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August 16, 2026 Who Shall Bring Me Down? “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?” (Obadiah 3) The little book of Obadiah is entirely devoted to a prophecy against the strong nation of the Edomites, descended from Jacob’s carnal and careless brother, Esau. At the time he wrote, Edom’s capital was in what seemed to be the impregnable rock fortress of Petra, and the Edomites had been a great people in the Bible lands for many centuries. But God had pronounced their doom through Obadiah and other prophets because of their inordinate pride and rebellion against the Word of God, following their father Esau. No one today seems to know exactly how it all came about, but now Petra and the land of the Edomites are a barren wilderness—a marvel to tourists, but nothing more. Edom’s gradual decline and eventual abandonment constitute one of many fulfilled Bible prophecies dealing with ancient nations and cities. Many other great nations of the past—Assyria, Babylonia, Philistia, Moab, and the Hittite empire, to mention just a few—all rebelled against their Creator, and all have finally vanished, just as the prophets had warned. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). Though the Edomites are no longer a distinct people, their spiritual and intellectual heirs are legion. Like Esau, their father, and King Herod, their best-known descendant, these modern spiritual heirs of the Edomites have abundant opportunity to know and serve the true God, but their heart is full of pride, manifesting itself in various ways: pride of wealth, intellect, appearance, strength, or position. May God deliver us from the sin of pride! HMM

Groups invest in campaign to ‘move on from Moms for Liberty’ Two organizations say they’re investing a quarter of a million dollars to support “pro-equality, pro-academic freedom” school board candidates this election season. https://floridaphoenix.com/briefs/groups-invest-in-campaign-to-move-on-from-moms-for-liberty/? Nearly 1.5 million Floridians have voted in advance of Tuesday’s primary elections As of 2 p.m. Friday, more than 1.47 million Floridians had cast ballots, either at an early voting location or by mail, for the primary elections. https://floridaphoenix.com/briefs/nearly-1-5-million-floridians-have-voted-in-advance-of-tuesdays-primary-elections/? No more ‘hypothetical situations’: States move to fortify elections against Trump State Democratic officials are preparing for chaos at the polls this November, as President Donald Trump casts doubt on election security and pushes for more federal involvement in local voting. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/08/14/repub/no-more-hypothetical-situations-states-move-to-fortify-elections-against-trump/?

Powerful earthquake kills dozens in eastern Indonesia A 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Indonesia has killed at least 47 people, causing widespread panic and collapsing buildings and homes in a region prone to deadly seismic events. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/15/indonesia-earthquake?

Trump threatens to declare strait of Hormuz ‘territory of the United States’ Donald Trump has threatened to declare the strait of Hormuz as “a territory of the United States” as his administration struggles to conclude the war with Iran. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/14/trump-threat-strait-hormuz-us-territory? ps:What a pathetic, vain, little man!!!!!

South Korea’s Lee urges talks with North Korea about finally ending Korean war South Korean president Lee ⁠Jae Myung called on Saturday for talks with North Korea to pursue peaceful coexistence, saying ⁠Seoul would seek ⁠safeguards to prevent conflict and noting the need to replace the peninsula’s armistice with a “peace regime“. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/15/south-koreas-lee-urges-talks-with-north-korea-about-finally-ending-korean-war?

ADRA evaluates relief impact and thanks to donors five years after floods in Germany The catastrophic flash floods, which struck hardest in the Ahr Valley (“Ahrtal”) on July 14, 2021, claimed 185 lives and caused widespread destruction. https://adventist.news/news/adra-evaluates-relief-impact-and-thanks-to-donors-five-years-after-floods-in-germany

Exclusive: Israel seizes vast Iran terror axis arsenal with surprising foreign origins JERUSALEM — Fox News Digital gained rare access to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Tzrifin Base in Central Israel, where a vast number of confiscated rockets, grenades, drones, sniper rifles, automated weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers, mortars and other military firepower used by Hezbollah and Hamas are stored. https://www.foxnews.com/world/exclusive-israel-seizes-vast-iran-terror-axis-arsenal-surprising-foreign-origins

What To Know About Research on Curing and Preventing Parkinson’s Disease Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive disorder that causes you to experience certain physical and cognitive symptoms. These changes can weaken your ability to control your movements, speak, and complete daily tasks. https://www.healthline.com/health/parkinsons-disease-curable?

