Fictional Lives

Although this may be the smallest of sample sizes, I’ve noticed a trend among Generations Z and Y that they like to make family movies. Not the kind of family movies we grew up with — these are movies with fictional plots and the family members are actors.

When the edited version reaches their satisfaction, they post it to YouTube, where the sample size is orders of magnitude times larger, so yes this is a well-known trend outside of my family.

Anyway on Friday, my teenaged grandchildren hatched a new movie plot involving French bad guys operating out of Monaco, a nuclear threat to Washington, D.C., and a trip to New York City, where the good guys might be singing a song they’ve written.

The dog has some sort of role in this movie, but I’m not sure who prevails in the end — the good guys or the plotters from Monaco.

I guess I’ll find out with the rest of the world when they post it to YouTube.

Maybe I’ll write a review.

HEADLINES:

• Dangerous wildfire smoke blankets large parts of Canada and the US (BBC)

• U.S. strikes bridges in Iran; Tehran targets U.S. bases in the Gulf (NPR)

• Why Iran is returning to war (FT)

• A new wave of US attacks on Iran has plunged Iranians back into deep uncertainty and anxiety after a period of relative calm while a shaky ceasefire held. (Reuters)

• Trump Just Did More Damage to American Elections Than China (Atlantic)

• What Trump’s newly declassified documents do – and don’t – say about threats to US elections (CNN)

• Trump says ABC, NBC licenses should be revoked over refusal to air speech on election integrity (WP)

• Trump Dooms His Own Party (Atlantic)

• Andy Burnham, a mayor from England’s north, is poised to become Britain’s next prime minister (AP)

• Russian troops survive an average of 30 minutes on the Ukrainian battlefield, CIA director says (BI)

• Ukraine Was on a Roll. Then a Clash Over War Strategy Exploded Into View. (NYT)

• How to Research Private Schools Like an Investigative Reporter (ProPublica)

• The death of the stick shift is almost here (WP)

• What ICE Didn’t Say About Its Latest Killing (Mother Jones)

• The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told The Associated Press. [AP]

• Map: 7.3-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Off Mexico’s Coast (NYT)

• If you’re not a billionaire in San Francisco, you’re poor (BI)

• Good AI standards don’t need a new government bureaucracy behind them (WP)

• Google Ordered to Give A.I. Rivals More Access on Android Smartphones (NYT)

• Mitch McConnell Clarifies Absence Due To Brief Planned Trip To Afterlife (Onion)