Arrowhead

[Arrowhead @TheRealRogerP]

Bron and bronny to Cle, AR and Harden to Mil, Giannis to LA. Who says no
@Lakers @rob_pelinka

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

The diamond engagement ring was invented by an ad agency in 1947. Before that, only 1 in 10 American brides got one. The company behind it, De Beers, was worth $9.2 billion three years ago. Today that number is $2.3 billion, and its owner is trying to find a buyer.

In 1940, diamonds were a luxury for the rich. Nobody proposed with one unless they had serious money. De Beers had a warehouse full of diamonds and no customers, so they hired NW Ayer, an ad firm out of Philadelphia. A copywriter named Frances Gerety came up with four words: “A Diamond is Forever.” NW Ayer paid Hollywood studios to write diamond proposals into movie scripts. They planted stories in gossip columns about which rock some actress just got. They invented the “two months’ salary” rule, the idea that a man should spend two months of income on a ring. None of that existed before. It was all marketing.

By the 1990s, 8 out of 10 American brides wore diamond engagement rings. Then De Beers did it again in Japan, going from 5% to 60% in 14 years. Advertising Age called it the greatest advertising slogan of the 20th century. They were right.

The whole business ran on one trick: make diamonds seem rare. De Beers controlled most of the world’s supply but only released a small amount each year. That artificial shortage kept prices sky-high. And the “forever” in the slogan had a second job: if nobody resells their diamond, supply stays tight and prices stay up.

Lab-grown diamonds blew that apart.

You can now grow a diamond in a lab that is the same thing, atom for atom, as one pulled out of the ground. Costs 80–85% less. In 2019, only 6% of engagement rings in America had a lab-grown stone. By 2025, that number was 61%. That’s from The Knot’s annual survey of 10,000+ newlywed couples. People are buying bigger rings (1.9 carats on average, compared to 1.6 for mined) and keeping the savings.

De Beers saw this coming. In 2018, they launched their own lab-grown jewelry brand called Lightbox, priced at $800 per carat. The idea was to make lab-grown look like cheap costume jewelry so people would still pay a premium for “real” diamonds. Prices tanked 90% anyway. By 2025, American grocery stores were selling lab-grown diamond rings for $200. De Beers shut Lightbox down last May.

Since 2023, De Beers has lost nearly $7 billion in value. It lost over $500 million in 2025 alone and has about $2 billion in diamonds sitting in storage that nobody is buying. Its parent company, Anglo American, is now in what they’re calling “advanced discussions” to sell off the whole thing. A 137-year-old company, dumped.

The greatest ad campaign ever made convinced a planet that a common carbon crystal was worth two months of your salary. The product that’s killing it just proved you can grow the same crystal in a factory for pocket change.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

Let me get this straight.

The leading Senate Republican walked into the White House Sunday with a bipartisan deal to end the TSA nightmare. Fund everything except ICE now, get TSA agents paid today, handle ICE separately.

Senate Republicans and Democrats said yes.

Trump said no.

Why? Because Trump is holding TSA workers’ paychecks hostage to try and force Congress to pass the SAVE Act, a voter suppression bill that would knock millions of eligible Americans off the voter rolls. He wants to make it harder for Americans to vote.

Like a petulant child flipping the board when he’s losing, Trump torched a bipartisan deal his own Senate leader handed him on a silver platter. His tantrum continues as he unleashes ICE agents into airports. Agents with zero screening training, zero TSA authority, and a good chance of making everything worse.

Democrats have been ready to fund TSA from day one. What we refuse to do is write a blank check for an ICE agency that gunned down two American citizens in Minneapolis and still demands the ability to kick down doors without a judge’s approval while hiding behind masks.

We will not pass the SAVE Act either. Call it what it is: the SAVE REPUBLICANS Act. Non-citizen voting is already illegal. It was illegal yesterday. It will be illegal tomorrow. This bill solves nothing except the Republican party’s losing electoral math.

Fund TSA. Reform ICE. End this today.

Trump is the one standing in the way.

[Los Angeles Lakers @Lakers]

8/24 - Mamba Day.

[Apoorva Govind @Appyg99]

Ok fuck it, I'll spill — All my friends still single in their 30s? They're hunting unicorns. Somewhere along the way, a man stopped being just a man. Now he's supposed to be your therapist, best friend, passionate lover, future father of the year, financial provider & probably a mind reader too. All wrapped up in one devastatingly handsome package.

We grew up on a steady diet of perfect men who could do it all, and now we're shocked—shocked!—to discover that actual humans come with flaws.

Men seem to get this. They prioritize & put up with a lot more shit overall. Meanwhile, women are out here with spreadsheets of required qualities, then wonder why they're perpetually disappointed.

[Dami’ Adenuga @DAMIADENUGA]

Wow this editing 🔥

[T-Pain @TPAIN]

Found the footage when I rhymed mansion with Wiscansin 🙏🏿

[Mark Cuban @mcuban]

I’ll keep on saying it for the people in the back. DOGE had the right idea. Reduce spending enough to slow down the economy. A slower economy means interest rates come down and if things slow enough, the fed reduces rates to juice the economy and debt repayment gets far cheaper and the debt comes down with any growth

Where DOGE screwed up is that they tried to do it all at once under the excuse the Dems would kill it. Cutting spending and firing hundreds of thousands all at once has a disproportionate impact on small cities and states. That makes it’s far far harder for interest rates to enable growth

If they had planned it out, gave the country a chance to plan and get ready for the cuts , then it truly could have worked. And worked well enough they could have cut more than they did. And with the lower rates , the deficit could have been reduced with lower debt interest costs

Add to this all these tariffs , simultaneously, and someone is going to get fired. Probably Lutnick.

Unless Trump shows up in the week or two after the tariff hits and gives us a removal of the tariffs , or even an across the board 10 pct tariffs , that at least is less inflationary.

Less inflationary means at least a little better chance the fed can lower rates.

As long as those tariffs are in place , and active , it’s going to be hard for inflation to come down and for employment to stay up

That’s the fed mandate. Employment and inflation.

Read Fire Aim is no way to govern. If there’s a plan. Show it to us

[J Michelle Michelle @jmichelle555]

I make music that electrify 'em, you make music that pacify 'em✨

[adam @adoomie03]

Nice high beams bro do you wanna see an unregistered firearm

[alluringskull @alluringskull]

Hot take: The US government trying to kill Luigi to stifle the radicalization of the masses is going to have the opposite effect. Giving the death sentence for a CEO over school shootings is a signal that people in power don’t care about us and the only out is by force.

[Los Angeles Dodgers @Dodgers]

UNANIMOUS.

Shohei Ohtani is your 2024 NATIONAL LEAGUE MVP!

[Arrowhead @TheRealRogerP]

Is that the softest walk out song ever? #tysonvspaul

[Tristan Snell @TristanSnell]

A tariff is a tax on everything at Walmart.

[o-o 🫥 @Stop_Just_Stahp]

MAGA,

As of today:
- Inflation 2.1%
- Unemployment is 4%
- GDP is 3%
- Manufacturing is booming, and only getting better.

The economic boom you're about to credit to Trump was brought to you by Joe Biden. And when it crashes, that will 100% be on Trump.

[WheelERdoc @realEDdoc]

His. Former. Vice. President. Told. Us. Not. To. Vote. For. Him.

His current VP candidate called him America’s Hitler.

Almost every single one of his prior Cabinet members said he is grossly unqualified and dangerous.

We are a nation of imbeciles. I hate everyone.