The passage is explained in Early Writings, pp. 242 to 261. Ellen White is talking about those who reject the truth that they are given. They were left in spiritual darkness. I think this points indirectly to the truth of the Investigative Judgement in the passage above as part of truth given to us. This is also in the Great Controversy... GC 430, 431--- "It is those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of the atonement who receive the benefits of His mediation in their behalf, while those who reject the light which brings to view this work of ministration are not benefited thereby. The Jews who rejected the light given at Christ's first advent, and refused to believe on Him as the Saviour of the world, could not receive pardon through Him. When Jesus at His ascension entered by His own blood into the heavenly sanctuary to shed upon His disciples the blessings of His mediation, the Jews were left in total darkness to continue their useless sacrifices and offerings. The ministration of types and shadows had ceased. That door by which men had formerly found access to God was no longer open. The Jews had refused to seek Him in the only way whereby He could then be found, through the ministration in the sanctuary in heaven. Therefore they found no communion with God. To them the door was shut. They had no knowledge of Christ as the true sacrifice and the only mediator before God; hence they could not receive the benefits of His mediation. The condition of the unbelieving Jews illustrates the condition of the careless and unbelieving among professed Christians, who are willingly ignorant of the work of our merciful High Priest. In the typical service, when the high priest entered the most holy place, all Israel were required to gather about the sanctuary and in the most solemn manner humble their souls before God, that they might receive the pardon of their sins and not be cut off from the congregation. How much more essential in this antitypical Day of Atonement that we understand the work of our High Priest and know what duties are required of us. Men cannot with impunity reject the warning which God in mercy sends them. A message was sent from heaven to the world in Noah's day, and their salvation depended upon the manner in which they treated that message. Because they rejected the warning, the Spirit of God was withdrawn from the sinful race, and they perished in the waters of the Flood. In the time of Abraham, mercy ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven. So in the days of Christ. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation: "Your house is left unto you desolate." Matthew 23:38. Looking down to the last days, the same Infinite Power declares, concerning those who "received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved": "For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12. As they reject the teachings of His word, God withdraws His Spirit and leaves them to the deceptions which they love...."

I came across this article that EGW wrote, and it struck me that this was about the Investigate Judgement, how some would refuse to accept it and get stuck in their rejection and refuse to go forward with the light being shown by Christ.... "...In February, 1845, I had a vision of events commencing with the Midnight Cry. I saw a throne and on it sat the Father and the Son. I gazed on Jesus' countenance and admired his lovely person. The Father's person I could not behold, for a cloud of glorious light covered him. I asked Jesus if his Father had a form like himself. He said he had, but I could not behold it, for said he if you should once behold the glory of his person you would cease to exist. Before the throne I saw the Advent people, the church, and the world. I saw a company, bowed down before the throne, deeply interested, while the most of them stood up disinterested and careless. Those who were bowed before the throne would offer up their prayers and look to Jesus; then he would look to his Father, and appeared to be pleading with Him. A light would come from the Father to the Son, and from the Son to the praying company. Then I saw an exceeding bright light come from the Father to the Son, and from the Son it waved over the people before the throne. But few would receive this great light; many came out from under it and immediately resisted it; others were careless and did not cherish the light, and it moved off from them; some cherished it, and went and bowed down with the little praying company. This company all received the light, and rejoiced in it, as their countenances shone with its glory. And I saw the Father rise from the throne, and in a flaming Chariot go into the Holy of Holies, within the veil, and did sit. There I saw thrones that I had never seen before. Then Jesus rose up from the throne, and the most of those who were bowed down arose with Him; and I did not see one ray of light pass from Jesus to the careless multitude after he arose, and they were left in perfect darkness. Those who rose up when Jesus did, kept their eyes fixed on Him as He left the throne and led them out a little way. Then He raised His right arm and we heard his lovely voice saying, "Wait here--I am going to my Father to receive the Kingdom; keep your garments spotless, and in a little while I will return from the wedding and receive you to myself." And I saw a cloudy chariot, with wheels like flaming fire, and Angels were all around it as it came where Jesus was. He stepped into the chariot and was borne to the Holiest where the Father sat. (Here we most definitely see the Investigative Judgement being described)There I beheld Jesus, as He was standing before the Father, a great High Priest. On the hem of His garment was a bell and pomegranate. Then Jesus shew me the difference between faith and feeling. And I saw those who rose up with Jesus send up their faith to Him in the Holiest, and pray--my Father give us thy Spirit. Then Jesus would breathe upon them the Holy Ghost. In the breath was light, power, and much love, joy and peace. (Here are those who aren't connect or don't believe in and ultimate reject the Investigative Judgement) Then I turned to look at the company who were still bowed before the throne; they did not know that Jesus had left it.— Satan appeared to be by the throne, trying to carry on the work of God; I saw them look up to the throne and pray, my Father give us thy Spirit; then Satan would breathe upon them an unholy influence; in it there was light and much power, but no sweet love, joy and peace. Satan's object was to keep them deceived, and to draw back and deceive God's children...""Early Writings," pp. 55, 56; ed. 1907

