Donald Trump surprised many in August when he made the government the owner of 9.9% of the troubled U.S. chip maker Intel. The administration paid for the Intel equity using $8.9 billion of the Biden administration’s CHIPs and Science Act grant money that had already been earmarked for Intel. The new grant money comes on top of the $2.2 billion in CHIPS Act grants Intel already received, bringing the governments total investment to $11.1 billion.
Intel’s finance chief David Zinsner said the governments investment is meant to incentivize Intel to keep majority control over its contract chip-fabrication business. As part of the deal, the government gets a five-year warrant to buy 5% more Intel shares if the companys ownership of its chip foundry operation falls below 51%.
What would a newly elected Democratic administration do with the governments stake? Chances are good that it would keep it. Heres why.
Interestingly, it was a pair of high-profile progressivesBernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warrenwho originally suggested the government take an ownership stake in chip companies that took CHIPS Act grants. They proposed an amendment to the CHIPs Act that would have required grant recipients to issue warrants or equity stakes to the Federal Government, as Sanders put it in floor remarks in July of 2022. The amendment, which never made it into the bill, would also have prevented CHIPS Act recipients from using the funds to buy back stock, offshore U.S. jobs, or to discourage unionization. Its opponents, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, warned that the amendment would turn innovative manufacturers into state-owned enterprises and harm U.S. competitiveness.
Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, came out in favor of the Trump administrations ownership share in Intel, saying that the U.S. taxpayers ought to get a reasonable return when tax dollars are sent to the aid of a private company. But the Trump administrations approval of the disbursement of CHIPs and Science Act grants was not conditioned on anything else that would guarantee that Intel put the money toward achieving goals that are in the countrys interest.
U.S. lawmakers, especially small-government conservatives, have, historically, been hesitant to back private companies, out of fear of appearing as if the government is picking winners in the marketplace. But Intel, which represents Americas best chance to anchor advanced AI chip making on U.S. soil as the competition with China to lead AI heats up, was seen as a special case.
When it comes to manufacturing the chips, Intel has fallen far behind Taiwan-based TSMC. TSMC, which makes almost all of the GPUs used for AI now, is based in Taiwan, just 80 miles from mainland China. For years, U.S. military analysts have feared the day when China invades the island.
Letting the free market be free? Or not?
Still, the governments investment has been met with criticism. The Cato Institutes Scott Lincicome writes in a Washington Post op-ed that the deal represents a dangerous turn in American industrial policy, adding that it abandons decades of market-oriented principles and risks politicizing Intels decision-making. With the U.S. government as its largest shareholder, Intel will face constant pressure to align corporate decisions with the goals of whatever political party is in power, he cautions.
The next political party in power could be the Democratic Party, if it can articulate a populist platform that doesnt sound like establishment politics. Using that logic, the next Democratic administration could be led by someone from the progressive wing of the party. Actually, a left-leaning Democratic administration might decide to leave the governments Intel stake in place, but for very different reasons than the ones motivating Trump. The left has been somewhat more comfortable with interventionist market policies in the past (see: anti-trust interventions, single payer healthcare).
A new Democratic administration in 2028 might not sell off the governments stake in Intel. But it might add some conditions to any new government investment in the company. It might also take a hard look at Intels progress toward fabricating TSMC-level chips in America, and adjust the terms of the investment accordingly.
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Zillow economists just published their updated 12-month forecast, projecting that U.S. home pricesas measured by the Zillow Home Value Indexwill rise +1.2% between August 2025 and August 2026.
Heading into 2025, Zillows 12-month forecast for U.S. home prices was +2.6%. However, many housing markets across the country softened faster than expected, prompting Zillow to issue several downward revisions. By April 2025, Zillow had cut its 12-month national home price outlook to -1.7%.
However, in recent months, Zillow has stopped issuing downward revisions. In August, Zillow revised its 12-month outlook to +0.4%, and it is now revising that outlook to +1.2%.
Sellers took a step back from the housing market in August in response to slow demand from cash-strapped home shoppers. Buyers still in the market have plenty of opportunity, especially in inventory-rich environments. But competitive momentum that has been swinging fast in buyers favor in recent months is showing signs of stopping nationwide, Kara Ng, a senior economist at Zillow, wrote in a September report.
While Zillows national home price forecast is no longer negativeit isnt exactly bullish either.
