🌊 Lies, Damn Lies, and... Labor Statistics?

RIP, Fairness Doctrine.

On this day in 1987, the FCC rescinded the Fairness Doctrine, which required radio and TV stations to give equal time to both sides of an important issue. Well, the results speak for themselves: Five decades later, one slice of the country believes reptilians run our government and the other believes Sydney Sweeney is the new Jospeh Goebbels.

The real tragedy is that the vast majority of people are stuck in the middle with nowhere to go for sane news. That’s why Roca exists, and perhaps why you read this newsletter. Healing polarization in this country starts with the news. Then we can talk about how to deal with the reptilians in Washington, DC.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Ghislaine Transferred

Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security facility in Texas

• Maxwell received a 20-year federal prison sentence in 2022 for trafficking minors to Jeffrey Epstein. Amid renewed speculation about Epstein’s death and alleged list, she has emerged as a potentially pivotal witness with deep knowledge of Epstein’s circle and their actions

• On Friday, shortly after a pair of meetings with Trump’s deputy attorney general, Maxwell was transferred to the lowest-level security federal prison

• The move violated typical Federal Bureau of Prisons protocols, which generally require sex offenders to remain in low-security, rather than minimum-security, facilities

Dig Deeper 

• The new prison has a lower staff-to-inmate ratio and houses inmates serving time for non-violent offences and white-collar crimes. She’s being kept alongside 650 other female inmates, including disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence for fraud

• Maxwell has appealed to the Supreme Court to toss out her conviction and is also seeking to trade her knowledge for a reduced or eliminated sentence via either Congress or Trump. Trump has said he has the power to pardon her, but neither he nor Congress have indicated an openness to doing so

KEY STORY

Trump Fires Labor Stats Head

President Trump announced he would fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after a report showed a slowdown in US jobs

• On Friday, a BLS report showed that the US added just 73,000 jobs, far fewer than expected. It also revised down the prior months’ jobs data, announcing that the US added 258,000 fewer jobs in May and June than initially reported – a major revision that revealed a far weaker economy than investors and policymakers had believed

• Hours after the report, Trump announced that he would fire BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer, claiming that she had “manipulated [the data] for political purposes”

Dig Deeper

• Beginning in the Great Depression, the US government made a concerted effort to provide accurate economic data so businesses and governments could understand the state of the economy

• Today, American economic data is considered the gold standard due to its timely, comprehensive, transparent, and independent nature

• This includes data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which releases monthly tracking of job creation, among other things

• The announcement led many economists, Trump critics, and others to accuse the president of interfering with the independence of American statistical data. Among them was Trump’s first-term BLS chief, who told CNN, “The commissioner doesn’t do anything to collect the numbers. The commissioner doesn’t see the numbers until Wednesday before they’re published. By the time the commissioner sees the numbers, they’re all prepared”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

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KEY STORY

Drug Pricing Deadline

President Trump ordered pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices to match international levels within 60 days or face federal action

• Drug prices in the US are typically two to three times higher than in other developed nations, with some medications costing up to 10 times more

• On Thursday, Trump addressed letters to executives at major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Novo Nordisk, and AstraZeneca, giving them until September 29 to lower “vastly inflated drug prices.” He threatened to "deploy every tool in our arsenal" against companies that failed to comply

• Despite the threats, stocks didn’t decline much

Dig Deeper

• The American government does not set pharmaceutical prices the way that other governments do. As a result Americans generally pay far higher prices – and pharma companies derive an outsized share of their profits from the American market

• Some politicians on both left and right have long been critical of this system. In his first term, Trump attempted to equalize US and foreign drug prices, but federal courts blocked the move, and the Biden Administration rescinded it

• Drug companies say that American prices – which are typically two to three times higher than in other developed nations – fund innovation and research and give Americans better drug access

KEY STORY

Hamas Announces Terms

Hamas reaffirmed its position that it would not disarm until there is an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem – Israel’s capital – as its capital

• Last week, Israel-Hamas talks reached another impasse. Among various demands, Israel says Hamas must disarm

• This weekend, Hamas affirmed that it won’t do so until Palestine is a sovereign state, meaning it won’t meet Israeli demands

