đ Bill Gates Confesses
Plus: South Korea's fertility rate rises, Anthropic ditches safety, & Roca visits Texas's coastline
Saw this on X and just had to share with you all.
Honored to be the new scrawny white dudes.
Now, if anyone has a gym routine so we can bench more than Zohran (not a single plate, Mr. Mayor?), please send along. And enjoy todayâs news.
đł Bill Gates admits to Russian hookers
đ South Koreaâs fertility rate rises
đ„ Inside Texasâ forgotten coastline
â Max and Max
News Trivia
These questions are related to the dayâs news; the answers are at the end of the newsletter!
Before Trump beat the record, who had the longest State of the Union speech?
According to the UN, which country had the highest birth rate in 2025?
KEY STORY
Gates Admits to Affairs
Bill Gates apologized to Gates Foundation staff over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, The Wall Street Journal reported
The Epstein files contained a draft email in which Epstein wrote that Gates had contracted an STD and that Epstein had to get medicine for Gates âto deal with the consequences of sex with Russian girlsâ
On Tuesday, the WSJ reported that Gates held a town hall with foundation employees where he called spending time with Epstein a âhuge mistake.â Gates said he had affairs with two Russian women, which Epstein used in an attempt to extort him
Gates claimed his relationship with Epstein revolved around connections to wealthy figures to raise money for Gatesâ philanthropies
Dig Deeper
Gates claimed that he met Epstein in 2011 and continued their relationship through 2014, long after Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution. Gates said that, after 2014, Epstein continued emailing him but Gates didnât respond
KEY STORY
Anthropic Softens AI Safety Stance
AI company Anthropic announced that it was softening its commitment to AI safety
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees who were concerned about the safety of AI. In 2023, Anthropic pledged to halt potentially dangerous AI development until safety measures were in place â the only major AI company to do so
On Tuesday, Anthropic said it would no longer pause development if it lacked adequate safety measures, provided competitors continue advancing models
Anthropic said the change is unrelated to tensions at the Pentagon and instead attributed the change to both the lack of federal AI regulations and increased competition
Dig Deeper
Itâs unclear whether their softened safety stance will appease the Pentagon, which separately demanded Tuesday that Anthropic allow its AI models to be used in all lawful military applications
The company said it would delay AI development only if it held a significant lead over rivals and considered catastrophic risks to be substantial
KEY STORY
South Korea's Fertility Rate Rises
South Korea's fertility rate increased in 2025, marking the second straight year of growth after nearly a decade of decline
Birthrates in South Korea had fallen for eight consecutive years up to 2023. The country recorded the world's lowest fertility rate of 0.72 in 2023, with demographers considering 2.1 necessary to maintain a population
Government data released Wednesday showed that South Korea's fertility rate rose to 0.80 last year with 254,500 babies born, a 6.8% increase from 2024 and the largest annual rise in 15 years. The government has spent billions on programs to encourage childbirth
Dig Deeper
Demographers attributed much of the increase to "echo boomers," a generation born between 1991 and 1995 who in 2025 entered their early thirties, the average age of childbearing in South Korea. They warned that the demographic boost from echo boomers will likely fade after 2027, though
KEY STORY
Summers Resigns Over Epstein Scandal
Lawrence Summers announced he will resign from his positions at Harvard over his ties to Epstein
Summers has been on leave from his teaching position since November 2025, when emails with Epstein became public. Summers continued his relationship with Epstein after Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor
On Wednesday, Summers resigned from his role as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government and retired from all academic and faculty positions at Harvard
Harvard accepted his resignation and confirmed it was connected to its review of Epstein documents
Dig Deeper
Summers' resignation from Harvard follows his November departures from the board of OpenAI and positions at several policy organizations, including The Budget Lab at Yale and the Center for American Progress
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Always respect your superiors; if you have any.
-Mark Twain
WE THE 66
How Don Junior Is Making Millions
For as long as the White House has stood, itâs been a launching pad for the kids of the man who inhabits it. But lately, the nepotism has reached a new level of brazenness
First, Hunter Biden. Smoking crack while dealing with Ukrainian and Chinese business partners? One of his dadâs final maneuvers as president was handing Hunter a presidential pardon. So Hunter couldnât be topped, right?
Enter, Don Jr. â Trumpâs eldest son, whose net worth has increased by a factor of six since his dad retook the Oval Office
From crypto to venture capital to his exclusive social club, we investigate how Don Jr. has made his millions these last 15 months. Read it here
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
đ§đ»âđ€ A total of 17 artists received nominations for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, including Phil Collins, Oasis, Pink, Wu-Tang Clan, and Shakira.
đ US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said President Trump will soon issue an order increasing the worldwide tariff to 15% "where appropriate."
đ€ Cuba's Interior Ministry reported that four men aboard a US-registered speedboat were killed after a confrontation in Cuban waters on Wednesday.
đž Nvidia announced January quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street forecasts, with net income hitting $43B and sales reaching $68.1B.
