(upbeat music) - Hey everybody, it is Monday, June 24th, 624, 24. You're listening to the MODE News podcast. I'm Moshe Menunu. - We haven't had a numerical count in a while, Moshe. - It feels right on this 24, 24 day. - I'm Jill Agner. This is the place where we bring you just the facts. - And we read all the news and read between the lines, so you don't have to. I hope everyone was able to stay as cool as possible this weekend, Jill, certain parts of the country, will continue roasting, which we'll get into in the pod. But I know it's hard 'cause a lot of parents out there, this is a crazy time. - Yeah, I was about to say, I hope all the parents out there are hanging in. This is just an insane time of year. There's graduation parties and if year stuff, packing for camp, it just runs the gamut. It feels like every day is something. So I have a lot of friends who are parents and they're just like, talk to me in two weeks. I mean, we just need to get through maybe just till July 4th and then we'll go normally. - So parents out there, we see you, we hear you and we're with you. - Yes, hang in there, we're almost there. Speaking of parents, Prince William rocking out to Taylor Swift this weekend. - Yeah, some fun video we rarely see of the royal sort of letting loose Prince William was with his two eldest kids, George and Charlotte at the Taylor Swift show, picks a selfie with Taylor and Travis Kelsey. So that was fun to see, especially given, you know, how they've had a very difficult time in that family with Kate, of course, undergoing cancer treatment and his father, same thing. - Right, and then there was the video of him in the stands dancing. - Yes. - I think I watched it four times 'cause I'm like, which one is Prince William? I need to zoom in. Is he the one waving his arms crazy? Which one is Prince William? - Everyone is getting in the mix watching Taylor in all parts of the world, including all the European shows and Jill, we'll be talking a bit of European travel in today's pod as well. - All right, Moshe, so let's get to the headlines. It is debate week, Moshe. Are you ready? I feel like you're stretching. You've got like the popcorn ready. - Some people, Super Bowl is the actual Super Bowl. Jill, this is my Super Bowl. - So we'll talk about how Donald Trump and Joe Biden are preparing for this week's first presidential debate and what we are hearing about Trump's VP pick. And as it feels like everyone you know is heading to Europe for vacation this summer, a debate in countries like Portugal and Greece about the downsides of an American tourist surge. The Supreme Court rules nearly unanimously on a major gun case that will keep weapons out of the hands of domestic abusers. In investigation, it's the increasing number of non-Latin Americans coming across the US border, specifically from West Africa and India, and how they're getting here. As many Americans suffer under record heat this week, we have a look at the July monthly forecast. Get ready for some more records to be broken. Got milk? Specifically raw milk? Inside the dairy debate, heating up online, and why it has gotten political. Plus, Moshe has on the stay in history. - Jill, one of my favorite topics, Henry VIII, and the story behind "Sweet Home Alabama," the song, and aspect that you may have not heard about. All right, starting with debate prep. We are officially three days out from the first presidential debate. What is likely to be the most important moment in this presidential election so far? Ahead of Thursday nights debate in Atlanta, President Biden and former President Trump are prepping in very different ways. Biden went to the secluded presidential retreat of Camp David Friday, and he's been on lockdown with several advisors prepping. They've been conducting mock debates. He is set to be there pretty much until the actual debate. Long time Democratic lawyer Bob Bauer playing the part of Trump during the mock sessions, just like he did back in 2020. Biden getting ready to respond to various Trump statements. He's also prepping to talk policy, and he's planning to quote back some extreme remarks that Trump has made this past year, like his vow to be a dictator for his first day in office. Meanwhile, Trump continues to travel and do campaign events, although he is talking through debate strategy with advisors. Trump is aiming to assure voters that he can be a steadier and more effective leader than Biden and tell Americans that his four years were better for voters than Biden's were. Some of his debate prep has focused less on policy and more on rhetoric. Trump has previously struggled with policy debates. He's also been quick to show aggression in past debates, including speaking over his opponents and attacking the moderators, moves that stuck with viewers in the months that followed. So Trump advisors say none of the former president's session so far have included mock debates or role-playing, something the Trump campaign actually has no plans for the former president to engage in, which is a departure from 2020. If you remember, that is when Trump faced off behind closed doors with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who was standing in for Biden. Now, as far as the rules go, the Biden and Trump campaigns have