Yup, Donald Trump has a serious Epstein problem

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

Wanted: A fabulous Assistant Editor for Advisory

Our weekend zine—the Advisory—will soon get an upgrade as an extension of our new vertical Souk. It is all about helping our community get the best advice on what to watch, where to travel, what to buy etc. All of it served with wonderful essays on art, music, food, history and more.

We are looking for someone who really gets what makes the Advisory special—and can take it to the next level. Requirements of the job include:

Impeccable writing, editing and researching skills.
Absolutely key: A well-informed taste in books, travel, movies, art and more.
0-2 years of experience.
Quick learner of backend CMS.
Familiarity with Canva.

Please note this isn’t a job for someone who is looking to work at a standard lifestyle section of a newspaper or site. Our aim is to break new ground—and build something truly valuable for our audience.

PS: Knowledge of splainer and the Advisory is a bonus. If you are not a subscriber but are interested in checking out an edition—email us and we will give you access. We prefer that you know what you’re applying for.

As for the rest: There is a six-month probation period and the pay will be industry standard. We are an equal opportunity employer and work remotely. Please send your resumes and cover letter—telling us why you want this job—to talktous@splainer.in. We will reach out to you if you’re shortlisted.

The frightening lesson of the ‘Coldplay kiss’

The context: On Wednesday, Chris Martin unintentionally outed Astronomer CEO Andy Byron’s alleged affair with his HR chief, Kristin Cabot, at a Coldplay concert. They were caught cuddling by the "kiss cam”. The singer—who did not know their identity—quipped: “Oh look at these two... either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.” See it below.

What happened next: The clip went viral and inevitably folks on the internet ‘outed’ their identities—with many calling the incident “Coldplaygate’. The couple also became an instant meme—widely mocked, even by the Philadelphia Phillies:

The ugly fallout: It was all fun and games until it wasn’t. On Friday night, the data company placed Andy Byron on leave and released this statement:

Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability. The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly.

On Saturday, Andy Byron resigned. Kristin Cabot, interestingly, has neither been suspended—nor has she resigned.

So what happened here? Two married people caught in an affair is hardly new. Neither is an illicit workplace romance. But the sheer noise around this single ‘oops’ moment has raised serious questions about privacy, morality and CEOs.

The privacy angle: We live in a surveillance society—surrounded by CCTV cameras, smartphones and—let’s not forget—kiss cams. Some experts say there should be no expectation of privacy—or even a right to it: “When you’re in a public place, whether it be a public park, a store, a concert, there are cameras, and if it’s on camera, you can’t take it back.” Don’t like it? Then stay home.

But, but, but: Others point out that these cameras are being weaponized to ‘punish’ people. In this case, infidelity—which is not a crime—became a tool for the morality police. All that heckling eventually cost Byron his job:

Public castigation isn’t new, but the internet now turns everyday transgressions into entertainment fodder for millions, some cultural critics say. It raises new risks and ethical questions, especially since the online attention machine doesn’t always differentiate between serious abuses and smaller interpersonal conflicts, they say.

A sense of moral entitlement: Now that we can be seen almost all the time, those watching us feel the right not just to judge—but also intervene. Some even contacted Byron’s wife and children. As the internet culture critic Rayne Fisher-Quann puts it:

Infidelity, public meltdowns and bad parenting are all ripe for viral moments because viewers feel they’re peeking behind the scenes of another person’s private life and helping enact the punishment they (ostensibly) deserve.

These viral clips turn real human beings into reality show characters—who actually signed up to put their lives on display—unlike Byron or Cabot—or their families, btw. The internet brouhaha has made an already painful discovery unbearable.

The bottomline: We leave you with this chilling quote from writer Kashmir Hill:

AI technology, and the surveillance it enables, is a warning about how privacy can be stripped away before we even realize it… The terrifying part… isn't just that people can find you — it's that they can find you when you don't even know you're being looked for."

Reading list: New York Times offers the timeline of ‘Coldplaygate’ and the fact that we have nowhere to hide. Washington Post looks at online morality policing. Newsweek and 404 Media have more on the freely available tools that make online anonymity impossible.

Yup, Donald Trump has a serious Epstein problem

The context: Donald Trump’s longtime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein—the sex trafficking pedophile billionaire—has never dented his Teflon reputation. On the campaign trail, Trump even pledged to declassify the Epstein files—demanded by the MAGA crowd who think it will expose Bill Clinton. But, but, but: on July 8, the Justice Department shut down the investigation saying there was nothing to see.

What happened next: For the very first time, the MAGA turned on their man—and he in turn lashed out at them, in all caps, of course: "We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and 'selfish people' are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein." Sadly for Donald, the Wall Street Journal got an exclusive peek at a letter sent by Trump to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003:

It contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly “Donald” below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.

All this accompanied by a note that said: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Oops!

What happened now: In recent years, Trump has found a new and very effective strategy to censor the press—just sue ‘em. He has now filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal—along with this strenuous denial: “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.” The New York Times promptly published a collection of Donald’s doodles—a number of which were used to raise money for charities. They are frankly terrible:

Why any of this matters: US libel laws place a greater burden of proof on the plaintiff. Trump would need to prove not just that Journal’s facts were wrong—but that it acted with ‘actual malice’. Intentions are very hard to prove. Yet, every media company sued by Trump has hastily settled. Earlier this month, Paramount gave him $16 million—after being accused of “falsely” editing a Kamala Harris interview.

The likely reason: Paramount is merging with Skydance in an $8 billion deal—but needs government approval to go through. FYI: Paramount also cancelled Stephen Colbert’s late night talk show, days after the comedian criticised the company on air for settling with Trump.

