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For more than three years now, we've been hearing from AI execs who insist that the government regulate their industries … until there's a chance such oversight could hurt business. OpenAI and Anthropic have led the way with the latter's CEO, Dario Amodei, calling for "binding regulations" in June 2026, only to push back when his latest models were suspended. Now Google, which has also called for AI regulation, would like to clarify its request for government intervention and ask for a "middle way" that's largely favorable to its interests. "The debate over AI governance is stuck in a false choice between over-regulation and no regulation," said Google president Kent Walker in a blog post. "There is a middle way: A pragmatic, evidence-based approach that recognizes the unique challenges and opportunities of both frontier AI and widely-deployed AI applications." Walker does not explicitly define "over-regulation," but presumably we're talking about the recent ban on Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5. In Google's 21-page policy paper "A Pragmatic Approach to AI Governance in America" [PDF], the company argues, "There is a middle path that would balance market-driven innovation and independent oversight: a federally overseen frontier AI regulatory organization (FARO)." The FARO would be modeled after other notionally independent, industry-funded organizations like the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the American Medical Association, each of which is overseen by some government commission or agency. The conceit of a middle path is difficult to reconcile with the past decade of dire warnings about AI from technology leaders. If AI is indeed an existential threat with the capability to do harm, one might expect it to be regulated like lead or asbestos. Yet here's Google arguing, "AI platforms should be required to take reasonable measures to feature persistent disclaimers, filter out sexually explicit or romantic content, avoid claims the model is a person (and regularly point out that it’s not), and not promote emotional dependency." We've seen how well this has worked out on the internet, where Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has immunized platforms that take performative safety measures: we wanted some measure of free speech, but we also got no-fault misinformation and social media incitement as part of the package. The middle road for AI governance is already here: some acceptable level of chatbot suicide promotion, non-consensual nudification images, copyright surrender, model bias, indemnified errors, and guidance toward harms. Hey, we tried. It's not communities banning datacenters, but communities negotiating terms. "The question is not datacenters or no datacenters, but how to build datacenters the right way, responsibly and in partnership with communities," Google's paper states. But already for many communities, it's not a question but an imperative. If there's one thing that unites the political spectrum at the moment, it's opposition to datacenters. And this middle of the road approach looks more like "just let us have our way" with regard to copyright. "Using publicly available web data for training models is a transformative, non-expressive use – like an art student taking inspiration from walking through a gallery – that should remain protected under fair use in the U.S. and text-and-data-mining exceptions abroad," Google's paper muses. The courts are still considering claims about AI copyright abuse. But as analogies go, AI for Google is more like an art student who controls the tourist referral market capturing the entirety of the Louvre's imagery and then selling access to those images – fair, profitable use! – and laundered variations in a way that discourages tourists from visiting the actual Louvre. And then, noting all the creative types who no longer get hired because AI sells their talent on tap, the art student throws in with a non-profit offering incentives to companies for job retraining programs. Google is asking for a middle path, but one need only look at the growth in AI lobbying over the past few years – up 340 percent since 2023 – to understand that the AI industry is paying to pave this middle path in a favorable direction. ®

⚡ Quick Take

• Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ Absolute Batman animated series should spearhead a whole new Absolute DCU for animation.

It was just announced at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival that Warner Bros. and DC Studios have announced an Absolute Batman animated series is in production, with the creators of the comic book, writer Scott Snyder and artist Nick Dragotta, as executive producers. This is huge news for DC Comics fans, as Absolute Batman has been a massive hit for the publisher. According to many comic book shop retailers, its success has led to sales not seen for DC since the ’90s comics boom. But if successful, we think Absolute Batman should be but the first in a whole new animated universe. One that could be a game-changer if done right.

DC Comics

Absolute Batman, in comic book terms, is a truly generational hit. The series has sold around 3 million copies since it debuted in the fall of 2024. That title is by no means a one-off. The entire Absolute line at DC has sold a staggering 8 million copies overall, with Batman leading the charge. Absolute Batman #20, the most recent issue, sold half a million alone. Western superhero comics, in general, haven’t sold like this in a very long time. So it’s incredibly wise for Warner Bros. to look at what’s working so well in publishing, and strike while the iron is hot. It’s no different than how producers back in the ’90s saw that X-Men #1 sold 8 million, and greenlit X-Men: The Animated Series to debut the very next year.

DC Comics

For those unaware, Absolute Batman is the main title in DC Comics’ Absolute Universe. This alternate world showcases the main DC heroes reimagined in an inherently darker world. However, while it may sound very “grimdark” and “edgelord,” it’s actually anything but. In the Absolute Universe, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are not born into privilege. Kal-El was not born to a noble house on Krypton; his parents were miners. He didn’t come to Earth as a baby, but as a teenager who saw his world die. Wonder Woman wasn’t raised a princess in Paradise; she was raised in Hell by a witch. And Bruce Wayne wasn’t a billionaire; he was a working-class kid whose father died in a mass shooting. His mother, Martha, is still alive.

