Funding Uncle Sam

Good morning, everyone!

We’ve got whiplash-worthy updates today. The tariff storm we hyped up? Put on ice. We've got new drama from Musk's DC chaos to a Greek island rocking with endless quakes to one scandal rocking New Orleans's sports and church circles. Let’s get straight into it.

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Your roadmap to today’s key stories:

President Trump's new order for a U.S. sovereign wealth fund— yes, the kind Norway and Saudi Arabia run—promises it’ll invest in "great national endeavors" and possibly buy TikTok. (The government owning half your dance videos isn't weird at all...)

Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick have 90 days to explain how this fund will work, what it'll invest in, and how it'll get its money. Some critics worry that Uncle Sam is profit-hungry, raising eyebrows about free-market principles—and, you know, whether we’ll all end up dancing for the government’s share price.

Classified Standoff

Wanna talk whiplash? We told you first. If you saw our "breaking news" alert yesterday, you know that the Elon Musk-led DOGE team broke into USAID, locked out top officials, and laid off many people.

Thousands of foreign aid projects are on hold, and Marco Rubio is acting as "acting administrator" to slash budgets and staff. People who vaccinate kids, stop pandemics, and avert famine are told, "Thanks, but your clearance isn't valid."

So here's another Monday of madness: After Canada and Mexico promised new border security, Trump's 25% tariff blitz was frozen for 30 days. It's a temporary tariff freeze, and many questions remain about China and how these "promises" will work.

Files, Faith, and Football

In a jaw-dropping twist, emails reveal how Saints and Pelicans executives helped the city's Catholic archdiocese manage, might say, spin-a burgeoning clergy abuse scandal. Sports franchise PRs commented on who made the church's list of credibly accused priests, suggested crisis communications strategies, and even boasted about "taking certain people off" that list.

All this was done using official Saints and Pelicans email accounts, complete with NFL and NBA logos. Many sex abuse survivors are left wondering why a pair of pro teams got entangled in church history's darkest pages.

Blue Domes, Red Alerts

Santorini—a bucket-list dream for 3+ million annual tourists—is suddenly all tremors, no tranquillity. Over the weekend, over 6,000 people fled the Aegean when 550 quakes (magnitudes up to 4.9) rattled the area. Schools are closed, flights are backed up, and authorities say the earthquakes might last for days (or weeks).

There's no major damage yet—just cracks and a nerve-wracking hum from an island best known for its whitewashed cliffs and breezy selfies. Talk about a plot twist for the "go Greek or go home" crowd.

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🧮 Core Count: 20%

The expected rise in egg prices this year in the US.

.🗓️ Flashback:

1789 - The first US Electoral College elects George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President.

1859 - One of the oldest known copies of the Bible, "Codex Sinaiticus" (Sinai Bible), is seen in Egypt by Constantin von Tischendorf, who takes the manuscript home.

1865 - Robert E. Lee is named general-in-chief of Confederate forces.

1969 - Yasser Arafat is named PLO chairman by the Palestinian National Council.

1988 - US federal grand jury indicts Panamanian General Manuel Noriega for drug trafficking and racketeering.

2004 - Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in his Harvard dormitory room.

I'm glad we could get together here. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Fatih Taskiran