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Good morning. Let’s get this $$$.
⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s newsletter takes 4.02 minutes to read. (With the 360° view: 7.57 minutes.)
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🍩 Daily Sprinkle
“The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him. That remark in itself wouldn’t make any sense if quoted as it stands. The average man ought to be allowed a quotation of no less than three sentences, one to make his statement and two to explain what he meant.”
–Robert Benchley (1889-1945), American humorist and newspaper columnist.
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👇📰 Quick Bits
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🛒 It's Prime Time
Prime Day, a two-day annual deal event for members of Amazon Prime, started today and ends at midnight tomorrow (Pacific time).
Market research company eMarketer is forecasting U.S. ecommerce sales on Prime Day will increase 17.3% from last year to reach $12.2B.
More: Explore the best Prime Day deals according to…
Pro Tip: Think you've found the best deal on Amazon? You may want to check again. Target and Walmart both have sales going on, too.
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🇮🇷 Iran Elects a New President
Iran’s Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi was declared the victor of the country’s presidential election, winning 62% of the vote in a contest that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.
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Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has been under U.S. sanctions since 2019 due to human rights violations, including his alleged roles in the executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 and the violent suppression of unrest in 2009.
Background: In the weeks leading up to the vote, Iran’s election supervisory board disqualified nearly all moderate and opposition candidates from running.
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From the AP: “Out of over 59 million eligible voters, only 28.9 million voted. Of those voting, some 3.7 million people either accidentally or intentionally voided their ballots, far beyond the amount seen in previous elections and suggesting some wanted none of the four candidates.”
The Bigger Picture: The move is the latest in a series of announcements concerning America in the Middle East.
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U.S. forces are scheduled to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021.
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Pakistan said it would not let the U.S. establish or use any military bases within its borders for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
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The U.S. military is withdrawing nearly a dozen antimissile systems from Middle Eastern countries and will reduce the number of jet fighter squadrons assigned to the region in order to focus its efforts on China and Russia.
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The Biden administration is pushing for Iran to return to the 2015 nuclear deal in the six weeks remaining before Raisi is inaugurated (August 3), an unnamed U.S. official told Axios. Reports suggest Iran's supreme leader wants a deal before then as well.
From the Right: WSJ
From the Left: Axios
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🌏 As If 2020 Wasn’t Bad Enough…
Source: UNHCR
Nearly 3M people were displaced last year, according to the UN’s latest Global Trends report, bringing the world’s cumulative number of displaced people up to 82.4M – a post-WWII record representing ~1% of humanity.
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The UN’s refugee agency said conflict and fallout from climate change in places like Mozambique, Ethiopia’s Tigray region, and Africa’s Sahel area were key drivers of refugees and internally displaced people in 2020.
Read the full report.
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📸 Pic of the Weekend
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Image: Scott Oller |
Two brothers from San Francisco - Moises & Daniel Monterrubio - said they set a world record for the longest highline ever walked in both Yosemite National Park and California, successfully completing a line that stretched 2,800 feet across a series of gulleys as far as 1,600 feet below.
🔭 The Week Ahead...
Monday: India’s federal government begins providing free COVID-19 vaccines
Tuesday: NYC’s Democratic and Republican mayoral primaries
Wednesday: End of group stage in the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship
Thursday: National Handshake Day (after last year’s celebration was postponed)
Friday: Derek Chauvin is scheduled to be sentenced; Fast & Furious’ F9 hits theaters; UFO report released
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🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
🇺🇸 Domestic Terrorism in America
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Last Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland unveiled the Biden administration’s strategy for combating the “heightened” threat of domestic terrorism.
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The White House’s new strategy comes as the number of domestic terrorist attacks and plots in 2020 increased to the highest level in more than 25 years, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (a nonpartisan Washington think tank).
🤿 A deeper dive…
At a press conference introducing the plan, Garland said the domestic terror threat is “rapidly evolving” alongside developments in technology, identifying a common path of individuals being drawn to extremism through social media before moving to encrypted communications channels.
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He also said the FBI considers the top domestic violent extremist threat to be “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race.”
The National Security Council’s accompanying 32-page policy describes four main “pillars” of action to combat domestic terrorism:
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“First are efforts to understand and share information regarding the full range of domestic terrorism threats.
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“Second are efforts to prevent domestic terrorists from successfully recruiting, inciting, and mobilizing Americans to violence.
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“Third are efforts to deter and disrupt domestic terrorist activity before it yields violence.
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“And finally, the long-term issues that contribute to domestic terrorism in our country must be addressed to ensure that this threat diminishes over generations to come.”
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🔥💸 Sponsored by Back to Nature🌲🍪
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Snacks, Smiles, and Trees… yes, please!
Not only can you munch on some delicious plant based cookies and crackers with Back to Nature, but you can help the environment while doing it (#multitasking). Back to Nature is partnered with The Nature Conservancy in their quest to plant a BILLION trees. 🤯
One Billion 🌳🌳🌳
The Nature Conservancy has a global mission to restore our world’s forests. Their goal is a billion trees and they are already well underway. These new trees can help curb the effects of climate change, provide clean air and fresh drinking water, and secure homes for thousands of species of plants and animals
So get snacking!
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🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
💅 Beauty to the Streetz
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Image: CNN
“I address them as Kings and Queens because that is who they are.”
Shirley Raines loves all things hair, makeup, and fashion. Each week, she sets up ‘shop’ in Skid Row – a homeless community spanning a 50-block radius in downtown Los Angeles.
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Giving out haircuts, facials, eyelashes, wigs, and more - all free of charge - Shirley and the rest of the Beauty to the Streetz team help the Skid Row community feel a little more taken care of.
“It’s also the physical touch,” shared Shirley. Sometimes people really just need a hug.
"She is giving people hope, a break, dignity, some fun... just reminding us that we're all human."
Keep reading.
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🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
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⚡ Welcome To the Hotel Carbon-Neutral…
Image: Tokyu Hotels
The world’s first carbon-neutral hotel, powered by hydrogen sourced from waste products, opened in Tokyo, Japan.
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The Kawasaki King Skyfront Tokyu REI Hotel receives 30% of its power from a fuel cell system that transforms hydrogen derived from plastic waste into thermal and electrical energy - the other 70% of its power comes from electrical energy obtained from food waste.
By reusing waste, the hotel generates enough energy to power 82 four-person households for a year.
The eco-friendly hotel also grows its own produce using hydroponics, harvesting pesticide-free lettuce from its lobby each month.
Keep reading.
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💡 Dose of Knowledge
🌌 Star Struck
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What is the "Big Dipper" constellation known as in England?
A) The Plough
B) The Riverbend
C) The Big Spoon
D) The Chariot
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(keep scrolling for the answer) |
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🍩 Share the DONUT
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Access exclusive rewards and even an all-expenses-paid round trip to Austin, TX, just for sharing this newsletter.
Simply:
1. Copy your unique referral link.👇
2. Post said link on Discord, DM a friend or two, slip it in the background of your local news broadcast, etc.
3. Watch the rewards roll in.
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Ambassador Rewards and Progress → |
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💡 Dose of Knowledge Answer
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A) The Plough
The famous constellation of seven stars - bearing a resemblance to the utensil mostly called a ladle or spoon - is known as the “Big Dipper” in the U.S. and Canada, but is called the “Plough” in the UK and Ireland.
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