When she was just six months old, Louise Lawrence-Israels' parents hid her and her brother in an abandoned attic in Amsterdam. It was the winter of 1943, and the situation for Jews in the Netherlands was deteriorating. Public executions and mass deportations to Concentration Camps in Poland made Louise's parents fear for her and her brother's safety. They remained in that attic for nearly three years. Sometimes the only food she had was warm water. She and her brother never stepped foot outside during that time. She shared her story with RocaNews' official podcast We The 66. Before we share timestamps, we'd like to give a special thanks to Louise and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC which allowed us to film this interview in its hallowed halls.

Dr. Matthew Levitt is perhaps the United States' foremost leading expert on Hezbollah. He's a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and an adjunct professor in Georgetown University's Center for Security Studies. We sat down with Dr. Levitt to better understand Hezbollah's history, how it operates, how Israel plans to fight it, whether this could escalate into an Israel-Iran war, how the pager attack happened, and so much more.

0:00 - Intro

0:55 - History of Hezbollah

3:37 - Where is it based?

5:13 - Lebanon and Hezbollah's relationship

8:31 - Israel's war with Hezbollah

9:30 - Why Israel might not destroy it

12:40 - The Israeli pager attack

17:20 - Is Israel sparing citizens?

18:37 - How Israel is avoiding civilian casualties

20:36 - Closing

Hassan al-Qazwini is one of the most prominent Muslim leaders in America. The Dearborn, Michigan-based Imam has been an American citizen since 1998 and considers the United States to be the best country in the world to be a Muslim. However, he argues that Israel exerts an undue influence -- to put it mildly -- on our politics and has made him and the American Muslim community irate. We ask him about what it's like to live in America's Arab-majority city, how he will vote this November, what he thinks of his Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims, AIPAC's influence on American politicians, and more.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Trailer

1:12 - Inside the Mosque

2:35 - IMAM INTRO

3:57 - Sunni vs. Shia Differences

10:30 - What is Dearborn community like?

13:40 - Iran's influence

18:08 - Imam goes off on Israeli War

24:25 - Who the Imam will vote for

26:47 - "Jihad capital of the US" WSJ piece

28:12 - Why we support Israel

30:30 - AIPAC's influence

32:35 - HEATED debate on Israel

42:10 - Rashida Tlaib being pro-LGBTQ

45:45 - Imam on the Republicans

49:40 - Why Muslims hate America

55:15 - Palestine's future

57:30 - Can they live together?

1:00:00 - Future of Dearborn, MI

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on this interview. It was fiery at times, and you may vehemently disagree with some of what the Imam said about Israel, America, and other subjects. But it's important to hear his perspective, and We the 66 believes that more conversation is the answer, not less. Comment thoughts below or email us at [email protected].

In 2012, Oren Cass was the domestic policy advisor to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign. Romney's economic policy epitomized that of the modern Republican Party: He celebrated free markets, free trade, and entrepreneurial capitalism. Since the time of Reagan, this worldview dominated the Right. But then, in the mid 2010s, something changed. An opioid crisis swept the Rust Belt, devastating communities that were thriving just decades ago. They suffered population decline, economic shrinkage, and the despair that accompanies both. This wasn't one small region experiencing this: It swept Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, upstate New York, West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois. Even beyond the Rust Belt, working class towns and cities in every state saw factories close and workers lose their jobs. Coinciding with this trend was China's rise. China was the winner in this manufacturing shift. Whereas the United States was once the manufacturing leader of the world, China stole the crown in the mid 2010s and has put the United States in a $1+ trillion (!) trade deficit. In response to these changes, Oren Cass began publishing articles and writing the book "The Once and Future Worker." He then founded a think tank called the American Compass that makes the case for a worker- and community-first economic policy. He goes after Wall Street, Big Tech, and the neoliberal Washington, DC think tanks whose ideas shaped what he calls the "Old Right." He is one of JD Vance's major influences and has many disciples in Trump World. Some consider Cass to be the most important thinker of the New Right. So what does he believe? On this episode of We the 66, we talked to Cass and looked to find some answers. If you're curious, here is a link to Cass' new Substack: https://understandingamerica.substack.com/ For thoughts and feedback, email us at [email protected].

Dr. Carl Hart is a neuroscientist at Columbia University who researches drugs and their effects on the human brain. After decades of research, Hart concluded that drugs aren't nearly as dangerous as we're taught to believe.

Since then, he's published best-selling books like "High Price" and "Drug Use for Grown Ups" that share his findings on drug and also his personal history of drug use, including his current use of h*roin. In this episode, he shares his views about overcounted drug deaths, morphine vs. heroin, adderall vs. meth, the opioid crisis myth, Prohibition, the crack cocaine epidemic that never was, and so much more.

As is tradition on We The 66, we like to hear a range of viewpoints. After our conversation with Ben Westhoff, the author of "Fentanyl Inc.," we thought it would be valuable to hear an alternative viewpoint.

0:00 - Preview

0:01:35 - Carl Hart intro

0:03:15 - CARL HART INTERVIEW

0:04:10 - Carl Hart's story

0:10:00 - Opioid crisis a myth?

0:22:55 - Truth about addiction

0:26:56 - American to do drugs?

0:37:25 - Myth of Anthony Bourdain

0:40:10 - Politicization of drugs

0:48:25 - Who shouldn't take drugs?

