🌊 Fire Engulfs Los Angeles

Praying for Los Angeles.

It’s hard to watch the footage coming out of southern California. Fires continue to devastate the LA area, and we immediately think of all of our readers there. We have tens of thousands of readers in LA County, and have come to know many of them personally through our email inbox and app DMs. Let us know how we can help.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Los Angeles Burns

Multiple wildfires burning in Los Angeles County have killed at least five people, prompted tens of thousands of residents to evacuate, and incinerated hundreds of homes and businesses

• The most destructive fire was first reported in LA's affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood Tuesday morning. It has since grown to 11,082 acres with zero containment. Videos show entire neighborhoods burned to the ground

• Per the LA Times, firefighters have reported that hydrants are running dry. 400,000 are currently without power, and tens of thousands have been ordered to evacuate

• The Pacific Palisades wildfire is officially the most destructive in LA history with over 1,000 structures burned to the ground

Dig Deeper

• “The hydrants are down,” one firefighter fighting the blaze in the Palisades said on a radio call. There are several theories as to what is causing the lack of water, including aging pipes, insufficient water networks, and overuse across the state

• “This is a window into a systemic problem of the city — not only of mismanagement, but our infrastructure is old,” said Rick Caruso, a developer and former mayoral candidate who once ran the city’s water board

• If you are in LA and have photos or stories, please send them over

KEY STORY

Xi’s Sad Football Dreams

China’s leading football club was kicked out of the country’s top league

• Since taking power in 2012, Xi Jinping has sought to develop a high-quality football league comparable to ones in other major countries

• At the forefront of this effort has been Guangzhou FC, which has signed prominent foreign players, won eight titles in China’s top league between 2011 and 2019, and partnered with Real Madrid to open one of the world’s largest football academies

• In 2021, though, the club’s owner – an indebted property developer called Evergrande – defaulted. This week, the Chinese Football Association announced that Guangzhou was no longer eligible to compete in the top league, citing unpaid wages and debt problems

Dig Deeper

• Evergrande – one of China’s leading real estate developers – bought the club in 2010. Its founder, once China’s richest man, took a major interest in it and spent heavily

• Among various projects, Evergrande planned to build a cutting edge $1.6B-stadium that may have been the world’s largest

• Evergrande overspent, though, and in 2021, amid a Chinese real estate slow down, defaulted on its debt

ROCA’S SPONSOR

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Together with LMNT

Time is running out to try Roca’s favorite LMNT flavor: The chocolate medley!

• If you haven’t tried LMNT, now is a great time to do so. Their Chocolate Medley – a tasty trio of Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Chai, and Chocolate Raspberry flavors – is back for a limited time. We highly recommend it, especially HOT! 

• One box of Chocolate Medley includes 10 Chocolate Mint, 10 Chocolate Chai, and 10 Chocolate Raspberry packs

• Get these flavors (and a free sample pack) now for a limited time here

Dig Deeper

• If you’ve been thinking about trying LMNT, we recommend you do so now, with the limited-time chocolate pack. As always, Roca readers get a no-questions-asked refund policy on all orders! 

• Get your LMNT here

KEY STORY

Grooming Gang Vote

The UK parliament voted against launching an investigation into grooming gangs

• Grooming gangs – gangs of mainly Pakistani immigrants that have raped thousands of children across the UK – have become a major issue in the UK, particularly following the recent news that a ruling Labour minister declined a town’s request to investigate them

• Elon Musk proceeded to tweet about the issue, helping to blow it up. Right-wing parties – accusing Labour of a cover-up – then seized on it, prompting parliament to hold a vote on whether or not to launch an investigation into the matter

• On Wednesday, parliament voted 364-111 against launching one, with the Labour majority saying that an already-planned independent investigation is sufficient and that a new one would delay justice

Dig Deeper 

• Labour critics have repeatedly accused the party of a coverup, saying it decided against prosecuting the gangs for fear of appearing racist

• Labour PM Keir Starmer denied that but argued intensely against launching a parliamentary investigation, saying that an independent one is already planned and a new one would delay justice and be unfair to victims

KEY STORY

Expensive Intelligence

OpenAI is losing money on its top-level subscription despite charging $200 a month for it

• Launched in December, ChatGPT Pro gives users unlimited access to all OpenAI models, including video generator Sora and reasoning model o1