Tommy John, whose surgery blazed a trail for countless players, dies at 83 https://www.mlb.com/news/tommy-john-passes-away?

🌴 1 for the road: Country-club drama Indian Creek Country Club in Biscayne Bay last year. Photo: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images Jeff Bezos and Jared Kushner now know what money can't buy: membership in the country club on Indian Creek island, the "Billionaire Bunker" off Miami Beach where they splashed out for mansions but can't golf. "Indian Creek represents one of South Florida's major battlefields where the region's newly minted billionaires are clashing with those of more modest affluence who often trace their Miami roots back generations," The Wall Street Journal reports. Island residence doesn't come with membership, and both tycoons are sucking up to neighbors in an effort to get in, the Journal says: Bezos, who has spent a combined $234 million on three Indian Creek properties, and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, were special guests in February at the club's annual dock party. "He worked the scene, engaging in small talk with members," but has yet to be offered membership. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, hosted a housewarming cocktail party at their own compound, but "only about half the [club's] board showed up ... While some board members were out of town, the signal still seemed clear: The Kushners weren't about to get in." The initiation fee at the 350-member club runs close to $1 million. Annual dues are $44,000. Keep reading (gift link).

Dems reroute road to nomination For 52 years — 14 presidential elections — Iowa and New Hampshire hosted the nation's first nominating contests. No longer. The Democratic National Committee's summer meeting in Austin yesterday ratified a wildly different calendar. Sorry, Iowa! Here are Dems' six contests before Super Tuesday: South Carolina: Jan. 22, 2028. Nevada: Feb. 1, 2028. New Hampshire: Feb. 8, 2028. New Mexico: Feb. 15, 2028. Michigan: Feb. 22, 2028. Virginia: Feb. 29, 2028. Between the lines: Iowa and New Hampshire, the launch states starting in 1972, are around 90% white. The new schedule gives more voice to Black and Latino voters, as well as union members. 🥊 Reality check: It's not over. Iowa Democrats have indicated they could go rogue and hold a caucus when Republicans do, regardless of DNC penalties, Axios' Alex Thompson notes. The New Hampshire Democratic Party has argued it can't change the state law mandating the Granite State hold the first primary contest. Both a Republican governor and state Democrats look unwilling to bend. 🔮 What's next: New Hampshire has until mid-September to submit a plan to comply with the DNC's calendar. If neither Iowa nor New Hampshire complies, we'll see what penalties the DNC considers for states and potential candidates. Go deeper.

Trump's secret Iran backchannel In mid-May, U.S. negotiators trying to reach a deal with Iran to end the war ran into a problem: They couldn't tell if the people across the table actually spoke for the country's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Axios' Barak Ravid scoops. So Trump administration officials did something unconventional — they went around Iran's negotiators and reached out directly to IRGC leadership. The person they tapped for the backchannel was Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, who had something very few others do: the trust of both U.S. and IRGC leaders. Why it matters: The episode — which was detailed by three sources with direct knowledge, and hasn't been previously reported — shows how tricky it's been for the U.S. to negotiate with a country where Washington isn't sure who exactly is in charge. The sources said Barzani managed to establish a direct connection with the IRGC commander-in-chief, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, and received assurances from him that he was on board with the deal under discussion at the time. Brett McGurk, who has served as a Middle East adviser to four presidents, told Barak: "Nechirvan Barzani is a pragmatic problem solver. He's respected across the region. He knows nearly everyone in Tehran as well as Washington. That's who you call in a pinch." What to watch: Barzani has recently sent messages to the White House offering to help restart U.S.-Iran negotiations, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. Go deeper.