0:56:20 - Drug trials with illegal drugs

1:02:36 - Carl on Kamala Harris

1:08:21 - BACKEND SEGMENTS

1:10:30 - Watch Read Listen

1:16:48 - Frost trivia

1:22:00 - Farewell

Max F's "Watch Read Listen" recommendation: https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Tragedy-1945-1975-Max-Hastings/dp/0062405667

Max T's "Watch Read Listen" recommendation: https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-march-of-dimes-syndrome

Please comment your thoughts / questions or email us at [email protected].

Hours after President Biden's posted on X that he would be stepping aside and endorsed Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee, we sat down with Marianne Williamson to discuss what happened, what's next, and how the Democratic Party works. We also heard from several Roca readers in the first-ever call-in episode. Thank you to all those who called in -- next time we will feature more than three. Timestamps: 0:00 - Biden's historic decision 1:05 - Timeline 6:15 - MARIANNE WILLIAMSON JOINS ROCA 12:00 - Was it a media coup? 19:00 - What comes next? 22:30 - Message of hope 24:30 - Are politics rigged? 26:00 - Anti-Democratic move 30:10 - Marianne on the media 39:13 - CALL IN SEGMENT 59:45 - Frost Trivia and outro If you have any feedback, thoughts, or questions, please email us at [email protected].

In early June, Dr. Alina Chan published an essay in The New York Times arguing what the media once considered a conspiracy: Covid-19 originated in the Wuhan lab. The essay made waves on social media. To some, it was a breath of fresh air from the intelligentsia that validated long-held beliefs about where the costliest pandemic in modern history started. But to others, like our other guest today, it was irresponsible and scientifically misleading. Dr. John Moore is a prominent virologist and professor at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College. He penned a rebuttal for “The Nation” in which he argued that The New York Times is badly failing their readers on Covid by publishing Chan’s argument. Chan is not a virologist; she’s a molecular biologist at Harvard and MIT’s Broad Institute. Early on in the pandemic, however, she took an interest in understanding the origins of Covid. She then published a book about lab leak that she claims drew the ire of the media and scientific establishment. In this episode of We The 66, we share BOTH of their perspectives.

Pennsylvania is the important swing state in the 2024 presidential election. That's why we took a week-long roadtrip around the state to talk to voters, meet with local leaders, and see the different corners of one of America's most fascinating, historically rich, and politically pivotal states. We also ate our fair share of Wawa and Sheetz... In the coming weeks, we will be releasing our interviews and various videos from Pennsylvania, but we wanted to share our takeaways with you. Also, as noted at the beginning, we recorded this pre-Trump assassination attempt. Although we didn't visit Butler, we spent time in that area. Our prayers go out to the Butler community. For questions and feedback, please drop a comment or send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you for listening. Make sure to subscribe to see the fascinating content we got in the Keystone State!

The homeless population in NYC recently eclipsed 100,000 for the first time in history. The official number now is around 150,000, but the real number is likely much higher. That only counts people who live in homeless shelters and not people like Ghoul and Lil Yea Yea, the guests of this episode of We the 66, who don't live in shelters but right on the streets.

They represent a growing slice of the NYC homeless pie, which is homeless youths. It's hard to know exactly how many homeless youths there are in NYC, but after a few years of living here it seems the number has soared. We're eager to understand why and learn about the daily lives of homeless youths. Do they have jobs? Do they all do drugs? Are they happy? How did they get there? Do they have kids? What's it like asking for money? What are their plans? Do they interact with migrants? When's the worst time of year to sleep outside? Do they have regrets? What help do they want?

We had so many questions, and to look for answers we went walking around outside the studio. We started talking to some homeless people and listened to their stories. Some were clearly mentally ill, while a couple others fell on hard times during the pandemic and started bouncing from shelter to shelter. They all seemed high. One gentleman pointed to a group of kids smoking on a bench and told us that we should talk to them. He said they lived in an abandon building "up north" and that they were the homeless kids we were looking for. Lil Yea Yea and Ghoul agreed to share their stories.

0:00 Intro

2:45 Lil Yea Yea and Ghoul

4:20 How they became homeless

8:10 Their upbringings

18:30 Drugs and the homeless community

21:15 Their Fent experiences

23:45 Homeless migrant influx

27:20 Life regrets

30:30 Lil Yea Yea's music

33:00 Ghoul's kids

35:30 Fixing the homeless crisis

44:15 Their plans for their future

48:25 Yea Yea previews song

Lil Yea Yea's IG: https://www.instagram.com/lilyeayeaa/

We are awaiting other handles and will add them when we have them. They gave us their numbers but have been hard to reach. It seems they don't have 24/7 phone access. We also will add Lil Yea Yea's album when it drops.

If you have any questions or would like a part two, email us at [email protected]

Don't forget to subscribe!

Today's episode of "We the 66" is with none other than "The Godfather" actor Gianni Russo, who played the drunken, abusive son Carlo Rizzi in the iconic film. Russo overcame insurmountable odds to land that role: First, he was a child with with polio, and second he had never had a movie role in his entire life. He went from zero acting experience to starring in what many consider to be the greatest movie of all time. How did he get there? Well, he would tell you it came down to his mob connections. He started working for Frank Costello as a kid and gradually rose the ranks, beating his polio and allegedly sleeping with Marilyn Monroe along the way. After starring in "The Godfather," he became a successful nightclub owner in Vegas. On one fateful eve in 1988, he shot and killed a man in his club. The bad news, Russo says, is that the guy was an underboss for Pablo Escobar. Among many others, Russo recounts the outlandish tale of going down to Colombia to see Pablo Escobar and ask for forgiveness. He says Escobar only granted him forgiveness because he loved the Godfather. We discuss the mafia's involvement with various the most important figures and events of the mid-20th century, from JFK to Ronald Reagan.