Weekly Review
At the 2020 Democratic National Convention, more Republicans than Latino members of the Democratic Party were given speaking slots, Elizabeth Warren gave her remarks from a classroom in which blocks spelled out “BLM” but did not herself mention Black Lives Matter, and a bug landed on billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s face during his prime time speech.1 2 3 Former vice president Joe Biden, who was recently endorsed by 70 senior Republican national security officials, NBA star Stephen Curry, and the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, accepted the Democratic nomination for president.4 5 6 7 “No rhetoric is needed,” said Biden. “And may God protect our troops.”8 A 19-year-old candidate for Kansas’s 37th state House district narrowly beat a longtime incumbent despite admitting to sexually harassing multiple girls, including the use of revenge porn, while he was in middle school; he later withdrew from the race.9 The Texas Republican Party declared that its new slogan, “We Are the Storm,” is drawn from a poem and not the QAnon internet conspiracy theory, which claims that the deep state, politicians, and many celebrities eat and sexually assault children.10 After being asked about the group at a White House press briefing, President Trump responded by repeatedly saying that he didn’t know much about QAnon except that its adherents liked him, and then asserted that its followers heartily approve of suppressing protests in cities and states run by Democrats.11 The House of Representatives returned early from a monthlong summer recess to grant the U.S. Postal Service $25 billion in funding and reversed changes that have slowed service; the delays caused at least 4,800 baby chickens mailed to Maine farmers to die in transit.12 13 A team of special agents, members of the Coast Guard, and federal postal inspectors arrested former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from Trump supporters who hoped to build a wall at the southern border, funds he allegedly used to pay down personal expenses.14
A watchdog group found that guards at an immigrant detention center in El Paso sexually assaulted and harassed inmates in areas of the facility not visible to security cameras.15 Demonstrators protested in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after police shot Jacob Blake, a black man, in the back multiple times while his children watched from inside his car.16 17 Approximately 12,000 lighting strikes sparked 585 wildfires in California, 1.1 million people filed for unemployment, the stock market reached an all-time high, and the national debt exceeded the nation’s gross domestic product for the first time in at least 100 years.18 19 20 21 It was reported that 12 U.S. billionaires currently own $1,000,000,000,000 in combined wealth, and that airline passengers accidentally left over $926,000 at TSA checkpoints last year.22 23 Officials found a radar-guided air-to-air missile at a small airport in Florida.24 A salmonella outbreak linked to contaminated red, white, yellow, and sweet yellow onions, frozen shrimp, and bagged peaches spread to every state except Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Vermont.25 26 The toy manufacturer Hasbro recalled some of its Super Soaker water guns because they contained lead.27 It was announced that the state of Michigan is expected to pay nearly $600 million to children with lead poisoning in Flint after city officials allowed toxic chemicals to leach into the city’s drinking water.28 A drug-dealing, white-supremacist stripper was sentenced for obstruction of justice in Texas, and a Missouri doctor lost his state medical license after amputating a patient’s gangrenous toe on the porch of his office, a space he also used as a machine shed.29 30 “This toe amputation . . . everything was absolutely perfectly sterile, out in the bright sunshine and fresh air,” said the former doctor. Tennessee issued a guidance that gives school districts the option to send teachers exposed to COVID-19 back to work.31 A Chinese textbook publisher halted publication of a middle school math textbook that had different versions for male and female students.32
Dunkin’ Donuts announced that it will begin selling coffee-flavored breakfast cereal, and particles of fine cocoa powder fell like snow on a small Swiss town after a malfunction at a Lindt chocolate factory.33 34 Scientists said painting eyes on cows’ rear ends in Botswana helps to ward off lions, Finnish researchers claimed to have discovered a cure for hangovers, and engineers revealed that Apple built a “top secret” iPod for the U.S. government.35 36 37 Arizona senator Martha McSally told her supporters to skip a meal and donate the money to her campaign instead.38 NASA said that the International Space Station has sprung a “small air leak,” and that an asteroid might collide with Earth on the eve of Election Day.39 40 Delta Air Lines banned a former member of SEAL Team Six after he tweeted a photo of himself maskless, along with a man seated behind him wearing a USMC hat and a mask, with the caption “I’m not a pussy.”41“I didn’t delete my tweet. My wife did,” the former SEAL later wrote. —Adam Iscoe
