🌊 European Elegy by JD Vance

Everyone must clap when the plane lands now…

On a snowy Toronto runway yesterday, a Delta jet flipped upside down upon landing, injuring 20 of the 80 people onboard. One passenger said they were “hanging upside-down like bats” before the crew evacuated them. Scary video here.

But miraculously… everyone survived. And you may be tired of the “planes are the safest form of transportation” rebuttal, but it’s true: Americans have a 1-in-93 lifetime odds of dying in a car crash; for a plane crash, it’s roughly 1-in-141,044.* So don’t be afraid, but also let’s clap for pilots again.

_{*math experts check our work in Final Thoughts}

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Vance Rattles Europe

VP Vance delivered a speech at the Munich Security Conference – a major meeting of the West’s top foreign policy and defense officials – that sent shockwaves across the EU

• “The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” Vance said. “What I worry about is the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values: Values shared with the United States of America”

• Vance accused a number of specific countries – including the UK, Germany, and Sweden – of restricting free speech, for example, by threatening to shut down social media and prosecuting people for hate speech

Dig Deeper

• Vance then spoke of migration: “Of all the pressing challenges that the nations represented here face, I believe there is nothing more urgent than mass migration. Today, almost one in five people living in this country moved here from abroad. That is, of course, an all time high… And we know the situation. It didn’t materialize in a vacuum. It’s the result of a series of conscious decisions made by politicians all over the continent, and others across the world, over the span of a decade”

• The speech prompted some European dignitaries to walk out in protest. European establishment politicians and analysts were generally shocked by the speech, with many saying it could mean the end of Western Europe’s post-war dependence on the US

• Many populists, meanwhile, celebrated it

KEY STORY

Europe Confronts US Reorientation

With Vance’s speech and the launch of US-Russia negotiations indicating declining US support, European states are scrambling to figure out a Ukraine policy

• Last week, President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth suggested the US would reduce its military commitments in Europe, while officials ruled out including Europe in Ukraine talks

• On Monday, European leaders met for an emergency summit in Paris to discuss Ukraine and bolstering Europe’s security

• Deploying troops to Ukraine has become a major point of negotiations: UK PM Keir Starmer stated that he is “ready and willing” to do so to enforce a peace deal, while Germany’s Foreign Minister – who said Europe faces“an existential moment ... where Europe has to stand up” – was resistant. President Zelensky said that Ukraine “will not recognize” any agreements made without its involvement

Dig Deeper

• When asked during a press conference if Europe would play a role in the negotiations, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia replied, “That is not going to happen”

• European leaders have vehemently criticized the US’ exclusion of them from negotiations, with many officials saying the shift leaves the continent vulnerable to Russian attack

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KEY STORY

Army Bans Trans Troops

On Friday, the US Army banned people “with a history of gender dysphoria” from enlisting and current trans-identifying members from undergoing transition-related procedures

• In January, President Trump signed an order banning transgender troops in the military, giving the Pentagon 30 days to implement it

• While the precise number of transgender soldiers enlisted is not known, analysts estimate there are roughly 15,000 transgender active duty and reserve service members across all branches

• The Defense Health Agency (DHA), which operates the Pentagon’s health records, disclosed that nearly 2,000 military personnel were diagnosed with "gender dysphoria" as of 2021

• Earlier this year, the DHA also reported that the military spent roughly $15M over the past five years on surgeries, hormones, and therapy for transgender personnel, or $3M per year

Dig Deeper 

• After Trump’s executive order in January, six transgender servicemembers filed a lawsuit, arguing the ban violates “the equal protection and due process guarantees of the Fifth Amendment and the free speech guarantee of the First Amendment”

• One of the plaintiffs, a Navy Commander who has served for 19 years, said the ban is “not about readiness or cohesion, and it is certainly not about merit…It is about exclusion and betrayal”

• On Monday, Attorneys General from California, North Carolina, Wisconsin, New York, and 16 other states filed an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit and challenging the Trump administration’s order

KEY STORY

Reciprocal Tariffs Take Shape

President Trump announced a “reciprocal tariff” policy

• So far, Trump has enacted a 10% tariff on imports from China; tariffs on all aluminum and steel imports; and delayed 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico

• Trump has now ordered his administration to prepare for “reciprocal tariffs.” As he explained on X, that means, “Whatever Countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them - No more, no less!”

