🌊 Gyms Come to Airports

53 years ago today, the last humans to walk on the moon…

… or, sorry, successfully stage walking on the moon — made their lunar landing. Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, astronauts on the Apollo 17 mission, spent a record 74 hours on the moon’s surface and recorded silly videos like this one. The funny part about Apollo 17 is that nobody talks about Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt today. They spent three days walking on the moon, and kids today will wonder if it was for a MrBeast challenge.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Egypt, Iran Object to World Cup ‘Pride Match’

Egypt and Iran objected to Seattle's plans to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride at the same time as their World Cup match

• Seattle organizers designated a June World Cup match as a pride match months before FIFA's December draw, scheduling it to coincide with Seattle’s pride weekend. The draw happened to place Egypt and Iran in that match

• The Iranian and Egyptian football associations are now protesting, with Egypt sending a letter to FIFA saying LGBTQ activities clash with "the cultural, religious and social values in the region"

• Seattle organizers said they are moving forward with pride programming outside the stadium, which falls under local committee control rather than FIFA's jurisdiction

Dig Deeper 

• FIFA controls programming inside stadiums and official fan zones, but does not have authority over community events organized by local host committees

• During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which also criminalizes same-sex relationships, FIFA threatened to issue yellow cards to players who wore OneLove armbands supporting LGBTQ+ people

KEY STORY

Gyms in Airports?

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Health Secretary RFK Jr. announced $1B in federal funding for airport improvements focused on health and families

• The funding comes from Biden's 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and is part of the Trump Administration's "Make America Healthy Again" campaign

• On Monday, Duffy and Kennedy unveiled the grant program at Reagan National Airport, saying airports could pitch ideas including expanded play areas for children, nursing facilities for mothers, and workout spaces for brief physical activity like pull-ups or step-ups

• Kennedy criticized current airport food as unhealthy and encouraged airports to offer healthier alternatives

Dig Deeper 

• Kennedy mentioned Farmer's Fridge – a company that operates vending machines selling salads, noodle bowls, and other health-focused items – as a potential healthier option. He also advocated for improved facilities for breastfeeding mothers, calling breast milk "the infant formula that God made"

• The announcement is part of Duffy's campaign to create a "golden age of travel" in America. In November, he launched a civility initiative asking passengers to dress more respectfully, help fellow travelers, and treat airline staff with courtesy

KEY STORY

Fed Cuts Rates

The Federal Reserve reduced interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point but signaled it would likely pause further cuts next year

• On Wednesday, the Fed lowered its benchmark rate to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, the lowest level in three years. However, the decision drew three dissents – the most since 2019

• New projections released after the meeting showed that officials expect just one more quarter-point reduction in 2026. Seven officials said they did not want any more rate cuts next year, while six officials indicated they would have preferred to skip Wednesday's cut entirely

Dig Deeper

• The rate cut came as the Fed operated with incomplete information about the economy, because the government shutdown in October and November delayed key reports. This forced officials to use their own surveys and data from private sources

• Trump has attacked Fed Chair Jerome Powell for moving too slowly on rate cuts and plans to name a replacement before Powell's term ends in May

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

KEY STORY

US Proposes Social Media Screening for Visitors

The US government proposed requiring tourists from dozens of countries to provide five years of social media history before entering the country

• Citizens from approximately 40 countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia, can currently visit the US for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) program

• On Tuesday, US Customs and Border Protection filed a proposal that would add social media accounts as a mandatory requirement for ESTA applications. Applicants would need to provide social media information from the past five years, along with telephone numbers from the past five years and email addresses from the past decade

Dig Deeper 

• The proposal also calls for collecting information about family members, including names, birth dates, and places of residence

• Social media disclosure requirements already exist for other visa types: People applying for standard visas have needed to provide their social media information since 2019, and students seeking visas must make their accounts publicly viewable during the application process

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

💂🏻 A federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to end the deployment of California National Guard troops in Los Angeles, rejecting claims they were needed for law and order.

