving it to companies like Scale AI. A note from Aaron: Working with brilliant contributors like Lisa takes resources. If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, please become one to support our work. 👇 Subscribe In a genuinely galling move, Katsios spends a lot of time slamming universities because of “administrative burdens on researchers” and the “well-documented inefficiencies” in academia, the message being that those damn universities waste the time of amazing researchers with paperwork. Except it’s the administration that is attempting to impose inefficient, unnecessary burdens on those researchers with a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would require senior political appointees to approve every science grant and ensure it aligns with Trump’s personal priorities. Researchers would also have to seek prior government approval to attend conferences or publicize their research. And political appointees could terminate any grant at any time if they feel like it. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) [ The murder of expertise ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) Lisa Needham · Jun 11 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) But when it comes to AI, we’re going to “restore permissionless innovation.” The report proposes to give lucky ducky innovators a pile of cash up front for grants lasting five years or longer, saying “awards should be fully-funded in year one, with all resources earmarked upfront, to minimize administrative burdens and reduce pressure for researchers to generate intermediate results to secure continued funding.” Yeah, wouldn’t want to have to make the Very Special Tech Bros show results or get money parceled out year by year like the plebes at universities. The report also proposes that we should have “fast grants” with “simplified applications requiring just a few pages of writing” because that is definitely how science works, just writing a bit off the dome and getting some cash. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) [ Tech elites are turning AI into ChatGPTrump ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Paul Waldman · July 29, 2025 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Oh, and we should have prizes and challenges, where multiple teams compete. The proposed prizes include incentives like “advance procurement commitments,” which means the federal government agrees to buy whatever is being developed. There’s also “regulatory fast-tracking,” making sure all those great AI thingies don’t have to wait too long to be unleashed on a market. These aren’t incentives to do science. These are incentives to develop things with tax dollars that you can then sell to the government for more tax dollars. In the suggestion that might be the most unhinged, the most very opposite of how both government and research work, our new age will include “golden tickets.” That’s where an individual reviewer in an agency — yes, just one person — can “recommend unconventional proposals that may not pass consensus-driven review panels” because somehow this will “surface valuable ideas too divisive for committees and attract higher quality reviewers by empowering them to exercise independent scientific judgment.” Yes, that’s saying that a random person in an agency should be able to shovel money at some idea even if it can’t pass a review panel, and that the opportunity to do so will attract better employees because apparently all the best minds in science are chomping at the bit to be allowed to unilaterally fund AI research based on their personal vibes. But that isn’t at all how actual science works, and actual scientists aren’t unhappy about review panels. They work collaboratively, not siloed in some secret race to create the next AI chatbot. A 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined whether peer review panels succeed in helping agencies predict which research ideas will best advance science. Peer review was better at finding “diamond in the rough” applicants than a single government program official. How about that. Trump always wants a taste It’s painfully clear that what Katsios is trying to do here is turn the whole of government science research and funding into the sort of “move fast and break things” paradigm that is the hallmark of big tech. That method works to line the pockets of tech executives, but it isn’t science. There’s a reason the government funds different kinds of research than private tech companies do. What Katsios either fails to understand or deliberately ignores is that the federal government is the main funder of basic research precisely because it can take a long time for it to bear fruit and is not intended to be profitable as such. “Basic” here does not mean rudimentary or simple, but rather research that is designed to advance scientific knowledge instead of achieving a specific outcome or product. Big tech companies don’t widely fund that sort of research, because it doesn’t make them money. Industry dollars account for only about 20 percent of basic research funding, while the government contributes around 60 percent. Big tech companies and startups do, however, rely on and benefit from that basic research. A 2019 study found that 35 percent of all patents obtained by venture-backed startups from 1976 to 2016 cited federally supported research. Basic research funded by the NIH contributed to every single drug the FDA approved from 2010 to 2016. