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Office buildings are emptying, rents won’t budge, and debt is steadily increasing. This is bad news for cities in general and could lead to something called a “death loop”. Wow! Henry Grabar explains why business districts will get worse before they can get better, and what the way forward might look like.
Listen, Texas
In the year since the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, several parents of the victims have come together and gotten involved in politics. They haven’t spared the GOP-controlled state Legislature, and they’re moving the needle, according to Scott Braddock, who edits the state’s largest political newsletter.
“The Uvalde families have been very open about what they would like the state government to do after their children were killed,” she told Slate’s Molly Olmstead. He spoke with him about what these families have been pushing for and the possibility of change.
Pay your writers
Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Rich Fury/Getty Images for dcp, bradwieland/iStock/Getty Images Plus, Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, Bluberries/iStock/Getty Images Plus, Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images and YouTube.
Pay your writers! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap. Pay your writers! Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.
This chant drowned out David Zaslav’s commencement speech at Boston University. Who is this guy and why is everyone calling him? Dan Kois explains how this particular mega-millionaire media executive this week became the defining symbol of capitalism’s gross excesses.
Elon ‘n’ Ron
Elon Musk can’t support Biden. He can’t support Trump. But he definitely can’t help but get involved, either. Alex Kirshner tries to understand why Musk has thrown his weight behind Ron DeSantis.
Well earned laughs
Julia Louis-Dreyfus in You Hurt My Feelings.
A24
Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ You Hurt My Feelings is the kind of movie you don’t see that much anymore, one that turns the mundane and everyday into an effervescent comedy. Dana Stevens reviews the film, which follows four people dealing with a shared experience: “the realization, several decades into adulthood, that one’s future seems unlikely to be so successful, so satisfactory, as special as had been expected.”
Health!
Good news for anyone who wants to have a drink or two this weekend: the connection between alcohol and weight gain is much more tenuous than you might think. Erik Ofgang unpacks the beer belly myth.
Today, Slate… HAS A STORY OF BEING CAPTURED BY A SEA MONSTER*
… like gray whales, which earned the nickname “devilfish” for attacking whaling ships in the 19th century.
We hope your long weekend is smooth sailing! Thank you so much for reading. The Slatest will be back on Tuesday (but Slate dot com will be posting all weekend).
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