🌊 Never Putin' Russiagate Behind Us

I am become unpopular? Elon Musk least popular man in America.

According to a new Gallup poll, Pope Leo is the most popular public figure and Elon Musk the last popular among Americans. Granted, the survey favors the lesser-known, benefitting people like Macron and AOC, for example, but it’s still not looking great for the rocket man. Also, we’d love to meet the 2% who have “no opinion” of President Trump. Did they just spawn here? We’re envious.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

DoJ Launches Obama Probe Over Russiagate

US Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered a grand jury investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion claims

• Last month, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified over 100 pages of documents that she claimed showed evidence of a conspiracy by Obama Administration officials against President Trump

• Gabbard alleged the documents demonstrated manipulation of intelligence underlying the 2017 assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election and forwarded criminal referrals to the DoJ against former officials, including former President Obama

• On Tuesday, Bondi directed federal prosecutors to review the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion allegations and present evidence to a grand jury, which would allow prosecutors to subpoena documents, gather testimony, and present evidence that could lead to potential indictments

Dig Deeper

• This comes after the DoJ took the unusual step in July of publicly acknowledging criminal investigations into former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, both key figures in the original Russia probe

• The DoJ confirmed last month that it had received Gabbard's referrals but declined to comment on the investigation. Specific details on the charges, prosecutors, and targets remain unclear

• An Obama spokesperson dismissed the allegations as "bizarre…ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction." Democrats and national security officials accused Gabbard of misrepresenting the documents, noting that they contained little evidence of wrongdoing by intelligence officials

KEY STORY

Palantir Revenue Soars

Palantir reported its highest quarterly revenue in company history, surpassing $1B for the first time

• Founded in 2003 by CEO Alex Karp and investor Peter Thiel, Palantir specializes in finding patterns in data. It does work for private companies and all aspects of the public sector, but focuses on defense analytics

• On Monday, Palantir posted second quarter revenue of $1B – a nearly 50% increase from the previous year and its first time reaching the $1B figure in a quarter

• The company has benefited significantly from the Trump Administration’s outsourcing of some federal operations. Among numerous deals, Palantir secured multiple Army contracts in a single 10-year agreement worth up to $10B, one of the largest defense software contracts in US history

Dig Deeper 

• The Trump Administration has also contracted Palantir to consolidate government data across federal agencies – a move that has raised concerns about potential surveillance of US citizens

• Palantir's stock has surged more than 500% over the past year, which made its chief technology officer the company's fifth billionaire with a net worth of $1.3B

• The company's market capitalization has now reached $379B, placing it among the top 20 most valuable US companies and surpassing established tech firms like Salesforce, IBM, and Cisco

QUOTE OF THE DAY

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Israel Seeks Full Occupation of Gaza

Israeli PM Netanyahu met with security officials to advance plans for a complete occupation of the Gaza Strip

• Israeli forces currently control approximately 75% of Gaza but have avoided areas where 20 surviving hostages are believed to be held by Hamas

• On Tuesday, Netanyahu held a three-hour meeting to finalize expansion plans despite opposition from the IDF chief of staff and other military leaders

• The occupation plan would require Israeli forces to move into the remaining 25% of Gaza, including densely populated zones where millions of Palestinians are concentrated

Dig Deeper 

• Recent ceasefire-hostage negotiations have broken down, with Hamas threatening to execute captives if Israeli troops approach their locations

• Sources familiar with the meeting told Israeli media that officials acknowledged the campaign could endanger the remaining hostages

• The Trump Administration has reportedly been working with Netanyahu on an "all or nothing" approach to ending the conflict, a plan to both end the war and free all hostages

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🛫 Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter made an emergency trip to Washington to negotiate lower tariffs after Trump imposed a 39% levy on Swiss goods last week

⚠️ A US Coast Guard report found that OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush "completely ignored" critical safety inspections before the Titan submersible's fatal implosion that killed all five aboard in June 2023

🎓 The Trump Administration secured access to detailed admissions data from Columbia University and Brown University as part of recent settlement agreements, including standardized test scores, GPAs, and racial information for all applicants

💵 The US will require tourist and business visa applicants from certain countries to post bonds of up to $15,000 under a new 12-month pilot program, effective August 20

✂️ BP announced it will cut at least 15% of office staff while conducting a comprehensive business review following investor disappointment with its previous strategic overhaul

What does Roca Nation think?

🎥 Yesterday’s Question: Which Disney movie has the best soundtrack?

💸 Today’s Question: What are your best and worst financial habits?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🦁 Pets to Prey: Aalborg Zoo in northern Denmark has called on the public to donate unwanted small pets as food for its carnivorous animals

🌿 Free Shavaca-Vine: Elon Musk has announced that he will revive Vine’s lost archive and integrate it with AI video‑generator Grok Imagine

🐺 Marriage Scary: US ranchers are using drones to play a fight scene from Marriage Story between Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver’s characters to scare off wolves attacking their cattle

🚎 The Trolley Solution: The Trolley Problem, a classic ethical dilemma, has been turned into a videogame

🔫 Cuff That: Rapper Soulja Boy (DeAndre Cortez Way) was arrested in LA early Sunday on suspicion of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm

ROCA WRAP
Currency Makeover

Iran

This nation's parliament moved to slash four zeros from its currency after years of economic turmoil decimated its value.

Iran controls vital oil reserves that have made it both wealthy and a target of international pressure. For decades, sanctions have isolated the country from global financial systems, while domestic mismanagement has compounded economic woes. The result has been a currency so devalued that citizens need wheelbarrows of cash for basic purchases.

The Iranian Parliament's economic committee approved preliminary plans to re-denominate the rial, with each new unit worth 10,000 of the current bills. The reformed currency would keep the rial name but be subdivided into 100 smaller units called gherans. The committee head pitched the change as a way to streamline calculations and reduce printing costs for the mountains of banknotes.

The decision comes as Iran's currency continues its nosedive against the dollar. Since the 1990s, officials have floated similar reforms but never followed through. This time, the proposal must clear parliament and receive blessing from the Guardian Council, the body that reviews all legislation.

Iran joins a club no country wants membership in – nations forced to lop zeros off their money. Turkey, Romania, and Zambia have all performed similar surgery on hyperinflated currencies. Israel's current shekel emerged in the 1980s after officials removed three zeros from its predecessor, which had already replaced an even more worthless currency.

Economists warned that cosmetic currency changes won't address Iran's fundamental economic diseases: Over-reliance on oil, chronic corruption, and sanctions that block foreign investment. As one local analyst noted, removing zeros "is simply a formal adjustment to the currency unit for accounting purposes" – not actual economic medicine.

In Iran, you can change the currency, but the economic pain remains.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Thank you all for reading Roca. It’s a very special day in that it’s Max Frost’s birthday!!!

We’re going to celebrate tonight, so you can’t hold us accountable for any typos tomorrow.

–Max and Max