both agreed to mic, muting, podiums, and no studio audience as part of this upcoming CNN debate. - So, Marker Calendar, 9PM Eastern, Thursday night. We will be doing live commentary on the Instagram account Thursday night. So be ready to have your second screen experience with us over on the Monus Instagram account. We'll tell you about it all week, but I'm hoping to give you a behind the scenes glimpse and real-time analysis as the debate is going on. But back to the debate itself. Some Republicans are encouraging Trump to avoid a repeat of his very aggressive 2020 approach. Some of his advisors going back to Christie, back in 2020, say, you know, don't be aggressive, let Biden trip up, let him fail with words, as opposed to being super aggressive. That said, Trump appears undaunted here. He pulled the audience at one of his events over the weekend, Joe, and asked the audience like, how should I play this contest? Should I be tough and nasty? These are Trump's words here. Should I be tough and nasty and just say, you're the worst president in history? Or should I be nice and calm and let him speak? Unsurprisingly, the followers, the crowd roared when he said, should I be tough and nasty? And then booed when he asked the crowd in his rally whether he should be calm and let the president Biden speak. Trump has given a number of remarks over the weekend, trying to set expectations here. He was mocking Biden for going to Camp David to practice for six days, saying that crooked Joe's gone to a log cabinet to study and prepare. I don't think he did. He's sleeping because they want him good and strong. And then, Jill, as he's done a couple of times in the past, he suggested that Joe Biden will take drugs before the debate. Take a listen. - They wanna get him good and strong. So a little before debate time, he gets a shot in the ass and that's... (crowd cheering) They wanna strengthen him up. (crowd cheering) So he comes out, he'll come out, okay. - I say he'll come out all jacked up, right? All jacked up. - Jill, all jacked up. That's what former President Trump says Biden will be. He will be all jacked up on drugs. In the past, Trump has said there should be a drug test before the debate, something in the White House. The Biden White House has said, like, are you kidding us right now? It's interesting because there's a conundrum for Trump, right, who the right is often talking about how, you know, Biden is bumbling, is not all there, is, you know, sort of like loopy and old and then incoherent and Obama's actually running the entire White House, that's what accusation. At the same time, they have to explain why Biden at the State of the Union and debates tends to come with energy. So the, the explanation Trump has come upon here is that his opponent is on drugs. - So for the State of the Union, it was cocaine. That was the accusation. - Right, Trump said that Biden did cocaine. - Okay, so now for the debate, just so unclear, a shot in the... - Behind. - Tush. - Yeah. - Adrenaline, what is it, what is he suggesting? - He's not being specific. - There's no evidence. There's no evidence being cited here. It's just, this is Trump on the campaign stop. That said, this debate is a big deal. (laughing) Oh man, it's a serious thing, and yet this is where we are as a country. But there are legitimate questions, right, that Americans have of both candidates. There are questions about their age, right? The two oldest men in American history are running for president. You have Trump at 78, Biden at 81. For many Americans, it's gonna be the first time seeing Trump for 90 straight minutes on live television for the first time in like three and a half years since the man was president. So this will be a reminder for many folks of Trump who, unless you've been heavily involved in politics or watching the coverage on cable news, you haven't really been plugged in for more than a sound bite here or there. Remember Trump skipped all the GOP primary debate. So his style here could matter why you have some people on his side saying, "Hey, can you chill out for us versus being super aggressive?" So we'll see which Trump we get at the same time for President Biden. This is a huge deal, which may explain why he's spending a week at Camp David. Preparing here, there have been multiple videos of late showing him sort of looking out of it. Now the White House has been calling those fake or manipulated, they're not fake. We've looked at the raw video. It does appear at times where there might be an explanation as to why Biden is looking in a certain direction, but still, he's moving slower. And so Americans are, an increasing number of Americans are getting a feeling like, "Oh, is this guy in it to win it? Does he have gas in the tank for four or more years?" So Biden has to showcase him Thursday night that he still has it, right? And so there's a lot at stake here. I thought Karl Rove, who was the senior advisor to President Bush for his two terms and helped lead him to win in 2000 and then 2004, summed it up very well in the New York Times over the weekend. Karl Rove saying this is a big inflection point, asking the question, can Biden be consistently cogent, causing people to say, "Well, maybe the old guy is up to it." And is Trump