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Results for " INTERVIEW " 1,489 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle

Trump says Congress wants to regulate AI industry 'out of business'

U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. Congress wants to regulate ‌the AI industry "out of business," according to a ‌Punchbowl News interview published on Friday. Trump's remarks underscore a wid...

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Aug 7 • 10:20 AM EDT • Business • yahoo.com
Harvard Business Review: An Interview with José Andrés

Before World Central Kitchen was supporting families in the wake of disasters around the world, José Andrés was a young cook learning that food was far more than sustenance—it was how his family expressed love, built community, and made sense of the world. In this Harvard Business Review interview, José reflects on the experiences that shaped him: the mentors who pushed him, the decision to build a life in the United States, and the lessons his kitchens have taught him about people, resilience, and adaptability. It is that same adaptability, he argues, that makes the difference—whether you are running a restaurant on a difficult night or getting meals to families in the middle of a disaster.

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Aug 6 • 1:47 PM EDT • Business • wck.org
Square Enix teases Octopath Traveler 3, aware of high expectations for the game

Developers of the Octopath Traveler series all but confirmed Octopath Traveler 3 for the future in a new interview.

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Aug 6 • 12:42 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
Science Writer Nicola Twilley Discusses Mummy Sleuths, the Hunt for the Ancient Microbiome, and Finding Humanity in the Past

In a recent interview, Nicola Twilley talks about her reporting that followed scientists from the Institute for Mummy Studies as they excavate and glean discoveries from paleofeces preserved in the world’s oldest salt mine, and how that story changed her perspective on humanity and the past. Twilley was a 2025 award winner of the National Academies’ Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications.

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Aug 6 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • nationalacademies.org
Cohen's reversible male contraception research earns recognition at international science summit

Dr. Paula Cohen has been chosen as a finalist for the Falling Walls Global Call for Science Breakthroughs 2026. Since 2009, the Falling Walls Science Summit has united the world’s greatest minds to break down barriers in science and innovation.Cohen's work in reversible male contraception has earned her place as a finalist in the life sciences category. Falling Walls interviewed Cohen on this project recently:

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Aug 6 • 5:48 AM EDT • Science • vet.cornell.edu
Watch: Democratic Senator Proposes a Fix for American Healthcare — Covering All Kids

Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey wants to offer universal healthcare until age 26. He sat down with KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to answer the question: “How Would You Fix It?”

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Aug 6 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • kffhealthnews.org
Science|Business summer reads of 2026

As most people in the European research and innovation policy bubble are going on a well-deserved summer break, we have come up with a list of our favourite books, podcasts and essays from the past year that ask deeper questions about science, technology and politics.BooksPasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, by Donald StokesIf you haven’t read Pasteur’s Quadrant yet, now is the time. In the EU and elsewhere, we’re living through a period of dwindling faith that curiosity-driven research automatically leads to economic growth and technological progress. Pasteur’s Quadrant, published in 1997 by the Princeton academic Donald Stokes, is the most influential critique of the standard “linear model” of R&D: the idea that new discoveries made in ivory-tower labs get neatly passed on for commercialisation by start-ups. In reality, Stokes argues, practical applications often inspire more theorical lines of inquiry. Of course, we have long known that things are more complex than the linear model, but even today, it’s still often assumed in Brussels discourse. The book is a useful corrective, and is being used now to argue for new types of scientific institutions. David MatthewsThe Weaponization of Expertise: How Elites Fuel Populism, by Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis PattersonAre society’s problems solvable by technical expertise alone? “If only the benighted would listen,” say Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis Patterson, two professors at Rutgers Law School who got frustrated with how scientists and politicians handled public health communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the book, they argue that clichéd mantras about scientific evidence and expertise perpetrated by academics, journalists and politicians have harmed public trust in the very institutions they were trying to defend. Paradoxically, slogans such as “we believe in science,” “follow the science” and “defer to the experts” can fuel mistrust in science, experts and democratic institutions. The authors criticise “condescension” and “technocratic paternalism” in the public discourse and make the case for a more nuanced approach to scientific and expert policy advice that rests on humility, doubt, scepticism and open dialogue. “Most complex social questions in fact revolve around values, not the recitation of unambiguous facts,” they say. Florin ZubascuBreakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, by Dan WangIn this book, Dan Wang compares the structural differences between the US and Chinese industrial policies, but raises a very timely question for innovation policy wonks: how can advanced manufacturing know-how contribute to technology-intensive economic growth? Wang says technology has three components: the tools, the blueprints and patents, and the process knowledge. The third component represents the “proficiency gained from practical experience, which isn’t easily communicated and requires years of implementation.” According to Wang, rather than seeing tools and blueprints as the ultimate ends of technological progress, policymakers should see them as milestones in the training of better scientists and manufacturers. Over the past decades, China has amassed “process knowledge” because capital flowed to complex fabrication facilities, while investors in the West have parked their money in capital-light businesses such as digital platforms or chip companies that focus on design. As it turns out, thanks to its oversized focus on manufacturing, China has gained remarkable advantages in the global technology race. Florin ZubascuBaltic: The Future of Europe, by Oliver MoodyWhat can Europe learn from the nine countries surrounding the Baltic Sea? Alongside the familiar stories about Estonia's digital transformation, the book examines how the region has used technology, resilience, education, governance and long-term thinking to respond to geopolitical, economic and security challenges. Innovation policy wonks might find fresh perspectives on how innovation can strengthen defence, societal resilience and Europe's capacity to adapt in an uncertain world. Whether or not you agree with all of Oliver Moody's conclusions, the book is a useful guide to a region that is increasingly shaping European debates on security, competitiveness and technology. Goda NaujokaityteThe Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf This book chronicles the wild and adventurous life of natural science pioneer Alexander von Humboldt who at some point in the 19th century seems to have been just about the most famous person in the world. Through scientific expeditions to the Andes Mountains and to the depths of Siberia, von Humboldt contributed a host of discoveries and concepts. During his life he met and formed relationships with historical figures as different as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Simon Bolivar, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte and Charles Darwin. He is also claimed to be the person in the world with most things named after him, a list that includes an ocean current, a penguin and a region of the Moon. Still venerated in Germany, with numerous scientific institutions named after him, von Humboldt has slipped out of public consciousness in most of the rest of the world. For anyone not familiar with him, this book does a good job of describing his fascinating life. Ole EllekrogCareless People, by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsYou may have heard this referred to as the book Meta doesn’t want you to read. The 2025 memoir from Sarah Wynn-Williams, former director of global public policy at Meta, then just called Facebook, includes explosive claims about everything from a toxic workplace culture to how the company worked with advertisers to target vulnerable teens, and the lengths it was prepared to go to in order to break into China. It’s a fascinating insight into how and why the tech company gradually shifted its approach to policy, whether in the US, Europe or Asia. Meta has denied the allegations in the book, and last year won an emergency ruling to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting it. In response, the author is now suing her former employer. If that doesn’t make you want to read it. Martin GreenacrePodcastsThe Europeans: Europe’s anti-ElonThis podcast is a great choice for a light-hearted dose of European policy and culture news. Most of it has little to do with research, innovation and technology, but this particular podcast features an interview with Mastadon’s founder Eugen Rochko. He talks about his experience running an open-source, federated, European-made social media platform, and leaving it all behind. The conversation, which starts 14 minutes in, gently encourages us to reflect on what kind of technology we, as Europeans, want to make. Goda NaujokaityteSolarpunk and how we escape dystopiaNew technologies are very often taken from science fiction. Alberto Santos-Dumont, inventor the airship, was inspired as a child by the adventure stories of Jules Verne. OpenAI’s attempt to build a personal assistant with the voice of Scarlett Johansson was lifted from the 2013 film Her, completely ignoring the movie’s cautionary message. So if we want better tech, we need to imagine it first. Unfortunately, the state of current sci-fi is relentlessly dystopian, giving inventors precious few ideas or hope. However, a new genre, Solarpunk, which envisages a technologically advanced but ecologically harmonious future, is now taking off. The actual tech the genre imagines, such as permaculture, renewable energy or community repair workshops, while nice, isn’t all that inspiring or ambitious. But it’s a first step towards rescuing sci-fi from its pessimistic Blade Runner rut. David MatthewsEveryday AbundanceLaunched in June, Everyday Abundance is a podcast that tells the stories of the inventions we now take so for granted that we barely given them a second thought. For example, the washing machine, which liberated women from a lifetime “bent over washtubs and washboards.” Or modern dentistry, which ended the reality that “tooth pain was simply part of human life.” Historians of technology, Virginia Postrel and Charles C Mann are very much on the optimistic end of the spectrum when it comes to the capacity of invention to improve human life. Here, they set out their case: if it wasn’t for progress, you might be hunched over a washtub with toothache rather than reading these words. David Matthews‘We will not know what we lost’: Conservation fallout a year after USAID shutdownSince his return to the White House, Donald Trump has been on a mission to undermine science. He slashed jobs at federal agencies, terminated grants in some research areas, took unprecedented control over university affairs and, within hours of his inauguration, suspended the US Agency for International Development. While its initial focus was to administer health and food aid around the world, it had since expanded to conservation projects. The result? Some of these projects were stopped abruptly. In this Mongabay podcast, environmental reporter Michelle Nijhuis tells the story of the EcoGuard conservation programme in Liberia, whose local patrols had helped protect rainforests, monitor endangered wildlife and track illegal threats. From one day to the next, these were left without salaries. Luckily, she notes, the initiative was able to get emergency funding from international NGOs, but its future remains “incredibly uncertain.” Juliette PortalaEssaysThe Mars Delusion, by Henry WismayerWhy is humankind so fixated on establishing a colony on Mars? asks London-based writer Henry Wismayer. From space evangelists promoting Martian settlement as an insurance policy, to billionaire Jeff Bezos, who said humans should settle on Mars “because it’s cool,” the mission is not running short of advocates. However, in this essay, Wismayer reminds us that some critics expect any future Mars pioneer to end up “irradiated, sick, mad and dead.” Scientists have already looked into the possible effects of prolonged exposure to Martian gravity, and it’s not pretty: muscle shrinking, bones weakening, changes to the central nervous system and other biological modifications to make us all reconsider the journey. “Some researchers have forecast that the future settler, after generations of evolutionary conditioning, will look less like an Übermensch and more like ET,” Wismayer writes. Juliette Portala

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Aug 5 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencebusiness.net
Adam Sandler’s daughter reveals his bizarre swimming pool ritual

Sunny Sandler revealed her dad Adam Sandler’s unusual swimming pool habit during an interview with Jimmy Fallon, who didn’t believe her: ‘That is not true at all.’

