Thursday, August 21
Headlines
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Trump calls for Fed Governor Lisa Cook to resign. President Trump posted on Truth Social yesterday that Lisa Cook, a Biden-appointed Federal Reserve governor, “must resign, now!!!” after the leader of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, claimed she submitted fraudulent information to banks on mortgage loan documents. Citing anonymous sources, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is considering firing Cook for cause. It’s his latest swipe at the independence of the central bank, which hasn’t lowered interest rates like the president wants. Pulte, a Trump ally who has made similar allegations against prominent critics of the president, asked the DOJ to investigate Cook, alleging she had requested mortgages in Atlanta and Michigan and claimed both properties as her primary residence. Cook said she would not be “bullied to step down.”
“Almost all” Fed officials supported leaving rates unchanged, per meeting minutes. The minutes from the Fed’s July meeting are out, and they suggest that the two officials who voted against keeping interest rates steady were alone in that effort—but it still represented the first time since 1993 that more than one Fed governor dissented from a rate decision. The minutes show that most Fed officials remained more concerned about the possibility of rising inflation than problems in the labor market, though that could change going forward since the meeting took place two days before disappointing jobs data came out. The issue is politically fraught since President Trump has been pushing for a cut (see above).
Texas House passes redistricting bill. After a fight that involved Democratic lawmakers fleeing the state and being forced to have police escorts when they returned, the Texas House yesterday passed the redistricting bill President Trump requested, sending it to the state’s Senate for a final vote. If the Senate passes the bill unchanged, it will advance to the governor’s desk, but if it alters the bill, the two versions will have to be reconciled. The new map, which could add five seats for Republicans in Congress, could set off a flurry of gerrymandering efforts around the country. California’s Governor has vowed to respond with his own redistricting, a move that former President Barack Obama endorsed yesterday.—AR
Robert Reich
With apologies
Friends,
I’m going to expose myself today in a way I’m not particularly comfortable doing. I hope you’ll forgive me.
Ever since I was a teenager I’ve been fascinated by the bestseller list of The New York Times Sunday book review, especially nonfiction.
I wondered how certain books and their topics got to be high on the list. I was particularly interested in the books that got to be #1 bestsellers. I thought that their authors and ideas provided tiny windows into the American mind at those particular moments in time.
For the last 43 years, I’ve also felt a personal stake. My first book was published in 1982. It didn’t make anywhere near the bestseller list.
At A Glance
Study finds fewer Americans are reading for pleasure.
Father-son morticians give tattoos a second life.
A tool tracking real-time bird migrations.
"Dawson's Creek" cast to reunite for the first time in two decades.
Artist turns junk mail into marble-like sculptures.
British restaurant to offer upscale water menu.
... and the best water, according to water sommeliers.
Da Vinci’s flying machine recreated from 500-year-old drawing.
Clickbait: Indiana mascot returns after 50 years.
Historybook: Nat Turner leads rebellion of enslaved people (1831); "Mona Lisa" stolen from The Louvre Museum, is recovered two years later (1911); Basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain born (1936); Hawaii becomes 50th US state (1959); Usain Bolt born (1986).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Nexstar, the media giant with 200 owned or partner TV stations, purchases rival Tegna in $6.2B deal; newly combined company's stations will cover 80% of TV households in the US (More)
> Dr. Phil's media company sued by their distribution partner for alleged fraud and breach of contract over 10-year, $500M deal (More)
> "Stranger Things" creators Matt and Ross Duffer will depart Netflix in April 2026 after signing four-year deal with Paramount for exclusive rights to their upcoming projects (More) | How Netflix became the dominant streaming service (1440 Topics)
Science & Technology
> Tech giant Nvidia reportedly developing China‑bound AI chip that is more powerful than the H20, which the Trump administration approved last week for sale on Chinese markets (More) | See previous write-up (More)
> James Webb Telescope discovers previously unknown moon orbiting Uranus, bringing the planet's moon count to 29; the moon's relatively tiny 6-mile diameter rendered it invisible to less advanced telescopes (More) | The $10B telescope's tech and earlier discoveries (1440 Topics)
> Megalibrary of nanoparticles helps researchers quickly find abundant, cheap alternative to iridium, a rare metal critical to clean hydrogen energy production; could accelerate discovery of commercially viable materials for various applications (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.6%, Dow +0.0%, Nasdaq -1.5%) (More) | Wyoming becomes first state to issue a stablecoin—cryptocurrencies tied to the value of a traditional currency (More) | How stablecoins remove volatility (More)
> Trump administration expands 50% steel and aluminum tariffs to include more than 400 additional products, including items such as car parts, fire extinguishers, and specialty chemicals (More) | Tariff pros and cons (1440 Topics)
> Databricks reportedly raising funding round that values the data analytics company at over $100B; would make Databricks the fourth private company to surpass the $100B mark, following SpaceX, ByteDance, and OpenAI (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> President Donald Trump rules out sending US troops to Ukraine to provide security guarantees to the country, will consider providing air support (More)
> Transportation Security Administration pilots biometric "eGates," aiming to skip podium where an agent verifies a passenger's identity before the security screening; system is being tested in DC, Georgia, and Washington airports (More)
> Food and Drug Administration issues recall for Great Value frozen shrimp products, sold at Walmart, after containers arriving at four US ports from Indonesia test positive for cesium-137, a radioactive isotope (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Discipline & Determination
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Oftentimes, we get ourselves into debt because we have no other choice at that particular point in time and rather than pay off that debt over a period of time, we continue to increase the debt.