• CEO Sam Altman wrote that subscribers are using the $200/month service more than expected, driving up associated costs and resulting in a financial net loss for the subscription. OpenAI lost ~$5B in total last year

• In related news, Altman said that he expects AI agents to begin joining the workforce in 2025 and “change the output of companies”

Dig Deeper

• OpenAI has been able to sustain operations through the venture capital market: The company has raised nearly $20B from investors since its inception, an amount enabled only by its astronomical valuation

• The ChatGPT Pro news further accentuates AI companies’ struggles to create profitable products as the industry continues to lean on venture funding

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🪖 Israel and Hezbollah are accusing each other of violating their ceasefire agreement

💰 AI company Anthropic is nearing a fundraising deal that would value it at $60B, making it the US’ fifth-most valuable startup after SpaceX, OpenAI, Stripe, and Databricks

🇺🇸 After failed appeals in New York, President-elect Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court to throw out his “hush money” conviction

⚖️ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman denied his sister’s claims, made in a newly-filed lawsuit, that he sexually abused her as a child

🇺🇸 After Trump declined to rule out using military force to seize Greenland, France’s foreign minister vowed that the European Union would defend the island

COMMUNITY
What does Roca Nation think?

🧠 Yesterday’s question: What’s the most obnoxious sports fan base?

🧐 Today’s question: You’re at a sports bar and you’re tasked with ordering two appetizers. What are you getting?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🎙️ Pressley Out: Caleb Pressley, host of the Barstool Sports podcast “Sundae Conversation,” announced his departure from Barstool to start his own production company

👼 Holy Baby?: On the day that Spain celebrated Epiphany – a major holiday in Spain celebrated with gift-giving to kids – a baby was born on a migrant raft minutes before it was rescued

☕ Hold that Afternoon Cup: A study of 40,000 people published in the European Heart Journal found that people who drank a morning cup of coffee were less likely to die of heart problems than non-coffee drinkers. Those who drank coffee in the afternoon had no such benefit

💼 Brief Case of Drugs: A Florida defense attorney was arrested for allegedly smuggling legal documents soaked in synthetic marijuana (K2) into Duval County Jail, where inmates could get high from the drug-laced papers

🏠 Breaking Bank: Walter White’s home from “Breaking Bad” is on sale for $4M. The owner’s family has possessed the ranch for five generations

ROCA WRAP

“Burqa Ban”

Switzerland

This country implemented a nationwide ban on facial coverings.

A multilingual federal republic of 8.7M people in the heart of Europe, Switzerland is known for its direct democracy system where citizens can force referendums on national issues. In recent years, one hot topic in this system has been questions of cultural integration and religious expression.

In a 2021 referendum, voters narrowly approved a so-called "burqa ban," prohibiting facial coverings in public spaces with violators facing fines of up to 1,000 Swiss francs ($1,144). The measure – which was launched by the same group that successfully campaigned for a 2009 ban on new minarets – took effect on January 1.

The ban includes several exemptions: Faces may be covered in places of worship, on planes, in diplomatic premises, for health and safety reasons, during native customs, for weather protection, and for artistic or advertising purposes. Pre-approved protest-related coverings may also be permitted.

For the most part, though, facial coverings will no longer be allowed on public streets.

The move has prompted both support from those concerned about the assimilation of Muslim immigrants and criticism from some Muslims and rights groups, who have condemned the measure.

Yet in Switzerland’s direct democracy system, the people get to choose the policies – and the people chose the ban.

ROCA VIDEO
A Disappearing City | Life Inside Gary, Indiana

We visited Gary, Indiana, a city often called the "Most Miserable American City" and the "Murder Capital of America." Curious about thes validity of these claims, we spoke with locals and toured the city to understand what happened. We soon found out that many residents blame one specific group for causing the city’s decline.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Well, folks, not exactly an uplifting news cycle today, especially for Guangzhou FC die hards. We hope tomorrow brings better news, though news tends to have a negative bias. The only thing that can make you feel better about current events is history: Never forget that you could’ve been a serf in the Bubonic Plague era! And it’s funny to think that — even then — there were old people mumbling, “Kids this days… so soft. We used to have to carry our dead neighbors, not wheel them. We’re screwed.”

–Max and Max