Funerals, Fireworks, and Fun: Your July 5th Rundown

MayaMorning, everybody. Welcome to the morning rundown.

DavidSaturday, July 4th, a big one. Hope you got your coffee.

MayaI've got my tea, actually. Third cup already.

DavidOf course you do. Okay, so today's a lot. Iran is beginning a six-day funeral for Khamenei, and the succession question is wide open.

MayaWait-six days!

DavidSix days-we'll get into it.

MayaMeanwhile Ukraine is hitting oil terminals near St. Petersburg and the Pope's spending his Fourth in Lampedusa,

DavidWow.

Mayanot DC

DavidAnd DC had its own mess-heat, a rally on the Mall, and groups marching that frankly don't deserve air time.

MayaOh, and Philly's got a PECO strike, too, right in the middle of this heat wave.

DavidYeah, workers walked out this morning.

MayaRight.

DavidRough timing.

MayaThen later, Taylor and Travis's MSG wedding. Apparently there's an arcade in there somewhere.

DavidAn arcade, sure.

MayaPlus, Morocco's shocking the World Cup, Mbappe's chasing Messi's record, and Voyager 1 is still calling home after forty-nine years.

DavidForty-nine years. That's wild, right?

MayaIt really is. Alright, let's start where the headlines start.

DavidIran, Ukraine, and the Vatican, here we go.

MayaPicture this, the streets of Tehran packed wall to wall, and Iran's putting Khamenei's body on display for six straight days.

DavidYeah, Nasser Karimi and Jon Gambrell reported for AP that the funeral started Saturday and runs through Thursday when he's buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his hometown.

MayaAnd he's 86? Killed in an airstrike during the war, right?

DavidThat's right. The WSJ reported the same scene, crowds swelling across Tehran. On any man's government expecting millions in the streets before this is over.

MayaHmm.

Speaker 3Okay, but who actually takes over now?

DavidThat's the question nobody in Tehran says out loud. The Assembly of Experts picks the next Supreme Leader, and there's no obvious heir waiting.

Speaker 3Is there a front runner? I keep hearing his son's name floated.

DavidMojtaba's name comes up a lot, sure, but nothing's official, and the clerics don't love the idea of it staying in one family.

Speaker 3No way there's a clean handoff after somebody's run the country that long.

DavidRight-and you've got the Revolutionary Guard wanting control-a clerical

Speaker 4army with its own air force.

DavidThe Old Guard trying to hold the centre. Follow the money and the guns; whoever locks down the guard probably locks down the country.

Speaker 3So instability stacked on a country that just came out of a war.

DavidAnd that instability doesn't stay inside Iran's borders.

Speaker 3Speaking of borders getting crossed, Ukraine just hit oil terminals near St. Petersburg.

DavidLouis Oelofse covered it for DW: long range strikes, part of Ukraine's push to hurt Russia's economy and slow its war machine.

Speaker 3St. Petersburg though-that's deep, that's nowhere near the front line. That's the point; every strike that reaches further in sends a message: 'Nowhere in Russia is fully safe any more. Feels like every few weeks it's a new refinery or terminal.' It's been building all year; each one chips away at how easily Russia funds this. I mean, come on, that's a real shift from where this war even started. It is; the question is how much further Keith pushes before something actually changes on the ground. Switching gears 'cause this next one actually got me. Go ahead. Pope Leo the Fourteenth. spent the Fourth of July at Lampedusa. Praying at the cemetery for migrants who died trying to reach Europe.

DavidHeavy way to spend America's two hundred fiftieth birthday, if you're the first American Pope.

Speaker 3Right? And AP's Nicole Winfield and Andrea Rosa reported the Vatican confirmed he later visited the U.S. ambassador that same day.

DavidSo one day, prayers for people who died chasing freedom, then a stop with the ambassador representing the country built on that idea.

Speaker 3It's such a contrast to the politics back here on the same day. AND

DavidYeah. Quiet moment, big symbolism, and barely anyone noticed next to everything else going on stateside.

Speaker 3And on that note, can we address the Patriot Front thing real quick?

DavidHundreds of masked members marched a Confederate flag through D.C. on the 4th, per the Guardian's Gloria Oladipo. That's embarrassing, not patriotism.

Speaker 3Doesn't represent anybody who actually showed up for the fireworks that night.

DavidEvery year, some fringe group tries to hijack the holiday for attention.

Speaker 3And every year, the answer's the same. Ignore the flag; focus on the fireworks.

DavidAgreed. Moving on.

Speaker 3Because despite the heat and a labor strike back home?

DavidThe mood on the National Mall was something else entirely.

Speaker 3So what made this Fourth feel different?

MayaLet's talk about D.C. hitting triple digits during President Trump's 250th speech on the National Mall?

DavidReuters framed it as a campaign-style rally, but I watched the same footage and just saw a packed mall for the country's birthday.

