🌊 God Save the Comedians

Not so Squeaky clean, Ms. Fromme.

50 years ago today, “Squeaky” Fromme — a notorious member of the Manson Family cult — nearly killed Gerald Ford in a botched assassination attempt. Dressed in a red robe and determined to save California redwoods by sacrificing the 38th president, Squeaky confronted Ford during his visit to Sacramento. She got two feet from him and held a gun to his face but the chamber was empty. As agents wrestled her to the ground, she reportedly said, “Take it easy, the gun didn’t go off.”

Wow, those secret service agents really have no chill, huh? Relax, guys!

Now time for some news and 20 Questions.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

UK Free Speech Drama Continues

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage urged Washington to take action against the UK's free speech restrictions

• The UK has faced growing scrutiny over its approach to online speech regulation, particularly following high-profile arrests related to social media posts. Among the most prominent critics is Farage, who leads the right-wing, populist Reform UK party. Recent polls show Reform as the UK’s most popular party by a significant margin

• Farage appeared before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where he compared Britain's current situation to North Korea and called the country's approach to free speech "really awful" and "authoritarian"

• His testimony prompted criticism from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Democratic members of Congress, with one labeling him a “Putin-loving free speech impostor”

Dig Deeper

• Farage referenced several recent arrests, including that of sitcom writer Graham Linehan for posting about trans men, as well as Lucy Connolly's 31-month prison sentence for posts about asylum seekers

• Prime Minister Keir Starmer told his Parliament, “He has gone there to lobby the Americans to impose sanctions on this country that will harm working people”

• Farage received support from Republican committee members and was later hosted by President Trump in the Oval Office

KEY STORY

US Starts Campaign Against Cartels

The US government announced it had launched a sustained military campaign against Venezuelan drug cartels

• The Pentagon has deployed multiple warships to the Caribbean. On Tuesday, the US launched a strike against a Venezuelan boat that officials said was carrying drugs, killing 11 alleged Venezuelan gang members

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington would undertake further military action, stating, “Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate”

• The strike marked a change from decades of US anti-drug operations, which typically involved Coast Guard vessels intercepting and boarding suspected drug boats

Dig Deeper 

• Secretary Rubio announced Thursday that the US was designating two more gangs from Ecuador, Los Lobos and Los Choneros, as foreign terrorist organizations

• Critics questioned whether the attack violated international human rights and maritime law, noting that the Trump Administration has not offered any legal rationale or evidence that the US was under imminent threat

• Colombia's President wrote on X that the strike, “if true, is murder in any part of the world.” Others, such as Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister, welcomed the operation, saying, “The US military should kill them all violently”

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KEY STORY

Judge Overturns Harvard Cuts

A judge ruled that the Trump Administration illegally terminated Harvard University's research grants, marking the fourth out of five court setbacks for the administration in a week

• The Trump Administration froze Harvard's federal funding in April, accusing the university of harboring antisemitism, promoting “radical left” ideologies, and practicing racial bias through affirmative action

• A US district judge in Boston ruled Wednesday that the Trump Administration violated Harvard's First Amendment rights and failed to follow proper legal procedures when it suspended the university's research grants

• The judge determined that the administration “used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country's premier universities”

Dig Deeper

• Three other Ivy League schools – Columbia, Penn, and Brown – reached settlements with the administration rather than pursuing litigation, with Columbia agreeing to pay $221M in July

• The Harvard ruling represented the administration's fifth legal defeat in a week, following rulings that blocked the administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants, found that National Guard deployment to California violated the Posse Comitatus Act, and ruled that most of President Trump's tariffs exceeded his legal authority

KEY STORY

RFK Jr. Senate Testimony

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Health Secretary RFK Jr. faced bipartisan criticism over CDC turmoil and vaccine policy changes

• RFK Jr. limited recommending the Covid vaccine to adults 65 and older and those with underlying conditions (which critics argue restricts their access), ended federal mRNA vaccine development, and cut $500M in vaccine research funding

• Senators questioned how Kennedy could praise Trump's Operation Warp Speed while simultaneously cutting vaccine research

• Kennedy defended his actions as “absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world's gold standard public health agency”

Dig Deeper 

• Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) accused Kennedy of having “a steadfast commitment to elevating junk science and fringe conspiracies,” while Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said Kennedy was effectively "denying people vaccines”

• Several Republican senators who had previously supported Kennedy expressed growing concerns, with Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) warning that his vaccine advisory panel changes could “put Americans at risk and reverse decades of progress”

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

📃 The Justice Department opened a criminal mortgage fraud investigation into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, issuing grand jury subpoenas in Georgia and Michigan

⚖️ Washington, DC’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to end National Guard deployments in the city, arguing they violate federal law prohibiting military forces from conducting domestic law enforcement

🪖 The US will phase out security assistance programs that train and equip Eastern European militaries along Russia's border, pushing Europe to fund more of its own defense

🦅 American Eagle's stock surged 25% on Wednesday, with the retailer crediting the rise to celebrity partnerships with Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce 

💊 The Texas State Senate passed legislation allowing residents to sue providers, distributors, and manufacturers involved in shipping abortion medications to the state, even if no abortion occurs

What does Roca Nation think?

