Happy Tuesday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,056 words…4 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Saudi’s Crown Prince At The White House, Nicki Minaj Takes the UN Stage, UNSC Greenlights Trump’s Gaza Plan, New Evidence On Thomas Crooks - Trump’s Would-Be Assassin, House Passes Epstein Bill, Cloudfare Outage… & much more!
🚨 Watch For:
Vote on Epstein Files heads to the Senate
U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum - likely formal announcement of the $1T Saudi investment in America: Tomorrow, Nov 19th
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
The President and the Crown Prince; Source: X/@WhiteHouse
👑 Saudi’s Crown Prince At The White House: Pageantry, Power Plays, and a $1 Trillion Pivot
The White House rolled out near–state visit honors for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—jet flyover, 16-horse color guard, full South Lawn pageantry.
That level of ceremony is usually reserved for heads of state (in this case, the Crown Prince’s uncle - the King); signaling how central Riyadh has become to Trump’s geopolitical redesign.
✒ Inside, Trump gave MBS the VIP tour:
Hall of Fame stop included the infamous Biden Autopen photo, now a DC meme.
Their Oval Office meeting hit the real agenda: Defense guarantees, AI cooperation, civil nuclear access, and a region-wide security map.
🚨The headline: A $1 trillion U.S.–Saudi investment corridor, anchored by F-35 sales (a historic first for any Arab state) and massive commitments in energy, AI, and infrastructure. Translation: Lots of American jobs.
The F-35s will be of a slightly less caliber than the ones sold to Israel; and Israel is said to have been privy to the deal and given its blessing.
For Wall Street, this isn’t symbolism—it’s the most ambitious U.S.–Gulf capital alignment since the Petrodollar deal.
💥Tough moment: An ABC reporter pressed the Crown Prince on Khashoggi. Trump bristled; MBS stayed polished, repeating his denial and pivoting to “reform and stability.”
🍽 Tonight’s black-tie dinner—Melania, Fortune 100 CEOs, lawmakers and even footballer Cristiano Ronaldo—is designed to broadcast one thing: Saudi Arabia isn’t just back; it’s central to Trump’s Middle East architecture.
💡Bottom line: This visit cements a Trump–MBS axis built on money, weapons, and tech—and positions Saudi Arabia as the indispensable power in Trump’s Middle East strategy.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
🎤 Nicki Minaj Takes the UN Stage
In a surreal-but-very-2025 moment, Nicki Minaj addressed the UN with U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz, warning of “mass atrocities” against Christians in Nigeria— thousands killed this year alone.
Minaj praised Trump for elevating the crisis, saying no community should be “hunted for their faith.”
Waltz backed her up, citing years of systemic violence, though Nigeria’s government insists the bloodshed targets all groups, not just Christians.
💡Bottom line: When a global pop icon becomes the loudest voice on Nigerian security, you know Washington’s making this a headline issue.
✅ UN Greenlights Trump’s Gaza Plan
The UN Security Council approved the U.S.-drafted Gaza resolution 13–0, with Russia and China abstaining—a diplomatic “yes, but.”
Greenlights Trump's 20-point peace plan—International Stabilization Force deploys.
Hamas gets dismantled, Palestinian police stand up.
Muslim-majority peacekeepers secure Gaza while Israel exits
Trump-chaired Board of Peace + World Bank trust fund, bankroll reconstruction through Dec 2027
Safe corridors for aid, demilitarization mandates
💡 Why it matters: It’s the first international mandate to shift Gaza from ceasefire politics to structural rebuilding. The resolution aims for Gaza to become secure, prosperous and free from terrorist control. Hamas? Still under the impression they have a say, have rejected the plan.
🇨🇳 MI5: China’s New Spy Front Is… LinkedIn
Britain’s MI5 issued a rare public alert warning that Chinese intelligence officers are posing as recruiters on LinkedIn to target MPs, staffers, economists, and think-tank insiders.
The operatives—linked to China’s Ministry of State Security—use fake headhunting firms and polished profiles to build trust and extract political intelligence.
MI5 even named two active fronts: “Amanda Qiu” and “Shirly Shen.” London is now rolling out new counter-interference powers to blunt Beijing’s digital infiltration campaign.
💡Bottom line: China isn’t hacking Westminster—it’s friending it.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
🕵️♂️FBI Stonewalls on Crooks as New Videos Surface
A New York Post investigation says the FBI is still withholding key intel on Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who tried to kill Trump in Butler, PA.
The motive remains a black box—even as new videos emerge showing Crooks practicing with his handgun at home; raising alarms about premeditation and fueling suspicion that Crooks wasn’t a lone actor.
Investigators say Crooks had encrypted accounts tied to servers in Belgium, New Zealand, and Germany, suggesting possible coordination.
💡Bottom line: The FBI’s silence is deepening speculation about Crooks’ networks, mental state, and whether political motives—or political embarrassment—are keeping crucial details under wraps.
🗳House Passes Epstein Files Transparency Act — History in the Making
The House voted 427–1 to approve the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The lone dissenting vote came from Republican Rep. Clay Higgins.
Epstein’s network of high-profile figures—Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, and others reportedly appear in the files.
Sensitive victim info or ongoing investigations can still be redacted.
⚡Next stop: the Senate, then President Trump’s desk. If enacted, agencies must release the records within 30 days, potentially shedding new light on Epstein’s operations and the powerful figures entangled in them.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
🤖 Bezos’ Secret AI Lab: Project Prometheus
Jeff Bezos and Vik Bajaj launched Project Prometheus, a stealth AI startup with $6.2B in funding, including Bezos’ own cash.
The mission: AI for engineering, manufacturing, and aerospace, accelerating production from computers to spacecraft.
Talent pulled from OpenAI, DeepMind, and Meta fuels the operation, which may integrate with Blue Origin.
⚡Bezos frames it as a step toward “civilizational abundance,”” though he warns today’s AI frenzy mirrors past industrial bubbles.
🔌Cloudflare Outage: X, ChatGPT, Shopify Go Dark
A Cloudflare outage knocked major sites offline Tuesday, including ChatGPT, Shopify, X, Indeed, and Anthropic’s Claude.
The cause: An auto-generated configuration file managing threat traffic that “grew beyond expected size,” crashing Cloudflare’s system.
Services returned within hours, and the company confirmed no evidence of an attack.
⚡Shares slid 2%, highlighting how fragile global internet infrastructure can be—even for platforms relied on by millions.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
🍷🍞 Raising A Toast
Did you know? Ancient Romans dropped toasted bread into wine to mellow cheap vintages. That floating "toast" gave us the term – and eventually, "raising a toast" to someone's health!