🌊 The Kids Behind DOGE

The podcast-demic might be over.

New podcast debuts have dropped over 80% in four years. In the podcast-demic of 2020, over 1M new podcasts hit the market. The next year, roughly 700,000 did. In 2024, however, fewer than 200,000 podcasts debuted — including civilizational gems like Talk Tuah and Talking Talk Tuah. Can Trump please put a 2000% tariff on podcast mics so we can get this number even lower?

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

New Microplastics Study

A new study found increasing levels of micro-plastics in brain tissue

• Microplastics are minuscule pieces of plastic that enter water, nature, the food chain, and bodies through the breakdown of larger plastic products

• Scientists detected 12 different polymers in the brains of dozens of autopsies, the most common being polyethylene, a plastic commonly used in packaging, like plastic bags

• However, the lead author said that plastics levels did not increase with age, providing some “reason for optimism” that people can expel them from their bodies over time

Dig Deeper

• The author said he suspects most microplastics are ingested through food, particularly store-bought meat, which he said have higher levels of microplastics

• He also noted that the increase in micro plastic concentrations the brain are “simply mirroring” the wider “environmental build-up” of the plastics in the natural world

KEY STORY

DOGE Kids

A Wired report identified a group of engineers at DOGE as former tech workers between the ages of 19 and 24

• Since Trump took office, DOGE engineers have moved quickly to enter federal agencies to cut spending, collect data, and eliminate staff

• Of the 6 young engineers identified by Wired, most have experience at the world’s leading tech companies and universities. They attended schools including Harvard and UC Berkeley; interned at tech companies including Meta, Palantir, SpaceX and Neuralink; worked at hedge funds; and worked with the Trump- and Musk-aligned venture capitalist Peter Thiel

• After people began spreading the employees’ names online, Musk accused them of breaking the law and “doxxing” them

Dig Deeper

• DOGE’s engineers have gained access to the internal systems and data of several federal agencies, including the Treasury, USAID, Education, and Medicare Services

• Musk has said DOGE engineers are using AI to identify wasteful spending, while critics say the employees are violating the law by accessing sensitive records and systems

• On Wednesday, a federal judge heard arguments on whether to block DOGE from accessing sensitive records from the Treasury Department

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KEY STORY

CIA Offers to Buy Out Full Workforce

The CIA offered to buy out all of its employees

• In late January, the Trump Administration offered buyouts to most federal workers as part of an effort to trim the workforce. Some wings of the government – including the military and CIA – were exempt

• This week, though, the CIA implemented a hiring freeze and offered to buy out its entire work force. A spokesperson said the move would “infuse the agency with renewed energy”

• Trump’s backers have said the CIA is bloated, unaccountable, and needs to be curbed; his critics say he is purging his opponents and hollowing out US intelligence agencies

Dig Deeper 

• CIA director John Ratcliffe told the Senate last month that the agency would shift to a focus on China, while one of his aides said it would take on a significant role fighting Mexican drug cartels as part of a broader reorientation toward the Western hemisphere

• Some in Trump’s national security staff have argued the CIA has focused too much on analysis at the expense of collecting intelligence and conducting covert operations, something Ratcliffe aims to change

KEY STORY

First Day at New DoJ

Hours after her swearing in, Attorney General Pam Bondi outlined plans to punish sanctuary cities, investigate the prosecutions of Trump, and target cartels

• Bondi – a former Florida AG – was confirmed in a 54-46 vote, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) breaking with the Democrats

• Hours later, she ordered the DOJ to pause all federal funding for sanctuary cities and prosecute cities that defy the White House’s immigration orders, began a review of the prosecutions against Trump and the J6 rioters, and vowed to begin a process to “completely eliminate” the threat of cartels

Dig Deeper

• Bondi also said she will increase the use of the federal death penalty and terminate any DOJ policies that are “not sufficiently in line with President Trump’s death penalty executive order,” particularly regarding violent drug crimes and criminal organizations

• Her DOJ is expected to suspend “bureaucratic approvals and reviews” to expedite prosecutions of severe drug offenses

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

📦 The US Postal Service implemented then reversed a ban on all package shipments from China

🇸🇪 A 35-year-old Swedish man killed 11+ people and wounded others at an adult education center before taking his own life, marking the deadliest shooting in Swedish history

🇺🇸 About 10,000 USAID employees worldwide will be placed on administrative leave starting Friday

📈 Spotify reported its first full-year profit, reporting record-high revenue and users in 2024

🇺🇦 Kremlin officials confirmed intensified contacts with the US regarding Ukraine, marking Moscow's first acknowledgment of potential negotiations

🇺🇸 President Trump signed a “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” executive order, prohibiting trans people from competing in sports as a gender different to that assigned at birth

COMMUNITY
What does Roca Nation think?

🧠 Yesterday’s Question: Who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl?

🧐 Today’s Question: What was the most memorable game to watch on TV in your life?

