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Fla Dem Sen-nominee Angie Nixon backed abolishing Electoral College, ranked-choice voting in resurfaced clips
Resurfaced clips show Angie Nixon backing abolishing the electoral college, ranked-choice voting, and same-day registration in her Florida Senate bid.
The Business of Broadway: Star-driven shows increase prices, demand this fall
If you want to stay ahead of the Broadway market, and get some good choices and availability, act in the next week or so.
IBM Study: Sports Fans Want Streamlined Digital Experiences as Platform Choices Expand
/PRNewswire/ -- New research commissioned by IBM (NYSE: IBM) reveals the digital expectations of surveyed sports fans are rising as they navigate more...
Data centers spark bipartisan political battle in midterm races
NetChoice director of policy Patrick Hedger discusses the growing bipartisan pushback against data center expansions in key midterm races on 'Fox Report.'
Data centers spark bipartisan political battle in midterm races
NetChoice director of policy Patrick Hedger discusses the growing bipartisan pushback against data center expansions in key midterm races on 'Fox Report.'
6 Major Questions the Panthers Must Answer Before Cut Day
The Panthers have to cut 40 players by next Sunday, and there will be some tough choices to make.
Tim Scott calls support for Darline Graham an ‘easy choice’ despite her debate flub
In an interview with “Meet the Press,” Scott defended Graham after her recent debate blunder raised questions about her qualifications.
Alaska Republicans scramble to educate voters on suspected Dem plant as 'ballot fatigue' threatens race
Dan Sullivan faces voter confusion from a candidate look-alike sharing his name as Alaska's ranked choice voting system adds complexity to the Senate race.
Is Melco Resorts & Entertainment (MLCO) A Bargain Following Mixed Q2 Earnings?
Melco Resorts & Entertainment (MLCO) has just reported its second quarter and first half 2026 results, with lower revenue than a year ago but higher net income and earnings per share, drawing renewed attention to the stock. See our latest analysis for Melco Resorts & Entertainment. At a share price of US$5.49, Melco Resorts & Entertainment has seen short term share price support, with a 1 day move of 2.62%. However, the year to date share price return is down 26.9% and the 1 year total...
Six Flags Entertainment (FUN) Unveils Big Halloween Push As Fair Value Debate Heats Up
Six Flags Entertainment (FUN) has put its Halloween plans at center stage, unveiling its largest ever lineup of horror attractions and licensed franchises across North America for the 2026 season. See our latest analysis for Six Flags Entertainment. The Halloween announcement arrives after a mixed stretch for Six Flags Entertainment, with the share price at US$16.73 and an 8.01% year to date share price return, but a 35.78% decline in 1 year total shareholder return. This pattern suggests...
WEBTOON Entertainment (WBTN) Faces A Valuation Test After Weak Results And Modest Outlook
WEBTOON Entertainment (WBTN) shares are reacting after the company reported second quarter 2026 results, which showed lower sales and a wider net loss, along with third quarter guidance that points to modest constant currency revenue growth. See our latest analysis for WEBTOON Entertainment. WEBTOON Entertainment’s recent update comes after a weak run for holders, with the share price down 33.38% year to date and the 1 year total shareholder return declining 42.03%. However, the 1 day and 7...
Community Invited to Forest Health and Wildfire Risk Town Hall on Aug. 27
Nevada County community members are invited to attend the “Hard Choices in the Woods: Forests, Fire and Herbicide” Town Hall on forest health and vegetation management tools used to reduce
5 Android phones you should buy instead of the Pixel 11 Pro XL
The Pixel 11 Pro XL is Google's latest flagship, but a price hike makes it an awkward choice with so many excellent alternatives.
AMC Entertainment (AMC) Is Down 6.1% After Proposing Major Board and Shareholder Rights Changes
In August 2026, AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. announced that shareholders had been asked to approve amendments to its Certificate of Incorporation to declassify the board, shorten existing director terms to the next annual meeting, and remove limits on board size. The company also proposed expanding shareholder rights by allowing action by written consent and removing restrictions on investors’ ability to call special meetings, marking a meaningful shift in AMC’s governance...
Bills Taunt Browns QB Shedeur Sanders With 2-Word Insult
The Buffalo Bills had some choice words for Browns QB Shedeur Sanders. The post Bills Taunt Browns QB Shedeur Sanders With 2-Word Insult appeared first on HEAVY.
Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) Stock Climbed, What Is Driving Attention Now?
Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) reported its second quarter 2026 results, with revenue supported by newly consolidated audio platform Ximalaya. Management also highlighted live entertainment, merchandise, and artist partnerships as growth areas. See our latest analysis for Tencent Music Entertainment Group. The Q2 2026 earnings release, the completion of a US$400 million share repurchase covering 2.82% of shares, and Tencent Music Entertainment Group's recent music IP summit come...
Is PENN Entertainment (PENN) A Bargain Following Its $195 Million New Orleans Casino Move?
PENN Entertainment (PENN) has announced plans to invest about US$195 million to shift its Boomtown Casino & Hotel New Orleans operations to a new landside site and rebrand the venue as Hollywood Casino New Orleans. See our latest analysis for PENN Entertainment. The New Orleans project comes after a busy period for PENN Entertainment, with the stock showing an 11.14% 90 day share price return and a 24.98% year to date share price return, although the 1 year total shareholder return is...
Why Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) Is Down 6.2% After Profit Turnaround, Lower Guidance And CEO Change
Flutter Entertainment plc recently reported past second-quarter 2026 results showing higher sales of US$4.33 billion but a shift to a net loss of US$274 million, alongside lower full-year 2026 revenue guidance and confirmation of a CEO transition to Dan Taylor from October 1, 2026. The combination of rising sales, a move into losses, trimmed revenue expectations, and boardroom change presents a complex picture of operational progress alongside profitability and leadership uncertainty for...
Higher costs, fewer choices: Another health insurance provider pulls out of Deschutes County
Moda Health will pull out of the Deschutes County individual health insurance marketplace in 2027, leaving residents with just two providers to choose from in 2027. The hundreds of Deschutes […]
5 smartwatches you should buy instead of the Google Pixel Watch 5
The Pixel Watch 5 is Google's latest smartwatch, but it might not be the best choice for everyone. Here are five alternatives worth a look.
‘Jealousy Runs So Deep Through Your Blood’
Khabib Nurmagomedov is not the top pick for greatest of all time (GOAT), but it’s not a rare choice either. Though “The Eagle” didn’t have a title reign as long as Georges St. Pierre or Demetrious Johnson, retiring undefeated at 29-0 counts for something. More to the point, nobody saw Khabib bleed in his entire […]
Scion of Democratic Politics Makes Runoff for Alaska Governor
Tom Begich, a former Democratic legislator and singer-songwriter, will be one of four candidates on the ranked-choice ballot for governor in November.
What Florida Has Taught Our Reporter About National Politics
Voters may select an “R” or a “D” next to a candidate’s name, but their political views are often more nuanced than a binary choice represents.
The 6 Grains Nutrition Experts Recommend for Better Gut Health
Grains can be an excellent choice for digestive health because many are rich in fiber and other nutrients that support the gut.
Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) Swings To Loss And Cuts Outlook, Is It Still Below Fair Value?
Flutter Entertainment (NYSE:FLUT) is under closer scrutiny after its latest earnings release showed a move from profit to loss, accompanied by lower 2026 revenue guidance and a planned CEO change later in the year. See our latest analysis for Flutter Entertainment. Flutter Entertainment's recent earnings miss, lower 2026 revenue guidance and move to a sole New York listing have coincided with a 1 day share price return of 3.14% and a 7 day share price return of 7.57%. However, the year to...
AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) Proposes Governance Changes, Is The Rebound Already Priced In?
Governance changes put AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) in focus AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) has put corporate governance firmly on the agenda, asking shareholders to vote on declassifying its board, expanding stockholder rights, and loosening limits on director numbers at the September 24, 2026 annual meeting. See our latest analysis for AMC Entertainment Holdings. The governance proposals arrive after a sharp rebound in AMC Entertainment Holdings’ share price, with a 30 day share price...
Two visions of America are emerging as midterms draw near. Voters must decide which one is real
Two rallies, nearly 1,000 miles and two days apart, laid out the increasingly stark choice confronting midterm election voters and a looming moment of reckoning over the nation’s future course.
I think the real choice comes down to iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone Ultra this year
High prices aren't weighing on iPhone buyers.
8 Foldable Finds From Home Depot That Are Great For Camping Trips
Small and lightweight gear is essential when camping, which makes these folding tools and gadgets a great choice.
Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited Just Missed Earnings - But Analysts Have Updated Their Models
It's shaping up to be a tough period for Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited ( NASDAQ:MLCO ), which a week ago...
Rethinking drinking: UNM professor's book examines the science of alcohol use
For nearly 10 years, UNM psychologist William R. Miller has studied how people cut down their alcohol use. Now, he and longtime collaborator Ricardo F. Muñoz are revisiting that research in their new book, Rethinking Drinking: Making the Right Choice for You, set for release Sept. 1.
Matos spoiled for choice as Idah delivers
Adam Idah needed only seconds after coming on at Stoke to strike the blow which gave Swansea City the ideal start to the new Championship campaign. With Zan Vipotnik nursing a calf injury, Idah was Swansea's first choice up front during the majority of pre-season, and started the EFL Cup defeat to Birmingham City last weekend. Vipotnik started at the bet365 Stadium but, in truth, had little impact on the game, even if his attempt to head goalwards turned into an assist for Joseph Opoku's first-half equaliser.
Earnings Release: Here's Why Analysts Cut Their Dolphin Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLPN) Price Target To US$3.00
It's been a good week for Dolphin Entertainment, Inc. ( NASDAQ:DLPN ) shareholders, because the company has just...
AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) Puts Board Declassification And Shareholder Rights To A Vote
AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC) outlines proposed corporate governance changes ahead of its upcoming annual shareholder meeting. The company seeks to declassify its board of directors so all directors stand for election more frequently. Proposals include expanded shareholder rights to act by written consent and to call special meetings. Investors are weighing how the reforms could affect board accountability and shareholder influence at AMC. For readers watching AMC and looking for...
Melco Resorts And Entertainment (MLCO) Stock Shrugs Off Margin Pressure##
Melco Resorts & Entertainment stock barely flinched after earnings, edging about 2% higher to around US$5.60. The market reaction looked calm for a casino operator that just reported a sharp squeeze in quarterly profitability. Net income fell to US$22.7m in Q2 on US$1.25b of revenue, with basic earnings per share slipping to US$0.06. The near term snapshot looks soft. The bigger question is whether investors focus on this margin pressure or on a business that, over the past year, has reported...
Six Flags Entertainment (FUN) Following Wider Losses Is The Fair Value Case Still Intact
Six Flags Entertainment (FUN) has drawn fresh attention after reporting second quarter 2026 results that showed lower revenue and larger net losses compared with the same period a year earlier. See our latest analysis for Six Flags Entertainment. Following the results, Six Flags Entertainment’s share price has moved to $16.68, with a 1-day share price return of 1.46% and a 7-day share price return of 5.90%. However, the 90-day share price return is down 21.76% and the 1-year total shareholder...
Super PACs try to game Alaska’s open primary for U.S. Senate by elevating political unknowns
Groups have spent $2 million to promote fringe or perennial candidates. It’s a false-flag strategy to help the major candidates but ranked choice voting blunts its impact.
Make policy based on science, not on RFK Jr. ’s lifestyle choices
Kennedy is neither a doctor nor a medical researcher, and his personal practices should not guide federal policies.
Community Invited to Participate in the Forest Health and Wildfire Risk Survey
Nevada County community members are invited to attend the “Hard Choices in the Woods: Forests, Fire and Herbicide” informational Town Hall on forest health and vegetation management tools
The mindblowing invertebrates you have never heard of
Each year the Guardian runs a competition to find the invertebrate of the year. To find out more about the 2026 nominees science editor Ian Sample hears from climate reporter Petra Stock, environment reporter Oliver Milman and Science Weekly co-host Madeleine Finlay. They each nominate an incredible invertebrate that you might never have heard of, and argue why their choice should come top. Vote for your favourite now and the winner will be unveiled on 17 August
AI needs science’s search history
“Actually, that’s where the gold is,” said Alasdair Russell, my graduate school friend who leads a pre-clinical genome editing group at Cambridge. He was talking about the winding road of science that is omitted from published papers. “When you’re discussing how to do the experiment, and why this way is better than another way, and what does the data really mean? I know what it shows, but what does it mean?” At RAAIS 2026, he described how his group has begun logging the twisting path of discovery as it happens, recording the verbal and written exchanges that normally disappear. Ideas become nodes in a living graph: they branch when a meeting produces two plausible experiments, merge when separate lines of evidence converge, and go dark when someone quietly stops pursuing them. In his implementation, one agent scores novelty, while another tries to learn “how scientists think and how they navigate through a complex world of data,” so that high-potential nodes can trigger deeper investigation. As frontier AI labs deploy agents toward scientific discovery, giving AI authentic scientific taste remains a trillion-dollar dilemma. The bottleneck is that the record we have kept for centuries of science might be insufficient to get us there. The experiments that never make the paper Peter Medawar, 1960 Nobel laureate and “father of transplantation,” asked in 1963 whether the scientific paper was a fraud, and answered yes: the form of the paper misrepresents the thinking that produced it. Sixty years on, the diagnosis is unchanged. A paper presents a clean progression from hypothesis to result to conclusion. Lost along the way are the unconventional theories, the abandoned or unaffordable methods, and the underwhelming and inconclusive data. It reads like a browser history with every dead end deleted: the ten open tabs, the four rephrased queries, the wrong turn down a subforum. All scrubbed, leaving one clean path from question to answer as the canonical path. What has changed since then is that the discarded material is now worth something. No high-impact journal wants these artifacts, but raw trial and error is the most likely source of the training data required to develop scientific intuition, or what researchers call taste. Earlier attempts to capture the discards were motivated by scientific integrity. The Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine launched in 2002 to publish rigorous studies that disputed established models or exposed ineffective treatments. Its archive preserved negative conclusions after they had become papers, rather than the live alternatives and arguments that produced them. BioMed Central closed it in 2017, saying the mission had been served now that other journals publish null results. A less generous reading is that in fifteen years