Good morning, Quartz readers!
HEREāS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Mark Cuban has words for Elon Musk. Those words are about Donald Trump, and they are: āHis loyalty is only to himself.ā
AI is going nuclear in Michigan. Plans are being finalized to restart a nuclear reactor to power the technologyās intense energy needs.
Conservatives are introducing Netflix to a different kind of cancel culture. CEO Reed Hastings donated $7 million to Kamala Harrisās presidential campaign and the subscribers began dropping like flies.
AT&T is getting out of the TV business. Itās selling its stake in DirecTV to a private equity firm for $7.6 billion.
Stellantis is feeling pretty down on itself. The automaker slashed its 2024 guidance and triggered a huge sell-off of its stock.
On (the strike at) the waterfront
Whether a huge American port strike has begun by the time you read this or not, the tensions that made it a possibility will remain in the air for a while. Either way, dockworkers represented by the International Longshoremenās Association flexed their muscles in a bid for better.
The biggest issue, as is often the case, is pay. The ILA has been negotiating a new contract with the United States Maritime Alliance since May for higher wages, plus protections against automation and new technology devices in terminals, but talks have been unfruitful for a while.
How did it come to a point that 51% of U.S. imports might be stuck on boats from Maine to Texas? Quartzās Rachel Dalloo and William Gavin give a lay of the land in this huge labor dispute.
A new kind of crypto halving
As exotic as the world of cryptocurrencies may be to large portions of the U.S. population, thereās one thing about it thatās as ordinary as apple pie: Owners of the asset donāt know who they want to be president.
A report from Coinbase suggests that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have an equal shot of winning the growing voting bloc, with 47% throwing their support behind each candidate. Since 52 million Americans apparently own some sort of digital currency, itās not surprising that a group that large canāt come to an agreement.
Many crypto owners (87%) are certain that the financial system needs an update. But Quartzās Vinamrata Chaturvedi explains that theyāre otherwise a lot less politically locked-in than outsiders might expect.
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SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
Clippers fans will have one way to sate their drought. The championship-less NBA team is getting special state permission to sell late-night booze at its new arena.
Electronics designers are pushing users toward a little less screen time. On the latest wave of devices, buttons are regaining lost ground. (paywall)
Hurricane Heleneās devastation in western North Carolina could have a huge economic impact on AI. A mine in the region is a key global source of high-purity quartz necessary for semiconductor production.
Talk Tuah Hailey Welch nice. The viral TikTok sensationās podcast is the fifth-most popular show on Spotify thanks to a legion of MAGA-minded fans.
No more sailing coal to Newcastle. The United Kingdom just shuttered its last coal-fired power plant.
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Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, crypto-political poll results, and gadget buttons to talk@qz.com. Todayās Daily Brief was brought to you by Melvin Backman and Morgan Haefner.