Newsletter Archive

This edition covers RFK Jr.'s controversial overhaul of the ACIP vaccine panel, which plans to re-evaluate all vaccine schedules despite scientific consensus. It also discusses the normalization of political "soft corruption," citing a donor's admission of paying for influence. Two articles analyze conflicting court rulings on AI training and fair use, creating legal uncertainty. Other pieces critique the Trump administration's immigration policies, noting most ICE detainees are non-violent, and the NHTSA's ineffective oversight of Tesla's dangerous Robotaxis due to weakened regulatory power.

This article investigates why adult female virginity has become a modern taboo. Through personal stories, it explores diverse reasons for remaining a virgin late in life, including religious upbringing, medical issues, personal choice, trauma, and perceived unattractiveness. The piece contrasts the historical value of virginity with its current perception as a social 'red flag' or punchline, while also noting its fetishization online. It highlights the complex emotional landscape of isolation and shame experienced by these women in a hyper-sexualized culture.

The SP 500 and Nasdaq reached record highs, driven by an Israel-Iran cease-fire and trade talk optimism. President Trump halted trade negotiations with Canada over a digital-services tax. The Supreme Court limited the power of single judges to issue nationwide injunctions in a birthright citizenship case and ruled on cases involving school books and a Texas porn law. A report detailed Israel's successful strike on Iran, with Trump maintaining sanctions. NATO members agreed to double defense spending, and U.S. consumer sentiment rose.

This newsletter critiques several topics, starting with the irony of Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee calling the FOMC the "worlds greatest deliberative body" despite its record of groupthink and unanimous votes. The author then criticizes the Wall Street Journal's news section for its negative coverage of a U.S. strike on Iran, calling it biased. The piece also highlights a Supreme Court majority opinion that rebuked Justice Jackson's dissent for advocating an "imperial Judiciary." Finally, it expresses skepticism about Harvard's ability to replace federal funding with corporate sponsorships.

Startup Deal Desk highlights three DeepTech founders tackling foundational challenges. ThunderGraph, led by Echo Wu and Lloyd Michael Huang, is building an AI-powered platform for complex systems engineering, with pilots at major firms like Lockheed Martin. 3thix, founded by Chris Chen, offers a plug-and-play financial backend for game developers, backed by a grant from the Avalanche Foundation. Arovia, led by Alexander Wesley, has commercialized Splay, a collapsible portable display, generating 1.6M in revenue and exploring B2BB2G applications.

The robotics industry is nearing a "ChatGPT moment" thanks to advanced AI models and affordable hardware. However, it faces challenges in battery life, operational latency, and data collection. This article argues that crypto and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) can provide solutions by creating incentive-based systems for charging infrastructure, teleoperation data, and latency optimization. Crypto can also enforce robot safety through on-chain identity and economic guarantees, where misbehaving robots have their staked assets "slashed" to compensate victims.

Superdial has raised a 15M Series A led by SignalFire to automate phone calls for healthcare providers and insurers. The author, an early investor, explains this aligns with his thesis of using AI agents as a temporary bridge to build new marketplaces. Superdial's initial service of automating calls is intended to eventually evolve into a more efficient data exchange network, replacing the calls altogether once sufficient volume is achieved. The company was founded by Sam Schwager and Harrison Caruthers and is currently hiring.

Mark Halperin promotes recent and upcoming content. A past episode of The Morning Meeting covered Republican reconciliation efforts and Democratic support for Zohran Mamdani. Upcoming live shows include Random Offense and 2WAY Tonight. A new Next Up podcast episode features Halperin's analysis comparing Zohran Mamdani to Donald Trump and an interview with Meghan McCain about her discussion with Second Lady Usha Vance.

This newsletter features an article by Krista Langlois in BioGraphic about the diverse wildlife living in Rome. Titled "The Wild Within The Walls," it describes how animals like crabs, wolves, boars, raptors, and foxes use the city's archaeological sites and ancient "green corridors" to thrive alongside their human neighbors.

Cryptography company Zama has raised 57 million in a Series B round co-led by Pantera Capital and Blockchange Ventures, achieving a unicorn valuation of over 1 billion. Zama specializes in fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), allowing data to be processed while encrypted. Its flagship product, the Zama Protocol, brings confidentiality to blockchains, enabling secure applications in DeFi, payments, and governance. This latest round brings Zama's total funding to over 150 million.