going to be sufficiently restrained that people say, "You know what? It really is about us, not about him." So that is the challenge that Karl Rove says both men have. Now, will this change polls right away? Unlikely, unless there's some sort of disaster. But for many folks on both campaigns, they believe this will be a moment Thursday night and for the first time a number of Americans will begin to pay attention to the election. That said, we're still five months out and regardless of what happens on Thursday nights, there's still a lot of campaign to go. - Just listening to that Karl Rove quote, "That you read Moshe, the bar is so incredibly low. It's really sad to be honest for this country." - Can Biden be cogent and can Trump be chill and talk less about himself and more about the country? That's really the bar by which, and I think it's a fair judgment that many Americans will be judging these two guys. - Meanwhile, we are getting word from Trump himself that he's picked his vice presidents. What do we know? - All right, so we believe he will make the announcement July 15th at the Republican convention, which believe it or not is about three weeks away now, Jill. But he's already indicating to reporters on the campaign trail that he's made his choice. He says the person doesn't know yet, but he's made his decision. Now, Trump is known to change his mind based on the last person he spoke to, based on the latest development. That said, that's his claim. This is what we know right now, based on the people around him. Candidate number one, his top choice right now, North Dakota governor, Doug Burgum. You might recognize him from the campaign trail. He ran smoothly for president, didn't really get much buzz. Hardly passed 1% in the polls, but that's one of the reasons why Trump likes him. He sort of chill, laid back, won't try to stand in front of Trump, will know his place as vice president. So Doug Burgum right now, viewed as the do no harm VP choice for Trump. A couple other contenders here that are high up, and he may have decided on, J.D. Vance, the former author, turned Senator from Ohio, and then Marco Rubio, also a Senator from Florida. Basically, it looks like it's one of those three right now, and there's a lot of people around Trump who are pushing him in each direction. You have, according to multiple media outlets, Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox, is supporting Burgum. Then you have Don Trump, Jr., Steve Bannon, the advisor, and Tucker Carlson, who allegedly are telling Trump to choose J.D. Vance. Then you have Sean Handy, the Fox commentator, and Kellyanne Conway, the former Trump advisor, sort of current Trump advisor, urging Marco Rubio. So different people around Trump in his orbit, each saying you should go with this individual, is your VP for a variety of reasons. Again, he doesn't want people who are gonna threaten him politically. He wants someone who can carry the torch as MAGA, and they're figuring out how to roll this out, 'cause July is gonna be key in the coming weeks. Remember, July 11th is Trump's sentencing in the New York criminal case. So we'll see what happens there. And then just a few days later is the RNC. So where he'll make his VP announcement therein will be a good question. - Yeah, and if you wanna try reading the tea leaves, I guess you could look for all of them. We'll be at the debate. They'll all probably be doing media at some point. And as you said, Moshe, because Donald Trump hasn't officially made the announcement, who knows, potentially his mind could be changed. (mumbling) - Do you want me to take her out? - It's okay. July, I don't know if you heard that in the background. Olivia might not have a month old. I think she's trying to make her VP prediction in the background as I record the podcast, but I wasn't able to quite make it out. - Olivia is always a welcome cameo, Moshe. (laughing) - Olivia, we're talking about you on the podcast. (laughing) Yeah. (laughing) Stay far away from politics, girl. Jill, before we leave politics, we should note we have a special edition of the Mo News interview podcast with Chief Washington correspondent for ABC News, John Carl, live right now. And in it, he goes into what he's hearing from his sources about Trump's VP choice, debate prep, and just what's at stake in this election based on his reporting so far. So go check that out. And if you haven't already started listening today, check out the Mo News interview podcast wherever you get your podcasts. - All right, let's talk travel right now as so many people are either heading to Europe or just got back from there in recent months across the Southern Europe and unprecedented tourism boom, driven largely by American tourists is turbocharging growth. In places that had become by words for economic stagnation, it's created hundreds of thousands of jobs and boosted the bottom line for governments recently shaken by sovereign debt fears and collapses. The rush is turning Europe's recent economic history on its head. So in the 2010s, Germany and other manufacturing heavy economies helped drag the continent out of its debt crisis. They were lifting up the Mediterranean countries' economies and bailing them out. But today, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal contribute between a quarter and half of the block's annual growth. While Germany's economy is flatlining, Spain is Europe's fastest growing big economy. Nearly three quarters of the country's recent growth and one in four new jobs are linked to tourism. In Greece, they're seeing a surging economy. 