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) [ The Saudi nuclear farce and governance by whim and meme ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Noah Berlatsky · Jul 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Unlike inventing the next ChatGPT, actual science is slow and iterative. Government funding of research that, on its face, would not appear to lead to any big new invention is actually what underpins those big new inventions. If the government hadn’t funded research into desert lizard venom, we wouldn’t know about semaglutide, and we wouldn’t have Ozempic. If research scientists hadn’t studied how bees optimize nectar foraging within a colony, we wouldn’t have the algorithm that assigns internet traffic across computer servers. The report assiduously ignores that a symbiotic, profitable relationship between the federal government, universities, and private companies already exists. Each federal research dollar generates about $1.50 to $3.00 in long-term economic benefits. The $36 billion the government awarded in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2025 generated $94 billion in new economic activity. Trump’s proposed new golden age is intended to strip those billions from universities, resulting in the dismantling of departments and the shuttering of labs. But Katsios has a plan for that: Universities should just become trade schools to churn out no-show STEM degrees! “Require universities and community colleges to embed practical technical training and externships into STEM curricula. Let hands-on experience and industry credentials count toward degrees.” It’s quite the feat to, on the one hand, strip schools of funding for scientific research while simultaneously demanding to control what is taught and, oh, also, colleges need to give degrees to employees at big tech companies just for being employees at big tech companies. The new golden age would also exacerbate the brain drain Trump’s policies have already caused. Nature found that in the first quarter of 2025, US scientists submitted 32 percent more job applications abroad than in 2024. A March 2025 poll by Nature of roughly 1,600 scientists found that over 1,200 said they were considering leaving the country. Europe is investing $565 million to make it a “magnet for researchers” and provide funding for scientists who relocate. The new golden age is also about embedding Trump’s xenophobia into the fabric of American science. The report complains of an “over-reliance on foreign students” that “creates a security challenge our institutions are ill-equipped to address” and that a “reliance on foreign talent sidelines American students.” This is, to put it mildly, nonsense. International students pay far higher tuition and often receive no financial aid. Their tuition dollars are what make it possible for American students to get financial aid. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, international students contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported over 378,000 jobs. Those 1.1 million international students accounted for only six percent of the total number of students in higher education that year, but were such an economic engine that for every three international students, one job was created or supported. It’s impossible not to wonder whether part of Trump’s loathing for universities and their leading role in scientific research is that there is no way for him to corrupt the process and make money off it in the same way he can by giving millions and billions to Silicon Valley types who, in turn, give him millions in cash. There’s no way for his children to invest in universities that the government then gives no-bid contracts to, fattening the family’s bottom line, which is pretty much the Trump sons’ current venture capital practice. Trump and Katsios’s view of science is narrow, cramped, and wrong. We’re not in a crisis, we’re not a failed state. We’ve been a science superpower for decades, and the only thing that threatens that is Donald Trump. Tech bros are already living high off the hog in this administration. They don’t need any more of our tax dollars. Hopefully this new golden age never comes to pass. Thanks for reading Public Notice. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share We’ll be back with more tomorrow. If you appreciate today’s PN, please do your part to keep us free by signing up for a paid subscription. 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 Thanks for reading, and for your support.

