Susannah is the mother of two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah, who have just completed their third year of high school. Every summer, Susannah and her husband, Adam, host their closest family friends—Laurel and her two children, Belly and Steven—at Susannah's beach house. The two families view these summers as a chosen-family tradition: the children grew up making their happiest summer memories at the beach house despite normally living several hours away from one another when school is in session. This year is especially emotionally charged because Susannah has recently realized that Conrad and Belly have quietly started to fall for each other.

Shortly before the summer begins, Susannah is diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Her doctors believe that if she does not undergo aggressive treatment, this summer will almost certainly be her last. Susannah has decided to forgo treatment. She has only shared her diagnosis and decision to forgo treatment with Adam and Laurel: neither her children nor Laurel's children know. 

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a trade pact between Canada, Mexico, and the United States in force from 1994 to 2020. NAFTA eliminated most tariffs on goods traded among its members and set common rules on services, investment, and intellectual property to deepen North American integration.

For this debate, “industrial policy” refers to government interventions (e.g., quotas, tariffs, subsidies) that selectively favor particular domestic industries. “Gradual liberalization” refers to a pre-announced, staged easing of barriers to trade, market entry, and foreign investment over several years.

The “Seven Deadly Sins” are a group of major vices within Christianity, including envy, lust, greed, pride, sloth, wrath, and gluttony. From roughly the 1200s to the 1500s, the Seven Deadly Sins were central in Western European Catholic moral teaching and practice.

An “amphibious invasion” is a large-scale military operation that projects forces from sea to land to seize and hold territory on a hostile or defended shore.

For this debate, “systemically important institutions” are financial firms (e.g., banks, insurers, designated nonbank financial companies) so large, complex, and interconnected that their distress or failure could materially threaten financial stability.

“Frontier artificial intelligence” refers to the most advanced general-purpose AI models. Frontier AI providers develop or operate such models. 

“Financial exposure” means any credit, insurance, derivative, ownership stake, or other money-at-risk claim on a frontier AI provider that would cause an institution financial loss if that provider‘s value or ability to pay falls. It does not include mere use of that provider's tools, services, or infrastructure in day-to-day business (e.g., in-app AI chatbots).

The “aesthetics of the unsaid” is a storytelling strategy that conveys meaning through what is implied or left out rather than what is explicitly stated. In queer media (e.g., Moonlight, Call Me by Your Name, Portrait of a Lady on Fire), this strategy often manifests as pauses, glances, sparse dialogue, coded gestures, and off-screen action involving queer characters.