Heat, Heroes, and Headlines: America Turns 250

Maya: Morning, everybody. Happy almost Fourth of July. David: Happy Fourth. Yeah, I hope you've got the AC cranking because it is brutal out there. Maya: Seriously, we're talking parades canceled in D.C. and Philly because of the heat and President Trump's heading to Mount Rushmore tonight for fireworks. David: Oh, and get this. NPR ran a poll and a ton of Americans can't even say what the 250th is actually celebrating. Maya: Wait, really? We'll get into that. David: Then we're jumping overseas. Russia's claiming a major battlefield win in eastern Ukraine. Right as Kyiv is burying people from its worst strike of the year. Maya: Heavy stuff, but Ukraine's not sitting still either. There's a whole campaign happening in Crimea we'll touch on. David: Plus Iran laying Khamenei to rest with huge crowds in Tehran. Maya: And then some fun. Egypt just knocked out Australia on penalties, so now it's Salah versus Messi. David: And Cape Verde almost ended Argentina's whole World Cup run. Maya: Wild morning. Let's get moving, starting with the heat wave back home. Come. Happy 4th, everybody! Though I gotta say, D.C. is not having the best birthday morning. David: Yeah, what happened? Maya: So WJLA's Robert Locklear reported the Independence Day parade in Washington just got canceled. Straight up canceled because of the heat. David: Wait, the actual parade on the actual 4th? Maya: Yep. And CBS News out of Baltimore says it's not just D.C. Triple-digit highs across Maryland today and tomorrow. First Alert Weather days. Plus a real chance of storms rolling in this weekend. David: That's brutal. So basically half the East Coast is grilling indoors this year. Maya: I'm sitting here with iced coffee just sweating through the cup and I feel that in my soul. Philly pulled their Salute to Independence Parade too, according to the AP. David: Okay, so it's not just one city being cautious, that's a pattern. Maya: Right. Meanwhile, the show's still going on elsewhere. Trump's heading to Mount Rushmore tonight for a speech and fireworks. That's... That's from the AP's Steven Sloan and Steve Peoples. David: And they're doing a ball drop at Times Square at midnight, too, which is such a weird flex for July. Maya: It is like New Year's Eve but sweaty. David: I mean, credit to the country for pushing through a heat dome to mark 250 years, but here's the thing, though. Do people actually know what they're celebrating? Maya: What do you mean? David: NPR's Chloe Veltman covered a new poll, and it found nearly half of Americans surveyed can't say what America 250 actually commemorates. Rates. Maya: Wait, really? Half? David: Yeah, not the parade, not the fireworks, the actual anniversary, the Declaration of Independence, 1776, the thing we're all standing in the heat for. Maya: That's wild, right? I mean, we know the vibes, flags, cookouts, but the substance kind of slips. David: And I don't think that's a gotcha on anybody, it's more like a chance to say it out loud. 250 years since a bunch of colonies told the most powerful empire on Earth, no thanks, we'll govern ourselves. Maya: When you put it that way, it hits different than a hot dog eating contest. test. David: Sure, keep the hot dogs, but maybe read one paragraph of the Declaration between fireworks. Maya: Homework on a holiday. Love that for us. David: I'm just saying, the poll's a decent excuse. Maya: Fair. So, heat records, parades getting scrapped, a President in South Dakota and a country that loves the party more than the syllabus. David: And honestly, while we're out here grilling and watching fireworks, there's a lot happening overseas that's not getting the holiday off. Maya: Yeah. What's going on? Okay, so while we're sweating out parade heat here, over in Ukraine the ground actually shifted this week. David: Yeah, Russia's defense ministry told Putin directly they've taken Kostiantynivka. Reuters reported that today. Maya: Wait, that's a real city, not just some village? David: It's been a target for Moscow and Donetsk for a long time, so this is nothing. Maya: And while that's happening, Kyiv's mourning something awful. Reuters says it's the deadliest strike of the year. David: The AP put a number on it, at least 30 killed Thursday. day rescuers are still going through the rubble and Maya: Thirty people on a random Thursday morning. David: that's just the headline number Reuters called it the deadliest attack on Kyiv all year flat out and Maya: Yeah, David: Maya: that's a low bar nobody wants to clear. David: here's what I keep asking why escalate now when Russia's own fuel supply is falling apart the Maya: Didn't Putin say something about that? David: AP quotes him calling the shortages not critical meanwhile Ukraine's hit Russian refineries 50 times since March March for that same reporting. Maya: 50 times? David: 50 