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Stranger Than Fiction
A brief daily note on things you might find interesting or useful
You can support the newsletter that you’re reading right now using PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, or purchase a subscription on Substack.Don’t forget to join us in the Stranger Slack for access to source documents and a running feed of news throughout the day. (this link was broken for awhile and has now been fixed)TOP NEWS
Trump, in town hall, says he wouldn’t have done anything differently on pandemic “The president blamed cities and states run by Democrats for any problems with the response to coronavirus, as well as for any crime or violence in the country.”
Global views of U.S. plunge to new lows amid pandemic, poll finds “In a new poll of 13 nations, 85 percent of respondents said the United States had handled the pandemic poorly.”
FAA, Boeing Blasted by House Democrats Over Max Failures “A report from House Democrats reveals details of how Boeing design errors, lax government oversight and lack of transparency by the plane maker and regulators set the stage for two fatal 737 MAX crashes.”
Sally Regains Strength as It Threatens Gulf Coast “Hurricane Sally strengthened again as it churned closer to the U.S. Gulf Coast, threatening Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle with powerful winds, heavy rains and widespread flooding.”
FTC Preparing Possible Antitrust Suit Against Facebook “The case preparations come after the Federal Trade Commission has spent more than a year investigating concerns that Facebook has been using its powerful market position to stifle competition.”
Daily U.S. Coronavirus Tally Hits Highest Level in More Than One Month “New coronavirus cases in the U.S. rose to 52,081 from about 34,000 a day earlier, as wildfires in some Western states and an approaching hurricane in the Southeast opened potential pathways for the virus to spread further.”
WHAT I’M READING + WATCHING + LISTENING TO
🎧 LISTEN: Black CowboysMost people don't realize that around a quarter of the cowboys found in the Old West during the golden age cattle driving were Black. Let's meet some of them, shall we?
Pro-Trump youth group enlists teens in secretive campaign likened to a ‘troll farm,’ prompting rebuke by Facebook and Twitter “The sprawling operation by Turning Point Action, led by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, evades guardrails put in place to prevent the spread of online disinformation, experts said.”
In previous downturns, a stock market plunge took about six years for a recovery. After COVID-19, stocks plunged and recovered in only 126 days. How did that happen?
THE COMMENT
“The stories that the girls I spoke to shared with me were remarkably similar. They saw that the sexier a woman is on Instagram or TikTok, the more likes she gets. They tried to imitate that sexuality in the belief that it would make them more popular. Spend an hour on social media and you'll see preteens — often in makeup — pouting their lips and strutting their stuff as if they were grown women. The problem, of course, is that they are not women, and they don't realize what they are doing. They construct their self-esteem based on social media likes and the number of followers they have. To see these youngsters put so much pressure on themselves so early was heartbreaking. Their insights and experiences with social media informed ‘Cuties.’” - Maïmouna Doucouré
THE STRANGEST
THE AV ROOM