🤯 Part 3: The future, reimagined Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images The only way to pull or push people to a different place or worldview is to show them what better looks like. So Jim sketched this out, based on Autumn's experience and what Mayo is building: How it could/should work: Imagine the response once Autumn started getting sick. (Her earliest symptom was pericarditis, inflammation around her heart.) Instead of going to a random doctor with scant understanding of her condition, she gets routed to someone with true expertise, who taps into a pool of data on other women with pericarditis. She hops on a Zoom with this person — who could be anywhere worldwide with access to her health data. Her vitals are easily checked at home beforehand and fed into the data. The doctor and Autumn decide together if an in-person examination is warranted. Now, imagine Autumn is actively sick and needs to go to the hospital. She lands in what Mayo calls a neighborhood: imaging, labs, procedures, consults and recovery all co-located for complex patients, instead of a scavenger hunt across buildings and appointment desks. Her costs are clear and flagged. The room itself feels healthy: controls for sound, lighting, temperature and TV. An electronic screen shows today's schedule and exactly what has to happen before she goes home. Family can easily Zoom in to chat and see her. Robots run supplies and meals, so nurses spend their hours on Autumn, not chores. AI stays in the background: sequencing appointments across specialists, transcribing and summarizing conversations, catching conflicts in a brutal medication regimen. The machines absorb the paperwork. The humans focus on Autumn. The bottom line: None of this requires an invention. Every piece of it exists right now, somewhere. What's missing isn't technology. It's the will to rebuild care around the patient — the opposite of our existing mess.

📈 Part 2: Scaling Mayo Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images It's the power of AI that could make the biggest difference and scale this further, the fastest, Farrugia argues. Mayo's scarcest asset — coordinated diagnostic brilliance based on real data, cases, lab results and patients — is exactly what AI is getting good at. Mayo knows it, running more than 12,000 clinical studies and building its Mayo Clinic Platform to digitize its expertise. 🤖 Testing technology: Before we tried Mayo, Autumn's coordinating doctors asked to use AI-assisted recording and transcription. I did the same for the AI agent I built to tackle Autumn's case using Claude. Both of us fed this into systems to make better data-informed calls. To this day, my personal AI agent has proven smarter than every doctor, other than Mayo's. Think about what Mayo data changes: A community hospital in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, will never recruit 4,000 Mayo-caliber specialists. It doesn't need to. It could tap into Mayo's expertise and data to instantly help tens of millions of patients. The harder-to-implement components of scaling Mayo — the talent, the brand, the destination economics — matter far less if the intelligence itself can be tapped by all doctors and patients. A new health care goal could be Mayo-quality care for everyone. This moves us beyond government-run health care versus free markets. The bottom line: American health care is the most expensive, bureaucratic, seemingly unfixable program on Earth. But smart policymakers, working with experts at Mayo and beyond, could spare millions of Americans Autumn's health care hell. Shame on us if we don't. ⬇️ Jim's column continues below.

What health care should look like Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Axios CEO Jim VandeHei devoted this weekend's Axios C-Suite newsletter to the challenges he and his wife, Autumn, have faced in navigating America's health care system — and their glimpse of medical nirvana: My wife, Autumn, has spent nearly a quarter of the past four years in ERs and hospitals, untangling and battling three chronic conditions — and a shamefully broken U.S. medical system. We live in Washington, D.C., with top-rated hospitals in our backyard. Yet her experience has been eye-opening and often horrifying, especially for a nation that spends twice as much on medical care as our rivals. And we're the lucky ones, with blue-chip insurance, a sophisticated understanding of the system and resources to attack problems. Most patients don't have those things. All of this left us infuriated and hopeless — until we landed in a small Minnesota city and glimpsed medical nirvana: the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. It was like discovering a foreign land — or seeing a future that could and should be. The best part: I soon discovered AI could easily help unlock the best of Mayo for everyone. Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, a gastroenterologist who's president and CEO of the Mayo Clinic, told me he's racing to show the federal government and other hospitals how to replicate the Mayo magic. 🩻 How it works: Mayo doctors work as teams. They're paid to heal, not to operate or medicate. Nurses handle four or so patients — fewer than we've experienced at even some of the best hospitals back home. Everyone is kind and talented. Rooms are clean. Every appointment begins on time. Imaging and blood tests get scheduled immediately, not after months of anxious waiting. Results land instantly in your online portal. But the real difference-maker: Doctors and patients leverage massive databases of medical information, sorted and analyzed by AI, then channeled into 500 different algorithms to help find cures and better serve patients. Consider cases like Autumn's: She has several different things wrong requiring expertise across many domains. Few, if any, humans could piece together this puzzle alone. This is where AI could make a big impact — now. Mayo recently signed a deal with Microsoft to expand and expedite its own frontier AI model to further scale and refine this work. Both Mayo and Microsoft are fine-tuning the AI with hopes of sharing it broadly. Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, Mayo Clinic president and CEO. Image via Mayo Clinic "None of this works unless health data is arranged maximally for humans and AI agents," Farrugia told me. "What makes it work or scalable is organizing all the knowledge so doctors can use it optimally and so agents can use it optimally, so we get the best data to help patients." The catch: "I could give this to every hospital — and they can't use it." That's because most hospitals lack the technology, money, systems and focus to use health data drawn from patients and broader pools. ⬇️ Jim's column continues below.

