🌊 Biden: Obesity Is Now a Disease

Before we’re all drowning in gravy…

Allow us to say just two words: Thank you. We couldn't imagine a more fun and engaging community of readers than you all. You inspire us to rage against the Big News machine every day. If someone told us in November 2020 that RocaNews would have millions of readers just four years later, we’d have spat out our Yoo-hoo.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. See you Friday!

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Drake v. Kendrick

Drake filed a legal complaint accusing Kendrick Lamar’s label of inflating his streaming numbers

• Kendrick’s Drake diss track “Not Like Us” became one of the year’s hottest songs. This week, Drake filed legal docs accusing Universal Music Group (UMG) – which represents both Kendrick and Drake – of inflating Kendrick’s streams and promoting lies about Drake. The type of legal documentation generally precedes a lawsuit

• The complaint accuses UMG of inflating streams of “Not Like Us,” which, the docs say, “attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists…by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender”

Dig Deeper

• UMG “could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited…but UMG chose to do the opposite,” per the documents, which were filed by Drake's company

• UMG denied any wrongdoing: “The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns. No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear”

KEY STORY

Woe is Germany?

Germany’s largest steelmaker announced plans to cut up to 40% of its steel staff

• Amid a stagnant economy, German car companies have announced tens of thousands of job cuts in recent months. Meanwhile, the country’s government collapsed earlier this month, setting the stage for elections in early 2025. Polls show “far-right” parties gaining

• Then on Monday, Thyssenkrupp – Germany’s biggest steelmaker – announced up to 11,000 job cuts, 40% of its steel workforce. The cuts come amid falling car demand, increasing Chinese exports, and tightening environmental regulations. A steel union rep called the cuts, “A declaration of war on the workforce”

Dig Deeper

• The European car market has shrunk by 2M vehicles over the last two years, leading to less demand for steel by carmakers, while environmental regulations have made European steel more costly

• Meanwhile, Chinese steel exports are rising: China – which produces cheaper steel than Europe – has been experiencing its own economic slowdown, prompting steelmakers to export their products to Europe. That’s driven down prices there and undercut manufacturers like Thyssenkrupp

ROCA’S SPONSOR

The #1 gift on every man’s wishlist!

Together with ManScaped

The #1 gift on every man’s wishlist!

• This holiday, level up your grooming game with MANSCAPED®—because a clean trim is the gift that keeps on giving

• The Performance Package 5.0 Ultra includes their best-seller, The Lawn Mower® 5.0 Ultra groin & body trimmer with SkinSafe® Technology that is built for a smooth shave

• It’s their biggest sale of the year, so now’s the time to treat yourself (or hint at a gift upgrade). Shop the MANSCAPED® Black Friday Sale now and score 25% OFF + Free Shipping and free gifts with select kits!

• Get the deal here

KEY STORY

Gov’t: Obesity a Disease

The Biden Administration reclassified obesity as a disease as part of a move to expand access to weight loss drugs

• Until now, the federal government’s Medicare and Medicaid healthcare plans have only covered drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for people with diabetes or heart disease. That was in part because federal law prohibits Medicare coverage of weight loss drugs

• On Tuesday, though, the government announced it would circumvent that by reclassifying obesity as a disease and allowing Medicare and Medicaid to cover them

• It will be up to the Trump Administration whether to allow the changes to take effect

Dig Deeper

• While the move will likely put pressure on the Trump Administration, its officials have been critical of both weight loss drugs and government spending. Trump’s nominee to lead the FDA recently said, “We should be talking about school lunch programs, and not just putting every overweight child on Ozempic,” while the New England Journal of Medicine estimated last year that having Medicare cover Ozempic could cost $26B+ annually – roughly one fifth of the program’s current annual drug spending

KEY STORY

Transgender Volleyball Ruling

A judge ruled that a transgender volleyball player at San Jose State University can continue to compete on the women’s team, including in its upcoming conference tournament

• Players in San Jose State’s conference, the Mountain West, had filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent Blaire Fleming, the transgender player, from competing, citing safety risks. A San Jose State current co-captain and former San Jose State players were among the plaintiffs

• A Biden-appointed judge in Colorado ruled that Fleming can play, arguing that her gender identity is protected under Title IX and the 14th Amendment

• Blaire Fleming has not spoken publicly about how she identifies, but the defendants did not dispute that a transgender woman played on the San Jose State team

Dig Deeper

• The decision comes two days before the start of the Mountain West conference tournament

• San Jose State is the #2 seed in the conference tournament and has a first-round bye. The winner of the tournament will qualify for the NCAA tournament

