The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish Blend coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• How DraftKings Uses A.I. to Target the Gamblers Likeliest to Lose: Jenny Vrentas on the machine-learning model DraftKings built from customer betting records to aim its hundreds of millions in “free” promotional money. Data science helps determine who receives betting incentives, but the company has resisted using similar technology to protect gamblers at risk of addiction. (New York Times)
• Happy Oligarch Day as Trump-Aligned Billionaires Take Over Hollywood: Matt Stoller on Larry Ellison, who now controls CNN, CBS, HBO, Paramount and Warner Brothers, and a host of other properties, now be under the control of Larry Ellison, who also owns Oracle and TikTok. (BIG by Matt Stoller)
• The truth behind Donald Trump’s ‘biggest oil deal in world history’ The US’s oil deal with Venezuela faces multiple legal and logistical problems, including questions about whether it can be implemented. But virtually everything Trump and his cabinet have said about the deal is false and misleading, according to the experts and officials who spoke with the Guardian. The Venezuelan law governing oil development does not allow for 100-year deals, or anything over 25 years. The office of strategic capital isn’t authorized in US law, experts say, to own shares in companies. Moreover, they say, the deal as structured won’t bring new capital to Venezuela’s oil sector. (The Guardian)
• Polling has become a playground for grifters, liars, and frauds: I’m a pollster and this is getting ridiculous. (The Argument)
• ‘Zombified’ C.D.C., Hobbled by Cuts, Struggles to Fulfill Scientific Mission: Apoorva Mandavilli on an agency that has lost its independence, nearly a third of its staff and its leadership as the Health Secretary and his associates tighten control. (New York Times)
• A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work: EJ Dickson’s investigation into the “burnerverse” that targeted a University of Florida sophomore. Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back. (Wired)
• How MAGA Bewildered Voters Into Its Alternate Reality: Sarah Longwell on the years-long project to discredit fact-based media and replace it with MAGA slop has been disastrously successful. (The Bulwark)
• Trump’s Media Ban Shows Steady Slide of His Regime Into Outright Dictatorship: Three banned news organizations sue the administration over the White House press exclusions. The US president has moved fast to create the conditions for an authoritarian regime. America can fight back, but is running out of time, explains world affairs editor Sam Kiley (The Independent) see also The Source Behind the Ban: Oliver Darcy’s scoop — the anonymous source behind a story the White House cited to justify banning Politico was JD Vance himself. (Status)
• Men Who Allegedly Targeted Trump’s UFC Fight Converged Online. Most Never Met: Olivia George on an Ohio teenager and co-conspirators who amassed guns, ammunition and body armor without knowing each other’s real names. Prosecutors say the plan was coordinated between men in at least six states almost entirely online, and took shape in mere weeks ahead of the June 14 event at the White House. (Washington Post).
• The Stalemate With Iran Is Not Sustainable: Richard Haass and Carolyn Kissane lay out a diplomatic strategy to end the war. (Foreign Affairs)
Video of the day: Maggie Haberman: Trump’s ‘Unreality Bubble’ Meets the Midterms
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Adam Frank, Head of Wealth Planning and Advice at JPM, responsible for $1.3 trillion in client assets. Previously, he was head of Wealth Management for JP Morgan Securities. JPM’s combined total assets, including global, institutional, private bank, wealth, and retail, are over $7.7 trillion.
The Cost of Living Problem is Partly Due to Our Own Ignorance
Source: LinkedIn
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Facts Only
* A machine-learning model was built by DraftKings using customer betting records to target gamblers for promotional money.
* DraftKings has resisted using similar technology to protect gamblers at risk of addiction.
* Larry Ellison controls CNN, CBS, HBO, Paramount, and Warner Brothers, and also owns Oracle and TikTok.
* Experts and officials suggest the US oil deal with Venezuela faces legal and logistical problems regarding implementation.
* The Venezuelan law does not permit 100-year or longer oil deals, nor does it authorize the office of strategic capital to own company shares in US law.
* Apoorva Mandavilli discussed the challenges faced by the C.D.C., including staff cuts and leadership control.
* EJ Dickson investigated an online network targeting a University of Florida sophomore, known as the "burnerverse."
* Sarah Longwell presented on a project to discredit fact-based media with MAGA narratives.
* Three banned news organizations are suing the administration over White House press exclusions related to media bans.
* Olivia George reported on men who allegedly targeted Trump’s UFC fight, coordinating online activities in at least six states.
* Richard Haass and Carolyn Kissane laid out a diplomatic strategy regarding the stalemate with Iran.
Executive Summary
The provided text presents a collection of long-form reading suggestions spanning finance, political commentary, legal/regulatory issues, social investigations, and international relations. Topics include the use of AI in gambling targeting, the concentration of media ownership by wealthy figures, critiques of political polling, legal disputes regarding oil deals with Venezuela, concerns about agency within government agencies like the CDC, investigative reports on online exploitation, analyses of media influence, and discussions on international diplomacy concerning Iran. The material mixes hard-hitting investigative journalism, expert commentary, and opinion pieces to offer a multifaceted view of current socio-political and economic realities.
The collection also features specific pieces detailing AI applications in finance, shifts in media control, legal challenges related to international resource deals, scrutiny over political processes (polling), internal agency struggles, digital exploitation, narratives surrounding political influence, and geopolitical tensions. The inclusion of figures like Jenny Vrentas, Matt Stoller, Apoorva Mandavilli, EJ Dickson, Sarah Longwell, and Richard Haass suggests a focus on complex systems where data, power structures, and human agency intersect in the modern world.
Full Take
The compilation of topics reveals a recurring theme: the friction between opaque systems—whether in finance (AI targeting), governance (agency loss, media control), geopolitics (oil deals, Iran), or social accountability (digital exploitation)—and the pursuit of verifiable truth and individual agency. The juxtaposition of sophisticated data science used for profit against urgent human crises illustrates a structural imbalance where technological and financial power often operates outside established ethical or legal frameworks.
The pattern observed is an exploration of systemic control, whether exerted through algorithmic targeting, media narratives, or centralized political maneuvering. For instance, the contrast between DraftKings’ use of machine learning for exploitation versus the stated resistance to using similar technology for protection highlights a fundamental tension in how data utility is managed—as a tool for optimization or as a mechanism for risk mitigation. Similarly, the scrutiny over political realities, such as polling and media narratives, points toward an effort to construct subjective realities that can be managed by powerful actors.
The implications point toward a challenge to cognitive sovereignty, where access to information is filtered through self-serving or manipulative lenses. The focus on investigative work regarding online exploitation and media manipulation underscores how systemic failures are often hidden behind complex operational structures. This suggests that resistance requires not just factual correction but a sustained, principled analysis of the underlying architecture—identifying who benefits from the existing structure and what constraints exist against shifting it. What assumptions about agency remain unexamined when narratives are presented as established facts? How does the complexity of these intertwined systems impede the development of shared, resilient understanding?
Sentinel — Human
The text reads like a curated, opinionated newsletter compiling diverse, real-world news links rather than a single synthesized argument, indicating a human editorial structure.