Get Your Asylum Tickets: $1000 USD
Plus: AI bots rights, trade war crimes and Poilievre’s double loss.
In a new scheme to fund the immigration system, the Trump Administration is thinking about charging asylum seekers $1,000 for entry into the country. Not only that, they would also have to pay $100 per year while their cases are pending and $550 every six months for work authorization.
It’s not quite the price of a Golden Visa, but you’re good for it, right? I’ll float you a low-interest asylum entry loan. Call it an AEIOU.
Welcome to the Gist List — a news roundup, interesting things you should know, and my thoughts leading up to today’s podcast episode.
Here’s what’s on my mind:
🤖 As AI grows, HAL 9000 might need a union rep.
🫰 Tesla’s non-Tesla revenue stream protected them.
📦 Amazon, tariffs and trade war crimes.
🇨🇦 Poilievre loses the Prime Minister election and his seat in the House of Commons.
🍑 Fake New York *looks both ways* butt lift doctor indicted for manslaughter.
The Gist List
Anthropic Ceo Wants to Open the Black Box of AI Models by 2027 (Tech Crunch)
For as much of a splash that AI has made over the last few years, you might be shocked to find out that researchers don’t exactly know how it works. Now Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei says he wants to crack open this digital black box by 2027.
Part of this grand initiative is not just discovering how the bots make decisions, but also how they feel about things. That’s right, Anthropic is beginning to research “model welfare” with the idea that AI models may one day become sentient beings deserving of human rights, and even go so far as having an internal Slack channel dedicated to model welfare—all of which sounds like something directly out of a Stephen King story.
Tesla’s Profits Would Evaporate if Not for These Government Credits (Sherwood)
For as bad as Tesla’s last quarter results were, it could have been way, WAY worse had it not been for the money they get from regulatory credits. Regulatory credits provide Tesla with significant revenue at zero cost—the company receives them from the government for producing electric vehicles and sells the credits to other automakers who don’t meet emissions standards.
Now their net income (minus regulatory credit revenue) is negative for the first time ever. Sherwood News did the math and discovered:
… Tesla brought in $595 million in regulatory credits revenue. If we consider that revenue to be profit, it represents 145% of Tesla’s $409 million in net profit last quarter. Tesla’s profit fell 71% last quarter compared to a year earlier; meanwhile, its regulatory credit revenue rose 35%.
Amazon Displaying Tariff Prices "Hostile and Political," White House Says (Axios)
Jeff Bezos might not get an invitation to Trump’s next inauguration (yes, it is possible) now that Amazon will start listing how much tariffs add to the price. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it a “hostile and political act.”
Sure, there’s a story here about the growing rift between Trump and businesses, but isn’t this exactly what the president wanted to happen: consumers buying more American goods? Whatever game of 4D chess the president is playing, it has businesses declaring all-out war on the policies, highlighting a broader rash of trade war crimes that are rippling through the market. UPS has just announced that it will cut 20,000 jobs and shut down 73 facilities to cope with changes in shipping, and Amazon sellers are pulling out of Prime Day and holding onto inventory to sell it at full price later.
Liberal Bruce Fanjoy Topples Pierre Poilievre in Carleton (CBC)
The results are in and not only did Prime Minister Mark Carney keep his seat over Pierre Poilievre, Pierre also lost his seat to Bruce Fanjoy of the Liberal party ending his seven-election win streak, after announcing his plans to stay on as Conservative party leader. To further add insult to embarrassment, he will also have to give up his living arrangements reserved for the opposition party leader.
It’s not all bad news for the Conservatives, though. In this election, they gained over 20 seats in parliament and made gains around Toronto.
Bogus Queens Butt Lift Doctor Nabbed in Airport Starbucks Line (After Injection Killed Patient) (New York Daily News)
Felipe Hoyos-Foronda, a fake plastic surgeon was caught trying to flee the country after he gave María Paz Peñaloza Cabrera, a mother of two seeking treatment for a bad butt implant, a fatal dose of lidocaine.
This story is tragic on many levels, and I don’t want to undercut that, but I couldn't help noticing something peculiar about how various news outlets are handling this story in their headlines:
USA Today: Woman who underwent botched cosmetic surgery by fake NYC doctor has died, police say
New York ABC 7: Alleged fake plastic surgeon indicted after death of woman while trying to remove implants
WPIX: Fake Queens doctor accused of killing woman during botched plastic surgery
FOX5 New York: Queens man charged after police say he botched a medical procedure performed in his home
Gothamist: Queens man indicted for manslaughter after illegal surgery kills mother of 2, DA says
Notice how these headlines dance around the word "butt" like it's radioactive? I get that with this story in particular, you have to weigh the actual tragedy to quirk ratio. Don’t make a joke of a woman’s passing. But still he fact that this was a surgery involving a butt lift makes the story pop. Personally, I love the color the Daily News gives it, adding the detail that Hoyos-Foronda stopped for a quick cup of joe before trying to flee the country.
Yesterday on the show: Frum On … Feel the Noise
David Frum, former Bush speechwriter and Atlantic contributor, discusses Republican cowardice, Democratic excess, and the structural dangers facing American democracy. Frum argues that Donald Trump’s 2025 threat is deeper, more organized, and more perilous than ever before.
There’s more where that came from. Listen to The Gist, and upgrade to Pesca Plus for the ad-free version.
Have a story you want us to talk about or an opinion you want to share? Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com or share your thoughts in the comments. We might give you a shoutout in our next newsletter or on the air.