Hey, everybody, it's Moosh. Before we get started here, I'm really excited to tell you about a new partner of ours here in Mo News. You may have heard us talk about them before. Element, electrolyte, drink mix. If you're like me and you have trouble drinking all the water you need every day. Remember our bodies are more than 50% water. Then you should definitely check out element. Their electrolyte drink mix comes in a ton of flavors. I really like the watermelon and the citrus salt right now. The great thing is they don't contain sugar or other dodgy ingredients. You get in other sports drinks. And there's a lot of research coming out right now that optimal health outcomes occur when your sodium levels are two to three times government recommendations. And that's what you get with element. You just take the powder, you pour in a bit of water, you mix it and you are good to go. I like to parse it out and do multiple portions from that bag of powder into multiple glasses of water throughout the day. Electrolyte deficiency is a real thing. It creates headaches, cramps, fatigue, brain fog. And that's why getting your electrolytes is so important whether you're an athlete or you're just going about your day. So they have a special deal right now for the Monus community. Go over to drinklmt.com/monus that is drinktheletterlmt.com/monus and you get a free sample pack with any element drink mix purchase. It allows you to try all the flavors. Again, the website, drinklmt.com/monus. (upbeat music) - Hey everybody, it's Moshe Wannunu here. It's Wednesday, August 7th. You're listening to the Monus podcast. - Hi, Moshe, hi everyone, I'm Jill Wagner. 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. And yesterday Jill, after a year and a half campaign, we actually now know everyone on the presidential and VP ticket after what has been a very tumultuous six weeks. - That's right, so let's get straight to the headlines here. She has her VP, not a surprise. Kamala Harris picked a governor from the Midwest but not the one that some senior Democratic leaders thought she was gonna go with. We'll tell you all about Minnesota governor, Tim Walls, and Moshe, I do believe that you owe me a dinner. - Yes, Jill, pick your spot, but not nothing excessive, please. - And in case you missed Monday's podcast, my prediction was Tim Walls. Moshe was predicting Josh Shapiro and we said whoever loses has to buy the other one dinner. - So there you go, Jill, even, we'll cover dessert too. (laughs) Plus have Republicans are reacting to her pick for running mate, overseas, Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar, who was the architect of the October 7th attack as its new leader, and the Justice Department has charged a Pakistani man in an alleged plot to kill US leaders in America. - Yeah, this is quite a story, Jill. We'll break it down for you. - Yesterday, we told you about a stock market sell-off. Well, what happened on Wall Street on Tuesday? Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, giving a huge gift to four black medical schools endowments, and an American teenager just set a world record in a new Olympic sport, we'll tell you about it. Plus Moshe is on the same history. - Woo-hoo, nobody knows it, is your clue today. - I think I know. (laughs) - One of the best duets in history, Jill. - Okay, let's start with our top story, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has now officially secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party's nominee, has picked her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walls, and so far Democrats are quickly embracing their new ticket to appear together for the first time at a campaign event in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, as they embark on a seven swing state blitz this week. Harris and Walls walked on stage to a thunderous crowd. - To those who know and best, Tim is more than a governor. To his wife, Gwen, he is a husband. To his kids, Hope and Gus, he is a dad. To his fellow veterans, he is Sergeant Major Walls. (audience cheering) To the people of Southern Minnesota for 12 years, he was Congressman. (audience cheering) To his former high school students, he was Mr. Walls. (audience cheering) And to his former high school football players, he was Coach. (audience cheering) And in 91 days, (audience cheering) the nation will know Coach Walls by another name, Vice President of the United States. (audience cheering) - So most clearly a lot of excitement there in Philadelphia, but the big question, who is Tim Walls? Outside of Minnesota, most Americans, 70% according to a new NPR survey, say they've never heard of him or just don't have an opinion. So here is a quick bio. Walls is 60 years old. That's only about six months older than Kamala Harris. Even though the internet thinks he looks a lot older. - Yeah, Jill, we had some fun with that. We note that actually Brad Pitt is a few months older than Tim Walls. It shows you the difference though between going into, as Walls says, teaching versus Hollywood. - So Walls is originally from rural Nebraska. He is a U.S. Army National Guard veteran and a former high school teacher. He taught geography. He also was