The Trump Tour, A Cartel Bargain, & Uber’s New “Invention” (Spoiler: It’s Buses)

Hello, readers – happy Thursday! Today, we’ll be talking about Trump in the Middle East, RFK giving good advice (no, really), another massacre in Gaza, a cartel deal, Gavin Newsom’s new healthcare plan, the release of a pro-Palestinian activist, and Uber “inventing” buses. 

Here’s some good news: The CDC announced that the number of Americans who died from overdoses of drugs like fentanyl and meth dropped nearly 30% last year, falling to a level not seen since before the pandemic. Also, after farmers filed a lawsuit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has agreed to restore climate information to webpages it took down soon after President Donald Trump took office this year.

“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters.” – Alan K. Simpson

Trump Tour, Part Two

Donald Trump’s Middle East excursion continued yesterday. Leaving Riyadh in the rearview mirror, the president touched down in the Qatari capital of Doha, where he announced a raft of deals with the petrostate totaling $243 billion. The deals include Qatar Airways purchasing 210 Boeing jets for a whopping $96 billion and Qatar promising to invest $38 billion in the U.S. defense sector in the future. After the meeting, the president doubled down on his decision to accept a $400 billion luxury plane from the Qataris, telling reporters, “When you land and you see Saudi Arabia, you see UAE and you see Qatar, and they have these brand-new Boeing 747s, mostly. You see ours next to it – this is like a totally different plane.”

Before his flight to Qatar, the president met with the interim leader of Syria, President Ahmed al-Sharaa. At the meeting, he urged al-Sharaa, the face of the Islamist group that swept the Assad government out of power late last year, to normalize his country’s relations with Israel. Israel is currently occupying parts of Syria and has recently escalated its air strikes against the country, claiming that its aggressive military policy is necessary to defend its borders.

Congress’s Healthy Dose Of Skepticism

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary, testified before Congress yesterday, justifying his sweeping cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The notorious anti-vaxxer was dragged over the coals once again by House Democrats, who pushed him until he gave us this glorious sound bite: “I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me.” 

“The problem is that is his job -- the top line of his job description -- is the nation's chief health strategist. That is the top line of every health official, federal, state, local leader. That is his job, is to give people the best advice that he can. I believe that he's giving up on, in my view, his chief responsibility,” replied Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.

As Kennedy was directing people not to listen to his opinions on medicine, he was tweaking regulations to block children from accessing fluoride. Yesterday, the FDA began the process of phasing out ingestible fluoride supplements used to help children with low fluoride levels protect their teeth. Such a review is required before the FDA can formally withdraw the product. We’ll just take Kennedy’s advice and not take his advice.

Another Middle East Massacre

• Earlier this week, Israel launched airstrikes on multiple parts of northern Gaza, killing over 50 people. According to Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital, at least 22 children and 15 women were among the dead. U.N. humanitarian affairs chief Tom Fletcher accused Israel of “deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians,” adding that a U.S.-Israel plan to distribute aid to Gaza through private companies is a “fig leaf for further violence and displacement” of Palestinians.

• Meanwhile, Trump told Middle Eastern diplomats in Riyadh that the release of all Hamas hostages would be “a stepping stone to peace,” adding that he “thinks that's going to be happening.” His counterpart in the Israeli government quickly contradicted Trump’s claims that peace is on its way – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told IDF reservists that “there will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way.”

How Do You Say “Let’s Make A Deal” In Spanish?

• According to Mexico’s security chief, 17 family members of top cartel leaders crossed the border into the U.S. yesterday. Their crossing was part of a deal between the top brass of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel and the Trump administration – Ovidio Guzman Lopez, one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, has apparently struck a deal with the Trump White House to share intel on other cartels in exchange for his and his family’s safety. Guzman Lopez was captured and extradited to the U.S. in 2023.

• “It is evident that his family is going to the U.S. because of a negotiation or an offer that the Department of Justice is giving him,” said Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch in a radio interview, noting that none of the family members have been sought out by Mexico’s government and adding that the Trump administration “has to share information” regarding the alleged deal. Yesterday, the White House also announced that it would be charging multiple cartel leaders with “narcoterrorism” for the first time. Coincidence? I think not.

More Mixed Nuts

• 6.1 magnitude earthquake reported near Greece: USGS (ABC)

• Military rulers in Mali dissolve all political parties (BBC)

• Zelenskyy asks for Pope Leo XIV's help in bringing Ukrainian children home from Russia (NPR)

• Uruguay's José Mujica, world's 'poorest president', dies (BBC)

Make America Healthy Again?

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom is walking back his long-held promise to secure universal health care for all, regardless of their immigration status, after he unveiled a new plan to cut back on health care benefits for undocumented immigrants. The decision comes as President Trump has said it will investigate the state’s aid programs that serve undocumented people. 

• Newsom’s office said the changes would apply only to new applicants over 19 years old, that existing enrollees would not be kicked off their plans, and that the freeze would not apply to people enrolled in limited plans for emergency or pregnancy services. The proposed changes also include a new $100 monthly premium for adults 19 and older with “unsatisfactory immigration status.”

A Happy Day For The Hoyas

• During a hearing yesterday, Virginia federal judge Patricia Giles ordered the immediate release of Georgetown academic Badar Khan Suri after he spent two months in ICE detention, saying that Khan Suri’s release was “in the public interest to disrupt the chilling effect on protected speech.”

• The Trump administration had ordered the detention of Khan Suri, a citizen of India, after revoking his J-1 student visa. Officials claimed his father-in-law, Ahmed Yousef, was an adviser to Hamas officials more than a decade ago, and also claimed he was “deportable” because of his posts on social media in support of Palestine.

More Nuts In America

• Menendez brothers win resentencing fight: What's next for their case? (ABC)

• Federal grand jury indicts Milwaukee judge accused of obstructing immigration agents (NBC)

• John Ewing set to become Omaha's first Black mayor and flip the office for Democrats (ABC)

• FBI says it broke up a plan to attack an Army site in suburban Detroit (AP)

Busting Into The Bussing Business

• We’ve got an elevator pitch for you – instead of having to drive yourself to work everyday, you could hop on a larger vehicle that travels along a fixed route, dropping you off at a convenient spot near your office. What’s that? They call that a bus? Well, that’s news to the brains over at Uber. 

• Yesterday, the rideshare company started offering affordable fixed-route rides along business corridors in certain metropolitan areas. The new feature, called “Route Share,” will give users a 50% discount if they pre-schedule rides along a set route. Only cars with 6+ seats will be used for Route Share rides, which will run every 20 minutes between two pre-determined spots. 

• The new feature is part of Uber’s recent efforts to make its services more accessible as consumers are tightening their wallets. “Because of the size of our network, both on the consumer side as well as the driver side, and our core matching and market-based technology, it allows us to do something like this and put multiple people in the same car while creating efficiency and predictability for their commute,” said the company’s chief product officer.

More Loose Nuts

• This Fossil’s 3 Eyes Are Not Its Most Surprising Feature (NYT, $)

• Student loan delinquencies surge as credit reporting restarts (Axios)

• WBD renames "Max" to "HBO Max" (Axios)

• Rose and Jackson get posthumous reprieve, but gambling on baseball is still MLB's biggest sin (AP)

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Team Thoughts

Kayli - Lyft’s going to invent trains next, just you watch. 

Marcus - Can’t they just call it Uber Bus or something??

Editor In Chief: Kayli Woods

Head Writer: Marcus Gee-Lim

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