Jul 30 • 8:12 AM EDT • Science • publicnotice.co

Dodger notes: Shohei Ohtani, Edwin Diaz

T-minus four days until the trade deadline, and of course all of the conversation is revolving around who Tarik Skubal would be traded to, if he is, and will it be the Dodgers. The conversation has ramped up with Shohei Ohtani revealing that he is dealing with a biceps issue. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic […]

Jul 30 • 8:03 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The Vampire Squid Discovery That Science Had to Correct

For decades, the vampire squid stood alone as the last survivor of an ancient cephalopod order, until a strange specimen hauled from the deep South China Sea changed everything. Or so scientists thoug...

Jul 30 • 7:32 AM EDT • Science • yahoo.com

Christian Gonzalez holding off on signing a record Patriots offer

Christian Gonzalez may have an offer from the New England Patriots that would make him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL. But he's holding off on accepting it for now.

Jul 30 • 7:01 AM EDT • Sports • spectrumlocalnews.com

Zelda: Ocarina of Time Nintendo Switch 2 remake now has its ESRB rating

ESRB ratings generally aren’t significant, but we’ll make an exception here with the Nintendo Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Nintendo’s website for the game has now been updated. There isn’t much new as far as we can tell, but there is the inclusion of the ESRB rating – which is E10+. Back in the...

Jul 29 • 10:23 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com

US FTC suing Hims & Hers for sending user health info to Meta, Snap

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is suing Hims & Hers alleging the telehealth ​platform shared users' health data with ‌online advertisers despite promising privacy and engaged in deceptive billing and cancellation practices, an FTC spokesperson said.

Jul 29 • 12:34 PM EDT • Health • reuters.com

‘Fable’ May Be The Last Straw For Day One On Xbox Game Pass

Fable is Microsoft's biggest release in years, but will strain the concept of "day one on Xbox Game Pass," a strategy that is flagging in time.

Jul 29 • 11:59 AM EDT • Technology • forbes.com

Ohtani’s Lingering Knee, Bicep Issues for Dodgers Hinder Pitching Progress

The Los Angeles Dodgers have to navigate Shohei Ohtani's recurring knee and bicep issues for a postseason push.

Jul 29 • 10:53 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

US military says it intercepted Iranian ‘surprise attack’

Jul 28 • 9:22 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

How many losses are acceptable for Michigan Football in 2026?

How many losses are acceptable for Michigan football this season? Vote in this edition of SB Nation Reacts.

Jul 28 • 7:39 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Lab-Grown Meat: Separating the Science From the “Yuck”

Is lab-grown meat the sustainable future of food or an unsettling science experiment? Dive into the complex world of cultivated protein as this insightful article explores the “yuck” factor, steep economic hurdles, and structural shifting driving the cutting-edge future of farming.

Jul 28 • 7:36 PM EDT • Science • skeptic.com

Netflix’s 'A Toxic Love Story' Is So Wild, You’ll Think It’s Scripted

Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary unpacks a shocking California case filled with deception, betrayal, and twists that sound almost too wild to be true. Find out more here.

Jul 28 • 12:59 PM EDT • Entertainment • purewow.com

All-New Apple Home Hub Reportedly Launching as Soon as October

Apple plans to release an all-new smart home hub at some point between October and early next year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple Home Hub (Concept) Siri AI is expected to be a core feature of the hub, which is designed to be placed in rooms throughout your house, such as a kitchen, living room, or bedroom. The report said the device will be available in tabletop and wall-mounted versions, with Apple apparently believing that many customers will buy more than one.

Jul 28 • 12:31 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Akin, an Elite Global Law Firm

Akin investment management partner Emily Goodman has been named to the Crain's New York Business 40 Under 40 List, which honors the exceptional achievements of professionals who are shaping industries…

Jul 28 • 12:07 PM EDT • Business • akingump.com

Monroe Health Department to host back-to-school health fair

MONROE — The Monroe County Health Department will host its annual Back to School Health Fair on Saturday. The event will offer children ages 3 to 18 ...

Jul 28 • 11:58 AM EDT • Health • toledoblade.com

Did Griswold play politics on Marx complaint?

Victor Marx won the Republican gubernatorial nomination last month by fewer than 2,500 votes. Thirty-nine days earlier, Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s Elections Division found campaign finance complaints against Marx legally sufficient to pursue. Marx, it now alleges, accepted at least $78,000 above Colorado’s donation limits. But it didn’t investigate until weeks after he’d won. […]

Jul 28 • 6:57 AM EDT • Politics • denvergazette.com

Splatoon Raiders' User Scores Are Off To A Splashing Start On Metacritic

Nintendo's fresh take receives a glowing reception

Jul 28 • 2:30 AM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com

Bleecker Street’s Crosswalk and LD Entertainment’s HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL Surpasses HAMILTON as the Number One Opening Weekend for Live Theater Capture of All Time

Bleecker Street’s event cinema division Crosswalk and collaborator LD Entertainment have announced that the live theater capture of Tony Award-winning hit musical Hadestown, titled Hadestown: The Musical, has officially nabbed the number one grossing opening weekend for a live theater capture at the North American box office, surpassing Hamilton. Hadestown: The Musical grossed $10.2M in […]