plus. That's the other half of the story. Ukraine's not displaying defense anymore. Maya: Yeah, I saw the New York Times piece on that. Marc Santora and his team are calling it a real campaign in Crimea. David: Air defenses, supply lines, the energy grid, fuel depots. Maya: Wow. David: They're going after all of it. Maya: So Ukraine's actually taking the fight somewhere Russia thought was safe. David: Basically. Crimea's been Russian-controlled since 2014. Not exactly stable ground for Putin's forces anymore. Maya: So the map's actually changing here, not just the death toll. David: Worth noting, analysts quoted in that AP piece say Russian ground troops have stalled for months, so Putin's making up for it with strikes on cities instead of gains on a map. Maya: Which means more nights like Thursday for Kyiv. David: And taxpayers here should care too. Every aid package, every shipment, that's real money with no clean end date attached. Maya: Also worth saying, none of that support has stopped strikes like Thursday's from happening. David: No, it hasn't. That's the uncomfortable part nobody likes saying out loud. Maya: Fair. Nobody's pretending this is cheap or simple. David: Nope. Just asking what winning even looks like for anybody at this point. Maya: One more heavy one before we lighten up. Ron. David: Yeah, they buried Ayatollah Khamenei this week. Maya: The BBC's Aleks Phillips reported huge crowds gathering in Tehran. on his body lying in state at the Grand Mosalla. David: It's supposed to travel through Iran and into Iraq after, per that same report. Maya: Just a lot of grief piling up in one week, honestly. David: Yeah. Maya: Okay, on a totally different note, speaking of extreme heat messing with plans, it's not just our holiday parades. David: Oh yeah, the World Cup's dealing with it too. Maya: FIFA is actually talking about moving kickoff times because of it. David: All right, let's dig into that next. Stadium Heat's already producing some wild soccer anyway. Maya: Okay, shifting gears completely, we need to talk about this World Cup weekend because it delivered. David: Please, yes, give me something fun after that. Maya: So, Egypt takes on Australia one-one after extra time and it goes to penalties. Al Jazeera's got Hossam Abdelmaguid scoring the winning penalty as Egypt beat Australia four-two on penalties. David: And Salah didn't even need to be the hero, right? I heard he was off his game. Maya: Totally. Algeria hauled him off color, wasted the easy chances. Speaker 3: Didn't matter. Egypt threw anyway. David: So who do they get next? Speaker 3: Argentina. Messi. That's the matchup everybody wants now. David: Wait, Argentina almost didn't get there either, right? Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, yes. Cape Verde. First ever World Cup appearance and they take Messi's team to extra time. David: Gasp! How close? Speaker 3: Argentina needed an extra time own goal to beat Cape Verde 3-2 according to Al Jazeera. Cape Verde came from a goal down twice in front of a crowd of 64,478. David: For a team playing their first World Cup ever? That's absurd! Speaker 3: NPR had this detail I loved. Cape Verde's goalkeeper, Vozinha, just wanted his mom to see him play. He got a lot more than that. David: That's a nice one to hold onto this Morning. Speaker 3: Right? And there's another layer to the Egypt win. Their coach, Hossam Abdelmaguid, dedicated it to Palestine. David: Al Jazeera covered that too, fans in Gaza watching the match on screening set up against bombed buildings, celebrating anyway. Speaker 3: It's Wild how Football still cuts through everything else going on. David: It does—Football doesn't fix a war, but for ninety minutes people got to feel something else. Speaker 3: So next up: Salah versus Messi in the last sixteen, assuming Argentina gets past their next test. David: And don't sleep on the schedule drama either—the Athletic reported FIFA was considering moving kickoff times for Mexico-England and Brazil-Norway. Speaker 3: Because of weather, right? David: Yeah, flooding concerns at Estadio Azteca. They ended up keeping the original time, though. Speaker 3: Either way, we've got Salah versus Messi on the horizon and a bracket that's already been chaos all weekend. David: Should be a wild one to watch play out. Maya: Before we sign off, that poll about America 250 really got me thinking. David: Yeah, nearly half of Americans surveyed couldn't say what it actually commemorates. Maya: And I loved how you framed it, more like a chance to say it out loud. David: Exactly. Meanwhile, Kostiantynivka falling to Russian forces is a story we'll keep watching. Maya: Heavy stuff alongside the fireworks today. David: If you like the show, subscribe and leave us a review. It really helps us out. Maya: Thanks for hanging out this morning. David: Catch you tomorrow. Maya: Stay cool out there.