High housing costs continue to sideline prospective buyers, making it easier for those still in the hunt. Zillows market heat index shows the market is balanced between buyers and sellers nationwide, with less competition among buyers than in any August since 2018, Ng wrote. Homes are lingering longer before finding a buyer as well. The median time on market for a sold home is 27 daysa full week longer than last year and one day longer than pre-pandemic norms.
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Among the 300 largest U.S. metro-area housing markets, Zillow expects the biggest home price increase between August 2025 and August 2026 to occur in these 15 metros:
Atlantic City, NJ 4.7%
Torrington, CT 4.7%
Saginaw, MI 4.6%
Pottsville, PA 4.4%
Rockford, IL 4.3%
Kingston, NY 4.3%
Concord, NH 4.3%
Knoxville, TN 4.2%
Hartford, CT 4.1%
New Haven, CT 4.0%
Hilton Head Island, SC 4.0%
Vineland, NJ 4.0%
Fayetteville, AR 3.9%
Norwich, CT 3.9%
Youngstown, OH 3.7%
Among the 300 largest U.S. metro-area housing markets, Zillow expects the biggest home price decline between August 2025 and August 2026 to occur in these 15 metros:
Houma, LA -7.9%
Lake Charles, LA -7.5%
Lafayette, LA -5.3%
New Orleans, LA -4.8%
Beaumont, TX -4.5%
Shreveport, LA -4.5%
Alexandria, LA -4.5%
Odessa, TX -3.3%
Corpus Christi, TX -3.2%
San Francisco, CA -3.0%
Santa Rosa, CA -2.7%
Monroe, LA -2.7%
Chico, CA -2.6%
Texarkana, TX -2.6%
Austin, TX -2.4%
U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, are currently down +0.01% year over year. If Zillows latest 12-month outlook (+1.2%) comes to fruition, it would represent a tiny acceleration.
Below is what the current year-over-year rate of home price growth looks like for single-family and condo home prices. The Sun Belt, in particular Southwest Florida, is currently the epicenter of housing market weakness right now.
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Early on the morning of September 23, a 12-foot-tall bronze statue appeared on the lawn of the National Mall. It depicted President Trump and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein holding hands and frolicking together, and the plaque at its base read: We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his closest friend, Jeffrey Epstein. By the next morning, the statue had been hauled away by U.S. Park Police.
The installationtitled Best Friends Foreverwas intended to spotlight Trumps 15-year friendship with Epstein, a chapter thats faced intense scrutiny over the past several months. Trump has continuously attempted to discredit stories linking himself to Epstein, even as new evidence of their association continues to come to light.
It’s just the latest in a series of similar satirical statues that have cropped up on the National Mall and around Washington, D.C. In a statement to NPR on September 24, a group called The Secret Handshake claimed responsibility for Best Friends Forever, as well as most of the other statues that have materialized in recent months.
[Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images]
Despite receiving a National Park Service permit to remain on the mall until Sunday evening, the statue was removed just 24 hours after it appeared. A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior told NPR that it was removed because it was not compliant with the permit, though they did not specify how.
An anonymous member of The Secret Handshake told the media outlet that “some people within the parks department, aka most likely the Trump administration, were trying to find ways to say we were not in compliance.
“They showed up in the middle of the night without notice and physically toppled the statue, broke it, and took it away,” the source added.
According to Ken Lum, a sculpture artist and chair of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, The Secret Handshake’s brand of irreverent critique is part of a long tradition that dates back five centuries. He says the removal of Best Friends Forever signals that we’re living in a “humorless” time.
[Photo: Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images]
A medieval tradition
Sculpture as a form of social protest is nothing new. One of the examples that might be most familiar to an American audience, Lum says, is Fearless Girla statue of a small girl of maybe 6 or 7 that was erected in opposition to the famous Wall Street sculpture Charging Bull in 2017. The sculpture, meant to call attention to gender inequality in the Wall Street community, made national headlines and drew crowds for months.
But Lum says he believes Best Friends Forever and The Secret Handshakes other recent statues critiquing Trump belong to a different genre of artone that has its roots in a centuries-old practice first pioneered in medieval Europe.
I wouldn’t say it’s really protest art necessarily, Lum says. There’s a range of art in betweensocial criticism, satire, cheeky expression. The first thought I have goes back to medieval carnivals.
