QUOTE OF THE DAY

'It's less about integrity and more about salvaging the credibility of a public health bureaucracy that failed millions during the Covid-19 pandemic.'

Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon on the agency's and CDC's commitment to ensuring vaccine guidance. Despite efforts by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to change the country's vaccine system, government officials have claimed that the basic framework for vaccine guidance will remain in place.

talking points

Mainstream Democrats are struggling with Mamdani's win

At just 33 years old, Zohran Mamdani is not only poised to become the next mayor of New York City but has emerged as a potent national figure. That's thanks in large part to the unabashed progressivism and massive grassroots support that contributed to his surprise victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the NYC Democratic mayoral primary race this past week. As Mamdani prepares for a bruising general election against incumbent Eric Adams and possibly an unbowed Cuomo, opinions vary on Mamdani's future in the Democratic Party.

'Serious setback'
As a state Assembly member with a history of "controversial comments about Israel and policing," Mamdani is seen by some Democratic insiders as "politically toxic" to their broader effort to "attract votes in less progressive places nationwide," said Axios. Mamdani's win is a "gift" to Donald Trump and Republicans, Jon Reinish, a New York Democratic strategist, said to The Hill.

Mamdani's policies "only translate and only are a thing in the most liberal districts in a primary," said Reinish. And for the party's "more pragmatic wing," Mamdani's win represents a "serious setback" in a project to "broaden Democrats' appeal" and move past the progressive agenda they claim "alienated would-be voters in recent elections," said The Associated Press.

Powerful reproach
While many Democratic insiders "publicly embraced" the enthusiasm Mamdani was able to generate among younger voters, they have also taken pains to avoid "associating too closely" with his more progressive policies, said CNN. Half-hearted embrace notwithstanding, Mamdani's victory is a "clear inflection point in the roiling debate" over how Democrats must reinvent the party in the wake of their 2024 drubbing, said The Nation.

If Mamdani wins the general election, the lessons for Democrats will be "less about ideology" and "more about tactics," said The Atlantic: "having energy, communicating clearly and frequently, and focusing on personal economic issues." Mamdani's strength, said Teen Vogue, has been his ability to speak to "constituencies who either felt burned or simply ignored by Democratic centrist campaign strategies."

Statistic of the day

3,048: The number of vehicles that sank after a cargo ship capsized in international waters this week, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The Morning Midas caught fire before sinking about 450 miles off the Alaskan coast. At least 70 electric cars and 681 hybrids were among the vehicles lost.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The mystery of France's 'needle attacks' on women

"Someone tapped my left forearm. I started to feel numb in the muscle, like you do when you get a vaccine. After about 30 minutes, the injection mark appeared," a 22-year-old woman named only as Manon said to CNN. She's among 145 young women who reported being pricked with syringes while attending Fête de la Musique, an annual open-air music festival that took place in towns and cities across France last weekend.

Instilling fear
Manon and other victims are waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine what, if anything, they were jabbed with. French police have detained 12 suspects, but so far no one has been charged.

The objective of the unidentified assailants "isn't only to drug women," Abrège Soeur, a feminist influencer, said to CNN. It's to "instill fear in them." Before the festival, Soeur had warned her followers that men on social media were planning syringe attacks.

Similar spates of attacks were reported at the 2022 Fête de la Musique and in the U.K. in October 2021, when nightclubs reopened and students returned to universities after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. By February 2022, U.K. police had received more than 1,300 reports of needle spiking over the previous six months, without a single confirmed case or conviction.

'Social panic'
The reports are "always the same," said Le Monde in 2022: "an invisible attacker; traces of a needle in the arm, buttocks or back; symptoms of varying intensity (headaches, vomiting)" and "toxicological analyses that turn out to be negative." There could be an element of "social panic" in reports of "needle-spiking," said Psychology Today.

Young people in 2022 were experiencing fear of vaccinations, worry about passing Covid to someone vulnerable, and guilt about having fun. Previous needle-spiking panics have been connected to other topical fears, such as HIV transmission.

In the recent incidents in France, "some jabs were found to have been caused by toothpicks, and some were mosquito bites," said The Times. Police have "shifted their focus" to the theory that social media posts about jabbing women as a "game" may have "both promoted 'prank' spiking and prompted imaginary attacks."