it published around 200 papers because almost nobody wants to read a negative result, let alone write one up when it will not count toward academic tenure. AI models are different. Even an uninteresting negative result can be useful, provided it is labeled. Earlier this year, Anthropic put a version of this to the test. The company pulled 129 decision points from real Claude Code sessions between January and March 2026, showed models the work up to a human detour, and asked what should happen next. Claude Mythos Preview beat the human choice 64% of the time, while Opus 4.5 managed 51%. The comparison was tilted toward the models because Anthropic deliberately chose moments where the human decision had room for improvement. On 127 further scenarios where the human action was already strong, the models improved on it only about 20% of the time. The study was possible because Anthropic’s researchers work inside a tool that logs by default. The reasoning, detours and outcome are produced in the same working environment. Biology has no equivalent. Its reasoning happens in hallways, at benches, in Slack threads and on whiteboards, while the outcome arrives weeks later somewhere else. The record has to emerge from the work itself. Ask scientists to reconstruct it afterwards and we’ll create another polished account. Subscribe A log is not a label Before any of this becomes training data, a negative result has to say what failed. The first paper published in the Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine examined 234 negative studies across five leading medical journals. Only 30% discussed statistical power, and half clearly defined a primary outcome. Tell a model an experiment failed, without telling it whether the assay was underpowered, a reagent had degraded, or the hypothesis was simply wrong, and it will learn noise with confidence. Decision histories have a second missing label too. When a lab considers five experiments and runs one, only the chosen branch returns an outcome. The other four are experimental counterfactuals. Researchers call this the selective labels problem: the data reveal results only for the actions someone chose to take. Such a record can teach a model to imitate a lab’s taste, but it cannot establish that the taste was good. It also smuggles local constraints into general lessons. A lab that never ran cryo-EM because it did not own a microscope teaches a model that cryo-EM is rarely the right call. Alasdair’s nodes preserve the candidate set, which is the necessary first step. To be useful, each decision record needs six fields: The evidence available at that moment, and nothing that arrived later. The candidates considered, including the ones dismissed in a sentence. For each candidate: the expected result, the confidence attached to it, and the cost in time and money. The route chosen, and the reason. What happened next. How the evidence changed the scientist’s view. These must be timestamped before the outcome, because hindsight turns uncertainty into inevitability. Disagreement also has to survive. Averaging three scientists into one clean rationale reproduces exactly the information loss we are trying to fix. But there is an obvious failure mode here. Once decisions are logged and scored, people log for the record post-facto. Anyone who has watched an electronic lab notebook fill up with retrospective tidying knows how quickly a research tool becomes a compliance exercise. A record that costs a scientist ten minutes of honest reflection per decision is worth far more than one that costs an hour of performance. A publication initiative called Registered Reports offers a useful starting point. Here, researchers submit their rationale, methods and analysis plan for peer review before the data exist, and the journal commits in principle to publish if they follow the approved plan. Nature has now expanded the format across every field it covers. This approach to paper writing timestamps intent before the outcome, but it freezes one plan. A useful search history must also preserve how the plan changed, which alternatives were rejected, when, and on what evidence. Subscribe Run the runner-up Autonomous labs show what happens when decisions and outcomes are connected in a loop. Liverpool’s mobile robotic chemist ran 688 experiments over eight days in a ten-variable formulation space. A batched Bayesian search used each result to choose the next experiments and found photocatalyst mixtures six times more active than the starting formulations. Every completed experiment changed what the system did next. The robot optimized within a goal and search space that humans had already chosen. It did not decide which scientific question mattered. So what this work demonstrates is narrower, but still useful: a search history pays off when the options return standardized outcomes quickly. Open-ended biology is harder because branches can take weeks and the discarded alternatives may never be run. Some exploration therefore has to be bought. Where two branches are plausible and the stakes justify the cost, a lab should sometimes run the runner-up. Otherwise the record captures what today’s scientists usually chose and stays silent on what they systematically overlooked. A funder could ring-fence a small fraction of a grant for the branch not taken, provided that the decision record and the outcome are both deposited. That costs money, but so does having every lab rediscover the same abandoned path. Test whether taste transfers When it comes time to evaluate if our new AI system exhibits taste, the comparison should run across laboratories and fields. At selected decision points in a live research campaign, we should freeze the six fields: the evidence, the candidates, expected results, confidence, costs and the choice made. Experts then rank the options before the outcomes are known, and those outcomes are checked independently later. We could give models one of two diets - papers alone, or papers plus decision histories - and ask them to rank the next experiment on unfamiliar projects. Then, we score information gained per dollar and week, calibration, and how quickly weak branches are abandoned. If histories improve choices only inside the lab that produced them, they amount to useful organizational memory. If they improve choices on unfamiliar problems elsewhere, Alasdair’s group will have captured something science has never managed to write down: a transferable record of taste. Until that happens, a scientific search history is a promising record, not yet a training set.
Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) Could Be 8% Undervalued As Q2 Earnings Lift The Stock
Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) is back in focus after reporting second quarter 2026 results, with higher sales and net income than a year earlier. This has prompted fresh attention on the stock’s recent move. See our latest analysis for Live Nation Entertainment. At a share price of $185.33, Live Nation Entertainment has gained momentum recently, with a 27.54% year to date share price return and a 116.51% three year total shareholder return hinting at investors reassessing its prospects...
President of Starz Entertainment Jeffrey Hirsch Buys 6.4% More Shares
Investors who take an interest in Starz Entertainment Corp. ( NASDAQ:STRZ ) should definitely note that the President...
PENN Entertainment (PENN) Stock Looks Cheap On Sales While Online Risks Linger
PENN Entertainment has put long term shareholders through a rough ride, with the share price down about 71% over the past 5 years, yet the stock now screens as cheap on several valuation checks. Recent news around stronger physical casino performance and increased iGaming investment has refocused attention on whether the current price reflects the company’s mix of mature retail assets and a more competitive online business. The roughly 71% share price decline over 5 years leaves PENN...
A-List Editors’ Choice Awards 2026: Arts, Culture & Entertainment
SPECIALTY BOOK CLUB Shakespeare Festival Reads If you long for the welcoming embrace of high-school English class as an adult, the Shakespeare Festival Reads book club may be for you. This collab between Left Bank Books and St. Louis Shakespeare Festival guides readers through monthly picks from The Bard and titles that help expand your […]
Make policy based on science, not on RFK’s lifestyle choices
Kennedy is neither a doctor nor a medical researcher, and his personal practices should not guide federal policies.
Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup Final Decision Named Among NHL’s Worst
The Vegas Golden Knights came within two victories of another Stanley Cup championship last season.One decision from that run is drawing considerably less praise.Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz included former coach John Tortorella’s playoff choices on his list of the eight worst decisions from the 2025-26 NHL season, with his handling of the goaltending situation during […] The post Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup Final Decision Named Among NHL’s Worst appeared first on HEAVY.
