| George on Tuesday: Leo Warns of Risks From AI in Papal Encyclical, Asks for Forgiveness for Vatican Role in Slave Trade; Trump Says He Won’t ‘Rush Into’ a Deal With Iran; Toshifumi Suzuki, Who Remade 7-Eleven, Dies at 93Frequent Business Traveler

Good morning! Today is Tuesday, the 26th of May, 2026 and this is the Tuesday Morning Edition of GEORGE.

We are at war with Eurasia. We are at war with Eastasia. Eurasia is our ally and we were always at war with Eastasia.

This classic example of doublethink from George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four demonstrates how the ruling Party in Oceania continuously revises history to match its current political alliances, forcing citizens to hold contradictory beliefs as absolute truth. The abrupt, public reversal of alliances, proclaiming that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia, occurs in Part 2, Chapter 9.

Perhaps U.S. President Donald Trump had this passage in mind when, early on Saturday, he said that an end-of-war agreement was close, only to change the narrative completely by midday by saying that he would not rush to finalize an agreement.

Inspired by the nuptials of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son, Donald, to a Palm Beach socialite, our @Bartleby on Language columnist explores the meaning and provenance of the word “socialite.”

Our @The Sketch editorial cartoon columnist drew inspiration from two separate yet related events that took place over the past week – the last episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and the end of an almost 100-year run of the CBS News Radio Network, creating a cartoon for each.

In other news, Russia launched a major drone and missile attack in the direction of Ukraine, sending one of its hypersonic missiles on the mission, while China launched the Shenzhou 23 space mission, and Pope Leo XIV issued a papal encyclical warning of potential problems with artificial intelligence and a moving apology on behalf of the Catholic Church for the colonial slave trade and its part in it.

Meanwhile, don’t miss any of these stories in our Tuesday Morning Edition.

— Toshifumi Suzuki, who refashioned 7-Eleven into a cornerstone of Japanese daily life, dies at 93

— Japanese shoppers were the victims of a chemical spray attack in the Ginza district of Tokyo

— Mr. Trump will get his second “routine annual” physical in 12 months today

In addition, GEORGE has other exclusive news in today’s edition so don’t touch that dial. Simply scroll down and read more GEORGE, starting with today’s editorial cartoon in @The Sketch. GEORGE will be back tomorrow with a brand-new editorial cartoon, even more news, and stories you won’t find elsewhere.

Until then, remain curious!

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A stack of newspapers in Vienna’s Café Prúckel, each in an Original Wiener Zeitungshalter

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VOLUME VI… № 1,722

WELCOME (above)

@THE SKETCH (above)  Auf Wiedersehen The Late Show, CBS News Radio Network.

IN THIS ISSUE

@INTERMEZZO I  Sunset as viewed from New York City Monday evening

@THE WAR ROOM

@INTERMEZZO II  TImes Square in the rain

@TODAY IN BRIEF

@INTERMEZZO III  Stereo viewer with stereo slide

@BARTLEBY ON LANGUAGE What is a Socialite?

@PASSINGS    Toshifumi Suzuki, Remade 7-Eleven, Dies at 93

@RECENT DISPATCHES OF NOTE

@ABOUT GEORGE      

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Sunset as viewed from the GEORGE editorial offices Monday evening

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— For readers just tuning in, while the weekend began with Mr. Trump and other administration officials saying that an end-of-war agreement was close, it ended with the U.S. president saying that he would not rush to conclude an agreement that wasn’t right. In a social media post, Mr. Trump said that “time was on our side” and that he would not rush into a deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran after senior Republican leaders warned it could be a “disastrous mistake” to do so.

— On Monday, the United States launched a series of new air strikes against Iran. U.S. Central Command said it had struck missile sites in the south of the country and boats laying mines, in what it termed an act of self-defense “to protect our troops.” A spokesman said the ceasefire was “ongoing” and that the United States had continued to act “with restraint.”

— Donald Trump demanded that a number of Gulf countries make peace with Israel after the Iran war ends by signing the Abraham Accords.  The Abraham Accords are a series of landmark normalization agreements brokered by the United States to establish formal diplomatic, economic, and security relations between Israel and several Arab and Muslim nations.

