22 years ago today…
Kelly Clarkson won American Idol in the show’s first season. Before the show, Clarkson was a cocktail waitress from Texas who had never had a formal singing lesson. But reality TV changed her life, catapulting her to global fame and fortune. Does it get more American than that?
Actually… maybe. This weekend, Netflix broadcast a live event of Joey Chestnut eating 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes, and millions tuned in.
😳 "White Fragility" author plagiarized?
🗳 Gen Z's massive partisan gap
🎥 Roca visits PA ghost town
–Max, Max, and Owen
KEY STORY
Best-Seller Plagiarism?
The White Fragility author was accused of plagiarism
Written by anti-racism consultant Robin DiAngelo in 2018, White Fragility became one of the US’ best-selling books after the murder of George Floyd
A new report filed with DiAngelo’s alma mater accuses DiAngelo of 20 cases of plagiarism
While DiAngelo hasn’t publicly responded to the critiques, her website says, “When you use a phrase or idea you got from a BIPOC person, credit them.” The apparently plagiarized cases were taken, in part, from “BIPOC” authors
Dig Deeper
One representative complaint alleges the following is plagiarism: DiAngelo wrote in her thesis, “While this discourse recognises in part a historical constitution, this does not necessarily indicate that there is a recognition of the power relations embedded in that history.” Meanwhile, an existing work said, “While this discourse recognises a part of its historical constitution … this reflexivity does not necessarily mean that there has been a recognition of the power relations embedded in that history”
KEY STORY
Dieselgate Trial Begins
The trial began for the Volkswagen CEO accused of rigging emissions tests
In the 2010s, Volkswagen sought to expand diesel-vehicle sales in the US by marketing them as “clean.” The vehicles weren’t clean and didn’t meet emissions standards, though. To hide that, Volkswagen installed software that recognized when a car was undergoing a laboratory test and modified emissions to pass the test
The scandal, uncovered in 2015, tarnished Volkswagen’s reputation and crushed its US diesel business. On Tuesday, the company’s then-CEO, Martin Winterkorn, went on trial
Dig Deeper
Winterkorn is alleged to have not told investors about the scandal when he learned of it, deceived buyers, and lied about it to authorities
If found guilty, Winterkorn, 77, faces up to 10 years in prison
ROCA’S PARTNERS
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Dig Deeper
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KEY STORY
Sports Blackout
Millions of sports fans were suddenly left in the dark this past weekend
Sunday night, a deal between DirecTV and Disney expired, leaving DirecTV’s 11.3M subscribers in the dark amidst the 4th round of the US Open and ten minutes before a major college football game
Disney – whose channels include ESPN and ABC – is pushing for higher fees, while DirecTV wants more flexibility while packaging Disney’s channels
This is the 2nd year in a row Disney yanked channels over Labor Day weekend. Last year, a disagreement with Spectrum led to an 11-day blackout
Dig Deeper
While the agreement’s expiration is quite inconvenient for customers, such timing is common: These deals often are scheduled to expire ahead of major events to incentivize both parties to get a new deal done
KEY STORY
Gen Z’s Huge Partisan Gap
The partisan gap between young men and young women is the largest of any age group and has widened significantly in recent years
An August poll (NYT/Siena) of voters in six swing states found that men ages 18 to 29 favored Trump by 13 points, while women ages 18 to 29 favored Kamala Harris by 38 points
This 51-point gap dwarfs that of voters ages 30 to 44, which has a 31-point gender voting gap
Numerous reports show that the partisan gap among young people has widened since 2020. Theories abound as to why
Dig Deeper
Among the entire voting base, a new ABC poll shows an 18-point partisan gap between men and women. According to the survey, women support Harris by a 13-point margin, while men support Trump by a 5-point margin
We should note, however, that polls have historically undercounted Trump supporters. This poll also was conducted in the wake of the DNC, which gave Harris a momentum boost
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
💥 A Russian rocket attack killed 50+ people in Ukraine, making it one of the deadliest single attacks of the war
🦋 2M+ Brazilians have joined the social media site Bluesky in the four days since the country banned X
💵 Dollar General warned that low-income households are running out of money
⚖️ A day after Hamas threatened to execute more hostages, the US charged Hamas’ leaders over the October 7 attack
🇨🇳 New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s former deputy chief of staff was arrested and charged with working on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party
COMMUNITY
🧐 Yesterday’s question: What was the highlight of your weekend?
