Welcome to Stack the Week for Monday, July 20
The daily experiment continues. Thank you for the subscriptions, the feedback, the emails, and the notes. And those Apple podcast reviews help introduce us to a wider audience.
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So here we go, with what mattered today:
Seventeen, and Twenty Ships
The Pentagon on Monday identified First Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, as the latest Americans killed in the war with Iran. Both were killed in an Iranian attack on a U.S. air base in Jordan.
The U.S. military death toll in the Iran war now stands at 17. That number includes a service member who was killed in Iraq while conducting a “controlled detonation” of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone.
Approximately 430 American personnel have been injured in the war, according to Reuters. The Pentagon is no longer regularly publishing a cumulative wounded count and has also withheld details about earlier attacks in Jordan that reportedly injured dozens and damaged helicopters.
The Pentagon is also no longer regularly publishing the number of Iranian sites struck each day. Its last major public briefing on the war was in early May.
The Pentagon provided frequent, televised briefings during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, despite limited independent battlefield access.
Operational security may explain some of the current silence, but it also makes it harder to measure losses against a clearly articulated objective. With fewer official details, it becomes harder for the public and their elected representatives to evaluate the human and financial costs of the war. Recent polling finds most Americans now say the Iran war was a mistake and want it ended as soon as possible, with opposition to continued strikes running well ahead of support.
U.S. strikes are headed into their consecutive 9th day. “We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that,” a U.S. official told The Washington Post, as dwindling air-defense and long-range munitions and battle damage constrained plans for a wider Iran war.
Here’s the Hormuz count. Roughly 130 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz each day before the war. Just 20 passed over the weekend; 18 used the corridor mandated by Iran.
Last week there was a debate about who controlled the strait. The behavior of the ships suggests that the limited number of vessels still making the passage are largely following Iran’s rules.
Yemen’s Houthis announced a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, specifically threatening Saudi shipping between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, according to the Associated Press. Saudi Arabia has been using its East–West Pipeline to send oil to the Red Sea and bypass Hormuz; threats near the Red Sea’s southern gateway therefore place additional pressure on the kingdom’s principal workaround.
AAA listed the national average for regular gasoline over $4. Gas rose to $4.50 in May and fell below $4 in June.
The consequences are not confined to American pump prices: Associated Press reporting from northern Nigeria found families skipping meals as petrol costs jumped and food prices followed, including one father who lost his taxi income and watched his 18-month-old daughter relapse into malnutrition. UNICEF warned that continued war could push as many as 23.4 million additional children into monetary poverty by year’s end, with at least 80 percent of them in Africa and Asia.
Ukraine and Russia Attack
Ukraine and Russia opened the week with another demonstration that the war’s air campaign is becoming broader, faster and harder for either side to contain. Ukraine launched hundreds of drones toward Moscow from late Sunday into Monday. According to the Russians, most were intercepted far from the capital and 85 near it. Regional officials reported 10 people wounded and damage to homes and civilian infrastructure. Ukraine said its targets included logistics sites, an oil depot and vessels linked to Russia’s sanctions-evading “shadow fleet.”
The assault followed a major Russian bombardment of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Russia is using more ballistic missiles, which travel at supersonic speed and leave civilians and air defenses only minutes to react. The Institute for the Study of War says Russia has already fired more ballistic missiles in July than it reportedly produces in a month, suggesting Moscow may be drawing down stockpiles. Ukraine, unable to match Russia missile for missile, is exploiting increasingly capable long-range drones against a vast territory that is difficult to defend.
Ukrainian strikes this weekend hit warehouses operated by Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce marketplace, causing a fire that burned for two days and was visible in satellite imagery. The episode undercuts the Kremlin’s effort to insulate ordinary Russians from the war.
Record Student-loan defaults
Student borrowers are still feeling the pain of the pandemic. About 9.5 million people—roughly one in five federal borrowers—are in default, with $233.3 billion unpaid. That appears to be a record high for federal student‑loan defaults, and the numbers have been climbing rather than stabilizing. The default population has jumped from 5.3 million since borrowers again became eligible to default in June 2025, after a one‑year “on‑ramp” gave them a buffer while payments restarted. During the pandemic, most federal borrowers were allowed to stop paying for more than three years without going delinquent or defaulting, and interest did not accrue.
For borrowers, those numbers translate into missed rent, postponed medical bills and the feeling that the degree they were told would unlock the middle class has instead locked them out of it.
