Joaquin Phoenix in  Eddington.  Photo:  The New York Times.

Dear Commons Community,

Last night, my wife, Elaine and I, saw the movie Eddington, directed by Ari Aster and starring Joaquin Phoenix. Here is an excerpt from a New York Times review.

“The first and maybe only true jump scare in Ari Aster’s “Eddington” comes right at the start. A barefoot old man trudges down the center of a road running through an empty Western town. He’s ranting and incoherently raving as he climbs a craggy hill silhouetted against a twilight sky. He gazes, or maybe glares, out at the town below.

And then, the jolt, via text onscreen: LATE MAY, 2020.

Buckle up and hang on. Now we know why the streets are empty, and the man’s ravings take on some new dimension: Maybe he’s just regular unhinged, or maybe he’s been driven into lunacy by the last eight or so weeks of madness. Or maybe he’s the only sane one left. Who can tell? By late May 2020, even the most unflappable among us felt one raisin short of a fruitcake.

We were living with an invisible and potentially extinction-level threat, people were dying and the sirens were unrelenting. But we were also surrounded by screens from which blared real facts, half-facts, fact-shaped nonsense and full-on gobbledygook. It all felt more real than reality itself, which in turn felt like something we had once seen in a movie.

That feeling of unreal reality is what “Eddington” sets out to capture, and that is Aster’s specialty.”

It is a indeed a jolt of movie and no hostages are taken. If you like unpredictability in a film, Eddington is for you.  Below is a full review.

Tony

————————————————————————————

The New York Times

Eddington Review: Once Upon a Time in the Pandemic

Ari Aster returns with a dystopian western farce about a world gone mad that you definitely remember.

By Alissa Wilkinson

Published July 17, 2025. Updated July 25, 2025

Eddington

NYT Critic’s Pick

Directed by Ari Aster

The first and maybe only true jump scare in Ari Aster’s “Eddington” comes right at the start. A barefoot old man trudges down the center of a road running through an empty Western town. He’s ranting and incoherently raving as he climbs a craggy hill silhouetted against a twilight sky. He gazes, or maybe glares, out at the town below.

And then, the jolt, via text onscreen: LATE MAY, 2020.

Buckle up and hang on. Now we know why the streets are empty, and the man’s ravings take on some new dimension: Maybe he’s just regular unhinged, or maybe he’s been driven into lunacy by the last eight or so weeks of madness. Or maybe he’s the only sane one left. Who can tell? By late May 2020, even the most unflappable among us felt one raisin short of a fruitcake.

We were living with an invisible and potentially extinction-level threat, people were dying and the sirens were unrelenting. But we were also surrounded by screens from which blared real facts, half-facts, fact-shaped nonsense and full-on gobbledygook. It all felt more real than reality itself, which in turn felt like something we had once seen in a movie.

That feeling of unreal reality is what “Eddington” sets out to capture, and that is Aster’s specialty. He was introduced to us as a horror director with 2018’s “Hereditary” (family and demonic horror) and 2019’s “Midsommar” (relationship and folk horror), but in 2023 he swerved into obviously personal territory with “Beau Is Afraid” — basically therapy journals dumped out on a table and come to hilarious, psychotically anxious life.

I love all of these movies, clearly designed to be feel-bad flicks and also provide twisted catharsis. It is hard to have a medium-size reaction to an Aster joint, and perhaps never more than with “Eddington.” This one is a western, centering on Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), the beleaguered asthmatic sheriff of the titular New Mexico town. He lives with his depressed wife, Louise (Emma Stone), who makes weird little dolls and sells them on the internet, and her mother, Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), who moved in with them when the pandemic started and has gotten really into YouTube conspiracy theorists. (“Coronavirus, they used that word in 2019!” she tells her daughter and son-in-law over breakfast, by way of convincing them that this is all some kind of … well, who knows.)