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Aug 5 • 5:41 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Kazutaka Kodaka on Danganronpa 2x2, Slayhem Mode, and… octagons?

We Interview: Kazutaka Kodaka and Shohei Sakakibara at Anime Expo

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Aug 5 • 1:47 PM EDT • Technology • gamingtrend.com
Whoopi Goldberg suggests she’d exit ‘The View’ if she was richer

Whoopi Goldberg has suggested that she’d leave ‘The View’ if she had more money: ‘Don’t know if I’d still be doing the show,’ she told actress Keke Palmer in a new podcast interview.

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Aug 5 • 1:25 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Nurses chase cyclospora, aided by interviews, fast-food receipts

More than 900 people in Washtenaw County, Michigan, have been sickened with cyclosporiasis since mid-June. Linda Kim, a public health nurse, has called more than 100 of them. Almost everyone has said the same thing: It’s excruciating, and one of the worst illnesses they’ve experienced.

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Aug 5 • 6:00 AM EDT • Health • cnn.com
What Bifidobacteria tell us about gut health and how diet can help

In this interview, microbiome researcher Sudarshan Shetty explains what shapes Bifidobacteria, how they change with age, and what diet can do

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Aug 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com
Debunking false health claims made by RFK Jr. in a CNN interview
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Aug 3 • 9:32 PM EDT • Health • cnn.com
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If Not AOC, Then Who?

What do we do if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decides not to run for president in 2028? It makes sense that many leftists are currently focused on calling on her to take the plunge. But the absence of a Plan B, or even much discussion about one, is worrisome. The US Left can’t afford to sit out the 2028 Democratic primary. Doing so in 2024 was a disaster: our abstention self-marginalized anti-billionaire politics from the national conversation and thereby gave space for Harris to pivot to the “center” (i.e. the policy preferences of corporate donors, establishment hacks, and AIPAC). Abstaining again in 2028 would be especially counterproductive since democratic socialists now have so much wind in our sails after our big electoral wins in NYC and across the country. It’s time to deepen our momentum, organization, and profile — not to retreat to the margins during America’s single most important political battle. Even more urgently, keeping Trump’s heir out of the White House may depend on whether leftists and the party’s unprecedentedly disenchanted base can force the Democrats in 2028 to take meaningful steps towards a very angry electorate and away from the corporate-consultant blob that has helped get us into this mess. If AOC (or Abdul El-Sayed) decides to run, we should enthusiastically go all in — DSA, fighting unions, progressive organizations, anybody who wants to see a better country and world. But, as far as I can tell from the outside, there’s a real chance that she doesn’t run. And we can’t just wait and see where she lands before discussing alternatives, since AOC’s decision might not come for quite a while, giving us little time to scramble at the last minute for an alternative. So we should start working now on getting a Plan B into motion, and recruiting a good candidate for the role. Here’s one idea. A Worker Candidate — Healthcare Not Warfare 2028 Run a union worker Leftists don’t need to always run experienced, well-known socialist politicians for high-profile contests. Lula, the current president of Brazil, began his political career as a metalworker militant who ran for governor of São Paulo in 1982. Especially in an era of institutional distrust, it’s possible to lean hard into making a virtue out of a working-class comrade’s distance from traditional politics. Experience abroad shows this clearly. Rachel Kéké — an immigrant hotel housekeeper — ran as the candidate of the leftist La France Insoumise for the National Assembly in 2022, defeating a former minister in the Macron government. The Belgian Workers’ Party in 2024 won its first Flemish seat in the European Parliament by running Rudi Kennes, a three-decade veteran of the Opel Antwerp auto factory. And the South Korean left in 2024 elected auto factory militant Yoon Jong-oh to the National Assembly. If a tiny French Trotskyist organization could make such a big splash in 2002 and 2007 by running a well-spoken postal worker cadre for office — the LCR’s Olivier Besancenot received about 1.5 million first-round votes — it’s not far-fetched to expect that a much larger organization like DSA, together with a broader coalition of the willing, could run this playbook to much greater effect. This is especially the case now that almost everything DSA does immediately becomes a national news story. We don’t need someone famous. We just need a charismatic, well-vetted comrade who works in a relatable working-class occupation — e.g. a nurse, or a worker in auto or construction, or at Amazon. Ideally, they have a compelling personal story or have been part of a significant strike or organizing campaign, but even those criteria don’t necessarily have to be deal-breakers. The main lesson of the Graham Platner fiasco isn’t that we should never run outsiders for office (the momentum he generated proves the exact opposite), but that they need proper vetting and roots in democratic membership organizations like DSA or a union. In any case, there are plenty of ways to signal working-class authenticity without resorting to Platner’s or Fetterman’s performative macho white dude affect. Better to have someone of any gender or race who is actually working class, with firm socialist politics, who can speak from experience about the day-to-day realities of trying to make it in America. There are surely at least a dozen such worker leaders in our movement nationwide; we just need to sit down and convince one that their personal sacrifice for the greater good (i.e. running for president) will be worth it. If we don’t have a frontrunner with a clear path to victory like AOC (or El-Sayed, were he to win Michigan), it’s better to embrace someone whose decision to run in itself tells an important story about US politics: workers have been iced out of our political system and are now fighting hard to break back in. The novelty factor, in itself, would generate press. And it would help democratic socialists signal to the American public that our movement’s defining characteristic is that we represent workers vs. bosses, not that we’re “the furthest left” force in American politics — a framework that suggests we’re extremists and that helps our opponents isolate us from non-college-educated voters by highlighting extremely minoritarian (and misguided) stances included in DSA’s platform like prison abolition. We don’t get many opportunities to speak to tens of millions of Americans; we need to use these opportunities to broaden our appeal beyond those already in our orbit. Run to polarize the 2028 primary and general election around “Medicare for All” and “End All Aid to Israel” Why should democratic socialists use our scarce time and volunteer energy to run in a race we’re unlikely to win? Running in the 2028 primary will not only recruit us scores of members (imagine having a DSA member intervening in eleven nationally televised primary debates!), but — more importantly — it has the potential to be a decisive leap forward towards an America that finally starts meeting the needs of working people instead of HMO and AIPAC billionaire donors. Polarizing litmus tests are good, actually — as long as they’re fought for around popular demands in a thoughtful and strategic way. Democratic socialists have an opportunity and responsibility to make the 2028 primary about two of the most widely and deeply felt issues of our moment: domestically, America’s unaffordable, family-breaking private healthcare system; internationally, America’s bankrolling of the genocidal Israeli government. A candidacy relentlessly demanding Medicare for All and No Aid to Israel would pose a sharp question to the American public, the Democratic Party, and other 2028 contenders: Why can’t working-class Americans afford their healthcare bills at the same time that our government is spending at least $3.8 billion yearly to fund an Israeli regime eager to keep dragging us and the world into more forever wars? Our candidate can agitate around a clear message: I’m running to give voice to all those working-class Americans who are struggling to get by. No matter what state you live in, who you voted for in 2024, or your background, it’s just plain common sense that we should make healthcare more affordable instead of spending billions to enable the Israeli government’s crimes against humanity. Every American who agrees with me when I say ‘Medicare for All — Not a Dime for Israel’ should make their voice heard through our campaign. Racking up a high number of votes for this agenda is a crucial way to show the Democratic Party and the country as a whole that we can’t keep supporting a life-destroying status quo in our healthcare system and in the Middle East. If we want to defeat Trump’s handpicked crony this coming November, we need to speak to ordinary people’s frustrations with the status quo — we can’t keep running the same tired establishment playbook and expecting a different result. For those highly engaged voters (or skeptical media pundits) who raise concerns about wasting votes, the candidate can take the time to explain why this isn’t the case: It's true I'm a long shot. But Zohran showed anything can happen — and voting for me is a pragmatic decision, not a wasted vote. In a heavily divided primary with a large number of candidates and a very discredited establishment, my campaign and the democratic socialist movement I’m part of are positioned to be the balance of power if we can get a large enough number of voters to loudly demand Healthcare Not Warfare. Since there’s a high chance no candidate will get to 50% in the 2028 primaries, the Democrats could very well be heading towards a brokered convention, where a disciplined, principled current committed to breaking from corporate donors can play an outsized role in making sure whoever ends up with the nomination raises the banner of single-payer healthcare and cutting aid to Israel. How exactly could running this sort of primary campaign be translated into actual leverage? The candidate replies: I’m aiming to win the nomination, but if I don’t achieve that goal, my delegates and I will pledge our support in the primary only for a candidate who agrees in the general election to call for ending US aid to Israel and establishing Medicare for All at home. These are both winning planks for November against the Republicans, and the only reason I can see that other candidates haven’t yet raised these is that they’re still more scared of the donor class than they are of the people. That needs to change. If Democratic leaders want young people, workers, and those sick of the status quo to show up in big numbers this November, they need to meet us halfway. In this way, whether or not we win the nomination, democratic socialists could still play a decisive role in 2028. The approach outlined here is similar to what radical left parties periodically do in parliamentary democracies like Denmark or Sweden when they find themselves as a junior partner electorally: they dictate to center-left allies what their terms would be for enabling, from the outside, the formation of a new government. Running a Healthcare Not Warfare candidate will make it significantly more likely that the 2028 Democratic candidate stands with ordinary people instead of donors on these two pivotal planks — a shift that will, in turn, make it easier to achieve the existentially important task of defeating MAGA’s heir in November. Look at how much popular traction the Uncommitted movement got with a similar strategy in 2024 with so little on-the-ground organization — surely we can go much further with a working-class candidate, a much bigger DSA, and a Democratic Party base that has turned against Israel, billionaires, and the hacks in the party who prop them up. Objections and Responses There are quite a few objections to this proposal, many of which are very reasonable. Let me briefly address each here. Socialists shouldn’t waste their scarce time and resources on a candidate unlikely to win. This is a good rule in general, but there are important exceptions, and presidential elections are the main one. There’s no other political contest that gets anything like this level of attention and engagement in the US, so if you want to be a serious force in nationwide politics, you basically can’t afford not to have a candidate. Far from being an overall drain on our resources, running a dynamic 2028 campaign would likely result in a major net increase in members and capacity. In that spirit, the very pragmatic Milwaukee sewer socialists — who mostly ran to win at home in Wisconsin — supported Eugene Debs’s propagandistic presidential campaigns, which they correctly saw as a crucial means of recruiting to the Socialist Party. And now that the (post-1972) Democratic Party gives more weight to voters than party operatives in determining its presidential nomination, it’s become feasible to run as a socialist in primaries without risking a split in the vote against the Republicans in November. We should just support Ro Khanna, who also supports M4A and ending aid to Israel. I like Ro Khanna and would enthusiastically vote and canvass for him for president were he to get the nomination. But there’s a real chance that Khanna’s bid for office doesn’t catch on; he lacks the grassroots organizational apparatus of DSA, and, because he’s not really of the Left or labor (despite his current very good positions), he’s unlikely to generate the type of buy-in and enthusiasm that a DSA candidate would. Moreover, Khanna would be running as an individual, not as someone emerging from and building an organized movement — his campaign would not likely focus on building sustained power from below, nor would it likely polarize the 2028 primary around M4A and Israel aid. Also, and not inconsequentially, the poor electoral results for Tom Steyer and Saikat Chakrabarti this spring suggest that there’s perhaps not much of a popular appetite in the Democrats’ base to support multi-millionaire class traitors. Much better, then, to run a democratic socialist worker. If by Super Tuesday it’s clear that our campaign has captured the main left lane in the primary, Khanna should drop out and endorse us; conversely, if he’s managed to capture this lane, DSA could at that point transform its Healthcare Not Warfare campaign into an independent campaign to elect Ro Khanna focused on winning (and holding him accountable to) those two critical planks. An openness to consolidating an anti-corporate candidate by Super Tuesday is a necessary component of the strategy I’m proposing, because otherwise we risk splitting the primary votes (per DNC rules, you need at least 15% to get any delegates to convention). We should convince Shawn Fain or Sara Nelson to run for president instead. I agree it’d be great if either ran for president, but my impression is that there’s basically no chance that will happen in 2028, because both are firmly focused on their union leadership duties (and, in the case of Fain, beating back a federal witch-hunt). This plan could have DSA end up endorsing a non-socialist, non-DSAer for president. That’s against our principles. It’s a myth, and bad politics, that socialists can’t ever support candidates who aren’t members of their organization and/or who don’t call themselves socialists. Bernie, after all, was not a DSAer. And socialists abroad regularly make tactical decisions about if and when supporting a non-socialist candidate makes sense from the standpoint of promoting working-class interests, defending democracy, and building a socialist current in the process. If your “principles” prevent you and DSA from helping achieve the momentous stride forward of having a Democratic candidate in 2028 run on Medicare for All and ending aid to Israel, those “principles” are not very good. In fact, they actively undermine the causes they’re aiming to support. We shouldn’t confuse principles (working-class independence) with tactics (the best way to advance this in a given context). In my recent article in Catalyst on Milwaukee sewer socialism (I’ve uploaded the full text here), I have a section showing how similarly rigid rules about endorsements had to be eventually discarded in the old Socialist Party nationwide after WWI because they tended to lead socialists towards a sectarian abstention from broader anti-corporate electoral insurgencies beyond their party’s control. For what it’s worth, Lenin’s current under Tsarism frequently backed bourgeois candidates in the second round of elections and Lenin himself advocated that British Communists support Labour Party candidates; for his part, Kautsky in 1912 defended the German Social Democracy’s electoral pact with the Progressives in the runoffs. If our predecessors could be that tactically flexible in an era before the limits of their underlying strategic assumptions about intransigent class politics in capitalist democracies were made clear, then there’s no need to insist on being more tactically rigid today, after a century’s worth of accumulated experience. As long as you maintain your own political profile and organization while engaging in broader coalitional efforts, there’s zero inherent contradiction with the principle of political independence. More specifically: DSA and allied organizations should enthusiastically back Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed if AOC declines to run and he throws his hat in the presidential ring. (I have no idea whether he’s even considering this path, but there’ll surely be chatter about it if he wins his Senate race this November.) Though he doesn’t call himself a socialist, El-Sayed is a principled Berniecrat, a consistent fighter for Palestine, and would have a clear path to victory. Using the “s” word is far less important than whether a campaign fights for the interests of working people at home and abroad — and whether actively participating in it can grow the organized working class and the Left. And the same holds true if a less anti-corporate candidate were, under pressure, to adopt our two Healthcare Not Warfare planks. Why focus only on M4A and ending US aid to Israel? There are so many other important issues to fight for! Obviously there are many pivotal issues beyond healthcare and Israel, and our candidate — and especially our organizations involved in the campaign — should be prepared to speak on all of these. But one of the crucial lessons of the Zohran campaign is that you have to relentlessly stay on message if you want to cut through the noise. CNN and Fox News will want to talk about DSA’s views on Venezuela and abolishing the police; we need to polarize the debate on the widely and deeply felt issues that are most favorable for growing the Left, isolating our opponents, and winning urgently needed changes. One recent poll found 63% of Americans support M4A, even after respondents were told it would raise taxes and eliminate most private insurance. Another found that 74% of Democrats opposed “providing additional economic and military support to Israel.” And focusing on two demands sets the campaign up to be able to leverage its mandate to make clear demands upon other candidates (which we can’t do if we run with a laundry list of demands). Talking about a Plan B is a distraction from the more urgent work of building a groundswell of calls on AOC to run. It’s good for DSAers, fightback unionists, and progressive organizations to try to convince AOC to run. This proposal is meant as an addendum to pushes to get AOC to run and to line DSA up for that eventuality, not as a substitute for those efforts. But I’m worried that, like in 2024, we might eventually find ourselves with no time to find a viable alternative unless we start now. DSA, with its abundant deliberative processes, moves slowly. The approach you’re suggesting seems risky. If a DSA candidate runs but doesn’t receive a lot of votes, it’ll undercut our current national momentum. This is a reasonable worry. All big initiatives always carry risks, and the path I’m advocating is certainly not free of these. That said, if a Healthcare Not Warfare campaign doesn’t catch on like we envisioned, it’s a pretty simple pivot in March 2028 to explain that in the future we really need our standard-bearers like AOC, or our growing bench of national electeds, to step up in presidential primaries. Moreover, it’s worth noting that the risk of my Plan B proposal is on the whole significantly less than the risk entailed by an AOC run. We should all back her if she runs, since she’d fire up the base, provide huge openings for organizing, have a real shot at defeating a Republican (especially given MAGA’s unpopularity), be a great standard-bearer for our issues, particularly M4A and ending aid to Israel, and be less willing than mainstream candidates to capitulate to any anti-democratic machinations from Trump and co. But it’s also true that AOC could lose, which would be a devastating setback to the country and the Left. Or she could win and find herself unable to pass much, if any, of her (and our) program, a demoralizing prospect. So if we’re willing to take these risks with AOC (and we should), it follows that we should be able to take lower-level risks if she doesn’t throw her hat in the ring. What’s Your Plan B? The US Left is facing its biggest opening for growth and influence since the 1930s. Initiatives that would have been impossible a few months ago are now potentially feasible. A President AOC is now easier to imagine, but if she ultimately assesses that the risks aren’t worth the potential reward in 2028, we can’t be left flat-footed. So even if you’re not convinced by the specifics of my Plan B, I hope you can at least agree that it’d be a disaster for us not to have one — and not to start getting a Plan B into motion. Hopefully other organizers and political currents will put forward their responses and alternative ideas ASAP. The stakes are too high to just wait and see. More As always, please share this article widely. This newsletter depends on all you lovely people to get the word out. Thank you! I uploaded the full text of my Catalyst article on Milwaukee sewer socialism here (it’s updated and 3x as long as the version published earlier on this substack). If you haven’t yet, please make sure to subscribe to Catalyst here; I read every issue front to back, highly recommend. 🌹🎵 Ivan Lins (arranged by Arthur Verocai) — “General da Banda” 🌹🎵

