Good morning. There’s some big news to report from the chess world – a $100 million defamation lawsuit filed by Hans Niemann against the five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen, a top chess streamer, and the world’s largest chess site (Chess.com) has been settled.

Quick reminder: Last September, Carlsen accused Niemann, a 20-year-old American grandmaster, of cheating after Niemann beat him in a match at the prestigious Sinquefield Cup tournament in St. Louis.

But, as the court battle played out, “no determinative evidence that Niemann cheated” ever arose. Niemann will now be allowed back on Chess.com, and Carlsen has said he’s open to playing him again.

Who knew chess could be more interesting than reality TV?

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 5.06-minute read.

P.S. Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here for free.

"The only defense against the world is a thorough knowledge of it."

–John Locke (1632-1704)

On Monday, California’s attorney general sued a Southern California school district over its new policy requiring schools to notify parents if their children change gender identification or pronouns.

⚖️ The arguments: AG Rob Bonta is claiming the Chino Valley Unified School District’s new policy violates non-binary students’ civil rights under three laws: California’s equal protection clause, its education and government code, and the US Constitution’s right to privacy.

• AG Bonta also singled out a handful of other school districts near Chino Valley Unified with similar policies, saying they will also be affected by the lawsuit despite not being explicitly named.

Chino Valley Unified officials argue their new policy isn’t breaking any laws, since “parents have a constitutional right in the upbringing of their children” under the 14th Amendment.

• They also note the policy is intended to protect non-binary students by requiring schools to notify social services or law enforcement if the student believes they’re in danger. In such circumstances, staff wouldn't notify parents until the appropriate agencies have investigated the concern.

📸 Big picture: At least a dozen bills have been introduced this legislative session in as many states that would require schools to alert parents of gender identity changes in most circumstances.

On the flip side, more than 1,000 school districts across the US have rules on the books preventing faculty and staff from disclosing a student’s gender status to parents without permission, per a list compiled by the conservative group Parents Defending Education.

• Since 2020, parents in at least six states have sued school districts over such policies, though none of the plaintiffs have had a judgment in their favor to date.

📊 Flash poll: Which of the following three choices best matches your opinion?

Schools should be required to disclose gender status to parents

Schools should be required to keep gender status private without permission

Unsure/other

If you skip written instructions and go straight to the diagrams, your life needs the #1 visual newsletter, Chartr.

Chartr features data storytelling at its finest, with riveting tales like…

• 🍿 How popcorn profits aren’t enough to keep AMC in the black
• 🚨 Why retail theft has risen 304% since last year
• 💰 Different looks at the exorbitant spending on election campaigns

Each issue takes just 5 minutes to read and offers a whole bunch of insights on business, tech, entertainment, and society. And it’s free!🥳

Subscribe free to Chartr.

🇨🇳🌐 Meta has identified and disrupted a large disinformation campaign on its platforms linked to Chinese law enforcement. Meta says it took down 7,704 accounts, 954 pages, and 15 Groups on Facebook, as well as 15 Instagram accounts associated with the Chinese network, describing it as the “largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world.” The social media giant says the network was aimed at generating positive posts about China and spreading negative commentary about the US, in addition to spreading misinformation about the origin of the Covid pandemic.

🇺🇬🏳️‍🌈 Two Ugandan men are facing the death penalty under the country’s new anti-LGBTQ+ laws enacted in May. The men are reportedly the first to be prosecuted for “aggravated homosexuality” in Uganda, which covers sex with children or vulnerable people, as well as forced sexual relations. One of the men is charged with having sex with a disabled man, while the other is accused of sexual relations with a child. Ugandan laws also criminalize the "promotion of homosexuality" with up to 20 years in prison, making it a challenge for local journalists to freely cover such cases.