DC Comics

Absolute Batman makes several huge changes to established Dark Knight lore. This Bruce grew up in Crime Alley, and most of his famous rogues’ gallery were his childhood friends. Without the resources of a billionaire, he uses his skills as a civil engineer to come up with all the equipment he needs to fight crime. Bruce is a giant hulk of a man, measuring 6’9 and weighing 400 pounds. And those 400 pounds are of pure muscle. And the Joker? He’s an immoral billionaire, flipping the script on the usual Batman/Joker dynamic. In a real world where billionaires are villains, and those who struggle are finding the heroism to fight back, let’s just say, this version of Batman resonates in a big way.

But none of these circumstances make the DC Trinity into “darker heroes.” Ok, Batman is darker. But he doesn’t become a killer. Batman might chop off a hand or two with his bat-ax, but he’s not the Punisher. He’s not a wanton murderer. And Superman isn’t The Boys’ Homelander. The great thing about the Absolute Universe is that it shows that, despite less ideal upbringings, the inherent goodness and nobility of the DC heroes always shine through. This has been an incredible canvas for DC Comics to reinvent its 90-year-old universe. All while letting the classic version exist alongside it. And it’s captured the imagination of a new generation of comic book readers, mainly those raised on manga. So Warner Bros. is incredibly wise to mine this take on their heroes in mass media.

DC Comics

If Absolute Batman clicks, then we think Warner Bros. Animation should instantly look to Absolute Superman and Wonder Woman next. Make an entire mini-Absolute anime universe. Writer Jason Aaron’s and Kelly Thompson’s takes on Kal-El and Diana, respectively, are equally perfect for animated adaptation. The designs for Superman by Rafa Sandoval, and Wonder Woman by Hayden Sherman, are exaggerated in just the right way for animation. While the classic iterations of these heroes may continue to live on in live-action films, as they should, there’s no reason the Absolute versions can’t thrive in animation. And they can inject new life into the characters for an entirely new audience, maybe ones who always thought of them as their grandparent’s superheroes.

DC Comics

All of this can help DC Comics too, in a big way. The pipeline from manga, to anime adaptation, right back to manga, has only helped manga sales go through the roof in North America. This could be the exact kind of synergy that could help Western comics compete with manga in raw sales. No blockbuster superhero movie or TV show has ever helped lift comic book sales significantly, despite the genre’s dominance for the past two decades. But this might be the thing that works. If readers love the Absolute anime series, they’ll run to the comics to see what comes next. And long before the next animated season arrives. It’s a win/win for everyone. Hopefully, the folks in charge see they have a gold mine in the Absolute universe and utilize it.

The post ABSOLUTE BATMAN Should Launch a New Animated DCU appeared first on Nerdist.

Immigrants, faith leaders, and advocates in Springfield, Ohio, had cautiously hoped that when the Supreme Court decided whether to allow the expiration of Haitians’ Temporary Protected Status (TPS), they would celebrate outside City Hall. Instead, as the clouds over downtown Springfield cleared Thursday evening, they hastily gathered to grieve together. Hours earlier, the Supreme Court cleared the path for the Trump administration to deport 340,000 Haitians and Syrians back to the violence- and disaster-stricken nations they had fled. In a small city where up to a quarter of its residents are Haitians with TPS, the decision feels personal—and fatal: For Haitians who will be forced to return to an unsafe country, some after years of living in Springfield, and for a community that has grown to love and rely on their immigrant neighbors.

A sign planted in mulch outside City Hall in Springfield, Ohio.Sarah Szilagy

Before the gospel and protest songs, prayers, and calls to action, immigration advocates took to the podium to share urgent messages for the Haitian members of their community, first in English, then in Haitian Creole. “If you wish to stay in the United States, and you are afraid to return to your home country, you should speak with an immigration attorney,” one said. “Our immigrant community…they need to decide what will happen with their children if they are detained.” Only a handful of Haitians were around to hear them.

Under an overhang emblazoned with channel letters spelling the phrase “forward together,” hundreds of Springfield advocates stood solemnly in sticky summer heat as an immigration attorney explained the court’s ruling and consequences. “We’ve been talking about this moment for four or five years, and it’s here,” said Kathleen Kersh, an immigration attorney with the nonprofit firm Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE). “None of us are free until all of us are free, and the way you stand up in the next year is going to define who you are.” This was where, nearly two years prior, the white supremacist group the Blood Tribe claimed Springfield as its “property.” But Thursday evening, the mostly white crowd gripped signs reading “Immigrants make America great,” “Hillbillies for Haitians,” “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Chalk-wielding children doodled on the concrete while a Haitian pastor prayed and a local choir sang songs created in Minneapolis during the wide-scale and often violent immigration enforcement operations there last winter.

