Good morning. In this edition:

• 💥 US military drug strikes
• 📉 Plunging divorce rates
• 🏀 Major FBI gambling bust

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.68-minute read (978 words).

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“As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”

–Sam Levenson (1911-1980)

The US is eight weeks into a military campaign in the waters around South America against what the Trump administration describes as “narco-terrorists” smuggling drugs headed to America.

However, even after the US government’s ninth strike against an alleged drug-carrying vessel on Wednesday—which brought the confirmed death toll to 37—White House officials have yet to tell Congress or the American public who was killed, or on what evidence.

• The most recent US strikes came on the Pacific side of the continent, representing an expansion of the military’s initial targeting area on the Atlantic side of South America.
• Much of the cocaine from the world’s largest producers is smuggled in these waters, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week referring to the alleged drug-runners as “the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere.”

The arguments

President Trump and his administration have justified the attacks as a necessary measure to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the US, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush admin when it declared a war on terror following the September 11 attacks.

But as the number of strikes continues to grow, many political opponents—and even some Republican lawmakers—haved raised questions about the justifications for Trump’s actions.

• They specifically cite a lack of any legal investigation, hard evidence, or a traditional declaration of war from Congress.
• Some experts also note that the shipping routes targeted by US military strikes are typically used to ferry drugs to Europe and Africa, not to America as Trump is claiming.

There’s also the question of local regime change. The strikes near South American waters come as the Trump admin has deployed an unprecedented number of warships, spy planes, fighter jets, bombers, drones, and Marines off the coast of Venezuela. The President also recently confirmed that he authorized covert CIA operations on Venezuelan soil.

• These factors have fueled rumors that the US could overthrow Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro by military force in the coming weeks or months.

Looking ahead…Trump admin officials reportedly possess a “near unshakeable” belief that America’s recent pressure campaign near Venezuela will result in Maduro either being deposed—potentially via a land-based US attack—or stepping down in the near future.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you support or oppose the Trump admin’s recent military actions in the waters near South America?

• Support
• Oppose
• Unsure/other

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Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

🤖 US households have gained a combined ~$5.2 trillion in wealth over the past year due to the appreciation of just 30 stocks tied to AI, per JPMorgan.

💔 The number of divorces per 1,000 married women in the US has fallen by 36% between 1980 and 2023, according to Pew Research data.

🦃 Wholesale turkey prices are currently ~40% higher compared to last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

🔵 Democrat-voting districts account for ~97% of the $28 billion in federal infrastructure funds that have been canceled or frozen by the Trump admin during the ongoing US gov’t shutdown.

💰 OpenAI is currently on the hook to spend ~$1 trillion over the next five years, despite only earning ~$13 billion in annual revenue.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏘️ Average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.19% for the week ending October 23, the lowest level so far in 2025, per new Freddie Mac data.
• 🎯 Target announces plans to lay off ~1,000 global corporate employees (8% of its total) and cut ~800 open roles; the retailer has reported 11 consecutive quarters of falling or weak comparable sales growth.
• 🏛️ Several quantum-computing firms are reportedly in talks with the Commerce Department to give up equity stakes in exchange for federal funding for critical technology. | Intel reports better-than-expected Q3 earnings and sales; it marks the chip giant’s first report since the US gov’t became Intel’s top shareholder with a 10% stake in August.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🚨 Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat G Terry Rozier arrested in 11-state FBI bust of alleged illegal gambling and “sports rigging” operations; 32 other people also arrested.
• 🍿 Stranger Things two-hour series finale to premiere in 350+ movie theaters alongside Netflix on December 31; it’ll mark the first-ever episode of a Netflix series to play in theaters.
• 🎭 Broadway musicians union reaches tentative agreement on new contract, avoiding a strike that would have shut down every musical on Broadway (except Ragtime).

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🚗 GM says it'll introduce an "eyes-off" autonomous driving system in consumer vehicles starting in 2028; it would represent the first such system on the market.
• 🦕 Paleontologists unearth two new dinosaur “mummies” at famous Wyoming dig site, including the first-ever example of hooves in a reptile.
• 🐍 Venomous snake strikes were recently captured in extreme detail for the first time, revealing three different types of attacks, per new study.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🪙 President Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (aka CZ), who was convicted and sentenced to four months in prison on money laundering charges; pardon follows months of efforts by CZ to boost Trump’s crypto company.
• 🏛️ Senate fails to pass GOP-backed bill that would pay essential gov’t employees who’ve been working without compensation during the shutdown; all but three Democrats voted against the bill, which needed 60 votes to pass.
• 🌉 Trump calls off plans to deploy National Guard troops to San Francisco after talking with the city’s mayor and the CEOs of Nvidia and Salesforce.

☝️ Samsung this week revealed its new Galaxy XR headset, the first device to run on its new Android XR operating system. The $1,800 VR device, which comes with a 27-million-pixel display and AI-powered features, aims to compete with Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro.

🤔 Did you know? Roughly 40% of Americans can trace at least one ancestor back to Ellis Island, which processed 12+ million immigrants between 1892 and 1924—some of them in less than two minutes.

📰 Worth a read: The truth about Amelia Earhart

🖱️ Clickbait: 1,300-year-old poop reveals pathogens plagued prehistoric people

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How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

1. A bakery recipe calls for 2½ cups of flour and 1⅓ cups of sugar per cake. If you want to make 6 cakes, how many total cups of flour and sugar do you need combined?
2. I’m a number between 10 and 30. Both my digits are even, and my tens digit is 2 more than my ones digit. What am I?
3. Which number comes next in this pattern: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, …?

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1. 23 cups
2. 20
3. 36 (perfect squares pattern: 1², 2², 3², … 6² = 36)

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