Jul 27 • 6:23 PM EDT • Entertainment • boxofficepro.com

PSA: Your Claude shared chats and Artifacts may have ended up on Google

An untold number of Claude chats and Artifacts — the interactive mini apps and documents users can build inside Claude — were found publicly searchable on

Jul 27 • 4:19 PM EDT • Technology • techcrunch.com

Amendment 68: New Opportunity: D.8 Habitable Worlds Observatory Precursor Science Investigations

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is a large-aperture ultraviolet/visible/near-infrared observatory concept recommended by the National Academies of

Jul 27 • 2:48 PM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov

RWJBarnabas Health Programs, Clinician Honored by New Jersey Hospital Association

The New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) recognized two exceptional programs and one outstanding individual from the RWJBarnabas Health system at the 2026 Best at the Beach Awards, held last night at Ocean Place Resort & Spa in Long Branch. This annual awards program celebrates organizations that share NJHA’s commitment to improving the health of New Jersey.

Jul 27 • 12:35 PM EDT • Health • rwjbh.org

Texas investigates major tampon, cosmetics manufacturers for alleged deceptive health claims

The Texas Attorney General's office has launched sweeping, industry-wide investigations into major manufacturers of feminine care and cosmetic products over concerns that companies may be misleading consumers about the presence of toxic chemicals and heavy metals.

Jul 27 • 11:56 AM EDT • Health • fox4news.com

Texas investigates major tampon, cosmetics manufacturers for alleged deceptive health claims

The Texas Attorney General's office has launched sweeping, industry-wide investigations into major manufacturers of feminine care and cosmetic products over concerns that companies may be misleading consumers about the presence of toxic chemicals and heavy metals.

Jul 27 • 11:56 AM EDT • Health • fox7austin.com

Yankees Reportedly Willing to Trade Anyone Except One Player

The New York Yankees have made just one player untouchable heading into the MLB trade deadline.

Jul 27 • 9:26 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Carly Simon Reveals Parkinson’s Diagnosis

“I have learned to accept that every day will look a little different. But I am still very much here,” the singer said in a statement to NBC News.

Jul 27 • 9:10 AM EDT • Health • today.com

EXCLUSIVE: A New Ambitious FAR CRY Game Enters Development at Ubisoft

A new game in the FAR CRY universe has passed its conception stage at Ubisoft and has entered development at Vantage Studios.

Jul 27 • 6:54 AM EDT • Technology • insider-gaming.com

Will you power down your PS5 for a week in protest of Sony's all-digital future? A new petition encourages you to pull the plug on PlayStation

Players will not accept the all-digital future posited by PlayStation as a new petition aims to show the company strength in consumer unity.

Jul 27 • 5:26 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net

Town Square looks to bring new health care model to Rochester

The primary care practice catering to seniors expects to begin accepting patients this month, and to open in September.

Jul 27 • 5:05 AM EDT • Health • wxxinews.org

AI mental health chatbots feel empathetic, but safety evidence still lags

Immune dysregulation may contribute to depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anxiety through chronic inflammation, altered neuroimmune signaling, genetic susceptibility, and stress-related epigenetic changes. Evidence also suggests that biologically defined patient subgroups may benefit from more precise, immune-informed approaches to diagnosis and treatment.

Jul 27 • 12:36 AM EDT • Health • news-medical.net

An Admiral’s Rise Reveals the Politics Driving Hegseth’s Pentagon

Adm. Daryl Caudle path to the top Navy job is a case study in how the military promotion process at the Pentagon under Hegseth has deviated from tradition, leaving it susceptible in the view of critics to politicization and favoritism.

Jul 26 • 9:48 PM EDT • Politics • seattletimes.com

Business briefs: Braun honors five Hoosiers at Black Expo

Gov. Mike Braun recently recognized five Hoosiers at the Governor’s Reception at the Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration.

