🌊 No More Woke-lahoma

Maybe we don’t deserve to keep our jobs from AI.

In a rebrand that looks it was made on Microsoft Paint, MSNBC announced that it’s changing its name to “My Source News Opinion World,” or “MS NOW.” They missed the golden opportunity to go by BS NOW, but MS NOW may truly be worse. “What do we want? MS! When do we want it? NOW!” Hopefully they choose a better slogan, but given this rebrand and their news coverage… we have little faith.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Zelensky’s Washington Visit

Ukrainian President Zelensky, alongside other European leaders, met with President Trump at the White House on Monday

• Trump had initially demanded a ceasefire before his Alaska summit with Putin, but dropped that requirement after meeting with him. The shift alarmed Ukraine and European allies, who feared it would allow Russia to maintain military pressure while negotiating for more territory

• On Monday, Zelensky met with Trump to clarify what security guarantees the US would provide Ukraine as part of any peace agreement. Key European leaders also visited Washington, with French President Macron stating the Europeans came "to defend the interests of the Europeans"

• Trump expressed confidence about arranging a trilateral summit with Putin and Zelensky

Dig Deeper 

• Zelensky emphasized that security guarantees "must really be very practical, delivering protection on land, in the air and at sea, and must be developed with Europe's participation." Trump suggested the US would participate in providing security guarantees, though he did not specify whether American troops would be involved. On Tuesday, he said he would not put US troops in Ukraine

• While US special envoy Steve Witkoff claimed Putin had agreed to allow certain protections for Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Russia still needed to accept such arrangements

• The territorial dispute remained unresolved, with Putin demanding Ukraine withdraw from eastern regions, while Zelensky continued to reject ceding land to Russia

KEY STORY

Texas Dems End Walkout

Texas House Democrats ended their two-week walkout, allowing Republicans to proceed with congressional redistricting

• Dozens of Democratic state representatives fled Texas on August 3 to deny Republicans the 100-member quorum needed to vote on redistricting. President Trump had urged Governor Greg Abbott to redraw congressional maps mid-decade – which rarely happens – to protect Republicans' narrow House majority ahead of 2026

• On Monday, Democratic lawmakers started returning to Austin after blocking the first special session. Governor Abbott immediately called a second special session

• Democrats acknowledged they lacked the votes to permanently stop the maps and said they plann to now challenge the maps in court

Dig Deeper

• Democrats coordinated their return with California's redistricting efforts to ensure that California Democrats filed their own map proposals first, aiming to gain five more seats

• Republican leaders escalated pressure on absent lawmakers throughout the walkout. After their return, Governor Abbott asked the state's highest court to remove Gene Wu, the House Democratic Leader, from office

• Abbott vowed to continue calling sessions until the maps passed

QUOTE OF THE DAY

KEY STORY

Oklahoma’s Political Values Tests

Oklahoma announced it would require teachers from California and New York to pass a political values test before working in the state's public schools

• The state faces a persistent teacher shortage and began offering signing bonuses of up to $50,000 to attract educators. Some teachers have been coming from blue states, like California and New York

• On Monday, Oklahoma instituted a 50-question certification exam for teachers from blue states. The test, reportedly developed in conjunction with conservative media brand PragerU, assesses American history, civics, and what Walters called "common sense"

• State Superintendent Ryan Walters said California and New York specifically taught lessons "antithetical to our standards," citing California's requirement that schools teach about gender identity and LGBTQ topics

Dig Deeper

• The certification requirement will initially only apply to teachers from California and New York, but Walters told CNN it could expand to up to eight states

• Walters told CNN that teachers would teach "biological differences between males and females, period," with practice standards instructing students to "identify discrepancies in 2020 elections"

• The Oklahoma Education Association argued Walters lacked legal authority to impose political tests on certified teachers, noting that state law required recognizing out-of-state teaching credentials if applicants met basic requirements

KEY STORY

Ozempic Price Halves

Novo Nordisk announced it would halve the price of its weight-losss drug Ozempic for Americans paying out-of-pocket

• Denmark's Novo Nordisk pioneered the semaglutide weight-loss drug market with Ozempic and Wegovy, making it Europe's most valuable company, worth $640B in June 2024. Since then, the company has faced increased competition and is now worth $220B, roughly a third of its 2024 value