Joe harbors a simmering resentment toward Eddington’s incumbent mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), who is not a bad guy particularly but just sort of annoying: tall, good looking, well off, performatively liberal and, crucially, a former boyfriend of Louise’s, from 20 years ago. Joe is also annoyed about the countywide mask mandate, given there haven’t been any Covid cases in Eddington, and more annoyed about the way people keep yelling at him to put on his mask when he’s in his truck.

Joe is frustrated by how the town feels empty, with storefronts signs that say things like “CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE BY DR. FAUCI” in the windows next to others that say “STRONGER TOGETHER.” He is worried about Louise, who spends all day cooped up with Dawn; they seem to be slipping under the spell of a kind of wellness influencer, or maybe cult leader, named Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler). Everything is getting under Joe’s skin.

One day he cracks and records a Facebook video announcing that he’ll be running against Ted for mayor. At the same time, the unrest prompted by the murder of George Floyd has reached the socially conscious teens of Eddington, and their activism collides with other folks in town. It seems like everyone is certain that “they” — the bad guys they see on their news network or social media platform of choice — are headed for them here in Eddington, aiming to destroy their preferred way of life. OK. So what if they are?

The plot of this movie is weirdly hard to describe, probably because describing the summer of 2020 makes you feel completely bananas. I’ve left out a lot of what’s stuffed into the movie, including a proposed data center to be built by a corporation called “solidgoldmagikarp,” a name apparently referring to one of three things: a Pokemon semi-meme, an obscure Reddit handle, or a word that seems to send ChatGPT into an erratic, hallucinatory state — no, I’m not joking.

That’s a good little key to this whole movie, which is loaded up with Easter eggs for things nobody feels nostalgic about. Do any of those references mean anything? No, not really: Instead, “Eddington” sets us not-so-gently adrift on a sea of very recent memories and the nausea they re-prompt, and waves merrily from the shore as we turn green.

That’s not to say it’s a drag. Not in the least. Your mileage will vary according to your stomach for this stuff, but I found myself breathless with giggles at times, sometimes the therapeutic laugh of recognition and sometimes because Aster has a keen eye for what’s most absurd about human nature. By the third act, things veer toward violent slapstick, crossing particularly berserk western gore with Looney Tunes. It’s tempting to call it satire, but satire exaggerates in order to prompt reflection and make a point. “Eddington” aims less for the moral lesson than full-on farce.

Yet the film can’t help but make a point, perhaps in spite of itself. People are scattered and sparse in many of the shots, both because of the grand Southwestern landscape and because everyone’s socially distanced. Thus emptied, the town looks a little destitute, like it’s seen better days and is susceptible to random acts of violence which, of course, it is. I found myself thinking of the photographs of Gregory Crewdson, who stages scenes of emptiness and decay capturing the desperate loneliness and isolation of life in small American towns and, as it turns out, Aster was thinking of Crewdson too: He invited the photographer to make a fine art print on the set.

And though my brain tingled with some other recognition while I watched “Eddington,” it wasn’t until my second viewing that I realized the zaps were coming from the region devoted to Todd Haynes’s eerie, disquieting 1995 movie “Safe.” I’ve been trying to figure out why, since the two films aren’t really the same at all — “Safe” is a psychological thriller, and “Eddington” is best described, I guess, as dystopian conspiracy western comedy. There are a few thematic harmonies; in the latter half of “Safe,” for instance, the suburban housewife Carol White (Julianne Moore) goes to a wellness retreat in New Mexico run by a guru somewhat similar in vibe, if not in appearance, to Vernon Jefferson Peak. Both films also have to do with the fear of contracting an illness that nobody can see and that nobody understands.

