June 21, 2022

Today is the first official day of summer. Yep, those 110-degree days you were experiencing last week were just balmy spring weather. Today is also the birthday of Rebecca Black, singer of iconic bop "Friday." With the 4-day work week gaining momentum, we look forward to the eventual remix... "Thursday." 

In today's edition:

• The rules, they are a-changin'
• $19M steak lunch
• Story of Rasputin, Pt. 1

 Key Stories

Apple Store Votes to Unionize

Workers at a Maryland Apple Store voted to unionize on Saturday

• Employees of the store, located near Baltimore, voted 65-to-33 to join a large US trade union. It will be the only unionized Apple Store in the US
• Apple has attempted to prevent unionization by raising its entry-level hourly wage to $22 and issuing a statement warning against the costs of unionizing
• The outcome follows a string of similar votes by workers at Starbucks, Google, and Amazon in recent months. Worker demands have included higher wages and more benefits

US Observes Juneteenth

The US government formally observed Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, for the 2nd time on Monday

• Juneteenth commemorates the arrival of a Union general to Texas on June 19, 1865 to inform enslaved African Americans of their freedom
• While the Emancipation Proclamation officially freed all slaves in the US South in 1863, Federal troops could not enforce it due to the ongoing Civil War. The 13th Amendment later outlawed slavery in the US in 1865
• Though celebrated since 1866, Juneteenth was first observed as a federal holiday on June 21, 2021

• Despite being a federal holiday, 26 states – 7 formerly Confederate states – have failed to adopt legislation to make it a paid public holiday. As of June 2021, 60%+ of Americans knew "a little bit" or "nothing at all" about the holiday

FINA Restricts Transgender Swimmers

FINA, swimming’s international governing body, voted to restrict transgender women from competing in top women’s events, including the Olympics

• The ruling bars transgender women from competing in women’s races if they have undergone male puberty or transitioned after age 12. FINA will launch a new “open” race category for these athletes
• FINA’s president stated that the ruling “protect[s] competitive fairness at our events”
• One LGBTQ+ organization denounced the decision as an “attack on transgender athletes who have worked to comply with longstanding policies”

• The issue of transgender participation in women's swimming has received lots of attention since Lia Thomas, a transgender woman for the University of Pennsylvania, had a record-breaking Division 1 season

Trust in US Media Drops to 26%

Per a new Reuters study, trust in media dropped to 26% in the US, the lowest of any country studied

• The US also has the highest level of detachment, with ~15% of respondents stating that they consume no news at all and ~42% saying they try to avoid it
• This year, more consumers turned to online news and social media, while traditional platforms such as TV and newspapers continued a decade-long decline
• “People see the media as subject to undue political influence, and only a small percentage believe most news organizations put what's best for society ahead of their own commercial interests,” said one Reuters researcher

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• Tip included? Someone paid $19M to have a steak lunch with Warren Buffett in the Berkshire Hathaway billionaire's final auction lunch
• Filming of Netflix show The Chosen One is on pause after 2 actors died and 6 were injured in a car crash on the way to the airport in Mexico
• Post flood clarity: After severe flooding, Yellowstone National Park will partially reopen to limited visitors starting Wednesday

 What do you think?

See yesterday's results below the Wrap!

 Roca Wrap

In January 1869, a baby boy was born into a poor, peasant family in one of the world’s most remote places: Siberia, the northeastern edge of the Russian empire.
 
Siberia was long a dumping ground for those exiled by Imperial Russia, from convicts to political and religious prisoners. One of the coldest and most unforgiving places on Earth, survival was a daily struggle – especially for a peasant family.
 
The baby boy – the family’s eighth child – was the first to survive infancy. They named him Grigori Rasputin.
 
From an early age, Rasputin seemed destined for the same life as his parents. He received little schooling and was illiterate. He worked on his family’s farm and married a local woman at age 19.
 
But there was nothing ordinary about Rasputin’s destiny.
 
In 1897, after 10 years of marriage and with 3 surviving children, Rasputin decided to change his life. He abandoned his family in favor of religious vocation. 
 
The reason for his departure is not clear. Some sources say Rasputin left his village to flee punishment for violence, theft, and rape; others say he experienced some sort of religious epiphany that led him to believe he could heal the sick and predict the future.
 
Whatever his reasons, one thing was certain: Rasputin embarked on a journey that would change his life.
 
After leaving his village in 1897, Rasputin wandered around Siberia and often sheltered in monasteries. He became fervently religious, and over time, his wanderings transformed into pilgrimages that took him as far as Greece and Jerusalem.
 
It is widely believed that Rasputin was either a member of or influenced by the Khlyst religious sect, a renegade sect within the Russian Orthodox faith who believed God could only be reached through sinful actions, especially self-flagellation and sexual exhaustion.
 
So sin he did.
 
Rasputin resisted bathing or changing clothes; he wore iron shackles to increase his suffering. He allegedly hosted secret prayer meetings for members of the Khlyst sect, in which participants would strip naked, choke each other until the brink of death, and then participate in massive orgies.
 
As he traveled, Rasputin built a large following as a holy man. He cast his peasant life behind him and became one of the most influential figures in Russia. Yet that same fame would ultimately bring his downfall and death.

 Roca Clubhouse

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