August 16, 2026 Your first month is free in The New York Times app. Download now → Good morning. More people are using A.I. to handle tasks on their behalf. Are we ready for a world in which machines are mostly talking to one another? Photo illustration by Chantal Jahchan Bot meets bot By Callie Holtermann I’m a flesh-and-blood reporter on the Style desk, and I wrote this newsletter without A.I. If you haven’t applied for a job recently, you might be surprised by the new common procedure. At one end, job seekers use A.I. chatbots to churn out résumés and cover letters. At the other, employers use A.I. to sift through all of those applications. People on each side of this equation say they need these tools to keep up with the other. But the result feels hollow, impersonal, frustrating. Are people actually getting to know each other better? This sort of thing is happening everywhere. Consider a high school student who asks an A.I. chatbot to write an essay that she submits to a teacher, who then uses A.I. to grade it. Or a person who asks a chatbot to write a witty opening line to a romantic prospect, who then uses a chatbot to generate a flirty response. Or a person who sends his A.I. agent to go argue with a company’s A.I. customer service system. “We’ve officially reached the point where customer support is just two LLMs locked in a recursive loop of ‘I understand your concern,’ while the actual humans on both ends just watch the credits roll,” one Reddit user wrote recently. Many of us have spent the past couple of years getting used to the strangeness of humans adopting chatbots as conversational partners. But now, as more of us complete everyday tasks with A.I., all of those directives are bumping up against one another. I’ve started calling these situations “bot loops” — the little whirlpools that spin up whenever humans on each side of an interaction outsource their roles to A.I. My bot, my self Some people are hopeful about the potential for these bot-on-bot interactions to streamline our work and personal lives. It’s not crazy to think that an A.I. voice agent could someday call the Department of Motor Vehicles for me, and that another A.I. agent could answer the phone. If it saves me a trip to my local D.M.V. in Brooklyn, where dreams go to die, I’m certainly interested. Whitney Wolfe Herd, the chief executive of the dating app Bumble, has suggested that our A.I. personas will eventually go on dates with each other and report back to us with the results. (When one of my colleagues tried this, it did not go especially well. Better luck next time, Eli!) Still, the experts I talked to for my new story about bot loops in The Times Magazine told me there’s a lot to worry about. A.I. systems get things wrong; string a bunch together and they could amplify one another’s errors. And there’s fascinating research emerging about so-called A.I. self-preference bias — the tendency for these systems to favor their own work. In other words, an A.I. recruiter will probably rate a résumé generated by ChatGPT more highly than one written by a human. But the thing that unsettled me most while reporting was the way that bot loops strain human relationships. The journalist Evan Ratliff thinks it’s hard to blame job applicants for using A.I. when companies don’t even bother to send real interviewers. “Once it’s a little bit debased, you do eliminate the incentive for people to show up as their authentic selves,” he said. It can be nerve-racking to show up if you don’t know whom (or what) you’ll be dealing with. Ratliff has spent a lot of time experimenting with A.I. voice agents for his podcast, “Shell Game.” When I first got on the phone with him, I found myself scrutinizing his small talk to determine whether I was speaking with him or his bot. A few minutes later, we were both laughing. It turned out he had been wondering the same thing about me. THE LATEST NEWS Democrats Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani in June. Angelina Katsanis for The New York Times A string of primary wins by progressive candidates has some asking if Democrats are facing a Tea Party moment. The Democratic National Committee formally approved changes to the party’s 2028 presidential primary calendar. South Carolina will go first. Former Senator Sherrod Brown is mounting a comeback bid in Ohio. He is one of the Democrats his party is counting on to retake control of the Senate. Trump Administration The administration’s inconsistency in its A.I. policy, particularly for national security, could leave an opening for China to infiltrate American infrastructure. The State Department is revoking the visas of foreign leaders, ambassadors and journalists to try to assert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere. The administration’s decision to delay a federal rule on tracking tainted food affected the response to the cyclospora outbreak, food safety experts say. War in the Middle East Iran accused Qatar of capturing three pilots in the early days of the war. Qatar has denied the claim. Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the country since a truce took effect nearly two months ago. More International News In Kabul, Afghanistan. Tomas Munita for The New York Times In Afghanistan, the Taliban celebrated five years in power. More than 170,000 people have signed a Canadian petition calling for the removal of the U.S. ambassador to Canada. Construction workers in Belgium found an estimated $10 million in gold buried under a defunct brewery. Other Big Stories A trustee is trying to block Nick Reiner from using his trust fund to defend himself against charges that he murdered his parents. Hurricane Lala lashed the Big Island of Hawaii, downing power lines and causing flooding, but did not make landfall. The storm is moving toward the rest of the island chain. Jinny Lu, a rescued pug with a protruding tongue, won the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. FROM OPINION Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is almost certainly running for president, Tressie McMillan Cottom writes. But can she win? Republicans are taking steps to make health care even less affordable, the editorial board argues. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. MORNING READS In Ireland. Clodagh Kilcoyne for The New York Times We’ve made these links free for you. Racing against the tide: For one day each summer, an uninhabited Irish island fills up for an amateur horse race across the shifting sands. Happy hour with the sisters: As convents close, older Catholic nuns are finding new places to live out their lives together — and they are bringing the party with them. Believing: How to look at a painting. Fiddler: Violet Hensley’s long career performing old-time mountain music on instruments she made peaked at age 99, when she debuted at the Grand Ole Opry. She died at 109. First impressions: A great thriller hooks you right away. In the video below, Tina Jordan, the editor of the Book Review, tries to guess titles based on their opening lines. Click to watch. The New York Times SPORTS M.L.B.: Joshua Báez of the St. Louis Cardinals became the first player in league history to hit three home runs in his first major-league game. Swimming: Johannes Liebmann of Germany smashed the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle world record at the European Aquatics Championships, beating the old mark by nearly four seconds. Soccer: A consortium that includes Jeff Bezos purchased a minority stake of Liverpool F.C. It’s his first known investment into a sports team. BOOK OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan “The Amateur,” by Chris Bohjalian: Like his breakout novel “Midwives” (1997), Bohjalian’s latest thoughtful page-turner begins with an accidental death. In 1978, an 18-year-old golf prodigy practicing at an exclusive country club hits a drive that kills a young caddy, shattering a well-tended suburban world. “Bohjalian’s wonderful book is a morality tale,” our thrillers columnist writes, “a snapshot of a strange, careless time in a particular slice of America, a psychological exploration of guilt and its repercussions, a portrait of a girl going off the rails — and then, because of an exciting plot twist, a courtroom drama.” Want more? Hannah Whitten, a best-selling author, recommends 11 books about rich people behaving badly. THE INTERVIEW Philip Montgomery for The New York Times “You go, ‘If I just win an award, it’ll fulfill everything,’ and it does nothing. Whatever hole you’re trying to fill is still very much at the center of your gut.” — That’s the actor Matthew Rhys in conversation with Lulu Garcia-Navarro on “The Interview.” They discussed falling in love at work and Rhys’s deep commitment to his Welsh roots. Read more of their conversation or watch it here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Read this week’s magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Prepare your home for vacation with this advice from wildlife and home-maintenance experts. Be a better friend. Here’s how to start making new connections and maintain old ones. Improve your balance with these single-leg exercises. Wear electric Kool-Aid blue. The color is all over the runways and easier to pull off than you may think. MEAL PLAN Ryan Liebe for The New York Times It’s peak tomato season and Emily Weinstein, the editor in chief of NYT Cooking, says that the best way to consume a ripe tomato is just to eat it sliced with some salt and pepper. But the second best is a classic BLT. Make this excellent one, or try these recipes for tomato basil chicken breasts, crispy halloumi with tomatoes and burst cherry tomato orzotto. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was radicchio. Can you put eight historical events — including the settlement of California, Iceland’s first Parliament and the debut of Chef Boyardee — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Crossplay, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson

THIS DAY IN HISTORY August 16 1896 Gold discovered in the Yukon George Carmack reportedly spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed in Canada’s Yukon Territory. His discovery sparks the last great gold rush in the American West. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 1980s 1987 Plane crashes into highway, killing 156 19th Century 1812 U.S. surrenders Fort Detroit to the British Arts & Entertainment 1977 Elvis Presley dies Crime 1984 Los Angeles jury clears John Z. DeLorean of drug charges Sports 2009 Usain Bolt sets 100-meter dash world record 1954 “Sports Illustrated” magazine debuts 1948 Babe Ruth dies 1920 MLB player hit in head by pitch, dies next day Vietnam War 1967 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is challenged in Senate

At least 1 student among 5 people shot at Virginia State University as police investigate Five people were wounded in a shooting involving multiple suspects at Virginia State University early Saturday, prompting a campus lockdown and police investigation just as students got ready for a new school year. Read More.

Speedy degrees Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Virginia and Ohio are developing 90-credit bachelor's degrees that students could finish in three years — joining a fast-growing national effort to rethink how long college should take. The two states hope to launch pilot programs in 2028, Axios Richmond's Karri Peifer reports. 💰 Colleges struggling to fill seats see the programs as a way to attract students put off by the cost and length of a traditional degree.

🚫 Tech's pitch to skip college Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Some of the tech industry's most influential CEOs are challenging the four-year degree as the default path for elite talent — and building alternatives to it, Axios' Herb Scribner writes. Palantir created the Meritocracy Fellowship, which urges high school grads to "skip the debt" and "skip the indoctrination" in favor of a "Palantir degree." Peter Thiel founded the two-year Thiel Fellowship, where participants skip or leave college.

🚪 Sorry, we're closed Data: BestColleges. Map: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals The pandemic accelerated a higher-ed shakeout that's still forcing colleges to close, merge or reinvent themselves. Since March 2020, at least 49 nonprofit colleges have closed or announced closures. Forty others have merged — affecting more than 53,000 students, according to the higher-ed site BestColleges. Historically, fewer than half of students reenroll elsewhere.

✈️ America's global student edge is slipping Data: Open Doors, IIE. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals America is losing one of its quietest superpowers: its ability to attract the world's most ambitious students, who also provide a crucial revenue stream for universities, Axios' Russell Contreras reports. By the numbers: There was a 17% drop in new international student enrollment for fall 2025, recent survey findings by the Association of International Educators reveal. This translates to over $1.1 billion in lost revenue for the U.S. economy and nearly 23,000 fewer jobs. 🌎 Between the lines: The plunge isn't just about strict immigration policies or visa backlogs from the Trump administration. A broader, unwelcoming national climate is deterring students. That reputation is prompting foreign talent to explore other options before they even apply here, Andrew Gillen, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, tells Axios. He compares turning away global talent to banning left-handed people from school: "You're sort of closing off access to whatever they would have been able to accomplish."

🔄 Colleges race to be AI-forward Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images AI is forcing colleges to rethink what students need to learn — and what a degree should prepare them to do, Axios' Megan Morrone and Herb Scribner write. Why it matters: Employers increasingly expect new graduates to arrive with AI fluency, even as colleges are still figuring out how to teach it. 💻 Split screen: This year's graduating high school seniors have had access to ChatGPT since freshman year, while this year's graduating college students booed mentions of AI at commencement. As students' command of AI has improved, colleges have revisited whether using it should always count as cheating. "Now anyone can get that expertise in a minute," OpenAI's VP for education, Leah Belsky, tells Axios. Higher education "is more coaching, mentoring, guiding students" through prompts and analyzing outputs, she says. 📈 The pressure is growing: The number of employers that expect entry-level workers to be AI-competent has nearly tripled since last fall, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. 🦾 Zoom out: Schools are racing to catch up. American, Purdue and Miami University in Ohio have launched AI-forward initiatives. 🎟️ Another route: Short-term certificate programs are becoming a faster, cheaper way to build AI skills — and a way for universities to reach a broader pool of students, Bloomberg reports (gift link). In 2022, just 2% of the professional certificate market focused on AI. This year, short-term AI training programs take up nearly a third. 📚 What students are saying: UC Davis student Burton Baecker told Axios he added finance to his accounting studies after seeing how quickly AI could perform accounting tasks. What to watch: As AI tools take on more entry-level tasks, employers are raising the bar for young workers. New graduates are now expected to manage projects and AI agents, conduct deeper research, present findings and defend their work, Casey Evans, interim dean at American University's Kogod School of Business, tells Axios.