🌊 NPR and PBS, Welcome to the Club

“Dad, what’s your WSJ password?”

We imagine that many family group chats lit up with similar texts yesterday evening after the Wall Street Journal posted a bombshell article on an alleged Trump birthday note to Epstein in 2003. To be clear, the WSJ didn’t release the letter, but the one they described sounds creepy and suspicious. Trump has denied the contents of the letter, however, saying, "I never wrote a picture in my life."

So for all those accusing him of writing a picture, it’s time for you to sculpt a new portrait of him. Or something like that — anyways here’s 20 Questions.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Senate Passes Cuts

The Senate approved President Trump's $9B rescission bill

• Rescission bills cancel prior allocated funding. They’re rare: President Clinton enacted the last successful rescission package in 1999

• On Thursday, the Senate voted 51-48 to cut $7.9B from foreign assistance programs and $1.1B from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides 15% of PBS’ revenue, 1% of NPR’s, and large portions of some rural radio stations’

• The package now returns to the House, which is expected to pass the bill by Friday

Dig Deeper 

• GOP leaders called the bill a step toward fiscal responsibility and eliminating wasteful government spending: "I appreciate all the work the administration has done in identifying wasteful spending," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune

• Others argued that taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize public broadcasting stations that have other funding streams, including donations and corporate sponsorships

• Democrats and the two dissenting Republicans argued that the cuts would damage essential services while representing congressional surrender of constitutional authority

KEY STORY

Juul Authorized

The FDA authorized Juul for sale in the US

• The FDA banned Juul in 2022, claiming that the company had submitted insufficient safety data. While a legal battle prevented the ban from taking effect, the situation nearly bankrupted Juul and has limited its business since

• On Thursday, the FDA authorized Juul for sale in tobacco and menthol flavors, making it one of two US companies authorized to sell menthol-flavored vapes in the US

• The FDA said it was reacting to new studies submitted by Juul that showed the benefits of Juul vapes – namely, getting people off cigarettes – outweigh the harms

Dig Deeper

• The authorization caps a years-long legal battle that began in June 2022, when the FDA ordered Juul to pull all of its products citing threats to public health. A court blocked the ban a day later and the FDA subsequently suspended the order, but the move decimated Juul’s business and pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy

• This week, the FDA concluded a review of Juul safety data and found that tobacco- and menthol-flavored Juuls are less harmful for adult smokers and will therefore be allowed

• Juul’s CEO said, “This is an important milestone for the company and I think we made a scientifically sound case for the role that menthol can play in e-vapor”

• Meanwhile, the CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said, “It is a big step in the wrong direction to authorize sales of the product that was responsible for this public health crisis in the first place,” and a spokesperson for the American Lung Association called it “a serious misstep”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

KEY STORY

Ukraine Drone Deal?

President Zelensky announced a potential “mega deal” to sell drones to the US, as drone warfare continues to define the Russia-Ukraine War

• Drone warfare has defined the conflict in Ukraine, with a "kill zone," where drones can rapidly identify and eliminate targets, now extending roughly 10km on either side of the front lines

• Ukraine’s technique of using surveillance drones to monitor Russian movements and deploying attack drones for precision strikes has countered Russia’s advantage in numbers

• On Thursday, Ukrainian President Zelensky told the New York Post that Ukraine is discussing a “mega deal” to supply the US with drones in exchange for additional American weapons

Dig Deeper

• “The people of America need this technology, and you need to have it in your arsenal,” Zelensky claimed

• Drone commanders say the strategic and technological improvements are enabling them to kill up to 10 times as many soldiers as they did a year prior. Ukrainian drones have also penetrated hundreds of miles into Russia, conducting strikes on heavy equipment well beyond the front line

KEY STORY

UK Lowers Voting Age

The UK’s Labour-led government announced plans to drop the national voting age from 18 to 16

• Officials stated that young people already contribute to society "by working, paying taxes and serving in the military" and deserve input on policies affecting them

• Political analysts say the move will likely benefit Labour and other left-leaning parties: One recent survey of 500 young voters found that 33% of 18-24-year-olds would choose Labour and 20% the right-wing Reform Party, versus 23% for Labour and 29% for Reform across all UK age demographics

Dig Deeper 

• The government also announced plans to expand acceptable voter identification to include UK-issued bank cards and implement automated voter registration, impacting an estimated 8.2M unregistered citizens

• New rules will also restrict foreign political donations by requiring companies to demonstrate "sufficient UK-generated income" before contributing to parties

• That reform comes months after Elon Musk suggested making a sizeable donation to the Reform UK party through his UK-registered companies

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🎥 CBS is canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May, bringing to a close a show that has run since the early 1990s in the latest blow to late-night TV

⚖️ The Trump Administration dismissed Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey and a federal prosecutor who worked on cases involving Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Sean “Diddy” Combs

🇨🇳 China threatened to block BlackRock's acquisition of Panama Canal ports unless Cosco, a state-owned Chinese company, becomes an equal partner in the $23B deal

🏦 Former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh, a possible candidate to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair in May 2026, stated that the next Fed leader will maintain the central bank's independence from political influence

✈️ A preliminary investigation found that an Air India captain appeared calm after turning off the aircraft's fuel switches during last month's fatal crash

⚕️ President Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency after experiencing leg swelling

What does Roca Nation think?

