🌊 Okay... Whose Nephew Is Don Jr.?

Happy (sorta) Birthday, Philadelphia.

Centuries before Wawa, Rocky, and throwing snowballs at Santa Claus, Philly was nothing but a barren plot of land between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers — filled with water, not yet wooder. On October 27, 1682, however, William Penn anchored off the coast of Delaware and tush pushed his way to Philadelphia days later, when he planted the first crop of hoagies for his crew — or something like that.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Trump Jr.-Backed Company Wins Pentagon Deal

A Florida-based drone manufacturer with ties to Donald Trump Jr. secured its largest contract from the Pentagon

• In June, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at expanding America's domestic drone industry. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has since prioritized rapid drone production, empowering military commanders to independently purchase and test drone technology

• Last Friday, Unusual Machines – a Florida-based drone component manufacturer – announced it secured its largest deal to manufacture drone technologies for the US Army. Donald Trump Jr. joined Unusual Machines as an adviser in November 2024 and currently owns approximately $4M worth of shares in the company

• The company's CEO stated that Trump Jr. "did not advise or do anything else on this deal"

Dig Deeper

• Unusual Machines will supply 3,500 drone motors along with various other drone components to the Army under the new agreement. The Army indicated its intention to expand the partnership significantly, with plans to purchase an additional 20,000 parts from the company next year

• Shares in Unusual Machines jumped as much as 13% on Friday following the announcement. However, the company has faced financial difficulties related to Trump's tariff policies. In the first quarter of the year, tariffs contributed to a $3.3M operating loss

KEY STORY

Trump Ends Canada Trade Talks

President Trump announced that the US terminated all trade negotiations with Canada and that he would increase tariffs on Canada by 10%

• The US and Canada have maintained one of the world's largest trading relationships, exchanging over $900B in goods and services annually. However, Trump imposed tariffs of up to 35% on many Canadian products this year

• Trump announced on Thursday that he was ending all negotiations with Canada after the province of Ontario aired an advertisement to US audiences during Fox’s World Series broadcast featuring former President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs

• Trump accused Canada of trying to influence the Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear arguments in November about whether Trump has the authority to impose his sweeping tariffs

Dig Deeper

• The advertisement featured audio from a 1987 radio address by Reagan, in which he stated that tariffs "hurt every American worker and consumer" and warned that trade barriers lead to "fierce trade wars"

• The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute said the ad "misrepresents" the address because it omitted context showing Reagan was explaining why tariffs his administration imposed on Japan should be seen as an exception to his general support for free trade

• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country remained ready to resume negotiations "when the Americans are ready"

KEY STORY

US and China Reach Trade Deal Framework

The US and China agreed on a framework for a potential trade deal ahead of a planned meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping

• Since Trump returned to office, his steepest tariffs were aimed at China. Earlier this month, Trump threatened to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods in response to China tightening restrictions on rare earth mineral exports, which are essential components in electronics

• On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with senior Chinese trade officials in Malaysia and announced that negotiators reached a framework to avoid the threatened 100% tariffs

• The framework includes China delaying its rare earth export restrictions for approximately one year, a "final deal" on TikTok's US operations, and China resuming substantial purchases of US soybeans

Dig Deeper

• Trump and Xi plan to meet Thursday in South Korea during Trump's Asia tour. The agreed framework represented a significant de-escalation in the trade conflict between the world's two largest economies

• China processes around 90% of the world's rare earths, which are used in a range of electronics ranging from solar panels to smartphones

• Bessent said, "I believe when the announcement of the deal with China is made public that our soybean farmers will feel really good about what's going on for this season and the coming seasons for several years"

KEY STORY

Louvre Heist Suspects Arrested

French police arrested two suspects connected to the robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris

• On October 19, four thieves used a vehicle-mounted lift to reach a first-floor window and broke into the museum's Galerie d'Apollon. The burglars cut through two display cases with power tools and stole eight pieces of royal jewelry valued at €88M ($102M)

• On Saturday evening, police arrested two suspects in connection with the heist. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that one man was taken into custody at Charles de Gaulle Airport while attempting to leave France

• Authorities are racing against time as they fear the jewels may have already been broken down. The gems can be recut and the gold and silver melted, making them virtually impossible to trace

Dig Deeper 

• Beccuau expressed concern that leaks to French media about the investigation could hinder efforts by approximately 100 investigators to recover the stolen jewelry and identify all perpetrators

• The heist exposed significant security weaknesses at the Louvre, with investigators describing the robbery as the work of an organized group. Officials said they were considering whether the thieves may have had help from inside the museum

QUOTE OF THE DAY

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🚢 The Pentagon announced it is deploying the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier, from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean to combat drug smuggling and transnational criminal organizations.

🇺🇸 House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY) endorsed Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor on Friday, despite acknowledging "principled disagreements" with the Democratic Socialist candidate.

📉 US inflation rose to 3% in September, below the expected 3.1%, clearing the path for the Federal Reserve to continue cutting interest rates at its upcoming meeting next week.

🏳️ Trump oversaw the signing of an expanded ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia at the ASEAN Summit, building on a July truce he brokered that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

💰 An unnamed donor gave $130M to the Pentagon to help pay US troops during the government shutdown, with President Trump describing the benefactor as a major supporter who prefers anonymity.

