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Good morning. Let's rock. 🤘
⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s newsletter takes 3.90 minutes to read. (With the 360° view: 7.18 minutes.)
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👇📰 Quick Bits
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🇭🇹 Haitian President Assassinated
President Jovenel Moïse, pictured in May; Image: WSJ
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🎁 DONUT Headline: The president of Haiti was assassinated by gunmen overnight Wednesday. The prime minister declared a state of siege.
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Gunmen assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and wounded his wife in their home early Wednesday, according to interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who called the incident "a highly coordinated attack by a highly trained and heavily armed group."
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Following a cabinet meeting, PM Joseph gave a televised address to the nation saying he had assumed power and declared a state of siege, which restricts freedom of movement, puts the military in charge of security, replaces civilian courts with military tribunals, and restricts media information.
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A new prime minister had been scheduled to replace Joseph this week, and the head of the nation’s highest court died of Covid-19 in June. It's not immediately clear who will replace Moïse.
📸 The Big Picture: President Moïse had ruled by decree for the past two years after his government postponed legislative elections in 2018, and was considered widely unpopular with the Haitian public.
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“We don’t know who did this, what their end game is, what else they have planned,” Jonathan Katz, who wrote a book on the Haiti earthquake, told the AP. “There were a lot of people who wanted [Moïse] gone. And there were a lot of people whom he wanted gone.”
More: The Haitian ambassador to the U.S. said the attackers were "mercenaries" portraying themselves as U.S. DEA agents.
Even More: Four of Moise's suspected killers were fatally shot by National Police in a gun battle, the chief of police said Wednesday evening, and two others were captured.
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⚖️ Trump Sues Big Tech CEOs
Image: Seth Wenig/AP
📜 Background: In the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot, Trump was suspended from posting on YouTube (indefinitely), Facebook (for at least two years) and Twitter (permanently).
Since the Ban:
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May 2021: Trump launched a new online platform to communicate with his followers, called "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump." It came as an analysis found social media interactions about the former president had fallen 90% since January.
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June 2021: The messaging platform was removed from Trump's website.
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July 2021: Former Trump associate Jason Miller announced the launch of a new platform, Gettr, though it's unclear what the former president's involvement will be.
Looking ahead... At a press conference, Trump said the filings - in the Southern District of Florida - seek to promptly restore his social media accounts on the platforms, claiming he was banned for “exercising his constitutional right of free speech.”
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He is also asking the court to impose "punitive damages" on the social media giants.
From the Right: WSJ
From the Left: Axios
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🍩 DONUT Holes…
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🛸 A new Pew Research Center poll found 65% of Americans believe intelligent life exists on other planets, while 51% believe UFOs reported by people in the military are likely evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life (51% also said UFOs are not a threat to national security, with 36% saying they pose a minor threat).
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🐦 A bird once thought to be extinct has been spotted on the Singaporean island of Pulau Ubin.
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📝 The number of Americans who say they are “thriving” is the highest in 13 years, per a recent Gallup poll.
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📱 Dozens of states filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google yesterday related to practices on its Google Play app store.
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🏆🏒 For the second time in 10 months, the Tampa Bay Lightning are Stanley Cup champions.
+Bonus: Thinking about joining the “Great Resignation?” These questions can help you decide.
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🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
👟 Sha'Carri Richardson & The Olympics
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Image: Chris Carlson/AP
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🎁 DONUT Headline: Top women's sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson was left off the USA roster for the Tokyo Olympic Games after receiving a 30-day suspension for testing positive for marijuana – even though she technically was eligible to run in a relay race. Was this the right move?
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Sha’Carri Richardson, the winner of the women's 100M race at last month's U.S. Olympic track and field trials, will not be competing in the Olympic Games in Tokyo this year.
📜 Background: Richardson, 21, turned professional after a decorated freshman season at LSU, which saw her claim the 2019 NCAA title in the 100M individual race.
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Her time of 10.72 seconds at the Miramar Invitational in April was then the sixth-fastest time in history. (It has since been surpassed by Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.)
🤿 A deeper dive...
The presumptive Olympic medalist was suspended from competition for 30 days earlier this month after an anti-doping test detected a chemical found in marijuana. (The World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list includes drugs that can pose health risks to athletes or violate the "spirit of sport.")
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Richardson apologized for her actions in a TODAY interview last week, saying she used the drug to cope with the recent death of her biological mother.
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The month-long suspension disqualified Richardson from the 100M individual race, which begins July 30, but left the door open for her to run as a member of the 4x100 relay team starting August 5.
