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Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. Today, we're learning about rising violence in Afghanistan, the newest billionaire athlete, and America's friendship trends.
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⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s newsletter takes 4.67 minutes to read. (With the 360° view: +3.78 minutes.)
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👇📰 Quick Bits
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💕 America's 'Friendship Crisis'
Image: Survey Center on American Life
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🎁 DONUT Headline: On average, Americans today are less likely to have a best friend and report having fewer close friends than they did 30 years ago. Researchers say the pandemic is primarily to blame, but suggest other cultural trends may also be contributing to the decline.
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New research from the Survey Center on American Life found U.S. adults have fewer close friends than ~30 years ago (compared with 1990 data from Gallup).
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The May polling also found 59% of Americans said they had a "best friend," compared to 75% in 1990.
🦠 Quarantine qualms... Roughly half of Americans (47%) reported losing touch with at least a few friends during the pandemic.
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The silver lining? Roughly the same amount (46%) report having made at least one new friend over the same period (including 56% of young adults).
🗣️ Possible explanations... The Survey Center on American Life noted the pandemic is the most obvious culprit in the national friendship decline. It also cited three other potential driving forces:
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"Americans are marrying later than ever and are more geographically mobile than in the past—two trends that are strongly associated with increasing rates of self-reported social isolation and feelings of loneliness."
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"American parents are spending twice as much time with their children compared to previous generations, crowding out other types of relationships, including friendships."
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"Americans are working longer hours and traveling more for work, which may come at the cost of maintaining and developing friendships."
👁️ Looking ahead... Many predict the U.S. will experience a post-pandemic "Roaring '20s" – could that result in a wave of new friendships? Or is having fewer, potentially closer friends the new norm?
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🇦🇫 Civilian Violence in Afghanistan Surges
Image: BBC
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🎁 DONUT Headline: Civilian violence in Afghanistan has increased in recent months as the U.S. nears 100% troop withdrawal from the country.
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Civilian casualties in Afghanistan have hit record highs, per a UN report released Monday.
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From the report: “[There’s been] a particularly sharp increase in killings and injuries since May when international military forces began their withdrawal.”
🤿 A deeper dive... Afghanistan recorded 1,659 civilian deaths and 3,254 injuries in the first six months of this year, a 47% increase from the same period last year.
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In May and June alone, nearly 800 civilians were killed, and more than 1,600 were wounded. This marks the highest number of casualties for those months since the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began its systematic documentation in 2009.
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Women accounted for 727 casualties (219 killed and 508 injured), an increase of 82% compared with the first six months of 2020.
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More than 460 children were killed and 1,214 wounded, a 55% increase compared to the first six months of 2020.
🗺️ On the ground... The U.S.-NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan is about 95% complete, with the U.S. mission in the country slated to end on Aug. 31.
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As U.S. and NATO troops withdraw, the Taliban has been gaining control of more and more territory. The Pentagon estimated last week that the militant group now controls over half of Afghanistan's district centers, though the Taliban puts that number closer to 85%.
👁️ Looking ahead… A regional U.S. commander said Sunday that the military has stepped up its airstrikes against the Taliban and will continue to do so in the weeks ahead.
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"The United States has increased airstrikes in support of Afghan forces over the last several days and we're prepared to continue this heightened level of support in the coming weeks if the Taliban continue their attacks," said U.S. Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, per Reuters.
From the Left: NPR
From the Right: WSJ
The 360° view on Afghan Troop Withdrawal
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🍩 DONUT Holes…
GIF: Twitter
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☝️ A Japanese basketball-shooting robot put on an expo at halftime of Sunday’s USA-France men’s basketball game.
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🚀 Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos published an open letter to NASA offering to pay $2B to gain a contract to build a reusable lunar lander; the agency awarded a similar contract to competitor SpaceX in April.
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💰 Musical artist Pink said she would pay fines for the Norwegian women's handball team, who chose to wear elastic shorts instead of the required bikini bottoms at the Tokyo Olympics.
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🦠 Some Americans suffering from "long COVID" may be considered disabled under civil rights laws, President Biden announced on Monday. (From the Left | From the Right)
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📈 Bitcoin neared $40,000 – a six-week high – on Monday amid speculation that Amazon may soon allow the digital currency to be used as payment.
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🏢 The final victim from the Surfside condominium collapse was identified, bringing the total death toll to 98.
+Bonus: Stay up to date on everything Olympics.
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🔥 The Hot Corner
💬 Heard Through the Grapevine… "Our objective is to fully leave smoking combustible cigarettes behind, one day becoming a smoke-free company... It is not only about Philip Morris becoming smoke-free but how we can transform the entire industry." –Philip Morris CEO Jacek Olczak, in an interview with The Mail. He also revealed the tobacco giant will stop selling traditional cigarettes in the UK within the next decade – but will continue to sell e-cigs.
