Something Borrowed, Something Bling

Plus: Jeff Bezos faces protests at his wedding, Trump’s m***** f****** outburst & Dr. Oz agreeing with Luigi Mangione.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding day is upon us, and the happy couple’s destination wedding has completely taken over the city of Venice, according to The Guardian. Instead of a throng of well wishers to celebrate the king of capitalism’s union, they are being met with anti-billionaire backlash from the “anti-fascist, anti-capitalist, anti-racist and trans-feminist political space” group No Space for Bezos, unfurling a banner reading, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”

Here’s the thing, Venice is overrun by tourists (and presumably destination weddings) most of the year—30 million tourists to be exact. The locals are probably annoyed with the tourists who float their stinky world heritage site. However annoying and loud the tourists are, they are contributing to the economy of the island AND paying the taxes associated with their stay.

The Guardian fails to ask some important, if not obvious, questions about Bezos’ tax contributions. Is he somehow getting a sweetheart deal here? If the shoe were on the other foot, or perhaps feet, and 30 people were having fancy-person destination weddings there over the weekend, would there somehow be more tax revenue? The criticisms are mostly about Bezos’ personal U.S. tax liabilities, and customers who bought that also bought this—Amazon’s corporate tax is too low. But Amazon paid an effective rate of 22.2% over the last 5 years, more than such Italian companies as Ferrari and about 50% higher last year than Ferragamo. There are plenty of fair arguments to be made about whether corporations or wealthy people should be paying more or less taxes, but the point stands that if Jeff Bezos is paying the same tax rate as Brett Jezzos would, then how is this a scandal?

Also, The Art Newspaper is reporting that Bezos made a ~$3.5 million donation to several organizations in Venice focused on climate change in the city. It has done little to calm the locals, but it is also a far cry from not caring about his impact on Venice.

Welcome to the Gist List—a gaudy news roundup, interesting things you should know, and my thoughts leading up to today’s podcast episode.

Here’s what’s on my mind:

🤬 Trump swears. Publications edit it out.

🚨 The immigration roundup, roundup.

🏀 The WNBA is full of choreographed drama… OR IS IT?! *dramatic music plays*

🥩 How a meat-packing plant is trying to recruit Americans.

📝 The writers who are flocking—or fleeing—to Substack.

🔫 If Luigi Mangione looked like Ted Kaczynski, would Dr. Oz be aligning with him?

The Gist List

Trump on Israel, Iran Continuing Fight: 'They Don't Know What the Fuck They're Doing' (The Hill)

Yes, the original article from The Hill used the word “f---,” so we corrected it.

President Donald Trump publicly criticized Israel and Iran today for treating the ceasefire agreement as a suggestion rather than a command. This is a CEASE fire, people, not a Please-Dont-Fire. Iran accused Israel of launching massive airstrikes within the first hour of the ceasefire announcement. “We basically—we have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” he said, unedited.

All the seriousness aside from this very serious situation, I can’t help but find it hilarious when reporters are shocked about Trump swearing. The Guardian reported in a headline, “Trump swears in angry outburst at both sides over ceasefire violations.” And the BBC, with their delicate British sensibilities, simply called it an “outburst.” In reality, the president swears quite a bit, but to make it even funnier, he will occasionally call out other people’s foul language and call it “disgusting.”

The Immigration Roundup, Roundup (Various)

With the mad dash to deport the dozen or so million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, you can leave it to the federal government to make some mistakes. There have been a number of highly sympathetic people getting taken into ICE custody. Here are a few that I have seen:

• Border Patrol arrest of California father of three U.S. Marines (KTLA): A video surfaced of masked ICE agents taking down a man with no criminal record who recently applied for citizenship and is the father of three men who joined the Marines. The officers repeatedly beat him on the head.

• Marine Vet’s breastfeeding wife detained by ICE despite green card effort (AP): A U.S. Marine Corps veteran is caring for his two young children, including a breastfeeding baby, alone after ICE arrested his wife during a routine green card appointment.

• Afghan interpreter for U.S. military detained by ICE after court hearing (Reason): An Afghan interpreter who aided U.S. forces during the war, was arrested by ICE agents following a June 12 asylum hearing. Because of his service, he was eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa.

And this isn’t the first time this has been an issue. GAO, a government watchdog, found in 2021 that ICE arrested 674 potential U.S. citizens, detained 121, and deported 70—all of whom may have been otherwise legally untouchable by immigration enforcement.

