A

The top three things you need in the summer in my opinion, sunscreen, a portable fan and temperature regulating bed sheets. Now the portable fan, that might just be a me thing. Okay, I run hot. Not only do I run hot, but I live in Florida so you can do the math there. Not enjoyable. The temperature regulating sheets though are something I think everyone can benefit from. Mine are obviously from Cozy Earth. That's the only place I get my bedding and they're just amazing. Now if you've never had temperature regulating sheets, I want you to imagine laying on a pillowy soft bed and with a silky smooth and incredibly cozy material wrapped around you. But you're not hot. You're cool. The sheets, even though they're super soft and truly make it so difficult to want to be anywhere other than your bed, literally feel cool on your body despite you being wrapped in them. I've been raving about Cozy Earth bedding for years. I probably will for the rest of my life, honestly. But if you haven't upgraded your sheets to Cozy Earth, let summer be the time. Seriously, co Cozy Earth knows they make good products too. They stand behind everything they make. There's a 10 year warranty, 100 night sleep trial and hassle free returns on bedding. No company is going to offer a 100 night sleep trial if they're not confident you're going to love their product. Made from viscose from Bamboo, breathable, soft and built for summer. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code UNBIASED for an exclusive 20% off. That's code UNBIASED for an exclusive twenty percent off. And if you see a post purchase survey mention you heard about Cozy earth right here. Here cozyearth.com code unbiased for an exclusive 20% off welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis. Welcome back to Unbiased Politics. Today is Thursday, July 9th and we are talking about the latest with Iran, what's going on with Senator Mitch McConnell, Graham Platner dropping out of the Senate race, these new Freedom Fuel gas stations, a New York law that would replace words like mother and father with more gender neutral terminology. We're also talking about a billboard advertisement in Mexico for birth packages here in the United States, and much, much more. Before we dive into today's stories though, could you please do yourselves and me a favor and follow the show wherever you're listening to it right now. There's a little button depending on which platform you're listening on, whether it's Spotify or Apple Podcasts, even YouTube that either says Follow or subscrib. By clicking that, your phone will automatically let you know when my episodes go live so you can be the first to listen to them once they drop by. Following the show and leaving positive reviews for the show. You really help me keep the show free for everyone. And for that I really appreciate you. And I know everyone else does too. Free news is good news, but free, unbiased news is even better. All right, let's start today's episode off with an Iran update. Perhaps President Trump is saying he thinks the ceasefire agreement with Tehran is over. He also says strikes could get much worse if Tehran doesn't stop attacking ships in the Strait. Now, as we know, just a few weeks ago there was some hope that the United States and Iran were moving toward a more permanent deal. Last month, the two sides signed this interim agreement that was supposed to create a 60 day window for negotiations. But now, after a new round of attacks and counterattacks, both sides are accusing the other of violating that agreement. So this all happened on Tuesday when U.S. officials said a new round of strikes had been launched in response to attacks on three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has not claimed responsibility for those attacks, but the United States is blaming Iran and says that the strikes are are meant to protect freedom of navigation through the strait. Iranian Iranian officials said that they responded to the US Strikes by targeting US Military bases in both Bahrain and Kuwait. Kuwait did say that it intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones that were launched by Iran. So the US has Iran threatened commercial shipping in the strait, which is what triggered the new strikes. And and Iran says that those new strikes violated the ceasefire agreement and interfered with Iran's role in managing passage through the strait. Now, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter, Trump's decision to move forward with the new round of strikes was driven by a few things. One was the alleged attacks on ships in the strait. Another was Trump's frustration that the Strait of Hormuzzi still isn't fully open. And then the same official reportedly said that the timing of Iran's actions is what especially bothered Trump because they came while he was meeting with foreign leaders at the NATO summit. And you know, he was on this global stage. That official also said Trump is losing patience with the pace of negotiations and thinks Iran might be slow walking Washington on the nuclear talks. Then, when speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday, Trump claimed that Iran had actually called him to make a deal. So this is after that first round of strikes were launched. On Tuesday, Trump said that Iran had called him wanting to make a deal. Trump said in part, quote, they called a little while ago. They want to make a deal so badly. I just don't know if they're worthy of making a deal, end quote. When a reporter followed up by asking Trump why Iran launched attacks on the ships in the Strait, he responded, quote, because they're sort of crazy, to be honest with you. They're sort of crazy, they're a little bit out of control, but they want to make a deal badly, end quote. So that was Wednesday afternoon. Later that night, a second round of US Strikes were launched. Trump's comments, the specific comments about the ceasefire being, quote, unquote, over that that comment was made while he was at the NATO summit. When he made that comment, he did also say that negotiations could technically continue, but he sounded doubtful that they would actually go anywhere. And at the same time, Trump said that he doesn't necessarily expect this to turn back into a full scale war. He said that any military action that happens would happen quickly. And it's also worth mentioning that the United States has also gone ahead and withdrawn that license that it issued to Iran last month that allowed Iran to sell oil to more countries. So in addition to the new strikes, Washington is also putting economic pressure back on Iran. So