Money Buys You Love
News Roundup
A Bad Seed
It happened suddenly.
The Friday before last, a 14 year-old shot up Apalachee High, a high school near Winder, Georgia, killing four and injuring 9. Less than 36 hours later, state prosecutors filed charges against the shooter’s father, Colin Gray.
They had precedent. But while Michigan prosecutors had brooded over whether to charge James and Jennifer Cumbley, parents of the Michigan school shooter — both of whom were sentenced to jail earlier this year — Georgia prosecutors decided to skip the dark night of the soul. And their charges were even more aggressive.
But it’s hard to see how imprisoning parents — even horrible ones — for crimes they didn’t prevent will halt further tragedy.
Five Fast Updates
KNOW NOTHINGS: A number of “alternative media” commentators were caught in a $10 million scheme to smuggle Russian propaganda to American eyes. Indictments, recently unveiled, are reportedly full of cinematic details including a fake benefactor. But has the fact that Russia identified these commentators as useful puppets inspired any soul-searching? These commentators argue that — though they profited handsomely — they were “victims,” fooled by the scheme… If only all dupes were so well compensated.
BIG GAME HUNTING: Google is staring down another antitrust trial over its online advertising business. This summer, Google’s search engine was declared an illegal monopoly. Perhaps it’s a “tipping point” in trust-busting digital behemoths.
TRICKLE UP RACISM: During a lackluster debate performance, Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump made the bizarre claim that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Trump was repeating social media rumors. Since then, the city has been overwhelmed by threats: Schools closed and F.B.I agents stormed in. Trump swears that, if he retakes the presidency, he’ll mass deport Haitian immigrants.
‘Al HARB W AL SALAM’: As the fighting drags on in Gaza, fears that it’s really a regional war have swelled. Some surmise that Israel finds itself in a weakened position to defeat Iran’s “Resistance Axis” coalition.
DEJA VU: Secret Service agents nabbed Ryan Wesley, a building contractor, in what’s been described as an “apparent assassination attempt” against former U.S. President Donald Trump at a Florida golf course. Though officials say Wesley never sighted the former president, he is the second would-be killer to get close to Trump in the past couple of months.
Provocations
MONEY BUYS YOU LOVE: Dating apps have made dating more annoying, but have they also increased inequality? Research from the St. Louis Federal Reserve claims that there’s an increasing desire to couple within income and education categories. As the Financial Times argues, this means that while people don’t bother as much about dating someone of the same race, they are fueling a big consolidation of household income. Remember DINKS? So: If you want to fight income inequality, marry someone poor.
YOU WON’T LIVE TO 100: The quest for a fountain of youth just won’t die. Its modern incarnations: Blood injections, “longevity studies” and research on “blue zones” — areas where people supposedly live longer and suffer fewer health problems than average. Some of the efforts even set factors in insurance premiums. But much of it is junk science, according to Saul Justin Newman, a senior research fellow at the University College London Center for Longitudinal Studies. In truth, he says, the people in these areas don’t live longer; it’s only that the records have been corrupted by pervasive pension fraud and poor record keeping. That means most of the people “over 100” are actually already dead… Mortality, such a drag.
THE WORLD IN NUMBERS
$120 Million
The latest sum Virginia-based loan servicer Navient agreed to pay for “years of abuse of students and taxpayers.”
The company — accused of pushing students into unduly expensive repayment options — is also permanently banned from servicing federal student loans.
$1.85 billion
The money the student loan servicer previously had to shell out in a settlement with 39 states and Washington D.C.
$4 billion
The estimated cost of gratuitous interest charges and fees caused by Navient.
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