PNUT GALLERY

Yesterday, an amazing Beyoncé/Coldplay/Bruno Mars concert was cut short by the second half of a football game. Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers 24 – 10 in the 50th Super Bowl  in San Francisco. 

IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ

North Korea: Please World, You Look At My Missile The world’s most dick-tatorial dictator, Kim Jong Un of North Korea (NK), launched a missile into space, potentially placing an object (satellite) into the Earth’s orbit in violation of almost every UN Security Council Resolution imaginable. The launch came a few weeks after NK tested a nuclear device.

The US (and everyone else in the neighborhood) is concerned that NK, a nuclear state, can now target the US West Coast (or Japan, South Korea etc). The UN Security Council condemned the missile launch and imposed tougher sanctions on NK. The launch puts China, NK’s closest ally and patron, in an awkward situation.
GOOD READ: Why Did Kim Jong Un Launch The Missile Now?
Republican Debate: Everybody Loves (To Hate) Rubio
After a very awkward entrance the Republican presidential candidates held their final debate before the New Hampshire primary. We’ve summarized some of the highlights:

• Rubio Bashing: Governor Chris Christie went “New Jersey” on Senator Rubio, calling him out for not having held any real responsibility and being scripted. Rubio responded by repeating his scripted lines four times… the comeback was so bad, it went viral.
• Eminent Domain: Trump and Bush went at it over the concept of “eminent domain” (when the government seizes private property for the public good) with Trump drawing boos from the audience when he told Bush to hush. Trump was quite open about his fondness for the measure. Overall Trump came out looking quite good (even reasonable at times) during the debate. 
• Underhanded Tricks: Ted Cruz apologized to Dr. Ben Carson for the behaviour of members of his campaign who mislead Carson supporters in Iowa into believing he had dropped out of the race in order to get them to vote for Cruz. Carson wasn’t amused, calling it an example of “Washington D.C. values.” 
• Drafting Women: Rubio, Bush and Christie all indicated they would be ok with letting women register for the draft. Bush didn’t seem to understand that that would mean that women would have to actually be drafted if needed though. 
•  Positivity: Governor Kasich struck an upbeat tone during the campaign, trying to position himself as the candidate who rises above the fray. 

NUTS AND BOLTS: SHOULD READ

Syria: It Can Always Get Worse Thousands of Syrian refugees fled to the Turkish border over the weekend as a government offensive pushed forward to the rebel held city of Aleppo. Syrian government troops, feeling emboldened by the constant Russian air support, claimed a number of key victories against Saudi and Turkish backed rebels. Both countries are now openly discussing sending in ground troops to Syria, ostensibly as part of a US backed anti-ISIS mission. 

CLARIFYING READ: Our Summary Of The Syrian Civil War

China’s Foreign Reserves Down By A Cool ~$100 billionChina announced a ~$100 billion (half as much cash as Apple) monthly drop in its foreign reserves to $3.2 trillion as the country fought to temper capital outflows and a slow-brewing economic and financial crisis. China’s economic woes have caused commodity prices to crash and threaten the health of the global economy raising concerns for everyone. Most of China’s foreign reserves are in US treasuries and it is unclear what would happen if they keep selling them off…

Keeping Our Eye On…

• Twitter: Buzzfeed announced that Twitter might be moving to an “algorithm based” Timeline (aka Facebook newsfeed) as soon as this week in an effort to turn the company around. Twitter denied the reports and said it would remain “real time.” Not sure why though…  
• Popes: Catholic Pope Francis will meet with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch in the first such meeting since the two Churches split more than a millennium ago. The meeting was orchestrated by Raul Castro of Cuba.  
• Oil Talks: Venezuela held a desperate meeting with Saudi Arabia to convince the latter to explore the option of cutting oil production to raise prices. Venezuela, an oil rich country notorious for squandering its oil wealth, is on the verge of economic collapse.  

LOOSE NUTS: FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

Winning The Lottery: So Close, Yet So Far The only thing worse than not winning the lottery is winning the lottery then being told you can’t get the money. Lottery officials told a California man that his ticket was “too damaged” to give him the $63 million in winnings he is owed. The man is so upset he is suing the lottery, if he wins, he gets the money. If he loses, the money goes to the California public school system… Tough call (not really).   

Receive this email from a friend?
Get the Daily Pnut every day