as of now, the United States has launched two rounds of strikes on Iran and says it will continue the strikes to protect freedom of navigation in the Strait if it has to. Iran, meanwhile, is threatening additional retaliation. Now, a related storyline is that Trump opted to take one of the older Air Force One planes for the first leg of his trip home from the NATO summit. And he opted to do this rather than take the new Qatari gifted plane that he took from to the summit. And that decision, it raised some questions as to whether the switch had anything to do with the heightened tensions with Iran. Given, you know, this, this decision was made less than a day after the US Launched its new round of strikes. So this is, this is what we know about what happened. Trump flew the older Air Force One from Turkey to RAF Mildenhall, and that's a British air base used by US troops. Then once he was there, he switched back onto the new Qatari plane for the rest of the trip home. Trump said that the switch was for old time's sake. He said that the newer plane was being sent to the UK base so that service members could tour it. However, reports since then have cited four U.S. officials that said the decision was driven, at least in part, by security concerns around the escalating conflict. And that does make some sense because Turkey borders Iran. And according to some reports, the Qatari plane doesn't appear to have some of the same missile detection and countermeasure systems as the older Air Force One planes. So despite Trump denying that security concerns involving Iran were the reason for the switch, two U.S. officials have said that security personnel felt more comfortable with the President aboard the older plane. And that was at least one of the reasons that the decision was made. All right, what in the world is going on with Senator Mitch McConnell? Let's talk about it. The short story is that 84 year old Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized since June 14th. And, and no one really knows why. I mean, there are obviously certain people that know why, but the general public does not know why. A lot of lawmakers don't know why. There have not been many details given. And because of that, lots of people are speculating about the severity of his condition and, and his ability to serve the rest of his term, which ends on January 3rd. Now, here's the longer story. Mitch McConnell is no stranger to medical incidents. In fact, if we go all the way back, he actually had polio as a child. And as a result of that, he's always had some difficulty walking. He was actually temporarily paralyzed in one of his legs. I believe it was one leg, not both legs. But over time he's gotten better. But he still has had difficulty walking throughout his life. More recently, in 2019, he fell at his house and fractured his shoulder. Then in March 2023, he was hospitalized after falling at a hotel in D.C. he ended up getting treatment for a concussion and a minor rib fracture. He actually missed almost six weeks from the Senate. A few months later, in July 2023, he froze during a Senate press conference for about 21 seconds. Other senators actually stepped in. McConnell walked away, but then he did come back about 12 minutes later and, and tell reporters that he was fine. One month after that, in August 2023, he froze again, this time during an appearance in Kentucky. And this time it was actually more than 30 seconds that he froze. The attending physician to Congress cleared him to continue his schedule the next day and he proceeded to do so just fine. But then in December 2024, he fell again while walking out of a Senate lunch. He ended up spraining his wrist and cutting his face and but was again cleared to continue his schedule. In February 2025, he fell outside the Senate chamber. He ended up using a wheelchair for a short amount of time. After that, his office said the wheelchair was a precautionary measure and said that the lingering effects of polio in his left leg were basically to blame, but that it wouldn't, it wouldn't disrupt his regular schedule of work. A couple months after this is when he announced that his current term would be his last and that he wouldn't seek reelection. Then in October 2025, he fell in a Capitol hallway while heading to Senate votes, but he was able to get up and keep walking. And in February of this year, he was hospitalized for eight days with flu like symptoms. Four months later, in June, just last month, he was hospitalized again and he remains hospitalized this time, though his spokesperson didn't explain why. The spokesperson only initially said that he was receiving excellent care and then more recently, after he had been in the hospital for a few weeks, said that he, quote, continues to improve and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session, end quote. So his spokesperson has not given much. But news outlets have since obtained the police scanner audio from the day that he was hospitalized and two of McConnell's neighbors have spoken out about what they saw. According to that dispatch audio, on the morning of June 14, emergency medical personnel went to Mitch McConnell's address to respond to an unconscious person who appeared to experience cardiac arrest. The dispatcher called in a cardiac arrest and a medic said CPR was in progress. Now, I do have to mention that Mitch McConnell's name was not mentioned during this call, but the call was associated with his address. And McConnell's spokesperson, of course, did confirm that he had been hospitalized that same day. The two neighbors who spoke out said that they saw him being wheeled out of the house on a stretcher. So it's pretty much what we know as far as what could have led to his hospital hospitalization. Now, we also know that McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, was in China when McConnell was hospitalized. And while she's back home now, she did not come home right away. So that might speak to the severity of McConnell's condition. It might not. But that's just another fact in all of this. A spokesperson for Chow said, quote, the secretary was on a long planned trip in China to support her family's philanthropic endeavors and then continued, quote, the Senator's health did not warrant an immediate return to the US End quote. So given the lack of available information, people are speculating and theorizing. One of the theories is that McConnell could somehow be replaced by Thomas Massie, the Kentucky congressman who just lost his House primary to Trump backed challenger Ed Gallrain. And this theory ties back to the legal piece of