UNBIASED - June 15, 2026: What We Know About the U.S./Iran Deal, the DOJ's Approval of Paramount/Warner Bros Merger, the 2032 Social Security Fund Depletion Date, GOOD NEWS, and More.

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

Get the facts, without the spin. UNBIASED offers a clear, impartial recap of US news, including politics, elections, legal news, and more. Hosted by lawyer Jordan Berman, each episode provides a recap of current political events plus breakdowns of complex concepts—like constitutional rights, recent Supreme Court rulings, and new legislation—in an easy-to-understand way. No personal opinions, just the facts you need to stay informed on the daily news that matters. If you miss how journalism used to be, you're in the right place. In today's episode: U.S. and Iran Reach Agreement to End War. Here's What We Know. (0:51) DOJ "Approves" Paramount/Warner Bros Merger. Here's What That Means. (10:54) New Report Says Social Security Reserves Will Run Out in 2032, Sooner Than Expected. Here's What You Need to Know. (~21:54) Quick Hitters (~30:04) GOOD NEWS (~39:56) Critical Thinking Segment (~44:59) ⁠Watch⁠ this episode on YouTube. Follow Jordan on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠. All sources for this episode can be found ⁠here.⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGEMGEMP operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis. Welcome back to Unbiased Politics. It's Monday, June 15th, and we are talking about the agreement between the United States and Iran, the newly approved Paramount Warner Brothers merger, this new Social Security Trust Fund report and what it means, and much more. First, though, I do just want to congratulate all of the New Yorkers out there because what a team you guys have. I was watching that series. I mean, we were watching the playoffs on and off, but those last two games specifically, the game before the last game, even more specifically, was insane. But it's been 53 years since you've been able to celebrate an NBA title. And I hope

for those of you who do celebrate, you had a great celebration-filled weekend. Okay, now let's get into the news. The biggest news from the weekend is, of course, that the United States and Iran say they've an agreement that will take effect Friday. Following that announcement, oil prices fell to their lowest levels in more than three months, though they are still at their pre-war levels. Now, I want to be clear about the fact that we do not know exactly what this agreement includes because the text of the deal has not yet been released. We do know that there's a signing ceremony scheduled for Friday in Switzerland. We also know that Vice President Vance said he hopes that the text is released sometime this week. And we know that this memorandum of understanding will be temporary in the sense that it gives both countries another 60 days to negotiate the end of the war.

Now, Iran's deputy foreign minister said that Friday signing will hinge on the United States making three commitments. And those commitments include lifting and ending the naval blockade, ending the state of war and military operations and releasing Iran's frozen. funds. The deputy foreign minister said, quote, entry into the 60 day negotiations is conditional on U.S. implementation of its commitments. And quote, he added that once Iran verifies those steps, particularly the release of the frozen funds, technical working group negotiations would start immediately. Now, as for Trump, he has said the U.S. will lift its naval blockade, that the straight of Hormuz will reopen and be permanently toll-free. This is something Iranian media has disputed, but Trump has not yet said anything about the unfreezing of funds or ending the state

of war and military operations. So we're not sure what the United States' position is on those points right now. During Trump's recent interview with NBC's Kristen Welker, which we just recently covered, he said that funds would only be unfrozen later if Iran behaved. So, you know, again, it's just not clear right now. Vice President Vance told Fox News Sunday night that this deal means the immediate opening of the straits and the lifting of the naval blockade. And it also means that Iran will never produce, procure or buy a nuclear weapon. But he added, quote, this only happens to be clear if Iran delivers on their promise. and quote. Interestingly, is just a little interesting fact or alleged fact. A U.S. official said Tehran didn't want this announcement of the agreement to come on Trump's birthday. So the announcement

was actually made minutes after midnight in Iran, which put the announcement on Monday in Iran, but Sunday here in the United States. So hopefully we'll find out more, you know, whether it's after that signing ceremony on Friday or it's sooner than that, because there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered at this point. You know, will the United States unfreeze Iranian funds? What will happen to Iran's enriched uranium stockpile? Will Iran have the right to a non-weapons nuclear program? If so, what does that mean for Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon? So, a lot of questions still remain. Now, I do quickly just want to remind everyone how and why we got here. I talked about this in my Iran special, which went out in March. Feel free to go back and listen to that.