🇮🇱 Iceland has boycotted the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, joining Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, and the Netherlands after Israel's participation was confirmed.

🎫 More than a third of states will soon limit purchases of unhealthy foods and beverages using food stamps.

🚤 The House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) said he plans to end his inquiry into the September military strike that killed two survivors of an attack on their alleged drug smuggling vessel.

🛢️ US forces intercepted and seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking another escalation of tensions between the countries.

What does Roca Nation think?

🍔 Yesterday’s Question: If you could only eat at three fast food places for the rest of your life, which three are you picking?

🤖 Today’s Question: What’s your least favorite company? Why?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🍔 The Sixty-Nix: In-N-Out Burger has scrapped order numbers 67 and 69 from its ticket system after viral TikTok trends caused chaos in restaurants.

🐬 Marsh Madness: Two dolphins were rescued from a Massachusetts marsh after low tides left them high and dry.

🎄 McFlurry of Criticism: McDonald's Netherlands pulled its AI-generated Christmas ad after widespread backlash over its "creepy" visuals and concerns about displacing human workers.

🐐 Horns ‘a Plenty: The scimitar-horned oryx has become one of the only species in history to go from "Extinct in the Wild" to "Endangered" after a global breeding effort brought back their population from zero to around 600 in Africa.

🕺🏻 All Shook Up: A 9-year-old Welsh boy showed up to his school nativity play dressed as Elvis Presley after mishearing his role as "Elvis the Elf."

ROCA WRAP
The Magic Realist

Gabriel García Márquez

This Nobel Prize-winning novelist sold his car to support his family while writing a book that would become one of the bestselling novels in history.

Gabriel García Márquez grew up hearing ghost stories in a small Colombian town that would inspire the fictional village at the heart of his greatest work. Born in Aracataca in 1927, he spent his early years with his grandparents while his parents lived elsewhere. His grandfather, a veteran, taught him that dead men weigh heavily on the conscience. His grandmother told stories of ghosts and premonitions with such deadpan certainty that, decades later, her grandson would use the same technique to revolutionize literature.

García Márquez began his career as a journalist, not a novelist. At 19, he stole a camera from film school, explaining he had a natural right to the tools he needed for his work. He spent years writing newspaper columns under pseudonyms and covering local stories, but his breakthrough came when he exposed a naval scandal. After revealing that a Colombian Navy shipwreck occurred because of improperly secured contraband cargo, authorities sent him to Europe as a foreign correspondent to get him out of the country.

García Márquez had wanted to write about his grandparents' house since he was 18, but couldn't find the right approach. Then one day in 1965, while driving his family to Acapulco, the answer struck him. He immediately turned the car around and began writing. He sold his car so his family would have money to survive. For 18 months, he wrote every day while his wife begged for food and rent on credit from local merchants. The resulting novel, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," sold over 50M copies and made him one of the most translated Spanish-language authors in history.

García Márquez maintained a controversial friendship with Fidel Castro that lasted decades. He defended the Cuban Revolution while working behind the scenes to help negotiate releases of political prisoners. Critics attacked him for the relationship, particularly Cuban exile writers who had suffered under Castro's regime. His outspoken views on American imperialism got him banned from entering the US for years, until President Bill Clinton lifted the restriction and cited "One Hundred Years of Solitude" as his favorite novel.

García Márquez won the Nobel Prize in 1982 and continued working into old age despite declining health. When dementia set in during his final years, his brother confirmed he had stopped writing. García Márquez died of pneumonia in Mexico City in 2014 at 87.

The boy who grew up on stories told as irrefutable truth created a literary style that changed how the world reads fiction.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Today Max T is reporting from central Pennsylvania in both Steelton — the town with the longest continuously operating steel mill — and Three Mile Island (which might explain why his keyboard is glowing). Meanwhile Max F is holding down the fort in NYC, as the office counts down the YouTube’s journey to 500k subscribers.

One more day until Friday. Have a great day!

–Max and Max