The Government Shutdown & Trump's Peace Plan

Hi readers, happy Tuesday! Today we’re covering the looming government shutdown, Trump’s Gaza peace deal, developments in Ukraine, Afghanistan’s internet blackout, the weekend’s shootings, and the EA buyout.

“No one is willing to believe that adults too, like children, wander about this earth in a daze and, like children, do not know where they come from or where they are going, act as rarely as they do according to genuine motives, and are as thoroughly governed as they are by biscuits and cake and the rod.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

Shutting Down As The Leaves Turn Brown

“I think we're headed to a shutdown.” That’s a quote from Vice President JD Vance after top Republicans met with Congressional Democrats yesterday afternoon with a government shutdown looming. Both parties have until midnight tonight to work out a short-term spending plan, or else the federal government will have to temporarily pause some services until a deal is reached.

Here’s the situation: Republicans in the White House and Congress are pushing a short-term spending bill which would temporarily grant the government some more runway at current spending levels. Democrats have a problem with that temporary solution, as a continuation of current spending levels would lead to the end of multiple healthcare subsidy programs, including Obamacare tax breaks that will affect over 24 million Americans. You might recall that the Dems lost the presidency as well as both houses of Congress in the last election, but they still have some leverage in this case, as a spending bill requires 60 votes to pass the Senate – Republicans only have 53 seats in the upper legislature.

What happens in the case of a government shutdown? Most federal employees will continue going to work as normal, but “non-essential” services will be temporarily closed and the people who keep them running won’t get paid. Those services include federally-funded pre-schools, the national parks, and food service inspections.

20 Points For Peace

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid the White House a visit yesterday, meeting with President Trump to work out an end to the war in Gaza. After their meeting, the pair unveiled a new 20-point peace plan to end the conflict. The deal – which Hamas has yet to reply to – would see the militant group fully disarm and hand over its remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for an immediate end to the conflict and the possibility of having Gaza rebuilt with the help of the international community. Both Israel and the U.S. are backing the deal, and Trump has warned that “Israel would have my full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas” if the group doesn’t agree to the plan quickly.

If Hamas agrees to lay down its arms, the plan states that day-to-day governmental operations in Gaza will be carried out by “a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” overseen by “a new international transitional body, the ‘Board of Peace,’ which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair.” Hamas’ tunnel networks under Gaza would be fully decommissioned, and the group would also have no hand in governing the area after the dust settles.

Other highlights include the establishment of a so-called International Stabilization Force (ISF) set up by the U.S. and other Middle Eastern countries. The Israeli military would slowly hand the areas of Gaza that it occupies over to the ISF, eventually leaving Gaza to the new military entirely. Humanitarian aid will also be distributed at levels set out in a January 19, 2025 agreement, while “a Trump economic development plan” will outline how the enclave’s infrastructure and economy is rebuilt. You can read the full plan here.

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The War Heats Up As Winter Approaches

• The largest nuclear power plant in Europe – Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant – has been running its power cooling and safety systems using emergency power generators for six days now. The Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been under Russian control since 2022, had its final external power line cut last Tuesday, and Russia hasn’t moved to address the situation since then. If the emergency generators go out, the plant’s nuclear cores could overheat, leading to a meltdown situation like the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 or the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

• Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted a $90 billion arms deal with the U.S. yesterday. Under the terms of the “mega deal,” the U.S. will sell Ukraine a massive amount of weapons for its war with Russia, while Kyiv will also make some money by selling Ukrainian drones to the Pentagon. On top of that boatload of weapons, Trump is reportedly considering selling Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles – if Kyiv gets its hands on the missiles, it will technically have the ability to hit Moscow, which might change the dynamics of the entire conflict.

Tali-Banning The Internet

• Almost all of Afghanistan experienced a total internet blackout yesterday, cutting off the Taliban-ruled country from the rest of the world. While the government hasn’t commented on the blackout, the internet shutdown came just two days after the Taliban closed down internet access in 6 of the country’s 34 provinces in an attempt to curb “the misuse of internet” and prevent “immoral acts.”

• The internet in Afghanistan relies on one government-owned company named Afghan Telecom – cell network providers buy licenses from the company to operate in the country, meaning the government does have the power to flip a switch and cut off phones and computers from the outside world. One Afghan telecommunications engineer said Monday’s outage followed “a typical pattern of Taliban 2.0,” with the government cutting off certain provinces before eventually shutting down internet connectivity across the country.