Haitian Pastor Jimmy Pierre, who has a green card, prays in Haitian Creole while Springfield faith leaders stand behind him.Sarah Szilagy A local choir led the crowd in singing protest and gospel songs.Sarah Szilagy

Advocates told me that soon after the court’s decision came down, ABLE’s phone started ringing. On the other end of the line were Haitian immigrants, some so terrified they could only weep. The vast majority of Haitian TPS holders live in Florida. But Springfield, Ohio, was thrust under the national microscope during the 2024 campaign, when then-candidate Donald Trump falsely claimed Haitians were “eating the pets” of their American-born neighbors. Singling out Springfield, Trump promised to deport the Haitian residents there upon his reelection. The only thing standing in his way, he argued, was TPS, a humanitarian designation Congress established in 1990 for people fleeing war, natural disasters, epidemics, or unrest. Despite the “temporary” nature of TPS, many countries’ designations have been renewed for years because conditions remained unlikely to improve.

Such is the case in Haiti, which never recovered from a devastating earthquake in 2010 and whose government effectively collapsed after the 2021 assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse. Speaking to reporters after the rally, Rev. Carl Ruby, a Springfield pastor and one of the leaders of G92, a local faith-based immigrant rights group, recalled the horrors Haitians endured before escaping to the US. He could not forget the story of the young boy he had met who watched a pack of feral hogs eat human remains that were left out in the open. “That’s what we’re sending them back to,” Ruby said. “We ought to be ashamed of that as Americans.”

“That’s what we’re sending them back to. We ought to be ashamed of that as Americans.”

Thursday morning, while waiting to learn whether the court would hand down its decision, Ruby sat with Vilès Dorsainvil under a wooden cross at Ruby’s Central Christian Church, which has become a refuge for the Haitian community and the home base for Springfield’s immigration advocates. Between the evidence of Trump’s racist claims against Haitians—calling Haiti, for example, a “shithole country” whose citizens had AIDS—and newly-discovered evidence that then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem decided to terminate TPS despite DHS officials initially recommending otherwise, they hoped the justices would at least take a more measured approach—perhaps the court wouldn’t wholly save TPS but would nevertheless recognize the racism underlying Trump’s anti-Haitian rhetoric as unconstitutionally prejudiced. Instead, in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the justices further cemented Trump’s executive power and the inability of federal judges to limit or even question it.

Dorsainvil came to the US in 2020 and, since 2021, has lived in Springfield, where he founded the Haitian Support Center, as thousands of Haitians settled there. A TPS holder himself, Dorsainvil knows what devastation awaits Haitians in the US and back on the island. As I previously reported:

Dorsainvil’s cases are a litany of awful experiences: women and men vulnerable to human trafficking because they lost their work authorizations; families coming home to eviction notices with less than $20 in their bank accounts; people who have “nothing” and nowhere to go. There is a parallel desperation between Haitian immigrants and the families they support back home that Dorsainvil can’t ignore; if a Haitian in the US gets detained or deported, it’s a matter of “life and death” for them and every person in Haiti who relies on them.

“My hope is that the United States, including our current government, will once again place its trust in justice, compassion, and human dignity,” Dorsainvil said Thursday. “This is not the time for people to be judged by the color of their skin, the language they speak, or the country from which they come.”

Vilès Dorsainvil, a TPS holder and executive director of the Haitian Support Center, thanked community members and the legal teams that fought for Haitians’ TPS at the Supreme Court.Sarah Szilagy

Dorsainvil was among the few Haitian TPS holders who attended Thursday evening’s vigil. Organizers, legal advocates, and immigrants didn’t know what to expect: Would ICE begin mass detainments that very day? Would they appear at all? Ruby said when he and Dorsainvil met with ICE officials months ago, they warned the advocates they would take a “carrot-and-stick” approach, which meant they intended “to make life so unbearable that they leave on their own.” But where would they go? Presumably not Haiti, because the country is under the State Department’s highest travel warning, and US commercial airlines cannot fly there.

Ruby told reporters that should ICE come to town, local churches were “committed” to offering sanctuary to Haitians. Advocates, meanwhile, told me they hoped that it wouldn’t come to that point; ICE may have learned its lesson in Minneapolis, and Springfield has had years to coordinate a sprawling volunteer defense and support network. One potential option for protection advocates pointed to was the US Senate, which could advance an existing bill that would extend TPS for Haitians for three more years.

As the sun sank behind downtown Springfield’s mid-rise apartments and office buildings, the crowd dispersed almost as swiftly as it arrived. Stragglers lingered in the courtyard, embracing their neighbors, while the few police officers stationed outside City Hall unhurriedly patrolled the grounds.

Hundreds of Springfield residents gathered Thursday evening, many bearing signs of support for Haitian immigrants.Sarah Szilagy

Community members left with to-do lists: Donate to the Haitian Support Center and the local St. Vincent de Paul chapter, a Catholic nonprofit that immediately launched a diaper and food drive after the decision came down; call Ohio’s US Senators, urging them to extend Haitians’ TPS; keep an eye on their Haitian neighbors. But even with the community’s steadfast support, Biassu Pierre, a Haitian TPS holder and community organizer with ABLE, said in the wake of the ruling, fellow immigrants have questions he cannot answer: What will happen to my children if I am deported? How can I feed my family without lawful work? One woman, Naomi, called him in tears. Her husband was deported to Haiti in December, and he has since “disappeared.” Her three children are among the 1,300 children of Haitian immigrants who were born in Springfield, and who, as American citizens, now face the increasing likelihood of family separation.

