🌊 Did They Just Become Best Friends?

Bad week to be an Auntie Anne’s pretzel at a Delaware rest stop.

Per Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy this morning: “A record 82 MILLION people are traveling for Thanksgiving, by train, car, and plane. Tomorrow will be the busiest day with 52,000 flights ✈️ Make sure to get to the airport early, and thank your flight crews. And don’t forget to dress with respect!” Good thing he said nothing about dressing for respect for the road travelers. There’s no way I’m pulling up to the first Auntie Anne’s at a Delaware rest stop without my “Pelosi Capital Management” shirt and Squidward slippers.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Trump, Mamdani Meet at White House

President Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani met at the White House on Friday

• Trump criticized Mamdani during his mayoral campaign, calling him a communist and threatening to withhold federal funding from New York if he won. Mamdani, a democratic socialist who won the November election, previously referred to Trump as a despot and said the president had a fascist agenda

• On Friday, the two met on good terms, focusing their discussion on the cost of rent, groceries, and utilities in New York. Trump said he would feel comfortable living in New York under Mamdani's leadership and called him a rational person

• Trump also said he no longer expected to cut federal funding to New York City, which received nearly $10B in federal funds in fiscal year 2025

Dig Deeper 

• Trump and Mamdani agreed on a few issues, including housing affordability, reducing utility costs, and addressing the cost of living. The president said Mamdani shared ideas about building more homes and apartments that aligned with his own views

• Trump said some of his own voters supported Mamdani in the election, with the mayor-elect saying that one in 10 of his voters had voted for Trump

• The two said they still disagree on immigration policy, though Trump expressed confidence they would work together on keeping New York safe

KEY STORY

Marjorie Taylor Greene Resigns From Congress

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) announced she would resign from Congress

• Greene was elected to Congress in 2020 and became one of the most prominent voices in the MAGA movement. Her relationship with Trump deteriorated in recent months, though, with Trump calling Greene a "traitor" for supporting the release of the Epstein files. A week before her resignation, Trump announced that he would support a primary challenger against her

• On Friday, Greene announced her resignation, saying she refused to be a "battered wife" and did not want her district to endure a primary fight against a Trump-backed opponent. She also predicted that Republicans would lose the 2026 midterm elections and criticized Congress for being ineffective

Dig Deeper 

• Trump initially called her resignation "great news for the country," though on Saturday, he pivoted to say that he hoped Greene would later return to her political career

• A person close to Greene told outlets that she believed she could have won reelection, but chose to resign due to ongoing threats and harassment targeting her and her children

• Greene's resignation will leave Republicans with a vacant seat until a special election, expected in March, further narrowing their slim House majority

KEY STORY

US, Ukraine Negotiate Peace Plan in Geneva

US and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva on Sunday to discuss a peace plan to end the war with Russia

• President Trump proposed a 28-point peace plan that includes terms requiring Ukraine to relinquish territory, cut the size of its military, and drop efforts to join NATO. Ukrainian and European officials raised concerns that the plan favored Russia and was drafted without their input

• On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian officials held discussions about the plan. Afterwards, Rubio told reporters the talks were productive and that changes would be made to the plan to reach a solution both countries were comfortable with

• Trump set a Thanksgiving (Thursday) deadline for Ukraine to approve the plan, warning that Ukraine would have to continue fighting without American aid if it rejected the deal, however, it’s unclear if the ultimatum will be enforced

Dig Deeper 

• European officials have also prepared their own modified version of the plan, which pushes back on limits to Ukraine's military and territorial concessions. The European Commission President said Ukraine's borders "cannot be changed by force" and that the European Union must have a central role in any peace deal

• The US plan would require Ukraine to agree to caps on its military and relinquish land that Russia does not currently control, both seen as pro-Russia, non-starters in Ukraine.

• The demands come at a difficult moment for Ukraine, with Russian forces advancing on the battlefield and Ukrainian infrastructure damaged by ongoing attacks

ROCA’S SPONSOR
Browse Like It's Y2K

Together with Surfshark

Remember when "pop-ups" meant toys, not annoying ads? Back when the only thing tracking you was your neighbor's nosy cat? Today's internet is loud, cluttered, and secretly collecting your data

• CleanWeb from Surfshark is the digital bouncer you never knew you needed. It blocks ads, trackers, and malware. Just one install, and boom – pages load faster, creepy banners disappear, and your browsing feels like the internet used to: Clean, simple, and yours

• Roca readers can get it now for just $1.99/month (87% off), plus enjoy 3 extra months free

QUOTE OF THE DAY

KEY STORY

Trump Ends Protected Status for Somalis

Trump terminated temporary deportation protections for Somali immigrants living in Minnesota

• The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program was established by Congress in 1990 and grants temporary legal immigration status to migrants from disaster- or war-stricken countries. Somalia was first granted TPS protections in 1991 due to civil war and instability

• On Friday, Trump posted that he was terminating TPS for Somalis in Minnesota, claiming that "Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of dollars are missing"

• The announcement came after Republican lawmakers shared a report alleging that some members of Minnesota's Somali community had fraudulently rerouted state welfare funds to a Somali terrorist group

Dig Deeper 

• Federal prosecutors said in September that billions had been defrauded from the Minnesota state government in "massive fraud schemes," with dozens of people charged in connection with fraudulent claims under Minnesota's Medicaid housing and autism services programs. Claims under the autism program increased by 13,200% between 2018 and 2023, from $3M to $399M

• A report by the City Journal, an outlet associated with the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank, alleged that millions of dollars in stolen funds were sent to households in Somalia, where some money may have ended up with al-Shabaab, a terrorist group. Federal prosecutors did not confirm allegations about money being sent to terrorist groups

WE THE 66
Why Gen Z Is Returning to Church

On a recent Sunday, Roca co-founder Max Towey’s church was so full, that he was confined to sitting in the back staircase. It wasn’t a holiday or any other special day, leading him to wonder: What was going on?

