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"When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you."

–Lao Tzu (b. 571 B.C.)

Much like a guy with short-term amnesia who keeps financing a boat, America’s credit score is trending in the wrong direction.

This week, credit agency Fitch downgraded the US government’s perfect AAA rating by one level to AA+. It’s the first time a major credit agency has downgraded the US since 2011, and the second such occurrence since national credit ratings were established in 1917.

Fitch says several factors influenced its decision:

• Erosion of governance. The agency cites a “steady deterioration” in US governance standards over the last 20 years, including repeated debt-limit political standoffs, a complex budgeting process, and limited progress on higher social security and Medicare costs due to an aging population.
• Rising government deficits and debt. The annual US deficit is projected to reach 6.3% of GDP in 2023, up from 3.7% last year, per Fitch. Meanwhile, total US debt currently stands at a record $32.6 trillion, or 113% of GDP, with net interest costs alone expected to become the single biggest line item in the federal budget within 30 years.
• Projections showing high interest rates and a recession in the near future. Fitch says it expects the Fed to raise interest rates one more time in September, then keep rates at that elevated level through at least March 2024. The agency is also predicting a mild US recession in Q4 2023 and Q1 2024.

💥 The (potential) impact: Many economists say the US is unlikely to face any long-term negative ramifications from Fitch’s downgrade alone. But if the other two major credit agencies follow suit, it would likely result in higher borrowing costs for the US government over the long-term, since bond buyers would demand greater return to offset the increased risk of default.

📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about Fitch’s decision to downgrade America’s credit rating to AA+?

It’s a sign of trouble on the horizon

It’s not really a big deal

Unsure/other

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🇸🇴 Somalia suspended its head athletics official for nepotism in response to a viral video showing a… highly-unqualified sprinter. Khadijo Aden Dahir, the chairwoman of the Somali Athletics Federation, is accused of selecting a relative who was not a “sports person nor a runner” to compete in the 100-meter race at the 2023 World University Games in China this week. The 20-year-old Somali entrant finished her initial heat on Wednesday in 21.81 seconds – over eight seconds slower than the second-to-last runner.

🇸🇾 The Islamic State (ISIS) confirmed that its top leader died in Syria. An ISIS spokesperson yesterday said leader Abu al-Husayn al-Qurayshi was killed recently while fighting a rival militant group in northwestern Syria. It marks the third time in less than two years that ISIS’ top commander has been killed. The terrorist organization initially seized control over large portions of Iraq and Syria in 2014, but has consistently lost ground to Iraqi and Syrian troops backed by US air power ever since.

🇬🇧🏦 The Bank of England raised baseline interest rates for a 14th consecutive time. The UK’s central bank also signaled a strong possibility of additional rate hikes in the future, as it attempts to cool domestic inflation that’s noticeably above other advanced democracies. In June, UK consumer prices were 7.9% higher than a year earlier, compared with 5.5% across the 19 countries using the euro and 3.0% in the US.

Is your partner a serial snorer or sheet-hog? You may want to consider a “sleep divorce” – or sleeping separately for sleep-related (not conflict-related) reasons.

According to a recent survey by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 35% of married/partnered adults sleep in a separate room from their partner either consistently or on occasion. That’s up from ~25% who did so in 2017 (per National Sleep Foundation data).

As you may expect, the results vary by age and sex.

• Millennials are the lead sleep-divorcers, with 43% occasionally or consistently sleeping in another room to accommodate a bed partner. Next comes Gen X (33%), followed by Gen Z (28%).
• Men tend to be the movers in sleep divorces. Nearly half of men reported being the one to move to another bedroom or sleep on a sofa, in comparison to a quarter of women.

👀 Looking ahead… Much like the promise of hiring a speech therapist, this trend could become even more pronounced in the future. More than 40% of respondents in the AASM study who did not have a sleep divorce said they wished they did “at least sometimes.”

😴 Getting the right amount of sleep is important for relationships. Studies show those in relationships who consistently experience poor sleep are more likely to engage in conflict with their partners. Sleep loss decreases levels of empathetic accuracy, meaning those who don’t get enough sleep may be less able to understand or interpret their partners’ feelings.

Bringing home the bacon is getting more expensive.

Wholesale prices for pork belly – the cut of meat used to make bacon – have almost tripled since the start of June after hitting a multiyear low in May, the WSJ reports. Pork-belly prices were at $2.15/pound on Wednesday, just shy of their highest level since last August.

This price increase is being driven by two big factors, per the WSJ:

• Regulation: On July 1, a new law came into effect in California requiring pigs to be given at least 24 sq. ft of pen space for their meat to be sold in the state. And, since deals for meat are usually negotiated well in advance and the law was challenged all the way to the Supreme Court (they just upheld it in May), this drove pork producers to hold off on buying new products until recently in fear of non-compliance. The state accounts for around 15% of US pork consumption.
• Seasonality: Also fueling the run-up is a seasonal shift; pork-belly prices normally rise in the summer when hog slaughters and pork production slow.

