🌊 Mom, Did You Take Tylenol?

Great day for Advil lovers.

After teasing the cause of autism at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, Trump revealed it yesterday and the culprit is… Tylenol? You mean the thing I take when I have a headache that does absolutely nothing is what’s behind the surge? We can already picture Tim Walz and Beto O’Rourke staging a “Come and Take It” rally in a Walgreens pain relief aisle. Strange times we’re living in, folks!

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Tylenol Causes Autism?

The Trump Administration recommended women limit the use of Tylenol while pregnant, citing a higher risk of autism

• Trump announced that pregnant women “should talk to their doctors about limiting” their use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, claiming it heightens autism risk when used during pregnancy, according to recent clinical and laboratory studies

• The FDA announced approval of leucovorin, a form of folic acid traditionally used alongside chemotherapy, for treating autism symptoms in children with cerebral folate deficiency, a condition where the brain doesn’t get enough Vitamin B9

• The administration also announced $50M in federal funding for autism research through the National Institutes of Health

Dig Deeper

• Medical critics disputed the administration’s claims about acetaminophen and autism links

• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement maintaining that acetaminophen remains safe for pregnant women when used as directed

• A major 2024 Swedish study of 2.4M children found no relationship between acetaminophen exposure in utero and subsequent autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability when comparing siblings

KEY STORY

Kimmel Back on Air

ABC announced Monday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return to television Tuesday, ending a suspension that began last week

• Last week, Kimmel said “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” ABC suspended the show after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr criticized the remarks and warned “We can do this the easy way or the hard way”

• Disney said it suspended production “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation” but after discussions with Kimmel, decided to bring the show back. Formal negotiations began Thursday, with Disney executives meeting Kimmel at his lawyer’s office in Los Angeles

Dig Deeper 

• Major stations, including Nexstar Media Group, which is currently waiting on FCC approval for merger deals, pulled Kimmel’s show from their affiliates

• At least five Hollywood unions representing over 400,000 workers publicly condemned ABC's suspension. The screenwriters’ union organized a protest at Disney headquarters, calling the suspension “corporate cowardice”

• Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) compared Carr’s comments to those of a mob boss and called them “dangerous as hell”

KEY STORY

Cyberattacks Affect European Airports

Hackers used ransomware to attack Collins Aerospace, disrupting automated check-in and boarding systems at major European airports since Friday

• Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of US defense company RTX, provides technology for self-service check-in, boarding passes, and luggage drop-off at kiosks used by multiple airlines across European airports

• The attack forced airports, including in London, Brussels, Berlin, and Dublin, to rely on manual check-in processes, with some passengers receiving handwritten boarding passes

• Brussels Airport cancelled dozens of flights, while Berlin Airport reported delays exceeding an hour during the busy Berlin Marathon weekend

Dig Deeper

• Internal Heathrow communications revealed that over a thousand computers may have been “corrupted” and most recovery work had to be done in person rather than remotely

• Collins fixed its systems and relaunched them, only to discover the hackers still had access, complicating recovery efforts

QUOTE OF THE DAY

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KEY STORY

Nvidia to Invest $100B in OpenAI

Nvidia announced plans to invest up to $100B in OpenAI as part of a major partnership to build AI infrastructure

• OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has grown to over 700M weekly active users but has faced computing limitations in meeting customer demand

• The companies signed a letter of intent to build data centers containing Nvidia chips that would collectively consume 10 gigawatts of electricity for OpenAI’s AI infrastructure, roughly equivalent to the power produced by more than four Hoover Dams

• Nvidia will invest in OpenAI progressively as each gigawatt of computing power is deployed, receiving equity in OpenAI in exchange

Dig Deeper

• The first phase of the infrastructure buildout is targeted to come online in the second half of 2026, using Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chip platform

• Nvidia shares rose as much as 4% following the announcement, bringing the company’s gains to about 36% for the year

• The partnership comes days after Nvidia committed $5B to struggling chipmaker Intel and follows OpenAI’s involvement in the recently announced $500B Stargate AI data center project with Microsoft, Oracle, and SoftBank

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🙍‍♀️ French First Lady Brigitte Macron will present scientific and photographic evidence to a US court to prove she is a woman, according to the couple’s lawyer.