Starting in the early 1500s, Lum says, communities in England and France held carnival celebrations that were sometimes also known as the Feast of Fools. During this period, the ruling class allowed a brief role reversal, in which working people were permitted and even encouraged to play the role of the king as a buffoon and openly satirize the prevailing social order. Satirical art emerged as a key tool to expose societal inequities and allow open discussion of citizens grievances.
[Image: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images]
I think there’s something to be said about [medieval carnivals], even though its not practiced anymore, Lum says. The situation right now is humorless.
Hundreds of years later, Lum believes that this genre of artistic parody still serves a critical purposenot just to allow for open dialogue, but also to bring some measure of levity to the discourse between the people and their government. Best Friends Forever pulls on that satirical lever through its sarcastic tone and absurdist take on Trump and Epsteins friendship.
[Photo: Tom Brenner for The Washington Post/Getty Images]
Further, Lum notes, the sculpture uses a strategy called anti-monumentalism, or the adoption of traditionally powerful sculptural aesthetics, to question the powers that be. In this case, Trump and Epstein are rendered in an imitation of bronze, a material thats been invested with a kind of authority, Lum says.
Thats to imitate a long tradition, going back thousands and thousands of years, where bronze, marble, and other types of stone are seen as the most important, or even sacred, materials for depicting topics of national importance, Lum explains. Specifically, he adds, bronze is commonly associated with universality and univocality. Theyre playing on that, being very irreverent and even impudent.
The Secret Handshakes message may even be amplified by the sculptures immediate removal. While Lum wouldnt necessarily characterize Best Friends Forevers removal as censorship, given that it was initially permitted to go up, he says its swift removal demonstrates a lot of practicing sanctimony.
That it was removed is no surprise, Lum says. The surprise is that it was allowed to be put up, however temporarily. But the cheeky humor of the work met up against an absolutist self-righteousness.
No matter how flashy a smartphone might be, how many features it touts, it has a single piece of technology packed inside that is more important than any other: the battery. When it runs dry, your smartphone can no longer be the worlds best camera or the ultimate communication device. It is nothing more than a useless slab of glass and metal.
Which is exactly why manufacturers do everything they can to prolong battery life. Over the past several years, Apple has been cramming higher-capacity batteries into its smartphones so that they last longer on a single charge. The company has also been optimizing its software to prolong the iPhones juice.
In iOS 26, Apple has added four new features to the iPhone that can help users eek out as much battery life as possible. Heres how to use them.
Enable Adaptive Power
Adaptive Power is one of the best features of iOS 26, because it can help keep your iPhone going longer on a single charge. The feature utilizes machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to track your recent iPhone usage patterns. It then uses this data to predict whether you may need extra battery life for the day.
If Adaptive Power determines that you are, in fact, going to need more battery life for the day, it will help conserve your iPhones power by lowering the screen brightness by 3%, limiting background activities, turning on Low Power Mode when your battery reaches 20%, and making other performance adjustments. It does all this automaticallyprovided that you have Adaptive Power enabled. Heres how to do that:
Open the Settings app.
Tap Battery.
Tap Power Mode.
Toggle the switch next to Adaptive Power to ON (green).
Additionally, if you toggle the Adaptive Power Notifications switch to ON (green), your iPhone will also show you a notification whenever Adaptive Power mode kicks in. If this toggle is disabled, Adaptive Power mode will still engage; you just wont be notified of it.
It should be noted that, while Adaptive Power is an iOS 26 feature, not all iPhones that can run iOS 26 can take advantage of this. Since Adaptive Power relies on artificial intelligence, it only works on the iPhone 15 Pro and later.
Quickly enable Low Power Mode when the iPhone needs it most
Low Power Mode is another feature that you can use to conserve your iPhones battery life. Low Power Mode has been available on iPhones for some time, but with iOS 26, Apple has introduced a new way to turn the mode on easily.
If your iPhone has the Dynamic Island, a notification will now appear there, alerting you that your iPhone’s battery life is down to 20%. The notification will also show you a toggle that you can tap to turn on Low Power Mode quickly. Previously, you needed to turn on Low Power Mode by going into the Settings app or via the iPhones Control Center. Putting the toggle in the notification itself means that Low Power Mode is just a tap away when you need it most.
What sets Low Power Mode apart from Adaptive Power is that it works on iPhones older than the iPhone 15 Pro. But to use the new Low Power Mode notification toggle, youll need an iPhone with a Dynamic Island, which is the iPhone 14 Pro and later. If youve got one of those supported phones:
When the Low Battery notification appears in the Dynamic Island, tap the red toggle to turn on Low Power Mode. The red toggle will change to yellow when Low Power Mode is engaged.
