Good morning, and Happy National Donut Day🍩 (fitting that it's also our 6th birthday). In this edition:

• 🗣️ Big, beautiful bill debate
• 🎶 Songs are getting shorter
• 🦧 Bigfoot vlogs

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.24-minute read (1,128 words).

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“Optimism, when applied to your life, develops strength and peace within you.”

–Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993)

A growing number of prominent Republicans are pushing back against some or all components of the massive tax and spending bill making its way through Congress.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed the House in a 215-214 vote last month, includes a permanent extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, funding for border security, and Medicaid reforms, among other things.

The debt dilemma

At least four Republican senators have expressed concerns over Trump's bill due to its projected impact on America’s national debt:

• The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the measure will add ~$2.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade—on top of the $21 trillion in additional deficits already forecast through 2034.
• The US government currently owes $36.2 trillion, with interest payments eclipsing $1 trillion/year for the first time in 2024 (more than spending on defense or Medicare).

On the flip side: White House officials cast doubt on the CBO’s estimate, saying the group uses “shoddy assumptions.” OMB Director Russ Vought says the Trump-backed bill would actually reduce budget deficits by $1.4 trillion, as the CBO’s estimate “fundamentally misreads the economic consequences” of not extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.

Some Republicans are critical of other areas: Several House lawmakers who voted for the bill say they now oppose it after being made aware of certain line items, like a clause that would prevent states from regulating AI for the next 10 years, or another that would limit judges’ power to hold people in contempt for violating court orders.

Elon Musk has also joined the fray: In a series of social media posts this week, the world’s richest man aggressively condemned Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”—and also took several shots at the President himself yesterday, including calling for his impeachment and claiming Trump “is in the Epstein files.”

Looking ahead…Senate Republicans have only three votes to spare as they look to approve the bill. If the Senate makes any changes prior to approval, the bill must be sent back to the House for a final vote before reaching President Trump, who aims to sign it by July 4.

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Short n’ Sweet isn’t just the name of Sabrina Carpenter’s most-recent album…it’s a music industry lifestyle. Songs, like our attention spans and bank accounts, are getting shorter, according to a recent Economist analysis of ~1,200 number-one hits.

• The average length of songs that top the Billboard Hot 100 has decreased ~18%, from 4 minutes and 22 seconds in 1990 to 3 minutes and 34 seconds in 2024.

Don’t bore us, bring on the chorus

This shrinking trend is due in large part to the advent of music streaming, and the economics that surround it.

When you play a song on Spotify, for example, artists are only paid if you listen for 30 seconds—incentivizing those behind the mics to get snappy, with brief intros and early choruses.

• During the 1980s, the average chart-topper had 21 seconds of introductory material.
• By the 2010s, this had shrunk to just 12 seconds (a ~43% drop). Song length decreased ~10% over that same time period.

Tech impacting music is nothing new. Shellac and vinyl records could hold only 3-5 minutes of sound on each side, keeping song lengths short for much of the 20th century. The introduction of cassettes in the 1960s and CDs in the 1980s allowed for lengthier tracks—such as Don McLean’s three-year-long “American Pie”—with this trend continuing until Spotify and other streaming platforms entered stage right.

Nintendo started flipping Switches, and the lights went dark quick. The company’s latest video game console sold out worldwide within hours of its debut yesterday morning, in what analysts are calling “the biggest console launch of all time.”

• The Switch 2 retails for ~$450, with a single exclusive game not found on any other console—Mario Kart World—sold separately for ~$80.
• Next-gen ports of older games, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Cyberpunk 2077, are available for purchase as well, while the Switch 2 is also backwards compatible with original Switch games.

The console is kind of a big deal for Nintendo. The Japanese gaming giant faced an uncertain future prior to the original Switch, largely due to lackluster sales of its previous console, the WiiU. But following its release, the Switch ended up becoming the third best-selling console of all time, with 152+ million units sold globally, helping Nintendo increase its stock price by ~5x since early 2017.