a football coach. His wife Gwen is also a teacher and they met while teaching. The couple has two kids, Hope and Gus, that they had with the help of IVF. Walls first ran for office in 2006 in a Republican-leaning congressional district where he upset the incumbent. He kept the seat until he won the Minnesota governorship in 2018 and then won it again in 2022. Apparently he caught Harris' eye in some of his attacks on the Trump Vance ticket. Here is a clip of Walls appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe last month. He has already gone viral for characterizing the Trump Vance ticket as weird. - Well, it's true. These guys are just weird. And they're running for He-Man Women Haters Club or something. That's what they go at. That's not what people are interested in. And there is angst because Robert Barron's like J.D. Vance and Donald Trump gutted the Midwest, told us we didn't do that. They talk about private schools. Where in the heck are you gonna find a private school in a town of 400? Those are public schools. Those are great teachers that are out there making a difference and gave us an opportunity to succeed. That angst that J.D. Vance talks about in hillbilly algae. None of my hillbilly cousins went to Yale. - Jill, it's just the folks, direct, very short sound by speaking your point. That was apparently one of the more important things here for the Harris team. - Look, part of the job of the vice presidential nominee is to be the attack dog, which he showed that he could do pretty well. So he brings some Midwest credibility and they hope that he can help them connect with rural and working class voters, especially in nearby competitive Midwest states. Most a lot of reporting on why Harris picked walls over some of the other names that were on the short list. We're talking about Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. Politically, both of those men are a bit more moderate, whereas walls is seen as more liberal and progressive, especially in recent years. But ultimately this may have come down to what some are describing as a vibe check. - Yeah, that's what the people around Harris are saying is that she met with all these folks and she was looking for chemistry. And she had more chemistry with walls than some of the other names here. At the same time, part of this was also about the negatives around the other guys. Ultimately, you're making a decision here. And as Joe Biden has said, don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. So she was weighing her options, very truncated timeline here. Typically, you take several months to figure this out. She had two weeks, given what's taking place in the Democratic party. With the Shapiro, Kelly picks, you noted they were moderate. They did bring the positive of each bringing a potential swing state help to her. In Kelly's case, Arizona, in Shapiro's case, Pennsylvania. The selection might completely come down to Pennsylvania. Another issue with Shapiro, who apparently was the other finalist here, according to people around her. The feeling among some is that he could try to outshine her, that he was very ambitious. This is something that is a longtime competitor in Pennsylvania, John Federman, who's now the center for Pennsylvania. They've had it out for one another for a long time. He was making the argument internally. Don't pick Shapiro. He wants to be the number one here. And so that was apparently part of the issue here as she decided between walls in Shapiro. Among other things we should keep in mind, she's been vice president. She is vice president. She's been doing that for three and a half years. So she has some unique insight into the job, the experience, what she wants out of that job. And so as she met with her finalists here, she had the chemistry tests. There's reporting from her people that she just instantly connected with walls, that she liked what he brings, his folksy nature, the ability to make these arguments succinctly, the weird thing that he may go viral. She's from Deep Blue, California. She's half black, half Indian. He's from Nebraska. He was in the National Guard. He owns guns. He hunts two different worlds. And Harris will have difficulty connecting with those types of voters. And so the feeling is walls can help there. She's also probably here more comfortable with him politically. They stand in the same places. He's had his kids with IVF. He ensured that abortion is legal in Minnesota. So they've worked together on those issues. And you had the anti- Shapiro campaign by some progressives, including on issues like Israel. As we discussed yesterday, some saw it at points as anti-Semitic. At the end of the day though, walls had a lot of people supporting him, including a lot of his former house colleagues, Nancy Pelosi, who we served in Congress with. And so a lot of them were getting in Harris's ear, being like, put one of our own. He's going to help you a lot. Because one thing we've been talking about a lot, Jill, is politics. The part of what you have to do once you get elected is to govern. And similar to Obama, who didn't have much experience at Capitol Hill, he brought in Joe Biden as his VP. Sanders spent 30 years there. The