Every Friday
Fordo? We barely know her. Monitoring the situation, but make it aesthetic.
Happy Friday, ya filthy animals. We hope you made it through the week in one piece and didn’t spend too much time “monitoring the situation”, we unfortunately did. What’s the population of Iran?
Bunker buster bombs (take a shot this weekend every time you see Fordo mentioned in your news outlet of choice), that J.Crew PR trip to Puglia, and Sabrina Carpenter discourse (not even going to link it here - make it stop) are popping up in every single feed across the internet. Another round of reporters and politicians joined the Substack ranks this week - big Gavin, Derek Thompson from The Atlantic, etc. etc. Emily Sundberg summed it up perfectly:
The very strange phenomenon of scrolling through sun-soaked brand trips, keeping up with the NBA finals, and trying to snag an elusive dinner rez against the looming specter of widespread regional war in the Middle East can feel like a uniquely modern experience. And on some level it is - our grandparents didn’t have a continuous scroll feed with Love Island spoilers (justice for Huda) followed immediately by schematics of a B2 bomber (military aircraft are sick).
But is it really a uniquely modern experience? C.S. Lewis put it best in 1948 with his piece On Living in the Atomic Age:
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.
We say secure the overpriced dinner reservation at yet another James Beard award-winning Japanese fusion restaurant (more on that below) and snag some joy when it makes an appearance.
Hit play on the set below and let’s get into our round-up this week.
The whole point of collaboration is that you give and take from each other, and that's how you create things that are totally new.
— Virgil Abloh
You can't afford to think about what might have been. You just be aware of what is.
— Noel Gallagher
Top of Mind
Escape from New York: Business Leaders Say They’ll Flee If Mamdani Wins (The Free Press)
“Their fear isn’t just higher taxes or stricter regulations—it’s that a democratic socialist with a history of railing against Wall Street could bring an adversarial ethos into City Hall, targeting the very class that powers the city’s economy.”
It is no shock Mamdani’s socialistic policy ideas resonate with many voters. There are real problems in many US cities that need addressed - especially related to cost of living in the most expensive city in the United States. Any of us living in a major metro have been witness to that fact. However, there are serious disagreements in execution strategy (an increased debt ceiling and increased tax rate to fund that debt ceiling) and economic realism that needs to be injected into the race. He proposes large increases in social programs in a city already struggling to keep a clean financial balance sheet. Socialist style programs like Mamdani’s proposing could also very well drive out a significant portion of the city’s wealthiest taxpayers (whom he uses to fund these programs), who currently bear much of the tax burden. We’ll see how the ranked-choice voting plays out.
2025 James Beard Restaurant & Chef Award Winners
For our foodie readers: the James Beard Awards dropped this week. Think of them as the Oscars of the food world. It’s no guarantee you’ll love every dish, but if you’re looking to splurge on a night out, the Beard list for your city is a solid place to start.
Nashville chef Jake Howell at Peninsula took the top prize for the Southeast, the Atomix crew scored in NYC, and down in Austin the team at Birdie’s snagged a top spot (can confirm Peninsula is worth the dent to your wallet if you find yourself in East Nashville.)
Big Tech pushes for 10-year ban on US states regulating AI (Financial Times)
“Of course, AI will change our lives in positive ways; I’m no Luddite. Lives will be longer, food will become less scarce, many breakthrough inventions will come faster. But part of America’s genius, especially in the last one hundred years, is our ability to see new emerging transformational technologies, and decide early to regulate and control them in a way that allows for and efficiently delivers the positive benefits, and protects Americans, as much as possible, from the rougher edges.”
Big Tech is dumping money into lobbying to pressure Congress into blocking state-level AI regulation for the next decade. The proposal would centralize power in Washington and shield companies like Google and Meta from local oversight. It’s not a bad idea to get everyone on the same page, especially with emerging tech, but ten years is almost unheard of. In a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, more than 40 state AG’s spoke out against the 10 year moratorium because it’s a long damn time. If you’re wondering what a bad take on the issue looks like, read Senator Chris Murphy’s piece he wrote this week.
Senator Hagerty’s GENIUS Act Passes, Setting Historic Framework for U.S. Crypto Regulation
“In 2003, Skype launched their first killer feature, the ability to make reduced-rate calls from computers to landlines. But after enough people joined digital call networks, they could finally ditch phone calls for internet-based WhatsApp calls, heralding a seamless shift in underlying technology from landlines to mobile carriers to internet-based voice and data connections. Likewise, connecting stablecoins to traditional systems will help more people interact directly with stablecoins, even if they need to rely on legacy payment companies building backwards-compatibility into existing products.”
After the Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology executive order in January, White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks led a working group on digital asset markets aimed at accelerating regulation. Senator Hagerty’s GENIUS Act marked the first legislative step in making that vision a reality. Since then, STABLE and the market structure bill, CLARITY, have followed, creating guardrails for an industry that once saw key players de-banked and left on edge. While plenty of the big players in crypto are still championing decentralization, it’s a little ironic (but expected) to see the space now littered with traditional financial institution partnerships like Bank of America, JPMorgan, and American Express via stablecoins. Chris Dixon of a16z called stablecoins “money’s WhatsApp moment.” Sam Broner calls them “a Skype moment for payments.”
Away Game: Barcelona, Spain (Mr Floods, Substack)
“The hustle of Catalonian restaurants slinging tapa after tapa overflowed into the streets. I’d never considered myself an architecture or design person until I encountered Gaudí’s intricate curvatures and vibrant mosaics. The city was bright, cheerful, and flooded with golden sun. I walked for miles every day — roaming and exploring pockets of the town flanked by Gothic structures, ducking into shops and cafés to momentarily take respite from the heat.”
For many Americans, euro-summer is back in full swing, ourselves at Relay included. We can’t wait to spend dollars in a euro country, and talk far too loudly for the locals in a restaurant. Mr Flood’s is back on his route from Puglia to New York with a wonderful walkthrough Barcelona, echo’ing so much of what I’ve personally felt wondering around that city and others in southern Europe. It’s also filled with beautiful photos and wonderful restaurant recommendations as well.
Best of Substack this Week
power ranking politician social media accounts - Jasmine Sun
Lighting Brands - Nolan Daniel White (pick yourself up some new lights based on his recommendations, i was a paid sub for awhile)
ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition
Sentinel Golf (s/o John Thompson)
Waymo In NYC (i can’t imagine NYC traffic with Waymos pissing around)
A beautifully written essay on Why We Want Robots at Work but Humans in Art.
Pop Mart's CEO Is China's 10th Richest Person Thanks to Labubu
Klarna and Visa launch debit card with buy now, pay later built in (bleak)
ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition
Thanks for reading — or for mega scrolling all the way down here.
The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.
We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.
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Sendin this one out a bit late today fellas huh
gay rights