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We’ll be off on Monday for Labor Day, and will see you again on Tuesday!
Lake America, the Dept. of War, nicknames for political enemies: President Trump’s renaming obsession would be outright dumb if it didn’t have sinister, Orwellian connotations. / The Ringer
Under new proposed regulations, the IRS will revoke the tax-exempt status of universities that offer initiatives supporting Black and other minority students. / The New York Times [$]
In a comparison of corporations’ effective tax rates globally, US companies pay a fraction of what their peers in other countries do, and Americans hate that. / Roosevelt Institute
See also: Billions of tax dollars went uncollected last year in the US due to DOGE cuts at the IRS, as the Trump administration lays plans to cut even further. / NPR
Scams have reached a record high, with the FTC estimating $550 million is lost to scammers every day in the US alone. / Associated Press
Drivers licenses for more than 153 million Americans and Canadians turned up on the dark web, and one thing many victims share is that they rented a vehicle from Hertz. / Krebs on Security
Hundreds of US cities are canceling their Flock contracts, while cops ask Axon to design a camera that looks different from the ones associated with Flock. / Futurism, 404 Media
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In a lawsuit alleging it broke California law, Sony claims “reasonable” customers know purchasing a game digitally doesn’t mean they own it. / Engadget
It’s that time of year, when Amazon raises the prices on its house brands so it can “discount” them for the holidays. / WIRED
How Anna Wintour’s plan to rehabilitate John Galliano’s image with a Met exhibit next year came crashing down. / The Wall Street Journal [$]
A report on test-driving LLMs on identifying poisonous mushrooms, or why Qwen3.8 wants you dead. / Quesma
Earth has been spinning faster since about 2015, and by 2035 we may need to add a negative leap second, which could wreak havoc on digital time systems. / Financial Times
On the difficulties of donating the brain of a loved one who’s dying with dementia. / Vox [$]
Breaking the Backyard Ultra record means 40 minutes of running followed by 15-minute naps for 152 hours straight, with a cheeseburger to the rescue. / The Guardian
“Everybody meets each other... and then you go be by yourself and be quiet.” The club that’s field-recording the sounds of Los Angeles. / LAist
Play sketch artist and draw a suspect based on witnesses’ accounts. / Neal dot fun