🇸🇦🇵🇸🇮🇱 Saudi Arabia is offering to resume financial support to Palestine in an effort to improve relations with Israel, per the WSJ. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has previously said the resumption of aid to Palestine’s government would be in exchange for a crackdown on militant groups and violence in the West Bank. Saudi officials told the Journal the move is ultimately aimed at establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, a goal that’s fully supported by the US government (which is allied with both countries).

Eminem, aka The Real Slim Shady, has asked GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to stop using his music following the candidate’s performance of “Lose Yourself” at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month.

To which Ramaswamy and his camp replied: "Oh, wait, no way, you're kidding. He didn't just say what I think he did, did he?" (Actually though. But they did also say they’d comply.)

This isn’t the first time an artist has asked a politician to stop playing their music. Past examples include:

• Adele, Queen, Aerosmith, Phil Collins, the Rolling Stones, REM, and Neil Young have all at one point asked former President Donald Trump's campaign to stop playing their music.
• Both George Bush and Al Gore wanted to use Sting’s "Brand New Day" as their respective 2000 campaign theme song, but the artist objected.
• During former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, Sam Moore of the R&B group Sam & Dave asked the politician not to use their song "Hold On, I'm Comin'."

Legally, US politicians don't always need direct permission from artists to play their music, the BBC reports. Campaigns can buy licensing packages from music rights organizations, which gives them legal access to more than 20 million songs for political rallies.

Artists can, however, remove their music from the list – but many object to its existence in the first place. More than 50 musicians, including Mick Jagger, Lorde, and Sia, signed an open letter in 2020 advocating for politicians to seek direct consent from artists to use their music in campaigns.

The secrets of mind reading could soon become available to the world – no more gatekeeping from psychics and Professor X.

Brain-reading implants combined with AI algorithms have enabled two people with paralysis to communicate with unprecedented accuracy and speed, according to a pair of separate peer-reviewed studies published simultaneously last week in Nature.

In the studies, two teams – one led by researchers from Stanford University and the other led by scientists from UC San Francisco – used brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that measure patients’ brain signals when they attempt to speak, then used AI to translate those signals into text or words spoken by a synthetic voice.

• The two BCIs were able to decode speech at 62 words/minute and 78 words/minute – slower than normal conversation (~160 words/minute), but faster than any previous attempts at brainwave translation.
• And while earlier versions of BCI technology could only interpret a few hundred words, the Stanford team’s algorithm can decipher up to 125,000 words, the equivalent of a small dictionary.

👀 Looking ahead… It’ll take at least a few more years before doctors will be able to prescribe such treatments for patients. The studies’ authors say a handful of improvements are still needed before their BCIs can be approved for wider use.

If you’re one of the 110 million-plus who can’t seem to get a proper rest (🥱), Slumber has been the key to deep, restorative sleep for over 50,000 happy sleepers.

💤 Slumber’s third-party survey showed…

• 82% of users stayed asleep better
• 80% got back to sleep easier
• 70% found it better than any other sleep aid they ever tried

Slumber products are backed by a 30-day guarantee, and there are no groggy side effects. Just the proper deep sleep you’ve been *ahem* dreaming of.

Try Slumber’s DONUT-exclusive sample packs + save 30% with code DONUT30.

💬 Quoted… “You know the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA finals and they have ‘world champion’ on their head. World champion of what? The United States? Don't get me wrong. I love the US, at times, but that ain't the world… We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented.”

The above comments, made by US sprinter Noah Lyles in a post-meet press conference at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, have divided NBA players and fans alike. It drew replies from stars like Kevin Durant, who responded with "[s]omebody help this brother," and Draymond Green, who wrote "[w]hen being smart goes wrong." Even Drake weighed in.

• Others, like international sports journalist Gary Al-Smith, have a different perspective. Al-Smith told NPR: “when you hear anything being described as the ‘world championship,’ automatically in your mind, it's [including] different countries competing. We never ever think of a world championship being about one team with multiple nationalities.”