—  Mr. Trump on Monday said: “The deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal.” He then turned to social media, blasting his Republican and Democratic critics as knowing nothing about the deal under negotiation.

— Iran peace talks bogged down on Monday as the two sides dug in their heels over U.S. demands concerning Iran’s nuclear program as well as Tehran’s demand for financial relief for the country, mediators said. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said that progress had been made the talks, although a deal was “not imminent.”

— Israel said it had intensified its attacks on Lebanon, after the country’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, ordered an escalation of its offensive against the terror group Hizbullah. Mr. Netanyahu said Israel would “intensify our blows” and “crush” the Lebanese militant group, despite an ongoing ceasefire.

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The heavy rain caused many people to remain indoors, resulting in a deserted looking Times Square that is normally bustling with people.

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Russia launched a major attack on Ukraine, dispatching hundreds of missiles and drones in the direction of Kyiv, killing four people and injuring at least 50 in the country’s capital, and aimed at other regions including Kharkiv and Odessa. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said Russia had used its multi-warhead Oreshnik hypersonic missile, which it has done just twice before. Russia is attempting to compensate for its lackluster successes on the battlefield with such attacks and the use of the Oreshnik, which is a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile characterized by a reported speed that exceeds Mach 10 according to the Ukrainian military.

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China launched the Shenzhou 23 space mission, carrying three astronauts – commander Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying – to its Tiangong space station. Ms. Lai is Hong Kong’s first astronaut. The Shenzhou-23 mission is part of the China’s efforts to land people on the moon by 2030. One Chinese astronaut will spend a year in orbit, a national record.

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Mr. Trump will get his “routine annual” medical exam on Tuesday, seven months after his last visit to Walter Reed Army Hospital. The president, who turns 80 years old on 14 June, is the oldest person to take the oath of office and the second oldest president in U.S. history after President Joe Biden. His age, swollen ankles, and bruised hands have sparked repeated questions about his health and fitness.

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Pope Leo XIV issued a papal encyclical – a ca. 42,300-word open letter to “all people of good will” – in which he warned of the risk posed by artificial intelligence, including but not limited to the ability to worsen inequality, erode workers’ dignity,, and automate war. An encyclical, which originally was a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church, is now primarily associated with papal encyclicals from the Catholic Church for letters outlining the church’s perspective on a topic. The word comes from the Late Latin encyclios, which means “circular.” Leo is not, however, the first pontiff to express concerns over AI. Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, was the first pope to express concerns about the topic, but Leo’s volley could cause a rift between the Catholic church and Silicon Valley not to mention the Trump administration, the latter which has touted AI as an economic engine and a critical tool that will strengthen U.S. military might. This week’s release of the encyclical, one of the highest forms of papal documents, also put the spotlight an unusually close collaboration between the Vatican and AI start-up Anthropic. The company’s co-founder, Christopher Olah, joined Leo and leading theologians on a Vatican panel.

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Black American Catholics have long called on the Vatican to atone for its role in the colonial slave trade and the American born Pope Leo XIV, whose forefathers include both slave owners and slaves, made an historic apology on Monday for the Holy See’s role in both legitimizing slavery and for having failed to condemn it for centuries. Leo called the Vatican’s record in renouncing slavery a “wound in Christian memory.” Shannen Dee Williams, an associate professor of history at the University of Dayton and author of the 2022 history of American black Catholic nuns, Subversive Habits, told the Washington Post in response to the issuance of the encyclical that “black Catholics have waited a long time to hear the Vatican speak honestly about the church’s leading roles in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and chattel slaver.” For Leo, it is clear that his feelings on the matter run deep: “It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord,” he wrote in the encyclical. “For this, in the name of the church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”

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In Tokyo, more than 25 people suddenly developed sore throats near the Ginza Six luxury shopping complex on Monday after a person sprayed an unknown substance into the air, Tokyo Fire Department officials at the scene said. Dozens of ambulances and fire engines were parked outside the shopping complex and nearby roads were temporarily. Television coverage viewed by GEORGE showed firefighters and officials in hazmat suits. Some emergency workers were leading people out of the building. Fire department officials said that a total of 26 people complained of throat pain and all but one were taken to hospital and treated for mild symptoms. Police officials said that an investigation was underway. The Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the country’s five major newspapers, said that detectives detected traces of pepper spray on a nearby wall. Ginza Six is a mixed-use shopping complex and office building located in the Ginza area of Tokyo. The 18-story Ginza Six building was built on the location of the former Matsuzakaya department store, which was the Ginza’s first ever department store. 松坂屋, or Matsuzakaya,  is a major Japanese department store chain operated by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores. It was established in 1611 in Nagoya by Sukemichi “Ranmaru” Itō and is one of the oldest department stores in the world.