Max T: Tie between FSU national championship in 2013 and Cavs-Warriors Game 7 in 2016 (hate LBJ and Steph but peak basketball)
Max F: UVA’s OT national championship win over Texas Tech. Redemption

Reply to this email with your thoughts!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

📣 Meta’s Anti-Leak Memo Leaks Immediately: Moments after Meta executives threatened to fire employees for leaking information, Zuckerberg's meeting comments were leaked to the public

🧑‍⚖️ From Judge to Judged: An upstate New York judge resigned after getting out of jury duty by claiming he couldn't be impartial because he thinks "everybody" who comes to court is guilty

🧑‍🦯 Blind Spot for Gun Laws: A blind man successfully obtained an Indiana gun license while using his sight stick

🥚 Cracking the Case: Thieves stole approximately 100,000 eggs worth $40,000 from a distributor’s trailer in Pennsylvania on Saturday night

⚽ Saudi Team’s 200 Million-Dollar Misfire: Saudi soccer club Al-Hilal terminated Brazilian soccer player Neymar's $200M contract after just seven appearances, ending his disappointing Saudi adventure

ROCA WRAP
The World’s New War

The world’s newest international war may have started in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

31 years ago, Rwandan Hutus massacred 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis in what became known as the Rwandan genocide. The Tutsi rebels fought back and seized power, with the Tutsi rebel leader Paul Kagame becoming Rwanda’s president.

Anticipating reprisals, 1M+ Hutus fled from Rwanda into the eastern DRC, sparking what became known as Africa’s World War.

Suposedly to chase down those responsible for the genocide, Rwanda twice invaded DRC – a country 89 times larger. The war that ensued engulfed the eastern DRC in chaos. Amid that, armed groups proliferated, competing with each other and the DRC government for control of eastern Congo.

The DRC’s government was never strong enough to eliminate those groups, however, it made repeated efforts to disarm them. One such agreement– signed on March 23, 2009 – sought to integrate one Tutsi rebel group into the DRC’s military. Yet those Tutsi fighters reneged on the deal and formed their own militia, the M23 (“March 23”), which went on the offensive in 2012 and seized the biggest regional city, Goma.

In 2012, after months of fighting, UN forces helped push the M23 back into the hills that form the DRC-Rwanda border.

Yet last week, the M23 came back with a vengeance.

After 2012, the M23 lost relevance. Then in 2022, with Rwanda’s backing, it reemerged, seizing towns across eastern Congo. As it spread throughout the region, millions of people fled and faced humanitarian crises. The UN alleged it was spreading “terror” with violence against civilians, rapes of women, and the enlistment of child soldiers.

Last spring, the group reached within 20 kilometers of Goma, home to 2M people. Then last week, it entered the city, sending hundreds of thousands fleeing.

The question now is what comes next.

The M23 is working with Rwandan troops – who have invaded the DRC – to set up governments near Goma, indicating the sides are preparing for an extended occupation.

The DRC’s government, meanwhile, is faced with either capitulation or sending more troops to confront the Rwandan Army, which – despite Rwanda’s small size – is the best fighting force in the region.

Rwanda – which has a reported 4,000 soldiers working alongside the M23 – wants to secure control of the eastern DRC’s vast quantities of natural resources, and ostensibly root out fighters in the DRC it says were active in the 1994 genocide.

Some in Rwanda’s government have said the region of eastern DRC is traditionally Rwandan land, indicating a stance like that of Russia toward Ukraine.

Others seek to overthrow the DRC’s government. On Thursday, the M23 vowed to conquer the DRC’s capital, 975 miles to the west: “We will continue the march of liberation all the way to Kinshasa,” one of its leaders said.

Humanitarian groups and analysts have been warning that a catastrophe may ensue. The M23 is now advancing on another city with a population of 2M. In the 1990s and 2000s, conflict in the eastern DRC drew in nine countries, claimed millions of lives, and may have constituted the world’s deadliest war since World War 2.

The current fighting has already displaced some 2M people, resulted in widespread atrocities, and appears at risk of drawing in neighboring countries.

Has the world’s next international war already begun?

ROCA VIDEO
Inside NYC's Secret Migrant Economy

Since 2022, over 220,000 migrants have arrived in New York City. During that time, the city has spent over $6B on housing, feeding, and caring for them.

Many businesses — from hotels to food delivery apps — and even foreign governments have capitalized on the crisis and profited enormously off of it. In this video, we investigate NYC's secret illegal migrant economy.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Over the last few weeks, hundreds of you have subscribed to our original reporting newsletter, We The 66. Thank you to all of you for your support (even if that just means reading the free versions). We are now trying to send out original reports daily as part of our promise to do more on-the-ground journalism — the kind that Big News should do, but doesn’t. Here’s the latest one: The Battle for the FBI. Hope you enjoy, and have a great day!

–Max and Max