44% of all jobs are connected to tourism. The short term is bright and governments are pushing to build on that momentum. But some economists, residents, and politicians are concerned about the boom's long-term implications. Rent and other living expenses are rising in hotspots, making it harder for many locals to make ends meet. A focus on tourism, which does turn a quick profit, still tethers these economies to this highly cyclical industry. And it also risks keeping workers in capital for more profitable areas, like tech and high-end manufacturing. Yeah, the big question in Europe, especially in these southern European countries, is they're getting this boost right now from tourism. But how long can it last? And it really is contingent on Americans continuing to come. The American economy remaining strong. And Americans continuing to be interested in southern Europe. So building an entire economy around this is risky. It's sort of like, in the Middle East, Joe, the economies that are transitioning off of the high of oil all these years. But seeing what's going on with a newer energy, cleaner energy, they realize they have to develop their economies in different ways. And that takes a lot of work. And that's some of the message that's being said within southern Europe. Like, hey, we need to prepare for a non-tourism scenario. At the same time, a lot of governments don't want to hear it. Because they're expanding their airports, they're expanding their industry. They're really kind of boosting the hotel sector. And they're seeing a huge amount of income from this right now. And they're not wrong. Right now, spending on travel and hospitality worldwide has grown seven times faster than the entire global economy over the past two years. And that pattern is expected to continue at least for the next decade. And the numbers here are pretty incredible for Europe. Though 5% of the world's population lives in the EU, it received a third of all international tourism dollars, more than $500 billion last year alone. That's up roughly three times over the last 20 years. And compared to the US, which needs about $150 billion in tourism, again, you're seeing 3X of that in Europe. So the Wall Street Journal took a deep dive into this over the weekend. They noted that Americans have now surpassed Spaniards as the biggest group of foreign tourists in Portugal. Pretty notable, since Portugal borders Spain as in connected to Spain in many ways. There are now more Americans visiting Portugal than Spaniards visiting Portugal. And they dive into Portugal here, which by the way, I remember working at Bloomberg in 2011, when they received a huge bailout when their economy was collapsing in 2011. As part of their economic rejuvenation, they privatized their airline. And who took a controlling stake in that? A guy named David Neileman, who founded JetBlue. He's a Brazilian guy. And one of the things he did with the Portuguese airline, which is leading to the success, particularly of Portugal, Jill right now, is he added hubs and direct flights between Portugal and JFK, Portugal, and Boston Logan. And that has really blown up the market there as the booking sword for tap, the Portuguese airline, a number of other US airliners followed. And so he jokes the Wall Street Journal that as of a few years ago, he heard of no one who's ever been to Portugal. Today, everyone is telling me they're going to Portugal. Jill, I remember being in Portugal back in 2016. So almost no Americans there at the time. And I heard from people over the weekend as we talked about this on the premium account. And all they're hearing right now is English. And all they're running into is fellow Americans. - They're like, here we thought we were doing something different and cool. And it's just Americans speaking English. - I feel like, you know, you have all these trends. I feel like 10 years ago I was like Dubrovnik. I remember like everyone was going to Croatia for a bit. And then like Italy was popping. And now like Iceland was popping. And now Portugal is all the rage heard from dozens of Monus community members who are headed to Portugal. No criticism there. But it's incredible how some small decisions have a huge impact specifically in the case of the Portuguese airline tap, creating those hubs, creating those direct flights multiple times a day between Lisbon and New York and Lisbon and Boston. - A very smart business move. This does so have downsides for the locals, the most immediate of which is the rise in living costs. The average Portuguese employee earns about $1,100 or a thousand euros a month after tax. A one bedroom apartment in Lisbon can easily cost more than 500,000 euros to buy or over 1200 euros a month to rent. Rents in nearby cities are also climbing as people leave the capital squeezed out as lucrative short-term rentals transform the housing market. Around nine in 10 Airbnb hosts in Portugal rent their family home. And