feeling here is Harris spent the very brief time on Capitol Hill. So if she's elected and needs to govern, Tim Walls, who spent more than a decade on Capitol Hill, could help her with that. I do though, as we talked about this competition, wanna play a bit of Josh Shapiro yesterday. He introduced them at this rally in Philadelphia after having been rejected earlier in the day. He had to introduce the prom queen. Here's how he did it. I'm gonna be working my tail off to make sure we make Kamala Harris and Tim Walls the next leaders of the United States of America. It's notable, Jill, because the Trump folks, apparently were worried about Shapiro, that if she picked Shapiro, that would take Pennsylvania off the map for him. And so there was joy on the left, joy on the right, and then in the middle yesterday, among the Monuse community, questions about who he is and what this all means. - Most Republicans are already pouncing. They're describing the Harris Walls ticket as a dream for the radical left. Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance slamming Walls as a San Francisco style liberal. I want to play a bit of an attack ad already put together to take on Walls, targeting a bill that he had signed into law that put menstrual products in girls and boys bathrooms at public schools. - What could be weirder than signing a bill in the law that requires schools to stock tampons in boys bathrooms or weirder than signing legislation, allowing minors to receive sex change operations? Try electing the man who signed those bills, vice president of the United States. - Enter Chief Weirdo, 10 Walls. - So you see them trying to spin that weirdo. - I'm not weird, you're weird. - I'm not weird, you're weird. (laughing) - These are our politics. - You should expect to also hear Republicans attack Walls for being too slow to respond to violent protests in 2020 in Minneapolis after a police officer killed George Floyd as governor. Walls did deploy hundreds of national guard troops three days after Floyd's death, but critics have argued that it was just too slow of a response. - Yeah, let's talk about that for a second. This will come up a lot. Jill tried to put together a 90 second rundown of what took place over on our Instagram account. So you could check that out over on the Monus Instagram account. Effectively, this is what took place. Let's go back to May 25th, 2020. Governor Walls is one year into his term as governor and you have the police killing that night of May 25th of George Floyd. The protests begin the next day on May 26th. They start to become violent about 24 hours later. Now, we're 48 hours in, May 27th. Police cars are being burned, looting is happening. The mayor of Minneapolis, his name is Jacob Fry, put to the request to the governor, Walls to deploy the national guard. And this is where there's a dispute, there's been investigations. Why did Walls take 24 hours to deploy the national guard after the request? Now, the governor says that city was a mess. I was looking for details on where they wanted the guard. Keep in mind the national guards, not like the US Army. If you're a national guardsman, you have a regular job. You're a fireman. You're a police officer. You're a teacher, but then you get called up. So it takes a while to deploy you. So Walls eventually approves the request 24 hours later on the 28th. It's that night and the national guard's still not there when there's that infamous scene where the police have to give up a police building to the riders and they light the police building on fire. Many of us remember those images. And so there have been a lot of hearings and investigations at the state level there as to what took place. Again, Walls says, I didn't get detail from the city. We tried our best. I did deploy the guard to St. Paul. Minneapolis was unclear as to where he wanted it. The mayor says, no, no, no, you doddled. St. Republican say, no, no, no, you doddled. So there's a lot of questions here on the 24 hour time frame. Keep in mind at the White House of that time, who was president, Donald Trump. He's meeting with the defense secretary. He's calling the governor. They're talking about how to deploy that. There's a lot of finger pointing back and forth here. The bottom line is this will certainly come up a lot. And what we're really talking about here is a 24 to 36 hour time frame as to what took Walls. And I imagine he will get this question and we'll see how he answers it today and in the coming days as to what the delay was there. As far as other issues, just looking back here, the transitions I find really interesting, both for Harris and Walls. Harris starts out very progressive and she's gradually made her way to the middle, especially as Biden's VP. And as she runs now, she's rejecting some of the positions she took in 2020 when she ran to the left. At the same time, you have Walls, who has gradually made his way to the left from the center. So Harris is gone from left to center. Walls has gone from center to left. You mentioned Jill that he won in a Republican district, beat a competitive seat there. He voted to the right of most House Republicans. He was a centrist. He was on the Veterans