“Haitians are not just immigration cases or statistics. We are your neighbor, your co-worker, member of your church,” Pierre told the crowd. “We love Springfield. We would like to stay, to live with you.”

“We want you here!” a man in the crowd shouted back.

General Atlantic has tapped tennis legend Novak Djokovic to serve as a global strategic advisor.

⚡ Quick Take

• Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey will skip influencer screenings.
• Increasingly, big movies use influencer word of mouth to sell their movie rather than critics.
• Universal is bucking this trend.

The rise of social media as a primary form of communication across all generations has led to the creation of “influencer screenings” for new movies. Unlike critics, who could potentially give the movie a bad review, the hope is that influencers and social media figures who attend will begin to generate word-of-mouth (loosely defined) popularity. However, for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Odyssey film, based on Homer’s epic, Universal has decided to skip straight to critic screenings. This, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Universal Pictures

The Odyssey will follow the story of Odysseus, a Greek king, as he travels back home after the Trojan War. He encounters his fair share of mythological beings along the way, from cyclopes to witches. His journey stretches over ten years, so it being nearly three hours long is understandable. Matt Damon is playing Odysseus, and he will be joined onscreen by an astonishing number of other big names. From Robert Pattinson to Travis Scott, a myriad of unexpected stars will appear as figures of Greek myth.

There are several drawbacks to studios using influencers to promote new movies. First of all, often times there is no complete honesty from studios on whether the promoters they are using even are influencers. Additionally, influencers often give much more fanatically positive reviews of early-screened movies than do professional critics. This can be misleading, and viewers usually see their feedback not as honest reviews, but rather advertisements.

Universal’s choice to do this on a Christopher Nolan film, of all directors, may very well influence the way other studios move when it comes to screenings. Critics and Nolan’s diehard fans alike take his films very seriously, which makes it all the more weighty.

The movie will premiere in London on July 6 and move directly to professional critic screenings. It will come out to the public on July 17.

The post THE ODYSSEY Will Not Hold Influencer Screenings appeared first on Nerdist.

Less than one year after the Pajaro Valley Unified School District approved his $229,000 contract, Chief Business Officer Gerardo Castillo is leaving the district.

In an email to teachers and staff Friday morning, PVUSD spokesman Alejandro Chavez said Castillo had resigned and accepted a “new leadership opportunity with Sacramento City Unified School District.”

Castillo

“While we are saddened to see Gerardo leave PVUSD, we are deeply grateful for his service, leadership and dedication to our district,” the email states. “During his time with PVUSD, Gerardo helped guide important financial and operational work in support of our schools, students and staff. His expertise, professionalism and commitment to public education have been greatly valued.”

In a prepared statement, Castillo said his decision was driven by a change in a family member’s health that requires him to take a position closer to home.

He said his departure “is not a reflection of my colleagues, and especially not of Dr. Contreras,” but rather a decision to prioritize his family.

Castillo said district staff spent the past several months confronting declining enrollment, multimillion-dollar budget deficits and rising health care costs. He added that difficult decisions—including potential school consolidations and closures—must continue if the district is to achieve long-term fiscal stability.

“Addressing these issues requires difficult but necessary actions,” he said.

Castillo also praised Superintendent Heather Contreras, calling her leadership “invaluable,” and saying she “leads with conviction, clarity, and an unwavering focus on doing what is right for students, even when faced with difficult decisions.”

He said he will remain with the district for the next month to help ensure a smooth transition.

PVUSD will now begin the search for Castillo’s replacement.

Castillo is the latest in a string of chief business officers to leave the district since 2017, following Jenny Im, Clint Rucker, Joe Dominguez, Melody Canady and Brett McFadden.

Billionaire investor Leon Black received two subpoenas Friday after he refused to answer questions about NDAs he’d allegedly signed with women in Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit.

“I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman. I have never engaged in sex trafficking,” Black began in the House Oversight Committee during his closed-door testimony. “I have never paid Epstein for access to women. I was never blackmailed by Epstein. I was not involved with, and had no knowledge of, any of Epstein’s heinous conduct.”

The proceedings were derailed when House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer subpoenaed Black after he and his lawyer insisted he could not discuss the terms and contents of certain nondisclosure agreements, according to MSNOW.

Prior to the interview, Comer said he was “pretty confident” that Black had allegedly signed NDAs with survivors of Epstein’s abuse. The chair issued two subpoenas, one compelling Black to appear for a deposition on July 16, and another requiring him to produce the NDAs. Black left the interview after only an hour.

The billionaire former CEO of Apollo Global Management departed from his role in 2021 after an internal review discovered he’d made $158 million in payments to Epstein for financial advice between 2012 and 2017. In 2023, Black was accused of raping a 16-year-old at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse two decades earlier.

Black defended his choice to do business with Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender. “Five years after his conviction, I gave Epstein a second chance, as did many others. I wish I had not,” Black said. (Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008.)

Still, Black insisted he knew nothing of Epstein’s heinous sexual misconduct.