🌁 Stat of the Day: Air pollution is the world’s top threat to public health, responsible for reducing average life expectancy by 2.3 years worldwide, per a new report from Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute. Tobacco use came in second, reducing average global life expectancy by 2.2 years.

🤔 Did You Know?... Rube Goldberg, famous for his “invention drawings” depicting overly complicated machines, is the only person whose name is used as an adjective in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

📰 Worth a Read: US spy satellite agency isn’t so silent about new “Silent Barker” mission → (Ars Technica)

• ☝️ Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast later this morning; as of 5:30 am ET it was classified as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of ~130 mph.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Brilliant

• 💰 US markets closed up across the board; the S&P saw its biggest daily gain since early June (S&P: +1.5%; Dow: +0.8%; Nasdaq: +1.7%). | 🪙 The first bitcoin ETF could be coming soon after the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Grayscale over the SEC.
• 👂 3M reached a $6 billion settlement over claims it sold defective combat earplugs to the US military.
• 🤖📧 Google will charge big businesses $30/month/user to access AI enhancements being added to Gmail and other productivity apps. | 🤝 Nvidia and Google announced a partnership that’ll allow Google Cloud customers greater access to tech powered by Nvidia GPUs; Nvidia stock rose 4.2% on the day to close at a record.

*From our partners: 💻🚀 Level up in AI, data science, programming, and beyond in just 15 mins a day… Brilliant has thousands of bite-size, interactive lessons to help you master key concepts and build daily learning habits. Join 10 million others and start your 30-day free trial today.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with NativePath

• 📱 Apple yesterday sent out invites to its press event on September 12, at which the company is expected to unveil the iPhone 15.
• ❌ The Idol, the controversial show helmed by Sam Levinson and The Weeknd, will not be returning for a second season.
• ⛳ US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson unveiled his six captain’s picks yesterday.

*From our partners: 🤔 What’s the body’s most abundant protein? Collagen! NativePath's Certified Grass-Fed Collagen Powder is made from pasture-raised cows and contains 18 grams of protein/serving. Use daily to support skin elasticity, joint health, and bone strength, as well as muscle growth and maintenance. Shop now.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🇮🇳🛰️ India’s moon rover confirmed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements near the lunar south pole.
• 🔵🌝 Speaking of the Moon… The Super Blue Moon rises tonight.
• 🧠🪱 Neurosurgeons in Australia extracted a live parasitic roundworm during a patient's open-brain surgery; it's the first human case of this specific species being discovered in humans.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🎓📚 West Texas A&M University will no longer require students to buy textbooks starting next fall.
• 💊 The US federal government unveiled the 10 prescription drugs that will be subject to the first-ever Medicare price negotiations.
• ⚕️ ​​House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) has been diagnosed with blood cancer; he described it as "very treatable" and said he will continue to serve in the House. | ✌️ Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is shutting down his 2024 GOP presidential campaign after failing to qualify for the debates. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 💵👍 The salary a single person needs to get by in every US state.

🏆 An impressive pair: David Rush and Josh Horton hold over 300 world records between them. And the serial Guinness World Record-breaker, David, and Tiktok and social media star, Josh, recently met up in an attempt to claim yet another world title: most hugs in one minute. 

🫂 Bro hug... Preparing themselves for the coming embrace(s), David and Josh felt the pressure as their timekeeper counted them in. They hugged 153 times in one minute – which would beat the previous record of 138 set by Anthony Anderson and Darius Rucker in an episode of Carpool Karaoke.

• The duo has sent their attempt to Guinness World Records for approval. 

Name the movies described by the following poorly-explained plots.

1. Young man forcibly blinds other men and photographs them for money
2. Illegal immigrant is chased by the feds
3. Public transit finally runs ahead of schedule

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize. (Pro tip: there's no need to ration points, you're entitled to a prize at each tier.)

Start referring.👇

1. Spider-Man (2002)
2. E.T. (1982)
3. Speed (1994)