But the link, I think, is something more serious. In “Safe,” Carol’s life is already antiseptic and perfectly manicured, and the more her symptoms progress, the more she becomes isolated and less able to discern what is real. In “Eddington,” the screens drive the isolation, erecting imaginary barriers that make formerly unimaginable behavior seem not just conceivable but necessary. Both of these movies are fundamentally about living in a culture of heightened isolation, in which we begin to believe that simply being near one another means catching something bad; and both take a metaphorical tack, using real illness to stand in for a more metaphysical and social one. They show us visual worlds with people surrounded by empty space. What fills that empty space? We can only imagine. Bits of data. Unseen enemies. Honest threats. Threats we invent to ignore the real ones.

Eddington
Rated R for, oh, pretty much anything you can imagine, but mostly language and violence. Running time: 2 hours 28 minutes. In theaters.

Dear Commons Community,

Former Vice President Kamala Harris will not throw her hat in the ring to become California’s next governor after her failed presidential bid last year.

“I love this state, its people, and its promise. It is my home,” Harris said in a statement yesterday. “But after deep reflection, I’ve decided that I will not run for Governor in this election.”

Californians are expected to choose a replacement for term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in 2026.

Since Trump retook the White House, Harris had been rumored to be a serious contender for her state’s governor’s mansion. She had reportedly given herself a deadline to make a decision by the end of summer.

In her statement, the former vice president said she has spent the last six months “reflecting on this moment in our nation’s history, and the best way for me to continue fighting for the American people and advancing the values and ideals I hold dear.”

“I am a devout public servant, and from the earliest days of my career, I have believed that the best way I could make a difference in people’s lives and fight for a better future was to improve the system from within,” Harris said, adding that it had been an honor to fill the roles that defined her career.

“For now,” she said, “my leadership — and public service — will not be in elected office. I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly, and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans.”

“Grateful for her service and friendship,” Newsom said of Harris in a statement. “Whether it be as a prosecutor, Attorney General, Senator, or Vice President she has always kept a simple pledge at the heart of every decision she’s made: For the People.”

Harris became a California state prosecutor in 2004 and later, in 2011, the state’s attorney general. She won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2016 as a replacement for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D). In August 2020, former President Joe Biden picked her as his running mate after she dropped her own bid for the presidency.

Since leaving the Naval Observatory — the vice president’s home in Washington — Harris has maintained a relatively low public profile. She gave a speech at a women’s empowerment summit in April, using part of her time to lodge a wry rebuke against Trump’s second term.

“There were many things we knew were gonna happen,” she told the crowd, a nod to the frequent Project 2025 references she made in her stump speeches.

“I’m not gonna say ‘I told you so,’” she added, to cheers.

With Harris out, there is no clear front-runner in California governor’s race.

The Democratic side includes former Rep. Katie Porter, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and current Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.

The Republican side includes former Fox News host Steve Hilton and antisemitic jokester Kyle Langford.

Villaraigosa commended Harris for her decision and commitment to public service, saying in a statement that Harris “will continue to be a powerful voice for justice, equality, and opportunity.”

Interesting decision.  It also leaves open the possibility of her running for president in  2028.

Tony

Courtesy of Liz Yap/Education Week

Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday, OpenAI, the research laboratory that created ChatGPT, unveiled a new “study mode” feature. The new feature aims to turn the popular generative artificial-intelligence app from an answer engine into a personal tutor.  As reported in Education Week.

“Learning requires friction, it takes effort, curiosity, and grappling with ideas,” said Leah Belsky, the vice president and general manager of education at OpenAI, during a July 28 press briefing. “So the question on our minds as we built this product was, how can we guide students toward using AI in ways that encourage true, deeper learning? How do we make it easier and more intuitive for them to use ChatGPT in this way?”

ChatGPT, an AI-powered tool that can hold humanlike conversations and instantly answer seemingly any prompt, and other similar tools have become a headache for some K-12 teachers, who see generative AI as a way for students to easily cheat on assignments or circumvent learning. Skeptics have also raised concerns about the technology’s potential effects on people’s cognitive skills.

Still, generative AI experts have touted the technology’s potential to transform K-12 education into a more personalized learning experience for students.

