Hasan Minhaj Curates For OZY

OZY is excited to welcome Hasan Minhaj, the famed comedian, actor and Daily Show senior correspondent, to curate today’s Presidential Daily Brief. The California native recently debuted a hit special on Netflix, Homecoming King, was the featured speaker at the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner and will be taking the stage at OZY Fest this month in Central Park. Minhaj joins the ranks of past curators like Bill Gates, Condoleezza Rice, Jason Derulo and Von Miller to share his take on today’s must-know news.

President Trump has said once again that due process for illegal immigrants is “too time-consuming.” As with most issues for Trump, if it’s too complex, it should be squashed completely — not unlike a seventh grader who throws his math binder out the window rather than work on a problem set. Except these aren’t algebra problems; they are people seeking asylum. Now Trump’s rejection of due process for illegal immigrants is undermining his own party’s attempt at immigration reform, and, to the surprise of no one, Sarah Huckabee Sanders defends every last bit of this!

A Muslim and a Jew ride a tandem bike together. This is both the setup to one of my first jokes I tried at open mic, and also something that happened in Berlin last weekend. Jews and Muslims congregated in Germany to take a symbolic bike ride against the increasing levels of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia growing with the far-right nationalist movement in Germany. This interfaith cycle tour was a show of both unity between the two minorities and a sense of belonging to the Bratwurst capital of the world.

With the retirement of swing justice Anthony Kennedy from the Supreme Court on Wednesday, President Trump has been handed a chance to reshape the nation’s highest court for years to come. Kennedy’s departure has progressives reeling, especially since the Democrats do not have the numbers in the Senate to stop or slow down the confirmation process. So what is their next move? Well, as I told Trevor Noah on The Daily Show the other night, not all is lost: perhaps it’s time for Democrats to think outside the box and try filibustering the Senate lunch line or maybe changing the Wi-Fi password?

Know This: Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators turned out at rallies across the nation protesting child detention and U.S. “zero tolerance” immigration policy. President Trump tweeted Saturday that Saudi Arabia has agreed to produce more oil to lower crude prices, but the Saudi government refuses to confirm such a pledge. And a search for 12 boys and their soccer coach has resumed in a cave in Thailand now that flooding has eased.

Shell Game: “North Korean officials are exploring ways to deceive Washington about the number of nuclear warheads and missiles, and the types and numbers of facilities they have…” — a Washington Post report on new evidence backing an earlier Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that doubts North Korea’s sincerity regarding its pledge to give up its nuclear arsenal.

Knocked Out: “He had given everything - providing two assists in an encounter full of passion and drama - but it was not enough.” — postmortem on Lionel Messi leaving World Cup play after his Argentine team lost to France yesterday, along with fellow superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, whose Portuguese side fell to Uruguay.

As a new dad, I feel the role technology plays in our kids’ lives is important. And it’s becoming clearer that Amazon’s Alexa and other smart speakers may be teaching our kids inappropriate ways to communicate with real-life humans. “Alexa, play Taylor Swift now!” OZY’s Tracy Moran argues that despite the obvious negative impacts that technology has on children, there is a future in which smart technology helps us parent. Potential abilities would include enforcing good manners, refusing access to entertainment during homework time and blocking anything above a PG-13 rating. But when will they be able to change diapers?

LeBron James is a free agent! And he’s playing it cool this time. James has said he’s not interested in the extravagant team pitches like the ones he got when he was last on the market. Is that because he’s already made up his mind about where he’s going? Or has he really outgrown the hype? Not to worry, LeBron — I’m sure there won’t be 8,437,789 hours of analysis on this.

We millennials are getting old. Our age range is 22 to 37, which means we are now full-time adults working part-time jobs. Millennials are often considered the most “entitled” generation, but the research shows that we have fewer economic opportunities than our parents. And even though we are accused of being lazy, we came of age with the collapse of the housing and job markets and were patient zero in the spread of smartphone culture. As we approach middle age and transition to becoming the largest voting bloc in the country, millennials are, thankfully, becoming more in charge of our own fates.

Marvel and Star Wars might be taking the spotlight these days, but Pokémon is king. Reports show that Pokémon is the highest-grossing franchise of all time, earning $59.1 billion since 1995. Following Pokémon are Star Wars, Hello Kitty and Harry Potter. It’s only a matter of time before Charizard gets his own solo movie, no doubt rocketing Pokémon to a solid $60 billion.

This World Cup, Senegal delivered an awesome victory over Poland, despite being one of the poorest countries in the world. It’s only the second time Senegal has ever been in the tournament. In 2002, they upset France and many members of that team have stuck around, including Aliou Cisse, who is the only Black coach in this World Cup and likely the ninth Black manager in the tournament ever, helping the team to overturn the “Eurocentric lens” through which the World Cup is viewed. They’re out of the tournament after losing to Colombia, but I hope they’ll be back before another 16 years go by.