When Low Power Mode is on, your iPhone will reduce its brightness and some visual effects, turn off background app refresh and email fetching, pause iCloud Photos syncing, and implement other power-saving features.
See how long your iPhone battery will take to charge
Another welcome new feature in iOS 26 that can help you manage your battery life is a new charging time indicator on the iPhones Lock Screen. This indicator will tell you how long your iPhone will take to charge to 100% (or a lower percentage if youve set a battery charging limit). Its a convenient feature that takes the guesswork out of determining how long your iPhone needs to remain plugged in. Heres how to use it:
Plug your iPhone into a charger.
Once the screen turns off, tap it with your finger.
Above the clock, youll see a notification that tells you what percentage of your battery is currently charged and how many minutes or hours it will take to charge your iPhone to its desired charging level (usually 80% or 100%, depending on your preferences).
How to better understand your iPhones battery health
Using the three tips above can help you conserve and manage your iPhones battery for longer. But these arent the only features Apple has built into iOS to help you understand your iPhones battery life.
For years now, Apple has included a Battery Dashboard inside the Settings app. This dashboard gives you an overview of not just your batterys charge, but also which apps are using the most power. In iOS 26, the Battery Dashboard has received a visual makeover.
To access it, open the Settings app and tap on Battery. On the next screen, youll see key battery metrics that can help give you a better understanding of how your iPhones battery is being used, including which apps and system activities are taking up the most power, how long ago your last charge was, and what remaining capacity your battery has left.
Understanding this information, and taking advantage of the new iOS 26 battery features listed above, can help you keep your iPhone running longer.
A quiet crisis is brewing in todays workforce, and its not about automation or AI replacing jobs. Its about the erosion of human skills that make teams work: communication, empathy, adaptability, and emotional intelligence.
These so-called soft skills are proving to be among the hardest to teach and the most critical to get right. In fact, the lack of them is costing U.S. companies an estimated $160 billion a year in lost productivity, poor communication, and employee turnover.
In 40-plus years of building a global technology company, the biggest performance gaps Ive seen havent come from a lack of technical skill, but from a lack of training in how people communicate, lead, and connect.
Most employees will tell you its not the technical tasks that keep them up at night; its the hard conversations: effectively delivering feedback in performance reviews . . . negotiating sales with difficult buyers . . . calming irate customers . . . and even confronting toxic colleagues. These are the moments that may come with a script, and often do in big companies, but people and circumstances are dynamic and rarely proceed according to a preconceived linear scenario. Traditional training methods still treat them like they do; therein lies the challenge.
The old ways of learning always had this Achilles tendon, and now they are just increasingly unfit for the way younger generations want to learn.
Thats why were seeing a new generation of tools emergeones that dont just teach communication, but instead let people practice it. One of the most promising is immersive AI-powered roleplay, a training model that allows employees to rehearse unscripted, emotionally demanding conversations in a safe, dynamic environment. Think of it as a flight simulator for high-stakes conversations.
Practice makes prepared
Instead of passively watching videos or memorizing scripts, employees can now engage in realistic roleplay with virtual avatars powered by AI and behavioral science. These characters react in real time, based on an individual employees tone, word choice, mannerisms, and more. If a trainee delivers bad news with empathy, the virtual persona softens. If they deflect or escalate, the persona pushes back. With AI-roleplay, there are no canned scriptsonly authentic, evolving dialogue.
These practice scenarios are designed to reflect the range of personalities we encounter in real lifefrom the highly agreeable to the more confrontationalgiving employees exposure to a wide spectrum of behavioral styles they may face on the job.This kind of immersive rehearsal builds what I call emotional muscle memory. It gives employees the range of experiences and repetition they need to confidently engage in real-world conversations where clarity and empathy matter most.
Forward-thinking companies across diverse sectors, from healthcare and aviation to manufacturing and retail, are turning to AI-powered roleplay platforms to upskill their teams for unpredictable and often emotionally charged interactions:
One global medical technology company recently integrated immersive roleplay into its sales and clinical education programs and saw measurable performance gains, including increased revenue and stronger confidence among reps navigating difficult conversations.
A large national humanitarian organization used simulation-based training to cut training time from 45 days to 30, reduce employee wait times from two weeks to one day, save over $6.5 million annually, and train more than 13,000 professionals.