The ChatGPT study mode is “the first step” in ensuring that there is “real learning” happening when students are using AI tools, Belsky said.

Nick Phillips, a math teacher at Trinity High School in Washington, Pa., said it’s “awesome” for OpenAI to add this feature.

“If a student can [have scaffolding] without having the teacher there,” Phillips said, “then that can be helpful for a lot of students that maybe just need a little bit more of a step-by-step process or just a study partner.”

ChatGPT’s study mode feature would have been nice to have from the beginning, he said, but it’s a good signal that OpenAI is adjusting its features based on students’ and teachers’ needs.

The new ChatGPT feature is especially useful for homework help, test prep, and learning new topics, according to OpenAI. However, ChatGPT isn’t the first generative AI tool to have a feature that guides students to get to the answer on their own, revise an essay, or have their own personalized tutor. Other ed-tech companies have also launched student-focused AI features. For example, the nonprofit Khan Academy launched Khanmigo, a personalized tutor for students, in 2023. And big AI platforms such as Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot can be prompted to guide users to learn rather than just spitting out an answer.

How does the ChatGPT study mode feature work?

With ChatGPT study mode, students can type in a question and ChatGPT will respond with interactive prompts to promote active learning. It will also reply with scaffolded responses to help students make connections with topics they already know. It can also provide quizzes, open-ended questions, and other ways to test and apply the students’ new knowledge.

For instance, a student could go to the ChatGPT study mode and ask it to help understand what positive and negative feedback loops mean in biology. ChatGPT study mode would then ask a few introductory questions (What grade level are you in? Have you seen these topics before? What’s your goal in learning this topic?) to help gauge the student’s current understanding and continue guiding or teaching from there.

The technology is designed to keep helping the student get to the answer, even if the student prompts it to give them the answer. (Though, of course, the student can also just switch off study mode and get to the answer more quickly. There are currently no guardrails against that, according to OpenAI.)

“When students use study mode, they’re met with guiding questions, and an experience that is customized to that level,” said Abhi Muchhal, who’s on OpenAI’s product team, during the press briefing. “This is intentional because we want this to be learner-led and [for it to] figure out what is the right thing that each learner is optimizing for and then customize the response according to that.”

The feature was designed with college students in mind, but is fully accessible for high school students, too, according to OpenAI. It was created in collaboration with teachers, cognitive scientists, and pedagogy experts to reflect “behaviors that support deeper learning,” the company said in its press release.

Study mode is available for all ChatGPT users, whether they’re using the platform’s free version or one of its paid options. Users can access the feature by selecting the “study and learn” option from the tools in the ChatGPT interface. Those within the ChatGPT Edu version, OpenAI’s product for education geared mostly for higher education, will get the feature “in the coming weeks,” the company said.

How will this feature affect K-12?

Glenn Kleiman, a senior adviser at Stanford University’s graduate school of education, said the feature is generally “a good thing that should help educators,” but without having tried it, he mostly has questions: If it was designed for a college-age user, then is it also appropriate for younger students who end up using it? How well does it really work at engaging students’ deeper learning and incorporating the craft of good teaching?

“These are unknowns at this point,” he said.

ChatGPT study mode has the same age restrictions as the normal version: anyone 13 or older can use it; those ages 13 to 17 need parental consent before using the app, according to OpenAI. The study mode also has the same safeguards when it comes to the creation of explicit, illegal, or harmful content, according to OpenAI. (There have been reports of people using ChatGPT for harm or even self-harm.)

OpenAI has also partnered with various researchers to study and share how its tools influence learning outcomes.

“We intend to publish a deeper analysis of what we’ve learned about the links between model design and cognition, shape future product experiences based on these insights, and work side by side with the broader education ecosystem to ensure AI benefits learners worldwide,” the company said in a press release.

Phillips, who encourages his students to use AI to check their work or for help getting unstuck on a complicated math problem, said the only concern he has is the same concern he’s had about generative AI tools from the get-go: the technology’s tendency to get things wrong.

