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🌊 The Big Apple's Rotten Core
Plus: Senate releases assassination attempt report...
On this day in 1902…
Businessman and fashion pioneer Levi Strauss died in San Francisco. Levi’s was the first company in history to manufacture blue jeans, though at the time they were called “waist overalls.” Levi Strauss never married and never had kids. So, ironically, he never got to pass his genes to the next generation.
🚨 New York mayor Eric Adams indicted
📊 Senate releases report on assassination attempt
🇮🇷 Iran threatening Trump?
–Max, Max, and Owen
KEY STORY
Assassination Attempt Report
The US Senate released its report about how Secret Service failures enabled the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, PA
The report noted testimony from one Secret Service sniper team leader who said his team saw local forces running guns drawn toward a building with a view of Trump, but it didn’t occur to him to warn Trump’s detail so they could move him off stage
The report also found widespread technical issues: Many officers had broken radios and failed to replace them, and the group that was supposed to deploy an anti-drone device was stuck on a toll-free support number
Secret Service officers also acknowledged that they failed to position troops on the rooftop where the sniper sat
Dig Deeper
The report also found repeated instances of miscommunication within and between the Secret Service and the local police force
Secret Service agents said they didn’t know who was the final decision maker within the agency, while local and Secret Service agents used their own communication networks and radio channels, impeding collaboration
KEY STORY
Israel: Prepare for Invasion
Israel’s military (the IDF) called up its reservists and said it is preparing to potentially invade Lebanon
In the last year, Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia, has launched 8,000+ rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel has demanded Hezbollah cease its attacks. In the last week, it has bombed 3,000+ Hezbollah sites, killing 500+ across Lebanon
On Wednesday, the IDF called up reservists – a major step ahead of an invasion – and said that ongoing airstrikes on Lebanon are “to prepare the ground for your possible entry”
The US says it is urgently trying to secure a ceasefire
Dig Deeper
Israeli troops last entered Lebanon in 2006 after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, sparking a month-long war
That war ended in a stalemate and prompted fierce criticism of war strategy within Israel, whose leaders responded by updating their military strategy to secure a decisive victory in a future conflict
Hezbollah, meanwhile, learned its own lessons, vastly expanding its arsenal and building tunnels to protect itself from a future invasion
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Dig Deeper
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KEY STORY
NYC Mayor Charged
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted
Adams will face federal charges that will likely be revealed on Thursday. He’s the first sitting NYC mayor to be indicted
A federal investigation into Adams and his circle has been ongoing for two years. Last year, FBI agents seized his electronic devices as they investigated whether his campaign took money from the Turkish government in exchange for approving a new building for them in Manhattan
The charges come as Adams – a former police officer who promised to curb crime in the city – eyes reelection
Dig Deeper
Numerous people in Adams’ circle have also come under investigation and had their electronic devices seized
In recent weeks, the Adams administration has suffered several high-profile resignations, including of his chief legal advisor and the city’s police and health commissioners. Last week, two former Fire Department chiefs were arrested on bribery charges
Adams faced calls to resign even before the charges, and those calls are now growing louder
KEY STORY
Florida Braces for Helene
Helene has reached hurricane strength and is forecast to make landfall in Florida – just south of Tallahassee – as a Category 4 storm Thursday night
Florida’s entire west coast, including Tampa Bay, is at risk of storm surges up to 15 feet. 32M people, including in Georgia and South Carolina, are under flood watch
Direct hits are rare in Tallahassee; the city’s mayor says it may be the most powerful hurricane in recorded history to hit the community
The National Hurricane Center forecasts Helene will make landfall with winds of up to 125-130 MPH and rainfall of up to 12 inches
Dig Deeper
Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina have all declared states of emergency, which helps governors to have resources immediately available to rescue, evacuate, shelter, and provide essential resources
Several counties are under evacuation orders. The National Hurricane Center declared, “This is a life-threatening situation”
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
🔍 The FBI is investigating Hone Capital, a prominent venture capital firm, for potentially sharing its companies’ secrets with the Chinese government
🌍 Javier Milei used his speech at the UN General Assembly to rip the UN
🚨 The Trump campaign said the US government briefed it on “real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate Trump in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States”
💼 OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati announced her resignation
❌ US Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) announced he would not endorse Kamala Harris for president because of her vow to eliminate the filibuster
COMMUNITY
🧐 Yesterday’s question: Should news orgs fact check presidential debates live? Is it possible?
I think it's a good thing to have fact live fact checking during a debate. We wouldn't our president to be spouting lies when they're in office, so it's important that they don't do the same thing during a debate where most of the country is watching to hear their policies (Which you barely even get to learn during it but that besides the point).
both the same or not at all
Fact checking on the run for an impromptu style debate is pretty much impossible…HOWEVER, the debate should run uncheckedO at the time with full formal dissection in the h ours following.
As a past Researcher for debating chamber government policies we were taxed with ‘fact finding in full’ prior to a debate and a very rapid follow up after questions and replies. This is perfectly possible. To try a direct riposte is fraught with dangers for all sides.
🧠 Today’s question: Who’s the most famous person from your hometown?
