🌊 Get Out: CDC Edition

Quick history hit from Labor Day Weekend in 1969…

On Tuesday after Labor Day in 1969, the first US ATM was installed at a Chemical Bank — a great name — in New York. Before unveiling it, Chemical Bank proudly declared, "On Sept. 2 our bank will open at 9:00 and never close again." Boy has that aged well! It really is hard to drive 10 feet today without seeing a "Chemical Bank" sign. We can only imagine their slogan: Where financial security meets nitric oxide.

Have an amazing Labor Day Weekend. Kick it off with some news and 20 Questions!

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

CDC Director Fired

The White House fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, though she has refused to leave

• Monarez took office less than a month ago as the first CDC director in over 50 years to not hold a medical degree, confirmed by the Senate in a 51-47 party-line vote

• The White House said Monarez was “not aligned with the President's agenda of Making America Healthy Again” and terminated her on Wednesday after she refused to resign

• Monarez's lawyers challenged the legality of her termination, arguing that only the president himself could fire a Senate-confirmed official and that notification from a White House personnel staffer was “legally deficient”

Dig Deeper 

• Four senior CDC officials submitted resignations on Wednesday in apparent protest, creating further upheaval at the nation's public health agency

• The CDC's chief medical officer wrote to colleagues that “the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations,” according to an email obtained by The Wall Street Journal

• RFK Jr. defended the changes, telling Fox News, “The agency is in trouble and we need to fix it”

KEY STORY

Europe to Sanction Iran

The UK, France, and Germany (“The E3”) reimposed nuclear sanctions on Iran using the “snapback” mechanism from the 2015 nuclear accord

• The Obama-era nuclear agreement contained a “snapback provision” that allowed any signatory to reimpose UN sanctions if Iran failed to comply with the deal's terms. While the US withdrew from the treaty and reimposed sanctions, the E3 did not, although the “snapback” mechanism remained

• On Thursday, after unsuccessful diplomatic attempts to convince Tehran to resume negotiations with the US and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the countries triggered the snapback process

• The process to reimpose sanctions takes 30 days, leaving a narrow window for negotiations with Iran

Dig Deeper

• The current state of Iran’s nuclear program is unclear: The country was close to achieving weapons-grade uranium enrichment; however, the impact of June’s Israel and US strikes is uncertain

• Iran has since ceased cooperation with international inspectors, leading relations with Europe to deteriorate further

• Iranian officials accused the European countries of having no “legal or moral grounds” to implement the snapback and warned they would exclude the countries from future nuclear talks if the process proceeded

QUOTE OF THE DAY

KEY STORY

Lisa Cook Files Lawsuit

Fed Governor Lisa Cook filed a lawsuit against President Trump over his attempt to dismiss her

• Cook filed her lawsuit in the DC District Court on Thursday, three days after Trump announced her firing through a letter posted on social media

• The lawsuit called Trump's attempt to remove her "unprecedented and illegal" and argued that unsubstantiated allegations about conduct predating her Senate confirmation did not constitute a valid cause for removal

• Cook's lawyers argued that Trump violated her due process rights by firing her without notice or a hearing, asking the court for a temporary restraining order to prevent Trump and the Fed from taking steps to remove her

Dig Deeper

• Cook also named Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the Board of Governors as defendants alongside Trump in an effort to prevent them from carrying out the president's dismissal order

• A White House spokesperson defended the firing, stating Trump “exercised his lawful authority” to remove Cook, who was “credibly accused of lying in financial documents from a highly sensitive position overseeing financial institutions”

• No president has ever successfully removed a sitting Fed governor, making this case a landmark test of the central bank's independence from political pressure

KEY STORY

Minneapolis Shooter Details

New details have emerged about the Minneapolis shooter, who shot into a church and killed two children on Wednesday

• The attack occurred at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in south Minneapolis during a back-to-school Mass. 23-year-old trans woman Robin Westman, a former student at the school, fired dozens of rounds through windows using three legally purchased firearms while unable to enter the locked building. Westman died by suicide at the scene

• Westman’s name was legally changed from Robert to Robin in 2020, at the age of 17. Westman’s mother, Mary Grace, had worked at the church from 2016 to 2021

Dig Deeper 

• Westman left a video and series of rants containing anti-Catholic, antisemitic, and racist language; threats against President Trump and Elon Musk; and references to other mass shooters. Westman had written “For the Children,” “Where is your God?” and “Kill Donald Trump” on rifle magazines

• The FBI is investigating the incident as domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics, with investigators finding writings showing Westman had “a deranged obsession with previous mass shooters”

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🛩️ Israel launched two consecutive nights of airstrikes on al-Kiswah, a Damascus suburb, killing at least six soldiers and conducting a rare “airborne landing” operation, according to Syrian officials

⚓ Border czar Tom Homan announced the Trump Administration is considering using a naval base north of Chicago as an ICE operations center, with plans to send a "large contingent" of resources to the city

👮 Federal authorities arrested two alleged leaders of a multi-state human trafficking ring who operated fake religious ministries to solicit donations while forcing victims to work as personal servants

🔫 The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum has acquired and displayed an Ithaca .45 caliber pistol believed to have been used to kill 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, exactly seven decades after his murder

⚖️ Eugene Gligor received a 22-year sentence for the savage beating and strangulation death of Leslie Preer, his ex-girlfriend's mother, in a case that remained unsolved for over two decades

What does Roca Nation think?

