Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,109 words…4.2 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Hamas’s Public Executions, NATO’s War Chest Expands, Vatican’s Muslim Prayer Room, Russia Hands JFK Files To U.S., Jonson vs Jeffries Live Debate… & much more!
🚨 Watch For:
President Zelensky to visit the White House: Friday, Oct 17th
President Trump is expected to attend the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur: Oct. 26th-28th
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
Still of a video released by Hamas’s Quds and widely shared across social media platforms
🚨Hamas’s Public Executions and the Battle for Postwar Gaza
Hamas just staged a chilling flex of power across Gaza—publicly executing over 30 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel or opposing its rule.
Verified videos from Sabra and Zeitoun show masked gunmen shooting men in city squares as crowds watch. (🚨Warning: These links have very graphic footage)
💀 The targets: Members of pro-IDF or rival clans in Gaza, like the Doghmush family, Abu Shabab, and al-Majida families— long-standing anti-Hamas Palestinians, accused of aiding Israel.
Some of these groups were openly armed by Israel and coordinated with the IDF to target Hamas members.
Some helped US contractors with the distribution of aid.
Hamas’s security wing, Sahm, labeled them “criminals”, “law breakers” and “traitors.”
⚔️ Why now: With the ceasefire in place and IDF troops withdrawn, Hamas—bloodied but unbroken—is crushing internal rivals to reassert dominance.
Clan allegiances, old vendettas, and accusations of “collaboration” blur into a purge aimed at silencing dissent before it grows.
🇺🇸 Trump’s take: Asked about the killings, he shrugged—saying it “didn’t bother me that much” and that Hamas was “taking out very bad people.” Analysts say his comments signal U.S. indifference, emboldening Hamas’s postwar crackdown.
💡Why it matters: Hamas is exploiting a ceasefire to wipe out opposition, and the world’s most powerful man just gave them a thumbs-up. This isn’t just a moral failure; it’s a strategic blunder. By lumping complex clan rivalries into a simple “good vs. gangsters” narrative, the United States grants Hamas a PR shield for extrajudicial murders, undermining US credibility and any future “human rights” lectures.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
🪖 NATO’s War Chest Goes Industrial
The NATO Summit in Brussels today, featured high-level discussions led by NATO Sec. General Mark Rutte, War Secretary Hegseth, and other allied leaders.
They pledged an unprecedented $2B+ in new U.S.-sourced arms for Ukraine under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) — with Finland and Sweden joining the buyers’ club.
Monthly aid shipments are set to hit $500M, even as Europe’s own stockpiles run thin.
Rutte warned of a Russia-China tag team:
If Xi Jinping would attack Taiwan, he would first make sure that he makes a call to his very junior partner…Vladimir Putin…telling him, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this, and I need you to keep them busy in Europe by attacking NATO territory’
💡Bottom line: NATO’s shifting from deterrence to industrial-scale rearmament—and signaling it’s ready for a two-front world.
⛪ Vatican Opens a Door to Mecca — and Debate
For the first time in its 600-year history, the Vatican Apostolic Library has created a Muslim prayer room for visiting scholars — complete with a rug facing Mecca.
The quiet move, revealed by Father Giacomo Cardinali, aims to “promote interfaith hospitality” within Catholicism’s most hallowed archive which houses ancient Hebrew and Ethiopian texts alongside Qurans.
But not everyone’s praying in agreement: Traditionalists call it “symbolic drift,” warning it blurs Catholic identity. Progressives hail it as a recognition of the library’s global role.
💡 Bottom line: What began as a courtesy gesture just sparked theology’s latest culture war inside Vatican walls.
⚔ Washington Targets Maduro—With Missiles and Memos
The U.S. is prepping lethal strikes inside Venezuela, escalating its campaign against Maduro and narco networks like Tren de Aragua.
Trump has already authorized kinetic strikes on a smuggling boats, deployed F-35s, warships, and a nuclear sub to the Caribbean.
The CIA now has covert lethal authority, able to hit regime-linked targets independently or alongside the military.
Caracas slammed the buildup as “illegal aggression,” vowing “armed struggle” if attacked.
💡 Bottom line: Washington’s war on drugs just blurred into regime-change territory. Whether it destabilizes Maduro or ignites a regional mess? Ask again in three months.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
🕵 Moscow Hands Washington the JFK Files
In a move straight out of a spy thriller, Russia’s ambassador Alexander Darchiev just handed Rep. Anna Paulina Luna a 350-page Soviet archive on JFK’s assassination — including memos, spy notes, and Oswald’s life in the USSR.
The files, long denied to Congress, detail KGB surveillance and Soviet panic after Kennedy’s death.
Luna says she’ll translate and publish them with journalist Jefferson Morley.
📁 Bottom line: Moscow just reopened America’s most enduring conspiracy — straight from its own vaults.
🥊 Jeffries vs. Johnson: C-SPAN Cage Match Coming?
Three weeks into the government shutdown, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accepted Speaker Mike Johnson's challenge for a live C-SPAN debate.
The debate will air on their new show "Ceasefire."
Both sides remain dug in: Dems want new talks, GOP says no deal needed.
📺 Bottom line: C-SPAN's about to get its highest ratings since the McCarthy speaker vote chaos. Spoiler: Nobody budges.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
🤑 Abu Dhabi’s MGX—AI Bankroller, TikTok Savior, Trump Ally
Meet MGX, Abu Dhabi’s newest power player in tech and geopolitics.
Backed by the UAE’s royal family, it’s funding the $40B Aligned Data Centers buyout alongside Nvidia, Microsoft, and Musk’s xAI.
MGX is also part of the consortium to keep TikTok alive in the U.S.
MGX’s chair, Tahnoon bin Zayed, is the UAE’s national security chief—and reportedly dropped $2B into Trump-linked crypto ventures.
⚡Bottom line: MGX isn’t just stacking chips—it’s buying influence in America’s AI future.
🤖 Altman Defends Erotica Policy
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman doubled down after outrage over his move to allow erotica in ChatGPT for verified adults, saying the company is “not the elected moral police of the world.”
The decision comes amid FTC scrutiny and a wrongful death lawsuit alleging ChatGPT’s role in a teen suicide.
Altman says stronger age filters and mental health safeguards now let OpenAI “treat adults like adults.”
⚡Bottom line: Silicon Valley’s golden boy just turned AI censorship into a moral war.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
The MGM Lion’s Roar…Has Tiger Growls
The on-screen lion (Leo since 1957) is real. The original roars were genuine lion sound recordings, starting with lion Jackie in 1928 and later Tanner (used through the 1950s).
But since 1982, sound wizard Mark Mangini blended tiger growls (recorded from the L.A. Zoo tigers) with lion sounds for that majestic punch—tigers roar deeper and fiercer.
Debuted in Poltergeist, it's stuck around, even in the 2021 CGI logo. Lions needed Hollywood help to sound majestic.