Committee. He worked in agriculture issues. He had an A rating from the NRA. He's a hunter, a gun owner. And then the Parkland School shooting happens. And that's when he rejects the NRA and says, we gotta have some limits on guns here. And so then he becomes governor of the following gear and you start to see more progressive legislation from Walls. But they believe that his working class background, his rural background will help them speak to that part of the country. And he's been vocal on that in recent interviews. So it'll be very interesting as we hear more and one notable thing I'll add here, Jill, you heard the argument yesterday from J.D. Vance and the Republicans, hey, what does Harris stand for? She's been the nominee now for more than two weeks and we haven't heard her do a single interview. So there will be this drum beat. They're trying to actually galvanize the media to say, hey, media, why aren't you wondering why Harris hasn't done an interview yet? And so you're gonna see that pressure rise in the coming days and weeks, especially since there are a lot of issues, we still don't quite know. We're now Harris, the presidential nominee stands 'cause she's had to be differential to Biden the last few years. - And especially considering it's such a truncated election season for her. I mean, it's three months, that's it. - Yeah, you usually have time to do policy papers. I mean, just to give you an extent of presidential campaigns, you will bring in like lead advisors on all the key issues. You're my healthcare advisor. You're my education advisor. And you'll work up policy papers. And you'll say, okay, where do I stand on this? What are the solutions? Well, she's been vice president, so she has staffing there. At the same time, you know, I don't know what's been happening behind the scenes or how much you really thought this scenario might unfold. But now she's like suddenly at the top of the ticket. And so has she thought this through? Are they doing polling on these issues? I imagine, you know, she has a sense of these issues, but where is she gonna stand? What's her policy agenda? She's speaking in very broad strokes. She's relying on her bio, even at that rally introducing walls last night. You know, she's going back to the thing she's been doing for a couple of weeks. I was a prosecutor. I dealt with criminals and, you know, people who abused women. So I know Donald Trump's type. So she keeps, you know, that's been the thing we've been playing on this podcast. But a forward-looking agenda for what she's really working on and what's the uniquely Harris administration. We're gonna wait to hear about that. And most of the best part of the Monews community is that we've got people everywhere. And I know that you asked, particularly people who live in Minnesota what they thought about Governor Walls. So what did you learn? What did they say? Oh, don't you know, we have a lot of people in Minnesota who follow us on the Monews. There was a terrible accent. I apologize to all of you. I hope you'll continue listening to this podcast. From Chicago, we're sort of nearby Minnesota. You guys put catch up on your hot dogs. We put mustard. Anyway, so, walls fans. And I would say the majority of the Monews community for Minnesota were walls fans. Not surprising is about a 60% approval rating in the state. Here are the comments. He made school breakfast and lunch free for all kids, true. Not a Minnesota guy, but a Wisconsin guy. And I've been jealous of what's been happening in Minnesota. Somebody writes, he's ridiculously down to earth, classic Midwestern dad, bipartisan veteran, down to earth, real deal, school lunch bill, teacher here, free lunch bill. That was a big deal to a number of people in Minnesota. People also appreciated his response to COVID there. Those are the people in the cities. So that's Duluth, Rockchester, Minneapolis, St. Paul. Then we have rural Monews team members from Minnesota who write very liberal. Had a surplus, still tried to raise taxes, disliked outside the city, handled the George Floyd riots horribly. We talked about that recently, but that's a big shtick for people who are in the more red area. There's a piece of legislation he signed allowing people who are in the country illegally to have driver's licenses. That's the issue we can get into at some point. And then of course COVID decided by people on the right, 'cause they didn't like the restrictions that he approved of during COVID. So that's the split, not surprising. And some of the arguments you're hearing from critics in Minnesota are the same criticisms you're hearing from the Republicans, which again, notably, they called them like a wannabe Californian, while a liberal, they're trying to basically paint Harris and wall the same way. But as we've talked about in this podcast before, Jill, it ultimately comes down to the top of the ticket. Walls will be out there. This is probably the most we'll be talking about. Walls, in the same way the most we're talking about JD Vance, was the day he was announced. And typically over the next 90 days, 90 to 95% of the conversation will be about the top of the ticket, unless one of them screws up, Vance or Walls. That's