Additional World News

• At least 40 dead and 124 injured in crush at Vijay rally in India (Guardian) 

• Madagascar's president fires the government following days of deadly Gen Z protests (AP)

• Canada lists India's Bishnoi gang as terrorist entity (BBC)

• Brazil’s Homegrown Payment System Is Target of Trump Administration (NYT, $)

• Drones from Turkey circle Gaza aid flotilla as boats sail east (Reuters)

• Convoy carrying Ecuadorian president attacked during protests, officials say (CNN)

Two Days, Two Shootings

• This weekend saw two mass shootings (allegedly) perpetrated by two U.S. Marine Corps veterans who participated in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Let’s start with the first one, which took place on Saturday in Southport, North Carolina. 

• Saturday’s shooting saw a gunman drive his boat up to a waterfront bar at 9:30 p.m. local time, opening fire on the bar’s patrons with an assault rifle before pulling away. At least three people were killed and five others were wounded in the incident – the suspect was taken into custody soon after the shooting, when U.S. Coast Guard personnel encountered him loading his boat at a public boat ramp. He’s being charged with three counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

• The main suspect in the shooting is Nigel Edge, a 41 year-old Marine vet who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. Edge (who changed his name from Sean Debevoise at some point) sustained four gunshot wounds, including one to the head, in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, earning him a Purple Heart. He was known to local law enforcement prior to the shooting, and police are describing the shooting as “highly premeditated.”

• The day after, another Marine veteran perpetrated another mass shooting, killing four people, wounding eight others, and causing the total collapse of a Mormon church in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. At 10:25 a.m. local time, the suspect drove a pickup truck sporting two American flags and three improvised explosive devices into the lobby of the church, starting a fire in the building and opening fire on people attending Sunday’s worship service. Police arrived on the scene within minutes and began exchanging fire with the suspect, killing him by 10:33 a.m.

• Thomas Jacob Sanford, the dead suspect, was a Marine Corps sergeant who was deployed in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom as well. Multiple pictures of him found online show him wearing shirts with slogans like “Re-elect Trump 2020” and “Make LIberals Cry Again,” and the Detroit Free Press has reported that he once described Mormonism as “the antichrist.” 

Additional USA News

• Latin superstar Bad Bunny will headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show (NPR)

• Cannabis stocks soar after Trump shares video promoting drug’s use for seniors 

• Why Does Hegseth Want More Than 800 Admirals and Generals in the Same Room? (Atlantic)

• Marines say they hit recruiting goals and point to 'unapologetic' standards (AP)

• Eric Adams Slips Out the Side Door (New Yorker)

• Americans’ Support for Israel Dramatically Declines, Times/Siena Poll Finds (NYT, $)

The Saudis Publicly Invest In Fun

• Saudi Arabia is in the game. Yesterday, a consortium of buyers including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Affinity Partners (an investment firm run by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner), and private equity firm Silver Lake announced that it would be buying out Electronic Arts, the video game publisher behind massive gaming titles such as Battlefield, FIFA (now EA FC), The Sims, and Madden. 

• The purchase will value the company at $55 billion, making it the largest-ever buyout of a publicly traded company. The group is paying $210 per share, meaning stockholders are receiving a 25% premium compared to EA’s stock price before the buyout was announced. Besides being the largest-ever private purchase of a public company, the deal is also the largest leveraged buyout in history. The consortium is putting up $36 billion in cash alongside equity from the PIF and $20 billion in debt financed by JPMorgan in order to pay for the gaming company.

• What does this mean for your favorite games? Not much besides increased monetization efforts, probably. The PIF purchased Niantic (which develops Pokemon GO) earlier this year and players haven’t noticed many changes in the game besides an uptick in microtransactions. However, the $20 billion in debt financing will likely push EA further down the pay-to-win pipeline – “The revenue generated by big games like EA Sports FC, Madden and Battlefield 6 will be needed to service this debt, which may impact EA's ability to invest in new games,” said one industry analyst.

Additional Reads

• Body of missing teen found in D4vd’s Tesla likely ‘dead for several weeks,’ say police (Guardian)

• The perils of letting AI plan your next trip (BBC)

• Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Excel and Word (Verge)

• Microplastics Could Be Weakening Your Bones, Research Suggests (Wired)

• Los Angeles vowed to host the Olympics without breaking the bank and environment. Can it? (Guardian)

• An Art Magazine? In This Economy?: The sudden, unlikely rise of Cultured (NYMag) 

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