• The move could shake up international trade and undermine the World Trade Organization (WTO) whose members must apply equal or no tariffs to all other members

Dig Deeper

• Trump said that for the purpose of calculating tariffs, the US will look at both tariffs other countries impose on US exports, as well as subsidies, other taxes, and various “nonmonetary tariffs and trade barriers”

• Countries with the highest tariffs on American goods include India, Vietnam, Argentina, and many other developing nations. 175 countries, including many in Europe, have Value Added Taxes (VATs), which Trump said would count as a tariff for the purpose of the policy

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

⚖️ Luigi Mangione, held in a New York jail for allegedly murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, launched a website through his legal team

🏥 Pope Francis, 88, was hospitalized over the weekend with a “complex” respiratory infection

🇦🇷 Argentinian President Javier Milei was accused of a “pump and dump” after he promoted a cryptocurrency that collapsed in value

🇮🇳 President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Friday and agreed to pursue a trade deal, with India promising to increase US energy and military purchases and coordinate on illegal immigration

🇺🇸 Flooding has killed 11 people in Kentucky and displaced hundreds, with teams conducting over 1,000 rescue missions across the state

✈️ A Delta flight from Minneapolis to Toronto appeared to overturn on the Toronto runway, injuring 9+ passengers

COMMUNITY
What does Roca Nation think?

🧠 Yesterday’s Question: Do you support celebrities “using their platform” to make social/political statements?

Reply here with your answer!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

👮 Bounty on Bald Men: Police in Mozambique issued a warning to bald men after five were recently killed for their supposedly gold-containing heads

🇦🇷 Capybara Contraception: A wealthy suburb of Buenos Aires, Argentina is facing an overpopulation crisis of capybaras, leading officials to approve a rodent birth control program

🛢️ Liquid Gold Heist: Thieves in Montreal stole over $1M in olive oil from a truck after posing as a legitimate transport company

🏒 Hockey Diplomacy: A 4 Nations hockey match between the US and Canada, set up to replace the NHL all-star game, erupted into chaos with three separate fights in the first nine seconds

🐈 Diplo-cat: The UK Foreign Office’s diplomatic cat Palmerston is coming out of retirement to serve as "feline relations consultant" to Bermuda's new governor

SPONSORED WRAP
#FreeTate?

Romania

The Trump Administration is urging this country to lift a travel ban on Andrew Tate.

A southeastern European nation of 19M people, Romania has found itself at the center of several major international events. Most recently, the country canceled an election after an anti-NATO candidate’s victory, citing alleged Russian interference.

This week, Romania is making international headlines for a different reason, though.

Romania is the adopted home of the right-wing, anti-female Tate brothers, Andrew and Tristan. The pair – dual US-UK citizens – have been charged with human trafficking, sexual misconduct, and money laundering. They are alleged to have profited by forcing women to make pornographic content.

The Tates – and their many right-wing backers, including Tucker Carlson – allege they are victims of a liberal plot that is persecuting them over their views.

On Monday it was reported that the Trump Administration has reportedly raised the brothers’ case in recent diplomatic meetings, including at last week’s Munich Security Conference.

While recently freed from house arrest, the brothers remain barred from leaving Romania pending trial. They also face potential extradition to the UK over separate allegations, while a Florida woman has filed a civil lawsuit accusing them of coercing her into sex work.

Even if Romania lets the Tates go, their troubles may not end there.

ROCA VIDEO
Inside NYC’s Migrant Slums

More than 200,000 undocumented migrants have arrived in NYC over the past three years. What happens when they get here? Where do they go? What do they do? Why do hotels choose to house them? We went to go find out.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Hope you all had a nice weekend. Max T spoke at an event for college journalists in Austin, TX (ate his weight in brisket), and Max F somehow is juggling moving into his new apartment with writing a daily We The 66 deep dive on top of his normal work.

Now if you’re a math expert who came here from the intro, please check our work for calculating the airplane crash lifetime fatality odds: 1) The annual odds of dying in a plane crash are 1-in-11,000,000 (we couldn’t find lifetime odds anywhere). 2) The odds of a person not dying in a given year, you would use the equation 1 - 1/11,000,000. 3) Assuming a life expectancy of 78 years, the odds of not dying at any point would be 1 - (1/11,000,000)⁷⁸. 4) Now subtract that from 1 to get the odds of dying and you get 0.00000709 or 1-in-141,044.

Is this correct? Or do we need to pull a Billy Madison and start back in kindergarden?

–Max and Max