typically when you hear about the VP, when they make some sort of graph, they say something out there. That's typically when they come up. So if he's doing his job as VP, he's gonna be out there doing small rallies, small get-togethers in key areas. They're looking at the demographics, they're looking where they have to churn out the vote. They're looking at areas where he might be popular, and they're gonna send him there. - All right, most plenty of news coming up. But first, we wanted to thank a couple of our sponsors. It is summertime, and we're always looking to max out on being outdoors, and given the heat, avoid more of it in the kitchen, which are just some of the reasons why we are loving factor meals this season. Factor delivers chef crafted, never frozen meals, and they are ready in just two minutes. 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Hamas is officially named Yaya Sinwar, who's their top official in Gaza, and also the mastermind of the October 7th attack on Israel, to be its top political official globally. That comes after the assassination of Ishmael Hania, allegedly by Israel last week in Tehran. Now, until now, Sinwar has been focused on Gaza, and he is currently hiding in tunnels under Gaza, coordinating the war that Hamas launched on October 7th. So this new promotion anchors Sinwar status as the top and perhaps even sole decision maker in Hamas, both inside of the Palestinian territories and in the diaspora, a Hamas official told Al Jazeera that Sinwar was selected by consensus, and said that his elevation is a reflection of Hamas's understanding of the challenges in the current phase of negotiations for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal. He said Hamas's negotiation team, which was led by Hania's deputy, isn't going to change and added that Sinwar has always been part of the negotiations. President Biden spoke today with leaders of Egypt and Qatar, the two key mediators between Israel and Hamas, and told them that it is urgent to bring the process to closure as soon as possible, according to the White House. So Sinwar is Hamas's only remaining senior figure right now. After Israel has assassinated the group's top military commander, his number two, Muhammad Def, the political leader, Ismail Hania, Ismail Hania's deputy, Salah Aruri, all have been assassinated in the past couple months here. By the way, Sinwar is alive, not for lack of trying by Israel, he's the most wanted man in Israel. They have vowed to kill Sinwar. In fact, the response from the Israelis to the Sinwar promotion yesterday was, there's only one place for that man. It's next to Muhammad Def, who's dead. And all the terrorists who are responsible for October 7th, this is the only place we are preparing and designating for him. That was the Israeli response to the promotion for Sinwar. We've told you about Sinwar before. He spent years in Israeli prison back in the day. In fact, an Israeli doctor was approved to give him surgery to remove a brain tumor back in the day that saved his life. Sinwar was then exchanged. He was part of a Israeli hostage for a prisoner exchange more than a decade ago that returned to the Gaza. He moved up through the ranks. He has a messianic viewpoint. He sees himself in a historical context as the person who will completely destroy Israel, boot the Jews from the Middle East, replace Israel with a Islamic Palestine. Notably, Sinwar's brother continues to get promoted in the process here. He appears to still be alive, also living in the tunnels below Gaza right now. October 7th, surprise a lot of Israelis. Sinwar had been sort of playing both sides for a while, playing a moderate-ish negotiation with the Israeli government to get more jobs for Palestinians in Gaza. In Israel, leading some Israelis, including the Prime Minister, it appears as if they go. Sinwar is someone we can deal with. He wants to be a governing guy. Well, all the while who's planning October 7th, so he's the architect of that. That kills more than 1,200 Israelis, takes more than 250 hostages. And here we are 10 months later. Sinwar is not the leader of all of Hamas. And so we'll see what comes of all of that. And Jill, it comes as we continue to watch the Iranian response to Israel for that assassination of Hania, the previous political leader of Hamas. It could come in hours. It could come in days. It could come in weeks. That's part of the psychological strategy of Iran. Keep Israel wondering when, how big, and where they might attack. - From the New York Times, we're learning that a Pakistani man with ties to the Iranian government allegedly came to the United States in recent months to recruit people to carry out a political assassination here on US soil. Investigators believe that his target list likely included former President Trump. This is according to a senior law enforcement official at the same time while the case that was investigated weeks before a gunman tried to kill former President Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally. They actually do not believe that there is any connection to the attempt on Trump on July 13th. So yes, there were at least two plots against Trump here. The man is 46 