StreamAlive shares key learnings from user feedback, revealing that presenters prioritize seamless workflow integration over just boosting engagement. Users want to run interactions directly within PowerPoint and ZoomTeams, avoid QR codes, and have AI generate questions from their presentation content. In response, StreamAlive is updating its roadmap to build these features, including direct PowerPoint integration and AI-powered question generation. The newsletter also announces new slide transitions and an upcoming webinar on video presence.

David Crane criticizes Governor Gavin Newsom's administration for policies that have significantly benefited state employees while harming the private sector. Since 2019, state staffing has increased by 21 and compensation by 48, while California's unemployment rate has risen to 26 above the national average. Crane warns of future tax hikes to cover deficits and unfunded pension liabilities, making the state less attractive to employers. He concludes that a change in leadership and a move toward a more tech-enabled government are needed to fix these fiscal issues.

Anthony Pompliano argues that Bitcoin's drastically reduced volatility is a positive sign of its maturation. While early adopters may miss the extreme price swings, the new stability, comparable to US stocks, makes Bitcoin more attractive to large institutional investors. This "Goldilocks" phase is turning Bitcoin from a contrarian to a consensus asset, poised to attract more capital and continue its price appreciation, albeit with more moderate returns than in its past.

This newsletter covers four topics: 1) The 'Fade America' trade is weak, evidenced by record foreign investment in US stocks and treasuries. 2) The US is winning the trade war, as most Chinese goods are substitutable, and past supply chain issues were actually demand surges. 3) Stablecoins are a major buyer of US T-Bills, making crypto a key financier for the US government. 4) The dominance of passive ETFs creates a momentum-driven market, where the most liquid assets are at risk of the biggest sell-offs in a downturn, a phenomenon called the 'liquidity paradox'.

This humorous news roundup focuses on Zohran Mamdani, the new socialist Democratic nominee for NYC mayor, whose campaign is compared to Donald Trump's. The author declares the recent US-involved conflict between Israel and Iran a victory for Trump, citing successful strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities with no American casualties. Other topics include Marjorie Taylor Greene's call to invade Mexico, a labor shortage for AI data center technicians, NATO leaders calling Trump "Daddy," a failed impeachment attempt, and Kari Lake's bizarre congressional testimony.

Softening labor market data, with continuing jobless claims reaching their highest point since late 2021, has led markets to increase bets on a Federal Reserve rate cut this summer. Traders now see a significantly higher probability of cuts in July and September. This market sentiment contrasts with the Fed's official cautious stance, which Chair Jerome Powell attributes to tariff uncertainty. However, some Fed Governors have indicated a July cut is on the table, suggesting a potential policy shift based on incoming data.

U.S. stock indexes, including the SP 500 and Nasdaq, neared record highs amid tech optimism. Key global developments include a realignment in the Middle East following the Israel-Iran war that complicates a Saudi-Israel deal, and the EU considering tariff cuts to woo President Trump. Domestically, a Supreme Court ruling makes it easier for states to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, and some Republicans are at odds with the Senate parliamentarian over budget rules. The newsletter also touches on AI's energy use and new fitness trends.

Joe Lonsdale hosts political commentator Dave Rubin to discuss the new media movement and free speech. Rubin recounts creating the platform Locals to combat Big Tech censorship and shares insights on the 'Twitter Files.' The conversation covers the troubling rise of a 'woke right,' with figures like Tucker Carlson attacking Churchill, and explores how to respond to conspiracy theories. Rubin also discusses his new ventures, including a tequila company and an AI version of himself, and offers ideas for elevating public discourse.

The author criticizes AMC Theatres for adding more pre-show commercials, calling it a risky move that applies the 'Annoyance Economy' to a non-captive audience that already tries to skip ads. This decision is seen as another example of the industry's denial. The piece also notes the irony of Hollywood reviving Mel Brooks' classics like 'Young Frankenstein' and 'Spaceballs' while simultaneously failing to greenlight new films in the broad comedy genre, effectively letting the genre die out.

