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- 🌊 To Catch a Healthcare Killer
🌊 To Catch a Healthcare Killer
Plus: Brits hide junk food ads from kids, AI weatherman, & winter pic showcase!
This day in nature history…
77 years ago, the US established Everglades National Park in Florida. The Everglades is an absolutely bizarre place: It is the only place in the US with native crocodiles, and the only place in the world where crocodiles and alligators coexist. It’s also home to the Florida panther, manatees, and some of the strangest species of humans America has to offer. We typed in “Florida Man Everglades,” and the first story was “Florida man caught eating cheesecake nude in Everglades.” Glad to know you’re doing okay, Uncle Gary….
🕵🏻♂️ Search for CEO assassin
🍩 Brits hide junk food ads from kids
🇬🇧 Muhammad top name in England
–Max and Max
KEY STORY
Healthcare Killer Manhunt
The search for the healthcare killer continued
On Wednesday, Brian Thompson – CEO of United Healthcare, one of the US’ largest health insurance companies – was assassinated in Midtown Manhattan while on his way to attend his company’s annual shareholder meeting. The assailant escaped on an e-bike into Central Park, sparking a manhunt
On Thursday, police said the shooter used a silencer and bullets engraved with the words “delay,” “depose,” and “deny,” tactics allegedly used by health insurance companies to avoid coverage
Police also searched a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and found a photo of the alleged culprit, a smiling young man
Dig Deeper
Amid the hunt prominent ex-NYT and now-Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz prompted online controversy for suggesting it made sense why someone would want to kill a healthcare executive
Sharing an article about Blue Cross Blue Shield, another insurance company that announced cuts to anesthesia coverage, she wrote, “And people wonder why we want these executives dead”
KEY STORY
FBI: Hide Your Texts
US officials warned Americans to avoid SMS texting following what the chairman of Senate Intelligence called “the worst telecom hack in our… history by far”
The “Salt Typhoon” Chinese hacking campaign breached more than eight major US telecommunications companies, reportedly to spy on politicians. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile were among the affected providers
Officials said that Americans should use encrypted services – like iMessage, Google Messages, or WhatsApp – to avoid potential privacy intrusions
China denied any hack took place
Dig Deeper
White House Officials said that none of the affected telecom firms have been able to clear the hack fully and that the Chinese operation is still underway
Officials did not commit to a timetable for clearing the telecom companies' systems
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KEY STORY
AI Weather Takeover?
DeepMind, a Google-owned company in London, has developed the first artificial intelligence (AI) model that generates accurate forecasts up to 15 days in advance, per a new report in Nature
Due to atmospheric volatility, most weather models are good at predicting weather for about a week. DeepMind developed its AI weather model system GenCast with the goal of forecasting weather more accurately and for longer periods of time
According to the Nature piece, GenCast beat the industry-leading European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 97% of the time. For predictions beyond 3 days, it won nearly 100% of the time
KEY STORY
UK Junk Food Ad Ban
In a plan unveiled Tuesday, the UK government will ban ads for “less healthy” food and drinks before 9 PM starting next year to reduce childhood obesity
According to the National Health Service, one in 10 four-year-olds in the UK is considered to be obese and one in five five-year-olds suffers from tooth decay from eating too much sugar
UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting declared, “This government is taking action now to end the targeting of junk food ads at kids”
The list of “junk foods” includes breakfast cereals, muesli, porridge oats, and granola
Dig Deeper
Obesity costs the UK health service more than £11 billion ($14B) each year, per Secretary Streeting, who said, “Obesity robs our kids of the best possible start in life, sets them up for a lifetime of health problems, and costs the NHS billions”
The plan – which the UK government hopes will prevent 20,000 cases of childhood obesity a year – will take effect starting next October
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
✈️ A federal judge rejected Boeing's guilty plea agreement with the Justice Department over the 737 MAX crashes citing unacceptable DEI terms
🇬🇧 Muhammad became the most popular boy's name in England and Wales in 2023, with over 4,600 registrations. It overtook Noah
⚕️ Amid a discussion about anger toward healthcare companies, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) has come under fire for a proposal to limit coverage for anesthesia if a surgery exceeds a specified time limit
🪖 Syrian forces withdrew from Hama, a major Syrian city that stands between rebels and the capital, Damascus. One city, Homs, now stands between the rebels and Bashar al-Assad
🇺🇸 A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern California. A tsunami warning was initially issued before being rescinded
COMMUNITY
🧐 Yesterday’s question: Should history look back on Fauci as a hero or villain?
I think we should see Fauci as a hero. He was someone who had a job that was never in the spotlight then, all the sudden, due to crisis, he was thrust into a really difficult spot. I can’t imagine how challenging that must have been. The fact that he did his job with such poise and dedication in the midst of the world falling apart is enough to earn him some respect.
Fauci will be looked upon as a villain when the history is finally written! He not only covered up the lab leak, but also funded gain of function research and then lied about it. His recommendations during the so called pandemic were made up and not based in science, which he has admitted to (masks don’t work and he had no idea where social distancing came from but just went with it). To top it off, the Biden administration has stated that they are considering a preemptive pardon for Fauci. You don’t offer a preemptive pardon to someone if they’ve done nothing wrong and are innocent. Fauci is a criminal and needs to pay for his crimes!
I think it's obvious to anyone who (1) lived through the pandemic, (2) paid attention to the scientific advancements as they evolved, and (3) knows that hindsight is 20/20 that Fauci is definitely not a villain and is probably not a hero, but rather just someone who understood what the most likely scenario was at any given time given the information available at that time. All that to say, I personally think he's neither a hero nor a villain, but I could understand someone who thinks he's a hero. (Of course, I could understand someone who thinks he's a villain, I would just disagree more strongly.)
Winter Special
Roca Community Showcase
‘Tis the season for another Roca community showcase. You all sent in such amazing photos for the fall showcase that we decided it’s time for us to make some history and hold the first inaugural Roca winter pic showcase. In lieu of 20 Questions this week, please send us your best winter pics. We will feature our favorites throughout next week. No snow needed, by the way. If you’ve got a pic of that Florida man eating cheesecake in the Everglades then… actually don’t send that one but make it interesting!
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
💲 Rug Pull on that Thang: $HAWK, a cryptocurrency launched by social media personality Hailey Welch ("Hawk Tuah Girl"), crashed in value from $500M to $60M within 20 minutes of its launch, leading to accusations of a "rug pull"
🐻❄️ Bear Necessity: A Canadian man jumped onto a polar bear that was attacking his wife outside their home in Fort Severn First Nation, Ontario, suffering serious but non-life-threatening injuries to his arms and legs before a neighbor shot the bear
🇹🇭 Deep Misunderstanding: A 22-year-old Chinese man spent three days trapped in a 12-meter-deep abandoned well in Thailand after villagers mistook his cries for help as ghostly sounds
🇲🇽 Mexico v. Canada: Mexico’s president said Canada was jealous of Mexico’s “cultural riches.” The countries are trying to paint the other as the bigger problem as Trump threatens tariffs
🇺🇸 Badge to Black Market: A CBS News investigation revealed dozens of law enforcement leaders across 23 states have been illegally selling restricted weapons, including a small-town Iowa police chief who tried to acquire 90 machine guns for a department of three officers
EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts
As much as we hate fraud — especially any scheme that targets less-well-off people — if you bought Hawk Tuah meme coins… you kind of had it coming. If you don’t know the origin of that meme or anything about Hawk Tuah girl, we suggest you don’t do any research. And if you did buy the coin, we suggest you talk tuah financial advisor next time.
Have a great weekend.
–Max and Max