What causes that debt to increase is our LACK OF DISCIPLINE...
That may sound rather silly, but it is true.
One of the reasons why Americans are OBESE is lack of discipline when they eat, especially at places that offer all you can eat for one flat fee.
Along with discipline comes DETERMINATON...
Being determined helps support one's discipline and most Americans don't feel determination unless they are determined to go somewhere for a vacation, or go into debt for their children to have a great Christmas or birthday.
Before my 40th birthday, my family doctor told me that if I stopped smoking at 40, I could regain most of the damage that smoking had done to my body.
So, I did exactly that - quit on my 40th birthday.
DISCIPLINE & DETERMINATION
Both of these behaviors have been used over and over again throughout my career and to achieve the goals that I needed to achieve in order to become successful.
When I was laid off due to whatever reasons, I used discipline and determination, to work part-time jobs that were below my level of education and experience to pay the bills until the right job came along. I never felt ashamed or embarrassed by what I had to do.
DISCIPLINE & DETERMINATION
The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over
A drone photo shows sustainable energy being generated in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,
July 17, 2025. Yin Tianjie/Xinhua via Getty Images
Ma, a renowned expert in Chinese technology and founder of the media company Tech Buzz China, took her team on the road to get a firsthand look at the country’s AI advancements. She told Fortune that while she isn’t an energy expert, she attended enough meetings and talked to enough insiders to come away with a conclusion that should send chills down the spine of Silicon Valley: In China, building enough power for data centers is no longer up for debate.
“This is a stark contrast to the U.S., where AI growth is increasingly tied to debates over data center power consumption and grid limitations,” she wrote on X.
The stakes are difficult to overstate. Data center building is the foundation of AI advancement, and spending on new centers now displaces consumer spending in terms of impact to U.S. GDP. That’s concerning since consumer spending is generally two-thirds of the pie. McKinsey projects that between 2025 and 2030, companies worldwide will need to invest $6.7 trillion into new data center capacity to keep up with AI’s strain.
Wednesday, August 20
Headlines
Nexstar, Tegna
Nexstar buys Tegna, creating local TV juggernaut. The biggest player in local US TV stations is getting even bigger after it agreed to purchase rival Tegna for $6.2 billion, the companies announced yesterday. The deal would give Nexstar control of 265 stations across 44 states and Washington, DC, which CEO Perry Sook argued is necessary to compete with the tech giants. But critics worry the consolidation will stifle competition and commandeer local programming, and it’s likely to spark regulatory scrutiny. The deal has to be approved by the FCC, whose chair, Brendan Carr, has signaled an openness to relax existing limits on how much broadcasters can own.
Home Depot is raising some prices due to tariffs. After previously saying it didn’t plan to hike prices as a result of tariffs, the home-improvement giant said things have changed, and it will now impose “modest price movement in some categories.” CFO Richard McPhail told the Wall Street Journal that tariffs on certain imported goods are “significantly higher” today than they were during the last quarter. Home Depot gets slightly less than half of its products from suppliers outside the US and has said it’s trying to ensure it doesn’t get more than 10% of its inventory from any single country. Shares were up ~3% yesterday.
The Air Canada strike is over. Flights resumed last night after the airline reached a deal with the union representing its flight attendants to end a three-day work stoppage that had grounded Canada’s flag carrier. Nearly 3,000 flights were canceled after more than 10,500 flight attendants walked off the job last week following months of unsuccessful contract negotiations, arguing they were not compensated fairly. The two sides did not divulge the details of their agreement, but Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau said the company’s offer attempted to satisfy the union’s demands over unpaid work. It’s likely to take a few days before the airline’s operations return to normal.—AE
Robert Reich
How do Trump's Republican enablers in Congress, the Cabinet, and the White House justify their roles in dismantling American democracy?
Friends,
I’ve been wondering what Trump’s Republican enablers and lapdogs in Congress, in his Cabinet, and in his White House tell themselves to justify their roles in helping Trump dismantle American democracy. Have they no consciences?
Recall that the consciences of just two Republicans, Brad Raffensperger and Mike Pence, spared America a coup d’état after the 2020 election.
Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, refused Trump’s demand to steal “exactly 11,780 votes” so that Trump could carry Georgia. And Pence, in the face of the violent occupation of Congress, refused Trump’s direct order to reject the electoral count.
At A Glance
Dig for gems at the world's only public diamond mine.
Snag a reservation at Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce's steakhouse.
Florida wildlife officials need help finding a rare rainbow snake.
... and a special moment between seahorses caught on camera.
Las Vegas nightclub tricked by a Justin Bieber impersonator.
Ranking the most popular dog breeds in every state.
From Iowa to Fiji, 100 travel destinations for movie lovers.
The controversial rise of grandma showers.
Clickbait: See the Milky Way during this weekend's black moon.
Historybook: First around-the-world telegram sent (1911); "Valley of the Dolls" author Jacqueline Susann is born (1918); Actress Amy Adams born (1974); NASA launches Viking 1 probe toward Mars (1975); Comedian Jerry Lewis dies (2017).
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