Good day 🏴‍☠️

… for treasure hunters. A British marine archaeologist is co-directing an expedition in the Bahamas to search for pirate ships near Nassau on the island of New Providence, a "notorious pirate hideout," said The Guardian. "We are expecting to find some really cool stuff, because this is the real home of the pirates of the Caribbean," said Dr. Sean Kingsley.

Bad day 🤳

… for selfies. An 18th-century painting in Florence's Uffizi Galleries was reportedly damaged after a visitor tripped while taking a selfie. The tourist fell while "trying to make a meme" in front of the painting, said the museum. The problem of "visitors coming to museums to make memes" is "rampant," said the museum's director, Simone Verde.

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Feel the groove on these music-centric getaways

Incorporating your love of music into a vacation is as simple as do-re-mi. Here are a few ideas sure to jumpstart your body, from tangoing the night away in Argentina to learning about the blues where it began in Mississippi.

Take a gigcation in Las Vegas
The stars are always out in Las Vegas, as some of the biggest names in music, including Kelly Clarkson, the Eagles, Pitbull, take the stage for residencies. Bruno Mars (pictured above) stands out from the crowd, with his "electrifying" set at Park MGM's Dolby Live, said Ebony. His two-hour performance flies by, thanks to his booming voice, smooth moves, lively band and frequent use of fireworks.

Tango through Buenos Aires
Tango is the sound of Argentina's capital, a dance and music style formed from a "mixture of cultures and migratory currents" that arrived here during the 19th century, said Lonely Planet. La Viruta Tango Club is an iconic spot that blends "tradition and modernity," said Time Out. Venues across the city offer classes, shows and open dancing every night of the week.

Follow the Mississippi Blues Trail
The Mississippi Blues Trail honors the "people and places that secured the music's legacy," with more than 200 stops across the state, said Afar. Blues was created by Black musicians, and "pioneers" of the genre often learned from one another while "sharecropping on plantations in the Mississippi Delta." Stops include train depots, cotton fields, clubs, churches and cemeteries, with markers explaining the significance of each place.

Poll watch

Over three-quarters of people globally (76%) identify with a religion, according to a Pew Research Center survey. But the poll of people in 117 countries found that among adults under 55 who grew up with a religion, 10% have either switched to a different religion or abandoned religion entirely.

INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'America's coming smoke epidemic'
Zoe Schlanger at The Atlantic
Until recently, wildfires that "exposed large populations to smoke were a relatively rare occurrence," says Zoe Schlanger. But "more frequent and intense wildfires are erasing or even reversing decades of gains made in American air quality." Now that "more people are regularly breathing smoky air over their lifetime," the "relevant concern may no longer be what happens when a person gets one big dose of smoke; rather, it may be what happens when they are exposed many times."

'My daughter died from CMV, a virus we all need to learn more from'
Arissa Viering at The Dallas Morning News
Cytomegalovirus is the "most common infectious cause of birth defects" in the U.S. but "often goes unnoticed," says Arissa Viering. Despite these "staggering numbers, more than 80% of women" have "never heard of CMV," and "even more troubling, many health care providers aren't equipped to address it either." This "needs to change." We "need widespread awareness, and we need continued support for scientific research that could one day prevent this heartbreak for other families."

'Ranked choice at the movies'
Armond White at the National Review
Ranked-choice voting "appeals to the simple-minded vanity of political do-gooders; it allows them to overlook their actual inclination toward favoritism, authoritarian dictates, and absolute control," says Armond White. Ranked-choice voting was implemented in Hollywood as a "stop-loss remedy — a move to camouflage the practices of an industry devoted to meretricious, often nihilistic entertainments." Since "adopting ranked-choice voting, the Oscars have merely awarded more junk." It's "nearly impossible to get an informed or artistically sound Oscar choice."

WORD OF THE DAY

allokelping

The process by which orcas use strands of kelp to groom each other. Researchers recently used drones to capture footage of allokelping in an orca pod in the Pacific Ocean, and it's believed to be one of the few documented instances of marine mammals using tools.

Will NATO countries meet their new spending goal?