if you have not already. I basically covered how we got here, why we're here. But now that we have this deal on the table, I think it's worth revisiting just briefly. So this will be kind of a shortened version of the explanation that I gave in March just in case some of you might have missed it, which I'm sure you did. So back in 2015, President Obama negotiated a deal with Iran called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. This was the Iran nuclear deal. It involved Iran, the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany, the UK, and the EU. And the basic goal was to limit Iran's nuclear program and make it harder for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. And under that agreement, Iran agreed to certain limits on its nuclear program. So that included reducing its

stockpile of low-enriched uranium by about 97%, limiting uranium enrichment to 3.67% for 50%. years and accepting monitoring and restrictions that were meant to ensure Iran's nuclear program stayed peaceful and was really only used for civilian purposes. In exchange, Iran got sanctions relief and regained access to some of its frozen assets. Now, Trump has frequently brought up Obama sending an airplane full of cash to Iran, but that was actually a separate thing. So it was kind of around a similar time. But in January 2016, the United States, sent Iran $400 million in cash as part of a settlement over this really old dispute between the United States and Iran. Basically, before the Iranian revolution in 1979, Iran had paid the

U.S. military for a bunch of equipment. But after the revolution, the relationship between Iran and the United States fell apart. As we know, that equipment was never delivered. And the money became part of this decades-long legal dispute. So the Obama administration said that payment was settling that old claim. Critics, though, argued that the timing of the payment was off because it happened around the same time as a prisoner release. So critics called it ransom. But regardless of where you land on that debate, my point here is just to tell you that the airplane full of cash story is actually related to something else. It wasn't part of the Iran nuclear deal itself. But to get back to the JCPOA, the deal didn't permanently ban Iran from enriching uranium, right? It allowed

limited enrichment, but capped it at 3.67%, which is about 86% below weapons grade enrichment. And it restricted Iran's enriched uranium stockpile for 15 years, so through 2030. But Trump didn't like this. Trump felt then and still feels today that in addition to Iran agreeing to never develop a nuclear weapon, Iran should have also agreed to never have an intercontinental ballistic missile or a long-range missile. Iran should have agreed to stop developing any nuclear capable missiles, stop proliferating ballistic missiles to others, stop its support for terrorists, extremists, regional proxies, et cetera, and its quest to destroy Israel, stop its threats to freedom of navigation, especially in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, and more. So for all those reasons,

pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions that targeted Iran's energy, oil and gas, and financial sectors. Iran then went back to unrestricted uranium enrichment because it was no longer bound by the terms of the JCPOA. So about two years later, Iran passed a law of mandating uranium enrichment and mandating the installation of advanced centrifuges at one of its nuclear facilities. In 2023, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is an international organization that tracks nuclear programs around the world, reported that trace uranium particles at Iran's main nuclear facility had been enriched to 83.7%. And like I mentioned, around 90% is generally considered weapons grade. Now, even though that report only referenced trace particles, this was important because it showed that Iran's enrichment machines were capable of getting very close to weapons grade uranium. And once uranium reaches about 60% enrichment, which Iran had already acknowledged producing, getting to 90% is much easier and doesn't take nearly as much time.

Then in 2025, the IAEA reported that Iran had over 400. kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent and that if the uranium was enriched further to 90 percent, it could theoretically be used to produce multiple nuclear weapons. So then about three weeks after that report is when the United States dropped bombs on Iran's nuclear facilities. And here we are. So that's the backstory. Now, Trump has been demanding negotiations for a new nuclear deal since he took office in 2025. But after about 60 days of those negotiations, Iran basically came out and said that Trump's wish to control Iran's nuclear activity was a quote unquote fantasy.

So again, lots of things to look out for once this deal is announced. Will Iran be forever barred from producing or acquiring a nuclear weapon, as President Trump has said? What will happen to Iran's already enriched uranium stockpile? will Iran have the right to a non-weapons nuclear program? Will the United States unfreeze Iranian funds? And when would that happen? So hopefully all of those questions will be answered soon.