đșđž Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivered the Democratic response to President Trump's State of the Union address, challenging his claims about lowering costs, protecting citizens, and serving the public interest.
What does Roca Nation think?
đ€ Yesterdayâs Question: Did you watch the State of the Union last night? Any thoughts?
I tried to watch the State of the Union as I pride myself as being someone in the loop who hears things directly instead of from people who spin the story. However, I could not watch for longer than 15 minutes. The entire thing to me felt more like a state sponsored propaganda event where blatant lies or extreme exaggerations spoken by our dear leader were vigorously applauded. It was appalling to watch. What happened to facts and truths? These donât seem to matter anymore, and what seems to be most important right now is owning the other side and living in a delusional state of reality. The rhetoric was very divisive and instead of focusing on brining the country together, the focus was to divide us more. We need a unifier, not a divider. I appreciate Roca News as trying to unify us through facts and stores of regular Americans.
Elliot from Undisclosed
Yes, I did watch parts of the SOTU address and was ashamed of the Democrat lawmakers who couldnât even stand in support of the statement that their job is to protect American citizens.
Honestly, they behaved like spoiled children who arenât getting their way. I prefer the decorum of the past such as Tip OâNeill and Ronald Reagan meeting together regularly.
I am not a Democrat or a Republican but currently, I am appalled at the Democrats and their behavior. Do I like everything President Trump says? Not particularly, I wish he was more diplomatic but perhaps he is just the type of president we currently need. Only time will tell.
Cate from Undisclosed
No
Many of our readers
đ€ Yesterdayâs Question: Whatâs a job that youâre not worried about AI replacing?
Reply to this email with your response!
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
đ Robot Rampage: A Coco Robotics food delivery robot went rogue in East Hollywood, plowing through a residentâs garden and escaping with her fence caught in its wheels.
đźđ» Boutique Blitz: Law enforcement agencies have to wait in line to arrest a South Carolina boutique owner, who now faces her 11th booking in less than two months for allegedly scamming customers.
đŠ Buzzed Bird: A California man received 45 days in jail after he trapped a young Cooperâs hawk at a Whittier park and fed the hawk alcohol while filming for YouTube.
âïž Cold Case: A snowball fight in Washington Square Park has divided New York City officials after two police officers suffered injuries requiring emergency room treatment.
đ Curry Favor: Campaigners brought a 20,000-signature petition to King Charles asking him to intervene after Britainâs longest-running Indian restaurant learned it would be forced out of its century-old home.
ROCA WRAP
Miriam RodrĂguez
This mother hunted down her daughterâs killers one by one, disguising herself to gather evidence on a cartel.
Born in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, in 1960, Miriam RodrĂguez lived in one of Mexicoâs most violent regions, where the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas fought for control of smuggling routes to the US. When her 14-year-old daughter Karen was kidnapped in 2012, RodrĂguez paid the ransom with a bank loan designed specifically for such payments. Karen was never released.
Frustrated by police inaction, RodrĂguez launched her own investigation. Over the course of three years, she disguised herself and posed as different people to infiltrate the criminal networks, gathering information about those responsible for her daughterâs disappearance. In 2014, she discovered Karenâs remains in a hidden grave. Her work led to the capture of ten cartel members, including the principal suspect in her daughterâs murder.
RodrĂguezâs experience turned her into an advocate. She founded the Collective of the Disappeared in Tamaulipas, organizing 600 families to search for missing relatives. Families like RodrĂguezâs played crucial roles in discovering mass graves across the country, some containing hundreds of bodies, but the work made them targets.
When the primary suspect in Karenâs murder escaped from prison, RodrĂguez requested special protection. State authorities claimed they sent extra police patrols, but on May 10, 2017 â Mexicoâs Motherâs Day â gunmen burst into her home in San Fernando and shot her twelve times. She died on the way to the hospital. That same day, families of the disappeared had planned marches demanding government action.
The Tamaulipas governor promised her death wouldnât become âone statistic more,â but RodrĂguez joined a growing list of murdered activists: Family members searching for disappeared relatives had been killed all over Mexico.
A plaque now marks San Fernandoâs central plaza in her honor, a memorial to a mother who refused to let her daughterâs killers get away with it.
NEWS TRIVIA ANSWERS
Bill Clinton
Chad
EDITORâS NOTE
Final Thoughts
Two videos in two days? Has the singularity arrived?
Weâve been traveling a ton lately and are truly addicted to learning more about America. So many fascinating places like this one. Hope you enjoy this one.
âMax and Max
Whatâs interesting isnât Gates or Summers or Don Jr. in isolation. Itâs how proximity to power keeps colliding with âhuge mistakeâ language after the fact. We keep discovering that elites knew who Epstein was, continued anyway, and only recalibrated when exposure became inconvenient. Thatâs not ideology. Thatâs incentive structure. The real story isnât the confession. Itâs how long the room stayed quiet before it became expensive to.