Health insurers are dumping Medicare Advantage plans. Here’s how many seniors could be affected.
Older adults could be scrambling for new health coverage next year, especially in rural markets that have fewer insurance choices.
Is PENN Entertainment (PENN) A Bargain As Strong Q2 Earnings Lift Valuation Questions?
PENN Entertainment (PENN) drew fresh attention after reporting second quarter 2026 results that met Wall Street revenue expectations and delivered a significant earnings per share beat, with management highlighting strength in retail casinos and improving Interactive profitability. See our latest analysis for PENN Entertainment. Despite the strong Q2 result and recent shelf registration for an employee stock plan, PENN Entertainment’s share price is down 7.42% over the past month but up...
Connecticut Democrats weigh generational change as US. Rep. John Larson, 78, faces primary fight
Connecticut Democrats face a choice between U.S. Rep. John Larson and younger challengers for the 1st Congressional District
Saber's newest game trailer takes a shot at Gearbox's CEO, if you look closely
The first hint that something might be up with the recent debut trailer for Saber Interactive’s Rideshare Stimulator is an unusual choice of words—aside from that second one in the game’s title. “Don’t take your passengers too seriously,” the trailer’s narrator says, as he describes this upcoming game. It a car game about the gig work of driving eccentric people to their destinations, a riff on Crazy Taxi. And then, he says: “When I think I’ve met the randiest of passengers, someone even stranger gets in.” “Randiest”? That suggests “randy,” which usually means having strong sexual desire. Yet none of the oddball backseat occupants featured in the trailer seem particularly lustful. One is an old man who considers his grandson a failure, another shares the theory that birds might control traffic lights, another says he’s banned from an aquarium. A little later, there’s a license plate, shown 63 seconds into the trailer, on the front of an SUV: USB DRV It’s a Texas plate. The symbol between those letters is a cog wheel. If you know, you know. That’s a reference to Texas-based Borderlands game development studio Gearbox Software (their logo features a cog wheel). More specifically, it’s a reference to Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford, who in 2018 found himself explaining the nature of video he’d saved on a USB drive that was found at a Medieval Times restaurant before being returned to the studio: “It was ‘barely legal’ porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18.’” The “girl” in the video had committed a solo sex act that Pitchford, an avid practitioner of magic, found remarkable. “I realized, this is not a sex worker…This is a fucking magician.” Back then, the USB drive was central to competing lawsuits against Gearbox by the studio’s former lawyer and by Gearbox against him. A settlement in late 2019 “exonerated” Pitchford, per the Hollywood Reporter. The USB story has resurfaced at times, now in a trailer from a company that not long ago was corporate brethren with Gearbox. Saber vs. Gearbox The head of Saber told Game File that the reference is payback. “The dig is because Randy took shots at Embracer in Borderlands 4,” Saber CEO Matt Karch told me when I asked him about the license plate. “Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living.” Having interviewed Karch during a cross-country flight in late 2024, I can confirm that Karch was unimpressed with Pitchford during their time both working in the Embracer group. I’d approached him not out of surprise that there was animosity but that it was manifesting publicly now. Gearbox was founded in 1999, worked on a port of Halo early on, and developed hit series such as the loot-based sci-fi shooter Borderlands before it was purchased by The Embracer Group in early 2021 for $363 million (with a possible earn-out of over $1 billion, if certain targets were hit by 2027). Saber was founded in 2001, worked on a remaster of Halo early on, had a big hit with zombie shooter World War Z and was purchased by Embracer in early 2020 for $150 million, with a potential earn-out of up to $375 million. For a few years, the Embracer group was a voracious acquirer of game studios. Then, as investment dried up, it choked. In March 2024, Embracer sold Saber to an investment company controlled by Saber CEO Matt Karch, and it sold Gearbox in an all-stock deal to long-time Borderlands publisher Take Two Interactive. Other studios were shut down. Hundreds of developers were laid off. Gearbox didn’t say much about their Embracer experience, nothing too direct, at least. In the summer 2024, Pitchford told reporter and occasional Game File contributor Nicole Carpenter that Borderlands 4’s story was in some way thematically connected to Gearbox’s experience at Embracer: “There’s this cultural and emotional shift in me, personally, and at the studio. What does it mean to trade some autonomy for organization?” When Borderlands 4 came out, there was something stranger: the matter of “Embracer’s Bluff,” a location in the game featuring an AI-powered toilet and a large trash dump, according to a detailed Kotaku account of the place. Gearbox never commented on it; Take Two never got back to me about it when I asked them last year. By contrast, since Saber exited Embracer, Karch has been one of Embracer’s biggest defenders, casting their management as well-meaning and supportive despite the layoffs and studio closures that resulted from their excessive expansion. Like others, Saber’s Karch saw Embracer’s as a shot. With Rideshare Stimulator’s trailer, he’s returned fire. “It’s amazing to me how fast people forget those who went above and beyond for them,” Karch told Game File. A rep for Gearbox did not comment by press time. Game File is a reader-supported publication. Your backing makes my reporting—including any coverage of trailer-based beefs—possible. Good news! I’m currently running Game File’s first big sale of 2026. You can get a one-year subscription for 23% off. Click here to take advantage of the limited-time offer. And thank you for your support! Item 2: In brief… 🚫 Wal-Mart has laid off the staff of Restart, a games media outlet launched in 2024, Aftermath reports. 🟥 A GTA VI preview is on the way, at last, via an “extended look” that will premiere, unusually, on Netflix at 3pm ET on August 27, then officially go live elsewhere six hours later. Last week, Game File noted that Take Two label Rockstar Games is overdue for showing off GTA VI, based on the timing of the initial hands-off previews of GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. During a call with investors, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said pre-orders for GTA VI were “unprecedented and astonishing,” but added the company can’t predict how many of those pre-orders represent bonus sales vs. sales that otherwise would have been made at launch. During the same call, Zelnick was noticeably bullish on the future of playing games over streaming cloud connections (predicting wider adoption in three or so years). He sounded unbothered by Sony’s plans to stop making discs for new games (he said the business is 90% digital already and predicted that there could still be limited edition physical editions of games “in the same way there’s still vinyl in the recorded music business.”) 👀 Take Two wrote off $43 million in their spring quarter after deciding “not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline from a third-party developer.” 🤔 Some rare age-demographics from a big publisher: Capcom recently told investors that “users in their 20s account for approximately half of the users of both Pragamata and Resident Evil Requiem.” Item 3: The week ahead Tuesday, August 11 Game releases: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Switch 2; already out for PC, PS5, Xbox) continues the Bethesda strategy of putting Elder Scrolls games on everything; Royalty Free-For-All is a Smash Bros.-style fighting game featuring public domain characters such as Mother Goose brawling with Oliver Twist in a stage based on the original Little Shop of Horrors movie. Wednesday, August 12 Game release: Pro Jank Footy (PC, console) is an arcade-style Australian Rules Football game with increasingly ridiculous rules, the more you play (I enjoyed the Steam demo) Thursday, August 13 Game release: Super Mario Sunshine (Switch 2, originally released in 2002 on the GameCube) is released for Switch 2’s Nintendo Switch Online service. This game is the black sheep of 3D Mario games. It’s the successor to the breakthrough Super Mario 64 and the rare Mario game built around a single (vacation resort) theme. Mario’s got a water-spraying backpack, a Yoshi pal and a lot of blue coins to collect.
