Happy Monday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,218 words…4.6 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Nicki Minaj, Trump & the Christian Genocide in Nigeria, Mexico’s Mayor Assassinated By Cartel, Grand Egyptian Museum Opens, Russia Closes In On Pokrovsk, Linda Sarsour To Hold Zohran Accountable, OpenAI Cuts Deal With Amazon… & much more!
🚨 Watch For:
NYC Mayoral Elections: Tuesday Nov 4th
NJ Governor Elections: Tuesday Nov 4th
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
🎤 Nicki Minaj, Trump & the Christian Genocide in Nigeria: When Pop Culture Meets Power Politics
Rapper and popstar Nicki Minaj has publicly backed Donald Trump’s calls to “save Christians” in Nigeria.
Cue: Chaos in the comments and global headlines.
#CancelNicki trended as fans called it a tone-deaf, propaganda-pushing move.
…Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror & it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice. Thank you to The President & his team for taking this seriously.
✍ Trump’s move isn’t just rhetorical:
Over the weekend, he redesignated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” for religious persecution
Signaled possible sanctions and even military intervention after years of deadly attacks by Boko Haram, ISWAP, and Fulani jihadists.
He labeled it a “Christian genocide,” vowing to go in “guns-a-blazing” if Abuja doesn’t act.
🚨Context:
Over 62,000 Christian deaths since 2000 and more than 10,000 total killings since May 2023.
Armed assaults and massacres: Fulani jihadists launch coordinated night raids, shooting and hacking Christians with machetes/AK-47s, while chanting "Allahu Akbar."
Burning destruction: Homes, farms, churches, and crops torched to ruin livelihoods and force displacement.
Land seizure: Attacks target Christian farmlands, driving families off ancestral lands for herder grazing, exacerbating famine.
Kidnappings and sexual violence: Abductions for ransom; women/girls raped as terror tactic.
Organizations like Open Doors and Genocide Watch describe targeted killings, abductions, and displacement of Christians as a "genocide in slow motion.”
👀 Nigeria’s government goes into full denial mode:
Called Trump’s claims “baseless and dangerous” and insisting the violence affects both Muslims and Christians, not just one faith.
💡 Why Minaj’s Endorsement Matters: With 22M followers, she reframes a complex crisis into a simple “good vs. evil” narrative. Her support gives Trump’s threats a viral, pop culture-friendly sheen—and pulls geopolitical discourse squarely into the group chat.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
Fireworks at the Grand Egyptian Museum opening ceremony
💀 Mexico’s Day of the Dead Turns Deadly
Carlos Manzo, Uruapan's anti-cartel Mayor (think "Bukele but with a bulletproof vest"), was gunned down mid-festival by a cartel sicario. 7 shots. Crowds watched.
Mass protests across Michoacán with protestors storming and torching government buildings, breaking windows, and clashing with police.
A woman slapped the Governor of Michoacan Alfredo Bedolla (from President Sheinbaum’s Party) during Carlos Manzo's funeral.
President Claudia Sheinbaum blamed past presidents and TikTok “paid trends” for the backlash.
Hugs, not bullets…The war against the narcos is not an option.
💡Why it matters: Uruapan = avocado capital = Jalisco Cartel's ATM. Manzo threatened their revenue stream. Over 30 candidates were murdered pre-2024 elections—making the killing of civilians and officials, a standard operating procedure for cartels.
Sheinbaum’s “hugs, not bullets” policy now looks like a hug for the cartels—and Mexico’s patience is running out.
💫Pharaohs, Fireworks & Global Flex
After two decades of hype and $1B+ in delays, Egypt finally opened its Grand Egyptian Museum—a colossal 490,000 m² shrine to pharaoh power, just 2 kilometers from the Giza pyramids.
Presidents, Kings, and cultural elites from 80 nations attended the gala
Fireworks, orchestras, and dancers in gold-plated headdresses lit up the desert sky.
Tutankhamun's full tomb collection displayed together for the first time with over 50,000 artefacts.
