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2024

🥳 Democrats convene in Chicago

Are you a fan of carefully orchestrated primetime speeches from political pros? Dry mid-afternoon speeches from ladder climbers? Perhaps badly written Republican jokes your aunt will instantly throw on Facebook? The four-day Democratic celebration of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz begins today

• The Democratic National Convention (DNC) runs from Monday to Thursday this week in Chicago’s NBA arena, the United Center.

Party conventions are typically where thousands of delegates vote to make the presidential and VP nominations official. But Democrats did that virtually a few weeks ago, so this event is pure political theater.

• Interested political nerds can tune in on the DNC website. The New York Times also has a list of options.

• Expect Harris to be portrayed as tough on crime as she highlights her past career as a prosecutor.

Schedule: President Biden is expected to make a forceful case for the Harris-Walz ticket in his speech tonight. Hillary Clinton will also speak tonight, making the case for Harris’s swing at the glass ceiling.

• Barack Obama will lead the charge on Tuesday, followed by Bill Clinton and Tim Walz on Wednesday.

• The woman of the hour, Kamala Harris, will close things out on Thursday

• The DNC will also finalize the party’s official 2024 platform. They’ll have to remove Biden’s name first, though.

Skipping: This thing will be unapologetically Democratic. But that brand isn’t so popular everywhere. Three Democratic senators up for reelection this year in tough states (Montana, Nevada, Ohio) are skipping the party, much like some blue state Republicans skipped last month’s RNC.

Protests: As with any large political event, this place will be crawling with protestors. The tight security situation will prevent them from getting too close to the action. Regardless, up to 40,000 protestors are expected in Chicago this week.

• Many are pro-Palestinian activists who don't believe Harris has been forceful enough in pushing Israel for a cease-fire proposal to end the war in Gaza.

• "Rhetoric and promises are simply not enough," said one organizer. Another called Harris a "wolf in sheep's clothing."

The DNC was also in Chicago back in 1968. Party officials blamed anti-Vietnam War protestors and violent riots for the party’s landslide loss that November. They’re hoping to avoid a similar fate this time around.

UNITED STATES

📉 The rolling 12-month Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped below 3%, to 2.9%, for the first time since 2021. The CPI, calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a way to measure inflation. It tracks the cost of a specific “basket” of consumer goods like food, rent, and energy.

📝 President Biden is prepping an executive order on digital ID options. The order would force federal agencies to use one login option (Login.gov) while pushing the 37 holdout states to join the 13 that have already created some sort of digital driver’s license.

🏠 New rules for real estate agents kicked in over the weekend. The set-in-stone rule of a 5-6% commission is out the window. Sellers no longer have to pay buyers’ agent fees. Figuring that out is a problem for the buyers and agents now.

POLITICS

As Democrats gear up for the DNC, the polling floodgates are opening. A new survey of Michigan (a crucial battleground) has Harris and Trump tied at 48%. However, when third parties and independent candidates are included, Trump jumps to a 2% lead. This is exactly why Dems aren’t big fans of these smaller, left-wing candidates. Thankfully for Harris, one of those candidates (Cornel West) just got kicked off Michigan’s ballot over paperwork issues.

• NY Times poll has Democrats also leading crucial Senate races in both Nevada and Arizona by 9% each.

On the social media front, Tim Walz just became the fourth and final of the four major presidential and VP candidates to join TikTok.

• @kamalaharris

• @realdonaldtrump

• @timwalz

• @jd (impressive get with the two-letter username)

🔴 While Trump hits the trail in Pennsylvania, Vance is campaigning with his dog, Scout, fighting an atrocious approval rating, and dissolving the last remnant of his old Appalachian charity.

• Donald Trump's financial disclosure is out. The former president made $7 million selling NFTs and earned $300,000 from his Bible endorsement. As a former Screen Actors Guild member, he strangely nabs a $91,000 annual pension.

🔵 Tim Walz spoke to a packed house in Omaha, Nebraska. Nebraska is deeply Republican. But due to the state’s quirky election law, winning the swingy Omaha area could net Democrats an extra electoral vote. That could be critical in a close race.

• The Harris-Walz team reserved a whopping $370 million in ads between Labor Day and Election Day. A majority of that, $200 million, will go to digital ads.

• Kamala Harris laid out her economic vision in North Carolina over the weekend. We’ll dive into what she said and what it means in Wednesday’s issue.

🔴 The guy charged with expanding the Republican majority in the House warned that his party needs to actually "want it."

🔵 Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride (D) is probably about to become the first transgender member of Congress.

TRIVIA

Houston is the most populous city in Texas. Philly comes out on top in Pennsylvania while Los Angeles leads in California. But the most populous city in one state isn’t a city at all. Because one state technically has no cities. Which U.S. state has no incorporated cities?

Hint: It’s west of the Mississippi River.

WORLD

🇪🇬 Egypt: Cairo is so out. New Administrative Capital is in. Egypt is building a new, still-unnamed capital city near Cairo to relieve congestion in Cairo. Already built are an airport, huge government buildings, the largest church in the Middle East, and a growing business district. Next up? A Saudi-funded $1 billion hydrogen-powered skyscraper.

🇷🇺 Russia: The leader of Chechnya — technically part of Russia but quasi-independent — bought a Warthog Tesla Cybertruck aaand installed a mounted machine gun in the bed. The Putin ally claims the vehicle will be shipped off for use in the war against Ukraine.

🇺🇦 Ukraine: Ukraine’s parliament is considering a bill to join the International Criminal Court (“The Hague”). While the U.S. is not part of the club, most countries are. And membership is the key next step in Ukraine’s journey to European Union membership.

BRIEFS

• Texans annoyed by noise of Amazon delivery drones as company seeks program expansion

• Global stocks have best week in nine months, easing recession concerns

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Israel for meeting on cease-fire proposal

• Edmond, OK will pay $7 million to man exonerated after record 48 years in prison

• Background check company National Public Data suffers breach, leaking more than 2 billion sensitive records

• Video game voice actors are on strike over AI concerns, mirroring screen actors last year

• Canada considers revoking citizenship of suspect in terror plot

QUOTE

SNACKS

👏 Read: A new study is helping clear up why some people are left-handed while others are boring and normal.

📗 Shop: Once derided as the local bookstore killer, Barnes & Noble is now the industry’s savior against the Amazonian onslaught. And, thanks in part to BookTok, it’s doing surprisingly well these days. B&N is opening 58 new stores in 2024.

🌝 Super Moon: If the moon looks odd right now, that’s because it is. Through Wednesday, we’re experiencing a supermoon blue moon (super close, full, and for some reason not actually blue).

ANSWER

Despite having a listed “city” population of 350,000 inside a metro of 1 million, Honolulu is not an incorporated city. Because Hawaii doesn’t have any. Everything there is run at the county level*. Mayor of Honolulu? Elected countywide. Mayor of Hilo? Same thing.

*Aside from Kalaupapa County — that’s a former leper colony run by the state health department.