A story from WaPo about killers using the spectacle of shootings to manipulate the media/politicians, as a dark performance art, most recently through bullet engravings, provides a lens to read this NYT story about "scoring political points" in the aftermath of the ICE shooting:

This column attempts to explain, in historical context, what the Trump administration is trying to do by getting rid of Lisa Cook, not in a narrow sense of lowering interest rates, but in reshaping the meaning of democratic legitimacy and presidential power:

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/o...

Last week, the Fed voted to cut interest rates in a decision that expressed unity despite a sole dissent. But a mere week later, commentary from central bankers is foreshadowing disagreement to come:

finance.yahoo.com/news/the-fed...

We now have luxury credit cards that cost close to $1,000 just to hold, the most affluent driving almost half of US spending, a stock market at all-time highs, and rising unemployment finance.yahoo.com/news/amexs-p...

This essay by @poniewozik.bsky.social about news and entertainment outlets conceding to Trump through payments, apologies and removals gets at a crucial idea: paying tribute seems inexpensive and “easier” because so many media bosses have already chosen to give in

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/a...

Bloomberg: Nvidia will invest $5 billion in Intel to co-develop chips in a surprise move that props up an ailing rival

Intel is getting another financial boost after the US agreed to take a 10% stake, and the White House said it won't force firms to buy from Intel
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Headlines and background on Jimmy Kimmel getting pulled off the air

A sharp takeaway of what it would mean for Paramount to buy Warner Bros, and for
Hollywood to go from 5 major studios to 4:

"Nvidia's next four biggest customers accounted for 46% of the unit's revenue, reflecting the delicate, untested nature of the AI ecosystem.

What looks like a client bottleneck is actually an industry chokehold"

finance.yahoo.com/news/nvidias...

At the Fed and in the judiciary, government officials trying to stay "outside of politics" while getting bashed by the president presents a big communications problem. (It all brings to mind newsroom bosses during Gamergate.)

Some judges are now publicly defending themselves:

There's an argument to be made inside the Fed that the current posture of abstaining from a vigorous, public defense of its mission and relying on a restrained messaging strategy has already failed, and will only invite an adverse Supreme Court decision

AI and GLP-1s were the hottest post-pandemic trades: One helped curb destructive appetites with immediate, visible results, the other represented an indulgence of Silicon Valley's fantasies. But now GLP-1 stocks are the ones wavering.

finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-and-...

After the Trump administration acknowledged that some USAID funded programs were saving lives, they cancelled 90% of them. ProPublica reports how these haphazard, abrupt cancellations were likely against the law, and why it’s likely no actual “review” ever took place