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🌊 'Tis the Treason
Plus: Zohran to meet Trump, states banned from AI regulation, & Thanksgiving 20 Questions!
Mr. Mamdani goes to Washington.
Get the popcorn ready ‘cause new NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani is going to the White House today! As President Trump announced, “Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting.” We would pay a significant amount of Roca’s savings to be a fly on the wall in that room. “Come in, my Little Communist. Take a seat next to Little Marco.”
We’re excited for the clips, and hope you have a great weekend. Make sure to kick it off with our Thanksgiving-themed 20 Questions!
😳 Trump declares Dem video treasonous!
🤖 States banned from regulating AI?
⛴️ Ferry crashes due to distracted first mate
–Max and Max
KEY STORY
Trump Threatens Democratic Lawmakers
President Trump called for the arrest of six Democratic lawmakers after they released a video reminding military personnel that they can refuse illegal orders
The six lawmakers – all veterans of the military or intelligence community – released a video on Tuesday telling active service members that "threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home." Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said in the video, "Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders"
Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday that the lawmakers engaged in "seditious behavior" and called them traitors, writing, "Each one of these traitors to our Country should be arrested and put on trial." He later posted that seditious behavior was "punishable by death" and reposted comments from users calling for the lawmakers to be hanged
Dig Deeper
The video did not specify which orders might be unlawful, but some of the lawmakers said they had heard concerns from service members about recent strikes on boats in Latin America
The six Democratic lawmakers issued a joint statement saying they would not be intimidated and called on Americans to condemn the president's threats. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump's comments, saying the video was "a very very dangerous message" that "perhaps is punishable by law"
KEY STORY
BLS Releases September Jobs Report
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its September jobs report on Thursday, showing that the US added 119,000 jobs in September
The jobs report was released nearly seven weeks late due to the government shutdown that lasted over 40 days and ended in mid-November. The shutdown, the longest on record, delayed numerous economic reports
The September figures exceeded economists' expectations of around 50,000 and showed the strongest job growth since April. However, the unemployment rate increased from 4.3% in August to 4.4% in September, reaching the highest level since 2021
The September increases were concentrated in healthcare, leisure and hospitality, retail, construction, and government sectors, while transportation, warehousing, and temporary help services saw job losses
Dig Deeper
Nearly 500,000 people joined the labor force during the month, pushing up the participation rate (the percentage of people who are employed or actively looking for work) to a four-month high. The number of underemployed people who had been working part-time declined the most in a year, suggesting more workers found full-time positions
The mixed report deepened divisions at the Fed over whether to cut interest rates at its December 9-10 meeting. The probability of a December rate cut is currently around 40%, following the report
KEY STORY
States Banned from Regulating AI?
The Trump Administration is drafting an executive order directing the Justice Department to sue states that regulate AI
All 50 states have passed some form of legislation addressing AI. This week, the Trump Administration began drafting an executive order that would direct the Justice Department to challenge state AI laws on the grounds that they interfere with interstate commerce
Under the order, the Commerce Secretary would be directed to withhold federal funding for high-speed internet from states that pass AI regulations
Trump wrote that the US should have "one Federal Standard instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes," adding, "If we don't, then China will easily catch us in the AI race"
Dig Deeper
Several Republican governors voiced opposition to the proposal on Wednesday. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) called it "an insult to voters," arguing it would prevent states from protecting against online censorship and predatory applications targeting children
A June survey by Pew Research Center found that 50% of Americans are more concerned than excited about increased AI use, with worries centered on jobs, potential harms to children, and increased electricity prices
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
There are no bad pictures; that's just how your face looks sometimes.
KEY STORY
Cracks Found in Crashed UPS Plane
Federal investigators found signs of metal fatigue and stress fractures in the engine mount of a UPS cargo plane that crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier this month
On November 4, a UPS MD-11 freighter attempted to take off from Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport. The plane reached only 30 feet in altitude before crashing into buildings beyond the runway, killing all three crew members and 11 people on the ground
On Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report showing that the plane's left engine detached during takeoff. Video footage captured the engine separating from the wing, flying above the fuselage in flames, and hitting the ground
Investigators found evidence of fatigue cracks and overstress failure in components of the pylon, the structure that connects the engine to the wing
Dig Deeper
Following the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency directive grounding all MD-11 cargo jets pending inspections. The directive later expanded to other aircraft with similar engine-pylon designs
Both UPS and FedEx grounded their MD-11 fleets before the FAA order. The MD-11, which is over three decades old and no longer in production, is only used for cargo operations today
WE THE 66
The Rise of Dark Money
The Citizens United ruling opened up the world of Super PACs – and Super PACs opened the world of “dark money”
Pre-2010, if you wanted to donate to a political campaign, you had to go through a regulated channel and have your name appear on a disclosure list
Since 2010, none of those rules exist: Any person or corporation can anonymously donate unlimited sums through Super PACs, fueling the rise of “dark money”
In the final story of our 3-part “money in politics” WeThe66 series, we look at “dark money” networks, their funders, and how they shape our political system. Read it here
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
💂♂️ A federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to end its deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, DC, concluding it violates the Constitution and illegally intrudes on local officials' authority to direct law enforcement
👮♂️ More than 250 people have been arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina, as part of a federal immigration operation that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dubbed "Operation Charlotte's Web"
💰 Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) was indicted on Wednesday for allegedly stealing $5M in disaster-relief funds that FEMA overpaid to her family's healthcare company for a Covid vaccination contract
🔥 A fire at the COP30 climate summit venue in Brazil triggered an evacuation on Thursday, disrupting negotiations as countries tried to reach a deal on climate efforts
🇺🇸 New York City’s incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani will meet President Trump today at the White House
What does Roca Nation think?
