Good morning! Breakdancing will not be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. That Australian breakdancer (you know the one) called the move, which was made before this year's competition, "disappointing" and wonders if organizers are “kicking themselves now."

LABOR

💬 Gone so long they changed the name

Welcome back to Twitter, here’s a fresh legal problem. Donald Trump made his long-awaited return to the (former) bird app for a live, two-hour discussion with platform owner (and Trump supporter) Elon Musk. Yadda, yadda, yadda… the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is looking into it.

Stream: After a tech delay, the duo sat down for a wide-ranging, audio-only conversation. When Trump wasn’t favorably comparing Harris’s looks to Melania’s, the topic drifted to labor unions.

• Trump complimented Musk for his handling of labor disputes, saying, “they go on strike and you say, ‘That's OK, you're all gone. You're all gone. So, every one of you is gone.’"

The UAW: Following the events, the United Auto Workers (a massive labor union) filed federal labor charges against both men.

• The UAW claims the comments above are “illegal” because firing or threatening to fire workers for going on strike is illegal.

• The UAW endorsed Kamala Harris last month.

The Trump campaign called the move a political stunt and said Trump delivers results for "the forgotten men and women of America."

Charges?: Think of the charges here as an official complaint to the agency that deals with this sort of thing. The NLRB will look into the situation and decide whether there’s been a violation.

• The NLRB is an independent agency (not part of a bigger department) that enforces laws related to labor unions, labor disputes, and the like.

• Seeing as how this was a random side comment rather than a business decision, the complaint is unlikely to go anywhere.

Efficiency: Musk also said he'd be "happy to help out" with a "government efficiency commission" to overhaul the federal government and reduce waste to lower inflation. Trump loved the idea.

Insults: A top European Union official is under fire for allegedly trying to interfere with the U.S. election. Thierry Breton posted a letter warning Musk against spreading "harmful content" ahead of his event with Trump. Musk fired back exactly how you’d expect: with a vulgar Tropic Thunder meme.

UNITED STATES

🏛️ The White House has some advice for Russia if Ukraine’s incursion into Russian territory makes Putin uncomfortable. Said national security spokesperson John Kirby, "there's an easy solution: He can just get the hell out of Ukraine and call it a day."

💰 President Biden announced $150 million in federal funding to develop surgical tech for better tumor removal. The program is the latest part of his "Cancer Moonshot" to knock the U.S. cancer rate in half by 2047.

POLICY

Harris, Trump agree to dump taxes on tips

What’s the best response when your opponent has a great idea? If you ask Kamala Harris, the answer is simple: adopt it.

Donald Trump made waves in June when he proposed eliminating federal taxes for tipped wages. At a rally in Nevada, Harris promised to do just that if she wins the White House.

• Unlike Trump, Harris wants to tie the move to an increase in the minimum wage.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons:

For: Hospitality workers don’t make much money. But we all depend on them when we do anything even remotely entertaining, so they deserve the boost. And an industry that often struggles with staffing issues could use the help.

Against: Many tipped workers don’t even earn enough to pay federal income taxes in the first place. They deserve a minimum wage increase, not a workaround. Plus, not taxing tips could cost an already wrecked budget $20 billion per year.

Good idea, bad idea, or political pandering? Who knows. But it’s no accident that both candidates pushed this at stops in Las Vegas. Not only is Nevada a key battleground, but the hospitality sector accounts for about 25% of its workforce.

POLITICS

Harris evokes Obama comparisons as Walz hits keep coming

The campaign trail is hot this week ahead of next week’s Democratic National Convention. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden will appear together tomorrow as Tim Walz flies solo nationwide. On the other side, Donald Trump will rally North Carolina and Pennsylvania as JD Vance hits Michigan.

Positivity: Some Democrats are making Harris-Obama comparisons, calling this the first “pure joy” campaign since 2008. On the other side, Trump ally Kellyanne Conway wants “fewer insults, more insights” from her candidate.

Cash: MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump outside group is planning a $100 million ad blitz between now and Labor Day across seven swing states. The ads will focus on Harris's immigration record.

Dirt: The digging continues for dirt on our two vice presidential nominees.

• 🔴 Employees say labor conditions were grueling at a now-bankrupt farming startup that JD Vance invested in and helped lead. Greenhouses at AppHarvest reportedly hit 128 degrees, sending workers out in ambulances.

• 🔵 In a 2015 video, Tim Walz called Imam Asad Zaman a "master teacher" whom he was privileged to spend time with. The problem? Zaman’s a fan of antisemitic propaganda and, um, literally Hitler.

Third-parties:

⚪ RFK Jr. got kicked off the ballot in New York after a judge ruled that Kennedy lied about his home address on his ballot petition.

🟢 The left-wing Green Party’s presidential candidate will be on the ballot in Nevada, raising Democratic fears that progressive protest votes could throw the state to Trump.

Misc:

🔴 A crypto industry group will spend $12 million to support Bernie Moreno (R) in his bid to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in Ohio. A Republican win here basically guarantees they control the Senate in 2025.

🔵 Voters in Arizona will decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions after ballot petitions were approved. High turnout on this measure could help put Democrats over the top in the presidential race here.

TRIVIA

It’s no secret that Americans smoke fewer cigarettes than we did when Don Draper walked the earth. According to Gallup data, the smoking rate has been falling since 1954 when 45% of adults smoked. According to Gallup’s 2024 Consumption Habits poll, what percentage of American adults have smoked a cigarette in the past week?

Hint: We’re looking for a prime number between 0 and 20.

BRIEFS

• Only a ceasefire deal in Gaza will halt its retaliatory attack on Israel, says Iran

• The New York Times will no longer make local or state political endorsements in shift to "global audience"

• Starbucks’ stock jumps, Chipotle’s tanks after coffee chain steals burrito chain CEO

• AI can now scan your tongue to diagnose illnesses with 96% accuracy

• Google unveiled its new Pixel line yesterday, along with AI-fueled screenshot search

• California lab-grown meat company is suing to overturn Florida's ban on the product

• Ex-Colorado election clerk found guilty in security breach related to 2020 fraud claims

QUOTE

SNACKS

👁️ Weird: "Video chat with a stranger" site Omegle died last year. Considering there was a 50% chance the person on the other end was a sweaty, naked guy in Slovakia, Omegle’s mourners were few. One developer, though, thinks he’s solved that problem. EyeChat’s software auto-crops the video down to the user’s eyes only.

🚢 Woah: The BBC takes a peak into the secret warehouse holding the lost treasures of the Titanic.

⛽ Read: Governing.com looks at how state and local governments are responding to a loss of road-building fuel taxes as EV adoption grows.

ANSWER

The good news is that 2024’s smoking rate — 11% — ties the all-time low set in 2022 after a tiny bump to 12% last year. The less fun news is that much of the recent drop is because everybody just switched to vaping. But still, the vaping rate is lower than the smoking rate of the past.