🚔 Yesterday’s Question: Do you think cops are too revered or too smeared in the country today?

20 Questions!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Weeknd.

Many of you wrote in last week to say you want an open-ended 20 Questions. So guess what we're doing... an open-ended 20 Questions! It turns out that news companies can listen to their audiences! That might be a revolutionary idea in today's news landscape, but consider us the Robespierres of Instagram-based news companies (need to work on that one). Can't wait to read your responses. Have a great weekend!

Link to 20 Questions!

Last Week’s Responses

Results from last week’s patriotic-themed “This or That?” edition of 20 Questions.

Chilling in a chair - 65.4%
Swimming - 34.6%

Cheeseburger - 64.9%
Hot dog - 35.1%

Lemonade - 65.0%
Beer - 35.0%

Hard ice cream - 58.4%
Soft ice cream - 41.6%

Pulled pork - 66.6%
Grilled chicken - 33.4%

Mac n cheese 51.7%
Baked beans - 48.3%

S’Mores - 65.3%
Red, white, and blue popsicles - 34.7%

Abe Lincoln - 57.8%
George Washington - 42.2%

The Sandlot - 53.4%
Jaws - 46.6%

Going to a baseball game - 54.9%
Mini golf - 45.1%

Alaska - 52.0%
Hawaii - 48.0%

Liberty - 76.3%
Pursuit of happiness - 23.7%

Bratwurst - 58.7%
Hot dog - 41.3%

National Treasure - 52.4%
Miracle - 47.6%

Fireworks - 62.0%
Sparklers - 38.0%

Mosquitoes feasting on your leg - 54.2%
Full-body sunburn - 45.8%

Saying “we needed this” after a rain - 57.1%
Waking up at 7 AM on vacation - 42.9%

Watermelon - 79.4%
Popsicles - 20.6%

Declaration of Independence - 85.4%
Magna Carta - 14.6%

Back to back World War Champs - 53.7%
What the F is a Kilometer?! - 46.3%

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🏎️ Speeding Spells Backfired: On the same day and in the same court, Harry Potter actresses Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Zoë Wanamaker (Madam Hooch) were both handed six-month driving bans for speeding

🎨 Primate Picassos: Ozzy Osbourne has teamed up with chimpanzees to create a series of abstract expressionist paintings for charity

💋 Kiss Cam Chaos: Astronomer CEO Andy Byron was awkwardly spotlighted during Coldplay’s kiss cam in Boston, caught with his company’s HR chief, Kristin Cabot

🥤 Make America Sweet Again: Donald Trump proudly claimed on Truth Social that Coca‑Cola has agreed to replace high‑fructose corn syrup with “REAL Cane Sugar” in its US formula

🛶 Return to the River: Indigenous youth are kayaking their ancestral river for the first time in over a century

ROCA WRAP
Volcano Erupts

Iceland

This Nordic island nation faces ongoing volcanic eruptions that have displaced thousands and created a new normal for residents.

Iceland sits directly on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, making it one of Earth's most geologically active locations. The island typically sees volcanic activity every five years, but residents have grown accustomed to eruptions occurring in remote areas.

The Reykjanes Peninsula had remained volcanically quiet for eight centuries until 2021, when magma began breaking through the surface. Since then, the ground has split open 12 separate times, creating a pattern of fissure eruptions that spew liquid lava without launching ash into the atmosphere.

In the fishing town of Grindavik, lava flows have consumed three houses on the town's northern boundary, while dangerous cracks have opened throughout the community. Most residents have fled their homes, and the volcanic glow, which now illuminates the night sky, is visible even from the capital city of Reykjavik, 25 miles away.

The eruptions have repeatedly damaged critical infrastructure, particularly the hot water pipes that transport geothermal energy from power stations to communities across the peninsula. The disruption has forced authorities to rehouse roughly 1% of the affected population, worsening an already tight housing market and contributing to inflation concerns.

Scientists warn that this volcanic awakening on the Reykjanes Peninsula could persist for centuries. For a nation built on fire and ice, the fire is winning this round.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

As worried as everyone is about the AI takeover, we just asked Grok, “Tell a joke for our nonpartisan newsletter audience to end the newsletter on a Friday.” It came up with this:

Why did the computer go to art school? Because it wanted to learn how to draw a better "byte"! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Looks like we’ll live to fight another day as writers. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wait… didn’t the computer just say that? Maybe we are cooked!

–Max and Max