Today’s Big Story

Lame Duck

Biden returns to a vastly different presidency with six months to go

On Tuesday, President Biden returned to Washington after a brush with COVID kept him holed up in Delaware for a few rather eventful days. But when his motorcade pulled into the White House gates for the first time since he withdrew from the race, the New York Times says that Biden returned to a vastly different presidency.

“He is now that creature most dreaded in the Oval Office: a lame duck, a commander in chief on the way out who is being challenged to assert his relevance even as the world moves on,” writes Peter Baker. “Traditionally, it has been the most frustrating period of a president’s time in office—the spotlight turns toward potential successors; lawmakers would rather rush home to campaign than pass major legislation; and world leaders strategize over how to deal with the next administration while looking for ways to make introductions.”

Of course, Biden insists that he’s “not going anywhere,” and has plenty left to do. And it’s true that his lease on the White House has another six months, or roughly an eighth of his entire term. Even as historians hailed Biden’s decision to step aside as an example of democracy working, the president still wants to leave legacy-building achievements on top of the accomplishments of his first three and a half years.

The most important unknown factor for a lame duck president, of course, is who wins the election to succeed him. Biden has said he planned to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris. And wide-ranging actions by lame ducks are sometimes simply unnecessary. Transitions between same-party presidents (which may or may not happen this cycle) are rare, but in 1988-89 Ronald Reagan worked hard to facilitate Vice President George H.W. Bush’s accession to office.

But where does the term come from? Apparently, it’s been around for centuries and likely finds its roots in England during the 1700s. A Denver Post column traces the origin of the term to the world of London finance, where it was used to describe an out-of-luck broker who didn't pay his debts and had to “waddle out of the alley like a lame duck.” (Exchange Alley was a London financial hub at the time.) Over time, it became more commonly used as the political term and is now so widely accepted that it has its own Merriam Webster entry.

The Hottest Day of All Time?

Sunday was Earth’s hottest day in all recorded history, European climate agency says

If you think the summer heat has been brutal, you’re not wrong. In fact, on Sunday, Earth saw its warmest day on record globally since at least 1940, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service in Europe. “We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years,” Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said.

Axios reports that the record, which exceeded the old milestone set last July, came in the middle of the planet's hottest year yet since at least the pre-industrial era, and likely for at least 100,000 years before that. The past 13 months have been the warmest such period on record, and the oceans have been at record warm levels for 15-straight months. This is especially noteworthy because the planet's oceans absorb about 90% of the trapped heat from the human-caused buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

“What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,” Buontempo told the Associated Press.

A Giant Hot Dog Crashes

The Wienermobile flipped onto its side after crash along a suburban Chicago highway

You might expect to see litter, trash or even roadkill on the side of a highway. But a 3,600-pound hot dog? Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt when Oscar Mayer’s famed Wienermobile was involved in a rollover crash after the driver hit another car, lost control, overcorrected and rolled the vehicle on its side, the Illinois State Police said.

A spokesperson for the brand, which has around half a dozen Wienermobiles currently cruising around America, told the Chicago Sun-Times it’s “grateful that everybody involved is safe” and confirmed that the giant, rolling hot dog had to be hauled away by a tow truck. According to the company, the driver of a Wienermobile is called a “hotdogger”. The hotdogger job is to “meat and greet” people around the country.

The story made me hungry and got me wondering about the Weinermobile. In 1936, Carl Mayer, the nephew of the company’s founder, “came up with the idea of a 13-foot metal hot dog on wheels” as an advertising gimmick. Since then, the hot-dog-shaped cars have increased in size and number. The regular Wienermobile now has a 23-foot fiberglass hot dog roof. The one that crashed on Monday was the smaller version. It is 15 feet long and 8 feet tall, and called a Mini, in part because its body is a modified Mini Cooper. Apparently, last year, they tried to change the name, but no one wants to call it the “Frankmobile.”

Olympians Withdrawl Before the Games

Some top atheletes bow out while others are suspended

This Friday, the Summer Olympics will kick off with a splashy opening cememony on the River Seine, but some notable athletes who were planning to compete won’t be there. One of the most decorated members of the Great Britain Olympic delegation announced her withdrawal following an equine-abuse investigation.

Equestrian athlete Charlotte Dujardin, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in dressage, said the video showing her whipping a horse 24 times was from four years ago and showed her acting “completely out of character.” Dujardin, who had been a leading contender to be Team GB’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony, stepped down just hours before the International Federation for Equestrian Sports confirmed that she had been provisionally suspended for six months.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Olympic gymnastics team will head into competition without its captain, Shoko Miyata, after she withdrew from the team following an investigation that found she had violated the squad’s code of conduct by smoking and drinking alcohol. And last month, Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 3-ranked female tennis player in the world, decided to skip the Paris Olympics because it’s “too much for the scheduling” and also noted that she preferred to focus on Wimbledon.

The Long Read

Toothpaste that uses hydroxyapatite to fight cavities works—but is scarce in the United States

Success takes time.