This is a subhed for the ages in the WSJ this morning: “Talk of heading off artificial intelligence’s potential role in destroying humanity hurt some stocks and helped others”
Francine McKenna
@fmckenna.bsky.social
Teacher/writer/speaker/reader. CPA. Using tools so tools can’t use me. Dogs rule! Kundera: “In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia.” I Dig. https://TheDig.Substack.com @retheauditors Chgo-born, Philly-based She/her
US Justice Dept and Reform donor Ben Delo. Pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act. Built a company designed to flout US law; willfully failed to implement and maintain even basic anti-money laundering policies. $10 million criminal fine. 30 months of probation, waived by Trump.
justice.gov
80% of Reform’s funding comes from two crypto billionaires. Reform has received £123.6m since 2019. £61m from Christopher Harborne living in Thailand, mentioned several times in Panama Papers. £44m from Ben Delo, recent returnee from Hong Kong, criminal conviction in the US.
BREAKING: 80% of Reform’s funding comes from two crypto billionaires
“If that isn't a massive corruption risk I don't know what is.”
democracyforsale.substack.com
Encourage them to take the Fundamentals (GIT) exam as soon as they can so they can get on the path to licensure. And advise them to work for companies with enough licensed geologists and engineers to vouch for their experience to sit for the PG / CEG / CHG / or PGP.
I know several geologists who have been trying to retire who can't because there's nobody to step in and continue the work they're doing. It's good to be that in demand, but it is a double-edged sword.
"Bessent is badly harming himself in his quest not to disappoint the president. As one Washington veteran quipped: “Bessent makes Steve Mnuchin look like Alexander Hamilton.”" My column. as.ft.com/r/1f88e3d7-1...
Scott Bessent’s wobbly house
Politics seems to be messing with the US Treasury secretary’s head
as.ft.com
NEW: Remember Don Jr’s wedding ceremony? In the Bahamas… Fireworks, dancers… “Just really close friends,” Don Jr. said. Well, guess who paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars of it? A Russian oligarch who is close to Putin. www.propublica.org/article/dona...
Lunch yesterday in London with the great man for the working man! I can’t remember what I asked him but it must have been something about the “pin strip mafia”. @premnsikka.bsky.social
DEARBORN, MICHIGAN mayor 👇🏽 extends the invitation to @macklemore
Watched Charlie Wilson’s War last night. Hits weird right now.
Charlie Kelly: It's Not Just a Game, It's a War
ALT: Charlie Kelly: It's Not Just a Game, It's a War
static.klipy.com
NYC has 35 community boards, each one an advisory body that influences land use, budget requests, and local services. Most New Yorkers have never heard of their community board. Almost none attend meetings. That's not apathy. The boards don't have digital infrastructure.
"If your friend is already dead, and being eaten by vultures, I think it's okay to feed some bits of your friend to one of the vultures, to teach him to do some tricks. But ONLY if you're serious about adopting the vulture."
Luke O'Neil@lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 3d agojack handey basically invented what would become the funny twitter style
Other than the clothes - which were inconsistently interesting - Devil Wears Prada 2 was not very good, especially lame script and really flat romance. #planeviews
Confronting Trump in a remarkably direct tone, the Catholic Church demands an immediate end to the mass deportation of Haitians. religionnews.com/2026/09/09/a...
In direct appeal to Trump, Catholic bishops' president urges end of mass deportations of Haitians
(RNS) — The letter marks a shift toward a more direct and pointed tone in challenging President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
religionnews.com
Excellent piece of financial history writing here. And do read the comment below the line from a Salomon trader who told Buffett not to rescue them! as.ft.com/r/c4b7d680-f...
The day Warren Buffett saved Salomon Brothers
‘Our name was rat poison’
as.ft.com
NEW: Journalist Kaitlin Durbin accused Cleveland.com of publishing an AI "Express Desk" article under her byline — without her knowledge or approval — while she was away on her honeymoon. The Express Desk "uses AI tools to assist in producing content." futurism.com/artificial-i...