The highlight of my weekend was legit smoking some of the best damn pork baby back ribs I have ever eaten. I don't smoke a ton of meat but I've eaten my share of ribs over the years. I guess a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then! (no offense to handicap squirrels out there)
The highlight of my weekend was taking our two Basset Hounds for a 2 mile walk to get coffee overlooking our little NM town. It's a big deal because Bassets are notoriously lazy AND stubborn. We have taken too many walks when one of them stops and refuses to go any further. This day was a victory!
Northcoast! Rave in Illinois.
My highlight is kinda small, but I was able to give my coworker a ride home on Saturday. He had lost his phone in an Uber on the way there, and was stressing about it all day. By the end of the day he was able to get it back, but the stress was still evident. I'm happy I was able to give him a ride home so he didn't have to call another Uber, and that presented a good 15 mins to just chill and chat with him some. Evan is a great guy but damn it seems like life has hit him hard recently.
🧠 Today’s question: What do you consider the ultimate comfort food?
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
☠️ RIP, brat summer: Singer Charli XCX – who coined the term “brat” – said, “goodbye forever brat summer.” “Brat” is the title of Charli’s new album, which became a cultural phenomenon
🚔 Double trouble: A suspected drunk driver crashed into a New York State Police vehicle on Monday morning while troopers were arresting another suspected drunk driver
No hands?!! Shoutout to Matt Stutzman for this bullseye in the Paralympics.
🥼 Liver let die: A lawsuit alleges that a Florida surgeon accidentally killed a patient by removing his liver instead of his spleen. The wife is now pursuing both criminal and civil charges
🏒 Oilers strike gold: Edmonton Oilers star center Leon Draisaitl signed a $112M deal over 8 years, giving him the highest average annual contract value in the NHL’s salary cap era
🧊 No chill: A glacier expert assured that Ludacris’s sip of untreated Alaska glacier melt was “totally fine” and dismissed concerns that Ludacris would get sick as “ludicrous”
ROCA WRAP
Anarchy in Aurora?
Last week, a viral video captured a group of heavily armed men roaming an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado.
The men were Venezuelans who belonged to a street gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), that is active in Colorado. TdA allegedly runs criminal operations focused on human trafficking and smuggling, often involving migrants.
Cindy Romero, who captured the video, said the community is being “tortured” by gangs.
“We were constantly forced to take measures to protect ourselves,” she said. “I installed more locks, bought additional cameras, and parked further away from the building. Despite all these efforts, the situation kept escalating.”
“I’ve seen handguns, rifles with scopes, and other firearms. It got so bad that bullets even went through my friend’s apartment and hit my car,” Romero said. She claimed the police were non-responsive.
“The police would call me and say they weren’t coming unless it was a severe crime,” she added.
“When I called the police to report a shooting, one officer asked if I had considered moving. If I could have afforded to leave, I would have.”
While the city initially played down the video, Donald Trump said on Friday that Aurora had been “overrun” by criminal migrants.
Aurora’s police chief disputed that: “I’m not saying that there’s not gang members that don’t live in this community, but what we’re learning out here is that gang members have not taken over this complex.”
Aurora’s mayor has launched an investigation and called for the apartment buildings to be seized and shut down.
He said the buildings with reported gang activity are all under the same ownership and present a threat to the city.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, urged the city to enforce the law “quickly and in a thorough manner.”
“The state has been ready for weeks to back up any operation by the Aurora Police Department needed to make Aurora safer,” Polis said.
Whether or not the city has been “overrun,” it’s clear that everything in Aurora isn’t as it should be.
Romero blames the politicians: “You are elected to protect your constituents. You fundraise off your promises, yet you left us to die.”
ROCA VIDEO
Exploring PA’s Abandoned Coal Country
We visited Centralia to explore the impact of the coal mine fire that left the town nearly abandoned with only 8 residents. We spoke with the last remaining locals before continuing to other Pennsylvania coal towns. The video ends with a visit to WWII-era TNT bunkers, now a hunting reserve, offering a glimpse into the area's history.
Make sure to subscribe to the channel!
EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts
It’s hard to describe just how eerie — or should we say… Erie — this part of Pennsylvania was. In the words of Matthew McConaughey in Season One of True Detective, “This place is like somebody's memory of a town, and the memory is fading. It's like there was never anything here but jungle.” And you might be Woody Harrelson here, responding, “Stop saying s**t like that.”
–Max and Max
