Let's talk about Belgium. Fair play to Rudi García, he got everything right tonight. The starting lineup was a surprise, especially with players like Doku, De Bruyne, and Lukaku left out. But every change made sense. Rudi García understood that, with the United States playing with three midfielders + Pulisic operating inside, using only two midfielders alongside De Bruyne would have been a nightmare defensively. It would have created a 4v2 overload centrally, as De Bruyne doesn't contribute consistently enough without the ball. Using Tielemans as a #10 isn't ideal in possession, but it worked brilliantly defensively. Out of possession, Tielemans almost became a third central midfielder, giving Belgium much more protection in the middle of the pitch. Starting Lukebakio instead of Doku also made sense for two reasons. First, his defensive work was outstanding. He consistently tracked Robinson's runs and dropped deep when needed, at times even helping Belgium form a back five. Second, he offered more threat in large spaces and transition moments than Doku. De Ketelaere also had an excellent game, scoring twice and constantly causing problems with his intelligent movement and runs in behind. Belgium's defensive plan was well organized and executed. They weren't overly aggressive or excessively passive, they found the right balance. The profiles García selected suited the game plan perfectly. What I liked most, though, was Belgium's approach in possession. They clearly wanted to prevent the United States from using one of their biggest strengths: their aggressive high press and counter-press. After recovering the ball, Belgium often played backwards to Courtois instead of forcing risky passes through the middle. Courtois would then play long over the first line of pressure. This stretched the United States, and Belgium had enough physical presence, (Onana, Vakanen, Lukebakio, and even Tielemans) to compete for and win the second balls. The other option Belgium used was to immediately play forward into the space behind the US press after regaining possession. By doing this, they avoided giving the United States the opportunity to counter-press and instead attacked quickly in transition. The United States are one of the best teams at reacting immediately after losing possession, but Belgium simply didn't allow them to play to that strength. To be honest, Belgium hadn't looked convincing recently. They struggled to create chances and often found it difficult to beat opponents they should have been dominating given the quality of their squad. Tonight, however, they looked far more solid defensively, even without some of their biggest attacking stars. The game plan was excellent, the player profiles fit it perfectly, and Belgium completely nullified the United States.

Not unlike the Germans w/Hitler in the 1930s, Americans are in denial about the seriousness of the situation w/Trump, who is an extremely damaged and dangerous human being. Gavin Newsom has no illusions about what's transpiring — and it's fucking chilling.

I know more about Robin Westman in 13 minutes than I know about Thomas Crooks in 13 months… Wonder why?

LAURA “LOW RATINGS” INGRAHAM ON FOX HAS A TERRIBLE CASE OF NEWSOM DERANGEMENT SYNDROME (NDS!). THE AMERICAN PEOPLE LOVE ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM, AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR!!! FOX SHOULD CANCEL LAURA IMMEDIATELY — OR FACE HUGE “CONSEQUENCES!!!” THANK YOU! — GCN

J.D. “JUST DANCE” VANCE, WHO NOBODY LIKED UNTIL TRUMP PICKED HIM OUT OF THE "BARGAIN BIN" IN THE WALMART CLEARANCE SECTION, WENT ON FOX TO TRASH ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM, AMERICA'S MOST POPULAR GOVERNOR. THE DANCING QUEEN CAN’T STOP! I LIVE RENT-FREE IN HIS HEAD (VERY TINY SPACE, ALMOST NO ROOM WITH "THE COUCH"). HE IS VERY WEAK... THE GUY CAN'T RUN, TAKES MORE "VACATIONS" THAN ANY VICE PRESIDENT IN HISTORY (AND WE’VE HAD SOME LAZY ONES!), GOT CAUGHT TAKING PHOTOS IN THE BATHROOM (VERY SICK!) AFTER APPLYING HIS EYELINER AND WEARS A COMMUNIST RED SHIRT. PERFECT, SINCE "CHAIRMAN TRUMP" NOW OWNS INTEL AND TELLS HIM WHAT TO WEAR. WHY DOES FOX AIR THIS NONSENSE? THEY EDIT THE TAPES, AND EVEN TRY TO MAKE HIM LOOK "SMART," BUT HE IS A TOTAL JOKE. FOX SHOULD BE ASHAMED. STOP GIVING AIRTIME TO A TOTAL LOSER. HIS TIME WOULD BE BETTER SPENT PRACTICING FOR HIS SOON “DEBUT” ON DANCING WITH THE STARS. EVERYONE’S LAUGHING AT HIM, BELIEVE ME! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GCN

Over the long term, we shouldn’t have political gerrymandering in America, just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who’s got better ideas. But since Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House and gerrymandering in the middle of a decade to try and maintain the House despite their unpopular policies, I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this. He’s put forward a smart, measured approach in California, designed to address a very particular problem at a very particular moment in time.

