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Mitch McConnell Is Missing & We're Facing An Anchovy Crisis

The Upcoming NATO Summit & Graham Platner's Latest Controversy

Author

Marcus Gee-Lim
July 07, 2026

Hi readers, happy Tuesday & hope you had a great long weekend! Today we’re covering the upcoming NATO summit, another Graham Platner controversy, Germany’s sick leave policy, China’s missile test launch, another Trump renovation project, Mitch McConnel going missing, and the coming anchovy crisis.

“Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven

The Hike To The NATO Summit

Mark Rutte & Donald Trump. via whitehouse.gov

This week, leaders from across the Western world are gathering in the Turkish capital of Ankara for their annual NATO summit. The theme this time seems to be “show me your wallet” – on Monday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called on member nations to come to the table with “clear, concrete and credible plans” to reach the alliance’s spending targets. Those targets state that NATO members should spend at least 5% of their GDP on defense (3.5% directly, and 1.5% indirectly on things like roads and ports), and were set out at last year’s NATO summit on Trump’s insistence.  “President Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,” Rutte added.

Aside from the American audit, one other topic looms large over the summit – the Russia-Ukraine war. Yesterday, Moscow fired ballistic missiles into Kyiv, marking Russia’s second major attack on Ukraine in less than a week. Sixteen people were wounded in the blasts, with dozens of others injured. With that deadly attack as the backdrop, Ukraine seems to still be optimistic heading into the Turkey summit. 

Just a few hours after the Russian attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sat down for an interview with the Financial Times. During that chat, he revealed that Trump had called him on Saturday to tell him that Ukraine “is doing very well” in its war against Moscow. “President Trump wants to be where there’s success,” Zelenskyy said. “That’s tied to many things — not only to his personality, but to the approaching elections, to his status, to his belief in how this war can be ended.” He apparently thinks that means Trump will soon lend Ukraine even more military aid, and the American president seemed to back up that belief in a statement on Monday. “We’re getting much closer than people realise” to the end of the war, Trump stated. “President [Vladimir] Putin wants it to end. I will tell you that, very strongly,” he went on. “And President Zelenskyy actually wants it to end now.” Are we in for another round of peace talks? Only time will tell but for now the 8-ball is reading “Signs point to yes.”

Another Plate Of Controversy For Platner

Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for the upcoming U.S. Senate race in Maine, is no stranger to controversies. While his politics are progressive, the Marine vet and former mercenary sports a skull tattoo resembling a symbol used by the Nazi SS (which he allegedly affectionately refers to as “my Totenkopf”), has been accused of cheating on his wife (with multiple women) and has also allegedly physically threatened other women he’s been in relationships with.

On Monday, Platner found himself in even more hot water after Politico published a report about a 41-year-old woman from Maine named Jenny Racicot. Racicot and Platner were involved in an on-again-off-again relationship five years ago – according to her statements, Platner “entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop.” After that incident, she told the former Marine that the encounter was not consensual before cutting all contact with him. 

In the intervening years, Racicot said she didn’t publicize the incident as she didn’t want to be known as a rape victim and because she agreed with Platner’s politics. Evidence corroborating her story collected by Politico includes testimony from a man Racicot dated in the years after the alleged incident, emails between Racicot and her therapist about the incident, and messages between Racicot and another acquaintance, whom she advised to avoid Platner. “I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” she told Politico. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’” Platner’s campaign has denied the allegations.

Maybe They’re Getting A Little Too Efficient Over There…

  • Late last week, Germany’s government announced wide-ranging changes to the country’s labor laws. The most significant of those is a tightening of sick leave rules, which sparked backlash from both labor advocates and medical groups. Under the new rules, Germans looking to take a sick day off from work will need to provide employers with a doctor’s note on the very first day of their illness. 

  • Previously, the note was only required for a fourth consecutive sick day, and the new rule also states that the note can’t be obtained via phone call – that means sick workers will need to travel to their doctor’s office in order to get a day of recuperation. According to a national organization representing Germany’s physicians, it “bordered on madness” to force thousands of sick patients to fill up doctors’ offices to fill out paperwork, adding, “Anyone who is coughing or has a gastrointestinal infection belongs in bed – not in an overcrowded surgery.”

