Curbing youth tobacco intake was no easy task. An LA Times article from 1997 reports that minors spent $1.6B on tobacco annually. To change that, a law went into effect 26 years ago today that required all those under 27 to produce an ID when buying cigs. We can only imagine how many 16-year-olds hit the gas-station clerk with a well-rehearsed, "Hey buddy, I'm 28" at checkout.

In today's edition:

• Gruesome murder in Hong Kong

• Chris Rock takes the stage

• Last day in Ethiopia

🔑 Key Stories

Thunberg Protests in Norway

Greta Thunberg and indigenous rights activists are protesting Norway’s green energy operations

• Greta is a 20-year-old environmentalist; the Sami are a northern Scandinavian indigenous group that have traditionally practiced reindeer herding

• In 2021, Norway’s top court ruled that some on-shore wind farms violate the rights of the Sami people, who use the land to herd reindeer. After 500 days, Norway has still not complied with the ruling

• To protest, Greta joined hundreds of activists to block Norway’s energy ministry. She accused the government of “green colonialism”

Dig Deeper

• Greta has sought to draw attention to the Sami situation, which she has called “completely absurd" and an "international scandal." She accuses the Norwegian government of pursuing its environmental policies “at the expense of indigenous people’s rights”

Williamson Running for President

Marianne Williamson announced she will run in the 2024 Democratic primary, likely against President Biden

• Williamson is the author of 14 self-help/spirituality books. She unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives in 2014 and the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020

• Describing herself as a “new beginning,” she claims that “[DC] is filled with good political car mechanics, but the problem is that we are on the wrong road”

• Williamson supports universal healthcare, reparations, and a 30% cut to US defense spending. She’s the first Democrat to announce for 2024 yet, although Biden is widely expected to do so

Dig Deeper

• She also believes the US is headed toward a revolution, although she says it’s unclear whether it will be a “peaceful revolution or a violent one”

El Salvador Debuts “Mega Prison”

El Salvador opened a new “mega prison” that it says is the Western Hemisphere’s largest prison

• El Salvador, a poor country in Central America, has one of the world’s highest murder and incarceration rates. Much of that is driven by powerful gangs

• Last March, police reported 62 homicides in a day; since then, El Salvador has arrested ~64,000 suspected gang members, overcrowding its prisons

• On Friday, El Salvador’s president announced the opening of a “mega prison” that will hold 40k inmates. ~100 people will be held per cell, with each cell having 2 toilets, 2 sinks, and ~80 metal bunks

Dig Deeper

• On Friday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele tweeted, “At dawn… we transferred the first 2,000 members to [CECOT]." “This will be their new house, where they will live for decades," he added

• El Salvador’s justice minister said, “We are eliminating this cancer from society”

Gruesome Hong Kong Murder

Hong Kong police found the head and ribs of a rising fashion star in a soup pot

• Hong Kong, a city in China, has one of the world’s lowest crime rates, with only 0.39 murders per 100k people. The US’ murder rate is roughly 15x higher

• But last Tuesday, an up-and-coming model named Abby Choi disappeared. On Friday, police discovered parts of her body in a refrigerator; 2 days later, they found her head and ribs in a soup pot

• Police have arrested Choi’s ex-husband, his older brother, and his parents for allegedly murdering her. Police say the killing was financially motivated

Dig Deeper

• “Someone was dissatisfied with how the victim handled her assets, which became a motive to kill,” a Hong Kong police spokesperson said. “We believe the victim and her ex-husband’s family had many financial disputes involving huge sums”

Don’t cut back, get cash back

Together with Upside

The cost of living has spiked in the past year, with everything from eggs to rent costing more. We’re all trying to figure out where we can cut back a bit

• That’s where Upside comes in. It’s a free app that gets you cash back on everyday items, like groceries, gas, and at restaurants

• You just go about your normal business while Upside earns a little bit of cash back along the way

• Upside users earn 3x more cash back than other apps and rewards programs. On average, frequent users earn $340 a year

Dig Deeper

• Get an extra 25¢/gal cash back on your first tank of gas. Download the free Upside app and use code ‘BHNews25’

🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• #1 again, let that sink in: Elon Musk has reclaimed the title of world’s wealthiest man, surpassing French fashion mogul Bernard Arnault

• He will Rock you: Chris Rock is gearing up for a pre-Oscars special that will be released on Netflix this Saturday and address Will Smith’s slap at last year’s Oscars

• From Wentz you came: The Washington Commanders released veteran QB Carson Wentz after 1 season, saving over $26M on the salary cap

Wildcard

• City that never snows: After a historically warm winter with virtually no snow, New York experienced its biggest snowfall of the winter last night

• Finally.... health food! McDonald’s is expanding its Krispy Kreme donut experiment and will offer donuts at 160 Kentucky locations starting next month

• Scanner Joe’s: Grocery chain Trader Joe’s maintains that it will never implement a self-checkout system. It considers its people its “most valuable” resource

👇 What do you think?

Today's Question:

What’s a daily practice you swear by?

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

Roca co-founder Max Frost and Roca writer Alex Norris spent 3 weeks in Ethiopia last month. He's been writing about it here.

I was sure I would make my midnight flight back to the US. I was wrong.