The Trump administration has eliminated SAVE, the most generous income‑based repayment plan, and is moving borrowers into a much simpler but less forgiving setup with one flat payment plan and one income‑based plan. In practice, that means many people who were shielded by very low or even zero payments under SAVE will be shifted into plans that demand more money each month and offer fewer ways to cap or reduce what they owe over time.
Another 1.4 million borrowers were already late enough in March to be at risk of default within six months, suggesting the default total may not be the peak. As defaults spread, borrowers lose access to credit or pay more for it, which can mean fewer car purchases, delayed home‑buying and less money circulating in the local economies that depend on their spending.
The damage is concentrated. Mississippi’s default rate is 28.3 percent, and Southern states cluster near the top, with Puerto Rico’s rate higher than any state. Borrowers who attended for‑profit colleges are faring worst: about a third are at least 90 days behind, more than twice the rate among borrowers from public institutions. For‑profit schools tend to enroll more low‑income and first‑generation students, charge higher prices and deliver weaker job outcomes, leaving graduates and dropouts with more debt and less income to repay it.
For many borrowers, this shows up first as credit damage and growing delinquency; for those who fall into default, it can eventually mean wage or Social Security garnishment when collections resume. The system was built on the promise that borrowing for college is a ticket into the American middle class. A record default count, concentrated in poorer states and among for‑profit students, is a sign that promise is breaking down for many of the people who needed it most.
Burnham Takes Over
Britain’s prime minister runs the world’s fifth‑largest economy and a major nuclear power. Decisions from No. 10 change how Britain taxes, spends and regulates. They also affect global markets, NATO planning and arguments over populism, immigration and inequality. When that job changes hands, it can change how a key U.S. ally treats energy, trade, finance and security—and how other democracies think about their own politics.
Today, that power formally passed to Andy Burnham. Keir Starmer went to Buckingham Palace to resign, and King Charles asked Burnham to form a government. As we’ve told you before, Labour had already picked Burnham as its next leader; today is the constitutional handoff that makes it official. Burnham then walked into 10 Downing Street for the first time as prime minister, promised a new 10‑year plan for Britain and said he wants to put “life’s essentials” like housing and basic services back under public control.
He promises to tackle Britain’s cost‑of‑living crisis with changes people would feel quickly: cheaper bus fares, more help with household bills and relief for renters who have seen costs jump. When he talks about giving local governments more authority—devolution—he means shifting decisions on housing, transport, schools and local investment out of London and into city regions and towns, backed by a new “Number 10 North” office in Manchester, meant to give the regions a direct line into the center of government. And when he calls for greater public control of buses and water, he is talking about moving some services out of purely private hands, with tighter public oversight and, in some cases, public ownership of struggling utilities such as Thames Water.
He inherits slow growth, high public debt, strained public services and the lingering effects of Brexit, Britain’s 2020 exit from the European Union. Burnham also faces Reform UK, Nigel Farage’s anti‑immigration party, which is drawing voters from both Labour and the Conservatives. The question is whether he can scale up what worked for him in Manchester—and whether voters accept the costs once he explains how he plans to pay for his ideas.
Congo Ebola: Still Bad
Congo’s health ministry says the country’s Ebola outbreak is not just growing; it is accelerating. The official death toll has risen to at least 930, with 37 deaths in a single 24‑hour span from Friday into Saturday, one of the highest daily totals since the outbreak was declared in mid‑May.
A little caveat which will sound familiar from the Covid days. WHO says part of the sharp numerical increase reflects expanded surveillance, testing and diagnostic capacity, and that some newly reported cases and deaths may come from a specimen backlog. Even with better detection, officials say the trend line is still bad: more cases, more deaths and an outbreak spreading faster than they can trace.
Head Start Restrictions
Head Start is supposed to be one of the cleanest promises the government makes to poor children: before kindergarten, before the achievement gap hardens, before family poverty becomes school failure, the country gives them a better start.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering a rule that would change that bargain. Under the draft described by The Bulwark, Head Start could be restricted based on a parent’s immigration status, even when the child is a U.S. citizen. That turns a preschool program into an immigration checkpoint.
The moral question is not complicated: if a four-year-old is poor enough to qualify, should the government ask whether her parents have the right papers before letting her learn letters, numbers, songs and how to sit in a classroom?
Paramount-Warner Pause
A federal judge has put the Paramount-Warner deal on hold for at least two weeks, giving a coalition of states time to press its antitrust case.