year old, a Sif Razah merchant. He arrived in the United States in April. He was eventually arrested in New York on July 12th. The day before a 20 year old man, Matthew Crook, shot in slightly wounded Trump during that rally in Pennsylvania. Again, officials say there is no evidence that indicates that this plot was connected in any way to the actual shooting in Pennsylvania. But they say that the arrests of merchant allowed them to disrupt what they characterized as a far ranging plot that also included stealing computer files from US officials and staging protests against the American treatment of Muslim countries. US intelligence agencies were tracking this potential Iranian assassination plot against Trump in the weeks before the assassination attempt that prompted the Secret Service to enhance security for the former President before that outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. So there's a lot going on here, let's backtrack. There's this guy, he's Pakistani. He goes to Iran, apparently gets some marching orders. Comes to the US to work on getting assassinations going and he needs some hit men. Separately, you got the 20 year old in Pennsylvania and they say this is just separate right now who comes up with his own plot to shoot the President. And then you have that crazy coincidence that merchant is arrested the day before the shooting takes place in Pennsylvania. Again, we're told these are two completely different situations, though again, the timing is pretty wild here. So merchant, a flue for Pakistan to Iran, gets his marching orders, comes to the US and is trying to recruit some hit men. So this starts in April, he arrives. And one of the people he ends up reaching out to being like you wanna be one of my hit men to go kill some people is a confidential source who reports it to law enforcement. So now law enforcement is hooked into this and they are playing rope a dope here. Get some stuff out of this guy, figure out what he's up to. Merchant apparently explains as he gets into June, this is not a one time opportunity. He needs multiple men who can do the killing. He needs 25 people who can perform a protest and distraction after the murder occurs. He wants a woman to do reconnaissance. Merchant has a whole plot here that he's worked up. By mid June, he meets up with the people he thought would carry out the hits. They turned out to all be undercover law enforcement agents. Merchant agrees to pay them. He's like, hey, I wanna offer you some money. Here's five grand as an advance, $5,000. Here's an advance on the assassination and I'm gonna make plans to get you out of the country after you do the killings that I want you to. This progresses to the point where they're worried enough about him and what's going on, where in July 12th, this merchant's about to leave the country, they arrest him. So that's where we're at. It comes as we've told you before. Iran has been looking revenge on Trump and people around him. Since 2020, that's when the Trump administration approved the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. He was the high ranking Iranian general who the US assassinated four years ago. Iran's been looking for revenge since then. They had plots on John Bolton, who was a national security advisor to Trump. He's got an extra security. They had plots on Mike Pompeo, the former CIA director under Trump. He's got an extra security. They've learned about these plots on Trump. He got extra security. And all the while, you had the 20 year old in Pennsylvania who was working up his thing. So we will wait to hear more on all of that. But that's what we know, Jill. It's pretty remarkable to kind of follow all these headlines and given everything that's going on, the fact that like this is like, probably didn't get that much attention yesterday in the news. I was like, by the way, they were a sympathetic guy for a plot on Trump amid all the other things we're watching. - I think it's also fascinating how Iran plays the long game, which was something that was talked about when Trump first ordered the killing of Soleimani, which was we may not know what Iran's response is for years. And then all of a sudden, it would be, oh, okay, that's what it was. And it comes as Israel is prepping or preparing for some sort of retaliation from Iran, which they're saying could happen in days, in weeks, or who even knows. So it is just fascinating how this stuff actually works. - Yeah, very long memories in the Middle East. You could even say, you know, Iran. This is something Bin Laden even talked about back in the day, that the Americans, you know, they think about years, maybe decades, but these guys are thinking about centuries, thinking about millennia. You know, Sinwara, the guy we mentioned, the last story who runs Hamas now, he sees himself as a modern day Saladin, Saladin being the Muslim leader who pushed back against the crusades a thousand years ago. So this is the long perspective that they have. And we're just talking about four years here. But the point is that ultimately, they know that the West's short memories, and they're like, we're gonna get you at some point for the things that you did to us. And that's