Happy Monday Everyone! Todayâs newsletter: 1,071 wordsâŠ4 mins
đ Todayâs Edition: Elon Loses Court Case, Eurovision, SEAL Team 6 Kills ISIS #2 Guy, Iranâs Blockchain Toll Booth, US Wants Veto On Greenland Deals, Taylor Swiftâs Jewels, Revolution-themed Fund⊠& much more!
đ¶ Did you know the first Oscar ceremony almost gave Best Actor to a dog? Scroll down to read more.
đTHE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
â Trump Drops IRS Lawsuit â And Opens A Revolution-Themed Firestorm
A sitting President sued his own government â and just won. On May 18, President Trump dropped his $10 billion IRS lawsuit after the Justice Department agreed to create a $1.776 billion compensation fund (yes, the number is a deliberate nod to 1776).
Drawn entirely from the federal Treasury's Judgment Fund. That's taxpayer money.
â The original suit: Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization sued the IRS and Treasury in January 2026 over the 2019â2020 leak of his tax returns by contractor Charles âChazâ Littlejohn, who was convicted and imprisoned.
The ask: $10B in damages.
đȘą The twist: Instead of continuing the case, Trumpâs legal team dismissed it âwith prejudice,â while the Justice Department simultaneously unveiled what supporters call an âanti-weaponizationâ compensation program.
đ° Who gets the money: The fund is called the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" and covers a wide net â including nearly 1,600 people charged in the January 6 Capitol attack, Trump allies claiming political targeting, and potentially claims tied to the Mar-a-Lago search and the Russia investigation (~$230M).
đ” Critics, including Democrats and ethics watchdogs, argue the arrangement risks turning taxpayer money into a politically directed payout system.
đŽ Supporters counter that it compensates Americans harmed by what they see as partisan prosecutions and government overreach.
đĄ Whatâs next: The legal and constitutional debate is now shifting from the courtroom to Congress â and potentially the 2026 campaign trail.
âïžTHE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
đŻ ISIS's #2 Man...Killed in a Nigerian Swamp by SEAL Team 6
U.S. and Nigerian forces killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki â ISIS's global operations director â in a Lake Chad compound on May 16. No American or Nigerian casualties.
Al-Minuki ran the machinery: finance, drones, weapons, hostage ops â the full ISIS logistics backbone across 2 continents.
Follow-up drone and gunship strikes May 17â18 killed 20+ additional ISWAP fighters in the same area.
Washington called the operation a major blow to ISISâs African network, while Nigerian President Bola Tinubu praised the growing security partnership
đĄ Why it matters: This follows Christmas Day 2025 Tomahawk strikes and ~200 U.S. advisors quietly deployed to Nigeria â a low-profile African campaign most people missed.
đ§ America Wants a Greenland âKill Switchâ
The U.S. wants a veto â or near-veto â over who Greenland does business with. Closed-door talks in Washington are demanding screening rights on major investment deals to block China and Russia from the island's rare earths, uranium and access to Arctic shipping lanes.
The "forever clause": Washington also wants permanent U.S. military presence even if Greenland gains full independence from Denmark.
Greenland PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen is pushing back hard â calling external vetoes a sovereignty violation that would tie the island's hands for generations.
The compromise on the table: Denmark runs the screenings, with U.S. input â sovereignty preserved in name, American influence preserved in practice.
đĄWhy it matters: Washington sees the Arctic as the next great-power chessboard â and doesnât want Beijing or Moscow buying squares on the board.
đ€ Bulgaria Crashes Eurovision...With a Folk-Pop Banger Nobody Saw Coming
Dara's "Bangaranga" â a pink-fur, high-energy folk-electronic anthem from Varna â swept both jury and public vote in Vienna Saturday, giving Bulgaria its first-ever Eurovision win with 516 points.
Noam Bettan's "Michelle" landed Israel in 2nd place with 343 points â a stunning result given 5 countries boycotted Israel's participation entirely and protesters chanted through its performance.
The UK finished last with 1 point â a single mercy vote from Ukraine. The public gave them nothing.
đĄ Bottom line: Europe voted for joy. The haters showed up anyway â and lost.
đœTHE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
đȘ© Taylor Swiftâs Jewelry Lore
Taylor Swift stepped out in Brooklyn wearing a historic opal jewelry suite once owned by Elizabeth Taylor â and fans are convinced it was a Christmas gift from fiancĂ© Travis Kelce.
The set reportedly sold for about $125,000 after being purchased by a mystery âsports agentâ in late 2025.
Swifties immediately entered detective mode: the earrings contain 13 opals (Taylorâs lucky number), opal is Kelceâs birthstone, and Taylor has long referenced Elizabeth Taylor as a style muse.
âĄThis relationship now has its own cinematic universe.
â Pentagon Chief Jumps Into Kentucky MAGA Proxy War
Pete Hegseth campaigned Monday in Hebron for Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein ahead of Kentuckyâs high-stakes GOP primary against Rep. Thomas Massie.
Hegseth accused Massie of undermining the America First agenda and failing to support President Trump at key moments.
Critics questioned whether a sitting defense secretary should be campaigning in a partisan congressional battle at all.
âĄThe race has become one of the most expensive House primaries in America â and an ideological test inside MAGA world: party loyalty vs. libertarian independence.
đ€ CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AIâs Black Mirror Moments
â Musk Loses OpenAI Court Battle
A federal jury in Oakland ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit targeting OpenAI, Sam Altman, and co-founder Greg Brockman.
Jurors found Musk filed too late, killing his claims that OpenAI betrayed its nonprofit roots by becoming a commercial AI giant backed by Microsoft.
âĄThe verdict clears a major legal obstacle for OpenAIâs expansion plans â and marks another brutal chapter in Silicon Valleyâs billionaire civil war over who gets to control the future of AI.
đ„· Iranâs New Crypto Play? Turning the Strait of Hormuz Into a Blockchain Toll Booth
Iran has unveiled âHormuz Safe,â a state-backed maritime insurance platform using Bitcoin and blockchain verification for ships crossing the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.
The system allows crypto-based premium payments and digital policy validation â effectively creating a parallel insurance network outside Western banking systems.
Tehran says the platform could generate billions annually as war-risk insurance costs soar and shipping traffic through the strait collapses.
âĄCritics see something bigger: a sanctions-workaround strategy that blends crypto, geopolitics, and control over one of the worldâs most important oil chokepoints.
đș FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Did You Know?
The first Oscar ceremony almost gave Best Actor to a dog (Rin Tin Tin won the popular vote), but the Academy panicked and re-voted to avoid looking silly.