| | Dose Of News Useful Today Wednesday August 21st | | | | Swinging away
| Good morning. Traveling soon? Here’s a tip - try not to forget your pet snake at the TSA checkpoint… they’ll take it away for good. | | | Daily Sprinkle | "There’s power in looking silly and not caring that you do." - Amy Poehler | | | We use a rating system powered by MediaBias/FactCheck. These ratings are SUBJECTIVE & should be treated as such. Learn more. | | |  | 2020 Election | The third Democratic presidential debate is just over three weeks away. To make it onto the stage this time around, candidates have to meet a much higher threshold: at least two national opinion polls showing two percent or more of the public’s support, and at least 130,000 individual donors to their campaigns. With the release of new polling numbers on Tuesday, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary from Texas Julián Castro became the 10th candidate to make the cut. What about the rest?
Here’s where the top contenders are in the latest polls from CNN/SRS, Politico/Morning Consult, Fox News, the Economist/YouGov, and The Hill/HarrisX: - Joe Biden (CNN: 29, Politico: 31, FOX: 31, Economist: 23, The Hill: 31)
- Elizabeth Warren (14, 15, 20, 20, 10)
- Bernie Sanders (15, 20, 10, 16, 16)
- Kamala Harris (5, 9, 8, 8, 7)
- Pete Buttigieg (5, 5, 3, 6, 4) As time runs out for the rest of the candidates, this is what people are saying:
| | | | | | Share Today's Dose of Discussion | | |  | Hippo to the rescueIf you were in a sticky situation, would your dog rush to the rescue? James White’s 1-year-old (and 100 pound) pitbull Darby did just that, fighting off a shark to save his owner. James was fishing in Sonoma County, CA when he reeled in a 6 foot sevengill shark. After he went to remove the hook, the shark chomped on his ankle and wouldn’t let go - the bite punctured an artery and blood started streaming everywhere. At the time, Darby was hanging out in the car due to the proximity of traffic. After hearing his owner’s screams, he found a way to open the car door himself, and rushed down a short hill to attack the shark and drag it off James. This action surprised his owner, who nicknamed Darby the “House Hippo” due to his affectionate and playful nature - moral of the story, dogs are awesome. | | NBC Bay Area → | Quality careCustomer service reps can be lifesavers - literally. Dan Magennis, a 65-year-old Michigan native, called Comcast customer services while home alone to fix a problem with his cable. After he connected with Comcast rep Kimberely Williams, he placed the phone down on the table to take notes. Minutes into the call, Dan began to feel odd… his mouth wouldn’t open to say words, and he tried to move but was absolutely paralyzed. He realized he was having a stroke, and had no way to communicate that to anyone. Luckily, he didn’t have to - even though she was located in Mississippi, Kimberely sensed something was wrong and contacted her supervisor, as well as numerous police and fire departments to get them to check on Dan. Within an hour of the call, Dan went into a successful surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain and is recovering nicely. Now that’s quality customer service. | | MLive → | More than an angelAngel More is a 16-year-old world champion swimmer who’s been attached to water ever since she was 2. Not content to just win awards for herself, she’s used her skill as a force for good, swimming open water marathons to raise money for charities. To date, she’s brought in more than $58,000 for Children International, a non-profit child sponsorship organization that fights poverty and helps children in need. Her most recent feat may also be the most impressive - a swim under 20 bridges around Manhattan. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, let’s put it to you this way - it was a 28.5 mile swim that took nine hours. Her next challenge for charity? Swimming across the English Channel. | | Inside Edition → | | | | |  | Talkin’ peaceThe United States peace envoy returned to Afghanistan and Qatar today to resume talks with both the Afghan government and the Taliban. The US military currently has around 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, where it’s held a presence for 18 years. | | Italy PM resignsItalian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned on Tuesday, triggering the collapse of his 14-month-old government. Conte blamed Interior Minister Mateo Salvini for the coalition’s failure. | | No protests allowedA court in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, upheld a police order banning opposition protests on Monday –– the third to be blocked in the past week. Frequent power outages, water shortages, and economic insecurity have been blamed for rising tensions. | | | | | |  | What's in your Apple Wallet?The Apple Card launched for all US consumers yesterday - you can apply via the Wallet app. The card is powered by Goldman Sachs and Mastercard, and will work as a traditional credit card and through Apple Pay anywhere Mastercard is accepted. | | TechCrunch → | Ruh roh, RoundupBayer AG is selling its animal-health business to Elanto Animal Health Inc. for $7.6 billion. The deal would create the second biggest animal-health company by revenue, and is a result of the drug-and-chemical company’s climbing legal expenses in relation to the herbicide Roundup. | | Wall Street Journal → | Swinging awaySony has pulled Spider-Man out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe over a profit-sharing dispute with Disney. Disney allegedly asked for a 50/50 rev-share split (as opposed to the current 95/5 in Sony’s favor), and cited the success of its other Marvel films as a reason for the increased ask - Sony refused. | | The Verge → | Model S(orry)Wal-mart is suing Tesla, alleging the company’s solar cells sparked fires in at least seven of the retail giant’s locations. This is fresh on the heels of Tesla’s relaunch of its solar business following its third consecutive quarterly decline in installations. | | CNBC → | | | | |  | Cooking with gas | via Reuters Since 2007, McDonald’s British delivery fleet has been using _____ to power its trucks in place of the 1.6 million gallons of diesel fuel it burned through annually. | (keep scrolling for the answer) | | | | |  | Get Your FREE Stuff | Step 1. Click the share button below | Step 2. Share the DONUT with friends | Step 3. Cash in on tons of rewards | |  | | | | | | | Dose of Knowledge Answer | Used cooking oil from its restaurants. The biodiesel fuel is comprised of 85% used cooking oil collected from around 900 McDonald’s restaurants, and 15% pure rapeseed oil. | | |
