🌊 Will a Comedian Swing the Election?

Shohei Oh-Ratings! Japan topping US in World Series viewership.

The World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers is averaging more viewers in Japan than in the US. In the US, the Fall Classic is averaging 14.6M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series since 2017. This is where Japan says, “Hold my 9 AM Shōchū!” Although the games are airing early in the morning for Japanese viewers, the World Series is averaging 15.2M viewers in Japan, where bars are opening early so baseball fans can booze up and cheer on their countryman, Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani. Jiro’s now dreaming of homers! What a story.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

YouTube Censors Rogan?

YouTube is facing censorship allegations after users reported difficulty finding Joe Rogan’s interview with Donald Trump

• Rogan – who has the world’s most listened-to podcast – released a three-hour interview with Donald Trump on Friday night. It attained 26M YouTube plays within 24 hours, putting it on pace to become the show’s most-watched episode

• By Monday, though, YouTube users were reporting difficulty finding the episode. When we searched “Rogan Trump” on YouTube, the video was not among the initial 10 results

• Rogan proceeded to post the video to X, writing, “Since there's an issue with searching for this episode on YouTube here is the full podcast with Trump”

• YT acknowledged there was a problem and said it would fix it, but didn’t explain the origin

Dig Deeper

• Rogan then tweeted, “Also, for the record the Harris campaign has not passed on doing the podcast. They offered a date for Tuesday, but I would have had to travel to her and they only wanted to do an hour. I strongly feel the best way to do it is in the studio in Austin. My sincere wish is to just have a nice conversation and get to know her as a human being. I really hope we can make it happen”

• For context, Rogan has said that he would agree to avoid certain topics and politics altogether if that’s what it would take to get her on. Meanwhile, J.D. Vance announced Tues. that he’s going on Rogan

KEY STORY

Tony Hinchcliffe: Election Flipper?

Political pundits are speculating that a joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe could cost Donald Trump key swing states

• Hinchcliffe, an Austin-based roast comedian, delivered a series of jokes ahead of Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday. Hinchcliffe – known for his deadpan delivery and brash material – has developed a cult following

• During his speech, he delivered some jokes that elicited a mixture of groans and laughter: "There’s a lot going on. Like, I don’t know if you know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe said

• At another point, he declared Latinos “love making babies….They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.” He also made a joke about carving watermelons for Halloween with his black friends

• The Puerto Rican joke, however, sparked a fierce backlash online, with prominent Puerto Ricans, including Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin, and Jennifer Lopez, all proceeding to post about the incident

Dig Deeper

• Hinchcliffe issued a statement saying, “I love Puerto Rico and vacation there...I made fun of everyone...watch the whole set. I’m a comedian Tim"

• Yet to the Trump campaign, this is no laughing matter: Several swing states have substantial Puerto Rican populations, including Pennsylvania with 450k and North Carolina with 100k

• In response to the controversy, the Trump campaign publicly distanced itself from the comments

ROCA’S SPONSOR

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Dig Deeper

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KEY STORY

Hezbollah’s New Chief

Hezbollah announced a new leader weeks after the group’s leadership was destroyed

• In quick succession last month, Israel killed long-time Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of the group’s other top-ranking officials. On Tuesday, the group announced that former deputy leader Naim Qassem would become its new chief

• Like Nasrallah, Qassem, 71, doesn’t have battlefield experience but is respected within the group as a religious scholar. He takes the top position days after Israel announced it had killed Nasrallah’s expected replacement

• Israel’s defense minister described him as a “temporary appointment” who wouldn’t lead “for long”

Dig Deeper

• The announcement came the day after an intense wave of Israeli bombing that Lebanese authorities claimed killed 60 people in eastern Lebanon

• Israel has been conducting consistent airstrikes on areas with a Hezbollah presence while conducting ground operations in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s base of operations

• Lebanese authorities say that 2,700 people – both militants and civilians – have been killed in fighting with Israel over the last year, while Israel says 90 of its people have died

KEY STORY

1984: Grocery Store Edition?

