🌊 Firing Private Ryan

Tim Apple makes bigly investment.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO whom Trump once referred to as “Tim Apple,” announced that Apple is adding 20,000 jobs and investing $500B in the US over the next four years. This is great news for American manufacturing. Our next request for Tim Apple is simple: Try releasing a new iPhone that doesn’t make you this meme.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Military Shake-Up

President Trump fired several top military leaders, marking a major shakeup

• He first fired Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown Jr., the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – the military’s top serving general

• In 2020, Brown published a video in which he spoke of his experience as a black man in the military. Biden later promoted him to the top job, prompting conservatives to allege it was based on optics, not merit

• Defense Secretary Hegseth wrote, “Was it because of his skin color? Or his skill? We’ll never know, but always doubt — which on its face seems unfair to C.Q. But since he has made the race card one of his biggest calling cards, it doesn’t really much matter”

Dig Deeper

• Trump also fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who was the first woman to lead the Navy

• Hegseth had written that she lacked warfighting experience and that her promotion was based on “optics”

• Trump also fired the Air Force’s #2 in command and the top uniformed lawyers of the Army, Navy, and Air Force

• The firings – of people who are normally allowed to stay in their roles – prompted criticisms by many but also praise from those who share Hegseth’s position that politics have overtaken merit in the military

KEY STORY

ICE Head Reassigned

President Trump removed the head of ICE

• In January, ICE head Caleb Vitello said each ICE field office should arrest at least 75 immigrants daily, meaning 1,500 arrests nationally. Throughout January, ICE reported ~800 daily arrests; this month, the number slipped to ~600 and ICE stopped releasing daily data

• On Friday, Trump demoted Vitello – the latest in a series of demotions of officials involved with deportations

• ICE’s defenders have said the problem isn’t ICE but a lack of resources and that Congress must allocate more funding for ICE to achieve its goals

Dig Deeper

• Despite the missed targets, Homeland Security data shows that arrests are up, with 11,791 ICE arrests between January 20 and February 8 – a 137% increase over the same period last year

• Arrests of aliens with criminal histories have also climbed by nearly 100%, while observed illegal entries are down by as much as 90%

• Still, to meet the administration’s goals of 1M deportations a year, ICE would need to radically boost deportations to over 2,700 per day

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KEY STORY

Musk: Tell Me What you Do

DOGE sent an email demanding that all federal workers justify their performance by Monday or face termination

• On Saturday, employees across the government received an email titled “What did you do last week?”

• The body text read, “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.” Musk said on X that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation”

• The email triggered confusion, with many agency leaders – including at the FBI, Treasury, and State Department – instructing their staff to ignore the request

Dig Deeper 

• The American Federation of Government Employees labor union posted, "It is cruel and disrespectful for federal employees to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life”

• Members of Congress on both sides raised doubts about the demand’s feasibility, although some Republicans backed it. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called it a "comprehensive, forensic audit of every department and agency in the federal government"

KEY STORY

German Elections

The center-right CDU party won Germany’s national election on Sunday, though with slightly less support than polls had predicted

• The economy and immigration were central issues, particularly after a string of terror attacks committed by immigrants and years of economic stagnation

• The vote ended up roughly as polls predicted, with the center-right CDU in first with ~29% of the vote and the hard-right AFD in second with 21%

• CDU leader Friedrich Merz is now poised to lead Germany

Dig Deeper

• To form a governing majority, Merz and his CDU will now have to partner with either the left-wing Greens, the outgoing leader’s unpopular SPD party, or the AFD. Having ruled out working with the AFD, a partnership with the SPD seems most likely

• Despite the coming difficulty of those negotiations, Merz stated, “The world out there is not waiting for us. And it is not waiting for lengthy coalition talks and negotiations”

• The AFD’s support doubled since the last national elections. Merz has vowed to diffuse that support by curbing immigration and stimulating the economy

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇺🇦 Ukrainian President Zelensky stated he would be willing to step down if it meant securing peace for Ukraine and NATO membership

🏥 Pope Francis, 88, remains in critical condition at a Rome hospital with double pneumonia, requiring blood transfusions and oxygen therapy while showing signs of kidney issues

🇺🇸 The House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) demanded the EU’s antitrust chief explain its tech regulations, claiming they unfairly target US companies with excessive rules and fines

🫡 Steve Bannon, a MAGA leader and former Trump strategist, faced backlash after making what critics called a Nazi salute at CPAC, a conservative conference. Bannon insisted it was a wave to the crowd

🇮🇱 Israel temporarily halted the release of 600+ Palestinian prisoners in protest of Hamas' "humiliating ceremonies," where freed hostages have been paraded on stage and coffins sent through crowds

COMMUNITY
What does Roca Nation think?

🧐 Today’s Question: How do you feel about Elon Musk sending the “What did you do last week?” emails to federal employees?

Reply here with your answer!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🇦🇺 The Other MAGA?: Australian billionaire Clive Palmer is launching the "Trumpet of Patriots" party, directly inspired by Donald Trump

⚾ Beards in the Bronx: The New York Yankees are finally allowing players to grow "well-groomed beards" after nearly 50 years of enforcing baseball's strictest grooming policy

🇺🇸 From Cell to Stage: Trump ally Steve Bannon announced that the “J6 Prison Choir” will be performing at the Kennedy Center, DC’s premier arts center of which President Trump recently named himself chairman

🥐 Treats on Trial: A New Hampshire baker is taking his town to federal court after being ordered to remove a student-painted mural of pastries because officials deemed it an oversized advertisement rather than art

🤖 Pentagon’s Party Robot: A robot designed for the military performed a 30-minute DJ set at an AI networking event at a San Francisco nightclub

ROCA WRAP
Cartel Capture

​​Culiacán

The security chief for one of the world's most powerful drug cartels was arrested in this city.

Culiacán – the capital of Mexico's Sinaloa state – is a city of one million that has long served as the operational headquarters of the infamous Sinaloa drug cartel. That organization – despite the 2019 capture of its leader "El Chapo" Guzmán – remains a dominant force in international drug trafficking, drawing the ire of the Trump Administration.

Last week, the Trump Administration designated the Sinaloa cartel and several other Latin American crime groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Hours later, Mexican forces captured José Ángel Canobbio, known as "El Güerito."

El Güerito was the security chief for Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, El Chapo's son, and allegedly played a crucial role in the cartel's expansion into fentanyl trafficking to the United States.

Analysts described his capture as a "severe blow" to the Sinaloa cartel's operations and, indicted by a Chicago federal grand jury in November, El Güerito is expected to face swift extradition to the US.

The arrest may have economic implications, too: Mexico has promised to crack down on drug trafficking in exchange for the US not applying tariffs. Such arrests may be crucial for Mexico to hold up its end of the deal.

ROCA VIDEO
Inside the Appalachia of New Mexico

We traveled to the northern mountain range of northwestern New Mexico in search of a place where Spanish and Native American cultures intertwine. Our journey took us to historic Spanish towns dating back to the early 1700s, where a unique “New Mexican” Spanish dialect is still spoken. Curious about the lives of those who call this region home, we set out to listen. In the end, we discovered a region with a culture as distinct as Appalachia — one shaped by deep traditions, a unique language, and a history all its own.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Anyone excited for the Oscars this weekend? We personally love watching multimillionaire pretenders hand each other little statuettes, so we’re very much looking forward to it. In all seriousness though, Conan O’Brien is hosting so at least there’s that. Jay Leno now has the chance to do the funniest thing ever…

–Max and Max