  • Germany’s centrist government justified the changes by claiming that the country needs more economic productivity. “The number of sick days in Germany is too high,” said Chancellor Friedrich Merz, adding that “we can no longer afford th

China Makes A Splash

  • Yesterday, China’s military test-fired a missile from a nuclear submarine into international waters somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. While Chinese state media described the launch as a “routine arrangement” of China’s military testing, the move drew public criticism from countries including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan, which were all given late notice about the launch. The test was fired off soon after Australia signed a mutual defense pact with Fiji, bringing the strategically-located island into the Western sphere of influence.

  • China’s state-controlled Global Times stated that the missile was the JL-3, Beijing’s most advanced sub-launched missile, which was unveiled at a military parade just last year. According to a Pentagon report, the missile could reach the U.S. mainland if fired from the waters just off the coast of China. “The U.S. and others will ​be watching and analysing the test launch closely for any insights into PLA capability,” said one analyst.

Additional World News

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The Lawn Is Gone

  • Who needs a lawn when you can have a granite helipad? Yesterday, the president announced that he plans to erase a chunk of the White House’s South Lawn to make way for a massive granite helipad, which will be needed to accommodate a bigger, better presidential helicopter. 

  • “It’s got the seal of the White House on it in granite, in carved granite,” Trump said on Monday. “It’s really a beautiful thing.” Apparently, the Sikorsky VH-92 Patriot helicopters that have been used as Marine One (the helicopter that ferries the president around) since 2024 are so powerful that the wind from their propellers can damage the lawn. “It’s not that the grass gets discolored — it gets ripped out,” said Trump. 

  • The granite pad will cost $6 million to install, but this time it won’t be U.S. taxpayers footing the bill for Trump’s renovations. Sikorsky, the company that produces the Marine One helicopters, will be paying the “full cost” of the upgrade because they “felt a little bit guilty” about the damage, said the president.

Mitch McConnell Is MIA

  • Where in the world is Mitch McConnell? Nobody really knows. What we do know is a few things: that the 84-year-old was hospitalized on June 14, that his staff refuse to update the public on why he was sent there, and that they also aren’t giving voters any timeline for his return. We also know that his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, embarked on a trip to China just a few days after he was taken to the hospital.

  • According to dispatcher calls obtained by the New York Times, paramedics responded to an emergency call at the Senator’s house on the morning of his hospitalization. In those calls, they stated they were performing CPR on an unconscious individual, but they never stated that McConnell was the person in question.

  • “Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” said a spokesperson last Thursday, in the latest update we have. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

Additional USA News

 

Anchovies Are In Hot Water (Literally)

  • The world, according to a recent Bloomberg report, has an anchovy problem. Over the past year, global anchovy production has dropped roughly 40%, driving prices up 80% over that same time period. While you might not be a fan of anchovies on pizza or in your salad dressing, this trend will probably still affect you – the tiny, salty fish are a key ingredient in the fishmeal that’s used to feed farmed seafood like salmon, shrimp, and oysters, meaning the anchovy supply struggle is likely to spill over into the $500 billion aquaculture industry, raising prices at dinner tables across the globe.

  • What’s causing the anchovy problem? The climate. This year, the planet is set to experience a climate phenomenon called El Niño, which causes changes in winds and sea surface temperatures across the globe. For anchovies, which are largely caught in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Peru, Ecuador, and Chile, those changes lead to lower nutrient levels in their local waters, in turn drastically lowering their populations.

  • In May, Peru instated a 15-day ban on anchovy fishing in order to protect their future, and that ban has turned into an indefinite ban on catching the tiny fish. As of late June, fishmeal prices have nearly doubled over the past year, reaching an all-time peak of $2,990 per metric ton. Downstream, experts project that farmed salmon prices could jump by 25% or higher.

Additional Reads

Peanut For Your Thoughts

You can read more about how El Nino affects anchovy populations here: An El Niño Fish Tale (Center for Science Education)

Editor + Writer: Marcus Gee-Lim

Designer: Joe Stella