Looking ahead…The Switch 2 is projected to remain in short supply for the next several weeks or months due to high demand. Nintendo officially expects to sell 15 million units in its fiscal year ending March 2026, though many analysts say the estimate is conservative.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🚗 Tesla lost $152 billion in market cap, its biggest-ever one-day drop, amid the escalating spat between CEO Elon Musk and President Trump.
• 💼 Proctor & Gamble will cut 7,000 jobs, or 15% of it workforce, over the next two years as part of a restructuring effort; becomes the latest large company to initiate layoffs in recent weeks.
• 📝 Lululemon reported Q1 results that topped analysts' expectations; though shares fell over 20% in after-hours trading following a cut to the company’s full-year guidance. | Stablecoin issuer Circle IPO'd yesterday; saw its shares rise 168%.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Your Everyday Heroes

• 🎭 The 78th annual Tony Awards will be held this Sunday.
• 🪂 Tom Cruise was awarded a Guinness World Record for completing 16 burning parachute jumps during the filming of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
• 🏆 NBA Finals: The Indiana Pacers beat the OKC Thunder 111-110 last night to cap a 15-point 4th-quarter-comeback and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. | Stanley Cup Final: Game 2 between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers is set for tonight; the Oilers lead 1-0 in the best-of-seven series. | Texas Tech beat Texas to force a decisive Game 3 in the Women's College World Series, while the men’s College World Series super regionals kick off today.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 📦 Amazon is reportedly testing AI-powered humanoid robots to deliver packages. | Walmart plans to expand its drone deliveries to three more states.
• 📲 Researchers published what they say is the first evidence of an active spyware campaign targeting the iPhones of high-profile Americans and Europeans; Apple “strongly disagree[s]” with the findings.
• 🚀 Elon Musk said SpaceX will decommission its Dragon spacecraft following a threat from President Trump to cancel contracts with Musk's businesses, but later walked back the comment; Dragon is currently the only US option for delivering crew to and from the International Space Station. | Average May measurements of atmospheric CO2 surpassed 430 parts per million for the first time on record.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

in partnership with PrizePicks

• 🙏 Today is the 81st anniversary of D-Day, where Allied troops stormed the beaches at Normandy in a pivotal moment of WWII.
• 🧑‍⚖️ The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that members of a majority group shouldn’t be subjected to a higher legal bar for discrimination compared to minorities.
• 🌏 President Trump said the US and China will soon resume trade talks, in remarks following a 90-minute phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. | Trump also moved to block Harvard's international students from entering the country, prompting a lawsuit from the university.

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Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

• 🤖 42% of office workers say they use generative AI tools like ChatGPT at work—and 1 in 3 of those workers say they keep the use secret, per new research.
• 💰 The US now accounts for a third of the world’s millionaires (6 million) and billionaires (867).
• 💼 Boomerang hires—people who once were active on an employer’s payroll, went inactive, then returned—have accounted for 31% of all new hires since 2018, per ADP Research.
• 🏘️ There are ~500,000 more home sellers than buyers currently in the US housing market, marking the widest-such gap on record, per Redfin.
• 🇺🇸 In September 2024, 13% of Republicans felt at least fairly good about the economy, compared to 67% of Democrats; as of last week, 64% of Republicans said the economy is at least fairly good, compared to 22% of Democrats.

🐘 A 27-year-old elephant named Plai Biang Lek wandered out of a national park in Thailand to visit a local supermarket—where he raided the shelves for sweet treats and dried fruit. 

🎧 Elmo won big on Jack Coyne's social media show Track Star, where the creator tests the music knowledge of everyday people and musicians themselves. The red muppet is donating his earnings to help fund children's music education.  

🌏 The 2025 National Geographic Traveler Photography Competition wrapped up this week. See all of the awe-inspiring winners and finalists here.

How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

Below are three lists of ingredients. Your job is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Vanilla cake mix
• Peanut butter
• Butter
• Eggs
• Milk
• Grape jelly
• Whipped topping
• Chopped peanuts

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Bacon
• Onion
• Poblano pepper
• Peach
• Thyme leaves
• Salt & pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Chicken broth

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Olive oil
• White balsamic vinegar
• Salt
• Grape tomatoes
• Arugula
• Red onion
• Watermelon
• Feta cheese

🦧 Definitely not AI: Bigfoot has started vlogging.

📣 Did you know: There’s a built-in white noise machine on your iPhone.

🤖 Watch: Atlas, Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot, adapt to objects and its environment in real time.

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☝️ Recipe #1: Peanut butter and jelly poke cake

✌️ Recipe #2: Peach stuffed pork chops

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Watermelon feta salad