Beyond Flashpoints: Understanding the Politics Behind Taiwan’s Strategic Choices
Written by Lucy Best. This article argues that issues of everyday governance, such as budgets, industrial development, and energy availability, that underpin Taiwan’s strategic success have b…
The Stages Of Grief In Repairing A Trinitron Found In The Trash
Sometimes you see a project just staring at you with proverbial puppy dog eyes and you just cannot look away. In the case of a once rather nice Sony TV it was the smooth 32″ Trinitron CRT tha…
What your favourite music can reveal about your intelligence
It turns out that your choice of tunes really can give clues about your mind
Is Accel Entertainment (ACEL) A Bargain As Earnings Growth Lifts Valuation Hopes?
Accel Entertainment (ACEL) is attracting fresh attention after its 4 August 2026 earnings update, which showed higher sales, revenue and net income for both the quarter and first half compared with the prior year. See our latest analysis for Accel Entertainment. At a share price of $12.16, Accel Entertainment has posted a 6.95% year to date share price return and a 10.34% 1 year total shareholder return, which suggests moderate positive momentum heading into the latest earnings and capital...
A restaurant made for and by its customers
The menu also offers hot dogs, an assortment of French fries including sweet potato along with classic wraps featuring. You’ll also find offerings of salads, sandwiches and soups on the menu and plenty of beer choices. Indoor and outdoor s…
Steelers rookie Riley Nowakowski ‘trying to earn trust’ in expected special teams role
Riley Nowakowski has heard this one before. Number 37? Was that your choice? Is there a special meaning? Yes, the Steelers rookie fullback knows it’s...
Can Science Applications International (SAIC) Justify Its Valuation After New Defense Contract Wins?
Science Applications International (SAIC) recently announced a $400 million recompete contract with a U.S. Intelligence Agency, along with a $70 million U.S. Navy radar task order. These deals underscore fresh contract momentum in government and defense work. See our latest analysis for Science Applications International. These fresh contract wins come as Science Applications International shares trade at US$126.54, with a 90-day share price return of 36.58% and a 5-year total shareholder...
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Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) On Guidance Cuts And Losses Still Looks Undervalued
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AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) Rallies While Fair Value Narratives Stay Cautious
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PENN Entertainment (PENN) Stock Profit Rebound Faces Lingering Digital Doubts
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Former Braves star’s wife hospitalized after health scare
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Senate confirms Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA and clears 73 other Trump nominees
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Take-Two Boss Explains Why GTA 6 Is $80 And NBA 2K27 Is $70
'Given the hype around this title, I think we could have made any number of other pricing choices,' said Strauss Zelnick
Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) Stock Faces Margin Squeeze Despite Steady Revenue
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Neil an important factor in Millwall move
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Nearly half of dementia cases may be linked to risks you can change
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Science|Business summer reads of 2026
As most people in the European research and innovation policy bubble are going on a well-deserved summer break, we have come up with a list of our favourite books, podcasts and essays from the past year that ask deeper questions about science, technology and politics.BooksPasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, by Donald StokesIf you haven’t read Pasteur’s Quadrant yet, now is the time. In the EU and elsewhere, we’re living through a period of dwindling faith that curiosity-driven research automatically leads to economic growth and technological progress. Pasteur’s Quadrant, published in 1997 by the Princeton academic Donald Stokes, is the most influential critique of the standard “linear model” of R&D: the idea that new discoveries made in ivory-tower labs get neatly passed on for commercialisation by start-ups. In reality, Stokes argues, practical applications often inspire more theorical lines of inquiry. Of course, we have long known that things are more complex than the linear model, but even today, it’s still often assumed in Brussels discourse. The book is a useful corrective, and is being used now to argue for new types of scientific institutions. David MatthewsThe Weaponization of Expertise: How Elites Fuel Populism, by Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis PattersonAre society’s problems solvable by technical expertise alone? “If only the benighted would listen,” say Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis Patterson, two professors at Rutgers Law School who got frustrated with how scientists and politicians handled public health communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the book, they argue that clichéd mantras about scientific evidence and expertise perpetrated by academics, journalists and politicians have harmed public trust in the very institutions they were trying to defend. Paradoxically, slogans such as “we believe in science,” “follow the science” and “defer to the experts” can fuel mistrust in science, experts and democratic institutions. The authors criticise “condescension” and “technocratic paternalism” in the public discourse and make the case for a more nuanced approach to scientific and expert policy advice that rests on humility, doubt, scepticism and open dialogue. “Most complex social questions in fact revolve around values, not the recitation of unambiguous facts,” they say. Florin ZubascuBreakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, by Dan WangIn this book, Dan Wang compares the structural differences between the US and Chinese industrial policies, but raises a very timely question for innovation policy wonks: how can advanced manufacturing know-how contribute to technology-intensive economic growth? Wang says technology has three components: the tools, the blueprints and patents, and the process knowledge. The third component represents the “proficiency gained from practical experience, which isn’t easily communicated and requires years of implementation.” According to Wang, rather than seeing tools and blueprints as the ultimate ends of technological progress, policymakers should see them as milestones in the training of better scientists and manufacturers. Over the past decades, China has amassed “process knowledge” because capital flowed to complex fabrication facilities, while investors in the West have parked their money in capital-light businesses such as digital platforms or chip companies that focus on design. As it turns out, thanks to its oversized focus on manufacturing, China has gained remarkable advantages in the global technology race. Florin ZubascuBaltic: The Future of Europe, by Oliver MoodyWhat can Europe learn from the nine countries surrounding the Baltic Sea? Alongside the familiar stories about Estonia's digital transformation, the book examines how the region has used technology, resilience, education, governance and long-term thinking to respond to geopolitical, economic and security challenges. Innovation policy wonks might find fresh perspectives on how innovation can strengthen defence, societal resilience and Europe's capacity to adapt in an uncertain world. Whether or not you agree with all of Oliver Moody's conclusions, the book is a useful guide to a region that is increasingly shaping