Caroline Haskins

56 best Eric Adams quotes of all time There may never be another mayor like the bard of the Big Apple.

A public service from @cityandstateny.bsky.social

www.cityandstateny.com/personality/...

A Journey Into the Heart of Labubu I made an epic trek across four countries to answer one question: Why is the world going mad for a plushie monster?

In college, I'd always walk past an unremarkable store in Beijing that sold a variety of trendy, but tacky, toys. That store has turned into Pop Mart, the $45-billion Chinese toy empire behind Labubu, the biggest global fad of 2025.

This is my big story/pilgrimage trip to explain how they got here

Amazon Will Pay $2.5 Billion to Settle FTC Suit That Alleged ‘Dark Patterns’ in Prime Sign-Ups Amazon will pay both the Federal Trade Commission and consumers directly to settle a lawsuit alleging that it used manipulative and deceptive tactics to encourage sign-ups for Prime.

Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle a FTC suit which claimed that sign-ups + cancellations for Prime are manipulative and confusing

In the words of one Amazon customer quoted in an earlier court filing: "IT IS SNEAKY AND BLOODY DISHONEST"
www.wired.com/story/amazon...

The Story of DOGE, as Told by Federal Workers WIRED spoke with more than 200 federal workers in dozens of agencies to learn what happened as the Department of Government Efficiency tore through their offices.

Impossible to even choose a pull quote in this oral history of DOGE!!!
www.wired.com/story/oral-h...

This is how I described the Palantir t-shirt design in the piece, but someone very correctly pointed out that it also closely resembles the Lumon logo from Severance lol

you're so right and I feel silly for not making that connection as well !!!

And if you want some examples of said merch:

Huge week here @wired.com as we're rolling out our Politics Issue. First up, check out this cover, which we're also posting all over cities across the US.

Palantir Wants to Be a Lifestyle Brand Defense tech giant Palantir is selling T-shirts and tote bags as part of a bid to encourage fans to publicly endorse it.

You may know the software company Palantir as a contractor for ICE + the military. But in recent months, it's relaunched its merch store & said it wants to be a "lifestyle brand."

What does it mean for Palantir to be a lifestyle brand...? I unpacked it here:
www.wired.com/story/palant...

Donald Trump Is Saying There's a TikTok Deal. China Isn't Donald Trump claimed victory on a deal that would put TikTok in the hands of his allies after a call with Xi Jinping. But details on the agreement—and Beijing's buy-in—remain murky.

Looking forward to still writing about this drama next September. But for now, here’s what we know about the TikTok deal as of Friday. Reported with @jakelahut.writes.news

Thanks so much to Paris for having me on @techwontsave.us!!

Definitely give the episode a listen if you wanna hear us talk about Palantir, Peter Thiel, the antichrist, and related matters :)

The Gaza family torn apart by IDF snipers from Chicago and Munich Five-month investigation reveals how four members of one family were shot and killed in a single day and highlights a pattern in which Israeli troops target unarmed civilians

IDF sniper from Chicago who says he killed Gazan teenager just for trying to retrieve his brother's corpse: “They’re thinking, ‘Oh I don’t think [I’ll get shot] because I’m wearing civilian clothes and I am not carrying a weapon' and all that, but they were wrong. That’s what you have snipers for.”

Anthropic Agrees to Pay Authors at Least $1.5 Billion in AI Copyright Settlement Anthropic will pay at least $3,000 for each copyrighted work that it pirated. The company downloaded unauthorized copies of books in early efforts to gather training data for its AI tools.

BREAKING: Anthropic has agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to authors in class action lawsuit for pirating their works www.wired.com/story/anthro...

The Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It? When her son died in utero, a venture capitalist went to extremes to punish her surrogate.

When her son died in utero, a venture capitalist went to extremes to punish her surrogate. www.wired.com/story/the-ba...

How come after single time in my ENTIRE LIFE I’ve tried to walk around someone, they start drifting into the exact place I was going to pass them moments before I was gonna step there and just completely block off that route ❤️❤️

Labubus Are on Track to Be a Billion-Dollar Business This year Pop Mart, the Chinese company behind the Labubu franchise, has sold $670 million worth of related products so far this year—more than iconic US toy lines Barbie and Hot Wheels.

Bringing you the earnings report that matters!

Pop Mart’s net profits grew 362% yoy in H1 2025

Revenue-wise:
- the Labubu franchise grew 668% to $670 million (more than Barbie or Hot Wheels)
- the Americas market grew 1100+%
- the plush products grew over 1200+%

& that’s not including Lafufus!

bless bless thank u 🙏🙏🙏

surface level view, this seems like a natural extension of those "man DESTROYS crying lib college student in debate" videos and general online misogyny -- but is there also something about trying to counter the narrative from stats about younger women being further left than young men...? idk

has anyone written something smart on this (seemingly) increasingly popular culture war tactic where women cringe and bad = lib and women pretty and good = conservative ...?

Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC’s Tech Scene Is Not New York City tech leaders aren’t rattled by the prospect of a Mayor Mamdani. In fact, many of them welcome it.

You may have seen Silicon Valley tech figures posting + panicking about Zohran Mamdani in recent weeks. I decided to talk to NYC-based tech execs who have actually sat down with him. They’re not panicking:
www.wired.com/story/tech-e...

thank u!!!

What Does Palantir Actually Do? Palantir is often called a data broker, a data miner, or a giant database of personal information. In reality, it’s none of these—but even former employees struggle to explain it.

Were u on vacation / generally offline last week? If so, understandable — but icymi, here's my explainer about What Palantir Actually Does:
www.wired.com/story/palant...

xAI Was About to Land a Major Government Contract. Then Grok Praised Hitler Internal emails obtained by WIRED show a hasty process to onboard OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI providers to the federal government. xAI was on the list—until MechaHilter happened.

A bunch of big AI companies have landed major contracts with the US government this month. xAI was in position to join the list ... until MechaHitler. from @zoeschiffer.bsky.social @makenakelly.bsky.social and @telliotter.bsky.social

genuinely at a loss here. how did this happen???
www.reuters.com/investigates...

?????
www.reuters.com/investigates...

What Does Palantir Actually Do? Palantir is often called a data broker, a data miner, or a giant database of personal information. In reality, it’s none of these—but even former employees struggle to explain it.

Palantir is often called a data broker, a data miner, or a giant database of personal information. In reality, it’s none of these—but even former employees struggle to explain it. www.wired.com/story/palant...

guy at the grocery store checkout said that my shoes were "fucking weird" but that his girlfriend "would definitely love them" and asked for the brand + shoe name lmfao

The Crypto Maniacs and the Torture Townhouse How two men charged with an outrageous kidnapping scheme introduced a new kind of crime to the city.

there's approximately 1 billion insane details in this so it's impossible to share a pull quote but I would recommend reading this
nymag.com/intelligence...

**dowd 😔 apologies...