🤝 Yesterday’s Question: What is the greatest deal of all time?

20 Questions!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Weeknd.

For the uninitiated, every Friday we ask the Roca audience 20 questions. We've been doing this for over four years and each week the questions seem to get dumber. This week we're doing a "would you rather?" edition. Hope you enjoy and can't wait to read your responses.

Link to 20 Questions!

Last Week’s Responses

Selected responses to last week’s job-themed 20 Questions:

Dream job as a child? - Astronaut, Veterinarian, Potato chip
Dream job today? - Retired, Writer, Huge lottery winner
Should we tax tips? - No, Yes, We shouldn't even tax incomes
Should you tip an Uber driver? - Yes, No, Only if they go above and beyond in service/friendliness
How about a coffee shop worker? (Order = one small hot coffee) - No, Yes, Cents makes sense
Same question but now your order is an iced mocha frappuccino with caramel on top? - No, Yes, Makes sense if you want sugar in your coffee
Would you date a coworker? - No, Yes, Only if the coworker is drop-dead gorgeous
Ideal unusual work benefit? - Free lunch, Gym membership, Aquarium Fish Stipend
Most practical college major? - Business, Engineering, School of common sense
Least practical college major? - Art, Philosophy, Underwater basket weaving
Advice to a high-schooler considering going to college or starting a first job? - Go to trade school, Work hard, Clean shoes and confidence
Was it common for people from your high school go to trade school? - No, Yes, There wasn't any trade schools when I got out of high school
Favorite fictional office workplace? Dunder Mifflin, Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, etc. - Dunder Mifflin, Parks and Recreation Department, The hive factory in the Bee Movie
Least favorite office cliché? - Circle back, We're family here, Time is our inventory
Under-appreciated job? - Teacher, Janitor, Bimbo secretaries -- real secretaries/assistants have to be smart
Are yoga pants acceptable in any workplace? - No, Yes, depends on who’s wearing them
Your first job? - Babysitting, Paperboy, I wanted to be a potato chip
Hardest worker you know? - My dad, My wife, Dude named Ethan, absolute maniac
Profession that... let's be honest... gets too much love? - Influencer, Doctor, US Senators -- without a doubt
What are you excited for this weekend? Go Irish! - College football, Relaxing, Smoking meats

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

⚰️ Giorgio Armani Dead at 91: Fashion designer Giorgio Armani passed away Thursday at 91, ending a five-decade career that helped establish Italy as a global fashion powerhouse

👴 Kid Napping… Kidnapping?: A grandfather accidentally took home the wrong sleeping child from a Sydney daycare after staff failed to verify his identity during pickup

🪼 Tentacle Trouble: A swarm of jellyfish disrupted France's Paluel nuclear power plant, the second incident this month, forcing crews to shut down one reactor and reduce output at another

👩‍🦰 Startup Stumbles: Selena Gomez's mother, Mandy Teefey, faces allegations of erratic behavior at their mental health company, Wondermind, with former employees claiming she used substances and received IV drips in her office

🪆 Monsters, Inc(orrect): Seattle Customs seized over half a million dollars’ worth of counterfeit Labubu dolls, highlighting how the viral collectible's popularity has spawned a massive knockoff market

ROCA WRAP
RIP, Preserved Fish

New York City

Preserved Fish started out as a whaler – and would rise to become one of New York City’s most prominent merchants.

Born in Massachusetts in 1766, Preserved came from a lineage of successful Fishes: His extended family included Stuyvesant Fish and Hamilton Fish, both of whom served as secretaries of state. While Preserved spent his early life on a whaler, his name had nothing to do with the fish business: Pronounced in three syllables – pre-zerv-id – Preserved Fish was a reference to being preserved (saved) from sin.

Preserved built a small fortune from whale oil in Massachusetts and soon expanded that into a shipping business. He relocated to New York City and, by the 1810s and 1820s, had become one of the city’s most powerful businessmen. 

Preserved was a director of the Tammany Society, part of the Democratic political machine, and eventually president of the Tradesmen’s Bank and later the Bank of America (not the modern one, but an influential 19th-century New York bank). Yet while a successful businessman, Preserved Fish’s life wasn’t without hardship: His first two of three wives died, as did all of his children. Documents show that one adopted son died "a disgraced man." 

As for himself, Preserved Fish lived to the ripe old age of 80. When he died, he was buried in the prominent New York City Marble Cemetery, where he remains today. His obituary commemorated him as "a rough, obstinate, and eccentric man," although one who was “charitable,” "without guile," and a faithful friend.

May Preserved Fish RIP.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Thank you for reading today’s newsletter and now we give you a YouTube video that we think you’ll enjoy. If you feel a visceral reaction at the premise, please just watch it. We stumbled upon his story and decided to meet up for an interview. The funniest part about this J6er is that we met him in Fort Greene, which is the neighborhood in Brooklyn where the two of us moved before a sewage pipe exploded in our basement in the fall of 2023.

Let us know what you think and have an amazing weekend!

–Max and Max