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Aug 3 • 12:50 PM EDT • Politics • laborpolitics.com
Exclusive interview: Science diplomat Paul Arthur Berkman

Strategic competition across the Indo-Pacific region presents challenges for nation-states and their ability to coexist within contested spaces.

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Aug 3 • 9:56 AM EDT • Science • upi.com
[Interview] [Galaxy Unpacked July 2026] Inside the Design Behind the Latest Galaxy Z Series and Galaxy Watch

On July 22 at Galaxy Unpacked July 2026, Samsung Electronics introduced Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold8, Galaxy Z Flip8, Galaxy Watch Ultra2 and Galaxy

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Aug 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Technology • news.samsung.com
Dwight Freeney shares a defensive take on Patrick Mahomes' injury

During his interview with @EdEastonJr, Hall of Famer Dwight Freeney shared a defensive perspective on Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes' injury

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Aug 3 • 6:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Phil Collins came close to death in 2024, loved ones said goodbye

In a new interview, Phil Collins revealed he came so close to death during a hospitalization in 2024 his loved ones were called in to say goodbye.

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Aug 2 • 4:20 PM EDT • Health • usatoday.com
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Is all publicity good publicity for the WNBA?

You might not know it if you’re just a general sports fan living in the age of the internet, but beyond the off-court drama involving Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham following comments she made about transgender athletes in an interview with ESPN nearly two weeks ago, the WNBA is hitting the home stretch of its…

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Aug 2 • 3:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
RFK Jr. tells CNN host that constitutional rights take priority over public health

In a heated interview with Dana Bash, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attacked Anthony Fauci and the media.

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Aug 2 • 11:19 AM EDT • Health • politico.com
RFK Jr., Bash clash in heated interview: ‘This is not productive’

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CNN’s Dana Bash clashed over vaccine safety and COVID-19 in a heated interview on Sunday. The tension in the “State of the Union”…

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Aug 2 • 11:10 AM EDT • Health • thehill.com
Is Jaydon Blue Ready To Break Out For The Cowboys?

Jaydon Blue discusses his Year 2 growth, route running and Cowboys backfield chemistry in a new DXSN interview from training camp.

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Aug 2 • 9:30 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Miyamoto reveals the origins of the famous dash mechanic in Super Mario Bros.

According to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the well-known dash mechanic in Super Mario Bros. came about from a coding bug. Miyamoto shared the origins of how it came to be in an interview. The mechanic has existed since the start of the series. When holding the B button while running, Mario’s speed increase and he can more easily navigate obstacles. ...

