🌊 Operation Buy Every Lottery Ticket

Big News in bed with Big AI.

Yesterday the Washington Post became the latest news outlet to ink a deal with OpenAI. ChatGPT will now have greater access to WaPo’s content, which it will footnote and link to in its summaries. Virtually every major news conglomerate in the US market — including Condé Nast, Axel Springer, Hearst, and News Corp. — has now done the same. Big News is truly in bed with Big AI.

So what does this matter for you? Well… ever hear of the expression “garbage in, garbage out”? That should be ChatGPT’s slogan when it comes to news.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Texas Lottery Scandal

The executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission resigned amid a growing lottery-rigging scandal

• In 2023, a private group bought all possible number combinations to win the $95M jackpot

• Investigations from the NYT and Houston Chronicle found that the lottery officials facilitated the win by sending extra ticket machines to the group, leading to a lawsuit accusing the director of a “long-running fraud scheme.” The director resigned in 2024, as did his successor on Monday after the NYT report

• One Texas state representative called the situation “the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on [Texas]”

Dig Deeper

• Per the NYT report, lottery officials portrayed the scheme as a “win-win,” as the company’s purchases ensured that nearly every ticket was sold, while Texas public schools would get a cut of the winnings

• Yet the scheme was subsequently denounced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, leading to investigations and hearings. One state representative described it as “a criminal enterprise within our government”; another called it “the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on [Texas]”

• Texas lawmakers are now considering defunding the lottery, which could put it out of business

KEY STORY

Harvard Sues Trump

Harvard sued the Trump Administration over its decision to freeze over $2.2B in federal grants

• The freeze followed Harvard rejecting the administration’s demands for greater oversight of university operations. Harvard received $686M in federal funds in 2024, mostly for scientific and medical research

• On Monday, Harvard sued over the sweeping funding freeze, writing that the cuts “punish Harvard for protecting its constitutional rights” and would primarily affect medical research

• Responding to the lawsuit, the White House said, “Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege”

Dig Deeper

• While Columbia University recently accepted similar demands, Harvard pushed back, with its president writing that the “university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights”

• Harvard's lawsuit acknowledged that its campus had issues with antisemitism, but claimed that the administration’s recent actions had “nothing to do with antisemitism”

• It added that the freeze would affect medical research, writing, “The federal government has launched a broad attack on the critical funding partnerships that make[s]...research possible”

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KEY STORY

Unrest in Israel?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting domestic criticism amid an escalating offensive in Gaza and a series of scandals

• Netanyahu has faced a years-long corruption trial over three separate charges of bribery and fraud

• This month, Netanyahu aides were arrested for allegedly taking bribes from Qatar, expanding the scandal. Thousands of Israeli reservists have since signed letters accusing Netanyahu of prolonging the war to avoid facing trial

• The pressure grew on Monday when Israel’s spy chief testified that Netanyahu sought to fire him after he refused to spy on protesters, disrupt the corruption trial, and obey Netanyahu over the courts

Dig Deeper

• Netanyahu’s government has also attempted to dismiss the attorney-general and enacted changes that will give them more power to decide Supreme Court appointments, both moves that have prompted criticism from Netanyahu’s opponents

• In response to the opposition, Netanyahu has adopted some of President Trump’s “deep state” rhetoric: “In America and in Israel, when a strong rightwing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponises the justice system to thwart the people’s will,” he recently wrote

KEY STORY

State Department Restructuring

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a sweeping restructuring of the State Department

• Massive cuts to the State Department were expected, but Rubio’s plan is less drastic than past drafts, including one that proposed a 50% budget cut. Instead, Rubio’s proposal will reportedly cut 15% of staff

• Rubio’s plan would eliminate 132 of the department’s 734 offices – primarily those focused on democracy promotion, human rights, and refugee issues – and reduce staff by 15%. It will not shutter embassies, as had formerly been reported

• Rubio stated, “The department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission,” adding that the plan would “bring the Department in to the 21st Century”

Dig Deeper 

• Amid the cuts and restructuring, Rubio’s proposal also outlined the creation of a new office called the Bureau of Emerging Threats, which would focus on cybersecurity and AI

