🌊 The Verdict on Standing Desks

A huge milestone for Roca. The Wave continues to grow.

Yesterday we hit 250k subscribers on our YouTube channel. Thank you so, so much to all of you who’ve helped us reach this milestone. In the last month, we’ve had over eight videos from around the country get over 100k views. The latest one (below) has nearly 300k views in just over two days. It turns out that to understand the country you have to see the country and talk to people from every walk of life. That takes us to hollers, hoods, billionaire hideouts, and everywhere in between.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Standing Desks Good for Mental Health?

A new review examined whether standing desks improve health and academic outcomes

• Researchers at Spain’s University of Castilla-La Mancha reviewed 17 studies involving 2,886 university students and 163 instructors, analyzing how standing desks affected physical health, mental wellness, and academic performance

• Mental health showed the most consistent benefits, with three of four studies finding reduced anxiety and improved mood. Physical health results were mixed. Only one of four studies found significant pain reduction

• Despite mixed scientific results, ten studies reported that students positively perceived the desks

Dig Deeper

• One study suggested standing desk users had lower blood pressure, but a broader review found only weak evidence for cardiovascular improvements

• Seven studies found improvements in the standing desk groups, while five detected no meaningful differences

• The researchers concluded that standing desks could improve movement patterns and mental health in university settings but emphasized that evidence remained sparse

KEY STORY

Trump-Putin Summit

President Trump met with President Putin in Alaska on Friday to discuss the future of Ukraine

• Trump warmly greeted Putin on a red carpet and then had a B2 bomber fly over his head. During the meeting, Putin demanded that Ukraine retreat from sections of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces – Ukraine’s most fortified sections of the front line – in exchange for Russia freezing other parts of the front line

• At first, Trump appeared not to adopt Putin’s positions – cause for relief in Ukraine. Yet hours later, he said the sides should agree to a full peace deal without a ceasefire first – a key Russian position

• Zelensky – joined by the leaders of the UK and EU, among others – is meeting Trump at the White House later today

Dig Deeper 

• Trump’s endorsement of a peace deal without a ceasefire prompted widespread concern in Ukraine and European capitals, with many officials saying that they believed the shift indicated a move by Trump into Russia’s camp

• The European leaders spent the weekend prepping Zelensky for the Monday meeting, apparently in hopes of persuading Trump to back Ukraine and avert a head-to-head clash, like the Zelensky Oval Office visit in February

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KEY STORY

BlackRock-Saudi Deal

A BlackRock-owned consortium signed an $11B deal to lease natural gas infrastructure from Saudi Aramco

• BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager; Saudi Aramco, its largest energy company

• Saudi Aramco has sought to raise capital from its infrastructure assets to fund Saudi Arabia's economic transformation program. The kingdom aims to diversify its economy through investments in AI, tourism, sports, and futuristic city projects as it prepares for declining oil demand

• On Thursday, the BlackRock-led Global Infrastructure Partners unit (GIP) agreed to lease gas processing facilities from Aramco, then lease them back to Saudi Arabia

Dig Deeper

• The move effectively lets Aramco borrow from BlackRock – one of the companies that has been most aggressive in promoting ESG (environmental, social, and governance) goals

• The project forms a cornerstone of Aramco's plans to increase gas production capacity by 60% between 2021 and 2030

KEY STORY

DC Police Update

The Trump Administration rescinded its order replacing Washington, DC's police chief

• Last week, President Trump enacted the Home Rule Act – a 1970s law that allows him to federalize the DC police department for up to 30 days – in the name of cracking down on crime and homelessness in Washington. Trump is the first president to use the law since 1973

• On Friday, DC's attorney general filed a lawsuit. A judge quickly ruled that while the mayor must follow White House directives under the Home Rule Act, the law doesn't grant the White House full control of the police force

• Following the hearing, the Justice Department agreed to remove the DEA administrator as emergency police chief and made him an intermediary between the administration and the police

