🌊 Shhh, Supersonic Jet Flying By

Happy Belated Veterans Day!

You might not realize how many people are veterans: Those who served in the military include Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, and Chuck Norris. And if you're wondering why we're undefeated in world wars, read the last name again.

But in all seriousness, happy belated Veterans Day to all the vets in the Roca community. From the bottoms of our hearts, we thank you for your service.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

NASA's Quiet Supersonic Jet Completes First Flight

NASA and Lockheed Martin's X-59 aircraft completed its inaugural flight, marking the first flight for a supersonic jet designed to eliminate sonic booms

• When jets accelerate past the speed of sound – “go supersonic” – it causes a loud boom that is audible on the ground below. That boom led Congress to ban supersonic flight over land in 1973

• In October, though, the X-59 took its maiden voyage. While its peak speed was 240 MPH – well below supersonic – it performed well, paving the way for future, faster tests

• The X-59 has a chiseled nose, intended to scatter the single massive shockwave that creates sonic booms into multiple smaller “thump" waves

Dig Deeper 

• Future test flights aim to push the X-59 to its full capabilities of Mach 1.4, or 925 MPH, at altitudes of 55,000 feet. NASA plans to fly the aircraft over selected American communities to measure public reaction to the quieter supersonic sound

• If residents find the noise acceptable, the data could convince regulators to lift the decades-old ban on supersonic flight over land. Success would mean flights from New York to Los Angeles could take three hours instead of six

KEY STORY

Trump Threatens to Sue BBC

Trump threatened to sue the BBC for at least $1B over the broadcaster’s faulty editing of a speech he gave before the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot

• The BBC aired a documentary called "Trump: A Second Chance?" in October 2024, one week before the presidential election. It spliced together two parts of Trump's January 6 remarks – made about 50 minutes apart – so that Trump was shown saying, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell"

• Trump's lawyers sent a letter demanding the BBC retract the clip or face a $1B+ lawsuit. The letter came a day after the BBC’s news head and director general resigned over the scandal

Dig Deeper 

• Last week, a leaked memo showed a BBC adviser criticizing the network’s alleged left-wing coverage, including the Trump clip and its handling of Gaza and transgender issues. A BBC adviser wrote in the memo that he had raised his concerns with the BBC, but the BBC had failed to act.

• While the BBC denied that and said it had taken action to address alleged bias, the memo led to the two high-profile resignations.

• Trump’s new threat comes as he takes legal action against US media outlets, including ABC and Paramount, which settled defamation lawsuits for $15M and $16M, respectively, over the past year

KEY STORY

Deadly Blasts in India, Pakistan Escalate Tensions

Explosions in India and Pakistan's capital cities killed at least 20 people

• On Monday evening, a car exploded near a metro station by New Delhi's Red Fort, one of the city’s most famous monuments, killing 8 and injuring 20+. The cause of the explosion isn’t yet clear

• On Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a courthouse in Islamabad, one of Pakistan’s largest and safest cities, killing 12

• India and Pakistan routinely accuse each other of plotting attacks against them. The nuclear-armed countries fought a brief war earlier this year after terrorists killed 26 tourists in India

Dig Deeper 

• Indian police said the car had three or four passengers, all of whom died in the explosion. They have not yet determined what caused the blast; however, the explosion came on the same day that Indian police said they had dismantled a terror network linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based militant group that has conducted many attacks against India

• Pakistan’s interior minister, meanwhile, said the attacker attempted to enter the court building but detonated the bomb near a police vehicle when unable to get inside. The blast occurred around noon local time, when the courts were packed with visitors attending hearings

• Pakistan faces multiple insurgencies, most notably one being waged by the Islamist Pakistani Taliban (TTP)

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

KEY STORY

Senate Approves Shutdown Deal

The Senate passed legislation to end the US’ longest-ever government shutdown

• It voted 60-40 on Monday to approve a spending package that funds the government through January and provides full-year funding for the Agriculture Department, military construction projects, SNAP, and legislative agencies

• The legislation does not include the extension of federal health care subsidies that Democrats had demanded throughout the shutdown and which are set to expire at the end of the year. Instead, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) promised to hold a vote on extending the subsidies by mid-December

• The House is expected to quickly pass the deal, which Trump will presumably then sign into law

Dig Deeper 

• The bill now moves to the House, which is expected to vote on Wednesday at the earliest. House Republicans hold a slim majority and can only afford to lose two votes if all Democrats vote against the measure

• Speaker Johnson called House members back to Washington after more than 50 days away and said he expected the bill to pass quickly. President Trump indicated he would sign the legislation, telling reporters, "We'll be opening up our country very quickly" and calling the package "very good"

WE THE 66
To Cut or Not to Cut the Department of Education?

The funding of the Department of Education has become one of the hottest debates in politics, but the media doesn’t cover it

• We interviewed leading experts on both sides of this debate, and if you believe that interviewing people on both sides of debates like this is the way news outlets should be, then become a We the 66 member here

• The case to cut the Department of Education is now live

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

💲 President Trump proposed using tariff revenue to provide payments of at least $2,000 to most Americans, excluding high earners.

