Skimm'd with chocolate covered pretzels

"The demand...wasn't anticipated" – A British cheese festival explaining why it ran out of cheese. Not gouda.

TAKE THREE

The Story

Yesterday, President Trump took the mic (again) with more thoughts on what happened in Charlottesville, VA.

Remind me.

Over the weekend, white supremacist groups gathered to protest Charlottesville's plan to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee. They marched with torches, Nazi and Confederate flags, and chanted things like "you will not replace us." Violent clashes erupted between white nationalists and counter-protesters. Later that day, a driver rammed a car into a group of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring many others.

What has President Trump said?

Depends on the day. On Saturday, he condemned violence on "many sides," failing to blame white supremacists by name. On Monday – after a lot of criticism from many sides – he said "racism is evil" and called out the "KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups." Then yesterday, he said 'never mind' and went back to his original statement – and then some.

What's he saying now?

That he waited until Monday to make a fuller statement because he wanted all the facts first, and because "there are two sides to a story." That "both sides" are to blame – the "alt-left" groups that he says were "very, very violent," and the alt-right groups that he says included people just protesting the statue's removal and not all neo-Nazis. That removing Confederate statues is "changing history" and asked if George Washington's and Thomas Jefferson's statues were the next to come down.

What are people saying?

That it's strange Trump is having such a hard time condemning white supremacists, since it took him just minutes to clap back at Merck's CEO for resigning from one of his business councils. That Trump's insisted on naming 'radical Islamic' terrorism, yet he's struggling to do the same with domestic terrorism involving white nationalists. That he's equating white supremacists with activists standing up against racism. Meanwhile, former KKK leader David Duke thanked Trump yesterday for his "honesty" in condemning "leftist terrorists." Duke was one of Trump's earliest supporters, and it took Trump a long time to distance himself from Duke.

theSkimm

For three days, America has watched the president waffle on whether and how to denounce white supremacists. You can read that again.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

What to say when your friend still hasn't responded to a month-old Venmo request…

Pay up. Costco might have to. Yesterday, a federal judge told the retailer to cough up more than $19 million for selling fake Tiffany & Co rings. On Valentine's Day in 2013, Tiffany sent Costco a lawsuit-colored rose. They say that for years Costco was selling diamond rings that it billed as Tiffany rings. And that not only was this misleading for customers but also cheapening their brand name. Audrey Hepburn would not approve. Costco says 'erroneous' and that they were only using the brand's name to refer to a particular style. Now, on top of the fine, Costco's banned from using the word 'Tiffany' by itself in any marketing material. Costco says it plans to appeal. Who isn't feeling (Tiffany) blue? Amazon. Yesterday, the company said 'you know what we haven't conquered yet? delivering things instantly.' So it rolled out Instant Pickup. The new service lets you order the essentials like TP, snacks, and phone chargers online – then pick them up at nearby locations "in two minutes." Right now, Amazon's starting this off at certain colleges before rolling it out to more locations. Apparently going to a physical store to pick things up is the new online shopping.

What to say when your fuse blows…

Need to fix this. Yesterday, South Carolina sued Purdue – the company that makes OxyContin. America's dealing with a major opioid crisis. In recent years, the number of people addicted to opioids like Oxy has gone way up – and tens of thousands of people have died from overdoses. A major part of the problem is that pharma companies have long marketed the painkillers as safe, which in part led doctors to write scripts for them left, right, and center. Last week, President Trump declared the issue a national emergency. And yesterday South Carolina became the sixth state, along with other hard-hit states like New Hampshire and Ohio, to sue one of the major drug brands. All of these state lawsuits blame drugmakers for downplaying the addiction risks of opioids and hyping up their benefits. But for Purdue, this is deja vu. Back in '07, the drugmaker said 'guilty' to misleading the public about OxyContin in a Justice Department investigation. SC says that the company still hasn't changed its ways. So TBD on whether this lawsuit will make Purdue give up the habit.

PS: Have more questions about the opioid crisis? We Skimm'd it for you.

What to say when your co-worker asks you to cancel your vacay to help out on a major project…

Not happening. Earlier this week, a web hosting service got out its megaphone and said that the Justice Department wants it to hand over info on people who visited a President Trump protest website. The website in question lives on this company's servers and was involved in organizing protests against Trump on Inauguration Day. This company says the Justice Dept's warrant – filed earlier this year – means they'd have to hand over visitors' contact details and photos, plus more than one million IP addresses (aka your comp's unique ID card). And that they're putting up a fight because they say the request is unconstitutional. It's unclear why the Justice Dept wants this info but a warrant means that they convinced a judge that it's necessary. So far, the Justice Department is staying quiet on all of the above.

What to say when you realise summer's almost over…

Drinking like a fish is one way to survive the winter.

Kittenfishing

Catfishing for non-monsters. Think: fudging your height in your dating profile by one or two inches. Airbrushing your photo. Having your friend chat with someone for you. Fishy behavior, but no Nev Schulman intervention necessary. This dating app is working on it by giving you a better IRL idea of potential matches before you meet them. Get it here.

SKIMM LIFE

Skimm HQ still has a lot of feelings about Rachel's choices. We know you do, too. So we're sending you and a plus-one to Rioja, Spain to relive it all. We'll cover the flights, plus VIP trips to the winery. Final rose ceremony definitely not included. Enter here.

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