• The Deputy Secretary of State told Politico that the proposal “will not result in any changes to the department’s ongoing programs” and “will not affect any overseas embassies”

• Given the more sweeping cuts previously reported, many State Department officials expressed relief at Rubio’s plan

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🤖 AI company Anthropic predicted that fully AI employees will begin working in companies within a year, an executive told Axios

⚖ Walgreens settled a lawsuit for $350M after the Justice Department alleged the pharmacy illegally filled millions of opioid prescriptions

📽 The Academy Awards (“Oscars”) updated its rules to address the use of AI in movies, stating that AI will “neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination”

🚗 The Federal Trade Commission sued Uber over its subscription service, alleging the company billed consumers deceptively, failed to deliver savings, and complicated the cancellation process

🔫 Gunmen killed 26 tourists in Indian Kashmir, a region disputed between India and Pakistan

🇷🇺 Russian President Putin expressed a willingness to halt Russia’s operations on the current frontline with Ukraine, offering the first indication yet that Russia could relinquish claims to parts of Ukraine that it doesn’t currently occupy

What does Roca Nation think?

🧠 Yesterday’s Question: Should dogs be allowed to fly on planes?

🧐 Today’s Question: Do you think we as a country are too negative about America’s past?

Replay to this email with your thoughts!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🖼 Palace To Museum: For the first time, 70 works of art from King Charles’ personal art collection will go on display at Buckingham Palace

🍿 The Brutalist on Fraud Watch: A new Oscar rule requires voters to watch all of the movies nominated for awards before casting their ballots

👛 Stolen Purse: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse was reportedly stolen from a Washington, DC restaurant

🐶 Dog Eat Dog World: A hiker in England told rescuers that his dog pushed him off of a mountain, leading to him fall down a steep slope

🐒 Funky Monkeys: Researchers witnessed wild chimpanzees in West Africa sharing alcohol-containing fermented fruit, suggesting they may bond over the shared intoxication the fruit causes

ROCA WRAP
Energy Crash

Thailand

A court in this country convicted two former prosecutors for their role in covering up a deadly car crash that involved the heir to the Red Bull fortune.

In September 2012, a speeding black Ferrari hit a police motorcycle in Bangkok, killing the officer before driving off. Behind the wheel of the Ferrari was Vorayuth Yoovidhya, the grandson of Red Bull’s co-founder and the heir to an energy drink fortune estimated at more than $36B – a sum placing them among Thailand’s wealthiest families. Medical tests revealed traces of cocaine and alcohol in his blood, according to Thai police.

While he was later charged with the five criminal counts related to the hit-and-run, the prosecution stalled for years as the young billionaire – 27 years old at the time – ignored court summons. Authorities believe he left the country shortly after Thai police issued an arrest warrant in 2017, five years after the crash.

Then, in 2020, Thailand’s attorney general decided to drop all charges against Yoovidhya, a decision that stoked accusations that the country’s legal system favored the wealthy and let the elite operate with impunity. Local media reports say his whereabouts are currently unknown, but he is likely living abroad.

On Tuesday, the deputy attorney general who oversaw the Red Bull heir’s case and another prosecutor were given three- and two-year prison sentences, respectively, after being convicted of helping him avoid prosecution for the deadly hit-and-run, including by covering up evidence of his speeding.

Six others, including the former national police chief, were acquitted in the trial, but the court stated, “The defendants undermined the credibility of the justice system.”

While officials have long promised to bring Yoovidhya to justice, he is currently on the run and likely abroad, living a jet-set life fueled by a $36B fortune and Red Bull’s golden wings.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

20 years ago, the first YouTube video — titled “Me at the Zoo” — was released. It was 19 seconds, and the content was exhilarating: “Alright, so here we are in front of the, uh, elephants, and the cool thing about these guys is that, is that they have really, really, really long, um, trunks, and that's, that's cool. And that's pretty much all there is to say.” Two decades later, a guy named MrBeast is posting “Last to Leave the Circle Wins $500k” videos on the site. The internet is a wild place.

Thank you for reading Roca. And yes… humans wrote this.

–Max and Max