🌊 Justice for Big Balls

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Europe, we’re sorry.

On a new podcast episode, Jimmy Kimmel revealed that he just got an Italian citizenship thanks to Trump. What’s up with all these comedians moving to Europe? Ellen DeGeneres in England; Rosie O’Donnell in Ireland; and now it seems that Kimmel may be the next to defect. Before you know it Carrot Top’s gonna be a barista in Brussels and Bill Burr the lone unhappy dude to live in Norway.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

National Guard Deployed in DC

President Trump deployed National Guard troops to Washington, DC and placed the city's police department under federal control

• Trump's action followed an assault on Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old former DOGE staffer known as “Big Balls” who was beaten during an attempted carjacking

• On Monday, Trump invoked Section 740 of the Home Rule Act, which allows presidents to federalize DC police when "special conditions of an emergency nature exist." No president had used this provision since the law passed in 1973

• The administration deployed hundreds of federal agents throughout the district, with Attorney General Pam Bondi assuming oversight of the city's police department

Dig Deeper

• The administration deployed more than 100 FBI agents reassigned to night patrol duties. National Guard troops would provide administrative, logistics, and transportation support to law enforcement, with between 100 and 200 soldiers supporting operations at any given time

• DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb called the actions "unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful"

• The federal takeover is expected to last 30 days, though officials said that timeframe could change. Trump suggested he might take similar action in other cities, stating, "If we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster"

KEY STORY

Chip Giants to Share Profits

Chipmakers Nvidia and AMD agreed to give the US government 15% of revenues in exchange for export licenses to China

• The Biden Administration imposed strict export controls on advanced AI chips to China in 2023. In response, Nvidia developed the H20 chip and AMD created the MI308 chip specifically for the Chinese market

• Last week, the two chipmakers agreed to share 15% of their China revenues as a condition for obtaining export licenses. The Commerce Department began issuing H20 export licenses on Friday, two days after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with President Trump

• The arrangement could generate billions for the US government, with analysts estimating Nvidia alone could have sold about 1.5M H20 chips to China in 2025, potentially generating $23B in revenue for the company

Dig Deeper 

• Nvidia had argued that preventing sales would allow Chinese competitor Huawei to dominate the market

• China's internet regulator summoned Huang last month over potential "backdoor security risks" in the H20 chip, though Nvidia denied such vulnerabilities exist

• The Trump Administration has not yet said how it plans to use the revenue from this arrangement

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

KEY STORY

Israeli Airstrike Kills Journalists

An Israeli airstrike killed five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza

• Israel has not permitted international journalists to enter Gaza independently since the war began in October 2023, except for occasional escorted military visits. The Committee to Protect Journalists states that 186 journalists have been confirmed killed in Gaza since the conflict started

• On Sunday, the Israeli military conducted an airstrike on the journalists' tent at Al Shifa hospital's main gate, killing Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, along with another correspondent and three cameramen

• The Israel Defense Forces stated it targeted al-Sharif, alleging he "served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas" and had "advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops"

Dig Deeper 

• Al Jazeera's managing editor told the BBC that al-Sharif was an accredited journalist who provided coverage from inside Gaza. The Committee to Protect Journalists stated that Israel had not provided evidence to support its allegations

• Three weeks before his death, al-Sharif had contacted the CPJ about concerns for his safety, having been labeled a “terrorist” by Israel

KEY STORY

US Establishes Peace and Trade Route

There will be a new highway named after Trump as part of an Armenian-Azerbaijan peace deal

• Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in conflict since the late 1980s over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region between the two countries that was populated by ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan regained full control of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, prompting nearly 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia

• On Friday, Trump hosted the two countries’ leaders at the White House, where they signed the joint declaration to work toward a permanent peace agreement

• A central component of the agreement involves Armenia granting the US exclusive development rights to a 27-mile transit corridor through its territory. The corridor, which will be called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, will help connect Azerbaijan to Turkey

Dig Deeper

• The declaration, published Monday by both countries' foreign ministries, stated that Armenia and Azerbaijan would pledge to respect international law, relinquish all territorial claims to each other's territory, and avoid using force against each other

