Good morning and Happy Tuesday! Thanks for reading today.
I’m kidding with the subheadline — I’m not actually in District 13. The Chicago suburbs are probably more like District 5, but instead of electricity, it’s technology. But that is not my point.
Allow me to set the scene for you. Inflation hit 3.3 percent in 2026, but wages have been stagnant for years. Congress allowed the Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire, forcing too many Americans to choose between household expenses (like food) and healthcare. Thanks to gaslighting Americans into thinking that Iran is close to creating a nuclear weapon (it wasn’t), the global economy has been plunged into the worst energy crisis in history. US farmers, already facing a historic drought, are also dealing with skyrocketing diesel and fertilizer prices, which are being passed on to consumers at the grocery store. The average gas price in the US is $4.45 per gallon, up 30 cents in the past week.
It is amidst this economic backdrop that America’s wealthiest people, including co-chairs Jeff and Lauren Bezos, are spending the night like this:
Screengrab via Page Six.
I see you in there, Nicole! I thought you were better than this.
And look, I get it. I was once a 19-year-old obsessed with beauty and fashion, but the adults in the room are supposed to know better. I think being snobby about what people wear is an insane way to live, but I also recognize that Anna Wintour (who is so much less likable than Amanda Priestly) is a respected fashion icon and patron of the arts. I have so much cerulean in my closet!
But despite being an elitist snob who (reportedly) bullies women about their bodies, I thought Anna had better taste than this. Or at least a better sense of self-preservation.
The optics of the Met Gala in 2026, which the US is engaged in a war where (reportedly) our soldiers aren’t being fed properly, and owning a home is a pipe dream many will never realize, are preposterous. It reminds me of the scenes of the Nazis partying in Schindler’s List, while Jews struggled to survive in concentration camps. We have actual concentration camps in the US right now, but here come the “elite,” dripping with priceless jewels and wearing attire that costs more than the average American’s yearly salary. Keep that in mind the next time some Hollywood star insists they’re just a regular person. Tickets to this Panem-adjacent event go for $100,000 each, and tables start at $350,000.
The objects of my ire during this year’s Gala are Jeff and Lauren Sanchez Bezos. The couple reportedly paid $10 million to host this year’s Gala, and it seems this is yet another attempt by Bezos to thrust his wife into the spotlight, after inexplicably sending her into space with Katy Perry last April. The Bezoses apparently can’t read the room. With one in four New Yorkers living in poverty, the city elected its first democratic socialist mayor in June. This year, Mamdani bucked tradition by skipping the Gala, claiming that he remains focused on affordability.
Mamdani wasn’t alone. Zendaya, as important a fashionista as exists in Hollywood and a former Gala chair, also skipped the event. So did Meryl Streep. And, last night on the streets of NYC, protestors projected a video of an Amazon worker onto Bezos’s $120 million penthouse.
Shame on you Jeff Bezos! Activists project a message for the billionaire Met Gala host on his $120 mil penthouse from Mary, a 72 year old Amazon worker from North Carolina. #BillionairesAreParasites
— DB Maggi (@dbmaggi.bsky.social) 2026-05-04T16:01:19.146Z
The Chrysler Building didn’t escape, either.
The Met Gala is receiving pushback this year after it was announced that Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos, and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, are the main benefactors.
— COURIER (@couriernewsroom.bsky.social) 2026-05-04T18:54:18.295Z
According to the New York Times, anti-Bezos sentiment has been rising in NYC in recent weeks.
And in the weeks leading up to the event on Monday, an avid anti-Bezos campaign has erupted on New York’s streets, in subways and online, where social media users have described the event as the “Amazon Prime Gala” or “Bezos Ball.” Reports of skittish stars and upset fashionistas have peppered tabloid pages, including rumors of some past guests steering clear.
A guerrilla activist group called Everyone Hates Elon — a reference to another controversial billionaire, Elon Musk — has been calling for a boycott of the event, with a steady drumbeat of eye-catching campaigns around the city, including plastering posters on subway cars and bus stops. On Friday, in a nod to complaints by Amazon workers of having to skip bathroom breaks and urinate in bottles instead, the group placed close to 300 bottles of fake urine inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Gross. But I understand the sentiment. You’ve no doubt seen Amazon workers sprinting to and from their vans in a vain attempt to stay on schedule. It’s beyond depressing.
And worse than Bezos’s union-busting and anti-employee policies, given all the economic woes currently befalling average American households, is that Bezos has been pushing other retailers to raise prices. As former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote last week:
It is difficult for the human mind to comprehend all the ways Bezos is shafting Americans.
Start with prices. According to a newly unsealed filing released Monday in an antitrust lawsuit brought by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Amazon has pressured major brands like Levi’s and Hanes to demand that competing retailers raise prices on their products.