The big picture: It remains to be seen if Rupert Murdoch will also cave. But in Trump’s Washington, the only way to curry favour is by kissing the big man’s ass. Press freedom be damned. Sounds strangely familiar.

Reading list: Wall Street Journal and USA Today have more on the Donald’s lawsuit. New York Times details his prolific history of doodling. The Guardian has more on the politics behind the Colbert cancellation.

We are starting to sound like ChatGPT

AI was designed to sound more human. But new research claims that the opposite might be happening. Researchers looked at 360,000 YouTube videos and 770,000 podcast episodes—comparing those published before the launch of ChatGPT in 2022—and those published 18 months after. The results:

The study detected “a measurable and abrupt increase” in the use of words OpenAI’s ChatGPT favors—such as delve, comprehend, boast, swift, and meticulous—after the chatbot’s release... there has been a surge in use, researchers say—not just in scripted videos and podcasts, but in day to day conversations as well.

You can see the data for three 'GPT Words' in the graph below:

Why this matters: Humans have always picked up linguistic tips from pop culture. But AI’s influence is exponential:

The paper says the human parroting of machine-speak raises “concerns over the erosion of linguistic and cultural diversity, and the risks of scalable manipulation.” And since AI trains on data from humans that are increasingly using AI terms, the effect has the potential to snowball.

As language models become part of our daily life, they may even reshape sentence structure—or even our ideas: “Word frequency can shape our discourse or arguments about situations. That carries the possibility of changing our culture.” The study can be found here—or read Scientific American and Inc for an overview.

what caught our eye

business & tech

A Polish programmer just did what might soon be impossible—he beat an advanced OpenAI model in a coding contest after a grueling 10-hour face-off in Tokyo.
Millions are still visiting AI “nudify” sites that create abusive fake images of women and girls—including minors—despite global outrage; new research shows the sites are thriving and making millions with help from US tech.
Microsoft says it will stop using engineers based in China for Pentagon-related work after a report revealed they were helping maintain US military cloud systems under shaky supervision.
DuckDuckGo is adding a new search setting to let users block AI-generated images—after complaints that they were making it harder to find real results.
Elon Musk says xAI is building a kid-friendly version of its chatbot called "Baby Grok"—the announcement comes just days after Grok drew backlash over antisemitic replies and questionable anime companions.

sports & entertainment

Netflix has used AI-generated visual effects for the first time—to cut costs and speed up production—creating a building collapse scene in its new Argentine sci-fi show ‘The Eternaut’.
The Writers Guild is urging New York officials to investigate Paramount after it abruptly canceled ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’, raising concerns the move could be linked to bribery.
Billie Eilish told fans at her Manchester show that she’s teaming up with James Cameron on a new 3D project.
India’s box office is booming—new numbers show a 14% jump in the first half of 2025, with earnings just shy of an all-time January-to-June record.
Reliance’s media arm JioStar pulled in $1.3 billion this quarter, thanks to record-breaking streaming numbers during the IPL.
Police have dropped their investigation into Irish rap trio Kneecap after their politically charged Glastonbury set, where chants of “free Palestine” and “fuck Keir Starmer” echoed through a packed West Holts stage.
Netflix is finally moving ahead with its long-delayed ‘Assassin’s Creed’ live-action series, nearly five years after first signing a deal with game maker Ubisoft.
A veterans’ cricket match between India and Pakistan in Birmingham has been called off after players pulled out in protest over the April terror attack in Pahalgam.

health & environment

China has officially begun building the world’s biggest dam—valued at $167.8 billion—on the Brahmaputra river near the Arunachal Pradesh border. The project has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh over its impact in the past.

meanwhile, in the world

ICE is rushing to build migrant tent camps across the US—with $45 billion in new funding and plans to more than double detention beds to 100,000 by year-end, The Wall Street Journal reports.
South Korean officials scrapped the release of a plane crash report after grieving families protested at a press conference, accusing investigators of unfairly blaming dead pilots and birds for the Jeju Air disaster that killed 179 people earlier this year.
What more can be said—a 35-day-old baby has died of starvation in Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, as Israel’s blockade on aid continues and 116 more Palestinians—including people trying to get food—were killed at US-backed aid sites.
The US has reportedly revoked visas for most of Brazil’s top judges, as Washington ramps up efforts to shield former president Jair Bolsonaro—on trial for plotting a military coup—from facing justice.
Saudi Arabia’s “Sleeping Prince,” Al-Waleed bin Khaled, has died at 36—two decades after falling into a coma following a car crash in London.
At least 30 people were injured—seven critically—after a man who’d been kicked out of a Los Angeles club drove his car into a crowd outside.
Archaeologists from the University of Houston have uncovered the 4th-century tomb of Te K’ab Chaak—the Maya king who founded a dynasty that ruled for over 460 years in what is now Belize.

meanwhile, in India

The National Conference has accused Jammu and Kashmir’s lieutenant governor of meddling in governance after his administration proposed making Sanskrit mandatory in schools—just days after a court scrapped Urdu as a job requirement.
Indian Express, in an exclusive, reports that at least 600 phones—including those of politicians, journalists, and party workers—were allegedly tapped by Telangana’s intelligence wing just days before the 2023 state elections, while the BRS was in power.
The News Minute has a good read on how India’s upcoming digital census—while aiming to improve policymaking through caste data—also raises serious concerns about privacy, surveillance, and cybersecurity.

Two things to see

One: A boat carrying 49 people—including passengers and crew—capsized during a sudden thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay—a popular tourist destination. The death toll: at least 35 people. Ten people have been rescued. See the rescue mission below. (Reuters)

Two: Malayalam actor Mohanlal reunited with ‘Thudarum’ director Prakash Varma for this ‘Truly Irresistible’ ad campaign for Vinsmera Jewels. Just watch it! We insist. (Indian Express)