I wish everyone had this tool that my clients Pronto built: temporarily set up a production db copy. They take a snapshot of prod every day. This page allows a dev to start a new db instance, same size, same data. Fire up psql and test all the indexes you want w/o fear.

MAGA - am I doing this right?

DONNIE J. AND KaroLYIN’ LEAVITT WILL HAVE THEIR (LITTLE) HANDS “FULL” TODAY. WHOOPS. I, GAVIN CHRISTOPHER NEWSOM, AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR (MANY SAY), WILL HOST THE GREATEST PRESS CONFERENCE OF ALL TIME. AFTER THAT — “THE MAPS” WILL SOON BE RELEASED. VERY MUCH ANTICIPATED. HISTORY MADE. THE GOP’S RIGGED GAME IS OVER!!!! THE PEOPLE RETAKE CONGRESS. YOU'RE WELCOME, AMERICA! LIBERATION DAY!!! THAT IS WHAT MANY ARE CALLING IT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. — GCN

MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING — AND I AGREE — THAT I, GAVIN C. NEWSOM (AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR) DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. WHY? BECAUSE OF THE “MOST INCREDIBLE MAPS IN THE HISTORY OF MAPPING” (EVEN COLUMBUS). THESE MAPS WILL END THE “VERY RIGGED” ELECTIONS, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN (MAGA!!!), RETAKE CONGRESS “FOR THE PEOPLE”, AND SAVE DEMOCRACY. NOBODY ELSE COULD HAVE DONE THIS — CERTAINLY NOT THE “SELF-PROCLAIMED” MASTER DEALMAKER DONALD “TACO” TRUMP (TINY HANDS) WHO MISSED “THE DEADLINE” AND LOST (SAD!). PEACE THROUGH MAPS — NO ONE HAS EVER THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE. I AM THE “PEACE TIME” GOVERNOR NOW, STOPPING “POLITICAL WARS” BEFORE THEY START. HARMONY, UNITY, EVEN LOVE. THE NOBEL COMMITTEE HAS GIVEN THIS AWARD TO LESSER PEOPLE FOR MUCH LESS. I, GAVIN C. NEWSOM, ACTUALLY EARNED IT. THE WORLD WILL BE SAFER, KINDER, AND FRANKLY MORE “BEAUTIFUL” BECAUSE OF MY MAPS. GIVE GAVIN THE NOBEL, MANY ARE SAYING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GCN

Wake up and immediately look at small screen before clocking 8 hours behind medium screen. Take a few breaks to check in on small screen. Go home and spend a few hours staring at big screen to wind down before getting into bed and looking at small screen. Living the dream.

