Good morning! Who doesn’t enjoy starting the week off with some sad news? Former President Biden’s office announced that he was diagnosed on Friday with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. It appears to allow for “effective management,” and the Biden family is reviewing treatment options.

Now, in some wild news, ten inmates escaped from a New Orleans jail on Friday by cutting a hole in the wall behind a toilet. Three were caught over the weekend, but the other seven are still on the lam. Let’s hope all these guys get caught, but it has to be said that breaking out of jail is super cool. Like robbing a casino, only the sequel.

MONEY

💳️ U.S. loses perfect credit rating

Welcome to the club, America. The federal government lost its perfect credit rating on Friday when credit agency Moody’s downgraded it by one notch from Aaa to Aa1. Their reason? Concerns over ballooning budget deficits and a national debt that’s about 125% the size of the economy.

This isn’t the first time the U.S. has been downgraded. The other two major credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s (aka S&P) and Fitch, each knocked us down a level back in 2011 and 2023, respectively. Now that Moody’s has joined the party, the U.S. no longer has a top-tier credit rating from any major agency.

• This is the first time since 1917 that no major agency has given the U.S. a top-tier rating.

Despite the downgrade, we’re still in decent shape compared to other countries. All three agencies have China three notches below the U.S.. Japan is even worse off, and the U.K. isn’t far behind. Australia and Germany are still sitting pretty, though.

• We’re still about 10 notches above so-called “junk bond” status, so keeping the national debt train rolling won’t be a problem. Having the world’s largest economy has some upsides.

How did this happen? Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the rating change a "lagging indicator," and blamed four years of big spending by the Biden administration. But this didn’t start overnight. Every president this century has seemingly taken the idea of running up record-shattering deficits as a challenge to overcome.

What does this mean? The national debt is more than $36 trillion right now, which is fueled by the government constantly spending more than it takes in. Just like you might get a loan, that overspending is financed by selling Treasury Department securities (like bonds) to investors around the world. A lower credit rating often means paying a higher interest rate on new debt.

• That’s not ideal for a government already spending $1 trillion per year on interest payments.

• It coooould have ripple effects in the economy, too, like higher interest rates on car loans, credit cards, and mortgages.

In related economic news, Bessent also said Walmart’s CEO told him the company will absorb “some” of the tariff costs. But he admitted that some would likely also get passed on to consumers. The convo came on the heels of an angry Truth Social post in which President Trump demanded Walmart "EAT THE TARIFFS."

GOVERNMENT

📺️ Yes, this is real. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is considering a pitch for a reality show with American citizenship as the winner's big prize. According to a DHS spokeswoman, the show would be "a celebration of being an American and what a privilege it is." Producer Rob Worsoff is himself an immigrant from Canada and came up with the idea during his own naturalization process. Contestants would compete in challenges, like mining for gold in San Francisco and building a car in Detroit, with the winner being sworn in as a U.S. citizen on the steps of the Capitol. Don't worry, though, Worsoff swears, “This isn’t ‘The Hunger Games’ for immigrants."

🔫 The Department of Justice (DOJ) will allow the sale of devices that allow semi-automatic (one trigger pull = one shot) rifles to fire faster. The "forced reset triggers" speed up the firing mechanisms, reducing the delay between shots. They still require one pull of the trigger per shot, though. The DOJ struck a deal with manufacturer Rare Breed Triggers that lifts a Biden-era ban on the devices on two conditions. The company can't make a similar product for pistols, and its patents must be enforced to ward off copycats. Said Attorney General Pam Bondi, "the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right."

💣️ The U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, the top federal prosecutor in the area, says an explosion outside a fertility and IVF clinic in Palm Springs, CA, was an "intentional attack." The FBI believes the 25-year-old perpetrator died in the attack and that he was against bringing people into the world against their will (gotta ask permission first). The car bomb went off late Saturday morning when no patients were around. Four bystanders were injured, but none of the lab’s embryos were affected.

NEWS

🐚 Comey under investigation for Instagram cringe

Former FBI Director James Comey is under investigation by the Secret Service and Homeland Security over an Instagram post that the government says is a threat against President Trump.