Like I said, Vice President Vance said today that they hope to release the text this week. So we will see. Okay, now quickly, I'm just editing this clip in to the show. I'm recording it after the fact. But I did just look, apparently there's a draft version of the memorandum of understanding that some people have seen. I don't think it's been made publicly at this point. There's talk about a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran, something along those lines.

So once we know more, like I've said, once that draft version is released, once there's hard proof that this is an accurate draft version, I will definitely go ahead and review that, of course, and then we will hopefully be able to talk about it in Thursday's episode. In some major media industry news, the DOJ has now cleared the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Brothers Discovery. And this one's actually a pretty big deal because we're obviously talking about the possible combination of some of the biggest names in entertainment, streaming, cable film, news, all of those things. So let's break this down. We'll talk about what this means. Whenever we talk about a merger this big, there are two antitrust laws that,

we kind of have to talk about. The first is the Hart Scott Rodino Act, which basically requires companies involved in certain major mergers to notify federal regulators before they close the deal. This just gives the DOJ and FDC time to review the merger before the companies officially combine. And then the second law is the Clayton Act. Now, section seven of the Clayton Act says that a merger can be illegal if its effect may be substantially to lessen competition. or to tend to create a monopoly. So when the DOJ reviewed this deal and really reviews any deal, the basic question is, would combining these companies harm competition?

So specifically when it comes to this Paramount Warner Brothers deal, the question is, would combining Paramount and Warner Brothers harm competition in streaming, traditional television, and movies? And ultimately, the DOJ said, based on the evidence it reviewed, it does not believe this deal is likely to violate antitrust law. Now, when you hear that the DOJ, quote unquote, approved the merger, what that means is the DOJ reviewed Paramount Skydances proposed acquisition of Warner Brothers discovery and decided it's not going to sue to block it. The DOJ said, again, based on the evidence it reviewed, this transaction is not likely to harm competition and, in fact, will actually

strengthen competition. And it specifically looked at those three key areas when it reached this decision. So streaming video, linear television and movies. And we'll talk about those more in a little bit, but keep in mind that this approval from the DOJ doesn't necessarily mean the deal is officially done, right? DOJ clearance just means the federal antitrust enforcers are not challenging the merger. Certainly makes the deal easier to get done, but it doesn't mean the deal is done. Now, as far as the terms of the deal, Paramount Skydance agreed to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery for $31, per share in cash. Per the companies, that values Warner Brothers Discovery at roughly $81 billion in equity

value and about $110 billion in enterprise value. Equity value is basically the value of the company's stock. Enterprise value is broader because it also takes into account things like debt. Paramount brings assets like Paramount Pictures, CBS, CBS, CBS News, Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Showtime, Paramount Plus. Warner Brothers Discoveries brings assets. that's like Warner Brother Pictures, HBO, HBO Max, Discovery Plus, CNN, TNT, HGTV, Food Network, Cartoon Network, a ton of other major entertainment properties.

So if this deal closes, it would obviously create a huge media and entertainment company under one umbrella. Now, we briefly touched on antitrust law at the beginning of this conversation, but I do want to expand on that a bit because antitrust law, the purpose of antitrust law, is to protect competition. But the government is not supposed to block a merger just because it creates a big, massive company, right? Being a big, massive company isn't automatically illegal. The question becomes whether the merger could substantially reduce competition, create a monopoly, raise prices, reduce choices for consumers, reduce quality, or otherwise harm the market in some way. And as we mentioned earlier, under Section 7 of the Clayton Act, mergers can be illegal when their effect is to substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly.

A recent example of this is the proposed JetBlue Spirit merger. So the DOJ sued to block that deal because it said it was illegal. It said that Spirit was this major low-cost airline. And the concern was that if JetBlue absorbed Spirit, consumers could lose a major budget option in airfare. could then rise. That's the kind of consumer harm antitrust law is looking for. In this case, the DOJ analyzed the Paramount Warner Brothers deal and basically said, yeah, this is a huge merger, but based on the evidence, we don't think it's likely to hurt competition. So going back to those three areas we talked about earlier, streaming, linear TV, and movies. When it came to streaming,