“You’d better be pretty confident it’s going to give you correct answers,” he said.

It would probably be a good idea for teachers to try it out and figure out its capabilities and limitations, which they can then show their students, Phillips said.

Tony

Michael Steiper

Dear Commons Community,

The State University of New York Board of Trustees voted yesterday to name Michael Steiper, Ph.D. as the seventh president of Purchase College. Dr. Steiper has served in administrative capacities at CUNY’s the College of Staten Island and Hunter College. Below is the announcement from the SUNY Board of Trustees.

Congratulations Dr. Steiper!

Tony

————————————————-

New York, NY – The State University of New York Board of Trustees voted today to name Michael Steiper, Ph.D. as the seventh president of Purchase College. Dr. Steiper currently serves as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at CUNY’s College of Staten Island. The appointment is effective August 11. During today’s meeting, SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. and the SUNY Board of Trustees thanked Dr. Milly Peña for serving as Purchase College’s president and recognized her service to the Purchase community.

“Purchase College is a leader in accessible and extraordinary arts and arts-adjacent education and is an outstanding liberal arts institution,” said SUNY Chancellor King. “This storied college has a proud history of supporting students and helping them grow, create, and inspire, and SUNY looks forward to working with Dr. Steiper as he leads Purchase through the institution’s next chapter.”

The SUNY Board of Trustees said, “We commend Dr. Steiper on being appointed to serve as Purchase College’s new president, and are confident that he will help take Purchase College to new heights. As an academic, administrator, musician, and lifetime New Yorker, Dr. Steiper’s experience on-and-off the campus will help support a strong future for Purchase College.”

Dr. Michael Steiper said, “I am honored and thrilled to be selected as the next president of Purchase College, SUNY. With its renowned conservatories and outstanding liberal arts and sciences programs, Purchase is a rare gem in higher education where both critical thinking and creativity thrive. Throughout the search process, I have been inspired by the dynamism of the Purchase community. It is a campus where deeply engaged faculty and dedicated staff nurture the aspirations of exceptionally talented students. I am committed to building on Purchase’s vibrant culture to advance its mission of access and excellence, enhance student success and opportunity, and expand Purchase’s impact across New York and beyond. I am grateful to the SUNY Board of Trustees, Chairman Tisch, Chancellor King, the Purchase College Council, Chair Glazer, and the Search Committee for their confidence and support.”

Dennis Glazer, Purchase College Council Chair and Presidential Search Chair, said, “After a comprehensive nationwide search, Purchase College has a terrific new President in Dr. Michael Steiper. Dr. Steiper’s intellect, experience, and highly collaborative leadership style are an excellent match for our campus. Our College Council, Foundation Board, faculty, staff and students were all part of the selection process and we very much look forward to partnering with President Steiper as we build on the special community that is Purchase College.”

About Dr. Michael Steiper

Dr. Michael E. Steiper is a mission-driven academic leader dedicated to faculty and student success who currently serves as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at CUNY’s College of Staten Island (CSI). At CSI, Dr. Steiper coordinated the campus’ vision for student success, contributing to strong increases in student retention and growth in enrollment. In his current capacity, he oversees the development and implementation of academic programs and policies and represents the campus on CUNY system-wide initiatives.

Prior to his time at CSI, Dr. Steiper spent two decades at Hunter College, where he had roles as a faculty member and administrator, most recently as Associate Provost for Academic Success, Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Analytics. During his time at Hunter, he served as the inaugural director of Hunter’s Human Biology Program, now the college’s second largest major. He led an active research lab that explored key questions in primate evolution and mentored students at all levels, many of whom have gone on to careers in academia and STEM fields.

As a biological anthropologist, Dr. Steiper’s research centers on human and primate evolution, with particular emphasis on primate molecular evolution, the relationship between genetic and fossil records, and the interplay between skeletal and genetic variation. His work primarily utilizes genetic and bioinformatic techniques, and he has participated in paleontological fieldwork across three continents.