Members of Congress have raised alarms over supermarkets’ new digital price tags, facial recognition technology, and potential surge pricing

• Major grocery stores, including Walmart and Kroger, are currently implementing digital price tags, which display prices on screens instead of paper

• Democratic lawmakers sent letters to Kroger asking if the tags would be used to raise prices based on the buyer, weather, or time. Kroger said they’d only be used to “lower prices for customers”

• The chain also denied using facial recognition tech for pricing but didn’t specify the purposes it does use it for

Dig Deeper

• Kroger said the tags will not be used for surge pricing and would “lower prices for customers where it matters most,” like when an item goes on sale or nears its expiration date

• The scrutiny comes as Kroger’s planned merger with supermarket chain Albertsons faces an antitrust lawsuit from the FTC

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇺🇸 Five days after Trump went on Joe Rogan’s podcast, J.D. Vance announced he would also do so. The episode is expected on YouTube and Spotify later today or tomorrow

🇺🇸 The US is running low on missile defense systems, the WSJ reported. While the Pentagon doesn’t release figures about its stockpiles, the report said the US has been unable to consistently replace missile defense systems, which have become the “most sought-after ordnance during the widening crisis in the Middle East”

💲 JPMorgan Chase sued four TikTokers who promoted a viral social media hack that showed people how to deposit fake checks at Chase Bank ATMs and withdraw thousands of dollars

🇷🇺 NATO accused Russia of blocking access to Arctic data needed for proper climate modeling

🇺🇸 Trump Media (TMTG), owner of Truth Social, hit $10B in market cap, overtaking the value of X

COMMUNITY

🧐 Yesterday’s question: I

*”I” was a typo for the question that should’ve been there, but some of you responded anyways…

🧠 Today’s question: Do you think Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico — where he compared it to a floating piece of garbage — could impact the election?

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

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

👮 Mr. Coroner: Leave that Man Alone!: Four members of a British "anti-establishment cult" were sentenced to prison for attempting to kidnap a coroner after they accused him of "interfering with the dead"

🇨🇦 Methflation in Canada: An internal Canadian intelligence report warned that excess product from Mexico was saturating Canada’s meth market, forcing Canadian dealers to export their product abroad

🏈 Not That Alabama!: A Wisconsin man intending to buy tickets to a University of Alabama football game accidentally bought 14 tickets to see the band Alabama instead

🇻🇦 New Catholic Mascot Dropped: The Vatican unveiled a new anime mascot to reach younger audiences

🐈 Wildcat Surprise: A "stray kitten" brought to a German animal shelter turned out to be a dangerous wildcat, leading to its transfer to a wildlife station

ROCA WRAP

Arctic Gateway (Greenland 10.30)

Greenland, Denmark

This territory is opening three new international airports to boost tourism.

A vast autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is the world's largest island, though most of its land is covered by an ice cap. Currently, visitors must take small propeller planes to reach most destinations, including the capital Nuuk. Only two airports are capable of handling large jets, and most international travelers change planes at a remote former military airport built by the US during World War 2.

From November 28, though, a new international airport in Nuuk will allow large aircraft to land in the capital for the first time. The facility will enable direct flights from Copenhagen and, starting next summer, New York. Two more airports are planned for potential tourism hotspots, with the first opening in 2026.

Greenland’s government hopes the $800M airport will transform Greenland's tourism industry. Tourist arrivals already reached a record 140,000 in 2023, up 36.5% from the previous year. The new infrastructure is expected to significantly boost these numbers.

While officials say the airports will boost tourism and trade and thereby diversify the economy, they say they plan to do that sustainably. Yet others have raised concerns that the arrival of mass tourism and trade could taint this once-remote Arctic region.

ROCA VIDEO
Why Black Voters in NYC Are Supporting Trump

We recently did a video on the shift of minority voters toward Trump. To investigate it further, we stopped by Trump's Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday to interview black Trump voters. There was a huge contingent of minority voters there and we feature some of our conversations in this video.

Make sure to subscribe to the channel!

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Thank you for the humorous responses to yesterday’s typo “Question of the Day.” We decided against the original question and failed to replace it before publishing the newsletter. Somehow you all managed to come up with some quality content in response to it, nevertheless. Happy Hump Day!

–Max and Max