it found the DOJ found that platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Apple, YouTube, these are all already major competitors. So combining Paramount Plus with HBO Max and Discovery Plus could actually create a stronger rival in the streaming market rather than reduce competition in the market. In linear TV, the DOJ noted that traditional cable and broadcast TV are already under pressure as you know, more and more consumers are moving towards streaming and digital platforms. So this isn't a market where Paramount and Warner Brothers discovery would suddenly have some unchecked power. It's a market that's already being disrupted by streaming, by YouTube, by social media, by all these other forms of digital entertainment that we're seeing today. And then in movies,

the DOJ acknowledged concerns about fewer buyers and fewer decision makers, but ultimately said that Paramount and Warner Brothers would still compete with companies like Disney, Universal, Sony, Amazon, MGM, Netflix, Apple, A-24, and others. Let's take a quick break here. When we come back, we'll finish the story with a very brief discussion about what supporters and critics are saying, and then we'll move on to the new report about the Social Security Fund running dry in 2032. So I got a little crazy on Friday night, and you're never going to believe what I did. I reviewed our household finances. I know wild Friday night. Let me tell you. But no, seriously, my husband and I, I told him we have to sit down. We have to really analyze what we're spending our money on because it's funny how on a day-to-day basis you don't really feel like you spend a ton of money. But then it comes time to pay the credit card bill and you're like, whoa, what did we do? Did we take a, you know, a vacation to a five-star resort? Like, what did we do? And then you actually look through it and it makes sense. Oh, yeah, we had to buy new blinds for two rooms in our house. We bought tickets to that Broadway show. We had to replace our pool filter. We had to buy a new pool vacuum. Life is crazy, guys. These things add up.

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That's rocketmoney.com slash unbiased. Welcome back. Before the break, we talked about the DOJ's quote-unquote approval of the Paramount Warner Brothers merger, antitrust, law, the terms of the deal, and how the DOJ ultimately reached its decision. But I want to close out this story by just quickly talking about what supporters and critics are saying. As with most big mergers like this, there are really two ways to look at it. So supporters of this deal would say, look, Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, they're not just competing with each other anymore. They're competing in a media world that's increasingly dominated by companies like Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, YouTube, these other massive streaming.

and tech platforms. So from that perspective, this isn't necessarily two companies becoming too powerful. It's two traditional media companies trying to bulk up so they can actually compete in the current media landscape. Critics, though, they see it very differently. Their argument is, yes, the media landscape is changing, but this is still a major consolidation of power. You're still talking about fewer independent decision makers in Hollywood, fewer buyers for scripts and projects, potentially fewer jobs. and fewer separate companies deciding what gets made, what gets distributed, and what gets promoted. So even if the deal makes business sense for the companies involved, critics are concerned that it could still have consequences for creators, for workers, for consumers, for the overall

diversity of media. Then there's this CBS and CNN piece of this, which is a little more niche. If this merger closes, CBS News and CNN would be under the same corporate umbrella. And the reason that's being talked about is because CBS News is already going through a pretty public period of turmoil, which we've covered on this show. We've talked about it over the last couple of weeks. CBS has faced criticism and internal disruptions over editorial direction, leadership changes, overall newsroom culture, and questions have been raised by those who once worked there about editorial independence. And then you add CNN into the mix if they're all under the same umbrella. So for critics, the concern is, you know, what happens if and when two of the biggest news brands in the country are ultimately owned by the same parent company. And will CNN experience the same thing that CBS News is currently experiencing if that happens.

One final thing worth mentioning is that even though the DOJ has cleared the merger federally, states can still bring their own antitrust lawsuits. California, New York, and some other states were reportedly looking at a possible law. to block the deal. So that's always something that can happen too. What this means, DOJ approval is obviously a big step for the merger, but there are still other hurdles that the merger might have to face. Okay. Let's switch gears and talk about social security. Okay. I know a lot of you have seen the headlines saying something about social security going insolvent in 2032. So I want to talk about what that means. First and foremost, what I want to be clear about is the fact that this does not mean Social Security is projected to disappear completely. What it means is social security

