Good morning. On today’s docket:

• ⚖️ A deep dive into the Supreme Court’s new code of conduct
• 📝 America’s latest inflation report card just dropped
• 😬 The life-expectancy gap between men and women is widening

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.79-minute read.

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"Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it."

–Gilda Radner (1946-1989)

On Monday, the Supreme Court formally adopted its first-ever code of conduct, becoming the last court in the federal judiciary to do so.

The move follows a series of media reports in recent months describing previously undisclosed benefits received by several members of the Court:

• Justice Clarence Thomas had an undisclosed relationship with billionaire Harlan Crow in which Crow paid for near-annual vacations for 20+ years, purchased from Thomas and others the home in which the Justice’s mother still lives, and helped pay private-school tuition for Thomas’ relative, per a series of ProPublica investigations.
• Justice Neil Gorsuch didn’t disclose the name of a buyer who purchased a home Gorsuch partially owned in 2017, who was then later involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the Court, according to Politico.
• Justice Sonya Sotomayor has routinely used taxpayer-funded employees to perform tasks for her private book ventures, which collectively earned her $3.7+ million since joining the Court in 2009, per the AP.
• Justice Samuel Alito failed to disclose a 2008 private jet flight provided by billionaire hedge fund founder Paul Singer, whose firm came before the Court at least 10 times in the years following Alito’s trip, ProPublica reported.

That brings us to this week: In a statement, the nine Justices said many of the rules in the code aren’t new, but rather a formal codification of "common law" ethics rules which have always applied to the Court.

• The code explicitly prevents Justices from knowingly using the prestige of their office to "advance the private interests of the Justice or others," and blocks them from giving others "the impression that they are in a special position to influence the Justice."
• It also bans the Court’s members from speaking at events sponsored by or associated with a political party or campaign.

✋ Yes, but… Many critics say the Court’s new code appears to fall short of what’s needed, since it fails to provide any penalties for ethical violations, and also doesn’t include any oversight board or other mechanisms to investigate and enforce possible violations.

📊 Flash poll: Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s new code of conduct?

• Yes
• No, it’s unnecessary
• No, it doesn’t go far enough
• Unsure/other

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💥 Israel-Hamas war update: Israeli forces this week reached the gates of Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, where Israel claims Hamas’ military runs four underground complexes and a command center – a claim Hamas denies. Yesterday, US officials for the first time said independent intelligence supports Israel’s assertions that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are running military operations from hospitals within Gaza, including Al-Shifa. White House officials also cautioned Israel against using military force to capture Al-Shifa, citing the protection of innocent patients and civilians seeking refuge there.

🇧🇷 Brazil’s government sold $2 billion worth of bonds to fund environmental and social initiatives. The country's first-ever ESG bonds will go toward Brazilian President Lula’s environmental and sustainability agenda, which includes plans to lower the country’s carbon emissions and strengthen its welfare programs. Brazil’s Treasury said demand for the bond, which features a 6.5% annual yield through 2031, was nearly 3x the available volume.

🇮🇳 India is now the largest source of international graduate students in America. The number of Indians pursuing postgraduate studies in the US increased 63% last academic year to reach 165,000 students – surpassing China for the top spot overall for the first time in 15 years. Engineering is no longer the most popular choice for Indians pursuing higher education in the US, with a majority of students studying graduate programs in science, technology, and business.

The Consumer Price Index, America’s most widely-used measure of inflation, is pulling its best Wright brothers impression and slowly gliding back down to Earth after reaching historic heights.

According to Labor Department figures published yesterday, US inflation stood at 3.2% over the year-long period ending in October, down from 3.7% in September.

• Core inflation – which excludes often-volatile food and energy prices – stood at an annual rate of 2.8% for the five months ending in October, compared to 5.1% during the first five months of this year.
• Analysts attribute the recent trend to falling prices for cars, fuel, and airfares, as well as slower growth in housing costs.

The market reacts: At the start of trading yesterday morning – exactly one hour after the CPI was released – all three major US indexes opened significantly higher than Monday’s closing price. Stocks remained at elevated levels for the rest of the trading session, with the S&P 500 notching its best single-day performance since April (S&P: +1.9% | Dow: +1.4% | Nasdaq: +2.4%).

👀 Looking ahead… The Fed, which raised interest rates to a 22-year high this summer to combat inflation, is widely expected to hold rates steady for a sixth straight month in response to yesterday’s inflation report. Analysts also say the better-than-expected CPI figures reduce the chances of additional rate hikes early next year.