💡Bottom line: President El-Sisi called it “a new chapter in history,” while critics saw a soft-power masterpiece: ancient glory repackaged as modern influence.
🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Pokrovsk: The New Donetsk Flashpoint
Russia’s offensive on Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in eastern Ukraine, has escalated into one of the war’s fiercest battles.
Moscow claims it’s seized the city’s industrial and railway zones and cut off the last road out of Myrnohrad, tightening the noose.
Kyiv calls cap—saying Ukrainian forces still hold major sectors and are mounting counterstrikes.
If Pokrovsk falls, it’d mark Russia’s biggest territorial gain since early 2024—and open the road to big cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
💡Bottom Line: This isn’t just another city. It’s the linchpin of Ukraine’s eastern defense. And right now, it’s hanging by a thread.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
Left: Casually posing next to a Nazi swastika; Top-Right: With Zohran Mamdani; Bottom-Right: With former Mayor Bill De Blasio
🕵️♂️ Sarsour Says She’ll “Keep Zohran in Check”
Antisemitic activist Linda Sarsour vowed to “hold Zohran Mamdani accountable” if he wins the NYC mayoral race — warning she won’t let him “do whatever the hell he wants” at City Hall.
In an Instagram Live, she said she won’t join his administration but will pressure him from outside, already slamming his plan to keep NYPD chief Jessica Tisch.
Sarsour signaled that Mamdani will owe his victory to the movement that backed him, emphasizing that they funded his campaign and he is "accountable to them."
💡Why it matters: Sarsour, known for her antisemitic rants and ties to Hamas, has heavily influenced Mamdani’s far-left politics. She was instrumental in bringing him out of political obscurity and into the limelight. She placed Mamdani on the board of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York (with other Hamas-linked org members from CAIR and ICNA), and helped him secure his State Assembly seat.
Her declaration signals that if Mamdani wins, the activist wing of NYC’s hard-left, plans to keep him on a short leash.
📺 ABC Legal Muzzles Whoopi On-Air
ABC’s The View hit an awkward note when Whoopi Goldberg was forced to read a legal disclaimer after joking that Trump used an autopen to sign a pardon.
Producers jumped in mid-show, clarifying there’s “no confirmation” that happened.
Whoopi, clearly annoyed, reminded viewers it was a joke—lamenting the "lack of nuance," and co-host Sunny Hostin had to translate the legalese for confused viewers.
⚡ABC's been burned by Trump defamation suits before, and the moment exposed the network’s tightrope act on Trump talk after past defamation scares.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
☁ OpenAI Cuts a $38B Cloud Deal With Amazon
In a power move away from Microsoft, OpenAI signed a $38 billion deal with Amazon Web Services, marking its first-ever partnership with the cloud giant.
The deal gives OpenAI access to hundreds of thousands of Nvidia GPUs and fresh data center capacity to train next-gen AI models.
⚡Amazon stock jumped $AMZN ( ▼ 0.44% ) on the news — and the pact cements OpenAI’s growing independence as it gears up for a likely IPO.
🎬 TikTok’s Going Hollywood
TikTok is officially going full Hollywood — launching its first-ever U.S. awards show on Dec. 18 at the Hollywood Palladium.
The glitzy, red-carpet event will feature live performances, creator-packed audiences, and categories like Creator of the Year, Breakthrough Artist, and Video of the Year.
Fans can start voting Nov. 18 directly in the app.
⚡The event will stream live on TikTok and Tubi, underscoring the platform’s evolution from social app to full-blown entertainment powerhouse.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
First known photograph of a US president, a daguerreotype of President John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) in March 1843, by Philip Haas.
A President Who Loved Skinny-Dipping
John Quincy Adams was a dedicated skinny-dipper, swimming nude in the Potomac most mornings for decades; rising as early as 4 a.m. to swim (often for an hour or more) near the White House or Tiber Creek, sometimes crossing the river or joining companions like his sons or aides.
The habit lasted through his presidency into his 70s, a common male practice in the 1800s. He once nearly drowned but never gave up his chilly, presidential plunge.