is facing a long-term funding problem that has been known. This is not a surprise. And Congress is eventually going to have to act if it wants full scheduled benefits to keep being paid. If Congress doesn't do something about it, the program would still have money coming in, but it might not be enough to pay full benefits. So this news is that the reserve is going to run dry earlier than expected. And that will make sense once we finish this discussion. But just to give you the full picture here, Social Security is the federal program that pays benefits to retirees, disabled workers, survivors of deceased workers, and some family members. So like children who lost a parent. Most people think of Social Security as a retirement program, but it's actually

bigger than that. It does include retirement benefits, of course, but it also includes disability benefits and survivor benefits. Now, Social Security is mainly funded through payroll taxes. So when you get a paycheck, part of your paycheck goes towards Social Security. Your employer also pays into the system. If you're self-employed, you pay both the employee and employer side of this. A lot of people tend to think of Social Security as a personal account that's, you know, meant specifically for them. So a lot of people tend to think that when Social Security comes out of your check that is being put away for you at a later date once you retire and it's just kind of waiting for you. But that's actually not how it works. It's more of a pay-as-you-go system. So the people working

right now and, you know, paying payroll taxes are paying the benefits to the current retirees and other beneficiaries. Then once you retire, the people working while you're retired and, you know, paying payroll taxes while you're retired will be the ones funding your retirement. Now, For a long time, Social Security collected more money than it needed to pay out in benefits. So that extra money went into what's called the Social Security trust funds. You can think of the trust funds as a reserve account. So when payroll tax money coming in isn't enough to cover all the benefits going out, Social Security can use those reserves to make up the difference.

And that is where the problem comes in. according to the latest Social Security trustees report, the trust fund that pays retirement and survivor benefits, also known as the old age and survivors insurance trust fund, or OASI, is now projected to run out of reserves in late 2032. That OASI fund is what most people are referring to when they talk about social security. But I do just want to be clear about the fact that when we say run out of reserves, we're not saying social media shows where my heads at, we're not saying social security has no money coming in, right? Even if the trust fund reserves are depleted, workers would still be paying payroll taxes, which means money would still be coming

into the system. The issue is that the money coming in would not be enough to pay 100% of the benefits that are currently promised under law. So if Congress does nothing, the trustees are estimating that social security would only be able to pay about 78% of scheduled retirement and survivor benefits once that trust fund is depleted. And this is also where the 22% cut number comes from. You might have been seeing that number in some of the headlines. So let's say someone is supposed to get $2,000 a month in Social Security. A 22% cut would bring that down to about $1,560 a month. Still a check, but it's a much smaller check. Now, there is a second Social Security Trust Fund, the Disability Insurance Trust Fund,

The trust fund we are talking about in this conversation is that OASI trust fund, the old age and survivors insurance trust fund. The disability trust fund is in a much better spot than OASI. The trustees say the disability fund is projected to remain solvent through the entire 75-year projection period. As far as why this is happening, the answer is just that Social Security has more money going out than coming in. And there are a few reasons for that.

So first, more people are retiring and collecting benefits. And the baby boomer generation is a huge part of that, right? When you have a big generation moving into retirement, the program has to pay more benefits. Second, there are fewer workers for every retiree than there used to be. Social Security obviously works best when there are a ton of workers paying into the system for every person collecting benefits. But birth rates have gone down. People are living longer. The ratio has changed.

And then third, the trustees in actually making their report changed some of their demographic assumptions. So they lowered the projected fertility rate, meaning they expect fewer future workers than previously projected. They also lowered projected immigration levels. And the reason that matters is because immigrants who work legally and pay payroll taxes also contribute to Social Security. And then they also factored in the fact that the one big beautiful bill out, Act reduced projected revenue from taxes on Social Security benefits. So because we have more benefits going out and not as much revenue coming in, the reserve fund is being depleted to fill that gap and it's being depleted at a faster rate than previously thought. One other thing I want to be

clear about is this isn't a surprise. Social Security's long-term financing problem has been known for a long time. And the exact depletion date changes every year. It really just depends on economic assumptions. demographics, wages, inflation, interest rates, etc. But the overall issue has been building for years. So with this new report, the trustees are just saying, look, the longer Congress waits to do something about this, the messier the fix is going to be. So what can Congress do about it? Well, one, it could try to bring in more money, right? Now, that could mean raising the payroll tax rate, raising or getting rid of the wage cap subject to social security taxes, changing how social security benefits are taxed, finding some other way to bring in revenue, basically just getting the money

