Wednesday, October 1
Headlines
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Pfizer exempt from Trump’s tariffs, agrees to lower drug prices. President Trump announced an arrangement with Pfizer yesterday in which the drugmaker will lower prices on some drugs in the US and invest $70 billion in domestic drug manufacturing. As part of the deal, Pfizer will earn a three-year reprieve from Trump’s tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry. The company will sell the discounted medications on a direct-to-consumer website called TrumpRx. The president posted on social media last week that he plans to impose a 100% tariff on pharma companies starting today, unless they build manufacturing plants in the US. Pfizer’s stock climbed ~7% after news of the deal.
The FTC sued to block the Zillow-Redfin partnership. The agency alleged that Redfin agreed to end contracts with existing advertising customers, stop competing in the ad market for multifamily properties for nine years, and exclusively syndicate Zillow’s listings in exchange for a $100 million payment from Zillow. “Paying off a competitor to stop competing against you is a violation of federal antitrust laws,” the FTC said in a statement. A Zillow spokesperson said the company remained confident in the partnership and argued it is “pro-competitive and pro-consumer by connecting property managers to more high-intent renters.”
Amazon refreshed its lineup of devices. At an event in New York yesterday, Amazon unveiled a slew of new hardware, including updated Kindles, Fire TV sticks, and the Ring home security camera. But the pièce de résistance was the new AI-enabled Echo smart speaker—well, four of them, actually. The company announced the Echo Dot Max ($100), Echo Studio ($220), and two versions of the Echo Show, which comes with a screen. The products, which integrate Amazon’s Alexa+ AI subscription service, are among the first under new devices chief Panos Panay, a former Microsoft exec “known for his premium design sensibility,” Bloomberg reported.—AE
Robert Reich
What happens next and why?
Friends,
As of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time today, the United States government is closed. Crucial government services aren’t delivered. Federal employees are furloughed without pay (apart from workers who are deemed “essential”).
Republicans had tried to push a temporary funding bill — a Continuing Resolution, or CR. But the CR had within it all the terrible parts of Trump’s big beautiful (Ugly!) bill, including major cuts in health care, nutrition assistance, and environmental protection, all to fund a huge tax cut mainly for the wealthy.
The only reason the big ugly passed the Senate in early July was a special procedure that required only 51 senators. Republicans bragged at the time that they didn’t need any Democrats (JD Vance was the tiebreaker).
At A Glance
Windowless plane could be the private jet of the future.
Being organized and active may lead to a longer life.
The biggest controversies in NFL history.
How ostriches and emus became flightless birds.
China just opened the world's highest bridge.
Polar bears find refuge in an abandoned village. (w/photos)
How Americans take their coffee.
Meet eight creatures lurking in the deep sea. (w/video)
Clickbait: The ancient tree named "Jolene."
Historybook: Yosemite National Park is established (1890); Bonnie Parker, half of the infamous crime duo Bonnie and Clyde, born (1910); President Jimmy Carter born (1924); Actress Dame Julie Andrews born (1935); Walt Disney World opens (1971); 58 killed, 869 injured in mass shooting in Las Vegas (2017).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Bad Bunny tapped to headline the Super Bowl LX (Feb. 8) halftime show; the Puerto Rican artist is a three-time Grammy winner with multiple Billboard No. 1 albums (More)
> President Donald Trump announces a 100% tariff on films produced outside the US (More) | "The Simpsons" theatrical film set for 2027 release (More)
> WNBA semifinal between the Indiana Fever and Las Vegas Aces (9:30 pm ET, ESPN2) to decide who faces the Phoenix Mercury in the finals (More) | MLB playoffs wild card series kicks off tonight; see complete schedule (More)
Science & Technology
> OpenAI introduces parental controls to ChatGPT following lawsuit linking teenager's death by suicide to the chatbot (More) | Anthropic releases latest Claude Sonnet 4.5 model designed to excel at coding and meet business needs (More)
> High-resolution images and biochemical experiments show for the first time how polymyxin antibiotics infiltrate E. coli cells to treat deadly bacterial infections; finding reveals why antibiotics are ineffective against dormant E. coli (More, w/photos)
> Geochemists unearth over 541-million-year-old chemical fossils suggesting ancestors of modern-day sea sponges were among the first animals on Earth (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +0.3%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq +0.5%) (More) | YouTube to pay $24.5M to settle President Donald Trump's lawsuit over his account suspension following the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol (More)
> Charlie Javice sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding JPMorgan Chase, which bought her financial aid startup, Frank, for $175M in 2021 after she inflated user numbers by millions (More)
> German airline Lufthansa to cut 4,000 jobs—nearly 4% of workforce—by 2030 amid declining profits; cites plans to automate administrative work with AI (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorses President Donald Trump's 20-point postwar Gaza plan, requiring Hamas to surrender, and for Israel to eventually cede control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority under certain conditions (More) | Read proposal (More)
> Taliban severs fiber optic connections across Afghanistan in its first nationwide internet shutdown amid morality crackdown (More)
> Supreme Court considers whether to take up an appeal by convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, former partner of Jeffrey Epstein; the high court's next term begins Oct. 6 (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Technology
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I spend a lot of time on the computer since I retired ten years ago, but it is not spent surfing social media sites, although 1-2% of my time is spent on social media; no... my computer time is spent maintaining two blogs daily, doing research for my blogs, and writing novels that also requires some internet research to maintain authenticity.
My wife and I have cell phones and when we go out to eat, once or twice a week, you will find us on our cell phones surfing while we are waiting for our orders to arrive. We do talk during the meal, and leave the restaurant when we're finished, so there is no lingering.
Computers and cell phones have become an integral part of our lives since 1993 when we first got together, although, it was not until 2010/2012 that my wife got hooked on the IPAD and had to have an IPHONE and then an IWATCH.
When we retired in 2015, my wife started spending more and more time on her IPAD on the back deck or back porch and when we moved in the sunroom on her IPAD watching Korean Dramas while I remained inside on my computer writing blogs and novels.
It was perfect for both of us. We were together but separated for most of the day... late morning until early evening from about 10am until 8pm or a good 10 hours. She would come inside to use the bathroom or get something to eat.
This arrangement did not stop her from blaming me for everything wrong that happened to her, whether we were together when it happened or not. This included what she might have done to herself physically before we met. Trying to argue with that kind of logic is as futile as struggling against the BORG.
Humanity Is Evolving Into One Big Ant Colony
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
- The trajectory of life on Earth has always been predicated by genetic evolution, but two scientists from the University of Maine argue that culture is now the main force shaping our lives.
- A new study analyzes this phenomenon and attempts to quantify the evolutionary transition coming with it.
- Although a gene-culture coevolution framework can be incredibly adaptable, the authors’ earlier work argues that its foundation in resource extraction and sub-global groups could make solving problems like climate change particularly challenging.
For the billions of years that life has been on Earth, genetic evolution has been in the driver’s seat, slowly but steadily honing species as they face various environmental pressures. And then, roughly 600,000 years ago (by some estimates), a particularly big-brained member of the Great Ape family began displaying evidence of cumulative culture, as evidenced by increasingly complex stone tools. Those early technological steps blossomed into full, complex societies that have taken over from genetics as the key driver of evolution, according to a new paper by Timothy Waring and Zachary Wood at the University of Maine.
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