• This season, Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State, and Nevada were among the conference teams to cancel games against San Jose State due to Fleming’s presence on the team

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

💊 Simufilam – a controversial Alzheimer’s drug – failed clinical testing, dealing a major and potentially fatal setback to a drug that had once been touted as a groundbreaking treatment

🇮🇱 Israel approved a ceasefire with Hezbollah

🇬🇧 The UK deployed military personnel to assist the US Air Force in tracking and jamming unidentified drones hovering over military bases in eastern England. The sightings began on November 20 and have continued into this week, with no clear identification of the drone operators

🇸🇪 Sweden's Prime Minister called for a Chinese ship that may have severed two undersea data cables to enter Swedish waters and cooperate with an investigation. The ship is currently moored in international waters and being monitored by naval vessels from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany

🇺🇸 The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been ordered to disclose its funding sources

COMMUNITY

🧐 Yesterday’s question: Give us your top three food/drink staples of Thanksgiving. This is a HARD three limit…

🧠 Today’s question: What are you most thankful for this year?

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

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🇺🇸 One Small Step for Troll Kind: Spam from online trolls led Blue Origin to remove a video featuring astronaut Emily Calandrelli's emotional reaction to space

😺 They’re NOT Eating the Cats: Vegan activist Tash Peterson was ordered to pay $200,000 for defaming a veterinarian whom she accused of "eating her own patients"

👩‍🏫 Proud Parent of a Gamer Student: A teacher in Jonesboro, Arkansas reported that a student charged over $1,000 to his credit card for PlayStation purchases

🍕 Goblin Mode: Chinese Pizza Hut Style: Pizza Hut in China has introduced a “Goblin Pizza” topped with a deep-fried bullfrog

🍝 Nano Al Dente: Scientists at University College London created the world's thinnest spaghetti, with starch nanofibers measuring just 372 nanometers wide – so thin they're invisible to the naked eye

ROCA WRAP

Squanto and The First Thanksgiving

On a March day in 1621, a Native American walked into one of the earliest English settlements in North America. To the settlers’ astonishment, he spoke English.

The man – Tisquantum, or "Squanto" – was born around 1580 near present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Patuxet, a tribe of the Wampanoag confederation of Native Americans. In 1614, English traders lured Squanto onto a ship to sell him into slavery in Spain. But upon arrival there, a group of Spanish monks bought him instead.

After a few years with the monks, Squanto escaped to England, where – much darker and taller than the locals – he became a celebrity. He learned English and was hired as an assistant by a prominent merchant. In 1619, the duo traveled to Canada, where Squanto met an English explorer with whom he traveled down the coast to his home, in modern-day New England. 

Upon arrival, Squanto found a tragedy: Plague had destroyed his village. “We arrived at my savage's native country (finding all dead),” the explorer he was with wrote.

Between 1616 and 1619, a disease likely introduced by the British had wiped out tens of thousands of Native Americans. While there, a local native village took Squanto captive.

Then in 1620, a group of English religious separatists – the Pilgrims – arrived on the Mayflower and settled nearby Plymouth. Squanto was sent as a translator, and he negotiated a treaty on behalf of the local Wampanoag chief that established peace between the settlers and natives.

Some natives branded Squanto a traitor who sold out to the Pilgrims. For that reason or others, he became even closer with the settlers. He taught them how to use fish for fertilizer, extract sap from maple trees, and plant beans and squash around corn, among other tricks. Reports credit him with helping up to half the original pilgrims survive until spring.

In autumn 1621, the pilgrims’ had their first successful corn harvest. To celebrate, their governor invited native allies to a celebratory feast. Among them was Squanto, who was introduced as the man who saved the settlement. Natives outnumbered pilgrims as much as 2 to 1 at the feast, remembered today as the first Thanksgiving.

The treaty Squanto negotiated on behalf of the local tribes lasted 50 years, although it tarnished him among the natives as a traitorous, self-serving politician. He fell out with the tribes and died soon after. Nevertheless, without him, Americans may not be celebrating Thanksgiving today.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

On this day in 1941, President Franklin D Roosevelt established that Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday in November following a debacle from two years earlier: In 1939, FDR had moved Thanksgiving one week earlier by executive order to boost the economy by creating an extra seven days of Christmas shopping. This led to much upheaval and protest, causing some to deride the holiday as “Franksgiving.” Responding to the backlash, he set Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November in perpetuity.

Gotta say…. Franksgiving sounds awesome. Have a wonderful day, Roca Nation!

–Max and Max