up. The second thing is Congress could reduce future benefits or pay out less money in the future. And that could look a few different ways. So Congress could change the benefit formula. It could slow benefit growth for higher earners. It could raise the retirement age. It could change how cost of living adjustments are calculated, things like that. And then the third option would be a mix of both. So more money coming in, but also changes to benefits going forward. And this is really where the politics come in, right? Democrats are generally more likely to support raising taxes, especially on higher earners in order to protect benefits. Republicans are generally more reluctant to raise taxes.

They want to talk about program reforms, though many Republicans also say they don't want to cut benefits for current retirees. So both parties are aware that Social Security is one of the most popular and relied upon programs in the country, but they're ideas for saving the program are just very different. So again, just to wrap this up, Social Security's retirement trust fund is projected to run out of reserves in late 2032. If Congress doesn't act and the trust fund does run out, retirees and survivors would see a 22% cut in benefits as of now. And the law does not allow Social Security to just borrow whatever it needs to keep paying full benefits. So it can only pay benefits from its dedicated income and the reserves. But Congress could also act before then. And it likely will. Historically, when Social Security has faced funding issues like this, Congress has

stepped in. The question just becomes, what will it do to fix the issue? Let's do some quick hitters. We have quite a few today. President Trump arrived at the G7 summit in France, where leaders are discussing the Iran war and the U.S. Iran deal, though leaders are also expected to discuss Ukraine, tariffs, China, critical minerals, and AI. President Trump says the U.S. military killed a top leader of Trende Aragua in a strike in Venezuela. Hector Russenford Guerrero Flores, known as Niño Guerrero, was accused of helping turn Tronday Aragua from a Venezuelan prison gang into a transnational criminal organization with operations across parts of Latin America, the United States, and Spain. First Lady Melania Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Besson announced. a new effort to help children in foster care access Trump accounts. So under the initiative, child welfare agencies can open accounts for eligible foster children with an initial $1,000

federal contribution and the option for additional contributions over time. A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore national park service signs and exhibits that had been changed or removed under a March 2025 executive order. That order directed the Interior Department to take action against public content that, quote, inappropriately disparage Americans past or living, end quote. So under the directive, at least 45 signs that cover topics ranging from climate change to Native American history had been changed, but the judge said those changes likely crossed legal lines and ordered the government to restore the materials by July 3rd. The Interior Department said it is reviewing its options, including a possible appeal.

And on the topic of legal matters, the DOJ told a federal court that Trump's name has been removed from all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds. The judge had ordered the administration to do so by noon Saturday. And according to a Kennedy Center filing, Trump's name was also removed from things like employee email signatures, letterhead, brochures, promotional materials, press releases, contracts, the website and YouTube page. The administration had previously asked for more time arguing that removing the name could hurt fundraising and repairs, but a federal appeals court denied its request to pause the order. Okay, let's take our second and final break here. When we come back, we will finish with quick hitters, good news and critical thinking. This episode is brought to you by Activia. You might already be eating yogurt, but not all yogurts are created equal.

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Welcome back. President Trump says he plans to nominate Jay Clayton, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to serve as Director of National Intelligence. Clayton's nomination comes after Trump's former pick, Bill Pulte, drew criticism from both sides of the aisle.

To replace Clayton in the SDNY role, Trump says he will nominate James McDonald, a former CFTC enforcement director and former assistant U.S. attorney in that same office. McDonald also worked on Trump's legal team for his appeal of the New York Hush Money conviction. Fox Corporation is buying Roku in a deal worth about $22 billion. Under the deal, Fox gets Roku's popular streaming platform and ad business, while Roku gets access to Fox's sports, news and entertainment content, including Tobe. The deal still needs regulatory approval, but if it goes through, it's expected to close in the first half of 2027.