“I knew Jekyll. I didn’t know Hyde,” said Black.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that the German pharmaceutical and agrochemical giant Bayer cannot be sued in state courts for failing to warn that glyphosate—a key ingredient in its subsidiary’s bestselling weedkiller, RoundUp—could cause cancer. Make American Healthy Again activists, who have been irate about the Trump administration’s embrace of glyphosate, were predictably furious.

A few hours later, the White House threw them a few scraps. Trump signed an executive order Thursday afternoon promoting pesticide “alternatives.” The order comes with no new federal funding, regulations, or enforcement powers, instead resolving to encourage “creative solutions for evaluating the exposure, diagnosis, and treatments of cumulative chemical exposures on individual health.” SCOTUS’s decision, by contrast, could be worth billions to Bayer. The ruling overturns a $1.25 million state court verdict against RoundUp maker Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018, in a suit brought by non-Hodgkins lymphoma patient John Durnell. More importantly, it stands to toss out thousands of similar suits still making their way through state courts. When the decision was announced, Bayer’s stock jumped.

Eager as Republicans are to keep the so-called MAHA Moms on their side, paying lip service to pesticide alternatives won’t make up for just how helpful the GOP has been to pesticide producers. Republicans are the party of Big Pharma and Big Ag. The question is whether they can continue to be the party of MAHA too.

In the lead-up to yesterday’s decision, the Trump administration lent several critical assists to Bayer. Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, or FIFRA, the EPA is required to regularly assess pesticides’ safety and require manufacturers to place warnings on products that may pose certain dangers. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has recently moved to ban states from placing their own warnings on products that the EPA deems safe at the federal level; the agency took aim specifically at California’s warning labels on glyphosate. Because the EPA’s most recent review of glyphosate still says that it’s safe—and because states can no longer issue warnings that contradict the EPA—Bayer has leaned on that Trump 2.0 revision to argue to SCOTUS that it is under no obligation to put any warning labels on its products. Accordingly, Bayer has maintained that it can’t be made to pay the cancer patients who are suing it for having failed to put warnings on RoundUp.

A key basis for Bayer’s case and SCOTUS’s decision—repeated several times in Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s majority opinion—is that the EPA has continually maintained that glyphosate is safe. The court ruled that since successful failure-to-warn suits would require states to add non-EPA approved warnings to labels, that would run afoul of FIFRA’s requirements for labeling uniformity. The EPA, however, is currently in the process of reassessing the safety of glyphosate and other active ingredients in pesticides. That review is due to wrap up by October 1. At that point the EPA could, at least in theory, find that glyphosate is not safe, invalidating a large part of Kavanaugh’s justification for the majority’s opinion.

There have been recent allegations, as well, that research the EPA has leaned on to argue that glyphosate is safe was influenced by the only company that makes it in the United States. Monsanto has played a hand in several putatively objective studies concluding that glyphosate is safe. That includes one influential 2013 paper cited repeatedly by the EPA. As Mother Jones reported this week, an internal investigation by the EPA concluded in 2017 that the paper had been ghostwritten by a Monsanto employee; the study’s authors have disputed the investigation’s finding. The agency has nonetheless continued to cite it as evidence for the compound’s safety.

The timing of this case has been extraordinarily convenient for Bayer. The company petitioned SCOTUS to sharply limit failure-to-warn claims last April, and warned that an onslaught of litigation could cause it to pull glyphosate off the market. As I wrote a few months back, representatives from the company then met with staff from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s office in June. They thanked Zeldin’s team for its “work on MAHA,” and, seemingly, for having updated the EPA’s website to reflect its withdrawal of a Biden-era provision allowing California to require warnings on glyphosate. Trump’s Justice Department officially sided with the company in December.

As it continued to fend off lawsuits at the start of this year, Bayer ramped up its lobbying spending. In February, the White House invoked the Korean War–era Defense Production Act to declare glyphosate production “critical to the national defense,” and specifically protected glyphosate producers (read: Bayer) from lawsuits related to material or products produced in accordance with the act. Bayer poured considerable resources into backing “Cancer Gag Act” legislation to grant pesticide producers immunity against health-related lawsuits, which Republicans have championed.

The takeaways from Monsanto Co. v. Durnell are pretty straightforward: A huge corporation paid a lot of money to get the outcome it wanted. Republicans helped at nearly every step of the way, and it will now be much harder for people who believe that a Bayer product is responsible for their cancer to sue the company. Whatever its claims to the contrary, the Trump administration is less interested in Making America Healthy Again than it is in Making Life Easier for Agrochemical Executives.

Caitlin Clark is in danger, but thankfully she has the good citizens of right-wing media to protect her.

On Wednesday night, Clark’s Indiana Fever took on the Phoenix Mercury when, in the second quarter, Clark lost her footing while driving to the basket. During a brief scramble for the ball, Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas lodged a fist into Clark’s throat. Thomas, known widely to people in the know as one of the more physical players in the league, was eventually given a flagrant 2 foul, the league’s most serious penalty, after league review and suspended for one game.

