🌊 Big News Snubs Harris?

A bizarre Sunday gathering in New York City.

In a New York City park yesterday, there was a Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest. Dozens competed to see who bore the greatest resemblance to the star of the Dune franchise. Chalamet himself ended up crashing the contest, although he evidently didn’t look Chalamet enough to win it. Both Maxes showed up, too, but were swiftly told that the tryout for extras in “Troll 3” was not until Tuesday.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Israel Strikes Iran

Israel launched strikes against Iran's missile facilities and air defenses in what officials called a "calibrated" attack to avoid escalation

• The attack – retaliation for Iran’s launch of 180 missiles at Israel on October 1 – had been expected since then

• "It was designed to send a strong message while avoiding escalation in the near term," a senior Israeli military official said, adding they wanted to show "we can hit anywhere in Iran"

• Israel reportedly warned Iran of the pending strike in an effort to limit the escalation. Iran suggested it wouldn’t seriously retaliate, although regional diplomats remain concerned that a wider war remains possible

Dig Deeper

• Israel said it carefully chose targets to demonstrate its reach: "We can hit anywhere in Iran," an Israeli military official said, describing the message behind targeting missile infrastructure and air defenses

• Iran downplayed the attack's impact, saying it caused "limited damage." But analysts were surprised by how easily Israel appears to have penetrated Iranian air defenses

KEY STORY

Boeing May Sell Space Division

Boeing is exploring selling its space business, including Starliner and space station operations, as new CEO Kelly Ortberg attempts to turn the company around

• Boeing hasn’t recorded a profit since 2018 and its stock is worth roughly a third its 2019 peak. Since taking control in August, Ortberg has looked for ways to cut costs. Last week, he suggested the company may sell its space division, which has worked closely with NASA for decades, helping build the Apollo rockets and ISS, but has been supplanted by SpaceX

• A sale could see Boeing sell off the Starliner space vehicle and operations supporting the ISS, per the Wall Street Journal

Dig Deeper

• Ortberg recently said, "We're better off doing less and doing it better than doing more and not doing it well"

• The space division – part of Boeing's defense and space business – recorded a $3.1B loss through September 2024

ROCA’S SPONSOR

Best Buy Introduces New Smart Home Category

Together With Ryse

The leading retailer in the distribution of Smart Home products has recently unveiled a new addition to its smart home lineup: Smart Shades

• There are A LOT of windows out there, and with only a small 10% of them being automated, this is a market that’s already worth billions with projected double digit growth for the next decade!

• Recognizing this, Best Buy has made a huge bet on an innovative startup, and has already stocked their product in over 100 retail stores. This up-and-comer is RYSE, and for a limited time, you can invest in their vision of owning the Smart Shades industry

• Best Buy made similar bets on smart-home titans Ring and Nest, both of which saw billion-dollar exits at the hands of Amazon and Google

• Looking to follow in their footsteps, RYSE’s share price has grown by over 20X since it was founded, with significant room for growth as they capitalize on the increasing demand for its patented tech

Dig Deeper

• Learn how you can invest at just $1.75/share here

KEY STORY

WaPo, LA Times Snub Harris

The WaPo and LA Times announced they would not endorse candidates this election, sparking resignations, staff turmoil, and mass subscription cancellations at both papers

• From 1976 to 2020, the WaPo endorsed a candidate in each presidential race. It only endorsed Democrats. The LA Times backed candidates – exclusively Democrats, too – from 2008 to 2020

• Reports have emerged that the paper’s owners – Jeff Bezos with the WaPo and Patrick Soon-Shiong for the LA Times – were behind the decisions to not issue endorsements

Dig Deeper

• In a conversation with The New York Times, the daughter of the LA Times' owner claimed her family decided not to endorse Harris due to the VP's alleged support of the war in Gaza. The owner's wife, however, said the daughter does not speak for the family

• According to a subsequent report from the WaPo’s own reporters, the WaPo editorial board had planned to endorse Kamala Harris, but Jeff Bezos vetoed the plan

• Both papers have since experienced resignations and mass subscription cancellations

KEY STORY

Halloween Roundup

The longest retail Halloween season ever is coming to a close

• Retailers – which started selling Halloween gear on June 27th this year, weeks earlier than usual – are expected to bring in $11.6B on spooky items, a 5% decline from last year’s record