Dig Deeper 

• The Trump Administration deployed 800 National Guard troops and 500 federal law enforcement agents to the district. A White House official reported that federal law enforcement teams made 156 arrests and seized 27 firearms during the week

• Attorney General Pam Bondi accused DC's attorney general of impeding “our efforts to improve public safety” in the city while claiming that the government is “committed to working closely with Mayor Bowser”

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🏭 UN negotiations failed to establish a global plastic pollution treaty after countries could not resolve fundamental disagreements about how to deal with plastic

🇸🇾 A UN investigation found that pro-government forces committed widespread crimes against Alawite civilians in Syria in March, though no evidence linked Syria's new government to orchestrating the attacks

🇮🇳 Prime Minister Modi vowed to build a “self-reliant India” in his Independence Day speech, announcing tax reforms and domestic semiconductor production, while avoiding direct mention of recent US tariffs

🧑‍🎓 Fintech company Klarna has agreed to sell up to $26B in buy-now, pay-later loans to student loan servicer Nelnet in a multi-year agreement

📊 Chinese tax authorities are demanding that some wealthy investors pay a 20% tax on their global trading profits, targeting gains from offshore accounts as domestic markets struggle

What does Roca Nation think?

🧐 Today’s Question: Is America too obsessed with football? How do you feel about its return?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🍗 Kiev and Let Dine: Russian journalists flying to Alaska to cover the Trump-Putin summit were reportedly served chicken Kiev on their state-chartered flight

🐇 Franken-Rabbits: Colorado cottontail rabbits in Fort Collins have developed disturbing horn-like growths on their faces

🥪 Sub-Par Justice: A Justice Department employee was arrested and fired after he threw a Subway sandwich at a federal agent deployed to Washington, DC

📖 Dead-line: A parenting guide borrowed from San Antonio Public Library in 1943 was returned after 82 years by an Oregon resident who inherited it after their father's death

🤼 Smothered and Covered: Khamzat Chimaev dominated Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 in Chicago, winning the middleweight title by unanimous decision with three unanimous 50-44 scorecards

ROCA WRAP
Burning Buildings

Serbia

Protesters torched ruling party offices in this country during a fifth consecutive night of anti-government demonstrations.

Serbia is a landlocked Balkan nation that emerged from the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Since 2012, President Aleksandar Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) have dominated Serbian politics. In that period, the country has struggled with governance and corruption issues.

Anger about that has come to a boil since last year, when a train station collapsed, killing 16 people. The protests that started have now spiraled into the most serious challenge to Vučić’s rule.

On Saturday night, masked demonstrators set fire to SNS party offices in the city of Valjevo as anti-government protests escalated into their most violent phase yet. Riot police responded with stun grenades and tear gas after the attackers targeted the empty facilities. Similar scenes unfolded across multiple cities, with protesters also smashing windows at the headquarters of the Serbian Radical Party, an SNS coalition partner.

When the railway station collapsed back in November, citizens blamed the tragedy on government corruption and construction shortcuts. What began as mourning has since turned into widespread anti-corruption demonstrations that are growing increasingly angry and show no signs of abating.

European human rights officials have condemned Serbian authorities for using “disproportionate force” against demonstrators, while Russia has offered support, stating, “We cannot remain unresponsive to what is happening in brotherly Serbia” and defending police actions as necessary to contain “violent mobs.”

After 12 years in power, Vučić is facing his biggest challenge yet – and the flames aren't just burning party offices.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Thanks for tuning in to today’s edition of Roca. Yesterday, Max F got back from a Canada reporting trip, and today, Max T left on one to Florida. All of this reporting ends up either on our YouTube, or in our app or WeThe66 premium newsletter. Make sure not to miss it!

Also, as our video intern Gus from Nebraska reminded us yesterday: This was the last weekend of the year without college football. It’s been a hard seven months, but we did it.

–Max and Max