🌊 Operation Below the Belt

Happy Rice Krispies Treat Day.

We owe a big thank you to Kellogg’s employees Melitta Jensen and Mildred Day who created the first batch of Snap, Crackle, and Pop in 1939 for a Camp Fire Girls fundraiser. Needless to say, they were a hit. Little did they know, decades later my mom’s Rice Krispie treats were how I made all my friends in fourth grade. Let’s pretend that’s a joke…

–Max, Max, and Owen

KEY STORY

Hezbollah Pager Attack

Hundreds of Hezbollah pagers exploded

• Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militia, uses pagers to communicate. Hundreds of their pagers heated up and then exploded at 3:30 PM on Tuesday, causing 2,700+ injuries and 9+ deaths. It wasn’t immediately clear how many victims were civilians

• The attack affected a recently received pager order. Hezbollah officials said the pagers had Israeli malware planted on them. Earlier Tuesday, Israel expanded its war aims to include returning northern Israelis to their homes, something it has said can’t be done with Hezbollah present in southern Lebanon

Dig Deeper

• Hezbollah’s leaders said in a statement, “This treacherous and criminal enemy [Israel] will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression”

• Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was confirmed to have been wounded, and the ten-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member was reported killed when his pager exploded

KEY STORY

Trudeau Tanking

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a political crisis as his popularity plummets and the threat of a no-confidence vote looms

• Trudeau has led a minority government since 2021. His approval rating has fallen from 63% when first elected in 2015 to 28% by June amid rising living costs and a housing crisis

• His Liberal Party had depended on a supply-and-confidence agreement with the New Democratic Party (NDP), but the NDP ended it last week. Then, in a recent by-election, a party devoted to Quebec nationalism stole a seat from the Liberals

• Conservatives are now pushing for a no-confidence vote, urging the NDP to support it and trigger an election

Dig Deeper

• The NDP leader remains noncommittal to back the no-confidence motion, stating they’ll vote based on “what is in the best interests of Canadians”

• Trudeau insists he will lead the party into the next election, which must be held by the end of October 2025. Polls suggest the Liberals may face a significant loss to the Conservatives, with the blame falling on Trudeau

ROCA’S PARTNERS

Final Day to ‘Raise the Roof’

Together with Sky Quarry

• This company found a potential $4.4B market opportunity, turning old roofing shingles into oil and other resources

• That’s what Sky Quarry aims to do with the 15M+ tons of asphalt shingles being dumped every year

• They saw 211% revenue growth last year. And they plan to produce 2,000 barrels of oil per day by 2025

• But here’s where you need to pay attention: Today is the final day to invest in Sky Quarry’s current offering ahead of their Nasdaq listing

*This is a paid advertisement for Sky Quarry’s Regulation A Offering. Additional information on the company and risk factors related to the offering can be found in the Form 1-A offering circular

KEY STORY

Diddy Arrest Details

​​Details of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ arrest have emerged

• On Tues., the US gov’t indicted Combs, 54, on racketeering and sex trafficking charges. Combs’ attorney said he will plead not guilty to all of them

• A US attorney said Diddy hosted “freak-offs,” in which Diddy would drug and threaten male prostitutes into competing in various ways. After one 2012 “freak-off,” Diddy allegedly paid $46k+ to cover damages to a New York hotel penthouse

• Diddy was denied bail and ordered to jail after the prosecutor alleged a history of coercion and witness tampering by Combs

Dig Deeper

• Before Monday’s arrest, Diddy had been named in 10+ lawsuits that accused him of sexual misconduct

• Numerous men and women have accused Diddy of trafficking, drugging, rape, kidnapping, arson, and more

KEY STORY

Meta Purges Russian Media

Meta said Monday it is banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya, and other Russian state media networks from its platforms for “foreign interference activity”

• In recent years, Meta has taken steps to regulate Russian media outlets’ activity, including blocking the outlets from running ads and reducing the reach of their posts

• Its latest move follows a Justice Department report that accuses RT of funneling $10M into a Nashville-based media company, Tenet Media, to create content that aligned with their interests

• On Tuesday, YouTube also cracked down on Russian outlets, banning 230 affiliated channels

Dig Deeper

• “After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT, and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” Meta said in a statement on Monday’s ban