apparently part of this. They probably should've found a better guy, his literal first attempt to find a hitman in New York, he stumbled upon a law enforcement person. - Whoops. - But this also goes to show. Law enforcement has to be on these things 100% of the time. They miss a thing, like they didn't ponder Pennsylvania, and you could have a tragedy. And that's what I try to explain to people all the time. They're like, oh, I can't believe this happened. I was like, the job of the FBI, the Secret Service, all these organizations, they have to be right, 100% of the time. And by the way, if they track someone who they shouldn't been tracking, then they get accused of overreach. So they have to be on the right people. If they get them in time, they have to sort of play the rope adobe to like, who are they working for? What's their actual plot? You can't arrest them right away 'cause you gotta gather evidence, but then you're leaving them out there to potentially do nefarious things. So anyway, we've talked about this on future podcasts, but a fascinating development. - Switching gears to business news from the Wall Street Journal, an update on the stock market, which had a better Tuesday. Markets studied after Japan's Nikkei clawed back a chunk of its brutal losses from Monday's mayhem. The S&P 500 also gained about 1% a day after the economic angst and the unraveling of some crowded trades drove the S&P to its biggest drop since 2022. Some of Monday's biggest losers were Nvidia and Robinhood markets. Those also rose, although not enough to send them into positive territory for the week. So a day after it felt like the world was ending, the market's like, okay, we've done our thing. We're back up. The market had its freak out, and then the deal with investors was like, all right, nothing is as bad as we thought it was yesterday. There's a volatility index, what they call the VIX. If you've ever watched CNBC or Bloomberg, it's effectively Wall Street's fear gauge that had rocketed to 60 points, which is a big deal, on the VIX that then fell to 26 on Tuesday. One investment strategist telling CNBC, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some more pressure in the coming weeks, but I do think the growth scare was overdone. The labor market still healthy, despite that unemployment rate slightly rising. Volatility could continue, but I think people have realized they're the underlying fundamentals of the economy still strong. And so there you have it. That's what we were telling you on the podcast, especially if you have some investments. Don't freak out over small moves. You want to be making your investments with a long-term horizon. From the Associated Press, Michael Bloomberg's organization Bloomberg Philanthropies committed $600 million to the endowments of four historically black medical schools to help secure their future economic stability. Speaking in New York at the annual convention of the National Medical Association, an organization that advocates for African-American physicians, Bloomberg, who is a former New York City mayor and billionaire founder of Bloomberg LP, he pointed to the closure in the last century of all but four historically black medical schools, despite the documented impact that black doctors have on improving health outcomes for black patients. So he said the lack of funding and support driven probably in no small part by prejudice and racism have forced many to close their doors and we cannot allow that to happen again. This gift will help ensure that it doesn't. Black Americans fare worse in measures of health compared to white Americans. According to an AP report, experts believe increasing the representation among doctors is one solution that could disrupt these inequities. In 2022, only 6% of US physicians were black, even though black Americans represent 13% of the population. - So as of today, Mike Bloomberg is still the 13th richest man in the world. He's worth $104 billion, so just to give you context, there are 12 people richer than Mike Bloomberg who is worth $104 billion and he's been giving a lot lately. These gifts are among the largest private donations to historically black colleges and universities. $175 million to the Howard University College of Medicine, Charles Drew University, it gets 75 million Xavier, University of Louisiana, also gets a grant here. This comes as we told you earlier this summer that of his $1 billion pledge to Johns Hopkins University that'll mean that most medical students there will never have to pay tuition. And back in 2020, Bloomberg granted those same medical schools I just mentioned, $100 million that went to reducing the debt load of enrolled students. So Bloomberg's focus of late, the future of medicine. - And finally from CNN, as of Tuesday, an 18 year old from Texas can lay claim to being the fastest ever Olympian, at least when it comes to traveling vertically. Sam Watson said a speed climbing world record of 4.75 seconds in the Parisian suburbs where a temporary climbing wall has been installed for the Olympics. He said, I suppose 4.75, the fastest time ever run in the Olympics in a time sport is a cool title. No one can take that away, I suppose. Yes, 18 year