European debates on security, competitiveness and technology. Goda NaujokaityteThe Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf This book chronicles the wild and adventurous life of natural science pioneer Alexander von Humboldt who at some point in the 19th century seems to have been just about the most famous person in the world. Through scientific expeditions to the Andes Mountains and to the depths of Siberia, von Humboldt contributed a host of discoveries and concepts. During his life he met and formed relationships with historical figures as different as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Simon Bolivar, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte and Charles Darwin. He is also claimed to be the person in the world with most things named after him, a list that includes an ocean current, a penguin and a region of the Moon. Still venerated in Germany, with numerous scientific institutions named after him, von Humboldt has slipped out of public consciousness in most of the rest of the world. For anyone not familiar with him, this book does a good job of describing his fascinating life. Ole EllekrogCareless People, by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsYou may have heard this referred to as the book Meta doesn’t want you to read. The 2025 memoir from Sarah Wynn-Williams, former director of global public policy at Meta, then just called Facebook, includes explosive claims about everything from a toxic workplace culture to how the company worked with advertisers to target vulnerable teens, and the lengths it was prepared to go to in order to break into China. It’s a fascinating insight into how and why the tech company gradually shifted its approach to policy, whether in the US, Europe or Asia. Meta has denied the allegations in the book, and last year won an emergency ruling to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting it. In response, the author is now suing her former employer. If that doesn’t make you want to read it. Martin GreenacrePodcastsThe Europeans: Europe’s anti-ElonThis podcast is a great choice for a light-hearted dose of European policy and culture news. Most of it has little to do with research, innovation and technology, but this particular podcast features an interview with Mastadon’s founder Eugen Rochko. He talks about his experience running an open-source, federated, European-made social media platform, and leaving it all behind. The conversation, which starts 14 minutes in, gently encourages us to reflect on what kind of technology we, as Europeans, want to make. Goda NaujokaityteSolarpunk and how we escape dystopiaNew technologies are very often taken from science fiction. Alberto Santos-Dumont, inventor the airship, was inspired as a child by the adventure stories of Jules Verne. OpenAI’s attempt to build a personal assistant with the voice of Scarlett Johansson was lifted from the 2013 film Her, completely ignoring the movie’s cautionary message. So if we want better tech, we need to imagine it first. Unfortunately, the state of current sci-fi is relentlessly dystopian, giving inventors precious few ideas or hope. However, a new genre, Solarpunk, which envisages a technologically advanced but ecologically harmonious future, is now taking off. The actual tech the genre imagines, such as permaculture, renewable energy or community repair workshops, while nice, isn’t all that inspiring or ambitious. But it’s a first step towards rescuing sci-fi from its pessimistic Blade Runner rut. David MatthewsEveryday AbundanceLaunched in June, Everyday Abundance is a podcast that tells the stories of the inventions we now take so for granted that we barely given them a second thought. For example, the washing machine, which liberated women from a lifetime “bent over washtubs and washboards.” Or modern dentistry, which ended the reality that “tooth pain was simply part of human life.” Historians of technology, Virginia Postrel and Charles C Mann are very much on the optimistic end of the spectrum when it comes to the capacity of invention to improve human life. Here, they set out their case: if it wasn’t for progress, you might be hunched over a washtub with toothache rather than reading these words. David Matthews‘We will not know what we lost’: Conservation fallout a year after USAID shutdownSince his return to the White House, Donald Trump has been on a mission to undermine science. He slashed jobs at federal agencies, terminated grants in some research areas, took unprecedented control over university affairs and, within hours of his inauguration, suspended the US Agency for International Development. While its initial focus was to administer health and food aid around the world, it had since expanded to conservation projects. The result? Some of these projects were stopped abruptly. In this Mongabay podcast, environmental reporter Michelle Nijhuis tells the story of the EcoGuard conservation programme in Liberia, whose local patrols had helped protect rainforests, monitor endangered wildlife and track illegal threats. From one day to the next, these were left without salaries. Luckily, she notes, the initiative was able to get emergency funding from international NGOs, but its future remains “incredibly uncertain.” Juliette PortalaEssaysThe Mars Delusion, by Henry WismayerWhy is humankind so fixated on establishing a colony on Mars? asks London-based writer Henry Wismayer. From space evangelists promoting Martian settlement as an insurance policy, to billionaire Jeff Bezos, who said humans should settle on Mars “because it’s cool,” the mission is not running short of advocates. However, in this essay, Wismayer reminds us that some critics expect any future Mars pioneer to end up “irradiated, sick, mad and dead.” Scientists have already looked into the possible effects of prolonged exposure to Martian gravity, and it’s not pretty: muscle shrinking, bones weakening, changes to the central nervous system and other biological modifications to make us all reconsider the journey. “Some researchers have forecast that the future settler, after generations of evolutionary conditioning, will look less like an Übermensch and more like ET,” Wismayer writes. Juliette Portala
Clopidogrel monotherapy bests aspirin when patients with diabetes undergo PCI
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Judge criticizes Trump's Justice Department as he says he has no choice but to dismiss Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case
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Isaiah Likely wants to show Giants made ‘right choice’ by signing him
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Marvel Rivals’ next update drastically reduces the game’s install size on PC and console
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In the Reflecting Pool fiasco, Trump’s ‘alternative facts’ again crash into reality
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Zoe Saldaña says Taylor Sheridan gives stars two choices: 'Make sure that you don't f--k up... or you quit'
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Senate Democrats Release Memo On Reforms To Make Health Insurance More Affordable
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Colorado’s No. 1 education ranking reflects the power of school choice
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One mistake Trump hasn’t made on Iran
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The Bull Case For Sphere Entertainment (SPHR) Could Change Following Mixed Q2 Results And Aggressive Expansion Plans
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Is PENN Entertainment (PENN) Undervalued Ahead Of June Quarter Earnings?
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Bonnets, Blackness & Respectability Politics
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Viewpoint: Grizzly science and keys to wildlife management
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Does public health *need* MAHA?
