Extra, Extra
Robo Stop: “U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers began their first large-scale strike in nearly 50 years on Tuesday, halting the flow of about half the country’s ocean shipping, after negotiations for a new labor contract broke down over wages.” Given the timing of the strike, there could be political ramifications. But the bigger story is the one that pits human workers vs robots. “In a Facebook post before the strike, Jack Pennington, president of a local ILA group, wrote about ‘the never ending threat of automation,’ and how automation has left ‘thousands of workers’ in the automobile industry ‘jobless.’ He added the same is happening at major retail chains and grocery stores.” Quartz: Robots are playing a big part in the U.S. port strike. Here’s how.
+ Fact Wreck: If the bizarre beating Trump took during his debate with Kamala didn’t put him in a hopeless position, it’s hard to imagine that the Veep debate will have a major impact on the race. Maybe the biggest story to come out of tonight’s debate will be the decision by CBS News not fact check the candidates. As Brian Beutler explains: “CBS’s decision [not to fact check the debate] is mostly significant as an indication of how powerful institutions will bend to Trump should he win the presidency. Many are bending already, when he has no official power and is behind in the polls.”
+ Jimmy Up Another Year: “Longtime friends, family and fans of Jimmy Carter milled around his hometown of Plains to celebrate his 100th birthday on Tuesday, the first time an American president has lived a full century and the latest milestone in a life that took the Depression-era farmer’s son to the White House and across the world as a Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian and advocate for democracy.” Jimmy Carter is the first president to reach his 100th birthday. (Maybe god is a fan of decency.)
+ Madam President: “The political protege of popular outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum has a reputation for being analytical, disciplined and unflappable. She campaigned on a promise to continue López Obrador’s legacy—a complicated one that is hard to fit into an ideological box. Supporters hail his popular social programs to help the poor; detractors accuse him of undermining the country’s fledgling democracy.” 5 things to know about Mexico’s first female president.
+ Amos: “John Amos, who starred as the family patriarch on the hit 1970s sitcom ‘Good Times’ and earned an Emmy nomination for his role in the seminal 1977 miniseries ‘Roots,’ has died. He was 84.” He was definitely one of the most familiar faces of the 70s.
+ Fellow Nominees: Here’s who made the 2024 MacArthur Fellows list “The breadth of their work spans just about every aspect of science and society, from computer technology to evolutionary biology, disability justice to children’s literature.” (But, once again, no newsletter writers.)