olds, it is a cool title. No, but seriously, this is actually a huge accomplishment if you've ever seen one of these events. Any kind of distraction can prove costly. Athletes scale a 15 meter wall in about five seconds scampering up a series of holds towards a red buzzer at the top of the roots, lightning reactions and fast twitch muscle fibers are a necessity in the event. Well, the slip of a foot or even a momentary lapse of concentration can result in an athlete's elimination from the competition. Watson did set the previous speed climbing world record of 4.79 seconds at a World Cup event in China earlier this year. - So if this sport doesn't sound familiar to you, it's because it's pretty new. Sport climbing made its debut back in Tokyo three years ago. Controversially, it combined three disciplines, speed bouldering and lead, if you know this sport into a one metal event. Now it's considered to be too much. So they changed the format for Paris. And so the speed files will take place on Thursday for the men and the women go today. All right, now it's time for On This Day in History. We're gonna get in 1782, On This Day in 1782, George Washington, then a general, not yet president, creates the badge for military merit. It becomes known as the Purple Heart. Fast forward to 1942, staying with military history here. The Allies make their first major offensive in the Pacific theater against the Japanese. This is just a few months now after Pearl Harbor. It's the Battle of Guadalcanal. The battle would last six months. The little space history, On This Day in 1959, the US launches Explorer 6, which sends back a picture of Earth to Earth. We take for granted now all these beautiful pictures we have of Earth from space. That was a new thing, On This Day, about 65 years ago. On This Day in 1974, you might have seen these photos before. Felipe Petit, he's a Frenchman, performs a high wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, just after those buildings had opened. And ♪ Don't go breaking my heart ♪ ♪ I couldn't if I tried ♪ As we mentioned the top of the podcast, On This Day, 48 years ago, Elton John and Kiki Dee reached number one with "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." Ooh. Nobody knows it. (laughing) I would think this is one of the top duet karaoke songs out there. Oh, it's gotta be that. And what's the song with Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton? Islands in this stream. Oh, oh yeah. ♪ Come away with me ♪ ♪ Who did who remade that ♪ ♪ We can rely on each other ♪ Uh-uh. Oh, unless it, like it was like written as a rap song, I think. Meghan Trainor did that recently, no? No, I think it was like... Lady Antebellum, I'm seeing here a lot of covers of Islands in the stream. But I think, I wish there were comprehensive stats on most song karaoke duets. And by the way, please message us and let us know what your favorite karaoke duet is. Is it "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"? Is it the Islands in the Stream? Or is it a song we have not named today on the pot? Is it "Ghetto Superstar"? Ghetto Super. Yeah, well, that is what she was. Yeah, he was that. Yeah, he was what she was. (laughing) I love it, you're like, do something more recent. That was from the '90s. That was from 30 years ago. (laughing) Like yesterday. Yeah, exactly. So they sampled that. So there you have it. I knew, I knew it was good. I knew I knew it was resonating from it. It does, it came from the late '90s. And I remember that. All right, everyone, thank you for listening. It's the Monus Podcast. If you like what you hear, tell your friends about us. We really would appreciate it. It helps us grow, follow us and subscribe so you don't miss an episode and write us a review in the app store. Yeah, I have an idea for the review. So some of you who wrote those messages to us yesterday, someone said they almost dropped a weight on their foot gel as they listened to RFK in the bear yesterday. They were working out while listening to the podcast and they were like, I was cracking up. I almost like injured myself. So if you would enjoy anything, take a moment, leave a review over on Apple Podcast, Spotify, especially. And we're glad you enjoyed that. Frankly, Jill, this is part of me today that just wanted to talk about the bear and RFK more. Like, we didn't even get into the fact that he had a broken bicycle from a friend who asked their friend to dispose of a bike. Anyway, we didn't even get into all the stuff that I wanted to get into with that story 'cause it's just so absurd. He had a broken bike, then he had luggage for the trip and he's got a dead bear in there. And then it was not lost on me if you go to Peter Luger's in Brooklyn that you have valet. Does that mean that valet was parked in the car with the bed bear, the broken bicycle, the luggage for his trip, all in the back? I just, I have so many questions. - Right, imagine the valet accidentally opened the trunk. It's like, what is happening? - An animal in the back. - All right, worth its own podcast one of these days, I think. - Yeah. - Bye everyone. - Thanks for listening to the Mo News podcast. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