almost half say that the extra income helps them afford to stay in their homes. Higher rents are forcing many businesses and cultural and social spaces catering to locals to close. - Yeah, so that's one of the issues here as we're talking about this tourism boom is the locals are being impacted here. It's changing the nature of the country, of societies, of cities. And at the same time, the boosters in those countries say, listen, let's use all this money to build our economy, build a larger tech sector, build a production and things that will work for us long-term in places like Portugal. Much more term, there's some political impact you're already seeing, pushback, you know, this feeling that Airbnb and Uber are the ones that are really making big money off of this. And it's coming at the expense of, you know, Portuguese people who aren't involved in the tourism sector. So we thought interesting thing to dive into here. We dive into it in the newsletter today as well, because, you know, as we talk about the tourism boom, there are a lot of deeper issues to get into here and the impacts that they have on various countries. - So this episode is brought to you by WeWork. We've told you for a while now that we made our home for Monu's headquarters at WeWork, the co-working space. Ours is located in Brooklyn. They have locations all across the country and around the world. We love working here because not only is it a great space to get work done, but you never know who you'll meet in the hallways here or at the next WeWork event. You could meet founders, industry leaders or your next business partner, customer or investor. The hot topic in the halls these days is all things artificial intelligence, AI. If you work in the AI space or are interested in getting firsthand knowledge about AI, there are already several hundred companies here focused on it. You run into them all the time. 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Again, the website, we.co/monu's Works20. - Most we hear from so many of our listeners who are entrepreneurs and business owners or who have a side gig that they hope will one day become a full-time business. - Yeah, as we know here at Monu's, it is a challenge, but there are a number of solutions out there that make it so much easier to both start and grow your business. - And one of those is Shopify, a global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. So whether you're at the stage of launching your online shop or the first real-life store stage, all the way up to the, did we just hit a million orders stage? Shopify is there to help you grow. Shopify helps you sell everywhere from their all-in-one e-commerce platform, wherever and whatever you are selling, Shopify has got you covered. Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers. It's up to 36% better compared to other leading commerce platforms. Also, there is an AI feature called Shopify Magic. 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It's easy, it's quick, it lets you get on with your day, knowing you're getting a whole bunch of very important and key ingredients, you're replacing multiple health supplements here like multivitamins, digestive aids, immune support, you're getting an A-G-1, things like vitamin C and zinc, folate, magnesium, ashwagandha, you're covering all your nutritional bases and setting up yourself for success. With your first purchase of A-G-1, Athletic Greens is giving Monu's listeners a free, one year supply of their vitamin D and five free travel packs of A-G-1, go visit drinkag1.com/monu's, that is drinkag at number one.com/monu's, take advantage of this offer and really start to take ownership of your health. - Time for the speed read from The Washington Post, the Supreme Court upheld a federal law Friday that bans guns for domestic abusers. The court rejected an argument pressed by gun rights groups that the prohibition violated the Second Amendment. The justices ruled eight to one in favor of a 1994 ban on firearms for people under restraining orders to stay away from their spouses or partners. The justices reversed a ruling from a lower federal appeals court that had struck down the law on Second Amendment grounds. Justice Clarence Thomas was the only dissent. The ruling indicates that some longstanding gun laws are likely to survive despite the court's 2022 decision that expanded gun rights by finding for the first time that there is a right to bear arms outside the home under the Constitution Second Amendment. - Yeah, gun rights advocates thought they could win this one based on the 2022 decision. The court ruling the conservatives, the liberals, again, except for Clarence Thomas saying, "No, this seems like a reasonable law. "Writing for the eight one majority, "chief justice, John Roberts, "wrote that since the U.S. was founded on, quote, "our nation's firearms laws have included provisions "preventing individuals who threaten physical harm "to others from misusing firearms. "This provision, quote, fits comfortably "within this tradition. "This case, Jill involved the Texas man "who had assaulted his girlfriend "had a restraining order against him. "Had fired shots in public. "And so a protective order prohibited him "from having a gun, but police actually, "he