⛳ Ryan Routh declined to testify Monday as he wrapped up his self-defense case against charges of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last September.

💵 Border czar Tom Homan accepted $50,000 in cash from an undercover FBI agent in 2024, per reporting from Reuters and other outlets. They say he took the cash after promising immigration contracts when he joined the Trump Administration, according to the reports.

⚛️ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he has “good memories” of President Trump and would be open to meeting him again, but only if the US abandons demands for North Korea’s denuclearization.

💲 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the Trump Administration is considering financial assistance for Argentina as President Javier Milei's government faces economic turbulence.

What does Roca Nation think?

🍂 Yesterday’s Question: Fall weather is slowly descending upon us. What are you most excited for?

🚔 Today’s Question: What’s your take on the now-former show “Cops”? Did you ever watch it?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

📈 Rising Sun Records: The Japanese anime film Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle has become the highest-grossing anime movie ever worldwide, earning an estimated $555M globally

📺 All Shook Up: Priscilla Presley revealed intimate details about life after Elvis Presley in her new memoir, including making the heartbreaking decision to remove daughter Lisa Marie from life support in January 2023

👕 Red Solo Cups Runneth Over: A Johns Hopkins engineering graduate transformed thousands of red Solo cups into fashionable sweatshirts and beanies through her company, The New Norm

🤿 Sister Ship Salvage: Deep-sea divers retrieved the first artifacts from the HMHS Britannic last week, the Titanic’s sister ship that sank off Greece in 1916 after striking a German mine

🎞️ Sticky Situation: Tom Holland was hospitalized with a mild concussion after a stunt gone wrong while filming “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” in Glasgow, forcing production to halt on Friday

ROCA WRAP
Mad Monk Mystery

Grigori Rasputin

A peasant mystic met his end after surviving poisoning, shooting, and beating.

Grigori Rasputin was a Siberian peasant who arrived in St. Petersburg around 1903, quickly enchanting religious leaders and aristocrats with his wild appearance and mystical claims. His breakthrough came when Empress Alexandra became convinced he could heal her hemophiliac son through prayer alone. The imperial family’s faith in the “man of God” gave him unprecedented access to the Winter Palace and enormous influence over the Romanov dynasty.

While maintaining his holy facade at court, Rasputin’s behavior in the city’s streets grew increasingly outrageous. He preached that physical contact with him purified others, leading to drunken encounters in restaurants and apartments across the capital. Society whispered about his inappropriate conduct, and pornographic cartoons circulated depicting him with the imperial family. By 1916, many blamed the “dark force” for Russia’s wartime disasters.

On December 30, 1916, Prince Felix Yusupov lured Rasputin to his palace on the Moika River. 

According to Yusupov’s account, they fed the mystic cakes and wine laced with cyanide in the basement. When the poison failed to work, they shot him in the chest. Remarkably, Rasputin revived and attacked his killers before fleeing to the palace courtyard, where he was shot again and beaten. The conspirators then drove his body to the Petrovsky Bridge and threw it into the Little Nevka River.

Modern analysis suggests Yusupov’s dramatic tale was largely fabricated. When Rasputin’s body was recovered from the icy waters, an autopsy found no evidence of poisoning or drowning. The official surgeon recorded death from a single gunshot to the head at close range, not the elaborate struggle described in memoirs.

Even in the city of Peter the Great, the mad monk’s legend proved harder to kill than the man himself.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

If you’d like to watch or listen to today’s news — including with a call-in from Max F in England and a deep-dive from Max T on bots — watch today’s RocaNews show below or listen on Apple or Spotify.

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Ride that wave!

–Max and Max