This article accuses the New York Times of biased news coverage, focusing on its favorable portrayal of democratic socialist politician Zohran Mamdani. The author argues the Times uses positive modifiers like "optimistic" for Mamdani while applying negative labels like "ultraconservative" to his political opponents. The piece contends the Times downplays the radical nature of democratic socialism, which calls for the abolition of capitalism, not just curbing its "excesses." It also criticizes the paper's handling of Mamdani's anti-Israel rhetoric.

The author argues that capital allocators engage in 'moral arbitrage' by treating systemic societal risks like antisemitism and social collapse as 'unmodelable edge cases' or contrarian opportunities. This is framed as a massive fiduciary failure, not a rational strategy. Using examples like the 1930s German brain drain, climate change-related stranded assets (150B lost), and the opioid crisis (1T economic cost), the author demonstrates that ignoring these large-scale risks consistently leads to catastrophic financial losses. The real risk is not acting early, but waiting until value is already destroyed.

Stealth Startup Spy 250 spotlights founders launching new ventures and key talent going into stealth. Newly launched companies include Monk (AR automation), Dorsal.fyi (healthcare pricing), Suits (AI for professional services), and Typedef (AI data engine with a 5.5M seed round). The issue also notes that experienced talent from companies like Pinterest, Google, Shopify, and Amazon have recently started new, unannounced ventures.

This newsletter argues that investors are creating a bubble by overfunding mainstream B2B AI startups, like a recent 500M round for an AI compliance tool, while ignoring a more promising opportunity. The author points to high failure rates in follow-on funding as a red flag. The real, underpriced opportunity lies in AI for "physical-world" industries such as supply chains and agriculture, which offer more durable and less-hyped investments. This sector is seeing a 40 YoY increase in funding and represents the true asymmetric upside.

This article explores the "gospel" of Founders Fund, the venture capital firm guided by Peter Thiel's provocative and contrarian philosophy. Positioned as a "dark prophet" in Silicon Valley, Thiel's influence stems from his willingness to invert common beliefs and explore unconventional ideas, shaping the tech industry's current deep tech and nationalist focus. This worldview is reflected in the firm's investment strategy, such as its highly profitable and well-timed crypto trades. Thiel's unique persona also attracts unconventional founders, solidifying the firm's role as a powerful narrative agent.

This email from Substack is a digest featuring five articles. The lead story is an interview with Mark Ramadan, who discusses scaling brands like Sir Kensington's and Hu. The interview covers the journey of these brands and the process of navigating acquisitions, offering insights for entrepreneurs and brand managers. The digest also includes four other unspecified articles.

Anthony Pompliano predicts that stocks, Bitcoin, and gold will continue to rise to new all-time highs. He attributes this trend to the ongoing debasement of the US dollar, caused by relentless government money printing. Citing the dollar's recent weakness and historical market performance, he argues that assets priced in dollars are bound to increase in value. He specifically notes Bitcoin's potential to reach 150,000 by year-end if it continues to track the money supply, urging investors to own these assets to protect against inflation.

This newsletter profiles San Francisco's new mayor, Daniel Lurie, and his 'commonsense' plan to turn the city around from its progressive experiments, contrasting this with New York's political direction. It also covers several global news items, including Donald Trump considering a new Fed Chair, a NATO spending increase, a private space mission to the ISS, a potential Russia-China gas pipeline, deadly protests in Kenya, and a possible merger between oil giants Shell and BP.

This analysis argues that rising antisemitism, disguised as 'economic justice' or 'anti-Zionism,' poses a significant, untracked risk to investment portfolios. The author extends Peter Thiel's theory on economic anxiety, suggesting that frustration is channeled into scapegoating successful minorities, particularly Jews. This creates a market distortion where politicians attack the Israeli innovation ecosystem while depending on its technology. Citing a 361 surge in antisemitic incidents, the author warns of tangible impacts like talent flight, deal flow disruption, and divestment pressure, ultimately targeting the demographic behind top-performing tech companies.

The author describes the rise of the 'Creative Hacker' mindset, arguing that in the AI era, success stems from unconventional thinking and intuition rather than traditional credentials. This 'Great Credential Collapse' sees a new generation using AI to bypass old rules in education and business. Examples include successful solo founders defying VC norms and companies like Replit achieving explosive growth (10M to 100M ARR in 6 months) by prioritizing product and community. This mindset must also apply to distribution to overcome declining social media engagement.