That sounds like a media-business story, but the stakes are larger than who owns which studio logo. This is about whether a shrinking number of companies will control more of what Americans watch, stream, buy and remember. The states argue the merger would kill competition; the companies argue scale is the only way to survive in the streaming economy.
The useful frame is: Hollywood says it needs bigness to compete. The states say bigness is the problem.
NYC ICE Fire
A man is in custody after a fire was set outside a federal building in New York City that houses immigration offices, authorities said. Officials did not immediately report any injuries or major damage, and the blaze was quickly brought under control. Investigators are looking into the suspect’s motive and whether the building’s role in immigration enforcement was a factor. The site includes offices for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Cyclospora Trail
The cyclospora story was already messy enough.
Health officials were investigating a Taco Bell‑linked outbreak and tested shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, a supplier in central Mexico. A sample first came back positive for the parasite, then the FDA said that particular test was a false positive and withdrew it.
That does not mean the whole case collapsed. Investigators still say the pattern of illnesses points toward shredded iceberg lettuce as the most likely source, even if one key test result did not hold up. The Taco Bell outbreak is the confirmed restaurant cluster. The lab result changed, but the basic suspicion did not.
As we mentioned Friday, the larger summer cyclospora numbers include many other cases that may have different sources.
The Spain Way
Spain won the World Cup, which you of course know by now, but what you may not know is just how dominant Spain has become. Its men’s team now has another World Cup to go with recent European titles, the women’s team are reigning world champions, and Spanish youth teams keep reaching and winning finals. Across age groups and genders, Spain is not a one‑off Cinderella story; it is one of the sport’s new superpowers.
I don’t know soccer the way a tactics nerd does, but here’s the conventional wisdom about why Spain is so good. First, there is a clear “Spain way” of playing—keep the ball, pass quickly, press when they lose it, and make decisions as a unit instead of relying on solo runs. Players learn that style in club academies and youth national teams, so when they reach the senior sides they already fit into the pattern. Second, Spanish clubs invest heavily in those academies, which turn out lots of technically gifted players rather than just one or two stars per generation. Third, the federation and clubs coordinate closely, so backups can slot in without changing how the team plays. Put together, that system keeps producing winning teams long after any single star ages out.
Five Cups of Coffee Please
It can be hard to remember where we are in the cycle of coffee is good for you, coffee isn’t good for you. But according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement reported by Axios and others, up to five 8-ounce cups of coffee a day, about 400 milligrams of caffeine, is generally safe for most adults.
Moderate intake is linked with lower risk of cardiovascular disease, heart failure, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. The likely helpers are not just caffeine but coffee’s other compounds, including polyphenols, which may affect inflammation and metabolism.
But the blessing is for coffee, not dessert pretending to be coffee. Sugar, cream, syrups and high-calorie add-ins can wipe out the upside. And the AHA draws a bright line between coffee and energy drinks, where high caffeine doses and other stimulants can raise heart risks.
So the clean takeaway is: if coffee agrees with you, you probably do not need to feel guilty about it. The sweet spot is roughly three to five cups.
We’re just going to believe this and not listen to the next study that contradicts it.
The Museum of Endangered Sounds
If you are of a certain age, I am sorry. Or maybe not. Perhaps you feel the golden glow of experience and life’s sweet progression. But that’s not really the point. If you are of a certain age, you felt the special jolt that came from the scream of a dial-up modem. In my case it meant the file I was sending as a Time magazine reporter from somewhere on the road was one step closer to making it to New York. It was the sound of progress, though it was, by itself, a nuisance sound without that connotation.
You can visit this sound in the only place it will be in not too long: The Museum of Endangered Sounds, created by Brendan Chilcutt. You can visit it at savethesounds.info. This is not a new thing, but it was new to me and I don’t need no stinking badges.
The site preserves the noises that used to organize ordinary life: the scream of a dial-up modem, the chatter of a dot-matrix printer, the Nokia ringtone, the mechanical bite of a typewriter, the rewind of a cassette tape, the click and whirr of machines that once told you the world was working.
The old world made a sound when it did something. A phone rang like a bell. A camera snapped. A register opened. A coffee percolator bubbled and hissed and announced that morning was assembling itself in the kitchen. Now the same actions happen silently, behind glass, inside sealed devices, as if modern life has been put on mute.
These old sounds were proof of how work felt, how waiting felt, how rooms sounded before everything became frictionless. The museum says: listen closely, because the soundtrack of your life is being retired while you are still living it.
