Happy Thursday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,165 words…4.4 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Traitors & Sedition, Zohran Mamdani vs Bibi (& Reality), Tensions Rise In East Asia, Dick Cheney's Funeral, Trump Signs Bill To Release Epstein Files, Nano Banana Goes Gemini Pro… & much more!
🚨 Watch For:
President Trump and NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani expected to meet at the Oval Office: Friday, Nov 21st
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
🇺🇸 ⚔ The Video Breaking D.C.'s Brain
Six Democrat lawmakers — all veterans or former intel pros — just dropped a video telling U.S. troops to disobey any illegal orders.
The cast: Senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, plus Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan.
Their message: Threats to the Constitution are “coming from within,” and service members shouldn’t “give up the ship.”
What they didn’t say: Which orders they’re worried about. That ambiguity opened the floodgates.
It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand - We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET.
🔴 Republican Backlash:
GOP allies — including Lindsey Graham and Marsha Blackburn — accused Democrats of undermining discipline and “politicizing the chain of command.”
War Secretary Pete Hegseth called the video "Stage 4 TDS" (Trump Derangement Syndrome)
🔵 Democrat Response:
Democrat leadership hit back — Hakeem Jeffries called Trump’s comments “vile death threats” and “fascistic rhetoric.”
Senate Democrats linked the moment to their ongoing concerns about the legality of Trump-era deployments in the Caribbean and U.S. cities.
💡Why it matters: By urging selective obedience without specifying what constitutes an "illegal order," these politicians create a scenario where every service member becomes their own constitutional lawyer. The inevitable result? Chaos in the chain of command. When soldiers start debating which orders to follow during crises, we're steps away from the fragmentation that precedes civil conflict.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
🗽 NYC’s Incoming Mayor vs. Bibi (and Reality)
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani keeps vowing — most recently on ABC7 — that he’ll enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu if Bibi visits New York, claiming: “New York is a city of international law.”
Earth to Mamdani:
New York, like any other American city is beholden only to the American Constitution - not “international law.”
The U.S. isn't an ICC signatory, meaning the court has zero jurisdiction on American soil.
Even ICC member nations aren’t obligated to carry out arrests on their own sovereign national soil.
Mayors can't order arrests under international warrants—that's federal jurisdiction.
Bibi’s response?
I will not refrain from going to New York… I do not pay attention to threats.
💡Bottom line: NYC — home to the UN, where controversial leaders shuttle in constantly — isn’t about to become Zohran’s fanfiction police state. His rhetoric then, seems largely symbolic aimed at ginning up his radical base.
⚔ Tension Rise in East Asia
China-Japan tensions spiked after PM Sanae Takaichi told parliament that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a “survival-threatening situation” — code for Japan potentially invoking collective self-defense.
Beijing’s response: Foreign Ministry Spox Mao Ning said the comment “fundamentally damaged the political foundation” of relations.
China also threatened “severe countermeasures” — from seafood bans to economic pressure to flat-out warnings of a “crushing military defeat.”
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s President releases a picture of him eating sushi as a show a support to Japan.
💡Bottom line: Tokyo moved to deescalate with emergency talks in Beijing, but analysts say this is the new normal: louder threats, sharper naval deployments; and the U.S.–Japan alliance hovering in the background like a very tense stage parent.
🧑🚒 COP30’s On Fire - Literally
A fire ripped through a pavilion at the COP30 summit in Belém, forcing thousands of delegates — diplomats, activists, journalists — to evacuate as thick smoke filled the main corridor.
Brazilian authorities say it was contained in 30 minutes with zero injuries.
Negotiations were halted and the tent-like venue (already infamous for leaks, chaos, and security complaints) went into shutdown mode.
Cause? Still TBD.
🔥Bottom Line: The talks were already on fire; now the building is too.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
Scenes at the National Cathedral; Top-left: President George Bush, wife Laura, President Joe Biden, wife Jill, former VP Kamala Harris and former VP Mike Pence
🕯Cheney’s Final Roll Call
Washington’s power class packed the National Cathedral for Dick Cheney’s funeral — a who’s-who of former Presidents, Veeps, and Supreme Court justices.
George W. Bush led the tributes, calling his VP a “calm and steady presence” who shaped U.S. security after 9/11.
Daughter Liz Cheney urged unity across party lines in her eulogy.
President Trump and VP JD Vance weren’t invited owing to longstanding conflicts with the Cheney family.
⚡This event marked a solemn farewell to Cheney who leaves behind a legacy both monumental and polarizing.
✍ Trump Signs Bill To Release Epstein Files
President Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act last evening, after it passed with a near unanimous vote in Congress.
This forces the Justice Department to release all unclassified documents on Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days — flight logs, interviews, and internal communications.
AG Pam Bondi promises transparency, but skeptics expect selective redactions.
⚡The files aim to give the public a fuller view of federal investigations into Epstein’s network and crimes.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
🍌 Google’s Nano Banana Pro Goes Pro
Google just dropped Nano Banana Pro, its upgraded AI image generator running on Gemini 3 Pro.
The tool turns multiple images, LinkedIn resumes, or code snippets into consistent 3D visuals and infographics — building on the viral success of the original Nano Banana.
⚡Stock popped 4% on the news. Available via Gemini app, NotebookLM, and enterprise products, it’s Google’s latest push to catch up to OpenAI in the generative AI race.
🥳 Mixup Turns AI Into a Mad Libs Party
Ex-Googlers from Things, Inc. launched Mixup, an iOS-only AI image app that turns photos, doodles, and text into creative outputs using “recipes” — think Mad Libs for generative AI.
Built on Nano Banana, Mixup lets users share prompts, remix friends’ images, and toggle before/after views.
Free users get 100 credits, with subscription tiers for more.
⚡Launch: Nov 21, invite-only. It’s AI meets social playground.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Lincoln - the Licensed Bartender
In 1833, 24-year-old Abraham Lincoln and friend William Berry bought a general store in New Salem, Illinois, and obtained an official liquor license to sell whiskey, wine, and brandy by the drink. They named it Berry-Lincoln.
Lincoln literally poured shots behind the counter (a half-pint of whiskey cost 12½ cents). He rarely drank himself, but the license in his name makes him the only U.S. President who was legally a tavern keeper.
The store flopped, but the story stuck. Honest Abe, slinging drinks before saving the Union!