🌊 Let It Sneaux!

“Show me your mitts!”

In scenes that look AI-generated, New Orleans — like much of the Gulf Coast — is covered in snow. New Orleans smashed its previous snowfall record of 2.7 inches with an accumulation of 10 inches. The videos coming out of the French Quarter are surreal: A snowball fight on Bourbon street, a pickup hockey game on Canal Street, and a man dumping creole flavoring onto his porch to give his snow some flavor. If you’re from the Gulf Coast area and have pics/vids, we’d love to see them…

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

State of Hamas

Footage of armed militants roaming Gaza has raised questions about Hamas’ continued presence there

• Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 of an estimated 25,000 total Hamas members, but the IDF has documented around 8,500 militant fatalities, meaning that Hamas may have a larger remaining force

• Currently, there appears to be a power vacuum in Gaza: Hamas militants have a visible presence, although their true strength is unknown. Meanwhile, criminal gangs are vying for control, complicating aid deliveries, reconstruction efforts, and more

Dig Deeper 

• While some analysts have said that Hamas’ show of force may be an illusion, one former Israeli hostage negotiator told the Wall Street Journal that it suggests Israel’s war goals failed

• Regardless of the extent, Hamas’ continued presence raises questions about how the reconstruction and governance of Gaza will operate going forward

• Israeli PM Netanyahu has not put forward a clear “day after” plan for the territory and has been resistant to an American push for the West Bank’s more moderate Palestinian Authority to take power

KEY STORY

Conflict in Colombia

Violent clashes between rival guerilla groups in Colombia have killed over 80 people and forced more than 18,000 to flee in four days of fighting

• The warring groups are battling to control an area that produces much of Colombia’s cocaine, although clashes are taking place elsewhere, too

• The violence is a blow to Colombia’s left-wing president, who had promised a new era of peace

• He has responded by deploying 5,000 troops to quell the fighting and stating that the ELN – the largest guerilla group – has “chosen the path of war”

Dig Deeper

• Two rebel groups had been sharing power in Catatumbo, a region bordering Venezuela known for cocaine production, however, peace broke down when the ELN launched attacks on civilians they accused of collaborating with the other group

• The resulting fighting has been Colombia’s deadliest wave of violence since peace accords ended a decades-long conflict in 2016

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KEY STORY

Trump’s Notable Day 1 Orders

President Trump kicked off his second term by signing dozens of executive orders

• Among them, Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement and the WHO; designated certain cartels foreign terrorist groups; and suspended refugee resettlement

• One order – refusing to recognize birthright citizenship, which guarantees citizenship to all children born in the US regardless of a parent’s immigration status – resulted in 22 states immediately suing the administration

Dig Deeper

• Trump's birthright citizenship order in particular is likely to spark an extended legal battle: Birthright citizenship has been a longstanding US policy traditionally protected by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. The lawsuits over it may well end up in the Supreme Court

KEY STORY

Deportations to Begin

“Mass deportations” are expected to begin immediately

• Last week, it was reported that the first raids would begin on Tuesday and target illegal immigrants with criminal records in Chicago, a progressive “sanctuary city” whose mayor has clashed with Trump

• Reports have since said the leak prompted the administration to change its plans to single out Chicago, however, further details haven’t yet emerged

• “Border Tsar” Tom Homan said, "ICE will start arresting public safety threats and national security threats on day one"

Dig Deeper

• "We'll be arresting people across the country, uninhibited by any prior administration guidelines,” Homan added. “When ICE goes out, they're going to know exactly who they're looking for and pretty much where they'll find them"

• Homan said ICE would not conduct "raids," but "targeted enforcement operations"

• It’s unclear exactly what these will look like, however, officials told the Wall Street Journal that while they will target criminals, any illegal immigrant, regardless of criminal status, will be detained if present during an arrest

• On Saturday, a New York Times poll found that 55% of Americans either strongly or somewhat support mass deportations

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇺🇸 Secretary of State Marco Rubio became the first confirmed member of President Trump’s Cabinet

