May 17, 2022

83 years ago today, NBC aired the first sporting event in US history. It was a baseball game between Columbia and Princeton universities, shot on a single camera. Given that only a few hundred Americans had TVs at the time, think of the audience size as that of a modern awards show. Ehh, maybe more...

― Key Stories

Drug Queen Finally Captured
Overview

• Police in Honduras arrested Herlinda Bobadilla, the leader of one of Central America’s largest gangs
• The 61-yo Bobadilla led the Montes clan, accused of trafficking drugs from Colombia to the US
• The US had put a $5M reward on Bobadilla and her 2 sons, prompting a surge in tips about her location. One son was killed in a shootout; the other’s location is unknown
• Drug trafficking gangs are powerful in Honduras: Last month, a former president was extradited to the US, which accuses him of conspiring to export hundreds of tons of cocaine

US Troops to Somalia
Overview

• President Biden authorized the deployment of US troops to Somalia
• The Defense Department requested the troops to support local forces in fighting al-Shabab, a Somali terrorist group with links to al-Qaeda. US troops have been active in Somalia since the early 1990s
• The authorization reportedly limits the number of troops to 500. Before his term ended, President Trump withdrew the last 700 US troops remaining there
• Some of those troops were relocated to Kenya and have continued traveling to Somalia. Biden’s authorization allows direct deployment to Somalia

Tech Companies Cut Back
Overview

• Tech companies are cutting hiring after a years- long boom
• Market weakness has rocked the industry: Amazon stock is down 34% this year, Meta 41%, Uber 45%, and Netflix 69%
• Meta said it is making hiring cuts; others are enacting hiring freezes; Uber said hiring is now considered a “privilege”
• Some companies are concerned about economic turmoil; others are saying they grew too quickly during the pandemic and now need to slow down. About 5.7% of US workers work in tech

To NATO, or Not to NATO?
Overview

• Sweden and Finland confirmed they will apply to join NATO, the US-led military alliance
• In recent history, Sweden and Finland have stayed close to western Europe while remaining militarily neutral. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed the countries to support NATO membership
• Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, said it will veto the countries’ applications. It accuses them of supporting Kurdish groups that Turkey considers terrorist organizations
• Both countries are negotiating with Turkey to overcome its objections

See yesterday's results below the Wrap!

 Popcorn

Culture & Sports

• Yayy, more nightmares: Black Mirror is returning for a Season 6 on Netflix with longer episodes. No premiere date has been released
• Bad Bunny takeover: Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny's new album "Un Verano Sin Ti" is the top album on the Billboard 200
• Out of the sand: Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus says he turned down $100M+ from the Saudis to become the face of their new golf tour 

• Shell yes: The Thailand cove Maya Bay, popularized in the book and movie The Beach, is reopening after a 4-year closure
• The world's largest crypto exchange Binance saw its position in cryptocurrency Luna fall from a peak of $1.6B to $2,391 today
• ET, take the stand: Congress is holding a hearing on UFOs today, which some officials view as a national security threat
• Justice for Mac: A Los Angeles court sentenced the man accused of supplying Mac Miller with fentanyl-laced pills to prison for 17 years

― Roca Wrap

A Newsletter Exclusive

In Arabic, al-Shabab means “the youth.” To American officials, it means one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist groups. 

During the Cold War, Somalia was ruled by a communist dictator. In 1991, when the USSR collapsed, that dictator was overthrown. Somalia fell into a period of instability and civil war that continues today. 

In 1993, the US led a humanitarian intervention. That resulted in the Battle of Mogadishu – depicted in the movie and book Black Hawk Down – and 19 dead American servicemen. The US has been unable to separate from the country since. 

In the early 2000s, a hardline Islamist government called the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) took power. The ICU raised alarm in the US and neighboring countries, who feared Somalia would become a terrorist breeding ground. With US support, Ethiopia – Somalia’s largest and most powerful neighbor – invaded; the ICU fled abroad. 

Some young members – the youth, or al-Shabab – stayed behind, though. The group affiliated itself with al-Qaeda and launched a war against “enemies of Islam” that is yet to end. 

The group filled a vacuum in lawless Somalia, implementing strict Islamic rule in parts of the country. Like the Taliban in Afghanistan, it prohibited music and movies; banned smoking and shaving; and killed or amputated adulterers and thieves. 

Al-Shabab would go on to conduct countless attacks in Somalia – including a single 2017 bombing that killed 512 – and ban humanitarian assistance, creating hundreds of thousands of refugees. 

It also expanded to neighboring countries, conducting a deadly bombing in Uganda, a siege of a shopping mall and hotel in Kenya, and an attack on a US base that killed 3 Americans. In 2020, the US charged an al-Shabab member with plotting to hijack and crash a plane into a US government building. 

Those attacks have kept Somalia on foreign countries’ radars, particularly the US. At least 120 US military personnel were deployed to Somalia in 2007, helping train and support a coalition of African soldiers fighting al-Shabab. By 2020, 700 Americans were in the country, and the US had conducted more than 300 airstrikes on Somalia. 

Then a month before leaving office, President Trump ordered all US forces out of Somalia. 

Many of those forces shifted their operations to nearby Kenya, and continued conducting missions against al-Shabab. Instead of being deployed within Somalia, though, they were deployed to Kenya. They’d then travel to and from Somalia, where they would train and support local forces as before. Military officials said it was inefficient and a waste of resources. 

They asked President Biden to reauthorize the deployment of US forces to Somalia, and yesterday, it was confirmed that he did so for up to 500 Americans.

A Defense Department spokesman said the deployments will “enable a more effective fight against al-Shabab by local forces,” and that Americans will not be “directly engaged in combat operations.” 

“It’s about putting troops back into Somalia on a persistent basis,” he said. 

“It’s not a deployment with an end date.” 

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― Final Thoughts