Comey posted an image of seashells arranged into the numbers "8647" with the caption, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." Details aside, it’s funny to imagine a 6’8”, 64-year-old man bending down to arrange a bunch of seashells for social clout.

• Comey is a former Republican who was fired as FBI director by President Trump 1.0 in early 2017. He’s since become a political independent and outspoken opponent of the president.

• Strange fun fact: The FBI has never been led by a Democrat. Another fun fact: Earlier in his career, our man Jim here led the prosecution of Martha Stewart.

The message: Since “eighty-six” means “get rid of” something, Comey’s now-deleted post has been interpreted by some as a message promoting violence against Trump, who is the 47th president.

• Trump thinks Comey clearly meant “assassination.” But Comey said it “never occurred” to him that anyone might associate “86” with violence.

The situation: Comey swung by the Secret Service's office in D.C. on Friday for an interview on the matter. That’s standard practice when the Secret Service investigates potential threats against protectees. Freedom of speech doesn’t cover threats, and many in the Trump administration want Comey’s head over this. But the prevailing wisdom seems to be that this won’t go beyond a basic investigation. The lesson here? Don’t be weird on social media.

TRIVIA

Someone stole Melania! A life-size bronze statue of the first lady has gone missing near her European hometown of Sevnica. Locals are convinced the theft wasn’t political, however, and think it was probably sold or melted down for cash. But where did all this take place? Today’s question: In what country was First Lady Melania Trump born and raised?

Hint: When she was born, this country was part of Yugoslavia (RIP since ‘92).

WORLD

🌍️ Around the world in 60 seconds

If you think American political scandals are goofy, check out the big story in Peru right now. President Dina Boluarte is under fire for allegedly abandoning her post for two weeks without formally delegating her powers to anyone. Why the long absence? A nose job and four other “essential” surgeries.

🇲🇽 Mexico: A Mexican Navy training ship made a wrong turn and crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday. The bridge wasn't damaged, but the old school sailing vessel wasn't so lucky. The crash snapped its 147-foot-tall masts, tragically killing two crew members and injuring 22.

🇷🇺 Russia: President Trump will speak with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on the phone this morning in regards to a potential ceasefire in Ukraine (despite a huge drone attack). He’ll follow that up with a call to Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, who met with VP J.D. Vance in Rome yesterday at…

🇻🇦 Vatican City: America’s favorite pope has been in charge for more than a week, but he was officially inaugurated on Sunday in front of 200,000 spectators. Leo XIV called for unity in what he termed "the hour for love," defended the dignity of migrants, and reached out to the church’s theological conservatives.

🇮🇱 Israel: Israel will lift its three-month blockade to allow a “basic” amount of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the Israeli military is following up its deadly airstrikes with an “extensive” new ground operation.

BRIEFS

● Airbnb is reinventing itself as more than just a hotel-replacement app. CEO Brian Chesky announced the company’s “Airbnb of anything” initiative, which expands the app’s services into everything from catering and photography to hair and nails.

● Florida beaches are being invaded by 31 million tons of seaweed. The record-breaking sargassum bloom is toxic to swimmers and, once it starts rotting on shore, is toxic to tourism thanks to a smell that makes a gas station bathroom feel like home.

● The Census Bureau dropped its annual population estimates for America’s cities. A suburb of Dallas won out and swelled by 31% in just one year. Many large cities, including New York, L.A., and Chicago, also grew but are still below their 2020 totals.

● Residents in Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri are beginning the road to recovery after tornado outbreaks in the region killed more than two dozen people. Affected states are expected to apply for federal disaster aid today.

● Florida just became the second state, after Utah, to ban adding fluoride to public water systems. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law on Thursday and slammed fluoridation as "forced medication” that could harm children.

QUOTE

ANSWER

Melania Trump is the second European-born first lady. The first, John Quincy Adams’s wife, was British. But dad was American, so it kinda feels like that shouldn’t even count, right? Melania’s European-ness is way more legit. She was born in what is today Slovenia (not to be confused with nearby Slovakia) and lived there until leaving to launch her modeling career at 16. She moved around for a bit, lived in Paris for a few years, and finally settled in the United States in 1996.