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With Progressive. It's easy to reach customer service with our app, website, chat, or by phone. Because when getting help is hard, it's not help at all.
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A little help, a little hope over here. Thank you for calling bench press assistance.
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What?
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Due to excessive gym volume, all available spotters are currently lifting heavy weights off the chests of other bench pressers. Seriously? Please continue to hold and we will remove the barbell from your chest in the order in which your cry for help was received.
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Getting assistance should be easy with Progressive. It is. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliate Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To be his health secretary. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Friday, November 15th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. RFK Jr. Suspended his independent run for the presidency in August in the hopes of winning a spot in a second Trump administration. And yesterday, Trump announced he wants Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and human services. The $2 trillion agency administers millions of Americans health insurance. It also approves drugs and medical supplies, regulates food, and responds to disease outbreaks. And it's responsible for the safety of vaccines. Kennedy is one of the country's most prominent vaccine skeptics. Public health experts and many Democrats characterized his nomination as alarming and unprecedented. Kennedy has said he wants to remove fluoride from tap water, target ultra processed foods and increase access to raw milk. And he has a history of promoting conspiracy theories. He's falsely linked vaccines to autism. He incorrectly suggested that AIDS may not be caused by the virus hiv. He has falsely argued that children's gender identity can be impacted by water. And he's claimed without evidence that 5G is used to control people's behavior. For a longer list of Kennedy's pet conspiracies, check out our newsletter today. There's a link to that in our show. Notes Number two, Trump defended his controversial picks for key government jobs. Last night, Trump delivered a speech to supporters at a glitzy gala at his Mar a Lago resort in Florida. And he seemed pretty undeterred by the stir his nominations have caused. In Washington, he heaped praise on several members of his cabinet. In waiting, he singled out Kennedy, Tulsi, Gabbard and Elon Musk. Here's what he said about Musk, the Tesla CEO who will be tasked with a new commission on cutting government spending.
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What a job he does. He's a great and he happens to be a really good guy. You know, he likes this place. I can't get him out of here. He just likes this place. And you know what? I like having him here too. He's good. He's done a fantastic job, really an incredible mind and he's unbelievable entrepreneur, sort of everything. I'm asking him, what do you do best? And we were not able to figure it out. But it's a lot of things.
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Trump's speech came on the heels of some more nominations and appointments. Yesterday, Trump appointed three lawyers from his criminal trials to top Justice Department jobs. That puts them in a position to oversee the federal prosecutors who brought two criminal cases against Trump. And he tapped North Dakota governor Doug Burgum to head the Department of Interior. Number three Tropical Storm Sarah could bring catastrophic flooding to Central America. Sarah made landfall in northern Honduras late yesterday. The storm is threatening to dump torrential rains across parts of Central America and southern Mexico. Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras will be hit by heavy rain this weekend that could lead to mudslides isolating some communities. Then next week the storm could reach Florida, but chances are decreasing of a direct impact there. It's also looking unlikely that the system will be anywhere near hurricane strength if it passes near the state. You can track the storm's path at a link in Today's newsletter. Number four a West Virginia police chief was accused of paying $100 to rape a teenager. This is the latest story in a series by the Post. It investigates police officers charged with sexually abusing children and the systemic failures that allow such crimes to occur. This case involves a West Virginia sheriff's deputy and police Chief, Larry Clay Jr. He was convicted in 2023 of sex trafficking a minor and of obstructing justice. He paid a woman to allow him to rape her 17 year old stepdaughter. He faces life in prison, but his sentencing has been delayed 12 times. Clay's case was unusual in that it went to trial at all. The Post has found that most law enforcement officers charged with child sexual abuse crimes take plea deals that frequently allows them to evade lengthy sentences and public reckonings over their crimes. The Onion won an auction to take control of infowars. That's our fifth story. The satirical news service made real news yesterday. It bought the site, founded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, at a private auction on Wednesday. For years, Infowars peddled false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting was a hoax. Jones was sued for defamation by families of the victims of that shooting, and he owed them roughly $1.5 billion in damages. Jones was forced to sell his assets as a result, including Infowars, the Onion has gained control of its website, archive, mailing list, production equipment and more. The company plans to relaunch Infowars in January. They say it will be a direct parody of Jones. The Onion's takeover also comes with a multi year agreement with the nonprofit group Everytown for Gun Safety. That organization, which advocates for gun control, will be the exclusive advertiser on the news site. Foreign Mike Tyson and Jake Paul will fight each other live on Netflix. After months of buildup, one of the most anticipated boxing matches of recent years is finally here. It takes place in Texas tonight. Tyson is the 58 year old former heavyweight champion and one of the greatest and most feared fighters of all time. He retired in 2005, although he returned in late 2020 for an exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr. That fight ended in a split decision draw. Tonight he'll take on Jake Paul, a 27 year old YouTuber turned boxer. So far, Paul has only really gotten in the ring with inexperienced, undistinguished or past their prime fighters. This fight was initially set for July, but it was delayed when Tyson had an ulcer flare up. We'll have to wait and see what kind of condition he's in tonight. In the buildup to the fight, 14 year old reporter Jazzy Guerra asked Tyson about what his legacy means to him. His answer got a little dark.
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It means absolutely nothing to me. I'm just passing through. I'm a die and it's going to be over. Who cares about a legacy after that with a big ego? So I'm a die. I want people to think that I'm this, I'm great. No, we're nothing. We have debt. We're dust. We're absolutely nothing. Our legacy is nothing.
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Well, thank you so much for sharing that. That is something that I have not heard before. Someone say that as an answer. If you want to watch the fight, the main card starts tonight at 8pm Eastern. If you want to make a quick buck from your car insurance company, there are some lessons to be learned from today's number seven. Four people were accused of using a bear costume in an insurance fraud case in California and they got caught. The suspects in this case said a bear had damaged their cars. They allegedly submitted fake videos and defrauded insurance companies of about $140,000. But when an expert reviewed the footage, it became clear that this was no bear. This was a human in disguise. For one thing, the bear seemed to have no trouble with a car door handle and it didn't leave behind any hair, saliva or urine, as bears often do. What's more, some photos of the damage showed a line of six scratch marks reportedly from the bear. But bears only have five toes. Most damning of all, detectives found a bear costume when searching the suspect's homes. You really need to see this costume, so go take a look at it in our newsletter. You know where to find that. It's in our show Notes. That's the show for this week. A special thank you to everyone who reached out about the pronunciation of PI con last Friday. It turns out that this word, like so many things, is not so black and white. It seems that how you say it depends on where you live. Ray is from south Texas, where they grow these troublesome nuts. He says pe con or even bucan. Mary is from Atlanta and South Carolina, and she says pecan. My colleague Brian says there are four correct pronunciations, but Donovan says his mother is adamant that a pecan is what a country girl kept under the bed. So maybe just follow your hearts this Thanksgiving, call it a pecan, a pecan, or whatever and I won't complain as long as it's delicious. The assistant producer of the seven is Taylor White. The staff writers are me and Jamie Ross. John Taylor is our editor. Additional editing and hosting this week from Christina Quinn. Special thanks to Claire Wallace. Copyediting is by Melissa Ngo and Thomas Haliba. Mixing and sound design is by Justin Gerrish and Jim Briggs, who did great work cutting out my laughter from item seven in Tuesday's episode this week. If you know, you know. Our theme music is by Edith Mudge. Renita Jablonski is our director of audio. I'm Hannah Jewell. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend. I'll meet you back here on Monday.
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