America At 250: Mo News Community Weighs In; Funeral For Iran’s Slain Leader; Female American Rower Breaks Record; Taylor & Travis Say “I Do”

**Jill Wagner** (0:00)
We're recording today out of our Industrious office in New York City, which is perfect for a team like ours because Industrious takes care of everything, so we can focus on bringing you the news.

**Mosheh Oinounou** (0:12)
Yes, we recently moved to the co-working space Industrious. They have locations around New York and around the world. We have an office in Manhattan. We've also turned one of the offices into a podcast studio where Jill and I record the podcast.

**Jill Wagner** (0:23)
And while we're working on putting it together, I love the snacks. They're complimentary, you've got all-day coffee.

**Mosheh Oinounou** (0:30)
They have special treats on a day-to-day basis, every morning and every afternoon. Sometimes it basically serves as your breakfast. I've obviously used the office in New York, but whenever I'm on the road, I make sure to look up if there's an Industrious there. So I've used it in DC, I've used it in Indianapolis. It is a great co-working space, and we have a special deal for all of you. I said, check it out and see if it's a place where you just want to work out of individually, if you need a break, or if you want to move your office there. Right now, we have a special deal going with Industrious. We're offering 50% off for first time day pass for all users, if you need a meeting room, if you need office space or again, just a desk in the open space, head over to mo.news.industrious. When you see these beautiful spaces in person, you'll see what we mean. Again, mo.news.industrious. Book a tour or use it for the day, 50% off.

**Jill Wagner** (1:15)
Hey everyone, it is Monday, July 6th. You are listening to the Mo News podcast. I am Jill Wagner. This is the place where we bring you just the facts. We read all the news and read between the lines so you don't have to. I hope everyone had a really nice holiday weekend. As you could tell, it is just me today. And starting quickly with some huge soccer news, particularly for the American team in a stunning twist ahead of tonight's round of 16 match against Belgium. The FIFA disciplinary committee on Sunday said that the US men's national team striker, Flo Balogun, is eligible to play. So this is a big deal. He is the team's top scorer. Now on Thursday, he got a red card in that game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was sent off in the 64th minute after stepping on the ankle of one of the Bosnian defenders. So usually a red card means that you have a one game suspension and that would have taken him out of tonight's game. But FIFA suspended that automatic one game ban under Article 27 of their disciplinary code, which allows suspensions to be put on probation for a year.
So that means the suspension will only be enforced if Balogun commits a similar offense in that time period. A similar ruling, by the way, was made for Cristiano Ronaldo in the World Cup qualifiers last year. So Team USA plays tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern time. They'll be playing in Seattle. The White House reportedly called FIFA's president to review Balogun's red card, and President Trump praised FIFA's decision on social media Sunday. Now, if you're not familiar with Balogun, he is technically an American citizen, and he's able to play for Team USA because of birthright citizenship. Of course, that's something President Trump has been fighting, but the Supreme Court last week upheld birthright citizenship. And what happened in Balogun's case is his mom was actually seven months pregnant with him back in 2001 She was visiting New York City. She's Nigerian, but was living in England. But the airline wouldn't let her fly because she was so pregnant. So Balogun was born in New York on July 3rd, actually. And that is how he is an American citizen, allowing him to play for the United States. He grew up in London, but he chose to play for the United States in this World Cup.
OK, now to the headlines, starting off with the big America 250 celebrations this past weekend, from the record heat to the record breaking firework display in DC., a historic weekend.
Also, we asked, you answered, a look at how Americans are feeling as the country turns 250 To Iran, millions flooded the streets to mourn Iran's late supreme leader, four months after he was killed at the start of the US and Israeli military operation in Iran. But there was one very notable person missing from the multi-day funeral procession. Back here in the US., a 32-year-old American just rode into the record books after becoming the first American woman and the fastest person ever to row solo from California to Hawaii. More on her historic journey. To China, a story about how President Xi has been emulating communist leaders like Stalin and Mao as a way to keep power. To a story about the way we live. Some new data shows Americans are socializing a whole lot less, and this is across age groups. Why it matters.