Sunday, May 25
Robert Reich
Friends,
I thought I couldn’t be more shocked and sickened than I already was, but what’s happened this week is truly horrifying.
In the Oval Office, before cameras and journalists, Trump openly lied to the president of South Africa about alleged violence against white South Africans. The Trump regime has also granted refuge to white South Africans while continuing to bar or deport people of color who desperately need refuge.
The regime told Harvard it can no longer enroll foreign students and that its existing foreign students must transfer to another university or lose their legal status in the United States.
Trump auctioned off a personal dinner to foreigners who poured money into his own crypto business. He has also accepted Qatar’s gift of a $400 million “flying palace” (it’s also just for him — no other president in future years can use it).
At A Glance
How royal jelly helps anoint the queen bee.
The systems still running on decades-old Microsoft software.
Comparing buy now, pay later with credit cards.
The rise of tattoo removal.
Why does fentanyl feel so good?
Compare grocery store prices with the Cost Index.
What makes HBO different.
The difference between ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and Italian ice.
Only humans and a few other species undergo menopause.
The innovative simplicity of immersed tube tunnels.
How to be like Dickens and Darwin and only work four hours a day.
A locksmith had to break into Prince's music vault after he died.
Why dystopian literature is so popular.
How Hollywood makes money by appearing to lose money.
In The NEWS
House Passes 'Big Beautiful Bill'
House Republicans passed a broad domestic policy bill early Thursday by a 215-214 vote following overnight negotiations and last-minute changes to the legislation. The so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” now heads to the Senate, where expected tweaks may result in a back-and-forth between the two chambers.
The House version renews and expands trillions of dollars in tax cuts first enacted in 2017 and boosts spending for defense, border security, and immigration enforcement while reducing the budget for food assistance and Medicaid programs. Medicaid recipients would see stricter eligibility criteria, including the first federal work requirement of 80 hours a month for able-bodied adults (92% of recipients currently meet the standard). The bill would also create $1,000 child savings accounts and increase the debt limit by $4T ahead of the July deadline. See what's in the bill here.
Passage relied on several eleventh-hour alterations, including the implementation of Medicaid work requirements three years sooner. Senators indicated the bill would likely see significant changes, particularly around reducing the deficit.
Jewish Museum Attack
A suspect was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and murder of foreign officials after killing two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, this week. The 31-year-old assailant, who is believed to have acted alone, shouted “Free, Free Palestine” after firing at the victims at close range. More charges are expected as officials investigate the act as a hate crime and act of terrorism.
World leaders condemned the attack, with Israel’s government blaming the violence on a climate of antisemitism and anti-Israel incitement amid the country’s ongoing war in Gaza. Officials were investigating whether a 900-word manifesto released the day before the attack was authentic. The Chicago-based suspect was affiliated with left-wing politics, at one point a member of a local chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The two victims—Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky—were an interfaith couple who met while working together at the embassy. Family members say Lischinsky planned to propose next week. Learn more about the victims here.
A Penny Saved Is a Nickel Earned
The US Treasury announced yesterday it will stop issuing new pennies, ending more than 200 years of production for the one-cent coin. The Mint has already placed its final order for penny blanks—the metal discs used to create coins—and will continue minting until that supply runs out, likely in early 2026. Consumers can continue using existing pennies, but as circulation declines, banks and retailers will likely round cash transactions to the nearest nickel. Digital payments will remain unaffected and will continue to be processed to the exact cent.
The decision is largely driven by cost. Each penny costs about 3.7 cents to produce, resulting in an $85M loss in 2024. Treasury officials estimate the move will save $56M annually in materials and manufacturing. However, the nickel—which costs 13.8 cents to produce—may see increased demand, potentially cutting into the anticipated savings.
Check out our overview of US currency and all the currencies taken out of print here.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Bucket of Water
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When I was in college and home for the summer, I was visiting a friend of mine whose father was working in the yard by the driveway when I arrived. We got to talking before going inside to visit with his son, and I remember telling him how important I was going to be when I graduated and finally got my first job.
He asked me to go back behind the house and fetch him a bucket and fill it with water. I returned with the bucket of water and sat it on the ground beside him. After a bit, he told me to stick my arm down into the that bucket of water as far as it could go. I thought this odd but complied. After a bit, he told me to remove my arm and I again complied. He then spoke.
"You are as important to a company as the hole the left in the bucket of water once you removed your arm."
By this time, his son, Vic, my friend, had joined us and was just as mystified as I was by what his father had told me.
This experience took place in 1967, but it was not until 1990 and several employers, including the US military, that I finally realized that his words were absolutely correct. From 1080-1981, I was in Grad School, and had professors tell us, as potential professional managers, we should see our employees as expendable commodities but not treat them that way which appeared to me as a contradiction.
Employees are commodities and can be easily replaced, most of the time, by someone else with equal to or better skills and abilities and at a much cheaper cost depending upon how long that particular employee has been employed.
Next time you think about it, ask a computer language programmer about the bucket of water parable. He will be the first to be replaced by the AI Humanoid Robot that is just around the corner.
Scientists finally learn what makes plants grow faster and stronger
Every seed begins life with a simple aim: to reach water, collect nutrients, and stay upright. Beneath the surface, root tips probe the soil and spread into branches that keep the plant alive.
Getting those branches to appear at just the right spot and moment matters even more now that weather swings between long dry spells and sudden cloudbursts.
Researchers have traced that timing to autophagy, the recycling pathway many people associate with health benefits from fasting.
By following a shape‑shifting protein through Arabidopsis roots, the team uncovered how brief clean‑up pulses let new branches form and help crops cope with tougher conditions.
Saturday, May 24
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