Last week, our friend Dr. Craig Spencer sparked an ongoing volatile discussion with his Atlantic article “Public Health Needs MAHA.” Some have come out in strong dissent, others are cheering, and others are simply lamenting that we find ourselves in such a divided world to begin with. We will dare to dip our toes in these controversial waters, too. Does public health need MAHA? We think in some ways yes, and in other ways, no. MAHA leaders versus the everyday MAHA supporter The vitriol in this debate mostly comes from one collapsed distinction: the leadership of MAHA is not necessarily the same as the people who support it. Say “MAHA” and most people picture RFK Jr. Fair enough, as he coined the term and holds most of the power. And, yes, some MAHA followers treat Kennedy as something close to a saint. But talk to the grassroots, and it’s not a monolith. They’re Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. People who distrust vaccines and vaccine supporters. It’s a wide, eclectic coalition. The data backs this too: 4 in 10 Americans support the movement—that’s a lot of people! But according to polls, vaccines and medical choice (the issues most tied to Kennedy personally) are cited by only 4% as their reason for supporting the movement. For many, the motivations are much broader. Many MAHA supporters are signing up for the idea that “something needs to change” with health in this country. They’re asking good-faith questions about corporate influence on our health systems, health care costs, nutrition, chemicals, and clean air and water. These are all questions that plenty of public health professionals recognize as legitimate and also care about very deeply. Blurring the lines between the leadership and grassroots does real damage in two important ways: It hands the 4 in 10 exactly the narrative already fed—that the health ecosystem doesn’t listen, doesn’t care, and paints every critic with the same brush. It gives the actual bad actor more power. RFK Jr. has done irreparable damage and can’t be trusted. What the MAHA movement gets right A healthy population is something the public health field was literally built on, and many of these topics are things we have dedicated our lives to. Yet the MAHA movement has captivated nearly half the country in a way the public health establishment has failed to achieve. So that means MAHA is doing something right. Some of it may be timing (after a Covid-19 pandemic and deep frustration and mistrust with institutions). The movement also does three other things really well: 1. It gives a new, louder voice to system failures. While MAHA is not a monolith, one theme stays consistent across their stories: the system failed them. For some, it was the system that flooded their communities with opioids and then walked away. For others, it was the system that let their business collapse during Covid with no safety net in sight. For others still, it was the system that failed to help them manage a complex chronic illness, bouncing them from physician to physician without any real answers. And in many ways, our health ecosystems are failing Americans. Why are medical bills so incomprehensible? Why do some kids get a healthy school lunch and others don’t? Why do an epidemiologist and a MD/PhD student have to start newsletters in the middle of the biggest public health emergency in a century, just so people can get straight information? Because the systems failed. This deep-seated frustration driving many Americans to search for solutions elsewhere needs to be recognized. 2. MAHA has brilliant comms central to their efforts. MAHA figured out something most health institutions still have not: the information landscape changed. It’s participatory now, not top-down; influence runs through many nodes in a community, not one institution; and storytelling and telling audiences “what you really think” moves people more than data dumps do. MAHA goes where audiences are listening, using podcasts, social media, and memes in ways most health institutions would scoff at—but it works. 3. They are very good at organizing. A MAHA meeting feels like a rally: energy, speakers, music, and most importantly, an action for everyone. Someone’s writing the next policy brief, someone’s seeding a narrative, someone knows the next legislative deadline, someone’s sending the text messages for a campaign. None of this is new (ask the civil rights movement), but MAHA knows it works and has capitalized on it. What MAHA gets wrong This list could be much longer, and this newsletter has spent a lot of time covering it, but here are a few things: Poor use of scientific evidence. This is the fundamental problem with many MAHA policies: the hype outpaces the science, and experts are often villainized for pointing this out. MAHA leadership has traded real solutions for cheap wins. For example, instead of taking on the powerful food industry and passing real reforms, it has celebrated french fries made of beef tallow and taken out artificial dyes from still very sugary children’s cereal. These changes won’t move the needle on America’s diet. MAHA leadership has tried to dismantle vaccine access in the U.S. While many MAHA supporters emphasize other issues, the effort to change vaccine policy has become MAHA’s signature effort. This is not surprising given RFK Jr.’s extensive track record campaigning against vaccines. It has rallied behind the wrong leader. RFK Jr. has a decades-long track record of villifying doctors, scientists, and public health workers, well before he became HHS secretary. He is known for his decades-long work sowing distrust in vaccines as well as life-saving treatments like antiretroviral therapy for HIV. This is not a serious person who can move the needle on health in the U.S, and he has already done serious damage. Public health needs more than defense Defending the evidence is absolutely necessary so health in the U.S. doesn’t move further backward. The public health establishment is very good at defense. The problem is this defense often sounds like defending the status quo, which has failed many people. Public health needs to offer an alternative to RFK Jr.’s MAHA—one that is rooted in evidence, truly listens to and addresses people’s frustrations, and has innovative solutions and the courage to change the systems. How do we get there? Find common ground. Do you know what most people care most about? The abysmal cost of healthcare. Start there. Fight for the human loudly. Too often, communications and engagement center on science with a capital S, funding mechanisms, or the CDC/FDA/NIH. Not the person. So the public doesn’t see themselves in it. Instead, they see people fighting for the very powerful systems that they feel negatively impact their health and well-being. Let the public feel and hear that you see their frustrations, you get it, and you’re fighting for them within the system. Recognize when pro-science messages are alienating people. Facts absolutely matter, but angrily venting only alienates people further. Our friend Elisabeth Marnik recently wrote a New York Times article about her experience growing up unvaccinated and how listening and empathetic conversation are the only ways to reach people that really work (a position backed by communication science). Her comments section was full of hateful comments from pro-vaccine individuals attacking her for daring to suggest we approach vaccine-hesitant individuals with empathy. It is possible to both stand firm behind scientific evidence and empathize with people who don’t trust it. Lean into politics smartly. Often, public health has shied away from politics: Don’t touch it, lest you get burned. But this fails to recognize that the third rail is what fuels the train: who is elected determines our budgets, our priorities, and our authority. Being political means being very savvy in strategy on both sides of the aisle, knowing your audience, and recognizing that political capital is as scarce as financial resources and needs to be allocated accordingly. Bottom line So does public health need MAHA? That’s not really the right question. Public health has a responsibility not to dismiss 40% of the country who feel heard by this movement and are frustrated that the system has failed them. And it has a responsibility to stick to the evidence and recognize MAHA leadership for what it is: a danger to our nation’s health. Both can, and should, be done. Love, YLE and KP A big thanks to Craig Spencer, who had the courage to put his neck out there to start a much-needed discussion at such a critical moment—one that is determining the identity of an entire field. Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD is completing an emergency medicine residency and research fellowship focusing on health literacy and communication. In her free time, she writes the newsletters You Can Know Things debunking health myths and rumors and The Public Health Roundup. Views expressed belong to KP, not her employer. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. The YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
Defying Trump, Cornyn uses his lame-duck power
In standing in the way of Todd Blanche, President Trump’s choice for attorney general, a liberated Sen. John Cornyn is wielding his leverage.
Defying Trump, Cornyn Uses His Lame-Duck Power
In standing in the way of Todd Blanche, President Trump’s choice for attorney general, a liberated Senator John Cornyn is wielding his leverage.
Dak Prescott setting high expectations for Cowboys and their offense
When Dak Prescott arrived at training camp Tuesday, he wore a vintage t-shirt celebrating the Dallas Cowboys’ last Super Bowl win as a statement of intent. After 10 years in the NFL without a meaningful playoff run for an organization that has not claimed a championship since after the 1995 season, their star quarterback is ready to end those droughts through his deeds, words, and even wardrobe choices. “To go into training camp and to go into the season to say that those are our goals, I mean, it’d be stupid or we’d be remiss not to own that, and take accountability in that, and take pride in saying this is what we want to be and what we want to do,” Prescott said Thursday.
