🌊 Reporting Live from the DNC

Reporting live from the DNC.

The forecast for Chicago this week is cloudy with a 100% chance of protests. This morning we’re driving to Chicago from Milwaukee — after a week of reporting in the Badger State — and are excited to talk to protesters, attendees, and hopefully some “Birds Aren’t Real” activists.

You’ll be getting a lot of DNC content from us, so to balance it out we just interviewed Oren Cass. He’s considered JD Vance’s “horse whisperer” and the intellectual leader of the “New Right.” Here are links to the interview on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify. You may find it very interesting!

–Max, Max, and Owen

KEY STORY

UV Rays: Good for Health?

A new paper challenges the notion that UV rays are bad for health

• Researchers from the University of Edinburgh analyzed data from 360,000+ individuals in a large UK health database. The study revealed that sunbed users were 23% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease and 14% less likely to die from cancer compared to non-users, while individuals living in sunnier locations had a 19% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 12% lower risk of death from cancer

Dig Deeper

• The study’s co-author hypothesized that while UV exposure is linked to melanoma, it could protect against other serious illnesses, including cardiovascular disease and certain cancers

• He said that while UV ray exposure is discouraged to prevent melanoma, “many times more people die from other cancers and diseases. We have to think about how UV radiation could help them avoid illness”

KEY STORY

DNC Begins; Protests Incoming

The Democratic National Convention kicks off in Chicago on Monday, with protests expected

• Chicago held the 1968 DNC with the party intensely split between pro- and anti-Vietnam War democrats. Protesters converged on the DNC, where riots broke out, and police violently broke them up on national television

• Now, pro-Palestine, left-wing protesters – who have labeled Joe Biden “Genocide Joe” and Kamala Harris “Kamala the Killer” – are descending on Chicago and promising to “Make it great like 68.” Chicago says its police are prepared to handle any unrest peacefully

Dig Deeper

• The DNC runs from Monday to Thursday, culminating with a speech by Kamala Harris

• All the party’s heavyweights are expected to attend, with many delivering speeches throughout the week

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KEY STORY

Mpox Emergency?

The new mpox strain was identified outside Africa for the first time

• The WHO declared Mpox – renamed from “Monkey Pox” because of concerns about stigma and racism – a global health emergency in 2022, when a strain from Africa spread into Europe and the US, largely among gay men. While that died down, a new, deadlier strain has been spreading in Central Africa

• Last week, a case of the new strain was recorded in Sweden in a man who recently visited an infected area. It was the first case identified outside Africa

Dig Deeper

• Last week, the WHO declared mpox a “global emergency.” While vaccinations exist, epidemiologists have expressed concerns about potential mpox mutations that could cause it to spread more easily or become more serious

KEY STORY

Brazil v. Musk

X is closing its Brazil operations amid a clash between Elon Musk and the country’s supreme court

• The decision doesn’t affect Brazilian users’ X access but will affect X’s corporate operations in Brazil

• It comes after a Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered X to remove accounts posting alleged hate speech and fake news. Musk refused, and the justice began investigating Musk for potential obstruction of justice

• Musk and others on the right have accused the justice of restricting free speech; the justice has said he is trying to save democracy

Dig Deeper

• Officials in the current left-wing government have openly worried about Musk’s influence in Brazil, where his satellite internet service Starlink has connected swaths of the countryside to the internet and made him immensely popular

• Starlink is now the country’s largest satellite internet service, but Brazil’s government has threatened to restrict access to the service, alleging it harms competition

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

✈️ WizzAir – a Hungarian budget airline and one of Europe’s most flown – launched an “all-you-can-fly” deal, offering unlimited annual flights for €499. Users must book within three days of the flight and pay a €10 fee. The deal reportedly sold out in most markets within 24 hours

🤝 Negotiations between Israel and Hamas/Iran continued in Qatar over the weekend. President Biden reportedly hopes to secure a deal by the end of this week, stating Friday, “We are closer than we have ever been” to a ceasefire deal. On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office expressed “cautious optimism,” while Hamas claimed that there had been no progress, calling the negotiations “selling illusions”

💣 As the talks continued, so did the war: On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon killed 10 people, making it one of the deadliest single strikes since the sides began exchanging daily fire. Israel said it targeted a Hezbollah weapons storage facility

💥 Ukraine intensified its incursion into Russia – its largest since the war began in 2022 – destroying bridges, toppling statues, and establishing a military office on Russian soil. Amid this, Germany cut off military aid to Ukraine, citing a domestic budgetary crisis

💵 Dr. Ralph de la Torre – CEO of a major Texas hospital chain – faces scrutiny after a WSJ exposé revealed his extravagant lifestyle while his hospitals went bankrupt. De la Torre reportedly paid himself over $250M in recent years while his hospitals ran out of funds. A Senate committee has subpoenaed him to testify in September

COMMUNITY

🧠 Today’s question: What should we ask voters at the Democratic National Convention this week?