Blueprint has been a pain in my ass. It's kept me from not focusing on the single thing I’m consumed with: how does the human race survive the rise of super intelligence. Every minute spent dealing with problems like ‘why a supplier shipped us something out-of-spec’ (now stuck on a boat) is a minute not spent figuring out how to make Don’t Die the fastest-growing ideology in history, increasing our odds of survival and thriving. At the same time, Blueprint products bring my body and mind great joy. I rely upon them for my well-being. I trust it. So do tens of thousands of happy customers. After years of consuming, I am - at a molecular level - Blueprint. Blueprint is the best longevity stack in the world. That’s not an exaggeration. It’s meticulously designed. Based upon scientific evidence. Third-party tested. Comprehensive, easy to consume, delicious and priced to be accessible. There’s nothing else in the world like it. Initially, I tried combining existing ingredients from third-parties to match what the scientific evidence recommended.  That didn’t work. The ingredients were off. They didn’t have third party testing. I had to manage 100+ vendors. There were too many pills. They had varied or non-existent quality controls. I built Blueprint to solve my own problem. My goal was to achieve the best biomarkers of anyone on planet earth. Nutrition was going to play a very important role. I was trying to demonstrate - IRL - what Don’t Die means minute to minute and day to day. To practically demonstrate and be the philosophy. Four years in, my team and I have accomplished that goal. I have the best biomarkers of anyone in the world. I am the healthiest person on earth. I’ve publicly shared my markers and lab work for review.  Throughout this process, I’ve shared everything I’ve learned, with everyone, for free. Blueprint has played a major role in this. Each day, I consume around one septillion (10²⁴) nutrient molecules, tiny packets of chemical energy that determine how my body runs. Each molecule has fought for its life for inclusion. After my team and I built a protocol for myself, my friends and family asked if they could get access too.  Then their friends and family asked and I said yes again. The circle kept on expanding until we stumbled into Blueprint becoming a company. My goal was never to sell nutrition. It’s the last thing in the world I ever imagined doing. I don’t need the money. I would much rather be building in deep tech: the engineering of life and intelligence using biology, physics, materials, software, and computation. After I sold Braintree Venmo for $800M, I invested in synthetic biology, precision chemistry, genomics, and computational therapeutics, aiming to make biology programmable like software. I believed these fields could enable breakthroughs like a global immune system, life-extending medicines, and cleaner, better materials. I then founded and funded Kernel, building the world’s first mass-market, non-invasive brain interface. It’s a bike helmet fMRI, to pair the human brain with AI and accelerate our evolution. It took 9 years and pushing the boundaries of physics, but we succeeded. Kernel Flow is now in clinical trials for mild cognitive impairment and depression. I keep a Flow on my desk and measure my brain daily to track my health protocols. I started Blueprint and people began calling me a grifter. Whatever. They don’t understand. Then Blueprint and Don’t Die became a global thing. Netflix did a documentary. The grifter blowback got increasingly loud. Somehow making my protocol available at a low cost lessened the trust that some people had in me. Call me Patrick Bateman, Dorian Grey, Prometheus, a vampire, or elf, I’ll laugh with you. The questioning of my intentions hurts the mission. My sole purpose in existence is the survival and thriving of the human race. So earlier this year when WIRED’s Katie Drummond asked me about the tension of Blueprint and being called a grifter - I was like fuck it. Should I shut the company down or sell it? I’d been thinking about how to solve this tension. That sucks because we have tens of thousands of happy customers who also depend upon Blueprint. But it takes me away from Don’t Die. It hurts my credibility. While this question may seem unique to my situation, it’s really what so many are now grappling with. With AI advancing so rapidly, what do any of us do right now? What’s worth doing anymore? Everyone in my circle is asking this same question, but in their own way. The truth is that I need Blueprint. The world needs Blueprint. It is the practical manifestation of Don’t Die. The interview referenced was 3 months ago. Since then, I’ve explored the options. We’re going all in. We’re making Blueprint accessible and impactful for everyone. To replicate everything in my protocol - all the measurements, protocols, therapies - and make it easy and accessible for others to do in community. For your family and friends to do this too. We are marrying Blueprint (daily practical health) and Don’t Die (philosophy and global action), as they really are the same thing. + Blueprint Nourish: Premium fuel for your body, covering 50-100% of your daily nutrition, hair care, skin care, oral care, etc. + Blueprint Biomarkers: Health as an AI-first, fun, social, and competitive experience. Leaderboards and rewards. Your progress tracked each day. + Blueprint Quantified: A global certification standard for food purity. First for pets, then humans. To help everyone know exactly what's in their food and raise the global standard. + Blueprint Clinics: Heal damage inflicted by the world. Get access to cutting edge longevity technologies, protocols, and therapies. Locations around the world. Blueprint centers and licensees. To do this, we’re raising money and we need hard core builders. I’m hiring a CEO and CTO who can lead the business day to day while I focus on Don’t Die. .. Red Bull made adventure a universe. .. Duolingo made language-learning fun. .. Blueprint will make longevity a game. A new era is here. Death is our only foe. We are the first generation who won’t die.

We know more about the 2 people on the left after 4 days than the guy on the right after 12 months.

I hate to say it, but something’s not adding up. ADP said we lost 33,000 jobs in June. Trump’s Labor Dept claimed we gained over 100,000. That’s not a small miss—it’s a red flag and it's happened multiple times already since he took over. When someone lies about $2 gas and everything else, why would we blindly trust their jobs report? At some point, you have to ask: are they cooking the books? They have earned the scrutiny.

If you, or your AI agents, want to accept payments via voice/phone... @stripe is working on a few AI-based, PCI-compliant solutions. 📞 I'm looking for 2-3 highly motivated use cases to co-build along with us (in Slack together, daily iterations, etc) => jweinstein@stripe.com.

I've marched in more military parades than I even care to remember. Probably watched dozens more as a spectator. And this is easily the worst and sloppiest marching I've ever witnessed at a formal military parade. It feels like a big "fuck you" to Trump from the soldiers.

Wow! This guy nails it! “You’re on the wrong side of history. You should be standing here with us… you took an oath to the CONSTITUTION, not the fascists in the White House - they’re sending men in fatigues and weapons of war into our communities!”

Alabama has 3X the homicide rate of California. Its murder rate is ranked third in the entire country. Stick to football, bro.

WATCH THIS.