Dr. Steiper is a lifelong New Yorker and current Westchester resident who earned his Ph.D. and MA from Harvard University and his bachelor’s from New York University.

About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.16 billion in fiscal year 2024, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.

JD Vance

Dear Commons Community,

A poll conducted by JL Partners  shows Vice President JD Vance as the “clear favorite” to succeed Trump, with 46% of Republican voters supporting him for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination. Other potential successors include Ron DeSantis (8%), Vivek Ramaswamy (7%), and Marco Rubio (6%). An Economist/YouGov survey also indicates Vance leads with 43% among Republicans.

Throughout his second term, President Donald Trump has joked about the possibility of a third term. The 22nd Amendment prohibits any president from being elected to more than two terms. Amending the Constitution proves difficult, as it requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate or a two-thirds vote from state legislatures. Ratification by three-fourths of the states is also necessary for change, which has cast doubt on claims that Trump may seek a third term by way of amending the Constitution in his favor.

Vance seems the logical choice to succeed Trump as a GOP nominee but  a lot can happen between now and 2028.

Tony

Police responding to shooting and suspect walking to the tower.  Courtesy of NDTV.

Dear Commons Community,

 A man, identified as Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, stalked through a Manhattan office tower firing a rifle yesterday, killing four people, including a New York City police officer, and wounding a fifth before taking his own life, officials said.

The shooting took place at a skyscraper on East 52 Street between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue that is home to the headquarters of both the NFL and Blackstone, one of the world’s largest investment firms, as well as other tenants.

Tamura had a ‘documented mental health history,’ according to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, but his motive was still unknown.  As reported by The Associated Press and other media.

“We are working to understand why he targeted this particular location,” Tisch said.

The rampage happened at the end of the workday in the same part of Manhattan where the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare was gunned down outside a hotel late last year.

Surveillance video showed the man exiting a double-parked BMW just before 6:30 p.m. carrying an M4 rifle, then marching across a public plaza into the building. Then, he started firing, Tisch said, killing a police officer working a corporate security detail and then hitting a woman who tried to take cover as he sprayed the lobby with gunfire.

The man then made his way to the elevator bank and shot a guard at a security desk and shot another man in the lobby, the commissioner said.

The man took the elevator to the 33rd floor offices of the company that owned the building, Rudin Management, and shot and killed one person on that floor. The man then shot himself, the commissioner said. The building, 345 Park Avenue, also holds offices of the financial services firm KPMG.

The officer killed was Didarul Islam, 36, an immigrant from Bangladesh who had served as a police officer in New York City for 3 1/2 years, Tisch said at a news conference.

“He was doing the job that we asked him to do. He put himself in harm’s way. He made the ultimate sacrifice,” Tisch said. “He died as he lived. A hero.”

One man was seriously wounded and remains in critical condition, Mayor Eric Adams said. Four others got minor injuries attempting to flee.

Adams said officials are still “unraveling” what took place.

Officers found a rifle case, a revolver, magazines and ammunition in Tamura’s car, Tisch said. They also found medication that belonged to Tamura, she said.

She said an initial investigation shows his vehicle traveled across the country, passing through Colorado on July 26, then Nebraska and Iowa on July 27. The car was in Columbia, New Jersey, as recently as 4:24 p.m. Monday. He drove into New York City shortly thereafter, she said.

Rudin is one of the largest privately owned real estate companies in New York City. The company dates back to 1925 and is still managed by members of the Rudin family.

Tisch said there were no indications so far that Tamura had prior connections to the real estate industry or to the city.

No one answered the door at the address listed for Tamura in Las Vegas.

Islam, the slain officer, leaves behind two young boys, and his wife is pregnant with their third child, Tisch said.

Local TV footage showed lines of people evacuating the office building with their hands above their heads in the hours after the killings.

Nekeisha Lewis was eating dinner with friends on the plaza when she heard gunfire.