This newsletter from Products That Count spotlights three 'Product Talk' podcast episodes on AI's impact on product leadership. Featured guests include Renee Niemi (Products That Count), Jeetu Patel (Cisco), and a joint talk by Monica Ugwi (Microsoft) and Keith Glendon (Capgemini). The email also invites innovators to join programs testing new AI solutions for price optimization and creative workflows, and lists other resources like upcoming events and popular articles.

This article highlights the hidden literary inspirations behind popular modern films. It demonstrates how classic stories remain relevant by analyzing five examples: 'The Lion King' is based on Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'; 'Apocalypse Now' adapts Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'; 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' is a retelling of Homer's 'Odyssey'; 'Shes the Man' is a modern take on Shakespeares 'Twelfth Night'; and 'Joker' shares deep thematic roots with Dostoevskys 'Notes from Underground.' These films prove that foundational narratives continue to shape contemporary storytelling.

This essay argues that attention is the new foundational infrastructure of power, determining political, military, and economic outcomes. The author uses three examples to support this: Donald Trump's social media-driven foreign policy, Zohran Mamdani's digitally-powered victory in the NYC mayoral primary, and the startup Cluely's venture funding based on its ability to capture attention. The piece posits a new supply chainAttention Speculation Allocationwhere narrative discipline is the key to acquiring resources, shifting power from traditional institutions to masters of the digital feed.

This post summarizes a conversation with AiMation founder Tom Paton. After creating the first feature-length AI movie, Paton has pivoted from theatrical releases to a "Gamified Video on Demand" (GVOD) app, also called AiMation. The app, currently in beta, features short, two-minute episodes unlocked via microtransactions, ads, or subscriptions, similar to ReelShort. This model, which uses AI tools for production, is built on the belief that the future of cultural content lies in gaming and active user engagement.

This article examines the hype around stablecoins. While acknowledging their utility for simplifying financial ledgers and the massive growth of companies like Circle (50B valuation), the author expresses skepticism. The main focus is questioning the popular claim that stablecoin transaction volume, now at a run-rate of 8 trillion, is about to surpass Visa's. The author suggests this comparison is misleading and the narrative is overblown, setting up a more critical analysis.

Commercial drones have democratised warfare, allowing smaller actors to conduct strategic attacks once reserved for superpowers. The author cites Ukraine's "Operation Spiderweb," where cheap drones destroyed expensive Russian bombers, and Israel's "Operation Rising Lion" against Iranian nuclear sites as proof. This creates a massive economic imbalance (a 500,000:1 cost ratio) and new vulnerabilities for nations like the UK. The author warns that the West must urgently adapt its defense strategy away from large, expensive systems to counter these cheap, numerous, and accessible threats.

The author argues that the AI industry's intense focus on scaling compute is unsustainable and overlooks the 'forgotten path' of algorithmic innovation. While scaling has yielded impressive models like GPT-4, it faces rising costs and energy demands. The article champions a balanced approach, citing algorithmic advancements like Mixture of Experts (MoE) and models like DeepSeek-R1 that achieve superior efficiency and performance with fewer resources. This path is presented as a more sustainable and robust way forward, calling for increased investment in algorithmic research and design.

A news alert from The Wall Street Journal reports that a cease-fire between Israel and Iran appears to be holding. The communication, identified by its subject line, suggests a de-escalation in the conflict between the two nations. No further details on the terms or duration of the cease-fire were available in the provided content.

In Missive 205, Bret from 4thly challenges the conventional wisdom that Simple Agreements for Future Equity (SAFEs) are a safe financing option for startups. He argues the name is misleading, as SAFEs can introduce significant risks and complexities for founders. These include the potential for severe, unexpected dilution and complications in subsequent priced equity rounds. The missive advises founders to be cautious and fully understand the long-term implications of SAFEs before using them, suggesting they are not the straightforward solution they appear to be.

Economist Tyler Cowen argues that AI will not make us stupid but will instead act as a complement to human intelligence. Drawing parallels to past technologies like the printing press, he suggests AI will automate tedious cognitive work, freeing humans to focus on higher-level creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. He believes our definition of 'smart' will evolve to emphasize curiosity and the ability to collaborate with AI, leading to an overall increase in human capability, even if some specific mental skills atrophy.