Jul 26 • 3:00 PM EDT • Business • chicagotribune.com

Man arrested in connection to tractor theft and business burglary

The Office of the Sheriff for Rockbridge County and Lexington City has arrested a man and anticipates additional charges as the investigation continues.

Jul 26 • 12:18 PM EDT • Business • wdbj7.com

'Apple Upgrade' Program Launching on Tuesday

In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reiterated that a new "Apple Upgrade" program is set to launch in the U.S. on Tuesday, July 28. Apple will stop accepting iPhone Upgrade Program sign-ups on the same day, but he said customers who are already enrolled will be able to remain in the program "for the time being". Apple is partnering with buy-now, pay-later company Klarna on the program, he said.

Jul 26 • 11:20 AM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Politics is now a fight for your feed (Communication Concepts)

It’s the new battlefield of political communication. It’s not who has the better argument but who can grab attention first and hold it longest.

Jul 26 • 8:40 AM EDT • Politics • dailycamera.com

Politics is now a fight for your feed (Communication Concepts)

It’s the new battlefield of political communication. It’s not who has the better argument but who can grab attention first and hold it longest.

Jul 26 • 8:40 AM EDT • Politics • timescall.com

There are only a few anti-ageing supplements that actually work

When it comes to supplements to stave off the effects of ageing, columnist Graham Lawton admits he is a hardened sceptic. But he finds some evidence for a few that can improve biological age as we grow older

Jul 24 • 4:00 AM EDT • Health • newscientist.com

Lights, Camera, Confidence: Exploring the Representation of Cutaneous Conditions in the Entertainment Industry and Its Impact on Children's Self-esteem

By Richard Moraga, BS, and Peter A. Lio, MD Stigmatization Of Skin Conditions In The Entertainment Industry Representation And Societal Impact of Specific Skin Conditions Missed Opportunities Longitudinal Psychological and Social Effects of Entertainment Influence Changing Perceptions of Skin in Recent Years The Role of Dermatology Call to Action The way that physical appearance […]

Jul 23 • 7:06 PM EDT • Entertainment • thedermdigest.com

iPhone Ultra to account for 25% of foldable shipments in 2026

Counterpoint Research is out with a new report saying Apple expected to capture a 25% share following its entry into the foldable smartphone market.

Jul 23 • 3:49 PM EDT • Technology • 9to5mac.com

‘Unacceptable’: San Francisco Officials Question Kaiser’s Approach to AI in Mental Health

In a hearing, therapists decried Kaiser’s proposed contract terms during labor negotiations, which they argued would undermine mental health services. The largest health insurer for city employees said it remains focused on providing timely, high-quality mental health services.

Jul 22 • 7:20 PM EDT • Health • kqed.org

Why aren’t health insurers rushing to cover GLP-1 prescriptions for beneficial weight loss?

In theory, GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide should save a lot of money for the health insurers that pay for them. As it turns out, the lived reality is not keeping pace with the idealistic expectation.

Jul 22 • 5:44 PM EDT • Health • healthexec.com

Applications open: Fall 2026 Heart Health Program

Wake Forest’s Healthy Exercise and Lifestyle ProgramS (HELPS) is now accepting applications for the Fall 2026 Heart Health Program (HHP). This free, 12-week program is designed for full-time, permanent Wake Forest University employees who want to adopt a heart-healthy lifestyle but aren’t sure where to [...]

Jul 22 • 5:21 PM EDT • Health • inside.wfu.edu

Former finance exec at Related Cos. takes over as CFO at SJC Ventures

One of the leaders at billionaire developer Stephen Ross' South Florida firm has accepted a role in Atlanta.

Jul 22 • 5:10 PM EDT • Business • bizjournals.com

Cardiologist named chief medical officer of wearable tech company Whoop

Ami B. Bhatt, MD, a veteran cardiologist and digital health specialist, stepped down as the American College of Cardiology's chief innovation officer to accept this new role.