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Aug 1 • 6:00 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
‘It’s unacceptable’: Cleveland Browns owner says fans ‘deserve better’

The Cleveland Browns have not performed well the past two seasons, and team owner Jimmy Haslam knows it. However, despite the recent struggles, it sounds like Haslam is optimistic about this season. During a recent interview, Haslam acknowledged the team’s frustrating record the past two years, but he made it clear that he thinks the…

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Aug 1 • 4:03 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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Nurses chase Cyclospora using grocery receipts, food apps and detailed interviews

Public health nurses have been pulled from other duties in Washtenaw County, MI, to call hundreds of people sick with cyclosporiasis, and try to help them remember everything they ate in recent days.

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Aug 1 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • npr.org
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Kevin Gausman Met With Blue Jays About Chemistry Comments

Toronto Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman met with the team to discuss recent comments he made about the team lacking chemistry this season.Gausman recently opened eyes when he said in an interview with the Toronto Star that he didn’t believe that the 2026 Blue Jays had the same team chemistry that the 2025 Blue Jays […] The post Kevin Gausman Met With Blue Jays About Chemistry Comments appeared first on HEAVY.

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Aug 1 • 2:47 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
UNCW Business School Students Travel to Prague for Real-Life Consulting Experience by Robert Burrus

This article was contributed by Kestrel Smoot, International Programs Coordinator for UNCW’s Cameron School of Business. During the most recent spring semester, 33 upper-level finance and marketing students from the UNCW’s Cameron School of Business traveled to Prague, Czechia, to participate in an intensive international consulting project. Unlike traditional study-abroad programs, the Prague consultancy project focuses on real client engagement. Each year’s project is entirely new, designed through collaboration between faculty and industry partners to identify a current business challenge that students will address. This year, students worked with MAMS-Champi, a Czech non-alcoholic beverage company that is seeking to expand into other global markets. Throughout the first half of the semester, students attend class at UNCW and prepare for their time abroad by conducting preliminary research, developing analytical frameworks, and organizing themselves into specialized teams responsible for tasks such as marketing strategy, industry analysis, consumer segmentation, and competitive evaluation. The course emphasizes independence and teamwork, requiring students to take ownership of their work, manage deadlines, and collaborate across functional groups. Additionally, faculty serve as advisors, allowing students to navigate the complexities of the project much as they would in a professional consulting environment. Once in Prague, students met with company leadership, toured facilities, and refined their recommendations based on real-time feedback. The in-person component is widely regarded as the most transformative aspect of the program because students must synthesize weeks of work into a cohesive presentation and deliver it to the client, demonstrating professionalism, strategic thinking, and adaptability. Beyond the consulting work, students participated in cultural and educational activities that broadened their understanding of global business environments. They explored Prague’s historic districts, learned about Czech culture, and engaged with local professionals. These experiences helped students understand how economic, regulatory, and social factors shape market opportunities. The Prague consultancy project stands as a defining example of the Cameron School of Business’s commitment to experiential learning, consistently strengthening students’ confidence, enhancing their resumes, and serving as a focal point in job interviews. Employers recognize the value of the hands-on experience and transferable skills students gain, underscoring the program’s role in preparing industry-ready graduates for today’s fast-moving business landscape.

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Jul 31 • 8:00 PM EDT • Business • wilmingtonbiz.com
An Interview with Planetary Politics Director at New America Heela Rasool-Ayub

Heela Rasool-Ayub is director of the Planetary Politics initiative at New America. Before joining us for “Can the Energy Crisis Finally Unite Us?,” co-presented by Thomas Mann House and Zócalo Public Square in partnership with ASU Global Futures Laboratory and the Palisadian-Post, she joined us for a chat about economist Joseph Stiglitz, Afghan food, and the highlands of Ethiopia.

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Jul 31 • 6:12 PM EDT • Politics • zocalopublicsquare.org
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Who is Kathryn Ruemmler? Former Obama White House attorney interviewed about Epstein emails

Ruemmler called Epstein, whom she first met in 2014, a “masterful liar” in her opening remarks to the panel, adding that she didn’t see evidence of criminal conduct by Epstein.

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Jul 31 • 3:07 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Power List interview: Amanda LeFever

Amanda LeFever joined High Point University President Nido Qubein in the Power List interview, a partnership for discussions with influential leaders. The interview was edited for clarity. Amanda LeFever is president and co-founder of Greensboro-based Mission Mobile Medical Group, which launched in 2020. From a single unit, it now has more than 250 partners […]

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Jul 31 • 8:27 AM EDT • Business • businessnc.com
Joe Barrett's WSJ piece on Archer debate ignores the politics behind the Astroturfed "rebellion" against the safety project

And traffic safety advocates who were interviewed for the article say they have issues with the reporter omitting other important info from the article.

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Jul 31 • 1:37 AM EDT • Politics • chi.streetsblog.org
Fashion IPOs Became a Recipe for Disaster. Reformation Thinks Its Business Model Can Break the Curse

Reformation’s IPO shows investors may be willing to buy fashion again, but only if the story comes with profits, cash flow, and proof customers keep coming back.

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Jul 30 • 7:07 PM EDT • Business • inc.com
PoetsLife Entertainment Interview

Acadiana's Local News Leader -- bringing Lafayette the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment

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Jul 30 • 1:02 PM EDT • Entertainment • klfy.com
Sporting director Christoph Freund: 'The intensity has been very good'

Ahead of FC Bayern’s friendly at FC Rottach-Egern, which marks the end of the training camp at Tegernsee, sporting director Christoph Freund spoke about the preparations for the new season in an in...

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Jul 30 • 12:30 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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Cuba to Trump: We’re Open for Business

A top Cuban official says the island won’t negotiate its politics, but it is willing to talk investment, including from President Trump.

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Jul 30 • 5:01 AM EDT • Business • nytimes.com
Anthony Fauci Finally Turns Down an Interview Request

The doctor, not known to shy from a spotlight, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights rather than answer loaded questions from Senate Republicans.

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Jul 29 • 11:11 AM EDT • Politics • nymag.com
How 97 Copies of an Unreleased Version of Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt Were Discovered in a Wisconsin Warehouse

When Jason Ganos was asked to help sell an old box full of NES cartridges, he figured they would be pre-owned copies of games that had already been circulated in the market. He had no idea that he was about to make a historic discovery that would change his life forever.

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Jul 29 • 11:00 AM EDT • Technology • ign.com
Business journalism studies took her to the White House | UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media

The story by UNC Hussman alumni Brennan Doherty ’19 and video by John Roberts ’16 (M.A.) was originally published on unc.edu. This story is part of a four-part series on Carolina alumni working in Washington, D.C. Soon after her 2015 graduation from UNC-Chapel Hill, Megan Cassella was an intern for the Reuters news agency, eagerly awaiting and prepping for a special assignment. “Every now and then they needed an intern to run over to the White House last minute,” Cassella said. “You have to send your information the night before, so I started proactively sending my information to the White House every single night to be able to go the next day if they ever needed an intern.” Since then, she’s made many return trips to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in a career that’s included roles at Reuters, Politico, Barron’s and now CNBC, where she works as an on-air Washington correspondent. A longtime newswriter, Cassella made the move to TV in 2024, appearing on broadcasts multiple times daily to report on the biggest political and business stories. But the keys to doing a good job — knowing how to research, asking insightful questions, building relationships and explaining complex topics to a broad audience — remain the same. Did you know: Outside of the state of North Carolina, the Washington region is home to the largest concentration of Tar Heel alumni in the country. Cassella’s time as a Tar Heel was crucial in sharpening those skills, both in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and through roles at student-run publications like The Daily Tar Heel. She excelled in Carolina’s business journalism program with former professor Chris Roush, which led to an internship at The Charlotte Observer and helped Cassella find her journalistic niche. A data journalism course with Associate Professor Ryan Thornburg taught her how to find stories in numbers, and former professor Paul O’Connor’s reporting class took Cassella to the North Carolina Capitol weekly, where she gained invaluable experience interviewing politicians. “Those hands-on experiences that Carolina gave me really kept my interest and have really benefited me since I’ve been up here in D.C.,” said Cassella. “I have UNC to thank for the fact that I even went into business journalism in the first place.” Megan Cassella ’15 “You’ve got to thrive on adrenaline in this job. You’ve got to do well with last-minute changes, with running by the seat of your pants.” Megan Cassella ’15 ‘There’s nothing else like it’ In recent months, Cassella has reported live from the G7 Summit in Geneva, covered the latest developments in the U.S.-Iran war and followed changes to trade policy, including tariffs. “Anything in this realm that influences Wall Street, I’ll be covering,” Cassella said. Her working hours are long and variable. After waking up, Cassella immediately checks her phone to see what news broke overnight. By 8:15 a.m., she usually learns which newscasts she’ll be on, and then she heads to the newsroom, White House or wherever her assignment is. “We want you in the 9 a.m. show and the 11, and then the 3 o’clock show wants you, too,” Cassella said, referring to a hypothetical day. If Cassella gets an exclusive or major news breaks, she might be told, “We want that on TV right now.” Within five minutes, she’d be expected to get to the camera, figure out what to say and deliver the news to a live audience. “It’s exciting. It’s nerve-wracking,” Cassella said. “But there’s nothing else like it.” A well-rounded education Cassella grew up in Maryland, the youngest of four kids. Her oldest brother, Brian Cassella ’05, attended Carolina, became a photojournalist and recently won a Pulitzer Prize. She remembers visiting campus as a young child and loving it. “I just always wanted to go,” she said, and that desire grew when she, like her brother, gravitated toward journalism. But it wasn’t just the journalism school that drew Cassella to Carolina. “It was also the whole liberal arts curriculum,” she said. “Even though I always wanted to be a journalist, I got to college, and I sort of felt I had to think about other things. I had to explore my options and see if that’s what I really wanted.” Did you know: In April UNC-Chapel Hill opened its Carolina in the Capital office in Washington. She combined her journalism schooling with a global studies major and a history minor. That broad range of academic experiences in Chapel Hill molded her, preparing Cassella for a career that’s taken her to the highest levels of political journalism and inside the Oval Office. “When you sit back and remember you’re actually sitting inside the White House and asking questions of the president, it’s a cool feeling,” Cassella said. “No matter who is in office, no matter what administration or party, it’s a privilege to be there.” Megan Cassella on… Being a Tar Heel in Washington: I run into Tar Heels all the time. My husband’s a Tar Heel. We actually met here in Washington, not at Carolina, even though we were the same class. Probably most of our friends are still Tar Heels. Even up here in D.C., we all get together for games and March Madness. And through work, there’s Tar Heels all over the place. It’s often used as a connection. Favorite Franklin Street spot: When we go back, our first stop is always IP3. That’s more my husband’s doing than mine. In college, I was a huge Spanky’s fan. Felt like it was a classic spot. May it rest in peace. Advice to journalism students: Reps, reps, reps! Nothing beats the experience you’ll gain by simply starting to do the work — asking the questions, reporting and writing the stories, doing the TV hits. When you can, go places in person. Talk to more people than you think you’ll need. Read as much as you can, from different sources and on different topics. If you’re not sure how to start your story, that usually means you need more reporting. When you’re not sure, ask.

