Never Was A Cloudy Day

U.S. Attempts To Reimpose Sanctions on Iran

The United States will sanction more than two dozen people and entities involved in Iran's nuclear missile and conventional arms programs, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday. The move represents an attempt to trigger the “snapback” mechanism in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the U.S. withdrew from in 2018. On Sunday, France, Germany and Britain issued a joint statement saying the action was "incapable of having any legal effect."

Ethiopia Opposition Figures Charged With Terrorism

Jawar Mohammed, Ethiopia's most prominent opposition figure, and 23 others were charged with terrorism-related offenses, telecom fraud, and other crimes on Saturday. The charges relate to July protests in Addis Ababa (the country’s capital) and the Oromia region after singer and political icon Hachalu Hundessa was killed in a drive-by shooting. The defendants will appear in court today and could face up to life in prison if convicted.

The FinCen Files

Thousands of documents from the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) detailing $2T of potentially corrupt transactions through the U.S. financial system were leaked to an international group of investigative journalists. The files, shared initially with Buzzfeed News, highlight how several large international banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and Bank of New York Mellon, knowingly moved around the money of oligarchs, terrorists, and criminals with little to no consequences.

Worth Noting: FEMA announced plans to send $13B in federal disaster funding to Puerto Rico to repair its electrical and educational infrastructure damaged after Hurricane Maria (landfall Sept. 2017).

✉️ Mail Fail… a woman suspected of sending an envelope containing ricin to the White House was arrested as she attempted to enter the U.S. from Canada at a border crossing in NY state.

⚖️ The Mandate To Isolate… the UK imposed a new legal duty requiring citizens to self-isolate if they test positive for COVID-19 or are traced as a close contact, with first-time offenders facing a ~$1.2k fine (increasing up to $~12k for repeat violators).

Deal, Or No Deal?

The Commerce Department delayed a ban on U.S. downloads and updates of TikTok for one week (initially scheduled for Sunday) after a potential deal with Walmart and Oracle was approved in concept by President Trump on Saturday. Under the terms of the agreement, which is pending final approval by the companies involved, Oracle (12.5%) and Walmart (7.5%) would take a minority stake in a new U.S.-based company called TikTok Global (expected to be valued at ~$60B). The remaining 80% of shares would be distributed proportionally among ByteDance’s investors, resulting in a 53% U.S.-owned entity.

More: A federal judge in CA temporarily halted the Trump administration’s executive order banning downloads of the Chinese-owned app WeChat Sunday morning in response to a First Amendment lawsuit brought by WeChat users.

Cyber Monday

CISA, the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity unit, issued an emergency alert late Friday requiring all federal departments and agencies to patch any Windows servers vulnerable to a newly discovered cyber attack. The Zerologon vulnerability, rated a maximum 10.0 in severity, could allow attackers to take control of any or all computers on a vulnerable network.

R-E-S-P-A-C-T

Chamath Palihapitiya, billionaire founder of Social Capital, filed for three new special purpose acquisitions companies (SPACs) with the SEC on Friday, representing Social Capital’s fourth, fifth, and sixth such entities. A SPAC is a company formed strictly to raise capital through an IPO for the purpose of acquiring an existing company. Palihapitiya’s first SPAC merged with Virgin Galactic last year, and his second SPAC bought Opendoor last week in a deal valuing the real estate startup at $4.8B.

💰 Here Comes The Bribe… the DOJ charged six individuals on Friday with bribing Amazon employees and contractors to gain an unfair advantage on the online marketplace.

📱 Chime Time… mobile banking service provider Chime closed a more than $485M funding round on Friday valuing the company at $14.5B, surpassing Robinhood as the most valuable U.S. consumer fintech startup.

⛳ Open Sesame... twenty-seven-year-old Bryson DeChambeau won the 2020 U.S. Open on Sunday, taking home his first career major championship.

Gaming For Good

When Christopher Boehm retired from the army and transitioned back into civilian life, he was alarmed to learn that, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, an average of 2,500 military veterans die from suicide each year. Determined to help his hurting community, Christopher – who previously struggled with PTSD and alcohol abuse – turned to video games.

Utilizing an outlet that has helped him through his own emotional turmoil, Christopher set up the YouTube channel “Bayonet X-Ray,” where the generous G.I. offers tips for coping with PTSD and depression while live-streaming himself playing video games. The videos, which are geared toward service members who lack access to professional counseling, each last approximately 22 minutes to honor the up to 22 veterans that can die from suicide each day.

Lifting Their Spirits

Last week, Heather McKelvey of Columbus, OH, was in the local supermarket's check-out line with her daughter, Catherine, when a rainbow birthday balloon with unicorns caught the 4-year-old's eye. When Catherine – who is battling cancer – began pleading with her mother to buy the celebratory decoration, a woman standing behind the two suddenly retrieved the balloon, paid for it, and gave it to the awestruck little girl.

Unable to adequately express her gratitude to the woman before leaving the store, Heather took to Facebook to tell the members of her community about the events at the supermarket and asked to be connected with the kind stranger. Not only did Heather's friends and neighbors find the charitable shopper, but they also organized a campaign of 150 donations to the McKelvey family and others affected by cancer.

Super Trooper

Almost 8,000 fires have ravaged California this year in the largest wildfire season in the state's history. With flames scorching more than 3.5 million acres of land across the state with devastating speed, residents across the region have been forced to evacuate their homes with little to no warning. Many have accidentally left behind beloved pets in the scramble to reach safety.

On September 11th, rescue workers from the Butte County Sheriff's Office in northern California spotted a puppy who had miraculously survived amid the charred rubble from the wildfire that consumed his home. The dog, who received only minimal burns and singes, was nicknamed "Trooper" by the rescue team and taken to the local veterinarian to be reunited with his family. (Pictures)