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
🛫 Have they no Seoul? An American Airlines flight from Dallas to Seoul turned around five hours into the trip without explanation, returning to Dallas nine hours later
🥤 Coke Spiked: Coca-Cola is discontinuing Coca-Cola Spiced just seven months after its launch. Coke Spiced was released in February as the first permanent addition to the brand’s North American portfolio in three years
Who lives in a pineapple on Rehoboth Beach?
🎧 Spotify’s new king: Pop/R&B superstar The Weeknd now holds the record for the most songs with 1B streams on Spotify. He broke his 17-song tie with Drake after “After Hours” reached the milestone
📸 Say cheese… or soul: A Virginia elementary school photographer was fired after allegedly making inappropriate remarks to students, including asking one boy, “Can I eat your soul?”
⚾️ Pittsburgh Pikers: The Pittsburgh Pirates released first baseman Rowdy Tellez just four plate appearances short of earning a $200,000 bonus. He finished the season with 421, falling just short of his 425 incentive
ROCA WRAP
RocAround the World
Every Thursday, we feature a set of quirky and interesting stories from around the world.
Rent Un-Control
The end of rent control has lowered rents in Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, is referred to as the “Paris of the South” due to its wide boulevards and café culture. Yet for years, finding an apartment in the famed city has been difficult, largely because strict rent control laws led landlords to avoid listing properties.
Argentina has faced some of the world’s highest inflation, with annual rates exceeding 100%+. Rent controls required landlords to list at rates that didn’t keep up with inflation, so if someone signed a lease, inflation would soon render the lease nearly worthless to the landlord. Unwilling to agree to such deals, landlords sold apartments, sat on them, rented them out short-term, or targeted foreigners who paid in foreign currencies. Renters were left paying above-market rates for off-market apartments.
Javier Milei – the country’s libertarian president – had rent control laws in his sights when he took office last year and has since nixed them. Now, data show that Buenos Aires’s rental supply has increased 170%, while rental costs have declined by 40% in real terms, factoring in inflation. Per data from Argentina’s largest rental website, rents now are at their lowest point since 2021.
Rents are one of the 50,000+ prices that preceding Argentine governments had put strict controls on. Milei has vowed to undo all of those.
Not everyone is happy about that: While housing is increasingly available and affordable, people who were living in rent-controlled apartments are losing out. The same may happen to other goods whose price controls are lifted.
For those who can now find a place to live, though, uncontrolled rents are saving the day.
Trattoria Meloni
A restaurant in Albania has 70 portraits of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Separated by fewer than 50 miles across the Adriatic Sea, Italy and Albania have many historical and cultural ties. One fondly-recalled example is when Italy took in hundreds of thousands of Albanians as their country fell into chaos with the collapse of communism in the 1990s. A less fond one is crime: The Albanian and Italian mafias have developed close ties and cooperate to traffic drugs.
In November, both countries’ leaders signed a new deal wherein Italy will pay Albania ~€670M to intercept migrants headed to Europe by sea from North Africa. The migrants will be put in processing centers, where their cases will be evaluated. If they have valid asylum claims, they’ll be sent to Italy; if they don’t, they’ll be sent home.
The migrant centers will be put in two Albanian towns and are due to open this fall.
In one of those towns, an entrepreneur has opened a restaurant to celebrate the ties between the country and Italian Prime Minister Meloni.
The restaurant – Trattoria Meloni – features 70 portraits of Meloni painted by a prominent Albanian artist. The portraits show Meloni doing a range of activities and expressions.
The artist called Meloni a “very interesting, strong character” and added, “Even if her political convictions aren’t my own, that hasn’t stopped me from doing a passionate job.”
The restaurant’s owner, meanwhile, said he dedicated the restaurant to Meloni because she is “extraordinary.”
“When cuisine, art, and politics come together,” he said, “you can make beautiful things.”
In With the Marxist
Sri Lanka elected a Marxist president.
Sri Lanka is a predominantly Buddhist island nation south of India. Once a part of the British Empire known as “Ceylon,” it gained independence in 1948 and renamed itself “Sri Lanka” in 1972. It proceeded to become wealthier than fellow ex-British South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh but has suffered a period of political and economic instability in the last decade.
Successive Sri Lankan governments funded the country’s development by borrowing, often from China. In May 2022, the country was unable to pay off its debts and defaulted, sparking an economic crisis. Amid soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods, Sri Lankans stormed the nation’s presidential palace, forcing the then-president to flee.
Sri Lanka has since struck deals to pay back foreign lenders, often through cutting spending. While that’s returned a degree of economic stability and reduced inflation, many people are living in poverty and angry at the perceived incompetence of a corrupt government.
Last weekend, the nation held the second round of presidential elections in what was widely seen as a referendum on the country’s recovery. By a wide margin, voters chose a Marxist outsider who has vowed to abandon or renegotiate the deals with Sri Lanka’s creditors.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts
What a day for New York City. Sounds like the next cabinet meeting may be on Riker’s Island! Adams’ indictment follows a train of investigations, house raids, and resignations within his inner circle. Who’s up next? The rat czar?!
Seems Roca’s move to New York has really done wonders for the city.
–Max and Max