🌊 The Rise of the Male Nurse

50k subs on YouTube + a viral Appalachia vid.

Last night, our main YouTube channel hit 50k subscribers. Thank you to all of you who’ve tuned into that channel and/or our deep-dive channel We The 66. The mission of these channels is to capture the world without bias, fear, or partisanship.

Last week, we posted a video from our recent trip to Appalachian Georgia and North Carolina called “Appalachia’s Disappearing Hillbillies.” It has 1M views already — shoutout to Max F for this one. Road to 100k begins!

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Mr. Nurse

The number of male nurses in the US has tripled since the early 2000s, a WSJ study found

• There are now about 400,000 male nurses in the US: 14% of nurses are now men, up from 9% in 2000

• Analysts say men are flocking to the field due to a shortage of alternatives, as traditional male-dominated manufacturing jobs are being moved overseas or replaced by new technologies

• With an avg. salary of $95,000, nurses substantially clear the national average pay of $65,000/year. The WSJ said nursing isn’t alone: Many more men have also entered teaching and customer service roles

Dig Deeper

• Certain roles within nursing are more popular with men: About 46% of nurse anesthetists – nurses who handle administering anesthesia – are male

• Nurse anesthetists earn, on average, over $200,000 a year and the role requires a Master’s degree

• At the other end of the spectrum, only about 10% of nursing assistants – who help patients with eating and bathing – are men

• Nursing assistants are among the lowest-paid nurses, earning an average of $38,000 a year

KEY STORY

Amazon vs. Nvidia

Amazon unveiled a massive AI supercomputer in an effort to compete with Nvidia

• Demand for AI-powering GPU chips has made Nvidia one of the world’s most valuable companies

• On Tuesday, Amazon Web Services’ boss revealed a series of products to rival Nvidia, saying, “Today, there’s really only one choice on the GPU side, and it’s just Nvidia. We think that customers would appreciate having multiple choices.” The products included “Ultracluster,” a supercomputer that Amazon said would be the largest computer for training AI models when ready in 2025

Dig Deeper

• Anthropic, the OpenAI rival backed by Amazon, will have initial access to the computer

• AWS also debuted a new server that consists of 64 interconnected Amazon chips, as well as a partnership to provide Apple with chips

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KEY STORY

South Korea Crisis

South Korea’s president declared martial law, only to have parliament unanimously overturn it

• South Korea was a military dictatorship until the late 1980s. It has since become a wealthy democracy, with living and political standards comparable to the Western world. Its current president, conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, was elected in a tight election in 2022. Yoon’s popularity has since plummeted, while the opposition has gained seats and obstructed his agenda

• On Tuesday, Yoon declared martial law, which stops democratic processes, citing “pro-North Korean forces” in the country. Hours later, parliament voted 190-0 to overturn the order

Dig Deeper

• Some of the opposition to Yoon's declaration came from his own party, including from a former political protege who labeled the declaration “unlawful." President Yoon defended the declaration as being necessitated by the opposition’s attempts to impeach his administration’s senior officials

• The US – which stations 28,500 troops in South Korea – expressed “grave concern” about the situation and said it was closely engaging with the South Korean government

• While the long-term implications of Yoon’s apparent gamble aren’t immediately clear, it could impact his struggling levels of support among South Korea’s population

KEY STORY

Hunter Pardon Divides Dems

President Biden's decision to pardon his son Hunter has divided Democratic politicians and media figures

• Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), one of several Democratic critics in the House and Senate, said, “I’m disappointed… He promised he would not do this. I think it will make it harder for us going forward when we talk about upholding democracy”

• Other Dem. politicians praised the move, calling it “humane” and highlighting Trump’s criminal past

• The Democratic media is split: Jon Stewart and the Pod Save America hosts criticized the move; MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Twitch streamer Destiny praised it

Dig Deeper

• President Biden announced Hunter's pardon on Sunday evening ahead of his looming sentencings on federal gun and tax charges. It also followed the President's Thanksgiving holiday with his family, including Hunter

• The pardon gives Hunter a “full and unconditional pardon” for any criminal offenses committed from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024. It also contradicts President Biden's repeated promises to not consider a pardon for his son

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

☣️ The House committee investigating the pandemic released a 520-page final report, concluding that Covid "likely emerged because of a laboratory or research related accident." It also criticized many early pandemic mitigation measures

🇸🇾 Syrian rebels reached the outskirts of Hama, one of Syria's largest cities, marking the most serious threat to Assad's regime in a decade

📷 Hawaii photographer Hannah Kobayashi, whose disappearance during an LA layover led to a three-week manhunt and her father's suicide, was spotted on CCTV crossing voluntarily into Mexico near Tijuana on November 12

🇺🇸 News that Donald Trump Jr. was joining the board of PublicSquare – a “patriotic” online marketplace – sent the company’s stock up 270% on Tuesday. It was formerly down 61% this year through Monday

🇨🇳 China banned exports to the US of the critical minerals gallium, germanium, and antimony, citing national security concerns

COMMUNITY

🧐 Yesterday’s question: Before Spotify Wrapped comes out, who would you guess were your five most listened to artists this year?

🧠 Today’s question: Why has trust in “science” declined in America?

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

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🇺🇸 Eau de Tavern: Miller High Life launched a $40 cologne called "Dive Bar-Fume" designed to capture the authentic scent of a dive bar atmosphere

🍯 Honey Trap: The FDA has warned against “honey packets,” a new trend that is sweeping college campuses

🇨🇳 Padding the Truth: Major sanitary pad manufacturers in China are apologizing after viral social media videos revealed their products were shorter than advertised lengths, with an investigation finding nearly 90% of products were "shrunken"

🍷 Senior Spirits Dampened: Elderly residents are protesting after their Dutch senior housing complex banned "strong drink" in communal areas

🚲 Cycle of Justice: A Colorado police officer successfully chased down a felony theft suspect by borrowing a child's bicycle after the suspect jumped fences and stole a motorized scooter

ROCA WRAP

Late Visit

Angola

This country is hosting the first US presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa in nine years.

Once ravaged by a civil war in which the US backed anti-government rebels, Angola has transformed into a key American partner in Africa. The southern African nation of 33M has cultivated stronger ties with Washington while traditionally maintaining close relations with China, making it a battleground in the growing superpower rivalry for influence on the continent.

This week, President Biden is visiting Angola as part of the first trip by a sitting president to sub-Saharan Africa since 2015 and the first ever by a sitting president to Angola. Among various items, Biden is meeting President João Lourenço and taking a trip to a port to inspect an ambitious railway project.

While a port and railway inspection may not seem noteworthy, infrastructure is largely the reason Biden is visiting: The US has anchored a $3B project that is building the infrastructure to  transport critical minerals from central Africa to Angolan ports on the Atlantic coast. The scheme is intended to offer an alternative to Chinese-dominated supply chains and ranks among the US’ most significant efforts to counter Chinese infrastructure development on the continent.

The visit is being touted as an American push into Africa, however, its timing in the final weeks of Biden’s tenure has prompted skepticism about its impact. China, meanwhile, has been investing billions to build out railways, airports, and hospitals across the continent.

To some, it’s better late than never – to others, it’s too little too late.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Dwight from TN wrote in, “I thought surely today y’all would report on ‘$6 million dollar banana gets eaten’ since you seemed to have missed it yesterday. Still trying to wrap my mind around this one and was highly anticipating more of the absurd story!”

So here it is — the $6M banana story we accidentally hid in Happy Hour despite teasing it in the newsletter:

🍌 $6M Banana: Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun ate a $6.24M banana that was taped to a wall as part of an art installation called “Comedian”

–Max and Max