That’s not enough for right-wing media, which has gone overboard in her defense. Noted conservative commentator Benny Johnson, for instance, wanted justice, tweeting the next day to his four million followers, “This is our George Floyd.”

This is our George Floyd pic.twitter.com/TLEy6a7aPR

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 25, 2026

As of this writing, the pile-on continues:

This is absolutely vile.

I’m no WNBA fan but Caitlin Clark is CLEARLY being assaulted constantly just because she’s White.

I’m sick of pretending otherwise.

They are beating her because they are anti-White and they hate she’s better than them. pic.twitter.com/YNktm2bxGB

— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) June 25, 2026

Boomer Esiason, a former pro football player turned radio personality, even floated the idea of Clark taking her talents over to Europe. “If I were Caitlin Clark, I would seriously consider going to play overseas somewhere and get the royal treatment,” Esiason said. “She’s a straight, white basketball player. And she is not being treated with any sort of respect.”

"If I were Caitlin Clark, I would seriously consider going to play overseas somewhere and get the royal treatment…she's a straight white basketball player. And she is not being treated with any sort of respect" – Boomer Esiason pic.twitter.com/zeFRdOMLVn

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 25, 2026

And look, maybe Boomer has a point. Maybe players are being unnecessarily mean to Caitlin Clark. After all, young, popular athletes in other leagues are never targeted like this by their peers, and it’s only been Black women who have publicly challenged Clark’s dominance. Maybe she should go to some peaceful majority-white oasis where she can be free of dumb squabbles about race and gender. She could probably become the multi-million dollar face of a league, even get her own signature shoe. Caitlin Clark could become an icon.

Oh, wait.

“We don’t believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default,” says OpenAI. “It keeps the best tools from users, developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson tried to fearmonger by … just reading the Democratic Socialists of America’s agenda out loud.

At the Faith & Freedom Coalition policy conference Friday, Johnson warned of a “dangerous trend” he’s observed: “Little mini Mamdanis popping up all over the country, running for Congress.”

Earlier this week, DSA-backed candidates saw huge wins in New York City, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s sway seems to be holding strong.

And apparently, nothing is scarier to Republicans than the DSA platform.

Johnson: The DSA… this is their platform. They put this on paper!

Abolish the electoral college or replace the two-party system with a multi-party democracy, expand the House of Representatives, implement proportional representation and rank choice voting in all elections…… pic.twitter.com/UxUxi3TaY8

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 26, 2026

“I don’t know if you’ve seen this,” said Johnson.

“This is their platform, this is actually quotes from their platform that they published about a day or two ago.... They put this on paper! They’re saying the quiet things out loud.”

Johnson continued: “Abolish the Electoral College, replace the two-party system with a multi-party ‘democracy,’ expand the House of Representatives, implement proportional representation and rank choice voting in all elections,” Johnson said.

He continued, describing how the DSA would establish public ownership of large corporations, abolish ICE, and end sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran.

“End all military and economic aid to Israel, prosecute U.S. and Israeli leaders responsible for the genocide in Gaza,” Johnson continued.

It should be noted that while the DSA does support most of these points in its official platform, there is a debate about others, like ranked-choice voting and the merits of abolishing the Senate. But all in all, Johnson appears to be trying to fearmonger by threatening the American people with a good time.

The Trump-appointed Federal Emergency Management Agency official, who made international headlines with the claim that he had the ability to teleport, has been quietly removed from his position. Gregg Phillips was picked by Trump to lead the disaster response agency’s Office of Response and Recovery last December, but his time at that position has ended. The Washington Post, citing their sources…

Source

⚡ Quick Take

• Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour are reuniting.
• Netflix has cast the pair as father and daughter for Jack Thorne’s spy thriller series.
• Stranger Things only ended six months ago.

Eleven’s ultimate fate on Stranger Things might always remain a mystery, but we now know the series wasn’t the end for David Harbour playing Millie Bobby Brown’s dad on Netflix. The streamer has ordered a new spy series starring the two. And once again, they will play father and daughter, something that seemed very unlikely not that long ago.

Netflix

Netflix has ordered what it calls a “thrilling new drama” from Jack Thorne (Adolescence co-creator, Lord of the Flies, Wonder) and A24. Harbour is not the only Netflix veteran Brown is reuniting with on the project. Thorne has written both Enola Holmes films starring Brown as the titular detective. He also penned the upcoming third installment in the franchise.

The show is loosely based on A Spy In the Blood, the debut novel from Paul Warner. It will move the story from across the pond and the world of MI6 to the U.S. and the FBI. Here’s how Netflix describes the show:

In the series, disgraced FBI agent turned security expert Matt Wolfe (Harbour) is drawn back into the world he left behind when his estranged daughter, Rebecca (Brown) — now an FBI agent determined to follow in his footsteps — vanishes on a mission, forcing him to return to a field that has evolved beyond him.

Netflix

“We are delighted to bring this spy drama to life with an extraordinary group of talent we’ve been fortunate to collaborate with before,” said Jinny Howe, Netflix head of scripted series, US and Canada, in a press release. “Jack Thorne’s ability to find the deeply human story inside a thriller is unmatched, and watching Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour reunite — this time as estranged father and daughter on opposite sides of a crisis — is something audiences are going to love. A24 is the perfect partner to bring this story to our members around the world.”