• On Monday, the company announced that cash-paying patients can now purchase Ozempic for $499 monthly, instead of nearly $1,000, through the company's website or at 70,000 pharmacies nationwide through GoodRx

• Novo estimates that about 1M Americans are taking copycat versions of Ozempic

Dig Deeper 

• The price reduction came as President Trump intensified pressure on pharmaceutical companies to lower drug costs, sending letters to Novo and other drugmakers urging direct-to-consumer sales models

• The price cut aims to combat cheaper compounded versions of semaglutide that flourished during drug shortages

• “We believe that if even a single patient feels the need to turn to potentially unsafe and unapproved knockoff alternatives, that's one too many,” said Dave Moore, Novo's head of US operations. Novo has repeatedly tried to brand cheaper Ozempic alternatives as potentially harmful “knockoffs”

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇺🇸 President Trump pledged to issue an executive order eliminating mail-in ballots and voting machines before the 2026 midterm elections

🌪️ Mandatory evacuations began Monday on North Carolina's Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands as Category 4 Hurricane Erin churns offshore with 140 mph winds

💥 Preliminary findings revealed the cause of last week’s blast at a Pennsylvania steel plant

🪖 Over 400,000 Israelis protested in Tel Aviv, demanding the government prioritize bringing home the remaining 50 hostages held in Gaza, with many calling for an end to the war

🚓 The White House has deployed social media teams alongside FBI agents, executing arrest warrants in Washington, DC, to create promotional videos for President Trump's crime crackdown

What does Roca Nation think?

🏈 Yesterday’s Question: Is America too obsessed with football? How do you feel about its return?

🧐 Today’s Question: Does America love dogs too much?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

📺 Peacock Gets Plucked: MSNBC will rebrand as "MS NOW" (My Source News Opinion World) as part of Comcast's $7B spinoff of NBCUniversal's cable networks

📖 Dictionary Goes Delulu: Cambridge Dictionary added over 6,000 new words this year, including "skibidi" and "tradwife"

🏌️ Creatine and Punishment: Pro golfer Ben Griffin blamed a creatine overdose for his disastrous start at the BMW Championship, where he four-putted from four feet and hit his next tee shot out of bounds

🐀 California Nuts About Destruction: Rats have invaded California's almond orchards, causing up to $311M in damage across 100,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley

🐿️ Zombie Squirrels: Squirrels covered in pus-oozing tumors have been spotted across US and Canadian backyards, likely suffering from squirrel fibromatosis caused by the leporipoxvirus

ROCA WRAP
Rightward Shift

Bolivia

This South American nation will hold its first presidential runoff, ending nearly two decades of leftist rule.

Bolivia has experienced significant political upheaval since its independence, cycling through periods of military rule and democratic governance. For the past 20 years, the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo party has dominated politics, first under former president Evo Morales and then his successor Luis Arce. That era of leftist control, however, appears to be ending.

Center-right senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira emerged as the unexpected leader in an election this weekend, capturing 32.1% of votes despite starting the campaign with just 3% support in polls. He’ll face off in a head-to-head runoff vote against Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, a right-wing former president who secured 26.8% of the vote.

Conspicuously absent from the poll was Evo Morales, the country’s charismatic and long-time socialist ruler, who has been holed up in the jungle amid calls for his arrest and alleged threats to his safety. Courts – citing term limits – barred Morales from running for the election, taking the country’s most influential leftist leader off the ballot. He, in turn, urged voters to deface ballots or leave them blank.

In the end, null and blank ballots counted 21.5% versus the typical 6%, thereby reflecting some support for Morales but not enough to counter votes for the right-wing politicians. The runoff vote on October 19 will revolve around Bolivia's worst economic crisis in four decades, featuring dollar shortages, fuel scarcity, and South America’s highest inflation rate.

It’s unclear how the election will go. Regardless of the result, though, one thing appears clear: In Bolivia, decades of leftist dominance have reached an end.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Another day another Roca video plug?

Yes but we can’t help but share our full interview with NYC Mayor Eric Adams. The conversation is now live, and Cuomo is up next (yes, we’ve reached out to Zohran and Sliwa, too).

Let us know what you think. Now time to watch some MS NOW!

–Max and Max