1. Biden Chooses Sen. Kamala Harris as Running Mate

She’s right there. After a drawn-out selection process, Harris — currently the only Black female senator — will become the first woman of color ever named to a major party ticket in the United States. The daughter of two immigrants, Harris ran for president last year, notably tweaking Joe Biden on the debate stage before dropping out for lack of funding. The team will be formally nominated at the party convention next week. Her new role at the forefront of the party means that Harris, now 55, would be well-placed for a future presidential run.

Sources: NYT, Washington Post 

2. Bolsonaro Denies Amazon Fires, Despite Data

So far this month, more than 10,000 fires have been recorded in the Brazilian Amazon region, up 17 percent from 2019’s nine-year high. But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called his own government’s data a “lie.” Deforestation has accelerated during the pandemic as businesses seek to exploit the forest territory — despite scientists warning that the rainforest, vital to fighting climate change, could soon reach a tipping point toward an arid landscape. Moreover, officials warn that the smoke from the fires could exacerbate the respiratory symptoms of COVID-19, which has killed more than 100,000 people in Brazil.

Sources: Reuters, Washington Post 

3. QAnon-Supporting Candidate Wins Primary

Winning her Republican primary yesterday, Marjorie Taylor Greene is all but guaranteed to represent Georgia’s deep-red 14th district in Congress come November. That makes her among the highest profile politicians who publicly support baseless conspiracy theory QAnon, an internet phenomenon that imagines a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles battling President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, an investigation into QAnon-supporting groups on Facebook and Instagram found that they have at least 4.5 million followers across 15 countries. Twitter has recently cracked down on the cultish movement, which has been tipped by the FBI as a potential terrorist threat, but it’s still growing rapidly. 

Sources: The Guardian, NYT

4. Airbnb Close to Filing for an IPO

It’s been a tough year for the largest U.S. home-sharing platform. As the pandemic spread, the travel business dried up, shrinking Airbnb’s valuation from $31 billion to $18 billion and sparking major layoffs. Still, business has rebounded surprisingly quickly, with people making bookings close to home when distant travel isn’t safe — though hosts have been complaining of missing or late payments recently in what the company blamed on a technical glitch. Airbnb is expected to file IPO paperwork with government regulators later this month and could launch a much-diminished listing before the end of the year.  

Source: WSJ (sub), CNBC

5. Also Important …

The Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences say they’ll postpone playing football until the spring. A new study on spreading COVID-19 found that breathing through neck gaiters may be worse than wearing no mask at all. And cruise ships left at least 125,000 employees adrift at sea for months during the pandemic.

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Sip this tea: Make a statement about history's disastrous turning points, dangerous ideas, and crazy coincidences with this Flashback mug. Or find other OZY swag to wear, decorate and drink out of at the OZY store. 

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1. Mauritius Ecosystem Under Threat From Oil Spill

When the Japanese cargo ship Wakashio ran aground July 25 on a reef off the island nation of Mauritius, it seemed intact. But fuel began leaking, and now crews are feverishly pumping its tanks before the cracking hull splits and releases its contents into the pristine waters. The UN, France and Japan have dispatched help. Meanwhile, Mauritians — who depend on their well-protected and unique ecosystems for tourism and nourishment — are already deploying floating booms made of leaves, plastic bottles, and even donated hair to absorb and block the oil until aid arrives.

Sources: NPR, France 24

2. TikTok Illicitly Tracked Users for Months

Call it a MAC attack. In 2015, Apple and Google app stores banned companies from collecting MAC addresses, unique identifiers for individual devices that allow both ad targeting and other tracking. But TikTok, along with 350 other apps, obtained them through a loophole for 15 months and only stopped in November, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found. That could derail TikTok’s argument that it’s not likely to invade user privacy, even as it struggles against a presidential executive order cutting off all U.S. transactions with the company from Sept. 20. 

Sources: The Verge, The Hill

3. Americans Already Cynical About a COVID-19 Vaccine

Think you’ll get a fair shot? A survey shows that 43 percent of Americans think the first coronavirus inoculations will go to the richest countries, while only 28 percent think they’ll be prioritized for pandemic hot spots, OZY reports. Most cynical are Millennials and Democrats, though it’s unclear if most Americans rank the U.S. among the neediest countries despite it having a far higher infection and death count than any other nation. Speaking of immunization cynicism: Russia claims it’s already got a functional vaccine, but experts don’t trust it, saying the process appears dangerously rushed for political purposes.

Sources: OZY, NYT

4. ‘Fresh Prince’ Gets Gritty Reboot

His life is getting flipped, turned upside down. Last year, Fresh Prince of Bel Air superfan Morgan Cooper created a YouTube trailer for his imagining of a dramatic remake of the Will Smith ‘90s comedy series. Now Smith is working with him to actually get the project made, and Cooper will co-write the script alongside showrunner Chris Collins, who wrote for The Wire and Sons of Anarchy. Though Bel-Air hasn’t landed with a streaming service yet, Netflix, HBO Max and others are reportedly bidding on it.

Sources: THR, Deadline    

5. Fantasy Premier League Winner Dethroned

Bulgarian Aleksandar Antonov beat out more than seven million players by managing his soccer fantasy league — but found yesterday that his profile had been deleted over comments made in a private chat. Antonov has apologized for the use of the term “neger4e” (reportedly used to describe Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling), while claiming that the connotations in Bulgarian aren’t comparable to the N-word in English. The winner’s spoils — VIP tickets to two games and a free vacation — will now go to Oxford mathematical oncology researcher Josh Bull.  

Sources: Kotaku, The Guardian