• Hamas’ statement came shortly after US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that Hamas had "expressed its willingness" to give up its weapons. Witkoff also said that a deal to end the war must be “all or nothing,” ending the war in exchange for the release of all remaining hostages

Dig Deeper 

• Amid this, Hamas has released new footage and photos of the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, prompting an outcry in Israel

• One video showed a 24-year-old Israeli in a tunnel digging his own grave. Another showed him and a second hostage – both emaciated – warning that they would soon be dead

• In the videos, the hostages criticize Israeli PM Netanyahu for failing to bring them home

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇸🇻 El Salvador's legislative assembly voted to eliminate presidential term limits, allowing President Nayib Bukele to seek re-election indefinitely

☢️ President Trump ordered two nuclear submarines deployed in “the appropriate regions” after former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made "highly provocative" statements about Trump's Ukraine ceasefire ultimatum

⏯️ YouTube announced it will use AI to identify users under 18 and restrict their content access starting with US testing

🛑 The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced Friday that it will cease operations by September 30 after President Trump signed legislation eliminating $1.1B in federal funding through fiscal year 2027

🔫 The gunman who killed four people at the NFL’s HQ building sought help for headaches before the shooting, ESPN reported

What does Roca Nation think?

🧐 Today’s Question: What’s your take on the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad campaign controversy? Overblown or not?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🌭 Hot Dog Crash: A tractor-trailer crash on Interstate 83 in York County, Pennsylvania, spilled 1,000 pounds of frozen hot dogs, shutting down traffic in both directions for hours

🪩 Make Ballrooms Great Again: President Donald Trump has officially announced a $200 million, 90,000 sq ft ballroom addition to the White House – funded by Trump and private donors

🦏 Radioactive Rhinos: South African researchers have begun injecting rhino horns with low-level radioactive isotopes that trip customs radiation detectors to deter poaching

🍕 The Pope’s Pizza: Pope Leo XIV got his favorite pepperoni pizza from Chicago delivered to Vatican City

🐓 Old Joke Meets New End: A Florida woman has been charged with aggravated battery after allegedly attacking a man who ran over a chicken that was crossing the road

ROCA WRAP
Tariffed Hard

Switzerland

This country received a shocking 39% tariff from the US on its national day.

Switzerland has long been known for its neutrality, precision manufacturing of items like watches, and financial sector. The country, home to pharmaceutical giants like Roche and Novartis, has no industrial tariffs and maintains strong economic ties with the US, its top export market for goods including watches, chocolate, and machinery.

Yet on Friday, it became a target for the new US trade policy.

On Thursday, a day before the August 1 tariff deadline, Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter held what sources described as a "disastrous" 30-minute phone call with Donald Trump.

Swiss officials believed they were close to securing a 10% tariff rate similar to the UK's deal after months of negotiations with US trade representatives. Instead, Trump announced a 39% tariff the next day, which was Switzerland's national day. The timing rocked the Alpine nation's celebrations and left many wondering what went wrong.

Swiss media unleashed harsh criticism of Keller-Sutter, with one newspaper calling the failed talks her "biggest fiasco" and a tabloid declaring it Switzerland's greatest defeat in 500 years. Some critics pointed fingers at the country's pharmaceutical industry, suggesting it had "torpedoed" negotiations by irritating Trump. Watchmaker Breitling's CEO said Switzerland was being "held hostage" by pharma companies that ship 60% of their exports to the US and recently received letters from Trump demanding lower drug prices.

Yet adding to Swiss bewilderment, both gold exports and pharmaceutical products – the main drivers of the US’ $39B trade deficit with Switzerland – are exempt from Trump's tariffs.

As the Swiss try to figure out what went wrong, their stock market is bracing for losses. Officials, meanwhile, are scrambling to figure out what more they can offer. Switzerland learned that in Trump's trade wars, even chocolate and watches can't sweeten a sour deal.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

As promised, here’s our video from San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. We went there to find out if it was getting better, and walked away with mixed findings. We’re curious to hear what you think, so make sure to let us know.

Shoutout to Del for showing us around his neighborhood and to Roca reader/longtime media pro Mike Cerre for connecting us. Del and so many others in the neighborhood inspired us deeply. There are so many good people out there!

–Max and Max