Democratic National Convention Descends on Chicago

Your weekly News Memo - a more human way to engage with the news.

In this week’s memo:

• Democratic National Convention Descends on Chicago: A Recap

• U.S. Labor Department Overestimated Job Growth by 818,000 in Largest Downward Revision Since 2009

• GetSmart: The Guy Who Held His Breath for 24 Minutes

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Newsbites

• Yacht shipwreck kills 7 people, raises questions: The yacht of UK billionaire Mike Lynch sunk off the coast of Sicily this week, leading to the deaths of 7 people, including Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. Lynch had become known as “Britain’s Bill Gates”. The 15 other people on board were rescued. Other victims include Jonathan Bloomer, the International chair of Morgan Stanley. The party was on an excursion to celebrate the acquittal of Mr. Lynch, who had spent the last year in the U.S. under house arrest for allegations that he fraudulently inflated the value of his company before it was sold to Hewlett Packard. The investigation into what caused the wreck is ongoing.
  
  More: Currently, it’s believed the boat was hit by a waterspout, essentially a tornado over water. However, questions remain as to how the yacht sank so quickly, as well as how most of the crew members survived but many passengers did not. Karsten Borner, the captain of a nearby sailboat and the first to respond to the wreck, said, “I have never seen a vessel of this size go down so quickly. Within a few minutes, there was nothing left.”

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• RFK JR to address nation: Popular independent candidate RFK JR is set to address the nation on Friday for an announcement regarding his campaign. He is expected to drop out of the presidential race and potentially endorse Donald Trump. RFK currently holds 6-7% in the national polls. In an interview on Thursday with Dr. Drew, Nicole Shanahan, RFK’s running mate, said Friday “is going to be one of the biggest events in American election history." (video) Trump responded saying he “would be honored” and that he would consider giving RFK JR a cabinet position in his administration if he endorses him.

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• Election update: According to 538, Kamala Harris leads Trump in the polls 47% to 43%. Harris is enjoying positive media coverage and attention during the Democratic National Convention in recent days. Meanwhile, Trump is hoping for an RFK JR endorsement, which could boost his poll numbers. This week, Trump held his first outdoor rally since the assassination attempt on July 13. The stage was procured with bullet proof plexiglass in front and behind him. Following the event, Trump cut a news interview short due to Secret Service concerns. In the interview, he said, "We're in danger standing here talking, so let's not talk any longer. They don't want you standing here either." (video) 

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• Harris Fundraising Boost: Within the first week of her campaign, Kamala Harris raised a whopping $200M from Democrat mega-donors. In July, the Harris campaign raised four times more money than Trump, and also outspent him $81M to $24M in the same month, according to FEC reports. Interestingly, during a recent fundraiser in San Francisco, Kamala charged $50,000 for a photo with her and the event sold out. Previously, President Biden charged $10,000 per photo at fundraising events.

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• Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has a less well-known initiative to build a global blockchain database of personal identities by taking scans of human irises. The project, called Worldcoin, takes iris scans of people and rewards them with its own cryptocurrency as an incentive. Altman believes iris scans are the most reliable way to verify a person’s unique identity in the age of Artificial Intelligence. To date, more than 6.5M people have signed up for an iris scan. However, the project is facing a growing number of suspensions and regulatory threats from multiple countries for alleged abuses of user privacy, including signing up children in Portugal.

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• Stat of the week: Top 5 Countries that hold the most Debt

  1. 🇺🇸U.S.A  [35 trillion]

  2. 🇪🇺E.U. [17.4 trillion]

  3. 🇬🇧United Kingdom [9.65 trillion]

  4. 🇫🇷France [7.65 trillion]

  5. 🇩🇪Germany [6.76 trillion]

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Main Stories

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Democratic National Convention Descends on Chicago: A Recap

What happened?
With less than 75 days until the 2024 election, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) was held in Chicago this week to nominate Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for the Democratic ticket. The four-day event included speeches from Kamala Harris (video), Tim Walz, Barack Obama (video), Michelle Obama (video), Hilary and Bill Clinton, and President Joe Biden, among others.

From a high level, leaders at the DNC made the pitch that they are the party of joy, caring for one’s neighbors, and advocates of the middle class. They doubled down on the view that Donald Trump and JD Vance are dangerous for democracy.

What issues did the DNC focus on? 

• Abortion and IVF Access: Many speakers highlighted the priority to enshrine abortion access at the federal level. (6 min video of three speeches). Ensuring access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) was also emphasized.

• Inflation and affordability in the economy was brought up many times, suggesting Harris-Walz believes inflation and the state of the economy is top of mind for voters.

• Attacking Project 2025: Democratic leaders have made it a point to attack Project 2025. Although Project 2025 is a book organized by the Heritage Foundation and builds on work started in the 1980s, it has been portrayed by Democrats as Donald Trump’s policy playbook, a notion Trump has denied. The 900+ page book outlines a vision for virtually every department of the executive branch, with a focus on the intelligence agencies (referred to in the book as the Deep State).

• Trump portrayed as a threat to Democracy and self-seeking: Multiple speakers, including President Biden, portrayed Donald Trump as a threat to democracy and self-seeking, claiming Trump prioritizes policies that benefit the wealthy, whereas Democrats are focused on the working middle class.

• A close election: In particular, the Obamas and Walz stressed that the election will be tight and adamantly encouraged everyone to have a plan in place for themselves and their friends to get to the polls and vote.

Protests outside convention center
Large crowds of protestors, mostly pro-Palestine groups, gathered in Chicago near the DNC convention this week to show their disapproval of the Biden Administration’s handling of the war in Gaza. On Monday, demonstrators briefly broke through a barrier directly outside the convention. On Tuesday, individuals clashed with police as the law enforcement officers formed a barrier to protect the Israeli consulate in Chicago (video). More than 50 people were arrested in the skirmishes.

Tim Walz Gives First Major Campaign Speech
VP-pick Tim Walz delivered a 15 min speech (video) in his largest address of the campaign. 

Referring to abortion access, Walz said, “In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make. And even if we wouldn’t make those same choices for ourselves, we’ve got a Golden Rule: mind your own damn business! And that includes IVF and fertility treatments.”

Walz also sought to differentiate how Democrats view human freedom compared to Republicans: 

“I’m letting you in on how we started a family, because this is a big part about what this election is about. Freedom! When Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. Corporations, free to pollute your air and water. And banks, free to take advantage of customers. But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love. Freedom to make your own healthcare decisions. And yeah, your kids’ freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.”

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U.S. Labor Department Overestimated Job Growth by 818,000

What happened?
The U.S. Labor Department overestimated job growth in the past year ending in March by 818,000. It’s the largest downward shift in a revised job report since 2009,

and knocks the average monthly job growth from 242,000 to roughly 174,000 (~30% downward revision).

• In short: The government data overstated how many people were actually in the job market meaning the economic health of the U.S. could be worse than previously thought with new data in hand.