In the airline industry, an international carrier trained flight crews using AI-driven roleplay to better manage conflict and de-escalation, leading to a 20% drop in passenger incidents.
The common thread across these examples? Employees arent just learning what to say. Theyre learning how to listen, respond, and adapt in real time. Theyre not just memorizing scripts. Theyre building instinctive confidence for tough conversations.
Why soft skills cant wait
The need for emotionally intelligent teams has never been greater. Case in point: one study found that teams high in emotional intelligence outperform their peers by around 20% in productivity and achieve significantly higher cohesion and job satisfaction.
As work becomes more global, remote, and fast-paced, the margin for miscommunication will only grow. Customers expect more. Employees expect more. And leaders are being asked to navigate uncertainty, conflict, and change 24/7.
And yet . . . most enterprises still treat soft skills training as an afterthought relative to their other business priorities aimed at building organizational resilience: something optional, not essential. We often send people into literal make-or-break conversations without the proper rehearsal and then wonder why they fall flat.Whats different about immersive AI is that it allows teams to practice difficult questions as often as needed and in a safe environment. This kind of technology is available 24/7, can scale across geographies and languages, and delivers personalized feedback that helps people improve with every session. That kind of on-demand coaching was unthinkable even just a few years ago.
And it’s needed now more than ever. In one widely reported case, a global technology company laid off 8,000 employees as part of an AI automation push, only to rehire just as many people shortly after, this time in roles requiring more creativity, communication, and leadership skills.
Its a clear signal: AI may change what we do, but human skills still define how we do it.
Every comedian on the path to stardom will inevitably have to do shows they arent proud of.
Its sort of a rite of passage: the dreaded corporate gig orshudderthe mortifying improv class at a company off-site.
Typically, though, those embarrassing shows tend not to be paid for and hosted by countries accused of staggering human rights violations, nor do the performers tend to already be superstars.
Perhaps the fact that so many well-known and well-compensated comics signed on to Saudi Arabias Riyadh Comedy Festival can be read as both an indictment of the era of multimillion-dollar stand-up specials and its logical conclusion.
Spread across two weeks, with the first shows taking place on September 25, the festival is a Comedy Coachella packed with performers who can sell out Madison Square Garden on their own. Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, and Bill Burr are among the highlights, along with Louis CK, Sebastian Maniscalco, Gabriel Iglesias, and many more. Its a regular whos who of ha-ha.
Its also part of a broader effort, in the years since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman allegedly approved the murder of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, to shore up soft power in the region through reputation-laundering cultural efforts like the LIV Golf League, the animation studio Myrkott, and the worlds first Dragon Ball theme park.
Given that job one for comedians is ostensibly speaking truth to power, rather than taking powers money, this festival lineup has proven controversial. The fiery backlash it has provoked is no laughing matter.
Drips, Killjoys and Dweebazoids
A lot of comedy fans have posted online about their disappointment with personal faves like Burr and Hannibal Buress, or cracked jokes about the festivals very existence. However, nobody seems more disappointed in or upset with the comics who signed on than the comics who didnt.
If youre a comedian I know whos doing the RIYADH comedy festival, its not too late to drop out. The money you make will poison you. You have fucked up & you can correct the big bad mistake youre making. Also the ppl I know who are doing it are SO WILDLY RICH already. Christ.— Rob Delaney (@robdelaney.bsky.social) 2025-09-25T23:01:08.693Z
Stand-ups reigning elder statesman Marc Maron, who would probably object to that title for multiple reasons, weighed in with an Instagram Reel that pulled no punchlines.
I mean, the same guy thats gonna pay them is the same guy that paid that guy to bone-saw Jamal Khashoggi and put him in a fu*king suitcase, Maron said. But dont let that stop the yuks; its gonna be a good time.
Silicon Valley star Zach Woods went a step further, with a satirical Instagram post pretending to be an ad for the festival.
Now theres a lot of drips, killjoys, and dweebazoids who say, They shouldnt do comedy over there because theyre whitewashing a regime that, just in June, killed a journalist, and killed Jamal Khashoggi, and played a big role in 9/11, Woods says after detailing a list of further violations. Shut up! Name one comedian who hasnt whored themselves out to a dictator.
How much money are the comics making the trip to Rayidh taking home for their efforts? Tim Dillon claims he was set to make $375,000 for his performanceand that other performers were to be paid far higher sumsat least before the shows producers dropped him from the lineup, supposedly for making fun of the regions labor practices.