was a suspect of the number of cases. "Police search his home, found a gun." He argued that based on the Second Amendment, regardless of all this other stuff, he should still have a right to carry a gun. Turns out the court says no. And this is good news for domestic violence victims. The numbers are pretty stark here. Women are five times more likely to die in a domestic violence situation if a gun is present. That's why many states and the federal government prohibit people subject to domestic violence protection orders from having guns. The research has shown that the laws work, this came up in the case, that it has reduced these laws' intimate partner homicide by up to 12% when you have that law against domestic abusers owning guns. Jill, that was one of the big cases we were watching for. We previewed it in last week's newsletter. There's also a number of cases we're still waiting for that likely to come down this week. A case related January 6th and whether several hundred of the cases might be thrown out against some of the rioters. There's the big Trump case, his argument that he has presidential immunity for life, how the court will decide on that will be key. There's an abortion case out of Idaho, whether federal law on the need to give an emergency abortion overrides a state ban there. And then a number of cases related to the future of social media and how social media can be limited by states. So we're gonna be watching all those this week. - From Reuters, migrants from outside Latin America are paying smuggling networks hefty fees for travel packages that can include airline tickets on charter and commercial airlines to fly to Central America and then bus rides in hotel stays en route to the US-Mexico border. More than two million migrants were arrested at the Southern US border last year. Nearly 10% of irregular crossings at the US border involved migrants from outside of Latin America, just under about 200,000 people according to the US Department of Homeland Security. A decade ago, people from outside of the Americas accounted for barely 1% of irregular arrivals. Indian nationals were the largest single group from outside the Americas and countered at the border last year, comprising about 42,000 arrivals. Migrants from 15 West African nations accounted for about another 40,000, with most from Senegal and Mauritania. The Biden administration attributes the historic levels of migration to global economic and political instability. Trump has blamed the high border crossings on Biden's policies. - Yeah, so this Reuters investigation found two major routes for non-Latin Americans into the Americas and up to the US border. One route starts in West Africa with migrants paying about $10,000 from multi-stop commercial flights to Nicaragua and then continuing by land to the US. Then there's a second route serving migrants mainly from India that offers charter flights to Central America, then overland transfers, those hotel stays, et cetera. Now this goes between 72 and $96,000 per person. The belief is that that gets them in successfully into America, whereas applying for a tourist visa and overstaying is getting more and more difficult. These routes through Central America also avoid visa requirements that are related to flying directly into Mexico. So they're coming into a couple key transit points, including Nicaragua. That's where the president is Daniel Ortega. He's the key adversary of the US. He's a former Marxist gorilla, Cold War adversary. He's been called out by Washington. He does not care. He's making money off of all of this. So he's having a whole bunch of people fly into Nicaragua. If you look at the numbers, there are way more people arriving to Nicaragua than ever leaving Nicaragua via airports. And so it's clear that people are coming in and then moving by land north. Now the Biden administration has been working with a number of regional governments. Nicaragua is difficult, but countries like El Salvador, they're trying to coordinate with them, trying to make it more difficult for this sort of thing to go on. Leaders in El Salvador say that they are collaborating with the US to fight this. They've introduced visa requirements, including a $1,000 transit fees, persistence of India and African countries to transit through their country. That, they say, has drastically reduced the number of migrants. So this is certainly a story we will keep watching for you. - From Fox weather as more than 100 million Americans were under heat warnings this weekend, and the heat dome is expected to continue for most of this week for the East Coast. We are getting a preview for next month. Some bad news. It looks like we could have another record month ahead. The latest climate outlooks for July show that NOAA expects much of the country to exhibit above average temperatures. While many communities will see below average rainfall, typically July is the warmest month around the country with average highs in the 80s and 90s. But with the addition of heat waves, normal might feel downright cool compared to what the country is expected to experience. - Yeah, so the temperature outlook from NOAA shows that most of the country is a store for heat that has a higher probability of being more extreme than