My last day in Ethiopia was the main day of Timkat, the religious festival that commemorates the baptism of Jesus. I was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, and the celebration started at a field with thousands of people. Many were lined up to receive holy water, which priests were pouring over the crowd. People jumped up and down and screamed to get the priests to target them.

Most people, including my crew – 5 Ethiopian men between ages 27 and 32 – fast for Timkat. They aren’t allowed to eat until they get the holy water, so once they received their blessings, we set off for food.

We ended up at a hotel that was overflowing with people and where waitresses were running around balancing dozens of draft beers on their trays. Everyone was cheersing, ordering more drinks. The hotel’s restaurant was too crowded, so they sat us in a guest room. 6 turbaned priests followed us in and took a seat next to us.

The food came and then the beers. Next to us, the priests were cheersing and drinking. At one point, they called me over and shoved a massive chunk of meat into my mouth, which is a sign of respect and hospitality.

Until now the festival had been like Easter – a sober, religious celebration. Now, though, it was becoming Mardi Gras. That didn’t bode well for my return flight that night.

After an hours- and miles-long procession, we ended up at another packed restaurant and bar in a residential neighborhood. People were eating meat and drinking beer at every table, and we couldn’t get a spot. But one of the guys I was with – Danny – knew the owners, and they moved some decorations to seat us immediately.

Everyone who walked by knew Danny, as did half the restaurant’s patrons. He told me that was because he grew up in this neighborhood. He only moved a few years ago, when he received a notice from the government: They were demolishing his house to make way for a new park.

The government offered him a sizable payment and good property; they ended up paying half the promised amount and giving him a property on the edge of the city. The guys I was with stressed to me how devastating that was: Neighborhoods in Ethiopia aren’t like neighborhoods in the US. Your neighbors are core to your life, your support network, the people you do everything with. Moving shatters the social fabric.

But on the holidays, Danny and his friends from the neighborhood return. We ended up spending the night out with that crew.

Danny took care of the food and drinks, which started with a draft beer and a plate of raw meat.

After that came another beer, accompanied by grilled goat. Then another beer, alongside beef over hot coals. All the beer was a local draft, all the food was eaten by hand, using injera, the Ethiopian spongebread.

The beers were a bit smaller than a pint, but not by much. They cost 40 cents apiece and didn’t stop coming.

By 8 PM, our group had grown into a over a dozen people. The guys I had come with –nephews of an Ethiopian friend in the US – were pressuring me to stay. Soon everyone was dancing, ordering more beers. Plans were being made for the next bar. I checked my phone and saw I could move my flight to 8:30 AM for no extra charge. So I did that.

We ended up staying out for hours, dancing and drinking. Earlier in the night, most of the group wasn’t confident enough to speak English to me; by the end, people wouldn’t stop talking. Before I could leave at 1:30 AM, I had to give a dozen people hugs goodbye.

That was how my trip to Ethiopia ended.

***

For all the Wraps I wrote that detailed ethnic divisions, poverty, lip plates – all the out-there things we saw in Ethiopia – this was the other side of Ethiopia, one to which millions of people belong.

The people I was with were middle-class Ethiopians who speak English, drink beer, dance. They were genuine, warm, and funny, and I felt totally at home with them.

At one point, I asked one of my hosts the different languages people in the group spoke, and, implicitly, their ethnic backgrounds.

“I have no idea, we don’t think about that here [in Addis].”

When traveling, and particularly while doing so with the lens of a writer, it’s easy to spot differences and magnify them. Yet for every Ethiopian who holds some animosity toward another ethnic group, there are many who couldn’t care less.

***

I woke up at 5:30 AM. By 8, I was on my flight back to the US.

The plane had a quick layover in Togo, in West Africa, to pick up passengers. While there, the authorities made everyone get off the plane, then checked our passports 3 times. Apparently Ethiopians have bought tickets to Togo and hid themselves on the plane in order to smuggle themselves into the US.

11 hours after we departed Togo, we touched down in Newark. 18 of the most interesting days of my life had come to an end.

If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!

🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

I prefer to…

Play it safe: 74%

Take risks: 26%

Yesterday's Question:

Do you feel you would be prepared in the event of an emergency/natural disaster?

Spencer from Tampa: “Absolutely I would be ready. I'm a Florida man - I was BORN ready for this. Hurricanes? Fires? Floods? They have nothing on the Florida man. Be scared of emergencies/natural disasters? Nah, it's the emergencies/natural disasters that should fear Florida Man.”

Des from Massachusetts: “Not prepared. Hell, when the power goes out at our camp in Maine, I’m lost. Sure, I’ve got flashlights and a few cans of food (left over from COVID prep). But I’m NOT at all prepared.”

Kristina from Pennsylvania: “Would I be prepared? It all depends on what that disaster is. In some ways I would be. I have a nice pantry of food. I have a generator. I have amazing friends that would come and stay with me. I would be ok for a while, but I am definitely not a ‘prepper’ with years worth of supplies.”

🧠 Final Thoughts

Everyone, we hope you enjoyed the Ethiopia trip. We're trying to figure out where to send Frost next. It may be in the US, it may be overseas. Send us your thoughts!!

We hope you have great days. See you tomorrow.

—Max and Max