Running Mates

In other news, scientists at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute say global warming contributed about 4 degrees of temperature to Europe's extreme heatwave. Temperatures recently reached nearly 115°F in France.

Meanwhile, a group of 206 corporations including the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, and Disney, among many others, have signed a legal brief urging the Supreme Court to rule that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Finally, researchers at the University of Tennessee say there's a correlation between Russian activity on social media in 2016 and Trump's poll numbers.

"Our results show that the weeks when Russian trolls were accumulating likes and retweets on Twitter, that activity reliably foreshadowed gains for Trump in the opinion polls," wrote Damian Ruck, the study's lead researcher, in an article explaining his findings.

The study found that every 25,000 re-tweets by accounts connected to the IRA predicted a 1 percent increase in opinion polls for Trump.

In an interview with NBC News, Ruck said the research suggests that Russian trolls helped shift U.S public opinion in Trump's favor. As to whether it affected the outcome of the election: "The answer is that we still don't know, but we can't rule it out."

Given that the election turned on 75,000 votes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, "it is a prospect that should be taken seriously," Ruck wrote, adding that more study was needed in those swing states.

I'm logging off a little early today because I'm going to dinner and seeing Spider-Man: Far From Home with my father.