usual with only the West Coast in line for normal temperatures. So congratulations, West Coast. But if you live in the Rockies, the Mid Atlantic from Ohio, North Carolina, the Northeast, those are the areas with the highest probability of seeing record temps above normal here. Now, this is a long-term outlook. So this is their best projection. Jill, you'll have to wait for more short-term forecast to really get a sense of what your weather might be. And of course, if there's a whole bunch of hurricanes that come through, that could mess with things. Speaking of abnormal weather, there's a flooding emergency that we've been watching in Iowa, flood waters forced people out of their homes in parts of Iowa over the weekend, the result of weeks of rain. There were sirens that blared in the early morning in a town of Rock Valley, Iowa that has a population of about 4,200 where people in hundreds of homes were told to get out as soon as possible. That's where the Rock River could no longer take the rain that has slammed the region, Jill. Pretty tragic photos of a community underwater there in Iowa. - Right, and on Saturday, the governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for 21 counties in Northwest Iowa and directed all available state resources to assist Rock Valley and other communities in response to that catastrophic flooding. A level three of four risk of excessive rainfalls to place over Southern Wisconsin and Northeastern Iowa. And most, I think it's just a good reminder that when we talk about flooding, even if you don't live by the coast, that doesn't mean that you're not at risk of serious flooding. In this case, it was just rainfall that the earth couldn't absorb in time. - Essentially, if you're in Iowa, and you know that you've experienced, there've been a number of floods in recent years, but in many cases, sometimes you just have storms that now sit and give you a record number of rain in just a few hours. You saw that in Tennessee last year. So definitely have your weather app alerts on this summer because some of the stuff, seemingly, sometimes comes out of nowhere. - And finally, from the Wall Street Journal, Got Milk, specifically Raw Milk. For more than 130 years, Americans have been instructed that drinking milk that comes directly from a cow's utter can be dangerous. The US dairy industry spends millions of dollars each year heating its product to 145 degrees before sale. That's a way to kill microorganisms that can make people sick. But a growing number of consumers would rather they left it alone. Raw Milk is now on sale in corner shops and trendy health food stores across America. Its proponents argue that it helps with weight loss, gut health, and lactose intolerance. Gwyneth Paltrow, the actress and longtime promoter of unorthodox health advice, takes it in her coffee every morning. So pasteurization, which was once just the consensus, has become the latest frontier in America's culture war, an increasing number of lifestyle influencers and the libertarian right are advocating for it, saying that pasteurization kills some nutrients in dairy and it is basically the government killing choice. It has become a political issue for people like RFK Jr. who is demanding choice, as well as many supporters of Donald Trump. - Yeah, they argue the government has no business demanding that their milk be pasteurized and that raw milk bands are a product of the big dairy industry lobbyists operating in the quote unquote swamp. Jill, if you've listened to various lifestyle influencers as well as some podcasts in recent months or recent years even, you've heard more and more of this among them, Lauren Bostik of the Skinny Confidential Podcast, who talks about having her own raw milk dealer. Paltrow was actually on her show, talking about how she drinks raw milk in her coffee every day. Notably, in some states, it's legal to buy raw milk as pet food, which is a loophole for people in a number of states. In other cases, you simply just drive across state lines to get raw milk. 20 states have laws on the books prohibiting raw milk in some form. The FDA warns that drinking unpasteurized milk can cause bacterial outbreaks. It can result in miscarriages, still burst, kidney failure, death even in some cases. The FDA attributes going back 30 years here, 143 deaths to various illnesses that have been linked to raw milk. Though notably in places like California, it's legal in half the states. It is legal, and then in half the states, it is not legal. So it has led here to this big debate. Market data suggests that there's been a 20% increase in the demand for raw milk in the last year nationwide. You're seeing a number of states look to liberalize their laws. When it comes to pasteurization, Louisiana is looking at repealing their ban on unpasteurized milk. You're seeing similar efforts in West Virginia, Iowa, Georgia, and North Dakota. So an interesting trend here, I've certainly heard about it here in Brooklyn. And again, you have the lifestyle influencers, and again, the kind of libertarian right, you're seeing it at the big Trump rallies, a lot of talk of this as well as the RFK rallies. At the same time, you have the health authorities, and it comes amid overall distrust in the FDA, the CDC, et