Beyond the general principle that suggests American comedians shouldnt perform on behalf of leaders famously hostile to free speech, many observers are bewildered as to why some of these particular comedians would sign on.
Dave Chappelle, Louis CK, and Whitney Cummings have all embraced a sort of sociopolitical contrarian role in the comedy world and have little to lose, reputation-wise. But even Shane Gillis, who occupies a similar sphere, reportedly turned down a festival slot as an act of integrity.
What are wealthy, mainstream, ideological free agents like Hart, Iglesias, and Chris Tucker doing on this lineup?
Perhaps they were counting on the festival not attracting significant attention, which would indicate that they have not been on the internet in the past five years. Even so, the question remains: Why take a massive, conscience-challenging paycheck when you dont need the money?
The answer may have something to do with how comedians have been conditioned over the last decade to expect enormous windfall paydays.
How cash crushed comedy
Its hard to remember now, but comedy specials used to be, you know, special.
Comedy titans like George Carlin, Chris Rock, and Ellen DeGeneres would regularly put out a new hour on HBO that had a deep cultural impact. Making a small library of specials endlessly quoted by college kids is what used to catapult comedians to the next levela sitcom built around them, or a movie career. Either path once meant unfettered access to the money-printing machine.
Those days are long gone, though.
After the bottom dropped out of theatrical movie comedies somewhere in the early 2010s, and as sitcom money dwindled in the shift to streaming, Netflix started investing in stand-up specials. Heavily.
The streaming service signed Rock to a reported $40 million deal for two specials and gave Chappelle a reported $20 million-per-special deal, which has produced eight hours of material to date.
Suddenly, seven-figure Netflix deals became the new normal. The companys willingness to dig deep for high-profile comedy content inspired an arms race with HBO, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, all of which started spending big to secure top talenta trend that continues today.
Hulu shelled out a reported $15 million for Burrs latest special last year, in a bidding war with the other platforms.
The result of incentivizing comedians so heavily to produce an hour of suitable material is that comedy specials now feel less like tentpole events than ever, while more comedians now aspire to, or expect, astronomic sums for them.
The most special thing about stand-up today seems to be that, at a certain level, it might be possible to get a gigantic check for doing very little of it.
A side effect of comedy entering its Big Business era is that, once the Netflix or podcast acquisition money kicks in, some comedians seem to lose the perspective that made them interesting to listen to in the first place.
The struggles of finding a date, after all, tend to be much funnier and more relatable than the struggles of finding the right sedative for a private jet ride to Dubai. Having that kind of money in the mix is how a superstar comedian might end up without even one person in their entourage who realizes that working the Riyadh Comedy Festival is, at minimum, a devastatingly bad look.
Integrity: The funniest thing of all?
In all likelihood, the Riyadh backlash wont have a sustained impact on any comics careers. Many of them dont have the kind of sponsors who could drop them the way that some brands have parted ways with LIV Golf bandwagon-hoppers like Dustin Johnson. Its also hard to imagine Andrew Schulz’s or Pete Davidsons fans making this particular gig their line in the sand.
Perhaps theres even a case to be made that if the comedians taking Riyadh Fest money end up mocking their benefactors right to their faces at an away game, it would send a powerful message.
Of course, making a public show of turning down the offer would arguably make a more powerful message.
At a moment when U.S. comedians are being pulled off the air, seemingly at the presidents whim, comedians with a strong moral compass are in high demand. Americans are looking to them not only to stand up for free speech but also to use it to cut the worlds most powerful and oppressive forces down to size.
If youre a high-profile comedian in 2025, youre either making fun of Trump for receiving a $400 million jet from Qatar or youre riding along inside of it. As far as true fans of stand-up are concerned, thats the worst seat in the house.
The official U.S. Department of Homeland Security X account has been testing out a new social media strategy that no one asked foras a meme lord.
On Monday, a video posted to the DHSs X account used the Pokémon catchphrase “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” to compare Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests to hunting the titular creatures. The video ends with mug shots of those arrested by ICE superimposed onto fake Pokémon trading cards, alongside their alleged crimes, including murder, pedophilia, burglary, and child endangerment.
On Tuesday, Theo Von, the podcast host of This Past Weekend, which had Trump on as a guest during his presidential campaign, also found himself the star of a clip on the DHS X account. The post includes a sound bite from Von (“Heard you got deported, dude. Bye!”) that the agency uses to celebrate Trumps record on deportations.