Journalist Accuses Ohio's Main Newspaper of Slapping Her Name on an AI "Express Desk" Article Without Her Knowledge, While She Was on Honeymoon
A journalist accused Cleveland.com of publishing an AI "Express Desk" article under her byline without her consent, knowledge, or approval.
futurism.com
Deep dive by @jessicaseaman.bsky.social looking at how Colorado districts can suspend and expel students for their social media activity outside of school hours. Advocates say that's a First Amendment violation, while administrators acknowledge such decisions can feel like a "no-win situation"
Colorado students can be expelled for social media posts made outside of school. Attorneys say that violates the First Amendment.
Attorneys and advocates argue that school districts violate students’ First Amendment right to free speech when they remove kids from the classroom over something they wrote or shared online.
denverpost.com
"They're not misunderstanding the film; they're co-opting a message"
Marlow Stern@marlownyc.bsky.social · 5d ago‘The Matrix’ creator Lilly Wachowski on J.K. Rowling and the new ‘Harry Potter’ series: “She is funding trans genocide. J.K. Rowling funds trans genocide, full stop. So, if you support ‘Harry Potter,’ you’re supporting trans genocide.” variety.com/2026/tv/feat...
This NY Times story is largely a summary of Trump’s anti-free-speech moves. But there’s an interesting nugget: Trump’s access ban against the Associated Press had a motive beyond the “Gulf of America” dispute. Trump wanted AP to give him rights to that photo of him after the Butler, PA, shooting.
How Trump Is Wielding Power to Stifle Speech (Gift Article)
President Trump has harnessed agencies across the government to curtail press freedoms, a sweeping campaign that free speech advocates say will have lasting effects.
nytimes.com
That sound you’re hearing is the lawyers for Olympian David Hearn running to the courthouse and filing a civil rights action against the Trump administration for falsely accusing him of vandalizing the reflecting pool
The Call for Papers for the Cambridge Disinformation Summit, 23-25 Mar 2027, opens Tues. Research on incentives or power infrastructures that support malign cognitive influence or disinformation campaigns. For more info on how to submit papers, see the Summit's LinkedIn page: lnkd.in/p/eJj8tuqC
I interviewed Jon Ronson about The Castle, his really entertaining if worrying book about uninhibited and purposeless men www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...
‘It’s very fraught. I was super fond of Graham Linehan’: Jon Ronson on his book about men spiralling
The Castle was inspired by Ronson’s son finding himself in the home of an heir ‘trying to be Hugh Hefner at the worst moment in human history to be Hugh Hefner’
irishtimes.com
I really enjoyed interviewing Blindboy www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...
Blindboy unmasked: ‘The thing I’m most afraid of is having to work in an office... so now I work in an office’
The writer and podcaster on adapting his short stories for the Abbey stage, how his podcast is used as a kind of advanced Duolingo, and how the fairies will rise against AI
irishtimes.com
This article is what's called a "beat sweetener," where access journalists write a story that's extremely flattering to one of their sources in order to keep the line open www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/u...
Behind the Scenes, Vance Gathered Unvarnished Views of the Iran War
Vice President JD Vance received sobering assessments about the war that did not line up with what he, President Trump and other top administration officials were saying publicly.
nytimes.com
How is ICE making record arrests? I found the answer in Pa. coal country, where cops lured by a promise of federal $$$ have embraced ICE's 287(g) and are throwing up checkpoints, raiding job sites, arresting 100s, and terrorizing their communities My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/penn...
In Pa. coal country, local police join with ICE to bring arrests, fear | Will Bunch
Pa.'s Schuylkill County is the new face of Trump's mass deportation, as local cops lured by federal cash bust scores of migrants.
inquirer.com
We need an immediate amendment to the Constitution to require that, whenever this next happens, it is required the president use it to either enter or exit the plane.
Trump Is Delayed After Emergency Slide Deploys on New Air Force One
The mishap occurred while the Qatari-donated jet was parked on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. It delayed President Trump’s departure to a Republican convention in Dallas.
nytimes.com
This, of course, calls to mind one of my favorite obscure Wisconsin storylines: The ill-fated Martinifest held at the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2006. www.latimes.com/archives/la-...
Chicago Tribune@chicagotribune.com · last wk.Chicago’s upcoming Martini Expo will visit such places as Shaw’s Crab House, Duck Inn, Hawksmoor and, of all places, the Billy Goat.
imagine being a menswear writer and having to go back to writing about this fall’s best socks after reading anthropic employees say AI might destroy humanity in a few years