AI Wife with Sketchy Past

It’s said that behind every great man is a great woman. And behind the greatest AI founder – Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei – is, apparently, a former porn executive with links to Jeffrey Epstein.

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty on Friday to two murder-related federal stalking charges in the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. His attorneys hope the move will protect him from state murder charges.

Federal prosecutors can only bring murder charges under narrow conditions. Therefore, instead of charging him with murder, federal prosecutors accused Mangione of stalking for the purpose of killing – a crime that, like murder, carries a potential life sentence. New York brought separate state murder charges against Mangione.

On Friday, the 28-year-old told the court, “On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died.” Mangione – who expressed no remorse – said he acted after years of severe pain from a broken back and difficulty navigating the health insurance system. He testified that he learned online about a UnitedHealthcare investor conference in NYC, then emailed the company posing as an investor to request details. He said, “Unlike my previous interactions with insurers, I received an immediate response.” He said he printed part of the gun on a 3D printer.

Thompson’s family attended the hearing and said afterward that the plea was a step toward justice. Judge Garnett said the maximum penalty is life in prison plus a $500,000 fine. Sentencing is set for December 18.

The plea closes the federal case against Mangione, but the state murder trial, due to start next month, remains. New York has strict state laws protecting against “double jeopardy,” or trying someone twice for the same crime. Mangione’s attorneys hope that by pleading guilty to the stalking-for-murder charge, the state won’t be able to pursue its similar murder charge against him.

On Friday, the defense filed to have the state charge dismissed. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said it would pursue the case.

–Max Hudgins

For the second time since the pandemic, the US summer box office cleared $4B.

The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Toy Story 5, and Obsession powered the industry to the milestone, which used to be a normal occurrence. In the 2010s, the US box office regularly cleared $4B, with its biggest summer ever coming in 2013 when it reached $4.8B.

By the way, if you’re like us and resent how Hollywood has become a sequel and remake factory, note that the biggest movies in the summer of 2013 were all sequels and remakes: Man of Steel, Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2, Monsters University, and Fast & Furious 6. By comparison, this year, two of the four biggest movies, The Odyssey and Obsession, are original films (sorry, Homer, it’s never been done on the big screen like that).

This summer wasn’t without its flops, however. The live-action version of Moana has underperformed, and the worst-performing movies of the summer were Tony, Super Troopers 3, and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

The year is far from over for the US box office, and it could clear $10B for the first time since 2019 if Avengers: Doomsday, Dune: Part Three, and The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping deliver. Well, about those sequels…

–Max Towey

Jason Arday, 41, was found dead on Friday, a week after resigning from the University of Cambridge.

In 2023, Arday had become the youngest-ever tenured black professor in the university’s history. On August 5, Cambridge opened an investigation into claims that he had plagiarized his work, prompting Arday to resign hours later due to the “unrelenting level of public scrutiny.”

Arday became a front line in the culture war, with critics alleging that he had concocted an exotic life story and coasted a wave of wokeness into his position. As criticism of Arday mounted, thousands of Arday’s defenders signed a petition, claiming that he was being subject to a racist inquisition.

On Friday, he was found dead in a London apartment. Police said he died unexpectedly, but that they did not suspect foul play.

Arday’s family blamed “a campaign of sustained abuse” since Arday took the role at Cambridge: “The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone,” the family said in a statement.

Days before his death, Arday’s memoir, “Great and Unfortunate Things,” was released in the US. In it, Arday claims to have had a troubled youth and been illiterate and unable to speak until his teens. Among various other claims, he wrote that he ran 30 marathons in 35 days and 600 miles in six days, feats that would have made him a world-leading endurance athlete. A number of Arday’s peers went to the press to say that his claims were not true or exaggerated.

While the facts of Arday’s life story are not clear, it seems the tragic ending is.

–Max Frost

The Roca Mag

We at Roca spend weeks every month traveling around the country. It never ceases to amaze us, and last week, Max Frost had the ultimate such experience.

He was in the Bootheel, a region of the country he’d never heard of. By the journey’s end, he’d have been on a Mississippi River tugboat, met a Son of the Confederate Veterans, and sat down with a woman who is fully illiterate in 2026.

She’s the cover of this week’s Roca Mag, and Frost tells her story in this article.

Nearby, Max Towey has a fantastic piece about how the South has taken over American culture. He gives the proof – and his theory for why – in this story.

Next, Gen Z correspondent Max Hudgins breaks down why so many of his peers feel like losers. Read it here.

And then two more: Stefano Montali interviews a linguist to understand why certain Americans – particularly Appalachians – have the unique dialects they do. Read it here.

And then Ryan Hinske breaks down the corporate takeover of fantasy football.

Thanks for reading the Roca Mag. Let us know your thoughts on our reporting here or leave a comment below. We’ll feature some of your responses throughout the week.

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