The Diddler has been arrested.
Last night it broke that FBI agents arrested music mogul Sean βDiddyβ Comb. Federal law enforcement raided Diddyβs homes in March of this year as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged sex trafficking rings. Diddy has been named in 10+ lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct, including trafficking, drugging, and rape. Diddyβs lawyer said he is βdisappointedβ by the governmentβs decision and called Diddy βinnocentβ: βhe is imperfect but not a criminal.β
Weβre no legal experts, but itβs never good when your lawyer says youβre βimperfect but not a criminal.β Then again, thatβs how our parents described us on our college applications.
πΏ Easter Island myth busted?
πΊπΈ Update on Trump assassination attempt
π€ΌββοΈ Sao Paolo mayoral debate turns WWE
βMax, Max, and Owen
KEY STORY
Easter Island Myth?
A pair of new studies suggest βecocideβ didnβt destroy Easter Island
Easter Island β home of the βmoaiβ statues β sits in the Pacific, 2,300 miles west of Chile. Historians generally believe its indigenous Rapanui people once numbered 15,000 but induced societal collapse by deforesting the island, resulting in a population of just 3,000 people when Europeans first arrived
But, two new studies contradict that theory: One found that Rapanui genetics bear no mark of societal collapse; the other, that the islandβs farms could never have sustained more than 4,000 people
Dig Deeper
One study noted that while the Rapanuiβs story βhas been presented as a warning tale for humanityβs overexploitation of resources,β a genetic analysis found βa stably growing population from the 13th century through to European contact in the 18th centuryβ
The lead author of the other noted, βThe Rapanui managed to survive in one of the most remote places on Earth and did so fairly sustainably until European contactβ¦This suggests we can learn something from them about how to manage limited resourcesβ
KEY STORY
Trump Plot Update
Details emerged about Ryan Routh, the 58-year-old accused of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump
Routhβs record suggests a history of turmoil and lack of meaning, writing in one post that he sought to be a part of βreal change in our world.β On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, he said volunteers should join Ukraineβs military. He tried but failed to do so and was later seen wandering aimlessly around Kyiv
Routh published a book in 2023 that blasted Trump and praised Obamaβs Iran nuclear deal, saying Iran should assassinate Trump for ending it. Trump blamed the incident on βhighly inflammatory rhetoricβ from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
Dig Deeper
Routh reportedly clashed with Ukraineβs International Legion and later shifted focus to defense production and arms deals. By spring 2023, he meandered through Kyiv deflated, out of energy and money, according to an American who worked for a medical NGO in Ukraine
βTheir rhetoric is causing me to be shot at when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country β both from the inside and out,β Trump said of Biden and Harris in a Fox News Digital interview
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Dig Deeper
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KEY STORY
Titanic Builder Sinks
Harland & Wolff (H&W), the British company behind the shipyard that built the Titanic, is going bankrupt
Once a trailblazer, H&W built the Titanic and other major 20th-century ocean liners
The company has struggled recently, going bankrupt in 2019 after failing to pay off long-term debt. It overcame that insolvency, though, after landing a contract to build 3 ships for the British Navy in 2022
But H&W faced renewed pressure this July after failing to get a loan from the British government. Later that month, it suspended its stock. The shipmaker is expected now to sell off its shipyards or sell itself entirely
Dig Deeper
The British government agrees that a sale is the best way to protect the company and its 1,300 employees and doesnβt regret balking at the July loan: βProviding government funding would have meant a significant risk of losing taxpayer moneyβ
KEY STORY
Pastor Freed from China
A US citizen was freed after 18 years in a Chinese prison
David Lin β a Chinese-born US citizen β was one of three Americans labeled by the US government as βwrongfullyβ jailed in China. He had been arrested in 2006 while building a Christian center in Beijing after years of making missionary trips to China
The Biden administration had been lobbying for Linβs release since at least November. This week, Chinaβs government unexpectedly released him in an apparent goodwill gesture. The two other βwrongfully detainedβ Americans were not freed, short of what the Biden Administration had reportedly hoped
Dig Deeper
Christianity is not illegal in China; itβs regulated tightly. Churches need to be officially registered with the government and align their views with Chinese values. The Chinese Communist Party regularly weeds out underground churches and has banned online evangelization
βPraise God! We got the call late last night!!! Dad is free and over Alaska now,β the pastorβs daughter, Alice Lin, said in a text message to a humanitarian org helping Lin
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
π° Argentinaβs libertarian president, Javier Milei, vowed that the debt-saddled country would have a government surplus by next year
π¬ The FX series βShΕgunβ βΒ set in 17th-century Japan βΒ won a record-breaking 18 awards at the Emmys on Sunday night, including for Best Drama, Best Directing, Best Leading Actor, and Best Leading Actress
π Manhattan prosecutors charged two former New York City fire chiefs with fast-tracking safety reviews in exchange for bribes
π± A federal court appeared unsympathetic to TikTokβs argument that the US legislation banning it is unconstitutional
π Sean βDiddyβ Combs was arrested in New York City. The charges werenβt publicly available, but it follows a spate of sexual assault allegations
COMMUNITY
π§ Yesterdayβs question: In honor of the Emmyβs, whatβs your favorite TV show (drama) of all time?