Unsaid is that it wasn’t that long ago that this type of reunion between Harbour and Brown seemed entirely unlikely. Reports first surfaced last November that she filed a complaint with Netflix against her older co-star, who she said “bullied and harassed” her ahead of filming Stranger Things 5. Neither ever denied the problems. Since then the two have acknowledged the issues, which Netflix investigated, while also swearing they maintain a close bond. That would appear to be true since they are maintaining a close working relationship.

Minus the part where their spy show’s dad and daughter as estranged. But that’s still better than not knowing what happened to Eleven.

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The hire marks OpenAI's latest push into India, expanding offices, partnerships and hiring.

ALT

⚡ Quick Take

• Brad Bird, director of Ratatouille, shared he won’t make a second movie.
• “That story’s been told,” said Bird.
• We think that’s a refreshing take in this age of endless sequels.

Ratatouille director Brad Bird offers a very refreshing take in the reboot and sequel world we live in. According to an interview with Collider, he shuts down any hope for a sequel with “No, that story’s been told.”

Disney-Pixar

A filmmaker showing this kind of restraint in a world where every other movie coming out is a remake or a sequel is relieving. Knowing that there are still big industry names capable of not taking advantage of a nostalgia-baiting money-grab movie allows me to hold out hope for a film renaissance in the near future.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Ratatouille. It’s a heartwarming tale about a rat longing to be a chef, his relationship with a high-end restaurant’s garbage boy, and their rise to culinary stardom. It was an integral part of my childhood. However, the movie had its happy ending. It came to a close. The concept hadn’t been done before, and it won’t be done again, and that is what makes it special.

During his interview, Bird mentioned that people often ask for sequels to his other movies.

“Any time you do something that ends up connecting with people, they automatically think, ‘How about another?’ People have mentioned it about The Iron Giant, which is hilarious to me because the film didn’t succeed at all in its initial release,” Bird said. “It’s caught up in time, but what would you do to follow that up? He’s lumbering around, still undiscovered? In other words, to me, that story is told.”

We live in a world of abundance. We can see it in everything from product over-consumption to the rise of on-demand streaming over movie theater attendance. The internet doesn’t help, delivering endless content with every scroll. If people want more of something, it is easy to get it. There is no line drawn, nobody asks themselves if they should get more of something.

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Especially with Disney, it’s common to see the company beating a story to death. Personally, I could have been perfectly happy stopping at Toy Story 3 or even 4. Unfortunately, Toy Story 5 dropped this month with an ending that hints at a sixth movie. Personally, I have no inclination to see it. I cried my eyes out in the theater watching Toy Story 4; it felt like the end of an era. In my mind, and in the words of Bird, that story is over.

That was all very negative, so on the brighter side, there are some amazing original stories coming out now. Obsession and Project Hail Mary (yes, I know it was based on a book) are incredible examples of recent movies that proved audiences still want to see original stories on the big screen. Shows like Widow’s Bay and The Pitt did the same. There is hope yet. Thank you, Mr. Bird!

The post Brad Bird’s ‘No Sequel’ Take on RATATOUILLE Is Refreshing appeared first on Nerdist.

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Department of Justice admitted to breaking the law by failing to release the majority of its files on Jeffrey Epstein to the public, giving acting Attorney General Todd Blanche a week to release more information.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote in his opinion that Blanche failed to address allegations from journalist Katie Phang that the Trump administration failed to release the files in full. Phang sued the DOJ in April over a “brazen, shocking, and ongoing violation” of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed last year.

“The Attorney General does not respond substantively to any of these arguments,” Sullivan said in his ruling. “The Attorney General has conceded that he is in violation of the Act.”

Sullivan issued a preliminary injunction giving Blanche one week to release information redacted from the files, including names, or provide detailed reasons for the redactions. Some of the files in question include the FBI’s notes from interviews with a woman who accused President Trump of assaulting her in the 1980s as a 13-year-old.

The files covered by the injunction also include email exchanges with Epstein concerning an alleged “torture video” and sex acts with minors; the names of co-defendants from a draft indictment; the identities of Epstein’s potential co-conspirators and DOJ employees who sent messages about them; and information in “foreign languages” that the DOJ said it couldn’t translate and redact.

The DOJ has said in the past that its unreleased Epstein files were not verified, and contained “unfounded and false” claims about Trump. But the law passed by Congress leaves few exceptions, and now Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, will have to answer for why some of the files remain hidden.

“The government ignored its own law and blew off a judge’s order, all for the sake of protecting the very powerful and the very rich,” said Brendan Ballou, Katie Phang’s attorney, to Politico. “Doing so had consequences, and now the public will finally get transparency around Jeffrey Epstein and his network.”

Stephen Miller is very, very excited about the Supreme Court’s big ruling Thursday allowing Donald Trump to summarily end protections from deportation for hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in the United States. After the decision came down, Miller enthused: “We can finally remove these Haitian illegal migrants.”

