Mario Nawfal

🇸🇦 MBS stripped away every other center of power in Saudi Arabia, and now the whole system hangs on one man Abdullah Alaoudh says the royal family despises MBS as much as any dissident does, and the army was hollowed out years ago to stop a coup, leaving it barely able to defend the country: "It's an absolutely actual threat." Gut your own army to stay safe from a coup, and you end up with nobody to fight your wars... which is why Riyadh keeps asking other countries for troops. @aalodah

🇪🇺🇺🇸 Europe is getting nervous about how much control AMERICAN companies have over its money. Nearly two-thirds of EU card payments are processed by foreign firms, mainly Visa and Mastercard. Now European officials are worried that a serious fight with Washington could leave them vulnerable to U.S. sanctions and payment restrictions. The fear isn't entirely hypothetical. Some individuals targeted by U.S. sanctions, including people connected to the International Criminal Court, have already faced disruptions to American financial services. Now Europe is building its own payment networks to reduce that dependence. A new alliance of European services already reaches more than 130 MILLION users, with plans to expand cross-border payments. Washington just imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court itself, further demonstrating how powerful access to the U.S. financial system can be. Europe has spent decades relying on American payment infrastructure. Now it's scrambling to make sure a political dispute can't leave Europeans unable to pay. Writer: Sol t.co/01CJPisXb2

🇸🇦 Fake travel routes, food tasters and secret bunkers: MBS is reportedly hiding underground more than ever Abdullah Alaoudh, the Saudi dissident whose father has been in a Saudi prison since 2017, says the bunkers were built long ago, which shows how MBS saw his own future from the start: "He anticipated his own catastrophes. Like he knew that he's that incompetent to attract these kind of problems." If the crown prince is this worried about who's around him, how stable is the kingdom he runs? @aalodah

🇮🇷 🇺🇸 Iran can trade a $100,000 missile for a $150 million tanker that takes three years to replace. Philip Pilkington says that kind of trade is impossible to spin, because in a war of attrition the side with cheaper ammunition holds out longest: "In a war of attrition of magazines, of Iranian missile and drone magazines versus tanker magazines, I think we pretty much know who will win and pretty much know who will win pretty quick." Shipyards can't build tankers anywhere near as fast as Iran can build missiles, and no press release changes that. @mercoglianos @philippilk

🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷 Lockheed unveils its most capable Patriot missile ever... built to hunt hypersonic and maneuvering warheads The PAC-3 Edge gets a new seeker, extra steering thrusters and a Northrop Grumman motor that fires in three bursts, saving energy for the final chase. That’s the threat Patriots are losing to now. US officials say Iran is firing faster missiles that swerve on the way down, and its Fattah warhead carries its own small rocket motor to jink in the last seconds, which is how Houthi missiles of the same breed slipped through to hit Riyadh’s airport. But Edge won’t test until 2027 or deploy until 2031, so the $58 billion push to triple today’s Patriot production is what keeps troops and cities covered until it shows up. Source: The War Zone, Lockheed Martin / Writer: Daniel

🇺🇲Is there anything MORE AMERICAN than FRAT BROS fighting over a FOOTBALL GAME? Open to suggestions. Writer: Marie t.co/fk21Gw2WB4

🇵🇦 Megalophobia: An intense, irrational fear of large objects. Ever Ace: One of the world's largest container ships and someone’s worst nightmare. Writer: Marie t.co/9QJ1QJuLwP

🇺🇲MAN FLEES POLICE ON HORSEBACK The low-speed chase ended with the cowboy galloping into the night. Who needs a GETAWAY CAR with that kind of HORSEPOWER 🤠 Source: Raps & Hustles (YT) / Writer: Marie t.co/aQ2KVqpkC8

🚨🇺🇸 Trump wants steam catapults back on Navy carriers because of one sailor the Navy can’t find... On a 2017 tour of the USS Gerald R. Ford, a sailor reportedly told Trump that electric catapults need MIT geniuses to fix while steam needs a hammer and a blowtorch. The Navy was ordered in August to price steam for its next carrier, and that sailor has never turned up. Steam has a real case, since it worked for 70 years and crews can fix it at sea with basic tools, while the Ford’s electric system kept breaking and blew the budget. Electric’s case is stronger. It launches jets more gently so they last longer, handles everything from light drones to heavy fighters, and beat steam in a February stress test, while nobody has built steam catapults in decades. So should a ship due in 2034 be designed around one conversation from 2017? The smarter play is forcing contractors to make the electric catapults bulletproof, because ripping them out could cost billions and leave America’s newest carrier running on technology its biggest rival has already left behind. Source: The Wall Street Journal, TWZ / Writer: Daniel