Jul 22 • 5:02 PM EDT • Business • cardiovascularbusiness.com

Well-known cardiologist named chief medical officer of wearable tech company Whoop

Ami B. Bhatt, MD, a veteran cardiologist and digital health specialist, stepped down as the American College of Cardiology's chief innovation officer to accept this new role.

Jul 22 • 4:22 PM EDT • Business • cardiovascularbusiness.com

Erlanger Health System signs letter of intent to join Prisma Health

Erlanger Health System plans to join Prisma Health, creating a 27-hospital system in exchange for a $2 billion strategic capital commitment toward care in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area. | The tentative deal includes a $2 billion strategic capital commitment from Prisma, and would yield a 27-hospital, $9 billion operating revenue nonprofit in the southeast.

Jul 22 • 1:00 PM EDT • Health • fiercehealthcare.com

Is Accel Entertainment (ACEL) a Solid Growth Stock? 3 Reasons to Think "Yes"

Accel Entertainment (ACEL) could produce exceptional returns because of its solid growth attributes.

Jul 22 • 12:45 PM EDT • Entertainment • finance.yahoo.com

New Science Fiction About Truth and Lies in an Age of War

Three recent novels explore the use of deception by both invaders and the invaded.

Jul 22 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • nytimes.com

New program aims to help Flint entrepreneurs test business ideas

Flint entrepreneurs can get free, expert feedback on their business ideas at a new Aug. 6 validation event, aimed at helping move concepts toward real, register...

Jul 21 • 6:00 PM EDT • Business • flintbeat.com

Your Startup Might Be a Parasite. Here Are the 4 Warning Signs

Humans generally abhor parasites, but we make exceptions for businesses.

Jul 21 • 4:34 PM EDT • Business • inc.com

Cardinal Health to buy Strive Medical, AdaptHealth's diabetes health business for $360M

Cardinal Health is pursuing two tuck-in acquisitions to expand its home care business. | The pharmaceuticals and specialty products distributor plans to buy AdaptHealth's diabetes health business unit and medical supply provider Strive Medical in separate deals worth $360 million.

Jul 21 • 4:30 PM EDT • Business • fiercehealthcare.com

Same old Cowboys offseason with one giant exception

What do you think is the biggest individual difference about this Cowboys offseason?

Jul 21 • 4:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

There’s a right way to regulate drugs. Kratom is no exception.

Kratom, social media use in teens, New York's data center moratorium and more, in readers' eyes.

Jul 21 • 3:21 PM EDT • Science • washingtonpost.com

UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility receives $7.7M from NIEHS - UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

July 21, 2026 The Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS) has received a 5-year, $7.7M award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This grant supports research and community engagement to improve environmental health and well-being for people in North Carolina and across the nation.

Jul 21 • 2:16 PM EDT • Health • sph.unc.edu

Sports and politics: No longer strange bedfellows

Sports has always billed itself as above petty indifferences, something that brings people together on the sanctity of the playing field. FIFA, the guardian of the soccer World Cup pledges to ensure accessibility to everyone, promising that each athlete will receive a reception that is “safe, welc...

Jul 21 • 12:53 PM EDT • Politics • peoplesworld.org

Apple Reportedly Planning to Wind Down 'iPhone Upgrade Program'

After launching a new "Apple Upgrade" program next week, Apple plans to stop accepting new iPhone Upgrade Program sign-ups, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. It remains to be seen if existing iPhone Upgrade Program members will be able to remain enrolled in the program beyond their current terms, or if they will be migrated to the Apple Upgrade program at some point.

Jul 21 • 12:26 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Xbox Game Pass was a good idea in theory, former Forza Horizon 5 director says, but "the reality is not enough people have subscribed"

One of the lead creatives behind Forza Horizon 5, who departed developer Playground Games, still believes Xbox Game Pass was a solid concept.

Jul 21 • 9:59 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net

A look at changes the SEC and Big Ten would like to see in college sports legislation

Federal legislation that could reframe the way college sports operates in the United States has the backing of many key players, except for possibly the two most important: The Southeastern and Big Ten conferences.

Jul 21 • 8:51 AM EDT • Sports • aldailynews.com