If we take Miller at his word, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is about to hit a Trump-backing county in red Ohio with a big, disruptive operation. Around 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian immigrants live in the area in and around Springfield, a small Rust Belt city in Clark County, which Trump won in 2024 by 30 points. Many enjoy Temporary Protected Status, which grants protections to people from dangerous, crisis-ridden countries—status that Trump has scrapped. Now that the high court has sided with Trump, many will be subject to immediate deportation.

The name “Springfield” might jog your memory a bit. During the 2024 campaign, Trump and JD Vance targeted Springfield when they pushed the vile smear that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets. The Trump-Vance demagoguery unleashed searing social tensions in this postindustrial Midwestern city, and it temporarily became the center of our political universe before other controversies intervened.

Now, however, Springfield has taken on an overlooked role in the Supreme Court’s new ruling. The case involves Trump’s 2025 decision to end TPS for around 330,000 Haitians nationally and a smaller number of Syrians. Plaintiffs sued, arguing in part that race drove the decision. Exhibit A was Trump’s language about Haitians in Springfield, such as his claim that they are “eating the dogs” and “eating the cats” of the city’s residents.

In a widely condemned move, the conservative justices, led by Samuel Alito, found a way to rule that none of those statements were “overtly racial” and that the decision to end TPS “could” be motivated by “race-neutral justifications.” Intriguingly, their ruling didn’t bother to print any of Trump’s supposedly non-overtly-racial statements. But in her searing dissent, Justice Elena Kagan marshaled tons of racist statements from Trump, noting that race was obviously a partial motivator behind nixing TPS—enough to demonstrate an equal-protection violation.

In a sense, this whole saga shows what happens when the deranged world of MAGA make-believe becomes the basis for real-world policy. At the time, the pet-eating smears about Haitians in Springfield were entirely made up. Indeed, JD Vance openly said the meme was designed to draw attention to the more important story: that Springfield had been “ravaged” by Haitian immigrants.

But the thing is, the underlying story that Vance piously claimed to care about was also made up. Vance buttressed his “ravaged” slur by falsely insisting that Haitians had brought a “massive rise in communicable diseases,” thus pushing the vile smear that immigrants are diseased.

Indeed, you might have forgotten what happened after Trump and Vance targeted Springfield: Many locals forcefully debunked the bigger story Vance purported to be telling. They vociferously defended those Haitians, and spoke up emotionally about their contributions to local economies and communities.

This even included Republicans like Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Springfield Mayor Rob Rue. DeWine hailed the Haitians as “hard workers” who just want “the chance for a better life,” having escaped “one of the poorest and most dangerous places on earth.” Local business owners powerfully seconded these sentiments.

So will ICE now descend on this small Ohio city and turn it into the next Minneapolis?

Miller seems to suggest as much. An alternate possibility is this: Rather than big, splashy raids, ICE could proceed with what Ohio-based immigration advocate Lynn Tramonte calls a strategy of “attrition.” This would entail taking quiet steps to make the Haitians’ lives more and more unlivable, perhaps with pressure on local employers to fire all their Haitian workers, who will now lose their work permits.

Such a move would avoid drawing too much attention to the removals, which would likely prove deeply unpopular, both in Springfield and even in the redder areas outlying it. After all, the Haitians are deeply interwoven into the area, both economically and in terms of community. Jim Swift of The Bulwark reports this from on the ground in Springfield:

Haitians have helped reverse decades of decline in Springfield since 2010. They filled factory jobs, opened businesses, started churches, and helped stabilize the city’s population after years of shrinkage.

As the Ohio Capital Journal details, local officials are now bracing for these removals, because their impact would be deeply disruptive. They would slash the local workforce while eliminating $300 million in annual spending throughout Clark County, possibly leading to an economic loss of $400 million.

Great job, MAGA! Way to own the pet-eating immigrants and their lib defenders!

Springfield looms large in the MAGA imagination. In Vance’s mythology, it’s a typical example of a small Rust Belt city that got hammered by deindustrialization, and then got hit again when elites callously allowed immigrants to savage the place. The real story, though, is much more complex. While the influx did produce some social tensions, local leaders have regularly described them as manageable and immigrant workers have helped drive the town’s growth and revitalization.

Thus it is that even in one of Vance’s storybook postindustrial towns, turning ICE loose would likely encounter serious opposition—yet another sign of how toxic Trump’s real immigration agenda becomes when people get a close look at it. Time will tell whether ICE will be unleashed or whether removals will be more subtle. But however that goes, local officials predict that Clark County, which has benefited from Haitian migration to the tune of 10,000 workers, will take a hit.

Here’s the thing: If you vote for the ticket that tells you immigrants are eating your pets—the ticket that tells you mass removals are needed to purify and revive the nation and its heartland towns—what you’re actually going to get is social turmoil, violent ethnic purges, and serious economic disruption. If you are upset at the prospect of law-abiding immigrants being violently wrenched from your communities, next time don’t vote for the guys who lied in your faces so viciously about them.

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