The WNBA Is a Perfectly Choreographed TV Drama (The New Republic)

The WNBA is experiencing a 155% viewership boom, and its players are remarkably interested in social justice issues. They are being praised for branding the league as a “collective” rather than a rundown of fan favorite players, as seen in the NBA. It seems to me, however, that this hype is a bit overinflated by publications like The New Republic, which are wish-casting this progressive framing.

As much as the WNBA would like to brand themselves as a collective of socially conscious ladies, and that’s why they are getting all this interest in the sport, there is another, much, much more compelling explanation, and her name is Caitlin Clark. Many new fans joined the WNBA wave after Clark earned unprecedented renown as a dazzling player at the University of Iowa. Clark came to the WNBA—people watched…her. Clark went out with an injury, and half the people stopped watching.

And the drama component? A lot of the drama is pretending that Caitlin Clark isn’t the biggest driver of the attention. What’s so bad about that? Who cares if Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts are the primary reasons people go to see your movie—people are going to see your movie! And yes, Cruise and Roberts’ performance benefits from skilled casts around them, just like the megawatt star Clark has found herself in the middle of a league with much improved play over the last 20 years. It could be the case, as this article argues, that there’s some non-Caitlin-inflected “drama” ensorcelling viewers, there's a real fever in the league plays in Indianapolis and leads All-Star voting, with the league’s actual best player, Napheesa Collier, second, and weirdly, Brad Lander third.

I actually touched on some of this the other day with Ethan Strauss on Random Offense. You can watch it here:

A New Meatpacking Plant’s Novel Pitch to Attract American Workers (WSJ)

How do you sweet-talk Americans into doing a job that was traditionally held by undocumented immigrants? Sustainable Beef, a meat-packing plant in scenic North Platte, Nebraska, is offering benefits, $22-25 per hour and better shifts. Between ICE raids and the Trump administration's slicing of parole programs that allowed plants to hire migrants, the meat-packing industry is facing labor shortages. Of course, the basic laws of economics are at play here, so to hire Americans, they have to make it much more appealing.

The problem is that Americans are butchering the jobs. But in the bad way. Among the problems employers are facing, most Americans don’t cut it in the knife skills department. A labor divide has formed where the white locals take support roles, but immigrants still dominate the knife-heavy production line.

Life on the Other Side: Refugees from 'Old Media' Flock to the Promise of Working for Themselves (AP)

The word “flock” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this headline. As we’ve seen from notable “flocking” to Substack and YouTube, it has been more of a “flight” or a “landing.” It’s the same story for all the big Substacks out there: A reporter at a legacy institution for having opinions out of step with the direction of their legacy employer, and finds refuge with the platform’s generous offer of owning their audience and charging admission.

But having a built-in brand that is identified with one of the political poles helps. If you take a look at the top bestsellers in U.S. Politics and news, you’ll notice that most of these publications have a strong ideological bent, and even then, success varies widely. Over 50 Substack creators reportedly earn $1 million+, with some Gist Listers earning in the low five figures, then briefly dipping into the high four figures when Jim, Hertzberg canceled because he “switched to Pesca Plus,” but then popping up again when Joanna Petrasko and Ray Liu came on board, according to sources.

Not everyone wants to become a pundit, so where does that leave me them? For people like Chuck Todd (which I highly recommend the Chuck Toddcast), they are left wondering if there’s space for non-polarized, high-quality journalism in this new model.

RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz Say Health Insurers Will Cut Red Tape on 'Prior Authorizations' (NPR)

Prior authorizations for health insurance is an evergreen grievance for many Americans, and now the government wants to do something about it. But what struck me about this article was this line:

"There's violence in the streets over these issues," Oz said, alluding to the targeted killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December. "This is not something that is a passively accepted reality anymore — Americans are upset about it."

Did I just read this correctly? Is Dr. Oz aligning with the populist stance of Luigi Mangione? I’m not sure in the face of a brutal murder if you want to come across as giving the killer what he wants, but I also wonder if you swapped the mugs of Luigi for, say, Ted Kaczynski, would we be having this same conversation? If Kaczynski looked more like Mangione, would we have thought, “You know, the bomber guy actually has some good points!”?

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Yesterday on The Show: Fordow The Mop Tolls

The United States has bombed Iranian nuclear facilities—an extraordinary military action authorized by a President who ran against prolonged wars. In today’s interview, national security expert Michael Allen, host of NatSec Matters, offers insight into the Israeli strikes, the capacity of Iran to respond, and what Trump’s decision means for the region and the world. Plus, weighing the risks of quagmire against the reactions from MAGA loyalists who only just learned how to pronounce "Fordow." Trump’s instincts are erratic, his rhetoric reckless—but the strikes seem largely effective, and now the world waits to see what comes next.

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