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Good morning. We hope you had a phenomenal weekend.
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To those who made our fun times possible: Thank you for making the ultimate sacrifice. 🇺🇸
Turning the page to June… Welcome to Pride Month. 🏳️🌈
⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s newsletter takes 4.10 minutes to read. (With the 360 view: 7.21 minutes.)
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🍩 Daily Sprinkle
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
–Epictetus, a Greek Stoic philosopher
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🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
🇺🇸🛸 The U.S. & UFOs: What Do We Know?
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In December, Congress passed a combined spending and coronavirus-relief package that included a stipulation requiring federal officials to deliver an unclassified report on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) to Congress within six months.
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It could arrive as early as today.
🤿 A deeper dive…
From NBC News: “Legitimate debates over UFO sightings have gained traction in recent years after several leaked photos and videos from the U.S. Navy appeared to show mysterious flying objects in American airspace.
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Last year, the Pentagon declassified three such videos captured by Navy pilots, intensifying speculation over the incidents, which have been confirmed by pilots who have observed them and even presidents who have been briefed on them.” (The three videos in question – one from 2004 and two from 2015. Plus, an in-depth interview with one of the Navy pilots.)
⏭️ What’s Next?
The report, compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense, must include “detailed analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena data and intelligence” collected by various federal agencies.
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It will also create a standardized, interagency process for reporting UAP sightings, identify whether the UAP activity poses a potential threat to national security, and determine whether the UAP activity may be attributed to one or more foreign adversaries.
The final report must be delivered to Congress before the end of this month.
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📰 Quick Bits
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🇨🇳 China Alters Two-Child Policy
China announced yesterday that it is relaxing family planning restrictions and allowing couples to have three children each.
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Background: Beijing implemented a one-child policy in 1980 to slow population growth, loosening restrictions in 2016 to allow two children per married couple.
More: Monday’s announcement follows the May 11 release of Chinese census data showing the lowest population growth since modern census-taking began in the 1950s.
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📅 Tulsa Race Massacre, Remembered
Monday marked the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, which occurred on May 31 and June 1, 1921. (What happened?)
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The city of Tulsa held a series of ceremonies commemorating the centennial of the massacre over the weekend and on Monday, with a private visit from President Joe Biden expected today.
Worth Your Time:
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💉 Employers & Vaccine Requirements
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Friday updated its employment guidance to say it is legal for companies to require workers to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.
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In a press release, the EEOC added that businesses can offer incentives to employees to get vaccinated or to provide documentation of vaccination “as long as the incentives are not coercive.”
More: The updated guidance also indicates employers must make “reasonable accommodations” for employees who don’t get vaccinated because of a disability, religious beliefs, or pregnancy.
From the Right: WSJ
From the Left: USA Today
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DONUT Holes…
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💰 President Biden unveiled a ten-year budget proposal on Friday, outlining a plan to spend $6T in 2022 - up from $4.8T last year - on the way to spending $8.2T by 2031. (From the Left | From the Right)
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✈️ The TSA screened more than 1.9 million people on Friday, the highest single-day total since the pandemic started.
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🗳️ Texas House Democrats staged a walkout just before midnight on Sunday to prevent a vote on an election bill hours before the end of the 2021 legislative session; the bill is now effectively dead for the year unless the governor revives it in a special session. (From the Left | From the Right | Background & 360 view)
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✉️ The U.S. Postal Service is looking to raise stamp prices from 55 cents to 58 cents as part of Postmaster General DeJoy’s ten-year restructuring plan.
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🏛️ A Senate vote to create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol failed on Friday; the vote was 54 to 35, short of the 60 votes required to pass the legislation; six Republicans joined all present Democrats in voting in favor of the commission. (From the Left | From the Right | Background & 360 view)
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🇨🇦 The remains of 215 Indigenous children were found last week at the site of a former residential school in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
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🎾 Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, pulled out of the French Open on Monday citing mental health reasons; move comes after a public disagreement with tournament officials over her refusal to speak with the media.
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📸 The Weekend in Pics…
Images: Paul Sancya/AP (top), IndyCar (bottom)
Helio Castroneves secured his record-tying fourth Indy 500 win before a crowd of 135,000 — around 40% of capacity, but the largest COVID-era sports crowd in the world.
More: This year’s race was the fastest Indy 500 in history, with an average speed of 190.690 mph in a race slowed only twice by cautions for a total of 18 laps, both race-record lows.
Images (clockwise from top left): Kevin Lamarque/Reuters, Shafkat Anowar/AP, Mandel Ngan/AFP, Damian Dovarganes/AP
☝️Scenes across America this Memorial Day weekend.
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Clockwise from top left: 1) Headstones at Arlington National Cemetery decorated with flags, 2) a boat party in Chicago, 3) President Biden’s Memorial Day address at Arlington National Cemetery, and 4) the Santa Monica Pier in California this past Saturday.
Image: Alexander Hassenstein, UEFA/Anadolu Agency
Chelsea defeated Manchester City 1-0 to win the UEFA Champions League in Portugal, the second time the club has secured the title (2012 being the other year).
🔭 The Week Ahead...
Monday: Memorial Day (yesterday)
Tuesday: Atlantic hurricane season begins
Wednesday: Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference
Thursday: Weekly jobless claims
Friday: Labor Department releases May jobs report
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🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
⚖️ The Courage to Grow
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Image: CNN
Sixteen years ago, Edward Martell stood in front of Judge Bruce Morrow and pleaded guilty to manufacturing and selling crack cocaine.
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Rather than a prison sentence, Wayne County Judge Bruce Morrow granted Ed a three-year-parole sentence and some encouragement (as recanted to CNN):
“Mr. Martell, you don't have to be out here selling drugs. You have greatness within you. I challenge you, be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.”
It was that very day Ed decided to change his life.
Keep reading.
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🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
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🌌 What’s The Matter…
IMAGE: N JEFFREY/DARK ENERGY COLLABORATION; The most detailed map of the distribution of dark matter in the universe. The bright areas represent the highest concentrations of dark matter, where galaxies form.
Dark matter accounts for 80% of the matter in the universe – and we don’t know much about it at all.
An international team of researchers recently created the most detailed map of the distribution of dark matter in the universe, showing it’s slightly smoother and more spread out than previously predicted.
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This new map is disrupting some of the best theories of how the universe works, including Einstein’s theory of relativity.
“You might think that this is a bad thing, that maybe physics is broken. But to a physicist, it is extremely exciting,” one researcher told BBC (for your perusal: there's 30 papers in total).
Keep reading.
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💡 Dose of Knowledge
💵 The Belle of the Bill
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Who was the first woman to appear on American currency?
A) Sacagawea
B) Pocahontas
C) Martha Washington
D) Susan B. Anthony
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(keep scrolling for the answer) |
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🍩 Support the DONUT
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Ambassador Rewards and Progress → |
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💡 Dose of Knowledge Answer
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B) Pocahontas
Pocahontas became the first woman to appear on U.S. currency when she was depicted on the back of the $20 National Bank Note in 1863.
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However, she was not the first woman depicted on paper money issued in the U.S. – a distinction that belongs to “Queen of the Confederacy” Lucy Holcombe Pickens, who was portrayed on Confederate $1 and $100 bills starting in 1862.
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