James Rubin

Someone is impersonating me, asking receivers of an email that bears my name and Decrypt's to appear on a podcast. There's a link that probably leads to a scam. See the screen shot below.

If you're one of the chosen, don't click on the link.

Stay safe everyone.

Good morning from NorCal!

Administrators at Indiana University baselessly fired the student media director and ordered the student paper to cease its print edition, so it'd sure be a shame if this excellent digital front page were to be widely shared today

issuu.com/idsnews/docs...

That made it all right to be from Bakersfield when a lot of people weren’t all right with that. When people might physically recoil at your destitution or wonder if you could read. Here in your corner was Merle, and he was truthful about where he came from, about being an ex-con who had lived in a boxcar in Oildale, and people were fine with him. He legitimized people like my grandparents and all of the other displaced people in the parts of California people try to get away from. He legitimized everybody who got up before sunrise to drive trucks or pick cotton in some of the most desolate towns in America. Towns where it never rained. Towns of dirt and canals and corrugated sheet metal. Every time he had a hit record, he told you it was perfectly normal to wake up with a pack of cigarettes on the kitchen table instead of any food and stare out at a highway. He made you think that you, too, could do something besides stand in a field or sit in a truck, but that if you had to, well, that was all right too.

Here's Horton on Merle Haggard

www.welcometohellworld.com/life-is-a-pr...

The latest in the Fed-White House saga….now two more rate cuts?!

When Mom Goes Viral: Marilyn Hagerty, 85, Is Talk of Social Media Some people pursue celebrity. Others stumble into it as they are rushing off to bridge club. My 85-year-old mom, Marilyn Hagerty, a newspaper columnist, is in the latter category.

And here is a wonderful piece that her son, an esteemed WSJ reporter, wrote after her Olive Garden review hit the big time.

www.wsj.com/articles/SB1...

Nasdaq Files With SEC to Allow Trading of Tokenized Stocks - Decrypt Nasdaq has asked the SEC for a rule change that would allow the stock exchange to record stocks in tokenized form, according to a filing.

decrypt.co/338455/nasda... my latest

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Now Accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana for Spaceflights decrypt.co/334645/je...

Bitcoin, Ethereum Rise as US Inflation Cools to 2.7% in July - Decrypt The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rose after a widely watched inflation gauge was cooler-than-expected in July.

decrypt.co/334643/bitco...

Roddy! Focus!

Ready, set, go! Lucy!

going out on top 🫡

PayPal to Enable Businesses to Accept Bitcoin, Ethereum and Other Cryptocurrencies - Decrypt Payment services provider PayPal will allow merchants to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, a first for the company.

decrypt.co/332074/paypa... Use of crypto potentially grew a lot larger. My latest.

when trying on a suit, do this in the store. then tell the sales associate "the menswear guy told me to do this."

IG oldhollywoodmusicals

NBC will use Jim Fagan’s AI-generated voice for NBA coverage NBC has already launched a promo with Fagan’s AI-generated voice.

Ewww.

www.theverge.com/news/661911/...

Phew.

Payrolls grew a relatively uninteresting (and positive!) +177k in April, and unemployment was unchanged at 4.2%.

This economy is still humming along.

NOTE: This is a reading largely from the pre-tariff period. Still very foggy about what lies ahead.

A good thing I’m not on a pitch count.

You half-empty types will see this as a lost $60 million jet.
But we half-full types see it as a new $60 million coral reef.

And GM Blue-skiers!

End of the weekend from NorCal with the border collies, Roddy and Lucy.

Interesting story…https://www.semafor.com/article/04/27/2025/the-group-chats-that-changed-america

Trump has done the impossible: he has made Americans like Harvard

All Abrego Garcia needs to do to get out of prison is claim he rioted on Jan 6

Elaine Wynn, Hotel Billionaire and Philanthropist, Dies at 82 She co-founded Wynn Resorts with her ex-husband and was the largest individual shareholder.

My deepest condolences to Elaine Wynn’s family. She was a formidable art collector and philanthropist, as well as casino magnate, and a tenacious matriarch who looked after the generations. I will miss our infrequent conversations. WHAT a life she lived. www.wsj.com/business/ela...

A photo of a bunch of Nike shoes.

How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

Before you open this thread, take a guess. Settle on a number and then compare it to what you'll learn in this thread. 🧵

Biggest mistakes I'm seeing in early reporting (thread):

1. Tariffmageddon isn't over: Lotsa tariffs to account for, but the average tariff rate is only down around one quarter. So most of the pain of Liberation Day is still with us.

Imbeciles are running the United States Government

The penguins on the Heard and McDonald Islands announce they are putting 30% tariffs on US goods.

Billie Jean at tonight’s Angel City game honoring the investors in the team and former World Cup players.