🇦🇷 Argentinian President Javier Milei’s libertarian “La Libertad Avanza” party won midterm elections – an outcome that President Trump had aggressively pushed for.

What does Roca Nation think?

⛪️ Today’s Question: We’re writing a story on how young people are returning to church. If you have a personal story to share — about you or a young person you know who’s returning — we’d love to hear it. Or if you have a theory as to why please share it!

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🖼️ Lost and Profound: A vibrant Picasso portrait of his muse – Dora Maar – sold for $37M at a Paris auction after remaining hidden in a private collection for over 80 years.

🧲 Magnetic Personality: A 13-year-old New Zealand boy required emergency surgery after swallowing up to 100 high-power neodymium magnets purchased from online retailer Temu.

💍 Peak Performance: A German furniture hoist company – Boecker – is capitalizing on the Louvre heist by promoting the lifting equipment thieves used to steal $1.2M in jewels from the museum.

🐳 Not All Heroes Wear Shorts: Two Nova Scotia men stripped down to their underwear and pushed three stranded pilot whales back to sea before authorities could arrive.

👵 Iron Grandmother: An 80-year-old New Jersey grandmother became the oldest woman to complete Hawaii's Ironman World Championship triathlon, swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running a full marathon.

ROCA WRAP
The Unbroken Runner

Louis Zamperini

An Olympic runner survived 47 days adrift at sea, then endured years of torture in Japanese prison camps.

Born in New York in 1917 to Italian immigrant parents, Zamperini moved to California as a toddler when his family settled in the coastal town of Torrance. He grew up speaking no English, making him a target for bullies. His father taught him to box, and he started winning fights – then became addicted to winning them. His older brother pushed him onto the track team at Torrance High School, where Louis initially came in last place and felt humiliated. Within three years of that defeat, he became undefeated in high school races across California.

In 1934, Zamperini set a national high school mile record with a time of 4 minutes, 21.3 seconds, then won the California state championships the following week. That record earned him a scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC), where he later ran a collegiate mile in 4 minutes, 8.3 seconds despite competitors spiking his shins during the race – a record that stood for fifteen years. At nineteen, he qualified for the 1936 Berlin Olympics in the 5,000 meters, finishing eighth and receiving personal congratulations from Adolf Hitler.

After graduating from USC in 1940, Zamperini enlisted in the Army Air Forces as a bombardier in the Pacific. In May 1943, mechanical failures caused his plane to crash into the ocean 850 miles south of Oahu, killing eight of eleven men aboard. Zamperini survived along with pilot Russell Phillips and tail gunner Francis McNamara. They drifted on two small rafts, subsisting on rainwater, raw fish, and birds. After 33 days, McNamara died. On their 47th day adrift, Zamperini and Phillips reached the Marshall Islands and were immediately captured by the Japanese Navy.

Zamperini spent over two years in Japanese prison camps, never being registered as a prisoner of war. At Omori camp near Tokyo, a guard known as "The Bird" – Mutsuhiro Watanabe – singled out Zamperini for particularly brutal treatment because of his Olympic fame. Watanabe forced Zamperini to hold a heavy wooden beam above his head for 37 minutes, beating him each time his arms sagged. When Zamperini finally collapsed, Watanabe continued the assault. The Bird would punch Zamperini in the face daily, sometimes making other prisoners do the same. He forced Zamperini to race against Japanese runners while weakened from malnutrition and dysentery, then beat him when he lost.

Zamperini was eventually transferred to Naoetsu, a camp in northern Japan, where he remained until the war ended in August 1945. Watanabe followed him there and continued the torture. When the war ended, Watanabe fled and went into hiding, later appearing on General Douglas MacArthur's list of the forty most wanted war criminals in Japan.

When Zamperini finally returned home in 1945, he received a hero's welcome but struggled with severe nightmares about strangling his captors. He became addicted to alcohol and his marriage nearly collapsed, until his wife, Cynthia, urged him to attend a preaching event. Zamperini reluctantly attended, and was reminded of the prayers he had made while drifting at sea. Zamperini committed to Christianity and forgave his captors. His nightmares ceased.

In October 1950, Zamperini visited Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, where many war criminals were imprisoned, and expressed forgiveness to them directly. 

In 1998, four days before his 81st birthday, Zamperini ran a leg of the Olympic Torch relay for the Winter Games in Nagano, Japan – not far from where he had been imprisoned. He attempted to meet Watanabe to tell him in person that he had forgiven him, but Watanabe refused. Zamperini sent a letter instead and never received a response. He continued attending USC football games into his nineties and died of pneumonia in Los Angeles in 2014 at age 97.

For a man whose final Olympic lap impressed Hitler and whose survival at sea seemed impossible, perhaps his greatest feat was choosing forgiveness over vengeance.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

The Somali mini-doc has garnered nearly 500,000 views in its first 3.5 days. Thank you to all of you who’ve watched it. It’s amazing to consider where we were as a reporting operation a year ago versus today. And we have a long, long way to go.

Thank you for reading Roca and have an amazing day! And please send any Gen Z returning to church testimonies/insights that you can!

–Max and Max