“It felt like it was a quick two shots and then it was rapid fire,” she told The Associated Press.

Windows shattered and a man ran from the building saying, “Help, help. I’m shot.” Lewis said.

Jessica Chen told ABC News she was watching a presentation with dozens of other people on the second floor when she “heard multiple shots go off in quick succession from the first floor.”

She and others ran into a conference room and barricaded tables against the door.

“We were honestly really, really scared,” she said, adding that she texted her parents to tell them that she loves them.

Some finance workers at an office building down the block were picking up dinner at a corner eatery when they heard a loud noise and saw people running.

“It was like a crowd panic,” said Anna Smith, who joined the workers pouring back into the finance office building. They remained there for about two hours before being told they could leave.

Tisch says she believes two officers were working in different parts of the building as part of a program where companies can hire NYPD officers to provide security.

The building where the shooting happened is in a busy area of midtown, located a short walk north from Grand Central Terminal and about a block east of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Through late July, New York City is on pace this year to possibly have its fewest homicides and fewest people hurt by gunfire in decades. But the city’s corporate community has been on edge since last December, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed outside a hotel hosting a conference.

The man charged in that killing, Luigi Mangione, is awaiting trial. Prosecutors accuse him of killing Thompson because he was angry at perceived corporate greed, particularly in the health insurance business. He has pleaded not guilty.

Tony

Mark Kelly

Dear Commons Community,

Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) in an interview on CNN gave a fleeting answer when asked if he’s planning to run for president in the 2028 election.

“I’m going to give you a yes-or-no question here, senator … you did a town hall in Michigan and you’re [livestreaming right now] from Pennsylvania, both of them are key battleground states,” CNN’s “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper said Sunday. “Yes or no, are you considering running for president in 2028?”

“That is a good question. I know you want a yes-or-no answer,” Kelly responded before ultimately declining to answer. “I’m not going to give you a yes or no. Because I’m just trying to do this job, get the word out to the American people.

“And I’m trying to improve the polling that you talked about, and just listen to voters wherever they are about, you know, what are the problems they’re dealing with and how do we fix them,” he added.

Kelly’s name has arisen as a potential candidate for both president and vice president in the past. Kelly, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020 when he defeated Republican Martha McSally, was floated as a potential running mate with Vice President Kamala Harris after former President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid.

Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut and Navy combat veteran, is the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who in 2011 survived an assassination attempt. Kelly, 61, is up for reelection in 2028.

Kelly would be a fresh consideration for the Democratic nomination!

Tony

Sam Altman and Dario Amodei

Dear Commons Community

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, has been making waves recently after a speech in Washington. 

He warned of his vision of an AI-dominated future where entire categories of jobs would be taken over.

It’s a pretty bleak image, and possibly one of the darker warnings from inside the AI world. Recently, the likes of Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, warned similarly of the risk of AI taking over jobs, but phrased it as a much smaller problem than Altman.

“Some areas, again, I think are just like totally, totally gone,”

“There are cases where entire classes of jobs will go away” he said. “There are entirely new classes of jobs that will come, and largely, I think this will look somewhat like most of history, in that the tools people have to [do] their jobs will let them do more,” Altman said, speaking at the Capital Framework for Large Banks conference at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

“Some areas, again, I think [are] just like totally, totally gone,” he went on to say, addressing customer service jobs. “Now you call one of these things and AI answers. It’s like a super-smart, capable person. There’s no phone tree, there’s no transfers. It can do everything that any customer support agent at that company could do. It does not make mistakes. It’s very quick. You call once, the thing just happens, it’s done.”

“That’s a category where I just say, you know what, when you call customer support, you’re on target and AI, and that’s fine,” he added, talking about customer support roles.

Altman went on to highlight the same issue in healthcare, suggesting AI’s diagnostic capabilities were better than any human. He did share that he believed AI could never fully replace healthcare staff.

Altman and Amodei know of what they speak!

