🌊 A McFlurry of Good News

Guess not everyone loves the whole nonpartisan thing.

The Washington Post just lost 200k paid subscribers — 8% of its entire base! — over its refusal to endorse Kamala Harris. Although Jeff Bezos won’t have to go on an all-Ramen diet just yet, his readers just sent him a crystal-clear message: Tell us our politics are pretty or we will break up with you.

By the way, we’re not at all insinuating that Bezos stayed neutral for noble reasons. We’re well aware that he looks like a Star Trek villain on HGH and has a reputation for being ruthless. But when did news companies become political GoFundMes?

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Canada’s Mystery Blobs

Strange white blobs have been washing ashore on Newfoundland, Canada, since September

• The substances – which range from coin- to dinner plate-sized – are white but become dark when mixed with sand. People initially thought they may have been sponges, however, they have had objects stuck inside of them and a texture that has been described as both doughy and foamy

• Both amateur and professional scientists have been conducting aerial, underwater, and manual surveys to understand the blobs’ origin. People are divided over whether they are plant-based or man-made

Dig Deeper

• One person who had contact with the blobs told Canada’s CBC that it triggered an allergic reaction she only gets when in contact with latex. She added that it smelled “sort of plasticky — definitely like a man-made product"

• For now, though, these are just theories. The mystery of the blobs remains

KEY STORY

VW vs. the Workers

Volkswagen announced plans to close at least three German plants and cut tens of thousands of jobs in what would be the first domestic plant closures in company history

• Volkswagen – Europe's largest carmaker – employs 300,000 people in Germany and has never closed a domestic plant. Now, though, it faces increased competition from China, slowing sales, and a costly transition to EVs

• The company’s union said Monday that the company now plans to shut three plants, do mass job cuts, and slash pay by 10%. The cuts are likely to prompt a fierce battle between VW, Germany’s workers, and the government

Dig Deeper

• The closures and cuts will spark intense blowback: Employee representatives who have vowed to fiercely fight the cuts control half of the seats on VW’s supervisory board, while German governments are major shareholders in the company

• The chief negotiator at Europe’s largest union said that VW’s plans would encounter “resistance of a kind it could never imagine”

• Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that employees should not suffer for “possible wrong management decisions” by executives

ROCA’S SPONSOR

Stop Whining, Start Winning

Together With Kalshi

We are entering the final week of the presidential race and Kalshi’s latest odds show Donald Trump with a 62% chance of winning and Kamala Harris with a 38% chance

• Kalshi allows you to bet on real-world events – from the 2024 elections to the weather – and shows you real-time odds for the events. It is the US’ first legal prediction market and has full approval from the federal government to take bets on the 2024 elections

• If you think Harris has a better chance than 38% or Trump has a better chance than 62%, stop whining and start winning. Place your bets on the general election, popular vote, and individual states

Dig Deeper

• Or, if you’re like us, and merely want to stay glued to live presidential betting odds, Kalshi is perfect for that

• Check them out here!

KEY STORY

Early Voting Synopsis

As of Monday night, more than 45 million Americans had cast their votes for the 2024 presidential election

• Early voters tend to be older, more engaged, and more partisan. In 2020, 44.8% of early ballots were cast by Democrats, 30.5% by Republicans, and 24.7% by other party members or those without affiliation. Analysts are closely watching this year’s returns to glean insights about who is leading this year

• So far, 39.6% of early voters have been registered Democrats and 36.4% of have been registered Republicans. 24.0% have not been registered to either party

• Democrats appear to be performing well in Michigan, although that means little about how the state will actually vote, while Republicans think they are doing well in Nevada

Dig Deeper

• In total, a majority of early voters nationally have been non-Hispanic white (65.7%) and female (54.1%). The largest age demographic has been 65+ (41.9%)

KEY STORY

McFixing the Ice Cream Machines

McDonald’s ice cream machines, notorious for frequent breakdowns, will likely now see quicker repairs after a new federal ruling

• McDonald’s often-broken ice cream machines have traditionally only been able to be fixed by their manufacturer, the Taylor Company, due to intellectual property protections

