🌊 Why Songs Are Getting Shorter

Art of the Grift.

For the second week in a row, Jake Tapper’s Original Sin is the #1 NYT best-seller. The book is the equivalent of a nine-year-old covered in powdered sugar marching into the living room to ask who ate the last donut holes. In Original Sin, Tapper — a journalist with a massive platform who regularly shot down questions about Biden’s decline — details how the Democratic Party and journalists with massive platforms ignored questions about Biden’s decline. Disgraceful, right? But wait there’s more!

Now we’re seeing that Biden’s ex-press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is publishing a book titled, Independent: A look inside a broken White House, outside the party lines. What’s next? A book from Anthony Scaramucci on how to keep a job?

Utterly shameless. Okay, time to breathe. Inhale, exhale. Now here’s today’s news.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Artificial Blood Trials

Scientists are testing an artificial blood substitute that is compatible with all blood types

• Demand for O-negative blood – the universal donor type – typically outpaces supply. Additionally, blood donations have a shelf life of only 42 days, making shortages a critical healthcare challenge, particularly in developing countries

• One potential solution is synthetic blood, which can be compatible with all blood types and stored for up to five years under refrigeration

• Since 2022, scientists at Japan’s Nara Medical University have been testing artificial blood. The group recently launched a new study and said that if they are successful, the product could be available by 2030

Dig Deeper 

• Artificial blood is produced by isolating hemoglobin – the iron-rich protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen – from expired donor blood. This hemoglobin is then encapsulated to form virus-free artificial red blood cells

• Notably, these synthetic cells lack blood type markers, making them compatible with all blood types

• The synthetic cells can also be stored for up to five years under refrigeration and for two years at room temperature

KEY STORY

Wells Fargo is Back

The US Federal Reserve lifted Wells Fargo’s asset cap restriction, ending a major regulatory penalty that had limited the bank’s ability to grow

• In 2016, Wells Fargo – the US’ fourth-largest bank – was found to have created millions of fake customer accounts to meet aggressive internal sales targets

• The scandal led to over $5B in penalties, the resignations of top execs, congressional hearings, and restrictions imposed by the Fed that prohibited the bank from growing its assets

• This week, the Fed lifted those restrictions, saying that Wells Fargo had made “substantial progress”

Dig Deeper

• During the scandal, employees ordered credit cards for pre-approved customers without their approval and used their own contact information when filling out requests to prevent customers from discovering the fraud. In some cases, clients were charged fees for accounts they never knew existed

• Wells Fargo paid approximately $5B in fines and damages resulting from regulatory actions, as well as civil and criminal litigation. Beyond the fines, the Federal Reserve barred the bank from growing its total assets beyond $1.95T, an unprecedented penalty

• With the cap now lifted, Wells Fargo can pursue growth strategies that were previously off-limits

QUOTE OF THE DAY

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KEY STORY

Iran Rejects US Nuclear Proposal

Iran's Supreme Leader publicly rejected the US nuclear proposal

• The US and Iran have been negotiating a new nuclear deal. The sticking point has been whether Iran can enrich uranium, the process that prepares uranium for nuclear energy (at low levels of enrichment) or nuclear bombs (at high levels)

• The US has been demanding that Iran end all enrichment, but Iran has rejected that. In recent weeks, Trump has been demanding that Iran accept an offer soon or face potential military action

• This Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader once again rejected the American offer, saying, "The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear programme. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?"

Dig Deeper 

• Uranium enrichment increases the concentration of the U-235 isotope in uranium, which is necessary for both civilian nuclear power generation and – at higher levels – for nuclear weapons

• Iran claims its enrichment activities are solely for peaceful purposes, such as fueling nuclear power plants and medical research reactors. However, enrichment beyond 20% is considered highly enriched uranium, and Iran has enriched uranium up to 60%, raising concerns

• Iran’s supreme leader wrote on X, “To the American side and others we say: Why are you interfering and trying to say whether Iran should have uranium enrichment or not? That’s none of your business”

KEY STORY

The Shorter, The Sweeter

A new analysis by The Economist found that popular songs have decreased in length by 18% since 1990