Tony

David Letterman and Stephen Colbert

Dear Commons Community,

Former “Late Show” host David Letterman scorched CBS on Friday and took aim at his old network’s leadership over the decision to cancel the Stephen Colbert-led franchise, one Letterman began over three decades ago.

“I think one day, if not today, the people at CBS who have manipulated and handled this are going to be embarrassed because this is gutless,” he told former “Late Show” producers Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay in a Zoom chat uploaded to his YouTube page.

Letterman — in his first public comments since the network’s shock announcement — called the move “pure cowardice” before alluding to its parent company Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over his widely criticized “60 Minutes” lawsuit.

The settlement raised questions as it arrived weeks before the Trump-favoring Federal Communications Commission chair approved a multibillion-dollar deal Thursday that sees Paramount merging with Skydance Media, which is headed by multibillionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s son David Ellison.

CBS has claimed that the move to cancel “The Late Show” — hosted by frequent Trump critic Colbert — was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

While reports have indicated that the program faced financial challenges in recent years, Letterman argued that “goons” like David Ellison know all too well that the TV business isn’t the same as it once was.

“There’s no fairness to these goons. You’re telling me they don’t know that? These guys are bottom feeders. That’s exactly what this is. Of course they know that broadcast television is withering,” he said.

“So now they just want to make sure — on top of buying something that doesn’t have the same value as it had 30 years ago — they don’t want to be hassled by the United States government. So they want CBS to take care of all of that mess!”

Letterman further questioned whether the network was “losing so much money” with “The Late Show.”

“They did not do the correct thing, they did not handle Stephen Colbert — the face of that network — in the way he deserves to have been handled,” he said.

Earlier this week, Letterman uploaded a 20-minute video compilation to his YouTube page full of criticism directed at CBS during his “Late Show” run.

While he acknowledged that the news was both shocking and a “bummer,” Letterman told his former producers that he loves the move for Colbert, nonetheless.

“He’s a martyr, good for him,” Letterman said. “If you listen carefully, you can hear them unfolding chairs at the [Television] Hall of Fame for his induction.”

Tony

Jack Schlossberg and the Trumps

Dear Commons Community,

JFK’s only grandson Jack Schlossberg incinerated Republicans for trying to rename the prestigious Kennedy Center’s Opera House after First Lady Melania Trump, saying that Trump is “obsessed with being bigger than JFK.”  As reported by The Hill and other media.

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces — but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers,” Schlossberg wrote on Instagram, quoting his late grandfather.

“JFK believed the arts made our country great and could be our most effective weapon in the fight for civil rights and against authoritarian governments around the world,” he continued.

“He took political heat for it at the time — for inviting black artists to the White House, like the Staples Singers. For supporting black Americans like Harry Belafonte and James Baldwin on global tours to showcase the best of our society,” he went on.

“Pablo Cassals, a symbol of resistance to fascism, played for President Kennedy. Yo-yo Ma did too… when he was just 6 years old. Robert Frost performed at JFK’s inaugural. The Mona Lisa came and visited the WH,” wrote Schlossberg.

“The Trump Administration stands for freedom of oppression, not expression. He uses his awesome powers to suppress free expression and instill fear. But this isn’t about the arts.”

“Trump is obsessed with being bigger than JFK, with minimizing the many heroes of our past, as if that elevates him. It doesn’t,” he added.”

“But there’s hope — art lasts forever, and no one can change what JFK and our shared history stands for,” he concluded.

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee shamelessly approved an amendment to the interior, environment, and related agencies annual spending bill that would mutilate the reputation of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ opera house by changing its name to the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.”

The effort is a blatant attempt on the part of Republican politicians to pander to the MAGA cult leader. It’s especially pathetic given the fact that Melania has not a single real accomplishment to her name. History will remember her as the cowardly woman who enabled her husband’s fascism by remaining silent as his anti-democratic abuses escalated.

Tony