• Still, Spirit Halloween, the nationwide popup chain, opened a record 1,525 stores this year. Retailers say they’ve suffered from high inflation, operating costs, and reduced consumer spending

• The three most-Googled costumes – in order from most to third-most – have been Shrunken Head Bob, from “Beetlejuice”; Raygun, the Australian breakdancer; and Catnap, from the Playtime Poppy video game

Dig Deeper

• Many retailers employed a “Summerween” strategy this year, putting pumpkins on display in July with Fourth of July Streamers

• Despite declining sales, analysts say Halloween is growing in popularity

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇨🇦 Justin Trudeau announced major cuts to Canada’s immigration targets amid growing public backlash over housing costs and living expenses. Trudeau faces an election next year; polls show he trails by double-digits and that 53% of Canadians now view immigration negatively

📱 Chinese state hackers targeted the phones of Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Kamala Harris’ campaign staff as part of a massive espionage operation. It’s unclear what they took, if anything

🇮🇱 Israel offered Hamas leaders safe passage out of Gaza if they freed the hostages. The offer – made during a meeting brokered by Egyptian officials – was immediately rejected

🇺🇸 Joe Rogan released a three-hour interview with Donald Trump that scored 26M views in its first 24 hours, putting it on pace to be Rogan’s most-watched episode

🇺🇸 Kamala Harris held a star-studded rally in Houston, Texas, that featured Beyoncé, Jessica Alba, Willie Nelson, and other celebrities

COMMUNITY

🧠 Today’s question: Do you think newspapers should endorse presidential candidates? Why/why not?

Reply to this email to let us know what you think!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🇦🇺 Karma Burns: A gunman in Sydney, Australia, accidentally set himself on fire while trying to torch his escape vehicle in Western Sydney

🏄‍♂️ Surfer's Final Wave: A leaping swordfish struck an Italian surfer in the chest while she rode the waves off Indonesia, causing an extremely rare and fatal injury

🇺🇸 Toxic Patriotism: A man in North Liberty, Iowa, is accused of strangling a woman with an American flag while shouting, “You need to die”

💲 “Do I Get the Job?”: ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, confirmed they fired an intern in August for deliberately interfering with AI model training, apparently inflicting tens of millions of dollars to company projects and hardware

🦜 Supermarket Squat Ends: A sulfur-crested cockatoo named Mickey was finally captured after spending four weeks living inside a Sydney supermarket, where he survived on a steady diet of brioche and water supplied by a sympathetic night manager

ROCA WRAP

Academic Anomaly

Inner Mongolia, China

This Chinese region is investigating a researcher who claims to have four PhDs at age 29.

Inner Mongolia is a region of northern China known for its vast grasslands, nomadic culture, and growing academic institutions. The region has been working to establish itself as an educational and cultural hub with research institutes focused on preserving and studying local traditions while advancing modern scholarship.

Yet the appointment of Zhao Zijian as a researcher at the Inner Mongolian National Culture and Art Research Institute has sparked widespread skepticism. The 29-year-old claims to have earned four PhDs, four master's degrees, and two postdoctoral degrees while holding memberships in 22 academic organizations.

While the institute initially defended Zhao, stating there was no "obvious counterfeiting," only one of his four claimed PhDs has passed official verification. Some of his degrees were obtained online, and at least one of his universities isn't listed on China's official verification roster. The institute has now suspended its collaboration with Zhao, pending an investigation.

The case has highlighted China's ongoing struggle with academic credibility.

Last year, the country strengthened its oversight of foreign degrees after several scandals, including one where a university spent millions sending educators to obtain questionably fast doctoral degrees in the Philippines.

ROCA VIDEO
The County That Predicts Presidents (100% Accuracy)

We visited Door County, Wisconsin — the "swingiest" county in America and the only one to correctly predict the last 6 presidential elections. To understand this remarkable record, we spoke with three local residents...

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EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Hope you had a nice weekend. The next eight days will be a bit chaotic, but we promise to stay locked in 24/7 to ensure you get the clearest and sanest election coverage. This is Roca’s second election, and we hope there are many more to come. That wasn’t a comment on the stakes of this election but rather our modest hope of a prosperous future for our nonpartisan news outlet.

–Max and Max