Neither Von nor the Pokémon Co. International was made aware of their featuring role before the content began circulating on social media. In a since-deleted post, Von took to X, saying, Yooo, DHS. I didn’t approve to be used in this. I know you know my address, so send a check.
And please take this down and please keep me out of your banger deportation videos. When it comes to immigration, my thoughts and heart are a lot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye! (Fast Company has reached out to Von for comment.)
Via email, the Pokémon Co. International told Fast Company: We are aware of a recent video posted by the Department of Homeland Security that includes imagery and language associated with our brand. Our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property.
The DHS social strategy seems to seek forgiveness, not permission, which appears to involve seizing viral moments and meme opportunities, similar to the official White House social media accounts.
In July, British singer Jess Glynne said she felt “sick” after the White House used the viral Jet2holiday commercial featuring her song as the audio to a video promoting deportations.
The DHS has also repurposed images from artists, including Thomas Kinkade and Morgan Weistling, without their permission, as well as music from Tom Petty and Woody Guthrie in social media posts. In each case, the usage was unauthorized and the offended parties objected to the use. Fast Company has contacted the DHS for comment.
While the post featuring Von has since been removed, the Pokémon clip and many others remain. Trolling those who responded to the post with outrage, the Customs and Border Protection X account replied with a GIF of Detective Pikachu captioned: Border Patrols newest recruit.
Starbucks‘ chief technology officer Deb Hall Lefevre resigned without a permanent replacement, according to an internal memo sent to corporate staff on Monday, seen by Reuters.
The memo, written by Chief Financial Officer Cathy Smith, named Ningyu Chen, previously senior vice president of global experience technology, as interim chief technology officer.
Lefevre’s resignation comes as Starbucks announced its second round of deep cuts in corporate roles, effective Friday, as CEO Brian Niccol pushes a tech revamp in stores to make labor more efficient, part of a turnaround strategy to revive flagging sales after six consecutive quarters of decline.
Using AI to revamp how cafes operate
The revamp includes an AI-powered automated inventory counter that is in the process of being rolled out to all company-owned stores in North America by the end of September. Other initiatives include an AI assistant for baristas, a new point-of-sales system, and a queuing algorithm meant to help baristas sequence orders during rush hour.
Lefevre, a former McDonalds executive, was hired in May 2022 as part of the chain’s focus on improving its drive-through, mobile ordering, and other systems. The memo said she planned to retire.
“Our tech priorities aren’t changing,” the memo said. “We’re focused on the tech work needed to deliver our Back to Starbucks plan.”
Lefevre didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday night.
On Thursday, the company said it would close underperforming stores in the United States. Its overall company-owned U.S. and Canada store count is expected to drop by 1%, with several hundred stores expected to close by the end of the 2025 fiscal year. It also said 900 non-retail roles would be eliminated, with affected employees being notified Friday.
The technology initiatives are part of a corporate turnaround called “Back to Starbucks” being pursued by CEO Brian Niccol, who took the helm last year to revive the chain’s fortunes. He has aimed to revive the chain’s “coffeehouse” appeal following six consecutive quarters of sales declines.
Starbucks February layoffs of 1,100 corporate employees hit the IT team particularly hard, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday. They said an outside contractor named Tata Consultancy Services, based in India, has been given an increasing role in Starbucks IT division.
Starbucks in a statement Friday said the company will continue to have a very significant in-house technology team, but the focus is on the most important capabilities and the most important work.
Shares have lost more than 12% of their value over the last 12 months, compared with a 16% increase in the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
Waylon Cunningham, Reuters
Starting next week on Tuesday, September 30, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will no longer issue paper checks for benefit payments, and instead move exclusively to electronic payments: either direct deposit or a pre-paid debit card.
The change is part of a broader government-wide initiative to modernize its services and improve efficiency and security, to ensure some 70 million Americans receive their monthly benefits promptly.
However, this could mean trouble for some older Americans who do not know how to set up direct deposit or will have trouble using a pre-paid debit card.
In March, President Trump issued Executive Order 14247, which mandates the transition to electronic payments for all federal disbursements by September 30.
“Less than one percent of Social Security Administration beneficiaries currently receive paper checks,” a Social Security spokesperson told Fast Company in an email on Friday. “SSA is proactively contacting those beneficiaries to alert them about the change and the process to enroll in direct deposit or receive Direct Express cards.”
