07/02/26
Good morning! It’s Thursday, July 2nd.
World Sports Journalist Day
Dang, should’ve saved that whole thing about “nil” for today.
And now, the news.
Update: Venezuela
Starting with an update on Venezuela, where the death toll has climbed yet again. As I record this, currently there are 2,295 people dead, 11,267 injured, and, most terrifying – nearly 50,000 people remain missing.
We’re one week into the rescue efforts and nearly every credible story will tell you this: those efforts are being led by volunteers and neighbors. Imagine that. A country already in such a fragile place and now to get hit with these two earthquakes, and all of these efforts are being led by neighbors helping neighbors and people flying INTO Venezuela to help.
Why? Because the government is doing what the government does. There are places where government help took three days to appear. In others, it still hasn’t shown up.
Carolina Jimenez, the president of the Washington Office on Latin America, summed it up like this: “In a government in any other country, the first responder should be the state. In the case of Venezuela, the state has been the last responder." Adding, "[The] response has come from citizens, from civil society, from humanitarian workers, from volunteers — but not from the government."
As I have all week, the links for two places to donate are still in show notes.
Empire State of Mind
-via CBS News and CBS News (proposal stats)
"When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace."
That is a quote from Jimi Hendrix.
Sort of.
It’s attributed to him but there’s actually no written or recorded interview in existence where he actually said this.
It likely first came from British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, in the 1800s, who said: “We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace."
But then in the 2013 John Ridley movie, Jimi: All Is By My Side, Ridley wrote that the line for Hendricks as: "When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace."
I mean, the man was brilliant, he just didn’t say that specific line.
ANYWAY, the reason I bring it up is because on Wednesday, two people climbed to the very tippy top of the Empire State Building and flew a banner with that quote on it.
And then, when they had everyone’s attention, the man proposed.
And you know what I don’t like about this? Well, it’s crime so you know, there’s that. Like – whatever it’s a good message but it’s not like someone’s going to see the banner and then change their mind and decide to love love more than power.
But what I really don’t like is that I bet no less than three people were thinking about proposing at the Empire State Building on Wednesday, and now what are they supposed to do?
I looked it up (because this is a professional news podcast) and between 1,000 and 1,500 proposals happen there every year. Let’s slice it down the middle and say it’s 1,250. That’s nearly 3 and a half proposals a day.
Some people really just have to make their moment EVERYONE’S moment, ya know?
They were arrested on charges that include burglary, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, violation of local law, possession of burglar's tools, criminal tampering, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, and being exactly as exhausting a couple as they sound like they are.
DC Fireworks Will Cause Pollution
-via Washington Post, NIH, and Census
As we get closer and closer to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of America, and Trump’s party that he’s throwing for himself (which, by the way, is going terribly), The Washington Post is reporting that Trump’s giant fireworks show, which would set a world record for the largest fireworks show in history if it all goes to plan, will cause hazardous levels of pollution around the National Mall and “very unhealthy” conditions in central D.C.
The show is 40 minutes, which is wild. Fireworks are fine, but 40 MINUTES??
40 minutes and 850,000 fireworks.
Officials suggest that attendees wear a mask to prevent particles getting into their lungs but, let’s be honest… most people going to this show won’t be masking up.
But it’s not about the people attending the event.
Due to historical practices like redlining, and the way it still affects everything even today (such as greater exposure to traffic and industrial air pollution, older housing with mold, pests, and poor ventilation, unequal access to preventive health care, and higher rates of poverty and chronic stress) asthma is seen in 10.3% of Black Americans, compared to 8.4% of white Americans. But that’s even higher is kids, where Puerto Rican and non-Hispanic Black children see rates as high as 21.2% and 14.5%, respectively, compared to 8.2% for non-Hispanic White kids.
So if those particles catch a ride on the wind, now they’re heading into the neighborhoods.
Not to mention the fact that fireworks are known triggers for the 5% of people nationwide with PTS and absolute torture for cats and dogs.
The show is normally 17 minutes.
40 minutes??
My god dude… you realize the fireworks show won’t make your dad like you still, right?
Trump Reports Crypto Earnings
Wanna hear something that’ll really make you mad? In his 2025 U.S. Office of Government Ethics filing (don’t worry, I’m sure they’re going to get rid of that soon), Trump reported $1.4 BILLION in earnings from all his various Trump family crypto scams.
Don’t you worry though – Trump Coin, Trump shoes, Trump phone, Trump whatever… he advertises it all as if they’re official presidential announcements and when it comes to crypto he just happens to threaten the Fed every single day but a White House spokeperson has assured us: “Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest. President Trump proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world through executive actions.”
They’re in the clear!
And speaking of things they’re totally in the clear about so just be cool okay – Trump took the inaugural flight on the new Air Force One that was gifted to us from Qatar, which was a gift to all of America but will immediately be retired when Trump is out of office and sent straight on over to his library (which he gets to have and I think that’s great because everyone should set foot in a library at least once in their life).
Shortly after the plane was gifted to Trump, I mean us, Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon approved plans for Qatar to build a military facility in Idaho.
We love a coincidence.
Sen. McConnell
And finally – it’s been two and a half weeks since Senator Mitch McConnell’s office announced that he was admitted to the hospital in a short statement saying only, “Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care.” That was June 14th.
Since then, the only real update we’ve gotten came on June 22nd, which said, “Senator McConnell is still working closely with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters as he continues his recovery. However, he will not be voting this week.”
Working. Closely. With. Staff.
But an independent reporter, who has basically been the only one confirming, daily, whether McConnell was even still in the hospital or not (since no one really knew) took it upon herself and listened to the police scanner from the day the Senator was admitted to the hospital and the call paints a much different picture.
There is no 911 call, so we only have the scanner to go off of.
The first audio is a dispatcher requesting Advanced Life Support for McConnell, who was, in that call, said to be unconscious.
A second piece of audio says that, minutes later, he went into cardiac arrest and they began CPR.
Unconscious and then went into cardiac arrest.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he spoke with McConnell the following day and said he "sounded good," that he "wants to be back," and that he was clearly "dialed in."
Was he??
“Senator McConnell is still working closely with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters as he continues his recovery.”
Was he??
WHEN we win the midterms, and if Sen. McConnell doesn’t survive this, there needs to be a serious investigation into truth of those statements because he’s deserving of his HIPAA, but we also deserve to know whether one of the just 100 people helping to run our country is actually conscious. And I definitely want to see some consequences for lying to the public about all of this.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Hey look at that, almost a normal-length episode.
I’m proud of sports. And sports journalists. And journalists. And people who tell the truth.
But more than all of that put together, because you’re worth like five journals worth of compliments… I’m proud of you.