👀 Looking ahead… Savor that bacon double-cheeseburger from Whataburger while you can. Wholesale pork-belly prices are expected to remain higher, in large part due to the summer heat wave’s impact on livestock herds – and elevated prices could cause restaurants and supermarkets to begin cutting back on bacon-related promotions.

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💬 Quoted… “Not guilty.”

• Former President Donald Trump appeared before a federal judge in D.C. yesterday, where he pleaded not guilty to four felony charges filed by DOJ special counsel Jack Smith over Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.

+Dive deeper: (Background | From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

🏢💼 Stat of the Day: Workers in the Midwest are coming into the office more often than any other US region, per new data from Basking.io. Midwest offices posted a 60% weekly average peak occupancy rate in the first half of 2023 – the highest in the nation by far, and more than double the Northeast’s 24% occupancy rate over the same period.

🤔 Did You Know?... There’s a species of aquatic beetle in Japan that, upon being eaten by a frog, quickly wiggles its way through the digestive tract to come out the other end unscathed.

📰 Worth a Read: How sports memorabilia exploded into a booming billion-dollar business → (Robb Report)

• ☝️ A rare 'Ides of March' dagger coin minted by Marcus Junius Brutus after he helped assassinate Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. will go up for auction in California later this month; the coin, one of ~100 believed to still exist today, is expected to fetch at least $300,000.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board (S&P: -0.3%; Dow: -0.2%; Nasdaq: -0.1%).
• 🍏 Apple reported its third straight quarter of falling sales, but beat Wall Street’s soft expectations on both earnings and revenue; iPhone, Mac, and iPad sales were all down from a year earlier.
• 📦📈 Amazon reported earnings that almost doubled analysts’ expectations ($0.65/share vs. $0.35/share expected); revenue also beat expectations; the stock rose more than 10% in extended trading.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Upway

• 📺 Warner Bros. Discovery reported 2 million fewer streaming subscribers last quarter compared to Q1, though experts attributed the decline to consumers dropping their Discovery+ subscriptions for Max (which includes HBO and Discovery content).
• ⚽ Lionel Messi’s first away match with Inter Miami – a matchup at FC Dallas this Sunday – sold out within 10 minutes of tickets becoming available yesterday morning.
• ⚖️🎤 Dua Lipa is facing a third lawsuit over her hit song “Levitating,” this one from musician Bosko Kante accusing the pop singer of unlawfully using his work in remixes of the song; one of the other suits over “Levitating” was dropped, and one is still ongoing. | ❌📝 Lizzo denied all the allegations made against her this week by three former dancers.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Flume

• 🤖🚖 Autonomous taxis are coming to DONUT HQ: Alphabet-owned Waymo will begin offering its driverless ride-hailing services in Austin, Texas; making it the fourth city after Phoenix, San Francisco, and LA.
• 🪰🧬 In a first-of-its-kind experiment, a team of US researchers used gene editing to induce virgin birth (aka parthenogenesis) in a species of fruit fly that doesn’t do so naturally, per a peer-reviewed study published in Current Biology.
• 👃💤 Exposure to a wide range of fragrances while sleeping – including rose, orange, eucalyptus, lemon, peppermint, rosemary, and lavender – slowed cognitive decline in older adults by 226% compared to a placebo; that’s per a peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• ⚖️ Two US Navy sailors were arrested yesterday and charged with sharing sensitive national defense information with the Chinese government in return for cash payments.
• 🏥 The American Academy of Pediatrics will review the evidence for gender-affirming medical care and potentially amend its policies that help guide doctors and clinicians providing the treatment to transgender youth, per a WSJ report published yesterday.
• 🏫 Florida school superintendents were advised by the state to drop their AP Psychology classes unless they exclude any topics related to gender or sexuality, per The College Board, which oversees the AP program. (The statement | From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🏎️ How you can win one of Robert Downey Jr.’s classic cars.

Our weekly news quiz is live. In just two minutes or less...

Find out how your news superpowers stack up against the team.

✈️ Catching a flight, little guy?... A small monkey was unexpectedly trapped inside Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport last week. 

• Airport travelers and employees noticed the primate climbing around Terminal 1 and quickly called animal rescue services. 

👏👏 A team effort... It took a crane lift, officers from both the Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Peninsular Malaysia, and a few hours to rescue the monkey, but the operation ended in success.

• "Our furry friend has been saved! This little guy can now go home to his family safely. What an adventure he must have had," the airport said in a Facebook post.

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Ripe mango, diced
• Red bell pepper, finely chopped
• Red onion, finely chopped
• Jalapeño pepper, minced
• Fresh cilantro, chopped
• Lime juice
• Salt and pepper

2️⃣ Recipe #2:

• Eggplant, diced
• Zucchini, diced
• Bell peppers, diced
• Tomatoes, diced
• Onion, finely chopped
• Garlic, minced
• Fresh thyme leaves
• Fresh basil leaves
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Avocados
• Cocoa powder
• Hemp seeds
• Milk
• Maple syrup
• Vanilla extract

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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☝️ Recipe #1: Mango salsa

✌️ Recipe #2: Ratatouille

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Chocolate avocado pudding