Perhaps it’s not fair to blame Bezos, a guy who has simply learned to work within a system that rewards billionaires and sticks it to working Americans. But there’s no denying that Bezos is the perfect cartoon villain for our time, from his ridiculous yacht, aviator shades, and puffer vest, to his over-filled plasticine wife. Bezos, who once seemed like a nice guy who stumbled into his fortune and wanted to save newspapers, has pivoted in recent years to propping up a corrupt president, suppressing dissenting voices, and helping to dismantle journalism in America. You won’t find me shedding any tears for Jeff Bezos, who apparently will never have enough money to be satisfied.
And before anyone complains, it should be noted that the Met Gala has been around since 1948, and its main goal is to raise money for the Met’s Costume Institute, which is laudable. Sadly, it’s morphed into … well, something else. I can’t bear to watch it.
In other news: Things aren’t looking great for the World Cup host cities in the US; Sam Altman gets caught lying (again); Trump sinks to a new low; and The High Note.
Let’s go.
The World Cup is looking like a bust
Maybe that’s not fair. The World Cup looks like it might be a bust, at least in US cities, which aren’t getting nearly as many hotel reservations as they expected. The first match kicks off in just six weeks, but hotel bookings in some US cities are far below predictions.
For some metro areas such as Kansas City, bookings are running even below what a typical June or July would bring, according to an industry survey released on Monday by the American Hotel and Lodging Association. The report was conducted last month and a spokesperson said it's based on 205 respondents "representing hotel operators and owners, many of whom own multiple hotel portfolios across the country and across multiple World Cup markets."
AHLA said the disappointing bookings stem from fewer than expected international travelers and large cancellations by FIFA — the organizer of the World Cup — leaving hotels with an unexpectedly large number of empty rooms.
Wow. It’s so weird how grabbing foreigners and anyone who looks brown off the streets is affecting ticket sales! How could people NOT want to come to the US?
The survey results appear to be another sign that overseas travelers are not planning to come to the U.S. in the numbers once expected as a result of a slew of factors including tighter immigration policies by the U.S. administration.
"Even with global anticipation building, the path to the U.S. for many World Cup travelers feels increasingly less like a red-carpet welcome," the AHLA said in its survey. "There is a perception that international travelers may face lengthy visa wait times, increased visa fees, and lingering uncertainty around entry processing.”
If only someone could have foreseen this turn of events.
Sam Altman remains a lying liar
If Sam Altman has one hater, it is me. If Sam Altman has no haters, I am dead. So it gave me great joy to learn that this dipshipt sociopath has been caught lying. Again.
In an April 17 announcement, Tools for Humanity — also founded by Sam Altman, and which contributes to the World project — announced it was selling the first tickets to global music sensation Bruno Mars’ upcoming world tour via a new product called Concert Kit.
Unfortunately, there turned out to be a glaring problem: Bruno Mars and his management had no idea about any of it, once again highlighting Altman and his companies’ propensity to distort the truth. In a joint statement to Wired last week, Bruno Mars Management and Live Nation said that the partnership “does not exist” and that Tools for Humanity had never even approached them.
If you still believe that Altman is redeemable, I can’t encourage you enough to go read Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker piece about him. We can discuss after. If you can’t read it, let me know, and I’ll send you the story via email.
Trump won’t even leave the bison alone
Donald Trump doesn’t have an environmental bone in his body. If his replacing the White House Rose Garden with a concrete patio didn’t convince you of that, perhaps this will: Trump is kicking bison out of the Great Plains.
Now, the Trump administration wants to evict Crazy Alice and hundreds of other bison from that home on the range, and replace them with cattle. The resulting clash on the prairie has pitted ranchers and Republican leaders against a furry, snorting symbol of the American West.
“This is a part of our country’s heritage,” said Alison Fox, executive director of American Prairie, a deep-pocketed nonprofit that has spent two decades buying ranches and grazing leases on public land in northern Montana to create the newly embattled home for bison.
The conflict centers on 900 bison owned by the group, which was allowed by multiple administrations, including President Trump’s first, to graze on federal lands, much to the consternation of politically conservative ranchers who wanted the land for cattle.
This winter, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management reversed course and canceled the bison grazing permits. Citing the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, the agency said the federal grasslands where the animals grazed should go to livestock being raised for food, not bison largely enjoying their right to roam. The agency deemed the bison to be wildlife, not production livestock.
That noise you hear is me grinding my teeth together in consternation.
The High Note
Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.
First, the Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday, and I was thrilled to see Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald journalist who could never quite leave the Jeffrey Epstein story alone, win for her tireless work in exposing Epstein to the world. She is so very deserving of the honor and recognition.
I was thrilled to talk with my friend, Lisa Guerrero, about our shared experiences working in sports. Lisa’s new podcast is really great. Please subscribe and show her some love!
And finally, here in Chicago, we’re anxiously awaiting the opening of The Obama Presidential Center next month! I thought this promo was funny, and I appreciate the tribute on Star Wars Day.
Remember, rebellions are built on hope.
Hey, survive and advance out there today, kids. Don’t let the bastards get you down.