Charlie Javis is reportedly seeking a pardon from President Trump after being convicted of defrauding J.P. Morgan Chase. Prosecutors said Javis inflated her startup's customer numbers before J.P. Morgan ultimately bought the company for $175 million. dollars. She was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. UFC Freedom 250 took place on the White House South Lawn with about 4,300 people in attendance, many of them military service members. The event did get delayed because of rain, but it did eventually go on. Dana White called the event a success, but also said UFC would probably, quote, never do this again, end quote, because of how

expensive and complicated it was to pull off. A plane carrying a 11 skydivers and a pilot crashed shortly after takeoff near Butler Memorial Airport in Western Missouri, tragically killing everyone on board. The aircraft operated by skydive Kansas City went down about 300 yards from the runway after failing to gain altitude. The FAA and NTSB are investigating the cause, though a final report could take one to two years. The Supreme Court declined to revive former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page's lawsuit against James Comey, and other former FBI officials over FBI surveillance during the Russia investigation. Page argued he was unlawfully surveilled through flawed FISA applications, and a Justice

Department watchdog report had previously criticized those applications for errors and omissions. However, lower courts dismissed the case, and the Supreme Court left those rulings in place. Page had previously reached a $1.25 million settlement with the federal government, and that still stands. The Supreme Court agreed to hear a Trump administration appeal over whether certain immigrants can be held for months without a bond hearing while they fight deportation. This case involves non-citizen lawful permanent residents who have criminal convictions who argued that prolonged detention without a chance to ask for release violates due process. At the center of this dispute are two green card holders who have been convicted of aggravated felonies that,

immigration officials sought to deport. One of the men was held for seven months, the other for nearly two years as their removal cases were pending. A lower court sided with them and held that the due process clause requires bond hearings for prolonged non-citizens. The administration appealed, and the Supreme Court will now decide whether the lower court got it right and if so, how far that due process protection goes. Now notably in 2016, the Supreme Court did agree to hear a similar challenge and it ultimately concluded that federal law did not require bond hearings, but the court's decision in that case did not answer whether the Constitution required these bond hearings for prolonged detention. So that's what the Supreme Court will focus on now. The number of confirmed

New World Screwworm cases has now risen to 12 when we talked about this early last week. That number was four. Screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larva can infest open wounds in lives. stock pets, wildlife, and rarely people. So officials are concerned about the risk to cattle and other animals. The USDA says it's responding with quarantines, surveillance, and sterile fly releases, while animal owners are being urged to check their animals for wounds, maggots, or unusual lesions, and report anything suspicious. The FDA has approved bemotrizzanol, the first new active sunscreen ingredient added to U.S. over-the-counter sunscreens since the late 9. 1990s. This ingredient is already used in sunscreens in places like Europe and Asia. It protects

against both UVA and UVB rays. And the FDA says it has low skin absorption and rarely causes irritation. Now UV filters generally fall into two groups. So there's mineral filters like zinc oxide and titanium oxide. And then there's chemical or organic filters like bemotrizzanol. Bemotrizo is notable because it's a clear chemical filter that has broads, spectrum protection, unlike a lot of the chemical filters that are currently available in the United States. It's also more stable than some existing U.S. options. So this essentially just means it gives people stronger sun protection without the white cast that typically comes with mineral sunscreens. Okay, let's talk about some good news for once. This has been something that's been highly requested

lately. And I really, I really do want to try to start incorporating a good news segment into every episode. but sometimes it's just hard if there's too much going on. So there's not as much going on right now. So I figured let's do it. We'll start with a global story. A father and son from the UK just broke three world records after cycling around the world together. George Kohler and his 23-year-old son Josh left their home near Norwich in March of 2025

and spent more than 14 months biking roughly 18,000 miles across South America, Australia, Asia, and Europe before finally making it back home. When they got back, they were awarded records for the fastest bicycle circumnavigation, the longest bicycle journey, and the most countries visited in one continuous bicycle journey by a father and son duo. Josh spoke with a news outlet in the UK once they got back and he said, quote, there were thousands of highlights on this trip. One standout moment is when we were cycling through a remote part of Turkey.

We heard a shout on the hillside and a shepherd was standing beckoning us over. We walked up to him and he offered to share his breakfast with us. He had a pot on the campfire. We had eggs, bread, and cheese, and we sat there. We wouldn't speak Turkish and he couldn't speak English, but we had this incredible interaction with him. End quote. They said other highlights included having lunch with a local in Serbia or being welcomed by monks offering them food and drink. Now, let's talk about some good medical news.

