Happy Monday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,038 words…3.9 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Bibi’s Alive & Has 10 Fingers, A Third Hockey Win Against Canada, Trump Wants NATO To Police Hormuz, Susie Wiles’ Diagnosis, Cuba’s About To Fall, Britannica Sues Open AI … & much more!
🦅 Which President was the first to visit all 50 states? Scroll down to find out.
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
Left: The low-res clip that caused the conspiracies; Right: Bibi at the coffee shop showing 5 fingers on each hand.
🖐️Bibi Proves He’s Alive & Has 10 Fingers
Rumors that PM Netanyahu had been killed—or secretly replaced—blew up across social media over the weekend as Israel-Iran tensions surged.
The spark: A low-resolution press conference clip which appeared to show Bibi with six fingers on one hand.
With no immediate public appearances and the war context, speculation exploded: Netanyahu was dead, assassinated in an Iranian strike, and Israel was using AI videos to hide it.
☑ Reality check: No clone, no deepfake, no sixth finger.
✅ Fact-checks from outlets including PolitiFact, Lead Stories, and Newsweek found the “extra finger” was just lighting, shadow, and low-resolution compression. The full video clearly shows normal five-fingered hands.
☕ Bibi leaned into the chaos:
On March 15 he posted a casual video from Sataf Cafe, joking he was “dying for coffee” while flashing both hands—10 fingers total.
🪢 The meta twist: Even that clip triggered new deepfake claims.
💡Bottom line: In the AI era, every blurry frame is now a conspiracy waiting to happen. And during wartime, the internet doesn’t just spread rumors—it weaponizes them.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
🚢 Trump Wants NATO in Hormuz
Trump is lobbying ~7 countries to deploy warships and escort commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. These include France, UK, Japan, South Korea, and even China — arguing the world’s energy lifeline needs protection.
Europe's counter: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and France prefer expanding the existing EU "Aspides" naval mission — active in the Red Sea since 2024 — rather than joining a U.S.-led NATO operation.
Germany’s defense chief Boris Pistorius was more blunt: “This is not our war.”
Trump has promised that U.S. forces will “aggressively target Iranian vessels” to keep the strait “open, safe, and free,” regardless of who joins the coalition.
💡Bottom line: NATO has made no formal decision on Hormuz — this is still bilateral lobbying. But Trump's warning that non-participation would be "very bad for NATO's future", has turned a security ask into an alliance loyalty test. Watch who moves first.
🇨🇺 Cuba’s Blackout Protests Hit Communist HQ
Angry protesters stormed the Communist Party HQ in Moron, Central Cuba, dragging furniture and propaganda into the street and setting it on fire after days of rolling blackouts and food shortages.
They’re chanting “Death to Communism” & “Freedom” — as Cuba’s economy buckles under fuel shortages, after Venezuelan oil-flow stopped.
Trump said, “Cuba will fall pretty soon”; hinting the U.S. could pressure Havana the way it did Venezuela and Iran.
Meanwhile, President/Dictator Miguel Díaz‑Canel says quiet talks with the U.S. are underway, to work on “bilateral differences.”
💡 Bottom line: People are done waiting. Protests are spreading. After Venezuela and Iran, Cuba looks like its next in line.
⚽ Iran’s Women’s Soccer Team Withdraws Asylum Claims
Five of seven women from Iran’s soccer team just withdrew their asylum claims in Australia and returned to Iran.
Why? Iranian authorities detained and threatened family members back home.
Players received voice messages from coerced relatives. Iran's judiciary publicly urged the athletes to return "for the sake of their families."
Context: They sought asylum in early March after Iranian state media branded them "traitors" for not singing the national anthem.
💡Bottom line: Two remain in Australia. The fate of those who returned — and their families — is unconfirmed. This story isn't over.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
Top-Bottom: Men’s Hockey, Men’s Paralympic Hockey, Women’s Hockey. All 3 won Gold at Milano Cortina against Canada.
🏒 USA’s “Golden Hat Trick” Over Canada
Team USA just pulled off the hockey equivalent of a continental mic drop.
At the 2026 Winter Paralympics, the U.S. sled hockey team crushed Canada 6–2, sealing a rare triple crown: Women’s Hockey, Men’s Hockey, and Paralympic Hockey gold in the same Games — and ALL against Canada.
Star forward Jack Wallace delivered a hat trick, while Declan Farmer added a shorthanded dagger.
⚡Dynasty alert: The U.S. has now won five straight Paralympic sled hockey golds. Canada might need a group chat therapy session.
🎗️Susie Wiles Diagnosed With Breast Cancer
President Trump revealed that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer but plans to keep working through treatment.
Doctors caught it early, with Trump calling the prognosis “excellent.”
Wiles—who ran Trump’s 2024 campaign before becoming the administration’s top operator (first woman Chief of Staff in US history)—affirmed her resolve to keep working, raising her family, and serving her community.
⚡Her own statement noted that 1 in 8 American women face this diagnosis. The White House is rallying. The work continues.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
📚 Britannica vs. ChatGPT: The Dictionary Throws a Punch
The publishers behind Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster just sued OpenAI in Manhattan federal court, accusing it of training ChatGPT on ~100,000 copyrighted articles and dictionary entries without permission.
The claim: AI summaries are free-riding on their reporting while siphoning off traffic.
OpenAI says the data falls under fair use.
⚡The case joins 90+ copyright lawsuits targeting AI training.
🍏 Apple Buys MotionVFX to Juice Up Final Cut
Apple just acquired MotionVFX, a Polish developer known for slick editing plugins and motion graphics used across Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro.
About 70 employees will join Apple, folding a 15-year library of transitions, titles, and visual effects into Cupertino’s creator toolkit.
Apple is pushing its Creator Studio bundle to compete with Adobe’s Creative Cloud.
⚡The goal? Hollywood-grade editing… without creators leaving the Mac ecosystem.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
President Richard M. Nixon
The first US President to visit all 50 states was Richard Nixon, completing the feat in 1971—making him a trailblazer among Presidents at the time, for setting foot in every state during his term.