Crossing the Chasm

The Heroes of the DNC

Your democracy has been making some weird noises lately. Don't worry. Tim Walz can fix it. Walz nailed the biggest pep talk of his life on Wednesday night following opening acts like Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. AI didn’t create the arena-filling Democratic crowds. But it may have created Tim Walz, who has become America's dad and fills a huge void ignored for too long by many Democrats: the entire middle of the country. But today, I don't want to quote Walz, Oprah, or Clinton. Instead, I want to share these quotes. "Look, you don’t have to agree with ever policy position of Kamala Harris. I don’t. If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot." That's former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan. "I grew up in the kind of working family that Trump pretends to care about -- conservative, catholic, Texan. July 4th was our most sacred holiday. Those values made me a Republican and they are the same values that make me proud to support Kamala Harris - not because we agree on every issue, but because we agree on the most important issue, protecting our freedom. So to my fellow Republicans, you aren't voting for a Democrat, you are voting for democracy." That's from Olivia Troye, an advisor to Mike Pence when he was the vice president. I wish the Republicans who are bravely standing up for democracy got even primer prime time slots in the DNC's broadcast schedule. We've always been a somewhat politically divided country. I'm pretty sure I grew up eating dinner at a politically divided table. But we didn't hate each other. And we weren't willing to sell out the core principles of our union just to own the other side. I'm so tired of the rabid partisanship and politics obsession that has consumed America (and yes, my own mind and this newsletter). Geoff Duncan, Olivia Troye, Mayor John Giles of Mesa, former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham, and other GOP leaders have taken great personal risks to reach across the aisle and grasp for the ties that bind us. It's easy to sit back and say that all Republican leaders should be speaking out about the risk of putting an unstable insurrectionist back into the White House. But the fact that so few have speaks to just how difficult it is to do so. Troye, Giles, and Duncan were compelling, courageous, and exactly what America needs right now. Country over party. History will smile upon them.

+ Gus Walz owned the viral moment of the night, nearly overshadowing his dad, as he burst into tears, pointed to the stage, and repeated, "That's my dad." Predictably, some people made fun of Gus Walz (who suffers from "a nonverbal learning disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and an anxiety disorder") on social media. The way I saw it: Tim Walz has kids who are willing to emotionally express their love and respect for him in public? Holy crap, he’s got my vote.

+ Refreshingly, much of the DNC has been focused on reaching across the aisle, attacking Trump without attacking those who vote for him, and attracting a broader coalition. The hardest people to reach are the so-called low-information voters. Trump refers to them as basement dwellers. They're definitely not watching convention speeches. Charles Bethea in The New Yorker: Among America’s Low-Information Voters. "Donald Trump has dominated in polling of people who pay little attention to political news. What do they have to say?"

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Kalamazoology

"If you want to know what the housing crisis for middle-income Americans looks like in 2024, spend some time in Michigan. The surplus-to-shortage whipsaw here is a mitten-shaped miniature of what the entire country has gone through. I’ve been writing about housing and the economy for two decades, and have watched as the nation’s housing market has made the journey from boom to bust to deficit, seemingly without pausing for a normal middle. There are lots of reasons this happened, but they center on a big one: the late-2000s housing bust, which the country has never fully recovered from. Or as Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, a data and consulting firm, put it: 'The Great Recession broke the U.S. housing market.'" NYT (Gift Article): What Kalamazoo (Yes, Kalamazoo) Reveals About the Nation’s Housing Crisis.

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Copper and Robbers

"South Africa they are under a literal assault, targeted by heavily armed gangs that have crippled the nation’s energy infrastructure and claimed an ever-growing number of lives. Practically every day, homes across the country are plunged into darkness, train lines shut down, water supplies cut off, and hospitals forced to close, all because thieves are targeting the material that carries electricity: copper." Wired: The Green Economy Is Hungry for Copper—and People Are Stealing, Fighting, and Dying to Feed It. "With the possible exception of gold, no other metal has caused as much destruction as copper. In the coming years, we’ll need more of it than ever."

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Born to Uber

My daughter is obsessed with getting her driver's permit. I chalk it up to her wanting to avoid our father-daughter drives when I offer Walzian words of wisdom over the sportstalk radio channel I never let her change. It couldn't be the desire for freedom and independence that drove my generation to want to get our licenses. Today's kids have plenty of apps and options when they wanna get away. "This changed view on driving for teens and 20-somethings is manifesting itself in everything from a decline in car purchases to fewer road trips with friends. They say they’re often comfortable relying on public transportation, walking or having a family member give them a lift—and saving money along the way. The percentage of 19-year-olds with a driver’s license dropped steadily from 87.3% in 1983 to 68.7% in 2022, according to most recent data from the Federal Highway Administration." WSJ (Gift Article): Fewer Teens Want to Drive. It’s Changing How They Spend. (When she finally gets her license, it's going to come as quite the shock to my daughter as she drives off toward her freedom and independence only to look over and see me in the passenger seat.)

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Extra, Extra

Affirmative Negative: "The Massachusetts Institute of Technology said 16% of its new intake identify as from a minority - down 10 percentage points in one year. Black enrolment fell from 15% to 5%." Top US college's diversity slumps after affirmative action ban.

+ Skeeter Season: Want a good (but really bad) way to measure how climate change affects us in many ways? Consider this from WaPo (Gift Article): Where mosquito season is getting longer. The mosquito news isn't all bad. In some places, it's so damn hot and dry even the mosquitos can't survive. "Mosquito season shortened in hotter regions such as Texas, which experienced more frequent temperatures exceeding 95 degrees, pushing mosquitoes past their physiological limits. The growing prevalence of droughts in the southwest has led to fewer days with sufficient humidity for mosquitoes to thrive."

+ Job Application: Bill Clinton made this claim in his DNC speech: "Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, America has created about 51 million new jobs. I swear I checked this three times. Even I couldn’t believe it. What’s the score? Democrats 50, Republicans one." Is he right? With a few caveats, pretty much. WaPo: Bill Clinton and the wide gap in job gains by presidential party.

+ Train Stop: "Both of Canada’s major freight railroads have come to a full stop because of a contract dispute with their workers, an impasse that could bring significant economic harm to businesses and consumers in Canada and the U.S. if the trains don’t resume running soon."

+ Vax Back: FDA approves updated Pfizer, Moderna Covid vaccines as virus surges; shots to be available within days.

+ Oh Lord: "The strange saga of how two Mexican drug lords were detained after landing in a plane in the United States in July just got stranger. The Mexican government now says it is bringing charges against Joaquín Guzmán López, but not because he was a leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel founded by his father, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán." Mexico to bring charges against capo, not for drugs, but for turning over another drug lord to US.

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Bottom of the News

"August 22 is not a day that is particularly known for feeling especially crisp or autumnal in most parts of North America. And yet it’s the day this year — the earliest release date ever — that Starbucks, contending with a slowdown in sales, will unleash its annual run of pumpkin spice lattes upon its customers." Pumpkin spice lattes — and the backlash, and the backlash to the backlash — explained.

+ "Fresh off the Olympics, U.S. breakout star and medalist Stephen Nedoroscik -- better known to the internet as 'Pommel Horse Guy' -- will compete on the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars." He needs a better agent! My money was on Raygun getting this gig.