I generally prefer researching products to actually buying them. And when my wife tries to convince me of the joys of travel, explaining that it's always worth it to spend money on experiences, I often respond that my favorite "experience" is knowing that the money I avoided spending is still in my bank account. In the end, I usually buy the product or take the trip. So I don't quite fit into the category of people that experts describe as "tightwads." But one can always aspire. Olga Khazan in The Atlantic: The Well-Off People Who Can’t Spend Money. (It wasn't even an easy decision for me to share one of my precious Atlantic gift articles. So enjoy the experience.)

+ A lot Americans are not spending money because they don't have the money to spend. After a lengthy inflationary period, that condition is a lot more common than the one described above. Just ask consumer-facing companies. Disney's theme parks are struggling, and it's another warning sign for the economy. Airbnb shares slump as weak forecast signals slowing travel demand. And, inflation has caught up with McDonald’s, and budget-conscious Americans are looking elsewhere for their fast-food fix. "McDonald’s isn’t alone: Starbucks, Burger King, Wendy’s and other rivals are also reporting less foot traffic and lower overall sales as consumers pull back their spending on food away from home."

2

Don't Count Me Out

There are two big question when it comes to the 2024 presidential election. The first question: Who will people vote for? The second question: Will those votes count? Following the last election, the insurrectionist in chief tried everything from legal quackery, to political intimidation and violence, to just asking Georgia to find him 11,780 votes. The difference when it comes to the 2024 election is that Trump and his election-deniers have had four more years to lay the groundwork. "Across the country, conservative organizations and allies of Mr. Trump have sought to create new laws or win court rulings granting local officials more authority over the certification process. In Arizona, conservatives are targeting the state’s election manual with several lawsuits. In Nevada, an official in the state’s second-largest county refused to certify a recent election, setting up a legal test at the State Supreme Court. And in Georgia, even before the state election board’s meeting on Tuesday, allies of Mr. Trump were seeking a similar resolution in the courts." NYT(Gift Article): Georgia Board Grants Local Officials New Power Over Certifying Elections.

3

Sticking the Landing in Flyover Country

"With due respect to political statistics, which convey real and important trends, the rural white working class is not a monolith. Among them remains a large and consequential minority of sensible people who even in their vulnerable economic state remain unmoved by charlatans blaming immigrants while amassing corporate wealth. In recent decades, the Democratic Party has made little direct appeal to them, such that Mr. Walz’s rural background seems downright transgressive on the top ticket." NYT (Gift Article): Democrats Have Needed Someone Like Tim Walz for Decades. (We're not in Kansas, anymore. But we're heading back in that direction.)

+ "The Minnesota governor was upfront about his vulnerabilities, noting he wasn’t from a swing state or a household name. He also said he was a bad debater. But Walz made it clear he would be a team player." How a low-key Midwestern governor shot to the top to be Harris’ VP pick.

4

Five Ring Circus

"There have never been so many glorious geeks gathered in one place as there are at the 2024 Olympics, unless you want to count heads at a soil dynamics convention. What sweetness comes from total absorption in an eccentric pursuit — and what surprising athletic confidence, judging by the performances of the Gabby Thomases, Grant Fishers and Stephen Nedorosciks, not to mention all the throwers, fencers, shooters and archers." Sally Jenkins in WaPo (Gift Article): Nerds and geeks are taking over the Paris Olympics.

+ "Although Madaye came 64th out of 64 competitors, perhaps the correct way to see it is that he is the worst, best male archer in the world. The 64th most elite bowsman to draw an arrow from a quiver, a phenomenal accolade given he has had to scrape together funding and equipment, his sport almost unheard of in his homeland." Olympians who finish near the bottom still marvel at what it took to get to Paris.

+ What it's like to be your country's only Olympian.

+ "The race was billed as a bar brawl between the two baddest 1,500-meter runners in the world. Nobody figured the little-known American guy would sneak up on both of them, steal the show and take the Olympic gold medal with him." American Cole Hocker pulls Olympic shocker in men’s 1,500, leaving Kerr and Ingebrigtsen behind. (After all the hype about the two favorites throwing shade at each other, Hocker's upsetting of both may have been the event of the Olympics.) Hocker has last laugh after Kerr and Ingebrigtsen’s tiresome war of words. In the end, the only words that really mattered were the ones uttered by Hocker's dad as his son crossed the finish line. "What the f*ck?"

5

Extra, Extra

The Avert Locker: "The White House effort has included back-channel talks with Iran to urge restraint, blunt warnings to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to obstruct a cease-fire in Gaza, and the dispatch of a U.S. naval and air armada to protect Israel and other U.S. allies if deterrence fails. The risk of a devastating regional war remains uncomfortably high. But White House officials said Tuesday they believe Biden’s efforts may be paying off." David Ignatius in WaPo: Biden scrambles to defuse the ticking Iran-Israel time bomb. (It seems unlikely that things can be totally defused. But keeping things contained would be a hell of a job.)

+ Don't Kyiv Home Without It: "Marushchak cannot drive. When I asked him why he hasn’t learned, he joked that if he had a license, he’d have long ago driven to Russia to try to bring back Ukrainian artworks that have, over the centuries, been taken from his country." Ukraine’s death-defying art rescuers. "When Putin invaded, a historian in Kyiv saw that Ukraine’s cultural heritage was in danger. So he set out to save as much of it as he could." Meanwhile, Ukraine launches rare cross-border attack into Russia.

+ Going Ro(gu)e: "The number of women getting abortions in the U.S. actually went up in the first three months of 2024compared with before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a report released Wednesday found, reflecting the lengths that Democratic-controlled states went to expand access."

+ Stupidity is a Health Issue: 31% of Republicans say vaccines are more dangerous than diseases they prevent. And climate change deniers make up nearly a quarter of US Congress.

+ Travel Bug: Think you've experienced some Summer travel delays? Consider this: Boeing Starliner astronauts have now been in space more than 60 days with no end in sight.

+ Felines with Feelings? "Cats are often considered aloof, independent and fickle in their affections. But, research suggests, they also show signs of grieving after the death of another pet in the same household – even when it is the family dog." (Last night, one of my cats killed a mouse, brought it upstairs, and dropped it on my bed. To the extent this additional data is useful to researchers, I did not sense any grief.)

6

Bottom of the News

"Has it ever occurred to you that Dairy Queen, renowned for its hot eats and cool treats does not refer to its ice cream as, well, ice cream? This is because, per the U.S. government, it's not really ice cream." Dairy Queen's Soft Serve Isn't What You Think It Is. One controversial ingredient, Carrageenan, "is not, in fact, harmful to the majority of people; however, those with existing gastrointestinal issues might want to limit how much DQ soft serve they ingest." (My sister and I have made a considerable number of trips through the DQ drive-thru in Truckee, where we've come up with a very different conclusion: You will definitely have gastrointestinal issues, so you might as well consume as much soft serve as humanly possible.)

+ "The FIU board of trustees voted Tuesday to approve a five-year deal to give the name Pitbull Stadium to what's currently known as FIU Stadium." Pitbull buys naming rights to FIU football stadium. (When Pitbull sings, Give Me Everything, he isn't being metaphorical.)