• A new ruling from the United States Copyright Office, however, changes that. It grants McDonald's restaurants the “right to repair” the machines by bypassing the digital locks that prevented them from being fixed

Dig Deeper

• The ruling came because of a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit called Public Knowledge

• A senior counsel from Public Knowledge wrote in a statement, "There’s nothing vanilla about this victory; an exemption for retail-level commercial food preparation equipment will spark a flurry of third-party repair activity and enable businesses to better serve their customers"

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇺🇸 Hundreds of ballots were destroyed when a ballot box in southwestern Washington State was set alight. The district where it happened could decide control of the House

🛢️ Oil prices have dropped 6%+ since Israel opted not to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure

💲 Philadelphia’s district attorney sued Elon Musk over his million-dollar giveaways

🇺🇸 X (formerly Twitter) is on pace to significantly underperform its goal of earning $100M in political advertising revenue this year. According to the Financial Times, the company has made just $15M so far

🇰🇵 The Pentagon said that North Korea has sent 10,000 troops to fight in Ukraine, adding detail to recent statements about North Korean troop movements

COMMUNITY

🧐 Yesterday’s question: Do you think newspapers should endorse presidential candidates? Why/why not?

🧠 Today’s question: I

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

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

👮 That’s No Man!: Charlottesville, Virginia police apologized after mistakenly releasing a photo of a topless female shoplifter they believed was a man

⌚ Peanuts to an Apple: A Delaware jury awarded Apple – the world’s most valuable company – $250 in a patent lawsuit

🧀 The Great Cheese Heist: Thieves stole £300,000 ($390,000) worth of artisanal cheese from a London cheese shop

🚗 Not a Good Start to RIP: A Polish funeral home apologized after a body fell out of a hearse during pre-funeral transportation

🇺🇸 I’ve Got a Golden Twenty: A North Carolina man won a million-dollar lottery with a $20 bill he found on the ground. The man, a carpenter, had found the $20 in a store parking lot. He picked it up, bought a scratch-off, and won $1M

ROCA WRAP

Spooky Crackdown

Shanghai, China

This Chinese city is restricting Halloween costumes to prevent political expression

China's largest city and financial hub, Shanghai is known for its futuristic skyline, blend of Eastern and Western influences, and for being the home of the world’s largest container port.

After enduring some of the country's strictest Covid lockdowns in 2022, the city has become a symbol of both China's economic might and its social controls. Its young population has increasingly embraced Western celebrations like Halloween, sometimes using them as outlets for creative expression.

This year, though, authorities have been rounding up people in costume on Julu Road, the center of the city’s Halloween celebrations. Those wearing costumes are being taken to administrative buildings to remove makeup and modify their outfits, with officials claiming only theme park attendees can wear costumes this year.

The crackdown follows a massive Halloween gathering last year, where some celebrants wore politically charged costumes including hazmat suits mocking China's “Zero-Covid” policy. This year, authorities have expressed concerns about public gatherings becoming venues for political expression – and are doing what they can to prevent that.

Julu Road still attracted crowds this weekend, however, most guests avoided costumes or wore minimal accessories. Officials have also restricted some Halloween activities to controlled venues, like Disneyland and other theme parks, with a government representative stating that "festival activities must not affect public order."

ROCA VIDEO
We Asked 100 Michiganders Who They Are Voting For

We visited Michigan to understand the issues that matter before the 2024 election. While in Michigan, we visited five different areas: Traverse City, Tri-Cities (Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City), Flint, Detroit, and Dearborn. At the end of the video, we give our prediction on who will win Michigan,

Make sure to subscribe to the channel!

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

We enjoyed reading your answers to yesterday’s “Question of the Day.” Most of you said no, but we got an interesting range of reasons for those who said yes. To be clear, Roca will not be endorsing a candidate this year. We believe you all can fully think for yourselves, and voting is not just about being informed — it’s about values, too, and how you filter information about them. That’s not something we can or should do for you. Have a great day!

–Max and Max