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🕹 Custard’s last stand: A Pennsylvania groundhog named Colonel Custard – discovered at a frozen custard shop – was found hiding among stuffed animal prizes in an arcade game

🤬 All You Can Argue: Authorities arrested a 28-year-old woman at an Indiana Applebee’s and charged her with disorderly conduct after an argument over the restaurant’s “All You Can Eat” deal

🚗 A brake up: A 30-year-old Minnesota woman is in custody after allegedly trying to run over her boyfriend on the way to couples therapy

💸 Big Hat: The felt fedora worn by Harrison Ford in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” sold for $630,000 at a Los Angeles auction

⚾️ When gloves don’t fit: Doctors reportedly informed New York Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo – who’s having a down year at the plate – that an allergist discovered chromate and cobalt in his batting gloves

ROCA WRAP

Monday Morning Madness

Winter Wonderland?

North Korea will resume international tourism this winter, ending its pandemic-era ban. 

The country has largely been closed to foreign tourists since 2020, but two North Korea-focused travel companies announced Wednesday that their local partners had informed them of government plans to allow visits to certain locations.

By December, foreign tourists can visit the North Korean city of Samjiyon, with other areas potentially becoming accessible later. For years, North Korea has reportedly been developing tourism facilities in Samjiyon, a mountain city near the Chinese border, which Kim Jong Un recently praised as “a model of a highly-civilized mountain city.”

Candy Crush

A Tennessee police officer was fired after using his badge to access a hospital and bring a nurse a candy bar.

He was relieved of duty on July 26th following a complaint from a nurse who claimed the officer had been repeatedly trying to talk to her over Snapchat. At 6 AM that day, the officer allegedly arrived at the hospital in uniform, told security he needed access codes to assist with a patient and then found the woman to surprise her with a candy bar. She said, “This made her feel uneasy,” and blocked him on Snapchat.

The police department fired the officer for “actions unbecoming of a police officer and unauthorized use of a city vehicle.”

When Jackpots Go Furry

A mysterious furry animation appeared on LED screens across roughly seven Oregon Lottery billboards.

An Oregon Lottery spokesperson said the LED screens – intended to display the current Powerball Jackpot – malfunctioned at seemingly random locations this week. A Reddit user recorded one of the billboards, showing furry artwork of cats in a passionate embrace. The artwork matches pieces posted online by a furry artist. The issue reportedly originated from the third-party vendor that operates the LED signs, who hasn’t responded to inquiries about whether the incident was related to hacking.

Here Come the Gamblers

Notre Dame suspended its men’s swimming team for at least one academic year after an investigation revealed “numerous violations of NCAA rules prohibiting gambling,” among other troubling behavior.

Following reports of potential cultural issues with the men’s swimming team, Notre Dame hired a law firm to conduct an independent investigation. The university’s athletic director said the investigation confirmed the allegations of misconduct and offered a bigger picture of the team’s “troubling behaviors.” He confirmed the suspension on Thursday, writing that gambling violations are part of “a deeply embedded team culture dismissive of Notre Dame’s standards for student-athletes.”

Flying High

Vladimir Galkin, 45, the executive chairman of a Miami-based electronics wholesaling platform, has quietly acquired an 8.1% stake in JetBlue.

“My investments in public companies are a side hobby,” Galkin said. “I don’t day trade.” He prefers to make big bets on stocks that attract activists like Carl Icahn, who holds a 9.9% stake in JetBlue. Galkin and his wife traded GameStop shares during the meme stock frenzy when shares in the stock soared 1,600%. In January, he began buying JetBlue shares at around $5 each, down from over $20 in 2021.

His JetBlue stake is now worth $132M, placing him behind just Icahn, BlackRock, and Vanguard Group.

ROCA VIDEO

The Philosophy of JD Vance

Oren Cass is reshaping the Republican Party. Whereas the GOP used to be the party that touted free trade, free markets, and growth, Cass is building a coalition of Republican leaders — including JD Vance — who instead focus on workers, communities, and even labor unions. In order to better understand the “New Right,” what it stands for, and what Vance believes, we interviewed Cass for a new episode of We The 66. The video is below, but if you’d prefer to listen, here are the links: Apple and Spotify.

Make sure to subscribe to the channel! 

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Last night, we ate custard and double cheeseburgers at the Milwaukee staple Kopp’s, so we apologize for any grease-induced typos today. At Kopp’s we ran into a Roca Reader named Francesco. He’s spent his life in Milan, Italy, and Milwaukee, WI, and his head nearly exploded when we asked him to pick between gelato and custard. A super nice guy.

Thank you to all of the Roca Riders who showed us around their towns and taught us about the Badger State. Onto the Windy City!

–Max and Max