USA Track & Field had two discretionary picks beyond the top four finishers in the 100-meter final at trials, but chose not to offer a spot to Richardson.
💬 Relevant Quote: "It would be detrimental to the integrity of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track & Field if USATF amended its policies following competition, only weeks before the Olympic Games." –USA Track & Field, in a statement.
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🐕🐈🐰 The One Pet to Rule Them All 🥇🥈🥉
The Tokyo Olympics, aka when you spend weeks obsessing over sports you never knew existed, are right around the corner.
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From July 23 to August 8, more than 11,000 athletes will compete in 339 events across 33 different sports to be crowned champion of the world – but there’s a very glaring oversight.
It’s only for humans.
The DONUT to the Rescue…
We’re organizing a no-holds-barred, winner-take-all competition to crown the cutest and most talented animal on the internet: The DONUT Pet Olympics.
How it works:
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Reply to this email with a picture/video of your pet(s) performing their “special talent." Make sure to include a caption, your pet’s name, and your first name + location.
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We’ll filter through your submissions and create a “March Madness” style head-to-head bracket.
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After that, it’s popular vote time. Whoever wins the head-to-head matchup moves on.
What’s at stake (besides bragging rights): Each member of The Final Four will receive a year’s supply of free treats from our partners.
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The one pet to rule them all will receive $250 in cold, hard cash – and that’s on top of free treats for a year.
To enter your pet: Just reply to this email with a picture/video of your pet(s) performing their “special talent” (don’t worry, being cute counts). Make sure to include a caption, your pet’s name, and your first name + location.
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Submissions close July 15. The final bracket will be announced in the newsletter and on Instagram the following day. (Important to Note: All pet submissions must be original.)
Mash that reply button and make your pet a star.
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📣🗣💬 This Week’s Poll Responses
Harry Potter – "The wizarding world is full of comfort and ancient history. I would also love to say "Accio" and things zoom toward me instead of having to get up from my seat. 🤷🏻 Oh, and Hufflepuff are the best, most loyal, and fiercest of all wizards!"
Star Wars – "Star Wars universe!!! While being a Jedi or Sith would be fun, I honestly would love to be a Chiss, like Grand Admiral Thrawn. Serving on Admiral Thrawn’s military vessel would be a dream as failure is not only tolerated, but used as a learning opportunity. Thrawn cares for each life on his vessel and doesn't just use underlings as sacrificial pawns. My life would be meaningful and secure serving under Thrawn."
Unsure –"I would much rather live in Middle Earth (LOTR). Hobbits, Wizards, Elves, Dragons, what more could one desire!"
+Note on Sample Size: We received 945 responses. 👏🥳 Some may have been lightly edited for grammar or clarity.
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🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
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🤖 A.I.: Artificial Insect…
Image: YouTube
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🎁 DONUT Headline: Engineers built a virtually unsquashable robotic cockroach that could be used to investigate disaster sites and other hard-to-reach places.
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An international team of researchers developed a cockroach-inspired robot the size of a postage stamp that can withstand being squashed.
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Weighing only a tenth of a gram, the robot can carry loads up to six times its own weight, and is able to pick itself back up and carry on after being stepped on by a human foot (or the equivalent of ~132 lbs).
It's made from a thin sheet of polyvinylidene difluoride - a material that has the ability to generate internal electrical charge from applied mechanical stress - and can scurry at a speed of 20 body lengths per second.
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The robotic roach’s inventors say the device could be used to investigate disaster sites that might be dangerous or unstable.
Keep reading.
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🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
🎨 Painting With Paralysis
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Image: Daily Mail
Zhang Junli picked up painting just six years ago and has already sold hundreds of pieces online, made international headlines, and inspired millions.
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What makes her work so amazing isn’t only her colorful brush strokes and gorgeous landscapes – but also the fact that Zhang has been almost completely paralyzed for over thirty years.
Keep reading.
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💡 Dose of Knowledge
🦖 Island Living
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The original Jurassic Park is set on what fictional island?
A) Genosha
B) Isla de Muerta
C) Themyscira
D) Isla Nublar
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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 social media, drop it in your group chat, stuff it in a bottle and float it out to sea, 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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D) Isla Nebular
The original Jurassic Park was built on a fictional island called Isla Nublar. It is believed to be based on Cocos Island, a small uninhabited island near Costa Rica.
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🍩 Daily Sprinkle
“I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.”
–Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born theoretical physicist.
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