Happy Tuesday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 917 words…3.4 mins

🗞 Today’s Edition: Franklin the Turtle vs. the Pentagon, 400 Yr Old Long-Lost Painting Is Found, Russia Says It Took Pokrovsk, The Dells Drop $6.5B on ‘Trump Accounts’, Samsung Galaxy’s Z Trifold … & much more!

One killer insight to stash in your back pocket

🇫🇷 The €3.2M Rubens Painting Hiding in a Paris Mansion

A long-lost Rubens just crashed the art world like a Renaissance plot twist:

The discovery belonged to auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat, who spotted the dusty canvas during a routine estate walk-through in Paris’s 6th arrondissement — casually mispricing it at €10,000 as a possible workshop copy.

Then, Antwerp’s Centrum Rubenianum swooped in with forensic-level receipts:

💎 What makes this piece elite-tier rare?

It’s the only known Rubens where Christ hangs alone, post-crucifixion — no thieves, no chaos, just brutal solitude. Even Rubens scholar Nils Büttner called it an anomaly: a lifeless Christ rendered with haunting stillness.

💡 Bottom line: This is a brutal reminder: the world’s greatest masterpieces are still hiding in plain sight… often behind bad lighting and old furniture.

Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves

🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Russia Says It Took Pokrovsk

Russia is claiming a major win in Donetsk, announcing that its forces “liberated” Pokrovsk after 18 months of brutal fighting.

💡Why it matters: If confirmed, Pokrovsk gives Moscow a strategic springboard toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, tightening Russia’s grip on the Donbas just as peace talks ramp up. Witkoff and Kushner are currently in Russia, just as Zelensky’s meeting with European leaders.

💥 Bulgaria’s Budget Blowup

Sofia erupted on Dec. 1, as tens of thousands of mostly young protesters hit the streets to torpedo Bulgaria’s 2026 draft budget.

💡Why it matters: By Dec. 2, the government withdrew the budget entirely—a rare U-turn that signals how fragile Bulgaria’s politics are heading into its eurozone debut.

🤝 U.S. & Syria Team Up Against ISIS

In a historic move, U.S. and Syrian forces ran a joint anti-ISIS operation, hitting 15 weapons depots and destroying 130+ explosives in southern Syria’s Rif Dimashq.

💡Why it matters: This is Washington’s boldest bet yet that Al-Sharaa can contain the 2,500–3,000 ISIS fighters still active—and reshape post-Assad Syria. This comes after Al-Sharaa’s official visit to the White House last month.

Political Drama From DC To NYC

💰 The Dells Drop $6.25B on “Trump Accounts”

Michael and Susan Dell just dropped $6.25B on Trump’s new federal savings program for kids—aka “Trump accounts.”

⚡Why it matters: Treasury projects these accounts could compound into six- or seven-figure nest eggs by adulthood—a generational wealth hack hiding in a Trump-era bill.

🐢 Franklin the Turtle vs. the Pentagon

America just entered its weirdest IP war yet. Kids Can Press, the Canadian publisher of “Franklin the Turtle,” blasted War Secretary Pete Hegseth for an unauthorized meme showing Franklin firing an RPG at narco-traffickers.

⚡Why it matters: The meme dropped amid scrutiny of U.S. “narco-terror” strikes in the Caribbean, including reports Hegseth pushed ‘kill-everyone’ orders on drug boats. The culture-war absurdity masks a very real legal firestorm.

Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments

🤳 Samsung’s Galaxy Z TriFold Goes Full Tablet Mode

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z TriFold is basically a phone that cosplays as a 10-inch tablet.

⚡It’s Samsung’s boldest stab yet at the phone-tablet hybrid, landing in the U.S. in early 2026.

🤖 Musk’s 3 Rules to Stop AI From Going Off the Rails

Elon Musk is back in doomsday-professor mode, warning on a podcast with India’s Nikhil Kamath that AI is still “potentially destructive.”

⚡ Musk wants AI that stays grounded in reality—and stays interested in keeping humans around.

Oh Canada!

Canada's coastline stretches a whopping 125, 567 miles—the world's longest, enough to wrap around the equator over 5 times!

Its 5,525 mile border with the U.S. is also the planet's longest between any two countries.