No, Billy Mays did not come back from the dead…
We got a lot of emails yesterday saying that we either made a typo or underreported the story of the millennium. In the Happy Hour section, we wrote, “Deceased TV pitchman Billy Mays recently visited his father’s gravesite and found a bottle of OxiClean.” As much as returning from the dead is something Billy Mays would do, we meant to write “Billy Mays’ son.” Thank you for the corrections. No more OxiClean in our coffee.
🇺🇸 Kamala narrows VP list to four
✈️ Serial killer on the loose?
🌭 Wienermobile goes down in Chicago
–Max and Max
KEY STORY
Harris’ VPs
Kamala Harris has reportedly shortlisted four possible VPs: Sen. Mark Kelly (AZ), Gov. Josh Shapiro (PA), Gov. Roy Cooper (NC), and Gov. Andy Beshear (KY)
The group are all considered moderate Democrats. The former three are in swing states; Beshear is in deep-red Kentucky
Kelly is an astronaut who was elected to the Senate in 2020 to complete John McCain’s term. He has outpolled Biden and other Democrats in Arizona, which often supports Republicans
Shapiro is Jewish and has been an outspoken supporter of Israel and critic of alleged antisemitism at pro-Palestine rallies. Pennsylvania is an energy-producing state, and he’s taken a less progressive view on fossil fuels than much of his party
Cooper led the Young Democrats at the University of North Carolina, his alma mater, entered North Carolina politics in 1986, and became governor in 2017. He’s taken credit for an economic boom in the state
Beshear, meanwhile, was elected governor of deep-red Kentucky in 2019 and won re-election in 2023. He’s one of only two Democrats to hold elected statewide office there
Dig Deeper
Political analysts had earlier said that Harris would pick a straight white man, and all four of them are
Harris has won the support of enough Democratic delegates to secure the presidential nomination. No other Democrat is competing against her, and her nomination will likely be formalized next month
KEY STORY
Tickets in Paris
More than 270,000 Olympics tickets are up for resale, suggesting athletes may compete in front of empty seats
Paris 2024 said ticket sales have been a “major success,” with a record 8.8M+ tickets “sold or allocated” ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony. During the first wave of sales, though, attendees had to buy tickets for at least three different events, and attendees are now struggling to resell those
The head of Paris’ organizing committee remains unfazed: “We’re very confident... it’s going to be a popular party… We will draw our conclusions after the Games”
Dig Deeper
The result is uncertainty for Paris, one of the world’s most-visited cities: Millions of Parisians are expected to leave Paris during the Olympics, while airlines say the Games have led to fewer regular tourists visiting the city
In addition to tickets on resale, hundreds of thousands of primary tickets remain available. That’s not unusual, though: The Games often struggle to sell tickets for early events
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Dig Deeper
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KEY STORY
Biden to Speak
President Biden appeared in public for the first time in six days as he boarded Air Force One to fly back to Washington, DC
He announced earlier in the day that on Wednesday at 8 PM, he “will address the nation from the Oval Office on what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people”
After spending a week recovering from Covid at home in Rehoboth, DE, Biden’s doctor says the president’s “symptoms have almost resolved completely”
Questions abound over whether he can complete his term. House Speaker Mike Johnson called on him to resign, saying if “he is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President”
Dig Deeper
Biden’s absence has sparked numerous conspiracies, including ones that alleged he was dead or dying. Conservative influencers Charlie Kirk and Laura Loomer issued such reports that received tens of millions of impressions on X
His reappearance on Tuesday has helped squash these theories
KEY STORY
Delta Under Investigation
The US transportation department opened an investigation into Delta
Delta is often found to be the most reliable US airline. Yet as other airlines have recovered from Friday’s software meltdown, Delta has not: It’s canceled 30%+ of its flights between Friday and Monday and another 12% on Tuesday
It’s blamed the situation on its crew scheduling system and says it may not resolve it until next week
On Tuesday, the transportation dept. launched an investigation to “ensure [Delta] is following the law and taking care of its passengers”
Dig Deeper
One study by analytics firm OAG found that in 2023, it had 83.21% on-time arrivals for North America, higher than any other airline. Yet that’s counting for little now, as Delta has canceled over 5,000 flights since Friday
The DoT’s investigation comes after a recent one led Southwest to pay a record-breaking $140M penalty over a meltdown in December/January 2022 that led to 16,900 flight cancelations
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
✍️ Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday amid outrage over the agency’s failure to prevent the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. After providing little new information in Monday’s congressional hearing, lawmakers called for her resignation, citing a lack of confidence
🏛️ Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) reportedly plans to resign on August 20. Fellow Democrats pressured him to step down after his conviction on federal bribery charges for accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to benefit Egypt’s government
🎤 Variety reported that Celine Dion plans to perform at Friday’s 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Paris, marking her first performance since her Stiff Person Syndrome diagnosis in December 2022
⚽ The world’s top soccer leagues are formally complaining to the European Commission against FIFA over an increasingly congested match calendar. The complaint follows FIFA’s decision to expand the men’s World Cup in 2026 and the Club World Cup
🎧 Spotify reported a 45% increase in second-quarter profits compared to the previous year. Despite laying off nearly a quarter of its staff and raising the price of subscriptions (Premium increased from $10.99 to $11.99 per month, for example), Spotify added 26M paying subscribers, reaching a total of 246M
COMMUNITY
🧠 Yesterday’s question: Should the media dismiss “conspiracies” or investigate them? Read today’s Wrap for more details!