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Jul 29 • 10:39 AM EDT • Business • hussman.unc.edu
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Michael Strahan responds to criticism over Chris Johnson interview
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Jul 29 • 6:43 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
The Science Behind the AI Panic Is Shakier Than You Think

A column by Sascha Lobo Is AI making us dumb? So asked DER SPIEGEL on its cover a while ago. After a few weeks of recovery and a therapeutic intervention with the help of my AI, I feel able to respond. That’s a bit unfair, of course; the article itself is more nuanced than the loud cover, the image of a schoolkid with dull prompt questions, or the subtitle: “AI is conquering the schools, and educators fear a disaster.” The short answer to “Is AI making us dumb?” is: no. The long answer is more interesting, and even carries a preliminary glimmer of the spectacular. Unfortunately, it requires a detour into the sphere of artificial intelligence, into the mogul-field terrain of technology assessment, the attention economy, and the destructive virus of cultural pessimism. Along with narrowing the scope to AI’s effects on education and work rather than on intelligence. Because the honest version of the question would be: Does AI help us learn and work, or not? Generative AI, which set off the still-ongoing hype with ChatGPT, has only existed in relevant distribution since late 2022, early 2023. For a technology-driven transformation of people and society, that is extremely short. For that reason alone, research is still in its infancy. And technology assessment is not a fast discipline anyway. Prominent voices from Elizabeth Eisenstein to RAND to Tom Wheeler say we still cannot conclusively judge the consequences of the printing press. Its invention is a mere 580 years back, and some scholars would rather not circulate assessments that might have to be retracted in two or three hundred years. We’re Going Through Growing Pains A phenomenon that already caused upheaval in social media research makes serious assessment of AI’s consequences even harder: the “moving target” problem of LLM-ology, as the linguist Sean Trott called it in 2025. AI develops so quickly and so unpredictably that researchers often end up studying snapshots of the past. There are concepts, from morphological analysis to anticipatory governance, for keeping research, planning, and regulation halfway meaningful anyway. But even with those, universally valid statements are rare. DER SPIEGEL - The German View is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe We should therefore treat findings about the interplay between humans and AI as far more procedural and situational. Unfortunately, this challenge comes at the worst possible time. We are going through growing pains: AI’s everyday impact has grown very large very fast, and with it the longing for guidance. Annoyingly, the body of solid knowledge has not exploded along with it. Experts cannot be moved to broad consensus on even banal statements about AI. Sascha Lobo, born in 1975, is an author and strategy consultant focusing on the internet and digital technologies. Together with Jule Lobo, he explores the debates of the day in the podcast “Feel the News – Was Deutschland bewegt” (”What Moves Germany”). Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says software developers are dying out. Bill Gates considers coders one of only three professions that will survive the AI tsunami. Top tech economists find virtually irrefutable arguments both for and against an AI bubble. The same naturally applies to the structurally youth-hostile debate over whether AI is good or bad for young people. The gap between the demand for insight and the supply of solid knowledge creates an orientation vacuum. This vacuum of AI cluelessness is filled, as the attention economy described by Georg Franck in 1998 would have it, with half-knowledge (funnily enough, often AI-generated), marketing, and self-marketing. After all, infinite money is at stake, along with academia’s best current shot at global fame. But this iridescent froth of interpretation operates more by the algorithmic principles of the digital public sphere than by seriously earned insight. That is why dramatized, fear-feeding claims about AI are so promising. It tempts parts of academia into distorted drivel, and parts of the media then sensationalize the published drivel once more. Was the Research Aimed at a Desired Result? How badly this can influence academia and public perception is demonstrated by one of the most-discussed studies on AI’s effects: “Your Brain on ChatGPT.” The MIT study by Nataliya Kosmyna also gets plenty of space in the SPIEGEL cover story. What was measured and interpreted: lower brain activity in people who write with AI assistance, compared to people who only google or write without any tools. As is common with preprints, the study has not yet been peer-reviewed, and it contains substantial weaknesses that experts have sharply criticized. The first round had 54 participants in three groups, the second only 18, who reportedly also came from MIT’s own orbit. There was no preregistration (committing in advance to what you want to find out with which data). In their analysis, Stanković et al. even discovered an opposite effect that the study does not further explain. Some measurement data has not (yet) been published. And the EEG analysis method used is considered too imprecise to support such far-reaching conclusions. The biggest criticism, though, is the suspicion of an activism-driven study. In an interview with Time, lead author Kosmyna said she published the study immediately, rather than after full peer review, because she feared politicians might otherwise decide to put ChatGPT in kindergartens. She considers that absolutely harmful. It is legitimate to hold such a view. It just seems unscientific to approach a study with it, and then to design the setup so that the chance of a fitting desired result remains as high as possible. Ideologies Collide It is not easy to separate genuine AI insights from studies that trivialize and weaken well-founded AI criticism. The same goes for the opposing, AI-enthusiastic narratives, because the pro-AI side works against it with billions in resources. Ideologies collide, fed by egos, PR strategies, moral posturing, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Doomsday marketing makes the search even harder: AI companies can profit from warnings about the dangers of AI, whether through the notoriety of apocalypse narratives or because, in some target groups, danger translates into power. Some seemingly negative findings are therefore quite welcome in the AI industry. If you try to get at the findings presumably less influenced by interest groups, the picture in education seems relatively clear: AI can improve educational outcomes when the right AI is used the right way, namely pedagogically. Simply dumping an AI chatbot into a classroom, by contrast, accomplishes little. Huge surprise. But something else is also obvious: whether they are allowed to or not, kids use AI for school, which is why the controlled integration of AI tools into education is, in the medium term, entirely without alternative. In the world of work, the landscape of findings is more complex and requires more differentiation. A series of serious studies points to an AI effect that suits neither the alarmists, regulation fetishists, and AI opponents, nor the trillion-dollar corporations with their armada of paid scientists, PR professionals, and ecosystems: working with AI helps the inexperienced (at least for now) considerably more than it helps the pros, in certain fields of work, and provided they know how to use it correctly. Missing Domain Knowledge Among the experienced, the professionals, and the high flyers, by contrast, despite frequent time savings, partially negative effects and new problems are emerging. Take the jagged frontier problem: AI solves task A brilliantly and fails completely at task B, even though both look similar even to professionals. Or the verification-cost problem, in which AI’s greater productivity gets eaten up by the enormous effort of checking its output. Or the illusion of competence, because AI makes new domains seem easily penetrable, until you painfully discover that deep domain knowledge is missing. Taken as a whole, the effects of working with AI do lean positive. But the promise that AI works as a turbocharger for everyone and boosts practically everything simply refuses to materialize. The AI magic the world has been feeling since ChatGPT arrived in late 2022 has so far barely shown up in most companies’ numbers. The consulting firm McKinsey has coined a term for this, the “gen AI paradox,” and believes that work processes and corporate structures would have to be rebuilt quite fundamentally to realize AI’s benefits at scale. Reuters just reported that only 3.3 percent of Microsoft’s customers have subscribed to the AI package Copilot. That may be down to the product; in other areas we continue to see soaring successes and new AI triumphs. But after the first quarter of 2026, disillusionment is the word for all too many AI projects at traditional companies: because the promised revolution of AI agents has so far failed to arrive or been postponed, and because of the leveling effect that many of the studies cited here suggest. Against Inequality The societal effects, on the other hand, appear rather encouraging. Many previous technologies operated on the Matthew principle, named for the Gospel verse about giving to those who already have: they tended to reward the more competent and more privileged. AI, however, seems more often to have an equalizing effect once a threshold of access and education is crossed. Some anecdotal insights point in this direction, for example, how an unemployed man in Leipzig successfully defended himself in court in 2025 against fraud accusations from Germany’s federal employment agency — without a lawyer, armed only with ChatGPT. The AI made mistakes and cited invented court rulings, but in the end the man walked away unpunished. And a key capability of artificial intelligence is its capacity to learn: set up correctly and fed with data, it can keep getting better. It is a question of time, or more precisely of AI innovations and training data, until even free AI chatbots write better legal briefs than law graduates with perfect exam scores. Whether that will make anyone dumb is something the world’s press will surely inform us of in due time. Subscribe Leave a comment

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Jul 29 • 4:23 AM EDT • Science • derspiegel.substack.com
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Conservatives tout Biden tapes as proof of his decline. The audio is more nuanced.

Audio of Joe Biden's interviews with a ghostwriter in 2016 and 2017 show him referencing classified materials and occasionally struggling to recall details.

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Jul 28 • 6:48 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Full interview: Southcoast Health offers total joint replacement program

Replacing a joint is no simple feat, but the process has come a long way thanks to advanced technology, and the procedure can greatly improve a patient’s quality of life.

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Jul 28 • 5:29 PM EDT • Health • wpri.com
'President Curtis' Star Keith David on Why He Loves Science Fiction

The POTUS himself and his co-star, Jim Rash, talk about their new 'Rick and Morty' spin-off.

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Jul 28 • 3:00 PM EDT • Science • gizmodo.com
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs talk about the challenges of a Nintendo Switch 2 port

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 may still end up on Nintendo Switch 2 at some point on the future, but it would be a “big technical challenge”. The RPG originally released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S. Sandfall Interactive co-founder Tom Guillermin said in a recent interview that a Nintendo Switch 2 version would be tough “because we...