MayaRight? NPR noted he drifted from American exceptionalism into warnings about communism at one point. Quite a range for one speech.

DavidGuy can't stand one track for five minutes, but the crowd stuck it out through a real weather scare.

Speaker 3Yeah, BBC reported officials actually evacuated the mall for a severe storm warning before he even got to the podium.

DavidAnd the Washington Post framed the whole day as marked by division: white supremacists on one side, activists on the other.

Speaker 3I get why that's a story, but from what I saw, most of that mall was just families with flags, not a culture war.

DavidFair point: the crowd on that mall dwarfed either protest by a mile. Two loud groups don't make the whole day divided.

Speaker 3Meanwhile, Phillies-

MayaWHYY has got its own holiday headache. WHYY reported PECO workers went on strike right as the heat wave landed.

DavidWages and benefits for that report, Rough timing, a heat wave and the power company on strike.

MayaNot ideal.

DavidNBC actually pulled its whole parade. NPR said organizers scrapped it Friday night over warning for up to 115 degrees.

MayaWait, no parade at all? But the fireworks stayed on?

DavidYep, and follow the planning side: Permits, marching bands, road closures. That's locked in weeks out, so canceling same day means real cost already spent.

MayaWhereas fireworks are one vendor in a barge, way easier to just hold the show and light it later that night.

DavidExactly. Cheaper call, safer call. Not a sign anybody dropped the ball, just math.

MayaThat makes sense. Honestly, fireworks over a sweaty mall after a day like that feels more American. American, not less.

DavidMessy, hot, and still showing up. That tracks for a 250th.

MayaOkay, I think we both need a break from politics and heat indexes.

DavidAgreed. Good thing there's a wedding to talk about.

MayaOut with a wedding, let's go! Okay, palate cleanser. Let's talk about that wedding.

DavidFinally, something lighter.

MayaJack Brewster's piece for Yahoo has all the details from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding at Madison Square Garden, and I'm obsessed.

DavidWhat have we got?

MayaArcade games, a Just and Married sign, and, wait for it, an Adam Sandler cameo.

DavidOf course there's an Adam Sandler cameo. That guy shows up everywhere. Where?

MayaRight? Guests leaked the little details, but the couple kept the rest locked down.

DavidMakes sense, given how much attention follows them.

MayaTotally. Okay, speaking of things nobody saw coming,

DavidPlease tell me this connects.

Mayait does. NASA just launched an emergency mission to save a satellite from crashing to Earth, and it's literally called the Swift Observatory.

DavidWait, seriously? Named Swift?

MayaI know! The Verge's Terrence O'Brien reported NASA teamed up with a couple. up with a company called Katalyst Space Technologies, and they pulled the rescue together in nine months.

DavidNine months for a satellite save. That's fast for anything government-related.

MayaThe Swift Observatory needed saving the same week Swift got married. I didn't plan that one. The universe did.

DavidNoted. All right, over to soccer. Morocco just punched their ticket to the World Cup quarterfinals.

MayaYeah, saw that.

DavidAl Jazeera had Azzedine Ounahi scoring two of three second-half goals in a... win a three nil win over Canada, ending the co host's run.

MayaRough way for Canada to go out hosting and getting knocked out.

DavidSame round, Kylian Mbappe scored his nineteenth career World Cup goal off a penalty against Paraguay per AP's Dan Gelston.

MayaNineteen? Isn't that close to the record?

DavidOne behind Messi, nineteen goals in nineteen World Cup appearances. That's a ridiculous strike rate.

MayaThat's insane consistency.

DavidKeep that pace up, and he's got the record locked up soon.

MayaOkay, last one, just for fun, Voyager 1.

DavidOh, I love this one.

MayaSpace Daily reported it launched back in 1977, and it's so far out now that a radio signal at light speed takes over twenty-two hours to reach it.

DavidTwenty-two hours, one way.

MayaAnd it's still sending data back from interstellar space, running on a power source about the size of a- Because of a car battery.

DavidForty-nine years old and still phoning home on basically a car battery. Meanwhile, my phone dies by 2 PM.

MayaSeriously. It left before either of us was born and it's still out there working.

DavidKind of wild what keeps going when you don't expect it to.

MayaAnd that's the rundown for today.

DavidYeah, from Iran's murky succession fight to Ukraine pushing strikes deeper into Russia, heavy start.

Speaker 3Definitely. But my favorite moment was pushing back on that divided framing of the Fourth. Most of what I saw was just families with flags.

DavidFair point. And Voyager One, still phoning home decades later, puts our heat wave complaints in perspective.

Speaker 3Right. All right, if you liked today's show, subscribe and leave us a review. It helps.

DavidIt does. Share with a friend who needs their morning news.

Speaker 3We're back tomorrow.

DavidThanks for listening, everyone.

Speaker 3See you then.