I think the media should investigate conspiracy theories. Most of them will be bogus, of course, but there could be a kernel of truth. And sometimes, it turns out that conspiracy theories are correct. Take the origins of COVID-19. A conspiracy theory that it originated from a Wuhan lab started circulating immediately and the media shot it down. Fast forward a couple of years and intelligence agencies found evidence to support the theory. We need a return of the media actually investigating things rather than framing events according to bias and politics.
I think the media should investigate conspiracy theories. Most of them will be bogus, of course, but there could be a kernel of truth. And sometimes, it turns out that conspiracy theories are correct. Take the origins of COVID-19. A conspiracy theory that it originated from a Wuhan lab started circulating immediately and the media shot it down. Fast forward a couple of years and intelligence agencies found evidence to support the theory. We need a return of the media actually investigating things rather than framing events according to bias and politics.
Within reason the media should investigate some conspiracy “theories.” Did aliens with Biden masks take over the Presidency? No. Was there a deliberate breach in security during a presidential campaign? Yes. If we are going to trust the media, we should trust their ability to discern the ridiculous from the possible. We need objective information to maintain a democratic voting system. Fourth estate should be a real thing.
🤔 Today’s Question: What’s a conspiracy theory that you think is dumb?
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
📞 Least concerned Ohio resident: A 34-year-old Ohio woman faces charges after calling 911 nearly 400 times between 2020 and 2023 – often multiple times per day – to report various illnesses
🌭 Wienermobile DOWN: A hot dog-shaped Oscar Mayer Wienermobile flipped onto its side after crashing on a suburban Chicago highway
“Yes, officer, they’re driving a… hot dog”
🍿 J-j-j-joker face: Warner Bros. released the second trailer for the “Joker” sequel. The movie – starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn – comes out 10/4
😭 Do they serve ranch in jail? Missouri police reported that a woman struck a Jack in the Box employee with her car after a dispute over a missing chicken strip and a lack of ranch
⚠️ Salsa crisis: A glass salsa container that shattered near a public pool caused $20,000 of damage and forced authorities to close the pool for eight days
ROCA WRAP
Killer on The Loose?
Earlier this year, a woman disappeared in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital of 5M+ people.
Her sister went to the police and begged for help but to no avail. Then, one night, the missing woman appeared in the sister’s dream: She told her sister to search a trash-filled quarry for her body.
The woman went to the quarry, hired a group of local men, and started searching. Sure enough, she found her sister – and dozens of other bodies.
Amid the quarry’s trash were at least 10 sacks containing dozens of dismembered bodies. And perhaps most strangely, the quarry was situated across the street from a police station.
The police launched a public search, and last Monday, after three days, arrested a 33-year-old man as he watched the Euro Cup final at a bar. They say that man confessed to having killed at least 42 women over two years.
But many people don’t buy it.
Nairobi’s police are often accused of brutality, and the accused man’s lawyer told the press he had been tortured into making a confession. Locals have told media the man – who sold SIM cards in a nearby market – regularly had women visit and sometimes stay for the weekend, but said they never witnessed nor heard anything unusual. They’ve also said that it’s hard to believe he could have gotten away with such heinous crimes in such a densely packed neighborhood.
Days after the man’s arrest, police arrested two more men, both of whom had phones that belonged to the victims. One of the men allegedly told police he bought his phone from the man who had confessed, which police used to say the confession was valid.
Yet that begs the question: How could dozens of bodies have been hidden a few hundred feet from a police station? Why were the police so slow to investigate? How did the police find the killer so quickly?
Is a killer still on the loose?
Do you have any thoughts? Reply to this to let us know!
EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts
Some useless US trivia for you today…
Only eight people have received honorary US citizenships in history: William Penn, his wife Hannah, Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, Raoul Wallenberg (a Swedish diplomat who helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust), and three foreign military officers who helped the US in the Revolutionary War.
They better add
–Max and Max