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The European Union said that all vehicles sold in the bloc as of 1 July of this year will have to be able to be connected to an “alcolock” device, equivalent to breathalyzer lock, to be added to the ignition system. This device must comply with European standard EN 50436 for Alcohol Ignition Interlocks and have a certificate issued by an authorized accrediting entity. The move is part of the EU-led strategy to reduce all drunk-driving-related fatalities and injuries by at least 50% by the year 2030. Since 2018, the EU road safety program has specified various mandatory technologies to reinforce safe driving. As of 2024, new vehicles must integrate an intelligent speed assistant, a system that detects the permitted speed limit using cameras or GPS and alerts the driver when he has exceeded the limit. Another new technology requirement that the bloc recently mandated is the adaptive brake light, a mechanism that, in the event of sudden braking, such as to avoid an accident, would illuminate the rear brake lights with higher intensity than normal to warn drivers behind the vehicle of a possible sudden stop.

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A 19th-century stereoscopic viewer with a stereo image of a man and woman

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What, Exactly, Is a Socialite?

Justice Potter Stewart’s explanation of what constitutes pornography in a concurrent opinion of Jacobellis v. Ohio, “I know it when I see it,” in his concurrence to the majority opinion, created the standard whereby all speech is protected except for “hard-core pornography.” With Mr. Trump’s son’s marriage to a socialite, it’s likely that virtually all native English speakers and many who speak English as a second and third language have a rough approximation of what a socialite is, but nonetheless might have difficulty providing an exact definition. As a public service, your humble scrivener will provide this herewith.

Some of the most famous socialites are Caroline Astor, Jacqueline Kennedy, Alva Vanderbilt, Babe Paley, Gloria Vanderbilt, Nan Kempner, Brooke Astor, and Ivana Trump, Diana von Furstenburg. Donald Trump married a socialite, Ivana  and, more recently, the term came back into the headlines when Donald Trump Jr. married Bettina Anderson, a Palm Beach socialite and model over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, an auspicious occasion that his father declined to attend, citing affairs of state, although the term Mr. Trump used was that he was “too busy.” Mr. Trump might not have been too busy for golf, however as his public schedule showed he planned to travel to his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, although his handlers quickly scrambled to adjust his schedule to show he would remain in Washington, D.C. after the trip to Bedminster became fodder for the White House Press Corps

While generally associated with women, the term is gender neutral and can apply to anyone who is prominent in high-society, that is to say those with the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth, power, fame, and social status, and spend a significant amount of time attending certain kinds of social events. Many who could be called “socialites” view the term as a kind of slur.

A socialite is typically but not always from a wealthy background; some have been known to create the appearance of a wealthy background through a variety of deceits.

Rather than have traditional employment, a socialite’s primary occupation is to maintain a highly visible lifestyle, cultivate influential networks, and attempt to shape or put his or her mark on society through charity, fashion, and parties.

Turning to my inner William Safire, your scrivener has determined that, according to the New York Social Diary, Briton Hadden, who later co-founded Time magazine with Yale classmate Henry Luce, helped popularize the use of the term “socialite” in the 1920s, but the word “socialite” is first attested in 1909 in a Tennessee newspaper, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Some sources state it was in use amongst those in high society in the late 19th century. At first, it was code for on-the-scene New Yorkers who satisfied the two Rs: Rich and Racy (remember, dear readers, this was the end of the Roaring Twenties decade). Anyone with an extravagant, fabulous lifestyle qualified. Given that they were largely nouveau riche, their family names would have never appeared on the famously old-guard “Astor 400” list at the turn of the century, the Who’s Who of New York society at the time.