all of this. So when we talk About a vacancy, McConnell's seat doesn't become vacant just because he's hospitalized. His seat only becomes vacant if he resigns, dies, gets expelled, or if the Senate declares the seat vacant due to permanent incapacity. And that last one is incredibly rare. It has actually never been used in modern history. The Senate historically will just leave the seat occupied until the senator either resigns, dies, or their their term expires. So realistically, the most likely ways McConnell's seat would become vacant is before January 3rd or if he resigns or dies. If either of those things happened, Kentucky's new Senate vacancy law would kick in. And under that law, the governor has to call a special election. Now, if the vacancy happens before Aug. 3, officials say a special election could happen quickly enough for someone to be sworn in and serve the final months of McConnell's term. But if the vacancy happens, and after Aug. 3, the situation gets a little murkier. Because Kentucky already has a regular Senate election scheduled for November. And because this is a new law that's never been tested, there could be legal questions over whether a special election would happen at the same time as a general election, or whether the seat could simply just stay vacant until the new Congress begins in January. But that's why Massey's name is being thrown around. The theory is that if McConnell's seat became vacant soon enough, it Massie could run in a special election and, you know, serve in that seat for the remainder of the term. One of the people floating this idea is Marjorie Taylor Greene. She told reporters that she would love to see Massie run for McConnell seat and said Massie would make a great senator. Now, another theory is that McConnell is brain dead. Okay, so this claim came from Laura Loomer and it kind of took off on X. But then later Loomer said that she had actually spoken with McConnell over the phone. The issue is that 15 million people saw saw her original post saying she heard from a high level source that McConnell was brain dead. And then less than a million people saw her most recent post where she said she actually spoke to McConnell on the phone. So you do the math there. That means there's about 14 million people that saw Loomer's original post saying a high level source said McConnell's brain dead, but didn't see the post after that that said Loomer spoke to McConnell on the phone. Now, Loomer's not the only one who says that They've talked to McConnell. Many of McConnell's colleagues have come out and said that they have spoken to him recently. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John TH Said the two held a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security. And then a spokeswoman for Senator John Barrasso said that the two spoke for about 20 minutes and that McConnell was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate. Despite those alleged conversations, though, you do have some people questioning whether he's even alive. One of those people is Representative Marlon Stutzman. In speaking with News Nation, when asked whether he's heard from McConnell, he said, quote, I have not heard from him, and I think it's a question that Republicans should be asking because he does represent the state of Kentucky. His, his constituents deserve answers where he is at, end quote. Stutzman was then asked whether he knows if McConnell is alive, and Stutzman responded, quote, I don't. Just the things I've heard and seen from some friends are that he's obviously not doing well, but I don't know if he's alive or has passed away, end quote. So the reality is we don't know exactly what's going on. We don't know why he's in the hospital. We just know that he's there. He's been there for three going on four weeks, and that is the extent of it. All right, let's take a quick break here. When we come back, we'll talk about what's going on with Graham Platner. We'll talk about these new Freedom Fuel gas stations and more. This Monday.com ad was created by a team of people and AI agents. Reece, our content agent, wrote the copy based on our best practices, like mentioning Monday.com three times. That was the second. Johnny, our coordination agent, built the timeline and kept everyone aligned. Olivia, our human creative director, stayed in the loop because agents are great, but they don't always know when a joke lands. She had one note tell listeners it only takes minutes to build an agent. So minutes. Create your own AI agent. Today on Monday.com summer's here and we're all living for all things outdoors, despite how hot it is. Am I right? I've talked on Instagram about how I recently started running again. I just hosted a barbecue for Father's Day. I went to a barbecue up north a couple of weeks ago. I've been going on walks in the morning to get coffee. It's the summer of outside, and Bombas makes the comfiest summer staples. So you can make the most out of all of your summer plans. Do you know what EVA stands for? Great. Neither do I. I just know that Bombas makes their sandals and slides from this super lightweight, cushy, waterproof EVA foam. It's like you are walking on marshmallows. Okay. Bombas makes the cushiest sandals and slides that can handle a coffee run, a day at the pool, a day at the beach, whatever you are up to on these hot summer days. They also have a whole line of pro level sports specific socks for golf, yoga, the gym socks for all my runners out there. I have my Bomba socks on when I run. I swear they make such a difference. They're so soft, they're cushioned in all the right places. Plus they're airy and sweat wicking so my feet feel as good at the end of the run as they did at the start. And for every item you purchase from Bombas and an essential clothing item is donated to someone facing housing insecurity. So head over to bombus.comunbiased and use code UNBIASED for 20% off your first purchase. That's B O M B A S.comUnbiased code UNBIASED at checkout. Summer always makes me rethink what I'm wearing every day. It is just so hot outside. You have to be smart and this is especially difficult for me because as I've talked about before, I have psoriasis. It makes me want to cover up every affected area of my body which right now is pretty much all over. But what I love about Quint is that they offer lighter fabrics and better materials and pieces that actually feel good when you put them on but still look really effortless. For me. I always feel insecure about wearing long sleeves in the summer, but Quint makes me feel better about it because at least I feel chic and the