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💬 Quoted… “No, no, sit down! Sit down! You’re a United States senator!”

• Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) channeled a high-schooler breaking up a fight on the playground yesterday in a Senate hearing on labor unions in America, yelling at Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to sit down after he stood up following a verbal altercation with Teamsters President Sean O’Brien. The altercation stemmed from a tweet O’Brien posted this past June, and led to the following exchange – Mullin: “You want to run your mouth? We can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here.” O’Brien: “OK, that’s fine, perfect. I’d love to do it right now.” Mullin: “Then stand your butt up then.” O’Brien: “You stand your butt up.” After which Mullin did, in fact, stand up – but then ultimately sat back down following Sanders’ comments.

📉 Stat of the Day: The gap in life expectancy between men and women in the US has grown to its widest in nearly 30 years, driven mainly by more men dying of Covid and drug overdoses, according to a new study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. Per the study: women had a life expectancy of 79.3 years in 2021, compared with 73.5 years for men. The 5.8-year gap is the largest since 1996, and an increase from a low of 4.8 years in 2010.

🤔 Did You Know?... The calorie content of a food was originally measured using a calorimeter (pictured above). Here’s how the device works: a known amount of food – with all of its water content evaporated – is placed into a container surrounded by a known amount of water. The dehydrated food is then literally set on fire – and its calorie count is calculated from how much the device’s water temperature rises.

📰 Worth a Read: Is time travel even possible? An astrophysicist explains the science → (The Conversation)

• ☝️ You’re looking at the second- and fourth-most distant galaxies ever recorded, thanks to NASA’s James Webb telescope; while light from the galaxies traveled 13.3 billion light-years to reach Earth, the galaxies themselves are currently 33 billion light-years away due to the expansion of the universe over that period.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

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• 🤝 Airbnb made its first acquisition as a public company, purchasing a stealth AI startup co-founded by one of the founders of Siri for a reported $200 million.
• ⌚ Luxury watch prices are at a two-year low, according to Bloomberg’s Subdial Watch Index; prices have dropped 42% since April 2022. | 🏡 The average income of a homebuyer between July 2022 and June 2023 was $107,000, up from $88,000 the year prior, per a new NAR report.
• 🚗 The UAW + Big Three’s labor deals are each on pace to pass a union member vote; though GM and Ford’s contracts have received notable rejections from workers.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🔮🥊 UFC is set to host the first sporting event at the Las Vegas Sphere. | More sporting + Sphere events could also be coming soon.
• 🎶 TikTok now lets users directly add songs to Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
• 🪈 André 3000 is releasing an album of new music for the first time in two decades; it features no lyrics and is centered around woodwinds.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Floof

• 🤖 Chinese scientists created a robot chemist that may be able to make oxygen from water found on Mars.
• 🚀 SpaceX's Starship rocket could embark upon its second flight as early as Friday.
• 🌡️ Google DeepMind announced a new weather forecasting model that beats traditional systems more than 90% of the time.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🏛️ The House passed speaker Mike Johnson’s two-step, stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown, with more than two-thirds of members voting to approve; the measure is now headed to the Senate; a gov’t shutdown begins at midnight on Friday if a deal can’t be reached before then. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)
• 🤝 President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in-person later today.
• 📝 The ~2x/decade US National Climate Assessment report was released yesterday. Read it here. (Or read a summary here.)

CLICKBAIT

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Last year, October 17th was officially named “Missy Elliot Day” in the state of Virginia in honor of the rapper, who grew up in the town of Portsmouth.

🏠 Don't forget where you come from... To celebrate the holiday this year, Missy Elliot donated $50,000 to the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority – paying off 26 families' outstanding rent balances in her hometown.

• “Any time that I can help somebody is always a blessing,” Elliot shared. “Instead of it being about me, I want it to be about the people here in my hometown.”

The donation came just before the artist was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last week.

How it works: We provide an incorrect stat. Then you guess whether the actual number is over or under the stated value.

1. 👈 15: Percentage of people who are left-handed
2. 💤 10: Number of minutes it takes the average person to fall asleep
3. 🚽 30: Percentage of indoor water use attributed to toilets.

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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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.)

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1. 👈 Under, it’s around 10%
2. 💤 Over, it’s between 15 mins and 20 mins for most healthy adults
3. 🚽 Over, it’s almost 40%