Happy New Year Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,027 words…3.87 mins
🥳 🎉Here’s wishing each and every one of you, a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2026!!
🗞 Today’s Edition: The Mamdani Inauguration, U.S. Reaper Drone Crashes In Afghanistan, Robinhood’s Bitcoin Giveaway, Swiss Tragedy, Buffett’s Officially Out, Iran’s Protests, … & much more!
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
Left to right: AG Letitia James, newly-elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji as he becomes the first NYC Mayor to take his oath on a Quran
🗽 Zohran Mamdani Takes City Hall—And Brings High-Risk Politics With Him
Just after midnight on Jan. 1, Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as NYC’s 110th mayor, making history as the city’s youngest mayor in over a century, and its first Muslim and South Asian mayor. The symbolism was unmistakable—and so are the stakes.
📍 The swearing-in:
Held privately at the Old City Hall subway station.
Oath administered by AG Letitia James.
Mamdani placed his hand on a Quran, held by his wife, artist Rama Duwaji.
🗳️Why supporters cheered: He won on affordability—rent freezes, free buses, universal childcare—a platform aimed squarely at working-class New Yorkers squeezed by housing and transit costs.
The hypocrisy? His wife wore $600 luxury Miista boots to the ceremony
⚠️Why critics are alarmed: Mamdani enters office as a self-described democratic socialist with a record that has rattled business leaders, Jewish organizations, and mainstream Democrats.
Critics point to past rhetoric on Israel and Palestine, including support for the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which many Jewish groups view as a call historically associated with violence against them.
🏛️The governing risk: New York is a city of markets, capital, and ethnic fault lines. A mayor perceived as hostile to Wall Street—or insensitive to communal security—could trigger capital flight, legal pushback, and social unrest.
💡 Bottom line: Mamdani represents a generational shift—but also a political experiment. New York just handed City Hall to its most inexperienced as well as its most ideologically polarizing mayor in history. Whether this becomes reform—or rupture—we’ll find out together.
Next Up: The second inauguration - a public one - where Mamdani will be sworn in by Sen. Bernie Sanders, followed by celebrations.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
U.S. MQ-9 Reaper crashes in Wardak Province, Afghanistan
🚨U.S. Reaper Drone Crashes in Afghanistan
OSINT accounts report a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper crashing in snowy Wardak Province with photos showing wreckage—pusher propeller, fuselage, possible satcom gear—being inspected by locals.
The cause is disputed: some analysts cite engine failure, while early local claims allege a shootdown.
No U.S. confirmation yet; major outlets are silent.
Cost: ~$30–64M per drone.
💡Bottom line: U.S. still runs over-the-horizon counter-terror flights post-2021.
🧑🚒 Swiss Ski Paradise Turns Deadly
A massive explosion and fire tore through Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana at ~1:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, killing several dozen people (Italian officials cite ~40) and injuring 100+ during packed New Year’s celebrations.
Authorities say the fire’s origin is undetermined—but have ruled out terrorism.
10 helicopters, 40 ambulances, 150 responders; hospitals overwhelmed with severe burns.
Victims span multiple nationalities; Macron offered condolences.
💡 Bottom line: A global holiday hub exposed how fast celebration can turn to catastrophe—and how thin emergency margins are in alpine towns.
📉 Iran’s Currency Collapse Sparks Nationwide Revolt
Iran is facing five days of rolling protests as the rial hits record lows, inflation surges, and shortages spread.
What began Dec. 28th with Grand Bazaar strikes in Tehran quickly jumped to universities, then exploded across 17+ provinces from Isfahan to Mashhad.
Tear gas, live fire, mass arrests; at least 3 civilians killed, a Basij member dead.
Response: Widespread closures blamed on weather; Central Bank chief resigns.
💡Bottom line: Economic collapse is mutating into open regime rejection—and Tehran knows it.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
Warren Buffet
🪖 Trump Pulls National Guard From Blue Cities
President Trump announced the withdrawal of National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, calling it temporary and warning they could return “stronger” if crime rises.
The move follows court losses, including a Supreme Court block on using the Guard for immigration enforcement and rulings.
Restores control to Governors like Newsom and Pritzker.
Reality check: Only a few hundred troops were still deployed in these cities, with many already demobilized.
⚡Law-and-order met constitutional limits—and blinked.
💰Buffett Hands the CEO Baton to Greg Abel—But Stays in the Room
Warren Buffett officially stepped down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway on Jan. 1, ending nearly six decades at the helm and passing operational control to longtime heir Greg Abel.
Buffett, 94, remains chairman, plans to keep coming into the Omaha office, and will stay involved at the highest level.
Abel’s role: Full control of day-to-day operations and capital allocation.
⚡A historic handoff—with the Oracle still watching the board.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
🪙 Robinhood’s $1.5M Bitcoin Giveaway Isn’t What It Sounds Like
Robinhood is hyping a $1.5M Bitcoin giveaway as part of its New Year “Hood Holidays” promo—but it’s not a giant payout per user.
Instead, that $1.5M is split among everyone who enters on a designated day, meaning the more participants, the smaller each slice.
Past drops left many users with just a few dollars—and app crashes didn’t help.
⚡Big headline, tiny Bitcoin.
🤖 OpenAI’s Audio Uprising: Screens Beware
OpenAI’s betting the future isn’t visual—it’s vocal. Teams merged to build an audio-first AI device launching ~2026, capable of natural, interruptible conversation.
Meta, Google, Tesla, and a bunch of startups are chasing the same dream: your face, car, and home as talkable interfaces.
⚡Jony Ive, Apple design legend behind the iPhone, is shaping these devices for sleek, addictive-free use.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Did You Know?
The first U.S. President to appear on television was Franklin D. Roosevelt. On April 30, 1939, he delivered a speech at the opening of the New York World's Fair, broadcast live by NBC—this historic moment helped launch regular TV broadcasting in America.
Bonus: Herbert Hoover (then Secretary of Commerce, not yet president) appeared in an experimental television demonstration on April 7, 1927.
This transmitted his image and voice from Washington, D.C. to New York via phone lines for a small audience of reporters and officials.