material is breathable. Now for you who can most likely wear short sleeves, tank top, shorts, etc without even thinking about it, this is even better. Quint has so many good everyday pieces I linen pants, dresses, tops starting at $32. They have really soft denim. They have organic cotton sweaters that are perfect for when the temperature gets a bit cooler at night. Now right now I'm loving the linen pants. The 100% European linen pants are phenomenal and they're only $42. The prices are amazing. Everything is 50 to 80% less than similar brands because Quint actually works directly with factories and cuts out the middlemen. So so you're paying for the quality, not the label. They also have way more than clothes. Home, kitchen, bedding, all of it. It's, it's kind of one of those places where you can find really nice basics for almost every part of your life. So make your summer wardrobe feel easier. Go to quints.comunbiased for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U I n c e.comunbiased for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comunbiased welcome back. Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner has officially suspended his campaign after facing multiple accusations of sexual assault and toxicity from former girlfriends. For context, last month Platner won Maine's Democratic nomination for the U.S. senate. And and a big reason this story is being talked about so widely is because Maine is supposed to be one of Democrats best opportunities to flip a Republican held Senate seat, which is currently held by Republican Senator Susan Collins. She has represented Maine in the Senate since 1997. So Democrats have been looking at this race as a major part of their strategy to try to win back control of the Senate. Now, of course, the accusations against him are headline worthy in and of themselves, themselves. But the fact that this is such a closely watched race has made this story even bigger. So let's run through the timeline of Platner's campaign because he's had, he's had quite a few hurdles since he launched his campaign. He announced his campaign in August of last year. He has never held elected office, but he built a lot of grassroots energy by running this populist campaign that was focused on economic inequality, working class voters, and just an overall frustration with the political establishment. Personally, he is a Marine vet and an oyster farmer, so he ran as a political outsider, but he did have support from big politicians like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ro Khanna, as well as other big Democrats. He also slowly became quite a big threat to Maine Governor Janet Mills, who was originally seen by a lot of the establishment Democrats as the stronger and, and really safer candidate to take on Susan Collins. But Collins actually ended up suspending her campaign because she, she wasn't able to keep up with Platner in the polls. So about a month after Platner launched his campaign, old things from his past started coming out as this. You know, this is what usually happens. And first there were the Reddit posts. So from 2009 to 2021, Platner apparently made a bunch of Reddit posts under the handle P Hustle. Some of those posts Include the following. I'm just going to go over a few. There's obviously a lot more than this, but I'll just touch on a few. There will be a few expletives in here. So just a heads up that if you need to fast forward, just fast forward about 30 seconds or so. In 2013, Platner posted on a thread about underwear designed to prevent sexual assault. And he wrote, quote, holy. How about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so up they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to men and women. You make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self control. So if you don't want to be in a compromising situation, act like an adult for sake. Rape is a real thing. If you're so worried about it to buy Kevlar underwear, you'd think you might not get blacked out up around people you aren't comfortable with. End quote. Then in 2020, he wrote that all cops are bastards. And in a series of posts from 2021, he called himself a communist. He also said that rural Americans were quote unquote racist and quote unquote stupid. So these are just a few examples. Like I said, it's been reported that he had deleted roughly 2,000 Reddit comments. Then came the tattoo controversy. So Platner had a skull and crossbones tattoo on his chest and it was later identified as resembling the Totenkopf, which is a German word meaning death's head. It's a skull symbol that was closely associated with the Nazi ss, which was the paramilitary organization that helped carry out Hitler's rule and ran the concentration camps. Platner said he got the tattoo nearly 20 years ago when he was drinking with some of his fellow Marines on leave in Croatia. He said he didn't know the symbols Nazi association until it was raised during the campaign. He said that he had never been questioned questioned about it in the 20 years that he had it. And he said it was there when he enlisted in the army, which requires an exam for tattoos of hate symbols. And nothing, you know, nothing came from that. Despite this, he did end up covering up the tattoo. But following this, and then the Reddit controversy as well, there was a bit of a shake up within the campaign. So multiple people left the campaign, including his political director. She cited the Reddit posts as one of her reasons for leaving. But at this point, so it's, at this point, it's like late 2025, early 2026, his campaign was, was still doing fine. In fact, it was doing well. In April is when Janet Mills suspended her Senate campaign because she couldn't keep up with him in the polls. And at this point, he became the clear front runner. But then about 10 days before the June 9 primary. So at the end of May, the Wall Street Journal published a story alleging that Platner sent sexually explicit texts to several women early on in his marriage. And in fact, according to the report, it was Platner's wife that flagged these texts to Platner's campaign and told Platner's former political director about them. Just to kind of like give a heads up that, you know, this could come up, it could be an issue. That political director then went to the Wall Street Journal once she left the campaign and took this story to the Wall Street Journal. So the Wall Street Journal publishes this article at the end of May. Once that article is published, Platner acknowledged the texts. He released a statement calling the article journalistic malpractice, but