🍿 Yesterday’s Question: Will people still be going to movie theaters in 15 years? Explain.

20 Questions!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Weeknd.

But it's no ordinary weekend... it's Labor Day weekend, baby! Not sure about where you live, but in Michigan right now there is a slight crisp in the air. Hollywood could not write a better script for the first full weekend of college football.

The theme for today's 20 Questions is a fun one: It's work-themed! Excited to see your answers for Labor Day 20 Qs.

Link to 20 Questions!

Last Week’s Responses

Averages to last week’s “This or That” edition of 20 Questions.

TikTok broccoli hair - 29%
Mullet - 71%

DQ Blizzard - 88.3%
McFlurry - 11.7%

Driving - 63%
Riding Shotgun - 37%

Sleeping in a 5-star hotel - 36.1%
Sleeping at home - 63.9%

Roadtrip through the South - 25.7%
Roadtrip through the West - 74.3%

BBQ Ribs - 56.9%
Tacos - 43.1%

Twizzlers - 21%
Peanut M&Ms - 79%

Small Towns - 73%
Big Cities - 27%

Smell of sunscreen - 90.5%
Smell of bug spray - 9.5%

Music - 75.6%
Podcasts - 24.4%

QR code menus - 4.8%
Physical menus - 95.2%

On an airplane, sitting next to a: Loud eater - 59.4%
On an airplane, sitting next to a: Chatterbox - 40.6%

Flossing daily - 74%
Never flossing - 26%

Panera Bread - 51.4%
Five Guys - 48.6%

Monopoly - 53.2%
Clue - 46.8%

Blue for math folder - 58.7%
Blue for history folder - 41.3%

Riding a roller coaster - 52.7%
Eating a funnel cake - 47.3%

Sandra Bullock - 69.9%
Rachel McAdams - 30.1%

Sydney Sweeney - 51.7%
Zendaya - 48.3%

Petting dog - 73.4%
Petting cat - 26.6%

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🚆 All Aboard!: Amtrak's new NextGen Acela trains began service Thursday on the Northeast Corridor between Boston and DC, capable of reaching speeds up to 160 mph – 10 mph faster than current models

🌌 Baby Planet, Big Appetite: Astronomers have discovered WISPIT 2b, a 5M-year-old planet that's already five times larger than Jupiter while still forming around a young star

🥤 A-Rizz-ona Collab: AriZona Beverages – famous for its iced tea – announced the release of “RizzBerry,” a new flavor created in collaboration with internet sensation The Rizzler, marking the company's latest influencer partnership

🐇 Bunny Business: Florida wildlife officials are deploying 120 robotic rabbits that emit heat, smell, and natural movements to lure invasive Burmese pythons out of hiding in the Everglades

⚾ First Base to First District: Former Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira announced he's running for Congress in Texas's 21st District, trading his baseball glove for political ambitions

ROCA WRAP
Looted Lady

Argentina

A painting stolen by Nazis disappeared from this South American nation after being spotted in a real estate listing.

Argentina became a haven for fleeing Nazi officials after World War II. Among them was Friedrich Kadgien, an SS officer who established a new life after arriving in 1945. The country's willingness to harbor former Nazis has left a complicated legacy, with stolen artworks and other wartime plunder scattered throughout private collections across the nation. One such piece recently surfaced in the most unexpected way.

A Dutch newspaper made an extraordinary discovery while investigating Nazi-looted art when reporters spotted the long-lost painting hanging above a sofa in a Buenos Aires real estate advertisement. The painting, “Portrait of a Lady” by Giuseppe Ghislandi, had been missing for more than 80 years after being stolen from Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation. One of Kadgien's daughters was inadvertently advertising the baroque Italian portrait of Contessa Colleoni, which, along with the house, she had inherited from her Nazi father.

When federal authorities raided the Buenos Aires home this week, the painting had mysteriously vanished. A federal prosecutor discovered that furniture had been rearranged and a large rug depicting horses and nature scenes now hung where the stolen artwork was once displayed. Police seized two weapons during the search, but found no trace of the missing masterpiece. Authorities are treating the case as an alleged cover-up of smuggling operations.

Wartime documents suggest Kadgien possessed the stolen painting when he fled Germany in 1945. A US intelligence file from that era noted that the SS officer “appears to possess substantial assets, could still be of value to us.” After Kadgien's death in 1979, his daughters inherited his collection but repeatedly refused to speak with Dutch investigators over the years. It seems some family heirlooms are better left unhung.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

As usual, thank you all for reading Roca. Max T is spending his weekend on the Jersey Shore while Max F is spending his in New York, one day after taking his engagement pictures in NYC. Thankfully the Naked Cowboy only photobombed him once.

Go Irish, Go Noles, and have a great weekend!

–Max and Max