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CBS News Radio, which almost 100 years ago began to invent and eventually perfect news coverage as we know it today, shut down Friday night just before midnight.  The network, launched in September 1927, was home to such legendary figures in journalism as Edward R. Murrow, Robert Trout, Douglas Edwards, Charles Osgood, Walter Cronkite, and many other trusted voices. “[A]n American institution is what we’re losing here,” said Steve Kathan, the longtime anchor of the CBS World News Roundup. “CBS Radio should be remembered for becoming a national institution very important to the development of news other than newspapers,” Dan Rather, the former anchor of the CBS Evening News, recently told CBS Sunday Morning, adding that “[I]t, for many, many years, was a part, and I would argue not a small part, of what held the country together.” The decision to shutter the radio news service was announced in March. The company cited “challenging economic realities.” CBS News Radio was previously known as CBS Radio News and, historically, as the CBS Radio Network. At its peak, it provided news to over 1,000 radio stations across the United States.

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Just this past week, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that federal prosecutors had thwarted a plot to commit mass-casualty attacks on Jewish institutions in Los Angeles and New York. The commander of an Iranian-backed militia, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, who has organized at least 20 attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe via proxies, had set his sights on a synagogue in Manhattan and also was planning  to kill Americans and Jews in Los Angeles, she said. Mr. al-Saadi, who had apparently chosen as his target in Manhattan a synagogue that supported Israel and Zionism, was detained in Turkey and handed over to U.S. authorities. He appeared in federal court in Manhattan one week ago  Friday. He did not enter a plea and a hearing was set for May 29. “Right now, we are policing through a period of extraordinary tension and division,” Ms. Tisch said during a speech at Temple Emanu-El, where she had already been scheduled to speak at the Friday night Shabbat services. “No city experiences that more directly than New York.” The commission said that the synagogue in question was not Emanu-El but she did not provide any additional information relating thereto.

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Toshifumi Suzuki, Refashioned 7-11 Into Cornerstone of Japanese Daily Life, Dies at 93

鈴木 敏文, or Toshifumi Suzuki, the pioneering convenience store executive who built his single Tokyo location into a global retail empire, died on 18 May. He was 93.

Seven & I, the Japanese 7-11 franchisor, announced the death, saying the cause of death was heart failure.

Starting with a 7-11 on Tokyo’s eastern bay, Mr. Suzuki was the founder of the Japanese unit that operates the ubiquitous “conbini” outlets, where busy customers can stop by to purchase a sandwich, rice balls, beverages, chips, and other meals to-go, use an ATM, pay utility bills, and copy important documents.

Mr. Suzuki retired in 2016 after a failed management reshuffle. Some in the company have lamented the fact that its culture of creativity has ebbed since his departure.

Born in Nagano Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, Mr. Suzuki worked in the publishing industry before joining Ito-Yokado, a Japanese general merchandise, shopping center, grocery store, and department store, after being recruited by its founder, Masatoshi Ito, Mr. Suzuki became a director of the company in 1971 and, soon thereafter, took note of the U.S. convenience store chain 7-Eleven, convinced it would translate well to the Japanese market. His experiment was a success and there were over 100 7-Eleven stores in Japan within the first year, in a market dominated by small mom-and-pop shops.

Mr. Suzuki is survived by his wife and two children, according to local media. One of Mr. Suzuki’s sons, Yasuhiro Suzuki, served as an executive at Seven & i until 2016.

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George: How to Consume News in a World of Information Overload

George delivers news for curious thinkers in a world of shortened attention spans.

Decades of research on how readers consume information when faced with Information Overload – led by George co-founder Jonathan Spira, one of the foremost authorities on the subject – ensures that each article gets straight to the point with no fluff and no bias.

George presents important news and events of the day clearly and concisely in a format better suited to the modern reader’s limited time and focus, without forsaking the founders’ traditional commitment to fact-driven news, commentary, and dispatches – all prepared by curious thinkers, for curious thinkers.

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George was conceived by the late Greg Andrew Spira,

Jonathan Spira, and the late Basilio Alferow.

Jonathan Spira, Alexander Khusid, Tim Perry, Christian Stampfer, Kurt Stolz, Anna Breuer, and Paul Riegler contributed to this issue of George.

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