said that he and his wife went through something hard because of him, but that. That they had done the work. Platner's wife also addressed this article. She said she felt hurt and betrayed by Platner's former political director, who she had considered a friend, and criticized the article as gossip. Around the same time, about six days later, the New York Times releases an interview with six women who had previously dated him. Three of them spoke highly of him. Three of them said his. Three of them said his behavior was unsettling. One of the women who said his behavior was unsettling was Lindsay Fifield. She told the Times that Platner had gotten rough with her and sometimes left marks when he grabbed her by the shoulders. But she also said that he never punched, hit or hurt her. Platner responded to those allegations, saying in part that he went through a very dark period where he struggled with undiagnosed PTSD and. And was. Was far from a perfect boyfriend. But despite those articles, Platner then went on to win the Democratic nomination on June 9, and he won by a lot. He had more than 70% of the vote and reportedly received more primary votes than any Democratic Senate candidate in Maine history. So he, you know, he won the Democratic nomination. Things were fine despite these articles being published. It seemed. It seemed like things were kind of, you know, behind him. But then came this allegation that pretty much changed everything. On Monday, a woman named Jenny Racicot, who once dated Platner, said that he had sexually assaulted her in 2021. She said Platner came into her house uninvited that he was very drunk and that he forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. Platner denied the allegations. He called it categorically false. But after that report, the pressure on Platner changed almost immediately. These big Democrats who had previously supported him were now publicly calling on him to drop out. So Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ro Khanna, Ed Markey, Kirsten Gillibrand and more. There were, there were a bunch of Democrats coming out calling on him to suspend his campaign. And then to make things even worse, on Tuesday, the girlfriend that had previously told the New York Times that he had gotten rough with her, Lindsey Fifield, and added to her allegations and said Platner would remove condoms without her consent during sex. And again, Platner's campaign denied the allegations and said that they came from, quote, a person with a well documented political agenda. Fifield is a Republican. She has worked with the Heritage Foundation. She also worked on Nikki Haley's 2024 presidential campaign. Now, here's the thing. Under Maine law, if a nominee who wins a primary with withdraws by 5pm On July 13, the state party can choose a replacement. That replacement just has to be named by July 27th. So Democrats at this point were under a pretty tight, tight deadline. That's why there was so much pressure on him to drop out. Because if he didn't drop out by July 13, Democrats would have risked just, you know, they would have been stuck with him as their nominee on the November ballot. So yesterday, the main Democratic Party actually held an emergency meeting and approved plans for a nominating convention when and if Platner withdrew. Less than an hour later, Platner announced he would suspend his campaign. He posted an 11 minute video where he again denied the allegations and said, quote, the things that have been claimed did not happen, end quote. He also argued that the political establishment and the media and had acted too quickly against him. He said, quote, accusations are supposed to be the beginning of things, not the end. End, quote. But he also acknowledged that he, he, his campaign couldn't continue. He said the campaign was going to lose access to fundraising and voter data and the basic tools needed to run. So he said, quote, we believe that for the movement to continue, it can't be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations and quote, quote, so from here, Platner will have to formally file the withdrawal paperwork by July 13th. That will then allow Democrats to replace him on the ballot. Then the main Democratic party has until July 27 to choose a new nominee. The most serious early names kind of being thrown around right now appear to be former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, Maine Secretary of State Shannon Bellows, and then former Maine CDC Director Nairob Shah. Now, there were also some rumors that Patrick Dempsey was potentially being thrown around as a nominee, but that does not appear to be true. All right, let's switch gears a bit and talk about these Freedom Fuel gas stations. The White House announced the opening of the first Freedom Fuel Network gas station in the Philadelphia area, which is selling, or at least was selling gas at $3.47 per gallon. That is not a random number. The White House said the price was a nod to Trump being the 47th president. The White House Post said, quote, president Trump is leading the charge to lower gas prices this summer, putting more money in your pocket, end quote. Now, this has led a lot of people to ask whether the federal government is now running gas stations. And the answer appears to be no. According to the White House, Freedom Fuel Network is a private company. The administration says it's not involved in the company. It hasn't given the company any funding. It isn't subsidizing the lower gas prices. You. So it appears that these are private gas stations being promoted by the White House because they're offering these lower prices. The way that the White House explains it is that the company is choosing to reduce its own profit margins in order to sell gas at a lower price and apparently also choosing to rebrand their stations as well, because all of these Freedom Fuel gas stations have have a specific look, too. So instead of charging what other stations nearby are charging, these stations are voluntarily accepting less profit, possibly even taking a loss on each gallon in order to get, you know, drivers in the door. So that's the official explanation from the White House, but it raises the obvious question, which is why would a company do that? Why would a company willingly accept lower profit margins unless there's some other benefit? Perhaps that benefit is exposure because the White House is promoting it, but it's, it's not, it's not super clear at this point. Gas analysts are asking the same question. For instance, Patrick DeHaan, who tracks fuel prices for gas buddy, he talked to the Philadelphia