So researchers in Sweden say AI may be able to spot early warning signs of breast cancer years before a traditional diagnosis. In a new study published in radiology, researchers looked at almost 89,000 mammograms for more than 31,000 patients and tested three commercially available AI screening systems. What they found was that for some women who were later diagnosed with breast cancer, the AI scores were already elevated years earlier, in some cases up to six years before diagnosis. Now, this doesn't mean AI is diagnosing breast cancer six years early in every case, but the study found that at a high accuracy threshold, AI flagged about 19 to 20 percent of future breast cancer cases six years before diagnosis, about 23 to 25 percent four years before

diagnosis, and roughly 35 to 39 percent two years before diagnosis. It's also important to note that this was a retrospective study, meaning researchers were looking back at old mammograms. So the next big question is how this works in real world screening going forward. Now for a story here at home, last week, France's Aaron space force aerobatic team, the Petrui de France, flew over New York City and the Statue of Liberty, leaving red, white, and blue smoke over the skyline as part of a mission called Liberté 250. The whole point of the flyover was to celebrate 250 years of American independence, but also to honor the long, friendship between France and the United States. Obviously, the Statue of Liberty was, you know, a gift from France, but the relationship between the United States and France actually goes back even further than that all the way to the American Revolution because France played a really big role

in helping the colonies defeat Britain. The Petruy de France tour is expected to continue along the East Coast with flyovers near other historic sites tied to the revolution, places like Yorktown, the Chesapeake Bay, Washington, D.C., and then they'll eventually do a 4th of July flyover. So these flyovers are France's way of celebrating America's 250th anniversary and its long-standing friendship with the United States. And then lastly, here's a cool story out of Louisville, Kentucky. In its first year, a restaurant called Noah's Kitchen has donated more than $100,000 to local and national nonprofits.

So basically, after the restaurant covers its expenses, things like rent, payroll, operating costs, 100% of the profits go to charity. This restaurant was founded by a man named Adam Ersbrung, who already owned a steak and shake nearby, but he said he felt called to do something bigger than just served food. So Noah's Kitchen opened as what they described as a purpose-driven restaurant, serving quote-unquote elevated comfort food, and they turn these everyday meals into a way to give back. So far, the restaurant's profits have helped groups like Hope rescued, which received just shy of $45,000, Camberwell Grief Sanctuary, which got about $12,600, the Prisoner's Hope,

which got a little more than $9,000, and Sunrise Children's Services, which got just over $8,000. Numerous other nonprofits got between $1,000 and $4,000. So for those of you who live in and around Louisville and you want to support. This is a restaurant called Noah's Kitchen, located at 9850 Vaughn Alman Court on the city's east end. And now let's finish with critical thinking. So for today's critical thinking segment, we're going to go back to the discussion about the Social Security trust fund issue. As we talked about, Social Security is not just a retirement issue, right? Yes, it does affect retirees, of course, but it also affects disabled workers, surviving spouses, even children who lose a parent. So,

if benefits were suddenly cut across the board because the fund ran dry, that would obviously come with consequences. But the other options come with consequences too. Raising taxes means workers or businesses pay more. Raising the retirement age could hurt people who, you know, work physically demanding jobs or can't keep working into their late 60s. Changing the benefit formula could mean some people get less than they expected. So my question for you is if you were advising Congress, how or you were a lawmaker, pretend you're a lawmaker, how would you solve Social Security's funding problem? Which route would you go? Would you raise more revenue? Would you reduce future benefits? Would you raise the retirement age? Would you adjust

benefits for higher earners? Would you use some combination? Obviously, in order to answer this question, you have to think about what tradeoffs you're willing to accept. That's what I have for you. Thank you so much for being here. As always, if you loved what you heard in today's show, please leave the show a five-star review on either Apple Podcasts or Spotify because those reviews really do help me out. It shows other people why they should tune into the show. And yeah, they're just great. I used to ask for reviews in every episode and I got away from that. So I'm trying to get back to it. I'd really appreciate it if you did that. I hope you have a great week. And I will talk to you on Thursday.