🔥 A fire at a hotel in a ski resort in northwest Turkey killed at least 76 people and injured dozens more

❄️ A winter storm hitting Texas, Louisiana, and other Gulf Coast states led to the cancellation of thousands of flights on Tuesday

🇺🇸 President Trump suggested that new tariffs as high as 25% on Canada and Mexico could take effect as soon as February 1

🏛️ The Senate passed the Laken Riley Act in a bipartisan 63-35 vote. The legislation authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to take custody of and deport any illegal immigrant charged with theft-related criminal offenses, assault of a law enforcement officer, and assault of another person

🆓 Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht. Read our deep-dive We The 66 newsletter on the topic right here

COMMUNITY
What does Roca Nation think?

🧐 Yesterday’s Question: From the pardons to the inauguration, so much happened yesterday. So our general question is… thoughts?

🧠 Today’s question: What’s the most memorable snow experience of your life?

Replay to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🔥 Game Over for Elon: Elon Musk admitted to using account “boosting” services – paying skilled players to advance in video games – for his high-level gaming characters after livestreaming his sub-par gameplay

🧑‍🚒 Fire Fraud: Two people were arrested in Los Angeles after being caught impersonating firefighters in a fake fire truck while attempting to enter the Palisades Fire evacuation zone

💊 Reverse Psychology?: Just 10 days after being released on bond for previous drug charges, a Florida woman was arrested after police found a bag of drugs in her bag labeled "Definitely Not a Bag Full of Drugs”

💲 $TRUMP Tanks: Trump-affiliated cryptocurrencies crashed during his first 24 hours in office, with the "Official Trump" token dropping 20% to $38 and "Melania Meme" losing more than half its value

🍾 Champagne Problems: Global champagne shipments from France fizzled out in 2023, dropping nearly 10%. Champagne companies attributed the decline to inflation-weary consumers and worldwide gloom

ROCA WRAP
The End of Loneliness?

Realbotix says the solution to the loneliness epidemic is a robot.

“If you ever saw that movie Her, we're trying to do that,” the company’s CEO said last week.

Study after study shows that adults, particularly in the US, feel lonely. One recent Gallup found that one in five US adults feels lonely on a regular basis; one from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) found that 30% of American adults feel lonely at least once a week.

A recent Harvard study put the figure at 21% and found that loneliness is highly correlated with other negative conditions, like depression and anxiety. That same study found that the number one cause of the feeling was technology.

Yet Realbotix thinks AI is the answer: To solve a “staggering loneliness epidemic,” the company says, it’s creating life-like robots for people to fall in love with. The robots, the latest models of which were debuted last week, cost between $12,000 and $175,000.

The highest-end model, “Aria,” can jerkily move its limbs and pivot in several directions and has camera eyes that can recognize users and what they are doing.

The company’s CEO, Andrew Kiguel, told Forbes last week that his vision is to “create robots that are indistinguishable from humans.” 

“It can be like a romantic partner. It remembers who you are. It can act as a boyfriend or girlfriend,” he said.

The robots can have “intimate conversations,” although it’s unclear what they are physically able to do, and can be customized to the user’s preferences. Body parts can be replaced, faces can be swapped, and the skin – magnetically attached – can be replaced.

The robots are still in a nascent phase, as evidenced by Aria’s clunky movements. However, just this month, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said, “[The] ChatGPT moment for robotics is coming,” and predicted there would soon be widespread adoption of humanoid robots.

Sam Altman, meanwhile, has said “Her,” the movie about a man who falls in love with his AI, was “incredibly prophetic and certainly more than a little bit inspired us.”

So tech companies are trying to make us fall in love with robots. Will that fix loneliness or make it worse?

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

At 6 AM today, Max F took a flight to New Mexico for a reporting trip in one of America’s most under-covered states. He and video man Drew will be visiting the border, Native American reservations, rare metal mines, and other destinations we can’t wait to share with you.

Hope you all bundle up today. Just turned on the weather channel and the forecast for today is “SUPER ******* COLD.”

–Max and Max