After Hobbes vs Rousseau: Politics must move beyond human nature
Since the great debate between Hobbes and Rousseau, our political theory has been organised around a single question: is human nature essentially good or essentially corrupt? Graham Harman, the philosopher behind object-oriented ontology, argues that this is simply the wrong question to be asking. The real forces governing our collective fate - climate change, artificial intelligence, geography, and pandemics - are non-human; therefore, questions about human nature are not the central ones. Instead, Harman proposes a politics reorganised around our relationship to non-human objects and environments, in which quasi-government institutions incentivise and deter actions with the aim of extending the survival of the human race. “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This has become one of the most popular phrases among twenty-first-century intellectuals. Often misattributed to Fredric Jameson, it has been warmly embraced by such influential authors as Slavoj Žižek and the tragically departed Mark Fisher, and has fueled the notion that the major problem with the political Left is that it simply needs to become more speculative and creative. Naturally, this is never a bad idea in any human pursuit. But what if the political distinction between Left, Right, and Center itself results from a failure of imagination? SUGGESTED READING Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? By Robin Douglass This particular division has been with us only since the summer of 1789. During the simmering prelude to the French Revolution, it referred originally to the physical position in the National Assembly of radical figures on one side and loyal monarchists on the other. These positions are linked with two entirely different camps of modern political theory. On the Left we find a series of authors ranging from the moderate (Locke) to the supercharged (Rousseau) to the truly radical (Marx), all of them contending that exploitation of the many by the few justifies revolutionary overthrow of the existing order. On the Right they are countered by the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Schmitt, a group of thinkers convinced that corrupt human nature can be tamed only by force. In the words of the Nazi supporter Schmitt: “One could test all theories of nature and state and political ideas according to their anthropology and classify these as to whether they consciously or unconsciously presuppose [humans] to be by nature evil or by nature good.” This is the division we continue to face today, even in the daily retail politics of Western democracies.___Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims.___The most refreshing feature of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was their awareness that the forced choice between Rousseau and Hobbes (as they put it) is no longer sufficient. Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims. Far from being stationed “beyond good and evil,” we seem to be fully entangled with both. We are not naturally good or evil, Graeber and Wengrow contend, but naturally experimental and imaginative. They rest their case on the archaeological record, which seems to bear witness to numerous episodes of seasonally shifting governments and festivals, which vacillate in the same society (even in the same year) between the egalitarian and the dictatorial. Such praise of political experiment makes a good fit with the generally anarchist position defended by these authors. Yet it is also what I find most disappointing in their position. Although they are right that the forced choice between Hobbes and Rousseau falls short of what our new situation requires, the authors simply replace it with praise for the human being as a political tinkerer and performer. In other words, they give us just another theory of human nature, one that would not have been out of place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. What other options might we have?___The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature… We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them___One fresh approach would be to treat politics within a broader framework than human nature, given that the polis does not exist in a vacuum filled exclusively with people. When Bruno Latour went to observe the baboons of Kenya with the San Diego anthropologist Shirley Strum, they jointly concluded that these primates were more socially interdependent than our own species. Each baboon is so reliant on the dynamics of the group that they find themselves locked into constant surveillance of their potentially dangerous peers. The group structure turns out to be inherently volatile. Humans, by contrast, are able to stabilize their societies to a large degree through the mediation of inanimate objects. Although one’s position in society may seem to fluctuate over time, considerable stability is produced through such items as apartment keys, wedding rings, and identification cards, all of them serving to secure us a place distinct from that of our fellows. The Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris has written at length about the crucial role of documents in establishing social relations, making him a hero among notaries in his country. Proper names and license plates cement our position amidst other humans, as do symbolic achievements such as graduation from a top university or distinguished wartime service with its various medals and ribbons. None of this is found among baboons, despite their closeness to us on the evolutionary tree: after all, we did share a common ancestor just 25 to 30 million years ago. SUGGESTED VIEWING The goodness paradox With Richard Wrangham The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature, whether understood in the manner of the Left or of the Right. We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them. But initially, it is true, we face non-human things primarily in the form of constraints. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to form a human civilization underwater, deep underground, atop Mount Everest, or in outer space. Human dependence on the non-social background takes on subtler form in discussions of political geography, especially unloved on the more idealistic Left. Consider the luckless position of Poland during World War II, sandwiched between Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other. By contrast, note the good fortune of the United States in not having a military peer positioned on any land border. Anglo-American geopolitics, since the writings of the American naval commander Alfred Thayer Mahan and the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder, has been wedded to the notion that one or more liberal offshore naval powers should prevent any authoritarian “heartland” regime from gaining effective control of Eurasia. That remains the case whether the opponent is the impatient Napoleon, the swashbuckling German Kaiser, the villainous Hitler, the murderous Stalin, or the industrial juggernaut Chinese. In their current Foreign Affairs article “Heartland vs. Rimland,” Michael Beckley and Hal Brands analyze the current and coming state of the world on the basis of these same rather durable principles. In recent years a similar outlook has been embraced, in inverted form, by the Putin-loving Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an icon of the Rightist intellectual underworld. For Dugin, the Anglo-Saxons are an evil force bent on destroying the spiritually superior people of the land: much like Athens in its failed war with Sparta, or Carthage in its eventual collapse against Rome. But the shared notion on both sides is that any strategy that fails to take geography into account is likely to end up as a defeated form of excessive optimism.___When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole.___More striking for us today than geography is the non-human object called climate, which threatens rimland and heartland equally. Even if we contend that humans are one hundred percent responsible for triggering the climate crisis, it remains non-human in the sense of being an independent force beyond our effective control. In a major work published just before his death in 2002, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould noted the tendency of evolutionary theorists to focus too closely on the fate of individuals in view of their successful or failed adaptation to circumstances. With climate change, however, we confront a force that goes well beyond the scope of any individual life. Whereas Richard Dawkins extended evolutionary questions downward from individuals to the sub-individual gene, Gould pushed it upward, speaking of entire species or clades as impacted by environmental change. The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago is only the most famous example of this sort. In the wake of that catastrophe, large animals needing abundant supplies of food were at a fatal disadvantage by contrast with the smaller birds and mammals of the planet. When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole. The effect is to shift our attention away from individual beings towards the survival of the group.In the United States in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked considerable backlash among those who asserted a nearly absolute degree of individual freedom. In California I encountered those who demanded that their businesses be allowed to reopen, that it was enough to cover their mouths but not their noses, or that they should have the right to enter any public area despite refusing vaccination. Yet public health is probably the clearest argument against libertarianism, which often merely asserts the autonomy of individuals against any claims of the commons. In normal times the individual is worth defending; under conditions that threaten the survival of part or all of our species, compulsion may be our only resort, as with perfectly reasonable blackouts and rations in wartime. To rebuild human society under the constraints of climate change will be one of the great challenges of the century to come, as will our improvised grappling with artificial intelligence. Such phenomena pose existential risks for humanity, and leave far less room for tolerance of individual brattiness. Cases are mounting of devastating wildfires caused by arson. Recently it was reported that there is even a website where one can bet on the location of coming wildfires, raising the specter of deliberate blazes set to collect on wagers. The death penalty has steadily lost support in a world where many stress the infinite value of human life. But if we focus instead on entire ecosystems, those who purposely burn the forests may begin to look worse than serial murderers.___The politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere.___So far I have spoken of force, authority, and punishment: measures sure to have greater appeal to those who identify with what we know as the Right. But other implications of the post-anthropocentric world are likely to have different backers. If non-human objects are seen as structuring political space, it stands to reason that they can no longer be introduced solely by the pace of technical breakthrough. Fields ranging from cybernetics to energy will demand increased politicization once they are reconceived not just as products of individual human investment, but as renovations of collective political geography. This need not involve world government, with its inherent risk of tyranny, but may involve quasi-governmental enforcers of prestige along the lines of a less corrupt FIFA or International Olympic Committee, punishing deviant states not with violence but with less tangible incentives.Politics will never lose its historic links with conflict and faction. But rather than factions aligned by differing theories of human nature, the politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere. This will prove just as incommensurable with the modern Left/Right spectrum as a globe is with a two-dimensional map.
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