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In May, the newly-appointed Olczak said, "Our ambition is that more than half of our net revenues will come from smoke-free products in 2025." The company recently purchased Vectura Group, a British pharmaceuticals company that produces inhalers, and Denmark-based Fertin Pharma, a nicotine gum maker.
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Note: Philip Morris International is not affiliated with Philip Morris USA, which sells Marlboro in the U.S.
🔢 Stat of the Day... LeBron became the first active NBA player to surpass $1B in career earnings. He is the sixth professional athlete to do so while active, joining Tiger Woods, Floyd Mayweather, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Roger Federer.
📖 Worth Your Time… It's Impossible To Look Away From Kanye West's Spectacle
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🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
🇺🇸💉 Vaccine Update
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Image: CDC
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🎁 DONUT Headline: The U.S. vaccination rate has slowed in recent months since peaking in April.
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According to the CDC, nearly two-thirds of Americans over 12 years old - the lowest age authorized for emergency use - have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Image: CDC
U.S. vaccination rates peaked at over 4.4M per day in April but have fallen in recent months to just over 400k shots administered on Friday, per CDC figures.
Are there any side effects?... The COVID-19 vaccination carries several common minor side effects, including tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever, and nausea. The possible symptoms after receiving a second shot may be more intense than the first.
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The CDC says these side effects are normal and should go away within a few days. It recommends calling a doctor "if the redness or tenderness where you got the shot gets worse after 24 hours," or "if your side effects are worrying you or do not seem to be going away after a few days."
✋ Yes, but... The agency also provides updates on rare side effects reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), including anaphylaxis, thrombosis, myocarditis and pericarditis, and Guillain-Barré Syndrome. See the numbers for yourself.
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Caveat: Reports of adverse events to VAERS don't necessarily mean a vaccine caused the health problem. Additionally, VAERS is a passive reporting system, meaning it relies on the truthfulness of individuals who send in reports.
📸 The big picture… A growing number of cities and states are requiring vaccines - or regular testing - for employees and health workers, including NYC and California.
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Yesterday, the Department of Veteran Affairs became the first federal agency to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for its frontline health care workers.
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Dozens of colleges and universities have likewise implemented vaccine mandates for all students and employees. Companies in the U.S. are also legally permitted to require employees get vaccinated, per the most recent federal guidelines.
👁️ Looking ahead… COVID-19 cases are currently rising in all 50 states plus D.C., which experts largely attribute to the Delta variant. Hospitalizations and deaths typically lag rising cases, though there's been no visible uptick yet.
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The overwhelming majority of severe cases - 97% of hospital admissions and 99.5% of deaths - are occurring among those who are not vaccinated, according to the U.S. Surgeon General.
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🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
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🎵 Deep Cuts
Image: Thomas Nilsen
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🎁 DONUT Headline: An Oslo-based commercial venture group plans to construct a Doomsday Music Vault near the North Pole that can withstand natural and manmade catastrophic events for up to 1,000 years.
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Modeled after the World Seed Vault - a facility that protects over 1M seed samples from nearly every country - the Doomsday Music Vault will be buried 1,000 feet below the ground in Svalbard, Norway.
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The location was chosen due to the region’s cool and dry permafrost, which will help protect the vault from electromagnetic pulses emitted by potential nuclear explosions.
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In the facility, which is set to be operational by early 2022, music will be stored using binary coding and high-density QR codes written on durable optical film.
Song selection for the Doomsday Music Vault will be focused on preserving indigenous music styles. Individual nations will be able to submit their own ideas regarding which songs should make the final cut.
Keep reading.
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🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
👶 Stroll Models
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Images: Chelsie King
A little over three years ago, Jeremy and Chelsie King were excitedly planning their upcoming wedding – and then they received life-altering news.
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Just three months into their engagement, doctors found a tumor in Jeremy’s brain.
He underwent successful brain surgery soon after, but came out of the operation with a host of new challenges, especially when it came to his sense of balance.
When the couple found out they were expecting a baby last June, they started to research how to best tackle parenthood considering Jeremy’s condition – with little success.
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“Not a whole lot came up -- there's just really not a ton of resources out there for disabled parents," said Chelsie.
That’s when the grade school teacher had the idea of turning to her students for help…
Keep reading.
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💡 Dose of Knowledge
🇺🇸 The (Code)Name Game
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Which U.S. president went by the codename 'Timberwolf?'
A) George H.W. Bush
B) Richard Nixon
C) Barack Obama
D) Bill Clinton
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(keep scrolling for the answer) |
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🍩 Share The DONUT
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Simply:
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Ambassador Rewards and Progress → |
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💡 Dose of Knowledge Answer
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A) George H.W. Bush
Former President George H.W. Bush, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 94, was known as 'Timberwolf' by his Secret Service detail (which served him for nearly 40 years).
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He was considered "arguably the agency’s most beloved protectee," according to former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow.
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🍩 Daily Sprinkle
"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
–Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
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