🇺🇸 🇮🇷 NOBODY really controls the Strait of Hormuz, and the shipping math shows it... Maritime historian Sal Mercogliano runs the numbers: a state-owned fleet losing 5% of its tankers per trip is wiped out in about 20 voyages, and private owners now charge $1.4 MILLION a day to make the run. "We're seeing the ground war that the US fought in Iraq and Afghanistan being waged now on the sea in the Strait of Hormuz through this kind of asymmetric warfare." Every tanker lost makes the next voyage pricier, and that bill hits American gas pumps long before the fleet runs dry. @mercoglianos @philippilk

🇪🇸 A HIGH-SPEED TRAIN in Spain burst into FLAMES, sending a massive column of BLACK SMOKE into the sky The Renfe train was traveling from Madrid to Figueres when a fire broke out in its rear locomotive near Zaragoza. All 283 PASSENGERS had to be evacuated as firefighters battled the blaze, which shut down the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line in BOTH directions for more than FOUR HOURS. Nearly 20,000 travelers were affected by the disruption. Writer: Sol t.co/vvgv7xqaxF

🇺🇸 🇮🇷 The official numbers on Hormuz aren't lining up with what's actually happening on the water Economist Philip Pilkington says when official figures and the hard reality of tankers and oil stockpiles point different ways, he trusts what he can verify, and maritime historian Sal Mercogliano's independent tracking puts that to the test: "If I can't rely on data, what do I rely on? I rely on what I actually know." If the official count is right, stockpiles will show it soon... and if they don't, markets will notice before anyone admits it. @mercoglianos @philippilk

🇺🇲 SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster has NAILED its 20th flight with another SUCCESSFUL LANDING. B1088 touched down on SpaceX’s drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" after deploying 27 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. Falcon 9 is the Energizer Bunny of boosters. 🚀 Writer: Marie t.co/u9XWLtDueE

🇺🇲 America’s gas price map is a MESS CALIFORNIA drivers are paying $6.31/GALLON for regular but across the country, GEORGIA is sitting at $3.81/GALLON. The NATIONAL AVERAGE is $4.36, about ~$1.30 more than a year ago. People used to cross state lines for BOOZE… But these days it’s for FUEL⛽ Source: @OilandEnergy AAA / Writer: Marie

🇲🇽🇺🇲 Mexican CARTELS want CADILLACS…if it’s an Escalade. Same goes for other fancy SUVs and some rugged rides like pickups and Wranglers. It’s part of a scheme to smuggle U.S. vehicles over the Southern border. The operation recruits people online to rent cars with valid IDs and theft coverage, then leave them at rental lots so cartel drivers can move them before the vehicles are flagged. The capos get the Caddys and Beemers; trucks and the like are for the foot soldiers. It’s a good hustle…the cartel fleet manager is absolutely CRUSHING IT this quarter.   Source: LATimes / Writer: Marie t.co/DXMM4H8On4

🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump DOWNPLAYS the idea that China and Russia are helping Iran... despite reports they've fed Tehran intelligence on U.S. forces "If they are, it's at a very low level, but I don't believe they are at all. They have too much to lose, and we would know about it, and know about it very fast!" Part of that holds, since neither country has openly joined the war and both have plenty to lose with Washington. The reporting does get murkier around the edges though... People briefed on U.S. intel claim Iran has used satellite imagery from Chinese companies to better target American bases, Chinese firms have paid Iran fees to move ships through Hormuz, and Russia has armed Iran for YEARS and is now carrying its peace terms to the White House. And that’s just a SMALL slice of the reporting since the conflict started... we won’t even get into the drones. Calling out Moscow now would torch the diesel deal and the Iran back channel in one shot, so expect a bit of tact from Washington until the evidence gets too big to bury. Source: NYT, Reuters, WSJ / Writers: Marie, Daniel

🇮🇷🇹🇭 The Strait of Hormuz closure is starving the world’s farms of fertilizer, and the FAMINE warnings are getting louder Shut the strait and the natural gas and urea that become nitrogen fertilizer stop moving too, and most of the world’s crops run on that nitrogen. War correspondent Michael Yon has tracked it for years, from Germany’s BASF plant to Thailand, which he says imports over 90% of the nitrogen its rice fields swallow, and he warns a shortage in one breadbasket won’t stay put: “Famines are like wars, like pandemics. They spread.” The war’s real bill won’t stop at the gas pump, because crops planted without fertilizer come up short at the next harvest, and every grocery aisle feels it. @Michael_Yon @WeTheBrandon