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Jul 28 • 12:05 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
Biden interviews with ghostwriter reveal him discussing sensitive information

About three hours of audio and 117 pages of transcripts were released by the conservative Oversight Project

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Jul 28 • 8:58 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Biden interviews with ghostwriter reveal him discussing sensitive information

About three hours of audio and 117 pages of transcripts were released by the conservative Oversight Project

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Jul 28 • 8:58 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
‘Carrie’ season 2? Mike Flanagan sees TV series ‘not as a finite story’ (exclusive)

‘Carrie’ season 2? Mike Flanagan addresses potential for more episodes and talks expanding the world of Stephen King during an exclusive interview with EW.

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Jul 27 • 12:10 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Carly Simon reveals Parkinson's disease and cancer diagnoses

Carly Simon revealed in a new interview with People magazine that she's been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

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Jul 27 • 8:51 AM EDT • Health • usatoday.com
What England's local councils tell us about fragmenting politics

Even the most ardent advocate for local democracy would concede that council chambers are not always the most exciting places. Subscribe Whether it’s planning meetings, motions or resolutions, you’d be forgiven for switching off. Unless it’s lockdown and we’re talking about standing orders, of course. Remember Jackie Weaver, who infamously “had no authority here” at a chaotic parish council Zoom call in 2021? Yet, as a general rule since then, council meetings rarely make the headlines beyond local papers and news websites. Reform’s success After Reform’s stunning success at the local elections in May though, the leader of the party’s group on Kirklees Council suddenly found she’d gone viral online for admitting that she didn’t actually understand council procedures. “I don’t understand the constitution”, Councillor Sarah Wood, pictured above, told the council chamber. “I have not had sufficient time to read that as yet. I don’t understand what standing orders are, what they’re made up of, nor do I understand what an amendment is.” Share Channel 4 News Councillor Wood later defended her comments to the BBC, and said that “new councillors and not just us, are coming from jobs”. She claimed that the sharing of the clip mocking her online was an example of “Reform-bashing”. She added: “Yes, we need to know procedures. Yes we need to do the homework. And we have addressed that now and we have put that right.” So, with standing orders getting another moment in the spotlight, not to mention the fracturing and fragmentation from May’s results, we set out to find out how new councillors are doing across England in this new political landscape. New political landscape Where better to start then than Kirklees, in West Yorkshire. Reform is the largest party, the council is under no overall control and has chosen a new leader - Sarah Wood - after two failed attempts to elect one. It is difficult to secure interviews with new Reform councillors, but John Hardie, pictured below, told us it’s been a “whirlwind” since being elected in May. He represents the Dalton ward and told us the party’s lack of political experience hasn’t been a hindrance. “We’ve come with lots of experience, lots of business experience and life experience, and it’s been good, actually, too. And to mix with other councillors who have been in the political world, and we can learn from each other.” Indeed, more parties are now having a say than ever before. In Manchester, the Green Party followed up their victory in the parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton by gaining 17 seats on the city council. That makes them the official opposition to Labour, who have long dominated Manchester City Council. [ ](https://channel4news.substack.com/p/how-landmark-green-by-election-win) [ How landmark Green by-election win could change British politics ](https://channel4news.substack.com/p/how-landmark-green-by-election-win) Krishnan Guru-Murthy · Feb 27 [ Read full story ](https://channel4news.substack.com/p/how-landmark-green-by-election-win) Thirza Amina Asanga-Rae, pictured below, is one of those new councillors, representing Moss Side. We asked her how being the official opposition can make a difference. She said: “I think even the fact that we’ve made history in what we’ve done, it’s been a 50-year stronghold of Labour in Manchester, and now that we’ve broken that and chipped in that, there’s real hope that we can not only run the council in the future, but currently hold them to account. So, I think that’s powerful. It’s just going to help shape and build what I call the green wave.” The reality, though, is that several newly elected councillors across the country have already left their roles through resignations, suspensions or defections. ‘It’s a slog’ Asanga-Rae adds: “It’s a job, it’s a slog. Obviously, we’re going through hard times. Austerity is real. We’re talking about food, child poverty, furniture poverty. The list is endless, and I think people who come into a councillor role need to be willing to help, really roll the sleeves up and get involved and help, and I think a lot of the career politicians, who think it’s the ‘la-di-da’ position, get in and realise I’m not going to do this work and bounce.” Share Although Manchester still has a clear majority, many councils, including Kirklees, are now under no overall control. That is perhaps the strongest sign of the political fragmentation we are seeing. Burnley is another example of this. Reform is now the largest party, yet they’re not part of the power-sharing coalition on this council - the Liberal Democrats and a local group of independents. Zulkernehn Hayat, pictured below, is part of The Independent Group. He represents Queensgate ward and told us all councils can benefit from having more independent councillors. ‘This is where I was brought up’ He said: “This is my home. This is Burnley. This is where I was brought up. Why do I need to get approval from somebody in a head office down south somewhere, you know? “This is my biggest argument. If okay, my neighbour comes to me with an issue, I can then take that straight to the council, because I don’t need to get approval from anywhere else. And this is the benefit of being independent.” So, while voters will always inevitably want quick results, perhaps spare a thought for the newly-elected councillors who are still navigating local government - one standing order at a time. Subscribe Share Channel 4 News Leave a comment

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Jul 27 • 3:01 AM EDT • Politics • channel4news.substack.com
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This AI startup is interviewing like it's the 2010s

Mercor's head of product, Osvald Nitski, said that the AI training company has moved away from take-home assignments that can be completed with AI.

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Jul 27 • 1:28 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
On GPS: Exclusive interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
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Jul 26 • 1:00 PM EDT • Business • cnn.com
Chris Evans explains how filming ‘Doomsday’ was like making the first ‘Avengers’ in 2011 (exclusive)

‘Avengers: Doomsday’ star Chris Evans sits down with EW for an exclusive Comic-Con interview, where he explains why making the movie gave him the same feels as filming ‘The Avengers’ in 2011.

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Jul 26 • 9:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Andy Burnham rules out early election in exclusive BBC interview

The new prime minister told Laura Kuenssberg that people "voted for a manifesto" that he would honour, when pressed on whether there will be an early general election.

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Jul 26 • 1:00 AM EDT • Politics • bbc.com
MLB Umpires Target Yankees José Caballero

On July 31, 2025 Jose Caballero held the unique distinction of players playing the opponent they were traded to when he turned a double play for the Tampa Bay Rays and conducted his postgame interview for the New York Yankees. Nearly a year later, Caballero holds the distinction of being the player ...

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Jul 25 • 9:33 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Andy Burnham and the rise of ‘aura farming’ in politics

Is “aura farming” the new political superpower? There are some days in TV news when you find yourself standing in the middle of a farm, surrounded by baby goats, trying to explain internet slang. Subscribe This was one of those days. There I was, in wellies, trying to unpack aura farming - a Gen Z term for carefully cultivating your image online so that you look effortlessly cool, authentic and charismatic. The trick, apparently, is that it can’t look like you’re trying too hard. Which, I’ll admit, felt slightly ironic as we filmed an entire report on a farm purely because the word farming is in the title. ‘Shaped by algorithms’ Whether you like it or not, politics increasingly feels like it’s being shaped by algorithms as much as manifestos. Take Andy Burnham. Since arriving at Number 10, he’s been impossible to miss online. One minute he’s out for a casual jog with Mo Farah. Next he’s announcing policy alongside TikTok high priestess Bus Aunty. His social media paints a very deliberate picture: less polished Westminster operator, more bloke from the North who just happens to be running the country. It’s not accidental. Burnham’s “King of the North”, New Order-loving persona has become part of a carefully constructed political brand. Authenticity is now something politicians work incredibly hard to make look effortless. But Burnham isn’t inventing this playbook. Like so many of us doomscrolling on an evening, he’s been influenced online. The digital strategy of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, pictured above right, has become a case study in viral political communication, and some of the people behind that campaign have recently been advising the Labour Party in Britain. Their message is simple: if you want to reach younger voters, you need to show up where they already spend their time. Embracing content creators And increasingly, that doesn’t mean traditional news interviews (awkward). It means speaking to content creators like Max from The Career Ladder, whose channels reach around 20 million followers worldwide. His interview with Burnham, pictured below, was posted almost immediately after he became Prime Minister. What struck me wasn’t just the audience size, but something Max told me afterwards: many people in the comments said they’d discovered Britain had a new Prime Minister through his interview. Think about that for a moment. Not through rolling news. Not through newspapers. Through a creator they were already following while scrolling. Share That’s a profound shift in how political information reaches people, one that’s been gathering momentum for some time. It also explains why politicians are embracing content creators and spending millions on digital marketing. Of course, this isn’t unique to one party. ‘Personality before policy’ In many ways, the right were quicker off the mark in building their aura online. Donald Trump built much of his political identity on social media. Nigel Farage remains one of Britain’s strongest political performers on TikTok. Politicians across the spectrum now understand that personality often reaches people before policy does. During a six-week UK general election campaign alone, overall digital ad spending routinely tops £11m. Share Channel 4 News Former Number 10 social media adviser Andrew Wong put it well when he told me that “vibes” can help someone get noticed, but they only work if they’re rooted in a genuine personality. Force it, and audiences spot it instantly. The bigger question is whether internet charisma can backfire on you - especially when you’re Prime Minister. Because behind Burnham’s carefully curated videos is a veteran politician with decades of Westminster experience. The spontaneity is produced. While the authenticity may be genuine, it’s managed. That’s not necessarily a criticism. It’s simply the reality of modern political communication. Aura farming alone is not enough to harvest change. But in the age of algorithms, winning attention may be the first battle. Subscribe Share Channel 4 News Leave a comment

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Jul 25 • 4:01 AM EDT • Politics • channel4news.substack.com
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Ryan Clark bashes ESPN over controversial layoff during emotional interview

The former NFL star is hurling serious accusations at ESPN after his recent departure.

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Jul 24 • 7:37 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Tom Holland pukes on 'Hot Ones' during spicy 'Odyssey' interview

During the press tour for 'The Odyssey,' actor Tom Holland stopped by 'Hot Ones' for an interview that was too hot to handle.

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Jul 24 • 7:09 PM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com
GOP's freshman firebrand goes viral targeting 'utterly intellectually indefensible' DEI policies

Rep. Brandon Gill is the youngest House Republican and is lauded as a rising star within the party.

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Jul 24 • 6:37 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
Pixel 11 price hikes look confirmed, as Google exec warns Pixel 10a could be next

An interview with a Google exec appears to confirm what retail leaks already teased: The Pixel 11 will cost more than the Pixel 10.