cetera. But most notably, we heard this warning recently, when it comes to the avian flu and milk, that pasteurization kills avian flu and milk, so people should be very wary of raw milk right now, that's what you heard from the FDA, and public health officials. - Mosh, were you a fan of Schitt's Creek? - I was a fan, but I wasn't a religious viewer. - It is one of my favorite shows, and there happens to be a great episode where they kind of like get into the raw milk business, real tapping into this, I guess, before it's time. Very funny. We were early on on Schitt's Creek on the whole raw milk thing, but it's been a thing for a number of years, particularly in California, but it's really blown up in the last year or two across the country here in the US. (upbeat music) All right, now time for on this day in history, we begin 500 years ago on this day in 1509. Henry VIII was crowned King of England, his wife, Catherine of Aragon, was crowned Queen concert. They had just married a couple of weeks before Catherine, had actually been married to Henry's brother, before he died, Henry was then married Catherine. He would then get separated from Catherine, the pope not giving him the right to divorce. So then Henry started his own church, the Church of England, the church that exists today, who'd go on to Mary Anne Boleyn, but then end up beheading her, 'cause she gave him no male heir, he accused her of adultery. Joe, one of my favorite historical topics, Henry VIII's six wives, he would end up having six wives, and their fate can be remembered this way. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived, that's your rhyme. - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, got it. (laughing) - All right, let's fast forward here to the 21st century. It was just three years ago today, that that beachfront condo building collapsed in Surfside, Florida, that was the 12-story building, 98 people would die in that collapse, the disaster, one of the worst of its kind, in US history, an investigation later would uncover design failures, shot at construction, structural damage, and a whole bunch of neglect that led to a chain reaction leading to that collapse in Surfside. Engineers believe that the cause of the collapse was a structural column or concrete slab that gave way. And then just two years ago, on this day in history in 2022, the Supreme Court would issue its Dobbs decision ending constitutional protections for abortion that had been placed for nearly 50 years under Roe v. Wade. That outcome, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, elected to the states, more than a dozen states have now banned abortion since then, and as any regular listener of this podcast would know, the issue continues to go before the court. And finally, a bit of pop culture music history for you on this day, turning 50 years old today. (upbeat music) Leonard Skinner had released "Sweet Home Alabama" on this day, June 24th, 1974, Jill. Fun fact, none of the three writers of the song were actually from Alabama. Ronnie Van Sant and Gary Rossington were both Floridians. Ed King was from California, so you had two Floridians in a Californian, right, "Sweet Home Alabama." So the song, despite none of the big from Alabama, was actually a response to Neil Young's song a couple years previous to that "Southern Man." You might have heard of that song. They felt that that song blamed the entire South, all Southerners for slavery. So Neil Young has actually name checked in "Sweet Home Alabama" and dissed in the lyrics. Back then, Leonard Skinner was performing in front of a large Confederate flag. Actually, the record label suggested that to boost their audience in the South. They insist though, the song is about Southern Pride, but not about racism or advocating racism. But it's hard to know because a major tragedy would befall a members of the group just three years after that song comes out. In 1977, there is a plane crash that kills three members of Leonard Skinner, including one of the writers of the song. So just what I thought Jill interesting opportunity to discuss the history here of "Sweet Home Alabama." - The history is fascinating and it's also just incredible how much just culturally the United States has changed that the record label thought it was a good idea for them to perform that in front of a Confederate flag. That was less than 50 years ago. - Oh yeah, and I mean, Jill, remember, some people might remember the show "Dukes of Hazard" where they had the rebel flag on the car in "Dukes of Hazard." So a major cultural shift in the last few decades, you could say. - All right, everyone. Thank you for listening to the "Mo News" podcast. If you like what you hear, please share this with your friends. It will help us grow. Follow us and subscribe so you don't miss an episode and review us in the app store. - Yes, and a reminder again to go check out the "Mo News" interview podcast where our latest conversation dives into 2024, the debate, the VP choice, and the state of our elections. Go check that out again. "Mo News" the interview podcast, wherever you get your podcast. - All right, bye, everybody. - Bye. - Thanks for listening to the "Mo News" podcast. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
