Trump’s Criminal Cases, A Ceasefire, Joe Rogan, & Gen Z Loves AI

November 26, 2024

Hello, readers – happy Tuesday! Today, we’ll be talking about Trump’s criminal cases, a ceasefire in Lebanon, Romania’s elections, Russia arresting a U.K. man, Joe Rogan getting roasted, a prosecutor’s resignation, and Gen Z loving AI.

Here’s some good news: Turkeys Peach and Blossom were pardoned by President Biden yesterday. They’ll now go back to Waseca, Minnesota, where they’ll serve as “agricultural ambassadors” at Farmamerica, an agricultural interpretive center. Also, Warren Buffett donated more than $1.1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four of his family’s foundations.

“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” – Colin Powell

We’ve Got A Wily One In The White House

Like a small woodland creature in a Saturday morning cartoon show, it looks like Donald Trump is really getting away with it. All of it. Yesterday, all the legal cases against the former president are dropping like flies now that he’s the president-to-be. The cases include special counsel Jack Smith’s federal election interference case and his classified documents case. A third case in New York regarding Trump’s illegal hush money conviction has also been postponed indefinitely.

The federal cases against Trump were dropped due to a Justice Department regulation that bans the agency from prosecuting a sitting president. “The country have never faced the circumstance here, where a federal indictment against a private citizen has been returned by a grand jury and a criminal prosecution is already underway when the defendant is elected President,” wrote Smith in his motion to dismiss the cases, noting that the charges were only dropped due to the sitting president rule, not because they had no merit.

The hush money case – in which Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies by a New York grand jury – was decided in May. However, Trump has yet to be sentenced by Justice Juan Merchan – it’s unclear whether that will actually happen, but the Manhattan District Attorney in charge of the prosecution has said he will fight tooth and nail against any effort to get the case dismissed.

All I Want For Christmas Is Peace

Peace might be back on the menu in the Middle East… maybe. Today, Israel’s cabinet is set to consider a ceasefire deal with Lebanon following a protracted conflict with the country’s Hezbollah militant group. The two sides have been fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border for over a year at this point – both Hezbollah and the IDF have traded large rocket barrages, though the IDF is the only party that’s actually conducted ground invasions into enemy territory.

The peace deal under consideration would see the IDF fully withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah moving its heavy weapons north of the Litani River – that move would shift Hezbollah’s artillery units over 16 miles away from Israel, keeping more of the country of their range.

“There’s still some process, things that I think that they’re working through,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. “We believe that the trajectory of this is going in a very positive direction. But nothing is done until everything is done. Nothing’s negotiated till everything is negotiated.”

Tired of Battling Spam Calls? Here’s How to Make Them Disappear.

Every day, your personal data (including your phone number) is sold to the highest bidder by data brokers. This leads to annoying robocalls from random companies and, worse, makes you vulnerable to scammers.
Meet Incogni: your solution to robocalls. It actively removes your personal data from the web, fighting data brokers and protecting your privacy. Unlike other services, Incogni targets all data brokers, including those elusive People Search Sites.
Put an end to those never-ending robocalls and constant email spam now. Take advantage of a Black Friday deal and get 58% off Incogni with the code PNUTDEAL.

Romania’s Right-Wing-Reformist Runoff

The year’s almost over, but election season is still here. Romania’s presidential elections are headed to a runoff after a surprise first-round victory by Calin Georgescu, a relatively unknown right-wing candidate. Georgescu was originally projected to win just 10% of all ballots but won the first round with 22.95%. He’s now set to face off against reformist Elena Lasconi in runoffs scheduled for December 8 – she came in second with 19.17% of the vote.
In a statement Monday, Lasconi described the runoff as “a historical confrontation between preserving Romania’s young democracy … and those who want to return Romania to the Russian sphere of influence… Let us be very clear, Calin Georgescu is an open admirer of Vladimir Putin. He is open against NATO and the European Union … He is for Romania’s isolation, which he calls neutrality … And without NATO we are at the mercy of Russia.”

Hey, What’s This Guy Doing Here?

On Monday, Russia announced it had captured a British national fighting for Ukraine in Russia’s occupied Kursk region. The man, James Scott Rhys Anderson, was a former signalman in the British army who traveled to Ukraine to fight with the country’s International Legion – his capture marks the first time Russia has been able to take a Westerner fighting on behalf of Ukraine within its own borders.
Apparently, Anderson was serving as an instructor for Ukrainian troops but was forced by Kyiv to deploy to the Kursk region. TASS, Russia’s state-owned news agency, published a video of the soldier saying he didn’t want to be “here,” though the idea that Ukraine is forcing Westerners to invade Russia is certainly a useful narrative for Moscow. The U.K. embassy in Moscow confirmed his capture, saying it was “supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention.”

More Mixed Nuts

Middle East Mixed Nuts

Probably Not Who You Want To Upset, Joe

There are probably a few of our readers out there who want to see Joe Rogan put in his place – if so, this story’s for you. Ukrainian former world heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko took to X to lament that Joe Rogan is “repeating Russian propaganda” about the war in Ukraine on his podcast.
Rogan criticized President Biden’s recent decision to allow Ukraine to strike Russian soil with U.S.-supplied missiles, and called “the whole thing” a “proxy war.” Klitschko, whose brother is also mayor of Kyiv, suggested that Rogan invite him on his podcast to discuss the issue “like free men.”

Define “Quitting While You’re Ahead”

Federal prosecutor Damian Williams announced yesterday that he will step down as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York next month. Williams has overseen the convictions of Sen. Robert Menendez, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Sam Bankman-Fried, and is currently involved in cases for both Mayor Eric Adams and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
President-elect Trump had already announced his intention to replace Williams, who was a Biden appointee and the first Black man to hold the post. Williams’ deputy, Edward Y. Kim, will become acting U.S. attorney after his departure, but Trump plans to nominate his former Securities and Exchange Commission head Jay Clayton to the position.

More Nuts In America

Gen Z Loves Gen(erative) AI

Gen Z is no stranger to new technology. Young people have ushered in the wider use of plenty of new tech, including smartphones, social media, and, apparently, AI. According to a survey conducted by Google, 93% of knowledge workers (engineers, lawyers, accountants, etc) aged 22 to 27 regularly use two or more AI tools every week. 79% of Millennial workers said they used AI a similar amount.
Workers (apparently) use generative AI products like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Otter.ai to start tasks or carry out busy work like note-taking. According to the survey, 88% of Gen Z workers used AI to start big tasks that felt overwhelming – everybody knows the hardest part is starting! Of course, this data can be taken with a grain of salt – Google has a clear incentive to push the idea that “Everyone is using AI!,” as the tech giant is developing and selling its own AI models.

More Loose Nuts