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Jul 24 • 4:23 PM EDT • Technology • androidauthority.com
‘Interview With the Vampire’ sheds ‘The Vampire Lestat’ title for season 4 renewal: ‘She is the answer’

‘Interview With the Vampire’ is officially renewed for season 4, and the series is changing its title once again to mark the special occasion.

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Jul 24 • 4:15 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Musk on his involvement in politics: ‘I got carried away’

Tech mogul Elon Musk reflected on his brief venture into politics in a new interview released Thursday, suggesting he “got carried away.” “I think I got a little too involved in p…

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Jul 24 • 10:22 AM EDT • Politics • thehill.com
Interviews Available from 2026 OVC Football Media Day Presented by Shaw Sports Turf

CHARLESTON - Last week, the Ohio Valley Football Conference hosted their 2026 Football Media Day presented by Shaw Sports Turf. During the day, the Buccaneers' Head Coach and student-athletes spent time speaking with members of the media previewing the upcoming 2026 season. There is an available copy of one of the interviews with each of representatives from Charleston Southern on the department's YouTube page which can be found at the links on this page. Additionally, a link to the ESPN+ broadcast with the segment featuring Charleston Southern is attached here as well.

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Jul 24 • 9:20 AM EDT • Sports • csusports.com
Tomb Raider Chronicles - AMAZON GAME STUDIOS REPORTEDLY DELAYS TOMB RAIDER CATALYST TO 2028

Amazon Game Studios has reportedly delayed Tomb Raider Catalyst until 2028, according to comments made by Amazon Games boss, Jeffrey Gattis, during an interview with The Game Business on the topic of Amazon's cloud streaming service, Luna, coming to Prime Video.

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Jul 24 • 8:00 AM EDT • Technology • tombraiderchronicles.com
5 key takeaways from Elon Musk's latest interview

Elon Musk discussed AI surpassing human intelligence, political involvement, and AI lab policing during an interview with The Economist.

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Jul 24 • 6:39 AM EDT • Politics • businessinsider.com
Billy V Live: The latest in Hawaii entertainment news

Billy shares exclusive interviews with Hawaii entertainers and gives you the latest in entertainment news!

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Jul 23 • 6:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • hawaiinewsnow.com
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Tom Holland vomits on camera during “Hot Ones” visit — after spoiling the moment in another interview

The “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” star proved that he still cannot hold a secret very well.

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Jul 23 • 4:58 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
‘I got carried away’: Elon Musk expresses regret about Doge and wading into Trump’s orbit

Billionaire in interview with the Economist admits he was too consumed by politics and shares predictions about AI

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Jul 23 • 11:27 AM EDT • Politics • theguardian.com
Nvidia CEO to Washington: Don't fall for "science fiction" AI fear

Jensen Huang railed against AI doomerism in an interview with Axios' Mike Allen.

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Jul 23 • 5:30 AM EDT • Science • axios.com
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Miyamoto on how Nintendo chooses which games to release, confirms Star Fox and Yoshi games happened because of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Famitsu published a new interview with Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto this week, and one topic of discussion was the company’s software lineup. The Japanese brought up different games that have released on Nintendo Switch 2 so far such as the first 3D Donkey Kong game in almost three decades and a remake for Star Fox. Miyamoto was asked about the...

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Jul 22 • 11:35 AM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
New Eagles Edge Calls Jalyx Hunt 'a Freak Athlete'

The Philadelphia Eagles are being urged to sign an elite veteran pass rusher like Von Miller. Greenard raved about 2025 Eagles sack leader Jalyx Hunt, referring to him as "a freak" in an interview with the Eagles website. Hunt, who every team could have drafted before the Eagles selected him 94th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, had a breakout 2025 season.

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Jul 22 • 10:35 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Looking at Portland's business climate with Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle

As Columbia Sportswear celebrates a major win in the world of advertising, the company's CEO says Portland's economic challenges might be too much to bear.

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Jul 22 • 2:22 AM EDT • Business • katu.com
Appeals court rejects Biden's bid to block release of audio from memoir ghostwriter interviews

Joe Biden disagrees with an appeals court's rejection of his effort to block the release of audio recordings of his interviews with a memoir ghostwriter.

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Jul 21 • 1:40 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
KERRIGAN IN BIZ TECH: Here’s How Small Businesses Can Get More Value from Their Data - Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

In a Biz Tech Magazine interview, SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan is interviewed along with several business experts on ways that entrepreneurs and business owners can get more value from their data and how to manage it better. The article covers the current state-of-play and the challenges and opportunities for small businesses, including […]

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Jul 21 • 12:00 PM EDT • Business • sbecouncil.org
Nintendo explains why it's coming out with Splatoon Raiders instead of Splatoon 4

Rather than releasing Splatoon 4, the next entry in the series is Splatoon Raiders. Nintendo recently explained why it chose to release that title now. After more than a decade or core Splatoon gameplay, producer Seita Inoue explained in a new interview that the team “thought it might be interesting to create something with a slightly different approach to gameplay,...

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Jul 21 • 9:17 AM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
How the feds' healthcare grants could affect Idaho education: Three examples

Idaho has $186 million in federal rural grants to parcel out by the end of October. Workforce development is a “huge part” of the mix, Department of Health and Welfare Director Juliet Charron told EdNews in a recent interview.

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Jul 21 • 7:00 AM EDT • Health • idahoednews.org
Australian MP interrupts tough interview to yell at dog
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Jul 21 • 6:19 AM EDT • Politics • aljazeera.com
Bonta says Paramount litigation isn’t ‘anti-Trump’

The California attorney general insisted in an interview with POLITICO that his antitrust litigation is about competition, not politics.

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Jul 20 • 10:12 PM EDT • Politics • politico.com
UFC Freedom 250 Fails to Knock Out The Ratings

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) If UFC fans wanted one image to say, “Hey, Paramount+ is crushing it with their UFC rights deal,” I could provide that image. Here it is: (Reminder: this is my creation of the Nielsen Top 30, since Nielsen doesn’t combine the lists or include sports. I take all three lists and combine them. Some streaming TV shows probably have higher ratings than many of the films on this list.) Look at that! UFC Freedom 250 is number one! It topped the Nielsen “Top 30” list for shows and films that made the top ten the week of 15-June. So if you’re a UFC fan or supporter of Paramount+, that’s the good news for you this week. This program topped the ratings charts for one week. Everything else is bad news, or at least a huge caveat to that story, which I’ll explain today in the first part of this week’s Streaming Ratings Report—for the weeks of 8-June and 15-June—which is a double issue since I’ve been writing on a bunch of topics recently. UFC Freedom 250 is one of the biggest streaming events of the year, and super relevant to Paramount+’s strategy, so it merited its own article. Let’s dive in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of June 8th to June 21st 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Check Out My Interview on UFC 250 at MMA Draw After you read this article, if you want even more thoughts on UFC and Paramount-Skydance/Paramount+, I did a written interview with MMA Draw. They asked me to answer some questions about UFC Freedom 250, and I was happy to chat with them. Find it here: [ The MMA Draw Newsletter Did Paramount really overpay for the UFC? What the data tells us so far If you know the history of American television, you also know that combat sports is often a leading indicator of the future… Read more a day ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Nate Wilcox and Zach Arnold ](https://www.themmadraw.com/p/did-paramount-really-overpay-for?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) I never thought I’d need a combat sports newsletter in my life, but the good folks at MMA Draw publish an excellent one on UFC, MMA, pro wrestling, boxing and more, analyzing both the sports themselves and the politics, economics and antitrust issues that impact them. Check the article and their newsletter out! Paramount+ Has Its Best Sporting Event of All Time…But Was It Worth It? Before we look at the UFC Freedom 250 data in particular, let’s talk about what we can’t say. Namely, let’s start with the lack of comparisons. First off, I’d love to put a chart out comparing this fight to past UFC fights on Paramount+…but we don’t have the data. This is the first time we’ve gotten Nielsen data about a Paramount+ UFC fight. As far as I can tell, Paramount provided data for the first fight, but it was a proprietary datecdote (saying it had “an average minute audience” of 5 million “views”) and then, for two fights, we got the linear viewership numbers when they aired on CBS, but no streaming data. Everything else was crickets. We also can’t compare this fight to other fights/combat sports on streaming, in particular the MMA and boxing, because Netflix also didn’t use Nielsen to track those events, opting for TVision and VideoAmp, respectively. (This isn’t Paramount’s fault, but does still suck.) We also can’t compare to UFC’s fights that used to be on ESPN+, since we don’t have any data for that, plus Disney+ didn’t have marquee fights. The comparisons would not be apples-to-apples. Can we compare to past Pay-Per-View fights? Absolutely not. The comparisons would absolutely NOT be apples-to-apples. That didn’t stop Paramount+, though, who bragged that their UFC events have reached drastically more people than past PPV fights. Duh. Sorry, but I gotta make this point again. A basic tenet of economics is that the cheaper something becomes, the more people consume or buy it. That’s Econ 101. (Sometimes pundits call things “Econ 101” that are actually like Econ 210 or even PhD-level economics, but no, this is really like first or second class basic economics.) Yet I still see one analytics firm consistently say that more people watch films on streaming than PVOD proves streaming which means that the streaming window is more valuable than the PVOD window. No, it’s not! Same thing here. Pay-Per-View events back in the day could be really, really, really expensive! So whole groups of people pitched in to buy them. That increased the perceived value of, say, the Mike Tyson fight. Or a UFC numbered event. So yes, the fact that Paramount+ makes numbered UFC fights essentially “free” if you’re already a Paramount+ member means consumption will go up. Obviously. Same for Netflix and their boxing matches. They’re talking about fights that used to cost consumers, in some cases, $50 in 1996…which is over $100 in today’s dollars. Over 1.6 million people paid that to watch the Tyson-Holyfield fight! Again, streaming is essentially “free”. Or $10 to $20, depending on what streamer we’re talking about and what tier you’re on. No wonder more people are “watching”. (Plus, Nielsen’s out-of-home viewing also helps these numbers.) UFC Freedom 250 Did Well…But I Have A Lot of Worries So what can we compare the fights to? Well, the good news is Nielsen put out that the fight averaged 7.0 million viewers for UFC Freedom 250, which is a solid number for a fight. We also know the length, at roughly 4 and a half hours. (I saw different run times, but this seems to be the consensus considering it started at 8 pm, had a delay and then finished after midnight on the East Coast. If you assume a shorter run time, then yes, the total hours viewed would go down.) That means I have the two numbers needed to add this to my Nielsen database. And then…I can compare this viewership to the NFL: And, uh, not great. But also within striking distance, mainly because the runtime for this event was so long. I’d also add that this event had viewership equal to a regular season NFL game on streaming, but if anything, it was more comparable to an NFL playoff or Super Bowl-esque event. And you can compare viewership to the top football games on broadcast, cable and streaming, and it’s not impressive at all: We can also compare it to other sports that week, including the NBA Finals and start of the World Cup: Again, not great. The NBA generated roughly four times as many average viewers each game for its NBA Finals. The World Cup has similarly big numbers. Also, that’s just a tiny fraction of the 25 most watched sporting events each week. The NBA, NHL and FIFA World Cup had many, many more games racking up hours. We could also compare this to other streaming programs to get an idea of “is this a good investment?” and here is how it ranks compared to other top Paramount+ programs: The worry here? Well, unlike scripted programming, which has rewatchability, older fights/sporting events have very little library value. Very, very few people are rewatching these fights, especially years from now. Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers. Then, in their quarterly earnings report, they only ended up with 700K subs. Not great! They claimed they dropped lower-value international subscribers, but that’s why I tend to discount subscriber additions when they’re leaked to the press.1 I expect we may see a bump again for UFC Freedom 250, but I’d caution using subscriber growth so soon after these events to judge the success, since new subs with high churn (see Peacock) aren’t great either. Also, analysts often want to attribute all subscriber growth to their favorite/pet show, and that just doesn’t make sense. The biggest caveat for UFC Freedom 250 and Paramount’s very first UFC marquee event is that these could be high watermarks for the sport. UFC Freedom 250 had an incredible amount of earned media coverage compared to most UFC fights. I mean, it had wall-to-wall national news coverage in the lead up to the event. (The first fight also had a lot of promotion from Paramount since it was first.) Other fights could reach this bar—say the Conor McGregor return to the Octagon—but they’ll be fewer and far between. Was This Deal Worth It? All to ask: is this Paramount deal worth it? In this case, I think the UFC Freedom 250 numbers are more distracting than helpful. This fight did well and compares well to other top sporting events. But we know that the first marquee event was at least a third smaller, if Paramount’s own data is to be believed. And it’s likely the other fights are much, much, much smaller. And then you get to the paycheck that Paramount-Skydance paid. FIFA’s World Cup cost about the same for Fox, but clearly generated multiples more total viewership. (Though it’s only every four years.) The NBA is much more expensive, but until the playoffs, they likely didn’t pay for itself. Even still, Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video likely overpaid. So, in that context, the NBA may be an overpay that makes the UFC look not so bad. But two overpays don’t make an underpay, to paraphrase the old cliché about wrongs and rights. And looking at UFC Freedom 250 as the likely ceiling of MMA on Paramount+, Paramount-Skydance likely paid too much. Share 1 I would love regular reports on subscriber additions by programs, but as is, it’s mostly leaked or rumored in haphazard ways.