Unshackled VC has promoted Alexis Maciel to Principal. The announcement recognizes his valuable contributions to the firm and its portfolio companies. In his new role, he will take on expanded responsibilities, reflecting the firm's confidence in his leadership and abilities.

No content was provided in the request. The summary cannot be generated without the body of the email.

This article argues for the protection of free speech at U.S. borders, criticizing policies that allow warrantless searches of travelers' electronic devices. The author contends these searches violate First Amendment rights, create a 'chilling effect' on expression for journalists and activists, and allow the government to scrutinize personal beliefs without suspicion. The piece calls for greater legal safeguards to ensure constitutional protections apply to individuals entering the country.

Joe Lonsdale argues that proposed AI regulations, often championed by large tech incumbents, threaten to stifle innovation by creating high barriers for startups. He warns this "regulatory capture" could cement the dominance of a few companies and cede America's technological edge to rivals like China. Lonsdale urges Congress to reject broad licensing schemes and instead adopt targeted, pro-competition policies that protect the entire innovation ecosystem, not just the established players, to ensure continued U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence.

Greg Lukianoff has announced the release of his new TED Talk. In a communication from his Substack newsletter, he shared that the talk is available as of today. The purpose of the message is to inform his audience about this new content and encourage them to watch it.

Reshma Saujani re-evaluates her perception of former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern following her resignation. Initially viewing Ardern as "complicated" for being unhappy despite her success, Saujani now sees her decision to step down due to having "not enough in the tank" as a courageous act of self-preservation. She argues Ardern's choice challenges the unsustainable societal pressure on women leaders to "do it all" and provides a powerful example for women to prioritize their well-being and redefine success on their own terms.

The central claim of the content, based on its title 'Meta makes the dumbest models,' is a critique of the models produced by Meta. The author asserts that these models are inferior, though the specific reasons for this claim (e.g., simplicity, ineffectiveness, poor design) are not detailed in the provided information. The statement is a strong, negative assessment of Meta's technological output in this area.

Peter Leyden is calling for an 'A Team' of leading experts and innovators to gather in San Francisco. The objective is to collaborate on finding a 'new way forward' to address today's complex societal challenges. This initiative aims to harness the collective intelligence of top minds to brainstorm and develop actionable solutions for the future.

UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat argues that the Conservative government has taken a strong stance against Iran by sanctioning over 400 entities, including the entire IRGC, and passing the National Security Act. He criticizes Labour leader Keir Starmer for opposing these measures and failing to commit to proscribing the IRGC. Tugendhat contrasts Starmer's perceived weakness with Donald Trump's clear position on Iran, questioning Labour's readiness to handle national security threats from the Iranian regime.

This newsletter from "manojnayakcom" is titled "Hare Krishna, Hare Rama - Jaipur." It likely discusses a personal experience or reflection related to the Hare Krishna movement within the city of Jaipur. The content probably centers on a visit to a local temple or the cultural significance of the mantra in that specific location.

This newsletter explores how AI is revolutionizing language learning. It discusses the shift from traditional methods to AI-powered applications that offer personalized learning paths, instant pronunciation and grammar feedback, and immersive conversational practice with AI tutors. These advancements, seen in popular apps, are making language education more effective, engaging, and accessible to learners worldwide by simulating real-world interactions and adapting to individual user needs.

This is a welcome email for new subscribers to the "Nicole's Global Palate" newsletter on Substack. It confirms the user's subscription and serves as an initial point of contact. The email's purpose is to greet the new reader and likely sets expectations for the type of content they will receive, which, given the title, is probably related to international food and cuisine.

This issue of "Field Notes" explores how to become more comfortable with pain. Instead of avoiding discomfort, the author suggests we should treat it as a signal that requires attention. Drawing on Stoic philosophy, the newsletter advocates for "voluntary discomfort"intentionally engaging in small, manageable hardships like cold showers or holding a plank longer. This practice helps separate the sensation of pain from the narrative of suffering, building mental resilience and proving to ourselves that we can endure hardship, ultimately leading to personal growth.