• A Kremlin spokesperson responded to the move with the statement: “Meta is discrediting itself with these actions. Such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable. ... This complicates prospects for normalizing our relations with Meta”

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

📺 Netflix’s CEO announced that in the first half of 2024, the company’s four most-watched shows were all British-made

🇩🇪 Germany’s center-right party announced their candidate in next year’s elections, who polls suggest is the heavy favorite to become Germany’s next leader

🚫 A US court rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal against her sex trafficking conviction

📉 The US Federal Reserve (Fed) is expected to cut interest rates on Wednesday

🚗 Norway became the first country to have more electric vehicles than gas-powered vehicles on its roads

COMMUNITY

🧐 Yesterday’s question: Who’s the best side character in TV history?

🧠 Today’s question: Who’s someone in media today who does a good job of listening to and platforming different viewpoints?

Reply to this email to let us know what you think!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🛒 Target acquired: Ohio police reported finding an 8-year-old girl safe at a Target after she took a car and drove to the store to shop. The store was over 10 miles from where she was reported missing

🍔 McMillionaires: A Canadian couple who won a $5M lottery prize celebrated with McDonald’s, insisting the win won’t change who they are

🚙 Driven by kindness: A group of Virginia high school students surprised their school custodian with his “dream” Jeep Wrangler after raising over $20,000 in just three months

🍫 Charlie and the Chocolate Firing: A former UK police officer resigned after stealing £2.50 from a suspect’s car to pay off a candy shop debt. He said he used the money to “purchase chocolate bars for his children”

💔 Wing and a miss: A 36-year-old German woman — diagnosed with objectophilia — revealed that she has ended her nine-year romantic relationship with a Boeing 737, which she affectionately called “Darling”

ROCA WRAP

The Case that Has Captured France

Heads up: This story details some of the most disturbing acts we have ever read about.

A criminal case that has captured France’s attention took a stark turn on Tuesday. 

Out of the blue in November 2020, the family of Dominique Pelicot, now 71, learned that he – a husband, father, and grandfather – had been a rapist. The then-67-year-old had been arrested for filming up the skirts of women in a supermarket. While Pelicot was in jail, police seized and searched his phone, camera, and computer – and unveiled one of the most horrific crimes imaginable.

Those devices contained 20,000 images that showed Pelicot’s wife, Gisele, drugged and being raped by dozens of different men. Within those pictures, investigators identified 92 unique rapes committed by 72 people, of whom they were able to identify 51. It was subsequently alleged that Pelicot had routinely drugged his wife and invited men he met online to take advantage of her. The crimes lasted at least a decade. Pelicot appears not to have profited but to have done it purely for his own satisfaction. 

Gisele – who had met Dominique at age 18 and been married to him for 50 years – had no idea any of this had taken place. 

To make a horrifying situation even worse, there were photos showing that Dominique had drugged his daughter, Caroline, as well. 

This case against Dominique and 50 co-defendants went to trial earlier this month. It has since drawn horrified attention within France and elsewhere around the world. 

On Tuesday, Dominique testified for the first time. 

He began by claiming to have had a nurse rape him as a child, then said that he loved his wife for the whole 50 years he was with her: “I loved her well for 40 years and badly for 10,” he said, an apparent reference for the decade during which his crimes took place.  

But then he gestured at his co-defendants: “I am a rapist like the others in this room,” he declared. 15 of the 50 co-defendants have admitted to rape; the rest have admitted to lesser sexual crimes. 

Gisele responded shortly after: “It is difficult for me to listen to this. For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would’ve never imagined could be capable of this. I trusted him completely.”

This type of trial would normally be kept private and the victims’ identities anonymous, but Gisele had requested it be made open to the public so that the “shame” could be shifted from the victim back to the accused. She has since become an icon of courage in France and captured the support of the nation. 

As she stepped out of the courtroom during a break on Tuesday, she was met with a round of applause. She accepted a bouquet of flowers and tried to smile at the crowd.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

It was fun to read through your answers on favorite side TV characters in history. The answers were quite multi-generational, too: Everyone from Barney Fife in “The Andy Griffith Show” and Radar from “MASH,” to Saul Goodman from “Breaking Bad” and Bubbles from “Trailer Park Boys.” Unfortunately, we didn’t see any characters from “Bluey” mentioned, so we’re gonna need to work on that 4-8 demo.

–Max and Max