Democrat set to replace Platner in Maine led state Senate with a temper

Troy Jackson, the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), yelled and cursed at fellow state lawmakers, interviews reveal.

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Jul 20 • 5:14 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Whoopi Goldberg calls out ‘stupidity of men’ in ‘The Odyssey’ analysis

Whoopi Goldberg said ‘The Odyssey’ highlights ‘the stupidity of men’ during an interview with Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon, and Anne Hathaway on ‘The View.’

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Jul 20 • 3:13 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Media and entertainment commissioner talks new vertical video film festival

Watch the full interview here.

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Jul 20 • 9:23 AM EDT • Entertainment • ny1.com
Alliance Entertainment and Virax Interviews Aired on the RedChip Small Stocks, Big Money(TM) Show on Bloomberg TV

ORLANDO, FL / ACCESS Newswire / July 20, 2026 / RedChip Companies aired interviews with Alliance Entertainment Holding Corp. (Nasdaq:AENT) and Virax Biolabs Group Ltd. (Nasdaq:VRAX) on the RedChip Small

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Jul 20 • 9:02 AM EDT • Entertainment • voiceofalexandria.com
Watch CNBC's full interview with AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the company's quarterly earnings results, state of the movie industry, weekend box office, impact of AI, and more.

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Jul 20 • 8:02 AM EDT • Entertainment • cnbc.com
Executive recruiter: Common C-suite job interview mistakes

Even senior leaders can stumble in ways that hurt their chances of success, says Matthew Siegel, a senior client partner at search firm Korn Ferry.

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Jul 20 • 5:12 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
Dodgers star says athletes shouldn't be seen as political figures

World Series champion Mookie Betts tells Fox News Digital in a recent interview that his decision not to go the White House is apolitical.

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Jul 18 • 8:06 AM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
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Mamdani Says He May Still Order Netanyahu’s Arrest in ‘The Interview’

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was in “an active conversation” with New York City’s Law Department on whether he had the authority to arrest the Israeli leader.

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Jul 18 • 6:15 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
Zohran Mamdani Knows He Has Political Capital. And He Intends to Spend It.

Lulu Garcia-Navarro sits down for an interview with the mayor of New York City.

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Jul 18 • 5:15 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
Weight-loss drugs may improve job prospects and dating odds for one group

A weight-loss specialist says GLP-1 results boost confidence in job interviews and dating, but the study found no clear improvement in well-being.

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Jul 17 • 9:22 PM EDT • Health • foxnews.com
Leon Black walked out of an Epstein House committee interview. Here’s what we know

Billionaire investor Leon Black, who for years paid Jeffrey Epstein for tax and financial advice, is facing scrutiny over his relationship with the late convicted sex offender after walking out of a closed-door interview with House investigators last month.

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Jul 17 • 6:44 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
EA Ads Lead Outlines Future of In-Game Ads Across EA's Biggest Franchises

The Game Business interviewed Alexander Dao, Head of EA Ads, and gave use insight into how in-game ads may work, and why they work.

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Jul 17 • 1:55 PM EDT • Technology • simscommunity.info
Less sleep = less health; Led Zeppelin in the OR; dangers of people-pleasing; plus other stories with Vanderbilt Health sources

Prevention interviewed Beth Malow, MD, Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics in the Vanderbilt Sleep Division, for a story about two randomized trials published in Annals of Internal Medicinethat found decreasing sleep by just 1.5 hours each night was linked with increases in body weight, waist circumference, and sedentary time in adults with elevated cardiometabolic risk. Yahoo Healthalso picked up the story. WTVF News Channel 5 reporter Nikki Hauser interviewed Ashish Shah, MD, Professor and Chair of Cardiac Surgery, for a new video podcast series called “Why Nashville” where she interviews interesting people doing interesting work about why they came to Nashville and how it is going. Among the revelations: his go-to OR music includes Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. Everyday Health interviewed Aaron Brinen, PsyD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, for a story about the TikTok trend that encourages women to speak up about their concerns or they’ll develop an autoimmune disease. Overall, people suggest that suppressing feelings of anger, minimizing your own needs, or people-pleasing raises your risk. Telemundo Nashville broadcast a story on cyclosporiasis that quotes both William Schaffner, MD, professor of Preventive Medicine, and Juan C. Salazar, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and system Pediatrician-in-Chief for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Schaffner also spoke to WKRN News 2 about measles and The Cutabout shingles and long distance running. WREG (Memphis) and others picked up the measles story as well. CNN reporter Deidre McPhillips interviewed John Trahanas, MD, Assistant Professor of Cardiac Surgery, and Director of Thoracic Aortic Surgery, for a story about aortic dissection in last week’s death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. The Nashville Post published a story by freelance reporter Leah Hunter on robotic surgery, including a patient story and numerous quotes from Sekhar Padmanabhan, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology.

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Jul 17 • 12:27 PM EDT • Health • news.vumc.org
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Billy V Live: An update on the latest in Hawaii entertainment and beyond

Billy V goes live to share the latest in Hawaii entertainment. Stay tuned for his weekly entertainment report and a live interview with a special guest!

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Jul 16 • 6:40 PM EDT • Entertainment • hawaiinewsnow.com
In interview, Beshear says he received calls about McConnell 'suggesting he's passed'

In an interview with Katie Couric posted to YouTube July 15, Beshear said he received calls from officials \

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Jul 16 • 5:21 PM EDT • Health • courier-journal.com
GameStop CEO Says Games Are "Irrelevant" To Company

In a new interview, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen says that games and software are "irrelevant" to the company's business.

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Jul 16 • 3:04 PM EDT • Technology • insider-gaming.com
OVC Football Media Day Presented by Shaw Sports Turf Coverage Guide

The 2026 OVC Football Media Day presented by Shaw Sports Turf will be held on Friday, July 17 in Nashville, Tennessee. Live interviews with head coaches and student-athletes from each team will be streamed on ESPN+.

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Jul 16 • 10:00 AM EDT • Sports • ovcsports.com
Trump administration 'screwed up' Epstein files communication, Vance says

During a lengthy podcast interview with Joe Rogan released Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance pointed largely to former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who infamously stated that an alleged “client list” of Epstein’s was “sitting on my desk right now.”

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Jul 15 • 5:21 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Iran, Epstein, Space Travel: 5 Takeaways From JD Vance’s Interview With Joe Rogan

In his first on-air conversation with the popular podcaster since 2024, the vice president cautiously defended the Iran war while also hinting at skepticism about it.

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Jul 15 • 4:42 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
WATCH: House lawmakers speak ahead of Kathy Ruemmler interview in Epstein probe

Kathryn Ruemmler, the former top lawyer at Goldman Sachs who was White House counsel to President Barack Obama, said Wednesday in testimony to Congress that it “was a mistake to deal with” Jeffrey Epstein but insisted she never witnessed criminal activities.

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Jul 15 • 2:01 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Jalen Brunson to Join Variety’s Inaugural Sports & Entertainment Studio in New York

Variety is bringing its acclaimed Sports & Entertainment franchise to New York City in its first-ever interview studio featuring conversations with the voices shaping the future of the sports and ente...

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Jul 15 • 1:35 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
Former Obama White House attorney says ‘it was a mistake’ to deal with Epstein and she regrets it

Former Obama White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler said she regrets interacting with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and believes now it was a mistake, according to opening remarks she delivered to House committee investigators as part of a closed-door interview.

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Jul 15 • 12:32 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com