🚗 Yesterday’s Question: Should speed cameras exist? Just got back from Maryland and wow…
Speed cameras and flock cameras are just a revenue generation. They also violate the 6th Amendment right to face your accuser. They are an overstep in a surveillance nation that is quickly leading to an erosion of privacy. It moves us on a slippery slope towards a social credit system where they will start shutting down electronic vehicles and bank accounts and quickly infringing on our rights in the name of "safety" much the same as all the post 9/11 laws. Safety and security should never be a way to generae income.
Alec here from Calgary, Canada. Our city has been really big on speed cameras for as long as I have been driving. I, for the longest time, thought that this was just a money grab and that it did little for road safety.
In April of 2025, the provincial government introduced strict restrictions as to where they can be used. 2025 has set a new record for the most fatal accidents on Calgary roads, and we are only in mid-November.
This issue is something of a double edged sword; speed cameras do not offer an instant fix to the issue of an individual driver who is speeding, and are often placed in areas where the speed changes, giving tickets to drivers who are not driving recklessly. On the other hand, though, if the fear and culture of speed cameras can slow drivers and save even a single life, I think their use is justified.
While I'm in favor of speed controls/enforcement in selected areas (school zones, hospitals, etc.), the unregulated use of speed cameras is too fraught with potential error and abuse.
Local law enforcement agencies use these as a crutch to prevent actual LEO presence when needed.
Also, and this is the biggest concern, these devices sit outside on metal poles, exposed to weather, etc., and are notoriously have a poor and inconsistent calibration schedule. If local authorities are required to provide calibration info for on-board radar, then these speed-trap devices need the same oversight and challenging and confirming readings should be obligatory. All too often, these cameras are an unchallenged cash cow for local jurisdictions.
20 Questions!
It is once again the time of year for a "Thanksgiving Ratings" edition of 20 Questions. We will give you 20 categories, and you rate them on a scale of 1-10 (1 being the worst, 10 being the best). So, for example, cranberry sauce would get a 0.
Excited to see your answers!
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
🧮 Calculator Stays Put: A Paris court has temporarily blocked the auction of La Pascaline, one of the world's first calculating machines, invented by Blaise Pascal in 1642
👱🏾♀️ Hair Apparent: A New York woman's afro has been certified as the world's largest at 6 feet, 2.87 inches in circumference, officially dethroning the previous record holder who had kept the title for 15 years
🚽 Loo-dicrous Purchase: A solid gold toilet created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan sold for $12.1M at auction to Ripley's Believe It or Not!
⛴️ Ferry Distracted: A South Korean passenger ferry carrying 267 people crashed into a rocky islet because the first mate was browsing (Roca?) news on his cellphone and missed a critical turn
🦠 Concert Contagion: A concertgoer at a Tate McRae show in Phoenix tested positive for measles, potentially exposing thousands of attendees at the Footprint Center on November 5 and guests at a nearby downtown hotel
ROCA WRAP
The War Chaser
Chas Gerretsen
This photographer captured one of history's most infamous dictators and helped create cinema's most famous war correspondent.
Born in the Netherlands in 1943, Chas Gerretsen left his homeland at sixteen and spent the next decade circling the globe in pursuit of danger. He hunted crocodiles in Australia, worked as a cowboy in Texas, and embedded with Burmese rebels before walking into South Vietnam during the Tet Offensive with less than a dollar in his pocket. What began as wanderlust thus transformed into a career documenting the world's most violent conflicts.
Gerretsen entered South Vietnam in February 1968 by walking across the Cambodian border during one of the war's bloodiest periods. He befriended American photographer Dana Stone, who sold him his first proper camera and taught him survival skills. Within months, he became a freelancer, selling footage to ABC and photographs to Time, Life, and Newsweek. When fighting quieted in Vietnam, he followed the action to Cambodia, traveling from Paris to Istanbul on the Orient Express, then through Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan by bus before flying to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Gerretsen won the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1973 for his coverage of the Chilean coup that year, and his photograph of General Augusto Pinochet became the defining image of Latin American dictatorship. The portrait took on unexpected life as protesters reworked it across decades to portray Pinochet as inhuman. In 1982, art students reproduced the photograph with the message, "No street will bear your name," and plastered it across walls before national protests.
In 1975, a fellow photographer sarcastically suggested Gerretsen find a war in Hollywood. He took the advice seriously, landing work as a photographer on Apocalypse Now (1979). During lunch with Francis Ford Coppola, Gerretsen mentioned that photojournalists in Vietnam were all crazy. Days later, the director asked him how to dress a combat photographer, and Dennis Hopper's character shifted from Kurtz's lieutenant to a manic photojournalist, using three Nikon cameras Gerretsen sold to the production.
Gerretsen worked on over 100 films before selling everything in 1989 to buy a sailboat, spending three decades at sea. When he left his photo agency, over 80,000 negatives disappeared, including many from Chile. His work was only rediscovered in 2019, and in 2023, he returned to Chile for an exhibition of more than 800 images. His accompanying photo book became Chile's number one nonfiction bestseller.
For someone who spent years hunting crocodiles and dodging bullets, Gerretsen's greatest battle may have been recovering his own history.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts
We hope you all have an amazing weekend. Next week we’ll have a limited posting schedule and will be taking off Thursday and Friday. Can’t wait to see you then but first check out our latest video, shot in the viral hoods of Rochester, NY!
–Max and Max