Inquirer, and he said that stations selling at this price likely aren't sustainable long term. He made the point that if a station is selling gas below market price, someone is taking a hit somewhere. And naturally, that leads to other questions, right? Who's penalty paying for the discount? Is the company just voluntarily accepting lower profits? Or is there some other incentive somewhere? Like I said, maybe it's exposure, who knows? Is this just a short term promotional campaign, is it sustainable, etc. Etc. There are also questions about ownership. So the White House hasn't publicly identified much about the company behind Freedom Fuel. The Freedom Fuel website lists 25 locations across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But but it doesn't give much detail about who owns or finances the network. So that part of it is still unclear as well. But like I said, as far as we know right now, this is a private company running these stations. It's not the federal government. Now, as far as the actual price, we know that the $3.47 price is below the current national average. According to AAA, the national average average for regular gas was about $3.85 a gallon on July 9th. But we also know that the $3.00 and $0.47 or $3.47 price might already be going up. Investopedia reported that at one of the Freedom Fuel stations in New Jersey, gas was originally selling for $3.47, but the sign changed to $3.57 shortly after. Still cheaper than a lot of the nearby stations, but possibly a sign that you know, the price isn't sustainable. It might be short lived. And of course you can't talk about gas prices without talking about what's going on in Iran. Prices have come down since their recent peak, but they're still higher than they were before the conflict started. And then with the fighting starting again this week, oil prices have already moved higher. And also, you know, we know that Trump has been pressuring gas retailers to lower prices. So it's possible that Trump is using this Freedom Fuel initiative to pressure nearby retailers to do the same. Right? Because if you have a Freedom Fuel gas station that's offering lower prices and people are going to go to that to get their gas in order to save money. So maybe the nearby stations would lower their prices as well. But that is what we know at this point. Let's take our second and final break here. When we come back, we'll do Quick Hitters. Rumor has it, and critical thinking. If you've never heard of Article furniture or maybe you've heard of it but you just don't know much about it. Allow me to tell you because I am so excited. Article is a sponsor of the show. I have been shopping on Article for years. So Article offers mid century, modern, coastal and Scandi inspired pieces and you can tell that it really takes such good care in curating its collection because all of the pieces that I've gotten are such high quality and look so good in the house. We have the Landry 84 and a half inch sofa bed for my guest room slash nursery. It's so nice. I get so many compliments on it. The shape, the color, the material. It's so good. And it's comfy too. My mom actually just slept on it a few weeks ago. She, she said she slept great and she can't wait to come back. I'll take it. It's hard to find a comfortable sofa bed, so that says a lot in and of itself. And what's cool about Article is they make it really easy to decorate your house in a way that looks like you hired a professional because all of their pieces pair really well together. They also offer pre designed bundles. So if you're not necessarily a pro when it comes to design and you just want some help making things match, the pre designed bundles are great. Article also offers a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. So if you order something it turns out you're not completely in love with it, you can easily return it. Article has such great customer service. Article is offering my listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit article.comunbiased and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. That's article.comunbiased for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. You know how sometimes you have those days where the first time you sit down it's like 6, 7:30 at night. That was me the other day. I was out running errands for most of the day. Then I had to come home immediately, had to get on some calls. Then I had to work a little bit. Before I knew it, it was time to put my baby down. That was like a whole hour, hour and a half thing. So I finally sat down on the couch at like 7:30 and I realized I hadn't eaten all day and the last thing I'm going to do is get up from the couch and cook. Okay. So I was sitting there like what do I do? What do I do? I just need to eat something. And that's when I remembered I had four factor meals left in the fridge. My day or my night turned around in an instant. I was so happy, so excited. Because Factor meals, not only are they convenient, they're genuinely good. Now if you've never heard of factor, these are fully prepared meals designed by dietitians and crafted by chefs, delivered right to your door. Factor has meals built around your goals, whether that's weight loss, overall Nutrition, more protein, GLP1 support. Personally I'm eating gluten free right now so I tailor all of my meals around that and but what I really love is that every meal is made with functional ingredients. Lean proteins, colorful veggies, whole foods, healthy fats and factor bans. More than 175 ingredients. There's no artificial colors or sweeteners, no high fructose corn syrup, no refined seed oils, just nutrient dense food. Head to factor meals.com jordan is my lawyer 50 off and use code jordan is my lawyer 50 off to get 50% off and free daily greens per box with new subscription only while supplies last until 927 2026. See website for more details. Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy Mocha Frappuccino drink? Or a sweet vanilla smooth caramel maybe? Or a white chocolate mocha? Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries. Welcome back. Let's do some quick hitters. A federal judge ordered the release of nearly $5.8 million to E. Jean car that covers the original $5 million jury award, plus interest from her 2023 civil case against Trump. The money had been held during Trump's appeals, but the Supreme Court declined to hear the case last month, and a federal appeals court also rejected Trump's attempt to block the payment, so now it is eligible for collection. A federal judge ruled that a proposed class action lawsuit against United Airlines can move forward after passengers alleged they paid extra for window seats that didn't actually have windows. United argued that window describes the seat's location next to the cabin wall, not a guaranteed view. But the judge said the passengers had plausibly claimed that the airline breached its contract. This lawsuit this lawsuit centers on certain Boeing 737s, Boeing 757s and Airbus A321s where some window labeled seats are next to cabin walls because of the aircraft layout and Curious what your thoughts here are Curious what your thoughts are here? Is a window seat a seat next to an actual window? Or is a window seat just a descriptor for the farthest seat in from the aisle? David Hearn pleaded not guilty to a felony property destruction charge tied to the tied to alleged damage at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Prosecutors say Hearn damaged more than $1,000 worth of the pool's newly installed stage sealant, while Hearn says he only touched or examined a piece of peeling material and didn't actually damage it. The judge chose not to place him under court supervision while the case proceeds, and a status hearing is scheduled for August 5th. Nearly a thousand people in Michigan have been diagnosed with cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection that can cause weeks of watery diarrhea, making it the largest such outbreak in these states history. Officials have not yet identified the source of the infections, but Cyclospora is commonly linked to contaminated food or water, and past outbreaks have been tied to produce things like bagged salad mixes, herbs, raspberries, other fruits and veggies. Michigan officials are advising consumers to wash produce carefully, consider buying whole heads of lettuce instead of bagged salad mixes, and cook vegetables when possible. Similar illnesses are also being investigated in other states. With more than 1400 total confirmed cases across 17 states, President Trump said he plans to ask the Supreme Court to rehear the birthright citizenship issue. Trump wrote on Truth Social in part, quote, I will be asking for a rehearing by the United States Supreme Court immediately. This miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don't change their absolutely insane hearing decision, end quote. Trump can certainly ask the court to rehear the case, but the justices rarely grant rehearing requests. And now it's time for Rumor has It, my weekly segment where I address recent rumors submitted by all of you and do my best to either confirm them, dispel them, or add context. Rumor has it that New York is looking to pass a law that would make the words mother and father illegal. Now, this is false, but we do have to add context. So various outlets and content creators have posted about this bill and there are a few things they're getting right. But there's one thing they're getting wrong, and the one thing they're getting wrong is that this bill would outlaw the words mother and father. That part is completely false. You can't do that. You can't make words illegal. However, what they're getting right is that if this bill is signed into law, certain words like mother and father would be replaced with gender neutral language in New York state laws. So this particular bill, Assembly Bill 8382A, would amend several New York State laws to replace words like father, mother, paternity and filiation with more gender neutral language like parent, parentage, gestating parent and non gestating parent. And this wouldn't just apply to one section of family law. And this would amend the Family Court act, the Civil Practice law and rules, the Domestic Relations law, the Executive Law, the Judiciary Law, the Social Services law, the general obligations law, the vehicle and traffic law, the alcoholic beverage control law, and the education law. So let's run through some examples of what the change would actually look like. One provision of New York's Family Court act currently says, quote, unquote, the father is liable for the reasonable expenses of the mother's confinement and recovery and such reasonable expenses in connection with her pregnancy, end quote. If this bill becomes law, that section would instead say, quote, the court may determine which parent is liable for the reasonable expenses of the just stating parents confinement and recovery and such reasonable expenses in connection with the pregnancy, end quote. Another example is Family court Act Section 517, which currently says paternity proceedings can be started during the pregnancy of the mother under the bill. If the bill becomes law, it would say parentage proceedings can be started during the pregnancy of the gestating parent. Now you might be wondering how these words have anything to do with other laws like alcoholic beverage control law or the vehicle and traffic law. It would only affect those laws in a very narrow way. So for instance, for vehicle and traffic law, the bill amends section 510, which deals with suspending or disqualifying someone's driver's license if they fail to make child support payments or they fail to comply with a summons, subpoena or warrant in a paternity or child support proceeding. So under the bill, the heading would change from a failure connected to a paternity proceeding to a failure connected to a parentage proceeding. And then similarly for alcoholic beverage control law, the bill amends section 119, which deals with suspending alcohol related licenses or permits when a licensee fails to comply with a summons, subpoena or warrant connected to a paternity or child support proceeding. So it would change paternity proceeding to parentage proceeding. It would also change his or her license to the licensee's license. So again, no, the bill doesn't make the words mother and father illegal, but it does replace the words mother, father, paternity affiliation with gender neutral language. Now, as far as where this bill stands in the legislative process, it has passed both chambers, but it hasn't yet been sent to the governor, which means it hasn't been signed into law. At this point, it's unclear when it will be sent to the governor, but it hasn't been sent to the governor's desk the in yet. Next one rumor has it that Donald Trump Jr. Is pushing for a new rule that would allow guns to be shipped directly to people's homes. Let's Add context this rumor stems from the fact that Trump Jr. Is an investor and board member in Grab A Gun, which is an online gun retailer that could benefit from a new proposed ATF rule. But Trump Jr. Has said he had zero involvement in crafting this policy. So here's what we know. The ATF is proposing