Ozark.
For me, itβs a tie between West Wing and Lost. Both were excellent.
Game of Thrones was the best written and acted show I have ever seen. I did not buy into the hype until years later and watched it during covid. I quickly realized why everyone loved it.
π§ Todayβs question: Whoβs the best side character in TV history?
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
π€ΌββοΈ Debate turns WWE: Pablo MarΓ§al, a SΓ£o Paulo mayoral candidate, was treated and released from the hospital after being hit with a metal chair by rival candidate JosΓ© Luiz Datena during a televised debate
π UGA football player? A Georgia man received a $1.4M speeding ticket for driving 99 MPH in a 55 MPH zone. Authorities later explained it was a placeholder and the final penalty wouldnβt exceed $1,000
The New Zealand bird of the year (mentioned below).
π± Flappy Bird takes flight (again): A decade after the viral iPhone game Flappy Bird disappeared, an organization calling itself the Flappy Bird Foundation announced plans to bring it back
π₯ͺ Lunch gets beastly: Content creators MrBeast, Logan Paul, and KSI are teaming up to launch Lunchly, a grab-and-go product they describe as a βbetter-for-you lunch optionβ than competitors like Lunchables
π§ Penguin power: The hoiho, a golden-eyed, fishy-smelling, endangered penguin, reclaimed New Zealandβs Bird of the Year title after winning in 2019. This contest is a major one in New Zealand
ROCA WRAP
Your Phone Is Listening
Late last month, a slideshow leaked from CMG Local Solutions, part of Cox Media Group (CMG). The deck sought to sell a technology called βactive listening.β
The deck, obtained by 404 Media, notes that people βleave a data trail based on their conversations.β CMG claimed it could βcapture real-time intent data by listening to our conversations.β
Once CMG captures the conversation, it can βpair this voice-data with behavioral data to target in-market consumers.β The deck β which was attempting to sell the service to advertisers βΒ said that by harvesting the data, CMG could help companies provide hyper-targeted advertising.
CMG adds that this technology can identify βready-to-buyβ consumers and help advertisers target people who have recently spoken their intentions. This data is accessed likely through third-party apps, whose terms and conditions may say that a userβs voice or audio data can be sold to advertisers.
While recording someone with consent is illegal in some, but not all, states, agreeing to such terms make such recording voluntary.
CMG listed Amazon, Google, and Facebook as three key partners in the deck. All those companies denied using CMGβs listening services.
Google announced this month that it cut ties with CMG, stating, βAll advertisers must comply with all applicable laws and regulations as well as our Google Ads policies, and when we identify ads or advertisers that violate these policies, we will take appropriate action.βΒ Β
Β CMG said that its companies βhave never listened to any conversations nor had access to anything beyond third-party aggregated, anonymized, and fully encrypted data sets that can be used for ad placement.β
But, the company didnβt issue a blanket denial about using recorded data.
EDITORβS NOTE
Final Thoughts
Tough night for Eagles fans⦠how did Saquon drop that?! Come on, Philly!
Speaking of abrasive sports fan cities, today is the anniversary of the founding of Boston. Originally a Puritan settlement, the city has come a long way since 1630. From a giant tea party to Paul Revereβs midnight ride up to the great molasses flood and Deflategate, the city has gone through a lot. Happy bday, Beantown!
βMax and Max
