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Toys ‘R’ Us seems to be making a comeback as the company announced plans to have 160 standalone stores open in time for the holidays. This must be good news. It must mean that children have not had their attention spans completely usurped by screens. They still long for good, old-fashioned, tactile toys that, if things work out according to plan, they might even want to play with outdoors? Well, not exactly. It turns out that one of the big drivers in the Toys ‘R’ Us resuscitation is toy purchases coming from adults (I know, that’s not what you thought the headline adult toys referred to, but maybe Toys ‘R’ Us still sells Erector Sets...) “Toy sales among adult-only households have now outpaced households with children for toy sales, growing 16% through June, according to market research group Circana, equivalent to 55% of total toy industry receipts. Toy sales among all adults are growing 25%, only slightly behind the teen group at 33%. Together, teens and adults generated nearly 60% of the industry’s incremental dollar gains in the first half, Circana said.” Toys ‘R’ Us is opening new stores as grownup collectors fuel toy sales. Hey, I’m not judging. People do whatever they have to do to distract themselves from the headlines of 2026. My wife and I recently ran out of content. Like, we reached the end of our streaming video services. All of them. In a quest for new distractions, I hopped on my Big Wheel to pick up some Matchbox Cars, an Etch A Sketch, and a Magic 8 Ball. (My first question was, “Can AI really kill off humanity?” The Magic 8 Ball’s answer: “Better not tell you now.”)
2
Gene Hunt
“Between 200 and 225 years ago, someone or several someones from the British Isles had a gene mutation that caused lung cancer. They traveled to America, settled in Southern Appalachia and transmitted the cancer gene to their descendants and their descendants’ descendants. Today that lung cancer gene, known as EGFR T790M, is found largely in residents of the United States and mostly in Southern Appalachia, especially Tennessee and Alabama. It makes lung cancer 62 times as likely in those who have never smoked and 10 times as likely in smokers.” Gina Kolata in the NYT (Gift Article) with a really interesting study, and what its findings might mean moving forward. This Rare Gene Drastically Raises Lung Cancer Risk in People Who Never Smoked. (Reminder: Science is important.)
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Crime Time
“The Trump administration has started sending a majority of undocumented children who came to the US alone and have new immigration court cases to Texas, where government facilities for them are unlicensed, their chances of getting a lawyer are low and advocates fear that ‘a deportation churn-out factory’ awaits them.” The Guardian: Trump officials sending undocumented children to Texas sparks fears of mass deportation. (The bleaker the GOP midterm outlook gets, the more urgently administration insiders will move to enact their worst policies.)
+ NYT (Gift Article): A Central African Hotel Has Become a Nightmare Prison for U.S. Deportations.
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Weekend Whats
What to Movie: Olivia Wilde directs and stars alongside Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton in the funny and excellent movie, The Invite. It’s finally available to rent. (I don’t count movies as available to rent when the rental price is $19.99!). Such a great movie.
+ What to Book: Emma Cline’s latest novel, Switzy, is a wildly well-reviewed story that follows a man with dementia as he takes his final journey. Highly recommend.
5
Extra, Extra
Feeding, and Speeding, the Trolls: “Once hundreds of those A.I. agents were let loose, they autonomously opened networks of fake accounts on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok, the officials and security researchers said. The agents then rapidly seeded the fake accounts with false posts about politics and current events to sway opinions and inflame issues.” The strategy isn’t new. But the scale and speed of the deployments are increasing. Iran and China Create First-of-Their-Kind Autonomous A.I. Influence Campaigns.
+ Fuel’s Errand: Gas prices approach highest level this yearwith just weeks to go before midterms. As I mentioned earlier this week, the core issue of the midterms will be affordability. Fuel’s Errand.
+ Carte Banche: AP: Attorney General Blanche blurs Justice Department boundaries by appearing at political events. (I’m mostly linking to this because of the absurd use of the word blurs. The line has been chewed up and shat out.)
+ Deals with the Devil: “A strike on a train that imperiled former European leaders and CIA officers is among a spate of attacks that risked a dangerous escalation with the West.” WaPo (Gift Article): String of daring Russian plots is testing Washington’s restraint. Meanwhile... Trump Wants Putin to End the War. He May Offer Russia Business Deals First.
+ Duncan Sheik: “Duncan Sheik, an introspective singer-songwriter whose alt-pop hit ‘Barely Breathing’ became a Generation X touchstone, but who squirmed under the label of MTV heartthrob and eventually decamped to Broadway, winning two Tonys for composing the smash musical ‘Spring Awakening,’ died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 56.”
+ He’s Killing It: Kennedy tells anti-vaccine activists they have a friend in Trump’s White House. “Let me be clear: You have a strong and steadfast friend in the White House. We’ve accomplished in 19 months things that would have seemed unthinkable two years ago.” (Given the spread of measles, etc, they’re even more unthinkable today...)
6
Feel Good Friday
Longtime readers know we’ve been following the adventures of the most excellent Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson on their Busload of Books tours. Well, that’s just their side gig. They are also very successful creators of young people’s literature. How successful? Their book Life on the Moon just got longlisted for a 2026 National Book Award.
+ No more book bans: how Florida students are pushing rightwingers out of school boards.
+ Flash floods can strike without warning — this new technology could change that. (Yes, AI can do some good things, too!)
+ “The development underscores an idea that is gaining currency in some climate circles: sometimes technologies that matter most are not the futuristic breakthroughs waiting to scale but the familiar ones where adoption begins to reinforce itself.”