• The corridor also runs along Armenia's border with Iran, which threatened on Saturday to block the planned corridor. A top Iranian advisor warned that "this corridor will not become a passage owned by Trump, but rather a graveyard for Trump's mercenaries"

• Analysts noted that Iran, facing pressure over its nuclear program and recent conflicts, lacks the military capability to effectively block the corridor's development

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🧑‍⚖️ A federal judge denied the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury materials from Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking case, ruling that disclosure would not reveal significant new information and could harm the grand jury system

🕵️ French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte hired investigators to research US podcaster Candace Owens before suing her for claiming Brigitte Macron was born male

🌿 Cannabis stocks surged Monday after President Trump said he was considering reclassifying marijuana to a less dangerous drug category within weeks

📊 US companies announced $983B in stock buybacks this year, a record start, with projections exceeding $1.1T for 2025

💥 An explosion at a US Steel manufacturing plant in Clairton, Pennsylvania injured dozens of workers on Monday and killed at least one, with authorities declaring a mass casualty incident

What does Roca Nation think?

💪 Yesterday’s Question: Do you support the return of the presidential fitness test?

🧐 Today’s Question: What are America’s “Big Four” cities? THE American four cities — by relevance, importance, whatever metrics you choose.

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🇦🇺 Seizure Scammer Strikes Melbourne: A Melbourne man dubbed "Fake Seizure Guy" has reportedly spent over 20 years faking seizures to trick strangers into sitting on him

⚾ Breaking the Diamond Ceiling: Jen Pawol became the first woman to umpire a regular-season MLB game Saturday, working first base as the Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 7-1

🚗 No Keys? No Problem: A security researcher discovered vulnerabilities in a major automaker's dealership portal that exposed customer data and enabled remote vehicle access

🍱 Gotta Snatch 'Em All: McDonald's Japan ended a three-day Pokémon Happy Meal promotion after just one day when scalpers bought hundreds of meals and dumped the food in the streets, prompting police calls

⚭ Strike Three: Former MLB star David Justice claimed his marriage to Halle Berry failed because she wasn't “maternal” and didn't cook or clean

ROCA WRAP
Fee-Free Climbing

Nepal

This Himalayan nation will waive climbing fees for nearly 100 peaks to attract mountaineers to its remote northwestern regions.

Nepal's mountaineering industry has long been dominated by famous peaks like Mount Everest, with climbers typically focusing on just 25 of the country's 491 open peaks in the northeast and central regions. The remote northwestern provinces bordering China have remained largely unexplored by the international climbing community, despite offering spectacular mountain scenery. To bring in more tourists, Nepal’s Tourism Department is implementing a tempting offer to climbers.

On Monday, Nepal’s Tourism Department announced that it will waive permit fees for 97 peaks ranging from 5,870m to 7,132m in the Karnali and Far Western provinces for the next two years.

The decision represents a significant shift in strategy to distribute mountaineering tourism more evenly across the country and bring economic benefits to its least developed regions.

The timing of the fee waiver is particularly notable as Nepal simultaneously raises permit costs for its popular peaks, with Everest permits jumping from $11,000 to $15,000 and smaller mountain permits increasing from $250 to $350 starting in September. Tourism officials told Reuters, “The idea is to encourage climbers to go to unexplored yet scenic areas," while improving economic conditions for communities in remote provinces that have missed out on the tourism boom.

Mountain climbing and trekking remain crucial sources of income and employment for the nation, where tourism booms can serve as economic lifelines. By opening up its northwestern frontier to fee-free climbing, Nepal hopes to spread the wealth beyond the crowded base camps of Everest and into villages that have watched the mountaineering economy pass them by. While hundreds will still queue for Everest each year, Nepal is betting that free permits might convince some to seek their summit elsewhere.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Check out our latest video titled “Inside Ohio’s Appalachian Capital.” Yes, we know Cincinnati isn’t technically in Appalachia, but culturally it’s a meeting point between the Midwest and Appalachia. That mix makes for a unique blend of cultures. We visited to explore the city, tour with locals, and see the culture you can only find here.

Thank you to the Roca Riders who helped with this one!

–Max and Max