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Politics

Bye Bye Biden

Joe Biden announces he will not be running for re-election

In a move that has been speculated about all summer, Joe Biden has been removed dropped out from the 2024 Presidential Race, endorsing Kamala Harris to be his replacement.

President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he will end his re-election campaign, bringing an abrupt end to his half-century-long political career. This move reshapes the presidential race just months before Election Day.

At 81, Biden faced growing concerns within his party about his ability to serve another term and his chances against Donald Trump in November. Instead, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.

In a letter posted on X, Biden expressed his intention to stand down, stating it was in the best interest of his party and the country. He pledged to focus on his presidential duties for the remainder of his term. “I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision,” Biden wrote.

Biden praised Harris for being an extraordinary partner and endorsed her candidacy in a follow-up post. “My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” he wrote. “And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.”

Harris, in response, thanked Biden for his leadership and legacy of achievement. She vowed to unite the Democratic Party and the nation to defeat Trump and his extreme agenda.

Biden’s decision was finalized Sunday afternoon and publicly announced via a tweet at 1:46 p.m. ET. This withdrawal marks the end of a unique national political career, from his start during Nixon’s fall to Trump’s rise. Biden served 36 years in the Senate, chaired powerful committees, and spent eight years as Vice President under Barack Obama.

Reactions poured in from both sides of the aisle. California Gov. Gavin Newsom praised Biden as a history-making president who fought for working people. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called him a great public servant. However, Republicans criticized Biden’s decision, with House Speaker Mike Johnson calling for his immediate resignation.

Biden’s decision, coming so close to the Democratic convention, is unprecedented in modern politics. The last sitting president to abandon a re-election bid was Lyndon Johnson in 1968. Replacing Biden will likely cause internal Democratic upheaval, with factions already forming around Harris, Whitmer, and Newsom.

Democratic delegates are not bound to their candidate, adding uncertainty to the convention. Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison assured a transparent and orderly process to select a candidate who can defeat Trump in November.

Legal challenges may arise as Republicans aim to obstruct the new nominee’s path to the ballot. Despite the chaos, many high-profile Democrats, including Rep. James Clyburn and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, rallied around Harris.

Former President Obama expressed confidence in the party’s ability to navigate the uncharted waters ahead. Biden’s debate performance with Trump and his declining poll numbers spurred calls for his withdrawal, culminating in Sunday’s announcement.

Tech

Crowdstrike

Nothing like a crisis on a Friday. Depending on who you are, it could have either made your week even shorter, or the end of your week even more miserable. We’re of course talking about the CrowdStrike outage that many people woke up to Friday morning. 

The outage affected many industries and companies, including banks, hospitals and stock exchanges. It grounded thousands of flights, and it also led to many Microsoft computers ceasing to work, showing the “blue screen of death” instead. 

The good news is, this was not due to some sort of scary cyberattack. Crowdstrike, an American cybersecurity technology firm that provides cloud workload protection, threat intelligence and cyber attack response services, claimed the issue stemmed from a software issue that has been identified, with a fix deployed. 

This outage even impacted emergency services, as 911 was unavailable in some places, such as Phoenix, Arizona - one of the largest cities in the country, as well as Alaska and New Hampshire. A Mass General hospital in Boston had to cancel all elective surgeries, as many hospitals were impacted. Nurses complained about having to use pen and paper for everything, only to then input the data a second time once the systems were up and running again. American Airlines, Delta and United grounded all flights, as over 2,000 U.S. flights were canceled by 9 AM ET on Friday, with another 5,300 delayed. 

The stock price of CrowdStrike plummeted, as shares dropped 15% Friday morning - dropping the price to its lowest level in a few months. CrowdStrike is used by more than half of the Fortune 500 companies and throughout the globe, as the outages even made their way to Australia, Singapore and the U.K. The outage knocked Sky News off the air in England. 

Friday certainly made Dee Reynolds’ fear a reality. 

Apple

Apple and Google have essentially been frenemies: rivals, who have still tried to work together (on some things, at least). But now, they’re butting heads. And the latest battle is over the use of Google Chrome on the iPhone.

Google launched Android to counteract the iPhone. Google has their tablets, to oppose iPads. The two companies also compete in operating systems, browsers, email, app stores, photos, even books and music. However, Apple has always allowed Google (for the most part) to co-exist on the iPhone - allowing their 1.4 billion users to download Google Chrome onto their phones. Until now, atleast.