• Towey proceeded to dive into the question by interviewing Christian converts, a Catholic priest, and dozens of Roca readers who had made the return to church. What emerged was a picture of a generation in the midst of a religious revival

• That story was the subject of Sunday’s WeThe66 deep-dive. You can read it here!

• Also, this week only is our Black Friday sale: You can get a Roca all-access membership for 50% off, supporting your favorite non-partisan news company and locking in a year of Roca at the lowest ever price!

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

💊 Eli Lilly on Friday became the first pharmaceutical company to reach a $1T market valuation, driven by sales of its weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound.

🏆 Venezuela's attorney general said opposition leader María Corina Machado will be considered a "fugitive" if she travels to Norway to collect her Nobel Peace Prize in December.

👮🏽 Several Democratic lawmakers requested Capitol Police investigate social media posts by President Trump calling for their arrest and potential execution.

🇮🇱 Israel said it killed Haytham Ali Tabatabai, one of Hezbollah's top three leaders, in a Sunday strike in Beirut, Lebanon, that left five dead and 28 injured.

🚫 The 30th UN Climate Conference ended without any major agreements.

What does Roca Nation think?

🍁 Today’s Question: What are you feeling particularly grateful for this year?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🖼️ Attic All-Star: Three California brothers discovered a near-pristine copy of Superman #1 from June 1939 in their late mother's attic last Christmas, hidden under newspapers in a cardboard box.

🕺🏽 All Shook Up: A Missouri judge who wore an Elvis wig and played the singer's music during court proceedings has agreed to a six-month unpaid suspension followed by an 18-month stint before resigning.

🧸 Teddy Talks Too Much: An AI-powered teddy bear was pulled from sale after researchers discovered it would readily discuss explicit sexual topics and offer dangerous advice to children.

🪒 Historically Close Shave: A 2,000-year-old Roman razor with a 3.5-inch iron blade and finger hole is heading to auction in England, offering insight into ancient grooming rituals.

🚶🏻 Walk, Don't Run: Two dozen Buddhist monks walking 2,300 miles from Texas to Washington, DC, to promote peace will continue their journey after two were injured when a truck struck their escort vehicle.

ROCA MEMBERSHIP
Get All-Access Roca for 50% Off!

This week is the first-ever Roca Black Friday sale!

• Are you tired of seeing paywalled articles? Do you wish you could read all the deep-dives that hit your inbox, but don’t want to shell out the cash for a membership? Do you want to support your favorite non-partisan news outlet?

• Set your worries aside, because this week you can get all-access Roca for 50% off!

• Become a Roca Platinum member and you’ll get access to all of Roca: WeThe66, the RocaNews App, and our extended need-to-know stories. You can do that this week for half price – and guarantee yourself accurate news at a low price for the next year

• Lock in a year’s worth of non-partisan news for 50% off today, at the Roca Black Friday sale

ROCA WRAP
The Accidental Executioner

John C. Woods

This man executed Nazi leaders at Nuremberg despite having no prior experience as a hangman.

Born in Wichita, KS in 1911, John C. Woods grew up in Kansas during an era when the state was transitioning from frontier justice to modern law enforcement. He lived an unremarkable young life, working construction and farm jobs during the Great Depression. In 1940, he was working part-time at a feed store when he registered for the draft and married a nurse. Three years later, he was selected for the Army when it needed someone to perform executions in wartime Europe.

When the Army sought a volunteer hangman in 1944, Woods claimed experience assisting with executions in Texas and Oklahoma. Military officials never verified his story. Had they checked, they would have discovered it was impossible – Texas had switched to electrocution in 1923 when Woods was twelve, and Oklahoma hadn't performed a hanging during the period he claimed. Woods had no documented experience whatsoever but was promoted from private to master sergeant, nearly tripling his monthly pay to $138.

Woods hanged 34 American soldiers across France between 1944 and 1945, with Army reports documenting at least eleven bungled executions. He also executed roughly 45 war criminals at locations including Nuremberg, where on October 16, 1946, he hanged ten former Nazi leaders. Witnesses reported the executions were cruelly mishandled – drops too short to break necks, causing death by strangulation that lasted up to fifteen minutes. Photographs showed some victims with battered, bloody faces. In Julius Streicher's case, witnesses heard groaning and saw Woods disappear behind a curtain, after which the sounds abruptly stopped, leading observers to believe Woods had manually strangled him.

Woods defended his performance afterward, telling reporters he'd "hanged those ten Nazis" and was "proud of it." He claimed someone tried to poison him in Germany and another person shot at him in Paris, though the poisoning may have been simple food contamination, and there's no evidence of an actual shooting. He walked around armed with two pistols and boasted he'd return to hang the remaining war criminals. His wife only learned about his work when she saw his picture in newspapers – he'd told her he was assisting engineers in Heidelberg. He announced his retirement six days after she found out.

In July 1950, while stationed at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Woods accidentally fatally electrocuted himself while repairing a lighting set. He was 39 years old. Some speculated his death wasn't accidental, noting the German scientists working on the island, but the Army ruled it an accident.

The man who lied his way into becoming America's wartime executioner died the same way he lived – surrounded by questions about what really happened.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Quick housekeeping note: We will publish through Wednesday but take off Thursday and Friday.

We’re feeling especially grateful for the Roca community this year as it’s been Roca’s best year yet. We’ve also met more of you in the last year than in all other years combined and have felt amazed by your warmth, generosity, and hospitality. Have a wonderful day!

–Max and Max