Surgeon General's New Warning: Parents Are So Stressed Out They Can't Function
Plus, Rise in lawsuits over new voter rules, eligibility
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Good morning,
Let the games begin! The Paralympics Games opened yesterday in Paris and will run until Sept. 8.
Events: There are 22 sports with 549 medal events and some 4,400 athletes competing. Goalball and boccia are two Paralympic-specific sports not featured at the Olympics.
Who to watch: China has dominated the last five Paralympics, is bringing the most athletes (282) and hopes to continue its winning streak. Brazil (255) and France (237) have the next largest delegations of athletes, while the US is sending 225 athletes.
From the US, para athletes represent 38 states and range in age from 15 to 52. We’ll be watching Team USA's Hunter Woodhall, a sprinter (with three Paralympic medals) whose wife, Tara Davis, got her gold medal this summer in women’s long jump.
Origins: Paralympics grew out of a competition held by a British hospital for World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries in 1948. The first Olympic-style games were held in Rome in 1960.
Have a good one!
Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren
PS: Don’t forget to refer friends & family to subscribe to the Mo Newsletter… you could get free Mo News merch — DETAILS at the bottom of this newsletter!
📌 THE PARENTS ARE NOT ALRIGHT: AMERICA’S TOP DOCTOR HAS A WARNING
The parents are NOT alright. US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy says parents have reached “disproportionate” levels of stress and loneliness, and that ultimately impacts the next generation.
It comes as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have both discussed proposals on the campaign trail to help families, but they differ on the details, and even the challenges facing American families.
WARNING: IT’S OK NOT TO BE OK
Dr. Murthy, a father of two, issued the advisory— a public statement that draws attention to an urgent public health issue— on Wednesday. He wrote that “parents who feel pushed to the brink deserve more than platitudes. They need tangible support.” [Link To Report]
The numbers: The advisory notes that 33% of parents report high levels of stress in the past month compared to 20% of other adults; 48% of parents say that most days their stress is completely overwhelming compared to 26% among other adults; and, 65% of parents said they were lonely, compared with 55% of adults without kids.
Parents are both working more hours each week AND spending more time being the primary child care provider— that’s outside of total time spent with children— when compared to THEIR parents.
Parents also juggle the demands of children’s health and safety, along with the new frontiers when it comes to technology and social media.
SOLUTIONS
Dr. Murthy notes how everyone— from neighbors to business leaders— can help: from checking-in with parents to implementing high-quality mental health care at workplaces.
He calls on lawmakers to establish a national paid family leave program— which the Biden administration tried to pass, only for it to die in Congress.
Just over a quarter of American workers have access to parental leave (time-off after welcoming a child) in the US private sector. A number of states have also passed their own paid parental leave policies.
CANDIDATE AGENDAS
Harris and Trump have made easing costs for families a central theme of their campaigns. The current child tax credit is $2,000 per qualifying child.
Harris has said she wants to restore pandemic-era tax credits of up to $3,600 per child and create a $6,000 credit for newborns. She also supports the Biden administration plan for free universal Pre-K, 12-weeks of federal paid family leave, and a grant program capping child care costs at 7% of a family’s income.
Trump’s platform promises to expand the Child Tax Credit and end policies that “punish families,” but does not give specific numbers or ways to do it. In his first term in office, he doubled the child tax credit from $1,000 and passed paid family leave for federal workers. He had proposed paid family leave for all, but Congress rejected it. It is unclear if he still supports it.
His running mate, J.D. Vance, supports a $5,000 child tax credit.
📌 BATTLE OVER THE BALLOT: BOTH PARTIES FIGHT FOR VOTING ACCESS
Democrats and Republicans are ramping up legal battles over who gets to vote and how those votes are counted this November. While last-minute litigation is typical before elections, experts say that there is an unprecedented surge of lawsuits this year.
THE CASES
The lawsuits come against the backdrop of the 2020 election, when former President Trump and his supporters claimed election fraud, and contested results in several states where they lost by slim margins (GA, AZ). The 2024 presidential race is expected to be close, and the legal battles could be fuel for possible push-back from the Trump side should he lose again.
Democrats sued the Georgia state election board on Monday, arguing that recently passed measures that alter the election certification process are illegal and could create chaos on Election Day.
The change would allow individual officials to examine all election documents and block the certification of results.
GOP leaders sued the North Carolina Board of Elections twice this week— one of the cases seeks to purge 225,000 registered voters. The board criticized the move for being based on "categorically false" allegations about the potential for voter fraud.
Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs issued executive orders in 2023 expanding voter registration outreach and locations to drop off absentee ballots. Republicans sued to block the measures last week.
At least seven other states have already ruled on cases around similar election security claims.
NOT MUCH TIME LEFT
There’s only 68 days until the election. Next Friday, Sept. 6, the first mail-in ballots will be sent to voters.
That means there is little time for the legal fights to play out in court before voters make their selection.
Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor, says the litigation is unlikely to change who, or how, people vote. Instead, he notes that late-stage litigation can be used to drive fundraising efforts and stir up motivation among voters.
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 Supreme Court leaves Biden’s new student loan repayment plan blocked (CNN)
📌 Gunman in Trump assassination attempt saw rally as ‘target of opportunity,’ FBI official says (AP NEWS)
📌 RFK Jr. wants off the ballot in 10 states. Some battlegrounds are saying no (CBS NEWS)
📌 Teen arrested in first violation of New York county's controversial mask ban (NBC NEWS)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 Israeli forces launch a major anti-terror operation in the West Bank (AP)
📌 French prosecutors charged Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, allege platform enabled organized crime and refused to cooperate with authorities, set bail at $5.56 million (NBC NEWS)
📌 Namibia plans to kill more than 700 animals including elephants and hippos — and distribute the meat (CNN)
📌 “Curious” 4-year-old accidentally breaks a 3,500-year-old jar at a Israeli museum (CBS NEWS)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 Google updates Gemini's AI image creator that failed to depict White people and resumes generating people (VERGE)
📌 There are 21 people with sloth fever. What to know about the deadly virus as US, Europe warn of imported cases (CBS NEWS)
📌 Unusually mild Atlantic hurricane season likely to ramp up (AXIOS)
📌 SpaceX postpones the launch of private Polaris mission once again (NBC NEWS)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 As Paralympics get bigger, some athletes say cheating is more prevalent (WASHINGTON POST)
📌 Iga Swiatek and other tennis players say their mental and physical health are ignored (AP)
📌 ‘Beetlejuice 2’ gets 3-minute Venice standing ovation for Michael Keaton and Jenna Ortega’s performances (VARIETY)
📌 Country star Scotty McCreery boots fan from concert after seeing him hit a woman (NY POST)
🗓 ON THIS DAY: AUGUST 28
1893: American businessman and inventor Whitcomb L. Judson was granted a U.S. patent for a “clasp locker,” which evolved into the modern zipper.
1994: British rock band Oasis released their debut studio album 'Definitely Maybe' 30 years ago.
Brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher announced this week that the band is reuniting after years of fighting.
1997: Netflix was founded by American entrepreneurs Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph; originally a DVD-by-mail service that later expanded into video streaming and production.
2005: Hurricane Katrina struck the US Gulf Coast and devastated the area, especially New Orleans, which experienced catastrophic flooding after its levees were breached the following day.
2008: Sen. John McCain names Sarah Palin as his running mate.