In cases where a beneficiary has no other means to receive payment, the SSA said it will continue to issue paper checks.
According to the Treasury Department, this shift could save the federal government millions of dollars each year. Issuing a paper check costs about 50 cents, while an electronic payment (or EFT) costs less than 15 cents.
Electronic payments are also more secure. Paper checks are 16 times more likely to be lost or stolen compared to electronic payments, thus increasing the risk of fraud, according to the agency.
How do I sign up for Social Security direct deposit or a pre-paid debit card?
For more details, and to learn how to enroll in direct deposit or obtain a Direct Express pre-paid debit card, visit www.ssa.gov/deposit/.
To enroll in direct deposit, go online to your personal “my Social Security account” (or create an account, if you don’t have one) on the Social Security Administration’s website.
Enrollment in direct deposit and Direct Express Debit Mastercard are also available through the Treasury’s Go Direct website, or via phone at 1-877-874-6347.
For additional questions, call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213.
Most U.S. stocks are rising Friday after a report showed that inflation is behaving roughly as economists expected, even if its still high.
The S&P 500 added 0.2%, as four out of every five stocks within the index climbed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 211 points, or 0.5%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower because of drops for a handful of influential Big Tech stocks. All three indexes are near their all-time highs set at the start of the week.
Stocks got some help from a report showing that inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7% last month from 2.6% in July, according to the measure of prices that the Federal Reserve likes to use. While thats above the Feds 2% target, and its more painful than any household would like, it was precisely what economists had forecast.
That offered some hope that the Fed could continue cutting interest rates in order to give the economy a boost. Thats critical for Wall Street because its already sent U.S. stocks on a blistering run to records from a low in April in large part because of expectations for a string of rate cuts.
Without them, growing criticism that stock prices have become too expensive by rising too quickly would become even more powerful. The S&P 500 is on track for a 0.7% loss for this week, which would be one of its worst since its rally took off in April but only relatively modest compared with history.
The Fed just delivered its first rate cut of the year last week, and officials had penciled in more through the end of next year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has warned, though, that plans may have to change quickly. Thats because cuts to rates carry the risk of worsening inflation.
One factor threatening to push inflation higher is President Donald Trumps tariffs, and he announced a set of more late Thursday. They include taxes on imports of some pharmaceutical drugs, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, upholstered furniture and heavy trucks starting on Oct. 1.
Details were sparse about the coming tariffs, as is often the case with Trumps pronouncements made on his social media network. That left analysts unsure of their ultimate effects, and the announcement created ripples in the U.S. stock market instead of huge waves.
Paccar, the company based in Bellevue, Washington, thats behind the Peterbilt and Kenworth truck brands, revved 5% higher, for example.
Big U.S. pharmaceutical companies nudged higher. Eli Lilly rose 0.9%, and Pfizer added 0.2%.
Several companies that sell home furnishings, which could be hurt by higher prices for imports, swung between gains and losses. Williams-Sonoma went from an initial loss of 2.5% to a modest gain and back to a loss of 1.1%, for example. RH dropped 3.8% following a similar back and forth.
On the losing end of Wall Street was Costco Wholesale, which fell 1.9% even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Renewal rates for its membership slowed a touch, while an important measure of underlying revenue growth at its stores fell short of analysts expectations.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe after slumping in Asia.
Frances CAC 40 climbed 0.9%, while South Koreas Kospi tumbled 2.5% for two of the worlds bigger moves.
Japans Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% as Sumitomo Pharma Co.s shares lost 3.5% and Chugai Pharmaceutical sank 4.8%.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 4.18%, where it was late Thursday.
A report said sentiment among U.S. consumers was weaker than economists expected. The survey from the University of Michigan said consumers are frustrated with high prices, but their expectations for inflation over the coming 12 months also ticked down to 4.7% from 4.8%.
One notable exception was among Americans who own plenty of stocks, who have benefited from Wall Street’s run to records even as the job market slows. Sentiment for them held steady in September, while decreasing for households with smaller or no stock investments.
The next big event for Wall Street could be a looming shutdown of the U.S. government, with a deadline set for next week. But investors have experience with such political impasses, and they’ve had limited impact on the market before.
The market and broader macroeconomic effects of a shutdown, even lengthy ones, are often mere blips on the charts, according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.
Stan Choe, AP business writer
AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.