• The study found that the average length of popular songs has dropped from 4:22 in 1990 to 3:34 today, the shortest since the 1960s when the vinyl recording format limited recordings to 3-5 minutes

• Various theories have been put forward to explain this trend. A prominent one is that streaming platforms like Spotify pay artists per play that is at least 30 seconds, thereby incentivizing musicians to get to the hook faster, with quick intros and early choruses

• Some critics argue that increasingly brief tracks reflect an “erosion of taste” meant to “appease the TikTok generation,” while others see them as a creative adaptation to modern platforms

Dig Deeper

• Some artists are embracing the shift. Jennie, a South Korean pop star, summed up the new ethos in a lyric: “Don’t bore us, take us to the chorus”

• Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet and Charli xcx’s Brat – both among last summer’s most popular albums – were filled with under-three-minute tracks

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🏫 The Trump Administration threatened Columbia University’s accreditation

⚖️ Reddit filed a lawsuit against AI startup Anthropic, alleging that it used Reddit content without permission to train its Claude chatbot

🇺🇸 The Trump Administration paused plans to collect data on welfare recipients after civil rights groups sued

💰 The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency, estimated President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” would increase the deficit by $2.4T over the next decade

⚓ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a ship named after the slain gay rights activist and Navy veteran

What does Roca Nation think?

🧠 Yesterday’s Question: Should we allow Chinese nationals to attend US universities? Or is the risk too high?

🧐 Today’s Question: What’s an issue that your liberal and conservative friends can agree on?

Reply to this email with your answer!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🦓 Earn Your Stripes: An escaped zebra has been on the run for days near Nashville, Tennessee

🐘 Elephant Goes Grocery Shopping in Thailand: A wild elephant casually wandered into a Thai grocery store and helped himself to snacks from the shelves

💵 Grandpa John Wick: A Vancouver grandfather intervened when a former DoorDash driver showed up armed at his home demanding a cash tip

🚽 Lawrence Welk Finally Gets a Flush Finale: Decades after growing up without indoor plumbing, bandleader Lawrence Welk’s North Dakota childhood home will now have a flush toilet for visitors

🤖 Rebooting Grandpa: Walt Disney’s granddaughter criticized the company for turning her “Grampa” into a talking robot for Disneyland’s 70th anniversary

ROCA WRAP
Euro Entry

Bulgaria

This country received approval to join the Eurozone in 2026.

Bulgaria is a Balkan nation bordered by Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece, and Turkey. Long part of the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria gained independence in 1878 and was a communist state under Soviet influence from 1946 to 1989. During that period, its dictator allegedly tried to have Pope John Paul II assassinated.

Since the end of communism, though, Bulgaria has joined the EU and worked toward deeper European integration, although corruption and other difficulties have at times prevented this.

On Wednesday, Bulgaria took a major step toward the EU when the European Commission officially approved Bulgaria's entry into the Eurozone, making it the 21st country to adopt the euro as its currency.

"Today we have reached a crucial milestone on our path to join the euro," Bulgaria's Prime Minister said. "The introduction of the euro will improve economic stability and create stronger fundamentals for investments and economic growth."

The approval came after Bulgaria finally met all convergence criteria, including bringing inflation down to 3.5% in April.

Bulgaria's journey to euro adoption has been marked by significant delays and political turmoil. The country has held seven elections in the past four years, creating a succession of unstable governments that contributed to the delayed timeline. Bulgaria also previously failed to meet inflation targets, which pushed back its original timeline by a year.

The move toward Europe has also prompted substantial domestic opposition, including from groups who want the country to be closer to Russia and strongly oppose euro adoption.

Over the weekend, several thousand protesters gathered in Sofia, the capital, to demonstrate against joining the single currency. One populist political leader said there, "Bulgaria has risen and declared: Freedom, we choose the Bulgarian lev."

Yet it looks like Bulgaria’s government has chosen Europe over Moscow – and the euro as its currency.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Happy Cinco de June-o, everyone! The answers to yesterday’s question were fascinating. We only could feature three, but there were many more interesting responses. Including the one that said, “BOYCOTT CHICK FILET!!” It was both late and hilariously misspelled.

Let’s end the week with some bipartisan optimism — can’t wait to hear what you have to say to today’s.

–Max and Max