Apple released a new attack ad against Chrome, urging their users to stop using the browser. Safari has always been the default browser on iPhones, and Apple products, but Google has been trying to alter that. According to data, 30% of iPhone users do use Chrome - but Google would like to get that number to 50%, to split the pie with Apple. 

The two sides do have a business deal (there’s that frenemies thing again: attacking each other, while also having a working agreement), that allows Google to be the default search engine on Safari, as opposed to something like Bing. However, that agreement might soon end, due to a monopoly investigation. Therefore, both sides are preparing for the other side: Google is trying to move more iPhone users directly to Chrome, and Apple is telling them not to use the browser at all.

In Apple’s defense, their criticism of Chrome is not unwarranted, as privacy HAS been an issue. Chrome still tracks cookies, as Google has delayed their plans to phase that out. Chrome’s private browser turned out to not be as private as many believed (ruh-roh). And in recent days, it’s been discovered that Google captures data from Chrome users with a hidden setting that can not be disabled. 

Overall, Chrome and Safari make up more than 90% of the market share on mobile phones. This should be a very interesting battle. Not using Chrome may not be a huge adjustment for you. But what if Google was no longer the default search engine on your iPhone? Imagine having to look up your recipes on Dogpile?!

Business

Bud Light Drops to #3

What’s your favorite beer? Because according to data, America’s favorite (to buy, atleast) is Modelo. 

Modelo Especial remains the top selling beer in this country (between Memorial Day and July 4th) after taking over the top spot last year. This, according to NIQ data shared by Beer Marketer Insights. The data also showed a new No. 2, as Michelob Ultra leapfrogged Bud Light.

Bud Light, which was No. 1 a year ago, drops to third, as sales continue to suffer from the 2023 boycott. Bud Light still accounted for 6.5% of beer sales, but Michelob Ultra was at 7.3% and Modelo was at 9.7%. So, essentially, every 10th beer bought in this country is a Modelo. 

Bud Light’s sales fell 24%(!) during this timeframe, while Modelo’s increased by 12%. Bud Light was previously the top seller for more than 20 years. Now, 67% of distributors said they are not seeing trends improve for Bud Light.

Along with the Bud Light boycott, what is also helping Michelob Ultra is their image of being a “healthier” beer. As relayed in a previous newsletter, 40% of Americans said they were going to drink less in 2024. But with Michelob Ultra, some might feel like they can have their cake and eat it too. Plus, sponsoring the Copa America soccer tournament probably didn’t hurt either… Michelob Ultra will also be the official beer sponsor for Team USA in the Olympics, which will begin later this week.

Entertainment

Fandango

J. Michael Cline, the founder of the movie ticket company Fandango, fell to his death from a New York City hotel Tuesday. Cline was 64 years old.

NYPD said that Cline was found around 10 AM last Tuesday with injuries that indicated he fell from an elevated height at The Kimberly Hotel, a luxury hotel in Manhattan. He was declared dead shortly after by the EMTs. Following investigation, it is believed that Cline, sadly, jumped from a balcony on the 20th floor of the hotel and landed in a third floor courtyard. 

He founded Fandango in 1999 and stayed with the company until 2011. Most recently, he was a founding and managing partner at private equity firm Accretive and executive chairman at Juxtapose, a venture fund. He also founded many other companies, as well. His estimated worth was $80.3 million.

But most importantly, Cline was married and had six children, who have now lost a loved one. Those close to him were shocked by the unexpected news. 

Cline, who was only a couple of days removed from gallbladder surgery, did leave a suicide note. Reportedly, it read “so sorry. I can’t explain the pain of f***ing up this much. I love you all.”

If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Le’s F****** Go

“Deadpool & Wolverine” is set to be released in theaters this Friday, to much acclaim. The movie clocks in at 2 hours and 7 minutes and the latest trailer revealed a special character is in the film. This is the third film in the Deadpool series and a sequel to “Deadpool 2”, which came out in 2018.

According to reports, “grown men” were “sobbing” during camera tests, because it was the first time that Hugh Jackman wore Wolverine’s iconic yellow and blue superhero suit from the comics. Soooo…. bring your tissues with you, if you see the film in theaters? Or, realize you’re a grown man. Either or.

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