For those asking who owns and controls TikTok in the U.S.: TikTok’s American operation is now TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX each own 15%. ByteDance retains 19.9%, with the remainder held by other investors. The U.S. entity is led by CEO Adam Presser and says it has decision-making authority over U.S. trust & safety and content moderation. Congress is also asking questions. On September 15, TikTok U.S. Chief Security Officer Will Farrell is scheduled to testify before the bipartisan House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party about Chinese involvement, data privacy and national-security concerns. CEO Adam Presser is not currently expected to testify. The committee is chaired by Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Michigan).

You. Sometimes you need to hear it again.

Mosquitoes. What good are they? Turns out, they actually have a purpose. There are thousands of mosquito species. Only a small fraction regularly bite humans, and fewer still spread disease. Apparently, it’s just a few assholes giving everybody else a bad name.

Two opposing sides can make the same mistake. One begins with innocence and works backward. The other begins with guilt and works backward. When every piece of evidence somehow confirms the same conclusion, pay attention. Discernment requires being willing to follow the evidence even when it weakens what you already believe. Question everything. Especially the theory that explains everything.

Two people agreeing doesn’t make something true. In this video, the speaker claims John McAfee identified the Surfside condominium as the location of his hidden files. That assertion traces back to a fabricated tweet, debunked in 2021. He then claims Israel was the only party allowed to investigate the building collapse. Also false. American authorities conducted investigations, and rescue teams from multiple countries participated. Rather than challenge these assertions, the interviewer helps advance the narrative. Conspiracies can be real. But agreement isn’t evidence, and repetition isn’t verification. Question the speaker. Question the interviewer. Question your sources. And especially question what you already believe. Question everything. Sources: AFP Fact Check (July 2, 2021); Miami-Dade Police; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Sovereignty cannot exist in two places at once. Either a nation has ultimate authority over its own future — or it doesn’t. Sovereignty vs. Globalism. Two declarations. Two fundamentally different ideas about where power belongs.

If two alliances provide equal strategic benefits at the same cost, should we judge them differently? The purpose of this exercise isn’t to tell you which alliances America should keep. It’s to ask whether you’re applying the same standard.

Smart or indoctrinated?

Before deciding what you believe about Israel—or any country—try a simple exercise. Remove the name. Determine the principle. Apply it universally. Then put the name back. Does your answer change? The purpose isn’t to tell you what to think. It’s to ask whether the rule changes depending on whom you’re thinking about.

War Plan Red is back in the conversation. Not because America is preparing for war with Canada or Britain—but because the principle behind the plan suddenly feels relevant again. Canada is considering a new “associate member” relationship with the European Union. President Trump’s response was immediate: if he views the arrangement as hostile to U.S. interests, Europe could face heavy tariffs. Which brings us back to the question we asked a year ago: Can countries be friends while still acknowledging that their national interests can diverge? War Plan Red was built around that reality. Every nation has interests. Sometimes they align. Sometimes they don’t. Worth another listen.

The map explains why Greenland matters. Military access. Missile defense. Critical minerals. Arctic security. The newly announced “Infinite Life” agreement is designed to endure even if Greenland one day becomes independent. A serious geopolitical story. With a few memes at the end. 😂

When the people leading the race tell everyone else it’s time to slow down, skepticism is warranted. That doesn’t prove they’re wrong. It doesn’t prove bad motives. But incentives matter. Look at the claim. Look at the evidence. And always ask: Who benefits if we listen?

As we get closer to the midterms, listen carefully to how fear is used to persuade you. Everything will collapse unless… Everything will end unless… You must vote for us or… Fear is powerful. It can protect us. It can also be used to manipulate us. The question isn’t whether we should ever be afraid. The question is what our fear makes us willing to believe. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933

Seven celebrities. Roughly 90 years. The names change. The formula doesn’t. Sex sells. Still.

Sydney Sweeney didn’t invent sex in advertising. Joe Namath knew it. Burt Reynolds knew it. Madison Avenue knew it. The formula hasn’t changed. Attention has value. Sex attracts attention. Celebrity multiplies it. Advertising monetizes it.

Is Tesla seeing ghosts? 👻 If spirits really are appearing on Tesla screens, the technology inside the car offers some fascinating theories for how it might be possible. Five technical possibilities.

President Trump has proposed a $5,000 “dividend” for every adult American citizen if Republicans retain the House and Senate. But what exactly is a dividend? Here’s how dividends actually work.

There’s a time to talk. There’s a time to laugh. And there’s a time to simply stand quietly and show respect. Five minutes. Dancing on Someone’s Grave.

John Fetterman draws a line. A year ago, I recorded a monologue about something I was seeing in American politics. This week, a Democratic senator stood before a Republican convention, called himself a “common-sense Democrat,” and publicly rejected what he described as extremism and socialism. It seemed like the right moment to revisit what I said then. “Most of My Friends Are Democrats… And That’s Why This Matters.”