a new rule that would make it easier for licensed dealers to ship firearms directly to buyers homes. Specifically, it would allow licensed dealers to ship firearms directly to in state residents who go through an online ID verification and background check along with a 7 day waiting period after local law enforcement is notified. Right now, if you buy a gun online, you generally still have to pick it up at a physical store and that's where the in person background check happens. This proposed rule would change that for certain in state purchases and obviously if finalized, that could benefit licensed dealers that sell online, including Grab A Gun. Last year, Trump Jr. Helped take Grab a Gun public. Currently he owns roughly 300000 shares which are worth roughly $700,000. That's down from more than $5 million last year. But because Trump Jr. Has a financial stake in Grab A Gun, people are theorizing that he may have had a hand in this new proposed rule. The thought process is if guns can be shipped directly to buyers homes, that could boost online gun sales, which could then help Grab a Gun, which could then benefit Trump Jr. Financially. But again, Trump Jr. Denies having anything to do with it. His spokesperson said in a statement, quote, don is a lifelong businessman and vocal advocate of our Second Amendment rights. He does not interface with the federal government as part of his role with any company that he invests in or advises and and had zero involvement in this particular decision, end quote. Grab a Gun CEO Mark Namati also told Reuters that neither he nor Trump knew this proposal was coming. And ATF Chief Counsel Robert Leiter said he was unaware of Trump Jr's connection to Grab A Gun until he was asked by Reuters and said Trump Jr. Had no influence on the proposed rule. Now, it's also worth mentioning that this rule is not a standalone proposal that came out of NowHere. It is one of three 34 regulatory actions announced by the DOJ and ATF this spring as part of a broader effort to reduce burdens on gun owners and firearm businesses. That effort followed a February 2025 executive order from Trump directing the Attorney General to review federal actions that the administration says might have infringed on Second Amendment rights. As of now, the proposal is still in the public comment period, so it hasn't been finalized it could still be changed or withdrawn, but if it is finalized, it would likely happen at the end of this year or possibly early next year. Third and final rumor has it that a Texas hospital was selling u. S. Citizenship through childbirth packages. Let's again add context. So this story centers around mission regional medical center, which is a hospital in Mission, Texas, in the Rio grande valley, not far from the u. S. Mexico border. Mission regional was advertising maternity birth packages to people cross the border in Mexico. So it was doing so via billboards in Mexico. And those billboards would advertise a natural birth package starting at $3,950 and a C section package starting at $5,525. It included a phone number for the hospital as well as the URL. Have my babyintexas.com Mission Regional has confirmed that the campaign was its own and that the that the campaign began in 2021. As of today, the website is offline. The marketing materials are no longer being used. A spokesperson for the hospital said, quote, the marketing materials regarding maternity services are no longer in use due to any unintended misunderstanding. End quote. Nonetheless, Texas governor Greg abbott has directed the Texas health and human services commission to investigate the hospital. He told the health and human services commission that the hospital appeared to be advertising birth packages in south Texas in foreign countries and targeting foreign nationals in what he described as an apparent effort to profit from securing U.S. citizenship for their children. As for the hospital, it says it hasn't done anything wrong. In a statement, it said it does not support or facilitate any unlawful activity and said it works to comply with all applicable federal and state laws. And that could be true because it's not illegal for a pregnant woman from another country to give birth in the United States. It's also not automatically illegal for someone from another country to seek medical care in the United States if they're upfront about it and they can pay for it. So they're saying they've abided by all of the laws. But Abbott has ordered the health and human services commission to investigate and determine whether any laws are violated or whether the hospital violated any of its contractual obligations. So that is what we know there. All right, let's do some critical thinking for today's questions. Let's stick with this story out of Texas. For those of you who oppose the hospital marketing childbirth to international patients, would you oppose hospitals marketing cancer treatment or surgery in the same way, or do you feel childbirth is different because of citizenship? And if birthright citizenship is currently the law, because it is, is it fair to blame a hospital for making business decisions based on that law. For those of you who support the hospital marketing birth childbirth to international parents, would you still support it if the hospital's ads explicitly mentioned U.S. citizenship as one of the benefits? And is it's legal enough to justify the marketing? Or does a hospital have some responsibility to consider whether it's encouraging people to use childbirth as a pathway to a legal benefit? And then for those of you that don't really know where you stand on this yet, what are you weighing? What facts would tip the scale one way or the other to help you form a firm opinion on this? That's what I have for you today. If you loved what you heard, please don't forget to leave me a five star review wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for being with me. As always, I appreciate you so, so much. I hope you have a great weekend and I will talk to you on Monday. Insurance isn't One Size fits all. That's why customers have enjoyed Progressive's Name youe Price Tool for years now. With the Name youe Price Tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they'll show you options that pay fit your budget. So whether you're picking out your first policy or just looking for something that works better for you and your family, they make it easy to see your options. Visit progressive.com. find a Rate that works for you with a name, your Price tool, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and Coverage match limited by state law.