🇦🇷 Holy hell, Iguazú Falls in South America has turned into an absolute MONSTER. Authorities in Argentina were forced to SHUT DOWN tourist access after torrential rains sent the Iguazú River surging to more than 12,000 CUBIC METERS of water per second. That's nearly NINE TIMES its normal flow, crashing through one of the world's most spectacular waterfall systems on the border of Argentina and Brazil 🤯 Mother Nature is going absolutely INSANE Writer: Sol t.co/oZM3yUQ8I0

🇺🇸 AI is learning to HACK systems, deceive its own evaluators, and figure out when it's being watched. And the people building it may have NO IDEA how to stop it. Fmr Google employee Tristan Harris gave Tucker a pretty terrifying warning about where AI is heading. He claims AI systems are already displaying behaviors straight out of science fiction, while companies race to release increasingly powerful models and cut corners on safety. His most disturbing point? He says the people developing this technology DON'T HAVE A PLAN to prevent things from going catastrophically wrong. And when Tucker asked why they're still doing it, Harris pointed to the AI arms race with China. Source: @TCNetwork / Writer: Sol

🇯🇵 Japanese women’s wrestling looks more real than the WWE. And more painful… 🤼‍♀️ Writer: Marie t.co/YKsmecmUSR

🚨🇺🇸 A man fell to his death from Six Flags Over Georgia’s Goliath coaster, and the moment was HORRIFICALLY captured on a souvenir photo Several others were hurt on the 200-foot, 70 mph ride before crews evacuated the riders still stranded on the track, and Six Flags has now shut similar coasters at parks across the country. This comes less than two weeks after Six Flags permanently closed X2 in California following a CNN investigation into years of brain injuries and deaths… Source: CNN, @Breaking911 / Writer: Daniel

🚨🇺🇸 Another Trump rally, another protester getting walked out while the President does crowd work from the podium😅 Writer: Daniel t.co/NKklafwpgJ

🇺🇲🇮🇷 Trump said Iran’s in a weakened position and that oil prices will DROP LIKE A ROCK “They want to make a deal, but they don’t know how to... They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no anti-aircraft, they have the worst inflation of any country anywhere in the world, and they have no money… Oil is going to be dropping like a rock!” A rock made of Styrofoam, perhaps. Source: Fox Business, Al Jazeera / Writer: Marie

🇺🇲 Elon TURNED UP THE LIGHTS at Starbase, Texas! Tesla drivers synched headlights, taillights, and other lights to music… To create a light show unlike any other. It’s like a badass mini rave 🔥 Writer: Marie t.co/Y36hy7bsIZ

🚨🇺🇸 RJ Mitte was newly engaged with SIX PROJECTS on the way... Bryan Cranston just posted his goodbye: “I’ll miss you, son.” Cranston met RJ at just 14, when filming on the pilot started in 2007, and says he never once let his cerebral palsy become an excuse… he kept up with brutal shooting schedules, listened to his TV parents Cranston and Anna Gunn (except when he was being a mischievous teenager), and grew into a real actor and a leading voice for disabled performers. The two were texting only weeks ago, trying to find a day for lunch. Cranston also pleaded with anyone who’s struggling to reach out, and that’s the right note to end on😪 Source: IMDb / Writer: Daniel

🇨🇦 This kid is only 8 YEARS OLD and he's already pulling off skateboard tricks that look physically IMPOSSIBLE. Remy Bastien, nicknamed “Tiny Hawk,” pulled off an insane BACKFLIP at CJ's Skatepark in Canada, launching himself off a quarter pipe and landing back on his skateboard. What the hell are they feeding kids in Canada? 🤣 Writer: Sol t.co/TETCfhMbBL

🇧🇷 When you try to rob the WRONG GUY Writer: Sol t.co/mqzj5RsWb3

This little guy is having flashbacks of the jungle. Writer: Daniyal t.co/KX4oIiKoqB

🇺🇸 A potential 15-point swing against Republicans three weeks out could rank among the 6 biggest in 150 years Pollster Mark Mitchell calls a Democratic House almost a mathematical certainty, with the Senate landing anywhere from a 1 to 2 seat Republican edge to Democrats at 53. Big Data Poll’s Rich Baris says JD Vance has a path in 2028 but needs to step into himself sooner rather than later: “It’s a narrow path and it’s one that’s narrowing.” Win the House and Democrats get two years of subpoena power, which means the 2028 race starts the morning after November 3. @honestpollster @Peoples_Pundit

🇪🇸 Spain’s National Day TURNED TENSE in Madrid as flag-waving demonstrators CONFRONTED housing protesters camped at Puerta del Sol. The encampment is protesting soaring housing costs and evictions. Video shows teenage girls taunting campers with shower gel. A day for people to celebrate the nation shows that Spain is as divided as ever. Source: EFE, The Guardian / Writer: Marie t.co/HwXw6HyiVF