🌊 Biden Expected to Drop Out

Nothing says Friday like a mass cyber outage…

If you’re reading this, you’re probably not an airline, bank, or hospital. This morning, there was a mass cyber outage that has…

• Grounded Delta, United, & American flights;

• Knocked banks in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK completely offline;

• And disrupted hospitals and businesses that use Microsoft worldwide.

Simply put, it’s a really bad day to be “IT guy Todd.” Or, in the UK, “IT guy Nigel.” Really hope none of you had plans to fly today.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Dream Careers For Gen Z

Recent surveys have found America’s career aspirations are shifting

• Per a new NSHSS survey, high school students’ top three dream employers are all in healthcare, and more young people now want to work for the government

• Meanwhile, the appeal of tech companies fell as Gen Zers look for job stability and try to build multiple income streams

Dig Deeper

• The National Society of High School Scholars survey found that students ranked St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as their top employer choice, followed by the Mayo Clinic at second and Health Care Service Corp. at third

• The top-ranked non-healthcare job was FBI agent at number five. Just seven years ago, Google held the top spot as the dream employer: Now, it’s seventh

• Both NSHSS and a survey by job-search platform Handshake also found an increase in the number of students who wanted government jobs

KEY STORY

Trump Speaks

Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination

• UFC Pres. Dana White introduced Trump: “I’m in the tough-guy business, and this man is the toughest, most resilient human being,” he said

• Trump then accepted the nomination and declared, “The discord and division in our society must be healed. We must heal it quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart”

• He went on to describe the attempt on his life – “It was a warm beautiful day in Butler Township,” he recalled – then vowed to make America great again

Dig Deeper

• Speaking of the assassination attempt – which Trump said he would only do once – Trump said, “I felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear...I said to myself, ‘Wow what was that! It can only be a bullet.’ And moved my hand to my ear and brought it down – my hand was covered in blood”

• “I immediately knew that it was very serious, that we were under attack...Bullets were continuing to fly, as very brave Secret Service agents rushed to the stage. And they really did. They rushed to the stage”

• “There was blood pouring everywhere, and yet, in a certain way, I felt very safe because I had God on my side”

• He spoke in a subdued tone before returning to his traditional themes: “Under our leadership, the United States will be respected again. No nation will question our power. No enemy will doubt our might...Our borders will be totally secure. Our economy will soar. We will return law and order to our streets, patriotism to our schools, and importantly, we will restore peace, stability, and harmony all throughout the world”

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KEY STORY

Record Jail for Protesters

A UK judge gave five “Just Stop Oil” protesters record prison sentences for nonviolent protests

• The group – convicted under a new law intended to deter unruly protests – received four- or five-year sentences for having dozens of activists obstruct traffic on a major highway over four days

• A UN environmental rep said the convictions mark a “dark day” in environmental activism, and activists called on the UK’s new Labour gov’t to intervene

• Yet the judge told the convicts, “The plain fact is that each of you some time ago has crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic”

Dig Deeper

• “You have appointed yourselves as sole arbiters of what should be done about climate change,” that judge added

• The group was convicted under a “public nuisance” law passed by the UK’s recently ousted Conservative government, which sought to deter some protests by increasing penalties. That law came amid a wave of protest actions by “Just Stop Oil” and similar groups, which have targeted Stonehenge, Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” and other notable places and artifacts

KEY STORY

Biden Drop Out Coming?

Democratic leaders expect Biden to drop out as soon as this weekend

• In recent days, the Democratic House and Senate leaders, Barack Obama, and Nancy Pelosi, have reportedly all urged Biden to step aside

• Reports say Biden – who is currently at his Delaware home with Covid – could drop out as soon as Sunday

• While VP Harris is the current betting favorite to replace Biden, there is a movement within the party to decide the next candidate at the Democratic convention, which is scheduled for August 19-22

Dig Deeper

• If the decision goes to an “open convention,” potential replacements include Michelle Obama, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer

• Axios reported Thursday that a close friend told Biden that “his choice is to be one of history’s heroes, or to be sure of the fact that there’ll never be a Biden presidential library”

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🍺Recent sales data show that Bud Light has dropped to the number three spot in the US beer industry. In the four weeks ending July 6, Bud Light represented 6.5% of beer dollar sales in US stores, compared to 7.3% for Michelob Ultra and 9.7% for Modelo 

🍿Netflix reported $9.5B in revenue and $4.88 profit per share in Q2, meeting expectations. The platform added 8M subscribers this quarter, up from 5.9M last year, with a quarterly profit of $2.2B

📺Amazon Prime Video’s satirical superhero action-drama “The Boys” added a content warning ahead of its Season 4 finale. The episode – previously titled “Assassination Run” but retitled “Season 4 Finale” – includes a viewer discretion note, as it comes five days after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump

🇦🇷Argentina’s economy expanded by 1.3% between April and May, marking the first growth under President Javier Milei, who took office in December. He’s vowed to enact a slew of libertarian policies he said would plunge the country into recession to reduce inflation, then spark a prolonged economic turnaround

💥The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel is preparing for a potential war with Hezbollah. Officials believe the conflict would surpass the Gaza war in scale, with an estimated 4,000 daily rockets and over 1,000+ daily Israeli casualties

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COMMUNITY

🧠Yesterday’s question: If anyone from history could have a podcast, who would you choose?

ASK AND TELL
20 Questions

Ladies and gentlemen, the Weeknd.

And we thought last week’s news cycle was crazy! We don’t want to jinx ourselves again, so let’s instead cool down with a game of “This or That.” We will give you 20 matchups, and you tell us which you prefer. Democracy dies in the darkness, so please make sure to vote. Also, we can’t believe you all almost rated Pitbull the artist lower than pitbulls the dog breed last week. He’s Mr. 305 not Mr. 3.05!

Here’s the link.

Last Week’s 20 Questions:

Average ratings for last week’s “Rate This” edition of 20 Qs.

John Cena - 6.8
Dr. Pepper - 5.7
Window seat - 8.2
Aisle seat - 8.0
Crocs - 3.5
Pigs in a blanket - 5.9
Car air fresheners - 4.1
Lava lamps - 5.4
Pitbulls - 2.9
Pitbull the artist - 3.6
The weather this week - 2.7
Blizzards from Dairy Queen - 7.0
McFlurries - 5.8
Netflix’s movie selection - 6.2
Fried calamari - 4.8
Capers - 3.7
Jazz music - 6.8
Ratings edition of 20 Questions - 7.4

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🙏 RIP, comedy legend: Comedian and sitcom legend Bob Newhartdied at 94. The deadpan accountant-turned-comedian launched his career as a standup comic in the late 1950s

⚽️ MLS’s chosen one: At 14 years and 293 days old, the Philadelphia Union’s Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player to debut in any major professional US sports league

🦞Red Lobster’s Last Stand: In a recent shipment, a Red Lobster in Coloradodiscovered an orange lobster– a one in 30M occurrence

🔭 SpaceAdvisor: An astronautused TripAdvisor to give an honest review of her accommodations during the 2021 SpaceX Inspiration 4 mission, the first all-civilian mission to orbit space. She gave it a 5/5

🦕Griffinosaurus: Citadel CEO and billionaire Ken Griffinpaid $44.6M for a 27-foot-long Stegosaurus skeleton at an auction this week

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Bookended by an attempted assassination and what some are calling the largest cyber outage in history, this week has given us a news cycle to remember.

We are deeply grateful for your trust in Roca. We don’t take our responsibility to inform you with just the facts lightly. We’re all in this together — have a great weekend!

–Max and Max