🇫🇷 Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was released from prison after serving three weeks of a five-year sentence for conspiring to fund his 2007 election campaign with money from Libya’s then-dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

🇺🇸 President Trump issued pardons to former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results, including John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Boris Epshteyn, and Sidney Powell.

🏆 Astronomers have challenged a Nobel prize-winning theory, suggesting the universe's expansion may be slowing rather than accelerating.

💥 Thailand suspended ceasefire efforts with Cambodia on Monday after several Thai soldiers were injured by a land mine explosion in a disputed border region, with one soldier losing a leg.

What does Roca Nation think?

🇺🇸 Yesterday’s Question: What’s your reaction to this “MAGA civil war” between the Tucker/Candace/Fuentes camp and the more moderate and pro-Israel camp?

💰 Today’s Question: Should billionaires exist? If yes, why? If no, what would you do to prevent people from amassing such wealth?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

📺 Pluribus Perfection: Vince Gilligan's new Apple TV+ series Pluribus has a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.

🥒 Crunch Time: Serial record-breaker David Rush snapped 65 cucumbers in half in 30 seconds on Spanish TV, shattering the previous record of 50.

🥩 Return of the McRib: McDonald's has brought back the McRib to select US markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, and St. Louis.

🐝 Bee-zelbub: Australian scientists discovered a new native bee species with tiny horns and named it Megachile Lucifer after the Netflix character the lead researcher was binge-watching while working on the research.

💜 Purple Reign: A World War II veteran's Purple Heart sat untouched in an abandoned Illinois bank safe deposit box for decades until the state treasurer's office reunited it with his niece, Patty Knies.

ROCA WRAP
The Killdozer

Marvin Heemeyer

A muffler shop owner spent 18 months secretly armoring a bulldozer to level thirteen buildings in his small mountain town.

Born on a South Dakota dairy farm in 1951, Heemeyer moved to Colorado's Grand Lake area in 1989. Friends described him as likable and helpful, someone who organized snowmobile rescue missions and campaigned passionately for gambling legalization. He purchased two acres in Granby, CO in 1992 for $42,000, eventually opening a muffler repair shop on the property. 

Yet disputes over sewage connections and zoning decisions would soon ensue, escalating into something far darker.

When a neighboring family sought to build a concrete batch plant near Heemeyer's shop in the late 1990s, he launched a prolonged campaign against the project. He repeatedly raised his asking price when the family attempted to purchase his land, eventually demanding $450,000 for property he'd bought for $42,000. 

After filing lawsuits and lobbying against the plant, Heemeyer lost his final appeal in April 2002: Town officials unanimously approved the concrete plant's construction, and Heemeyer blamed everyone from his lawyer to God's enemies for the defeat.

Heemeyer also said that he felt targeted by a corrupt local government, fueling his vendetta. Among numerous grievances, he cited fines for building code violations and petty battles with town officials over zoning.

One month after his lawsuit failed, Heemeyer bought a Komatsu D355A bulldozer at auction for $16,000. He sold the property for $400,000, then leased back half the building to "finish some work." Behind locked doors, he spent eighteen months secretly transforming the bulldozer into an armored fortress. He welded layers of steel and concrete around the cabin, installed bulletproof cameras with compressed-air dust blowers, mounted three rifles, including a .50 caliber, and stocked the machine with enough food and water for a week.

On June 4, 2004, at 2:15 PM, Heemeyer drove his armored bulldozer through the concrete plant that had sparked his rage. Over the next two hours, he methodically demolished 13 buildings, including the town hall (during a children's story hour), the local newspaper office, and a propane storage facility, where he fired fifteen shots at tanks containing 30,000 gallons each. Police fired over 200 rounds, but they bounced harmlessly off the armor. Meanwhile, the undersheriff rode atop the machine like a bronco, trying to find a way inside.

Governor Bill Owens allegedly considered authorizing an Apache helicopter strike, however, the bulldozer dropped into a hidden basement at a hardware store and became stuck. One minute later, police heard a single gunshot from inside the cab. 

Investigators found Heemeyer's handwritten list of 107 enemies and three audio tapes he'd mailed to his brother days before the rampage. In the recordings, he explained that God had built him for this mission and blessed him in advance for the task. The destruction caused $7M in damage, yet remarkably injured no one beyond Heemeyer himself.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

So far all of our “richest towns” videos have been of coastal towns: Connecticut, Florida, California, and New York. Our latest, however, is in Minnesota, whose unique Fortune 500 economy makes it one of the most interesting rich towns we’ve visited yet. Watch our brand new video on it below!

Also, shoutout to the amazing and longtime Roca Reader Lindsay from Tennessee for hosting Max F and video guy Gus on their trip to Bentonville, AR! She was unbelievably hospitable, and we can’t wait to share that content soon.

–Max and Max