Peter Thiel's Most Explosive Prediction Yet

Gov’t shutdown looms

Peter Thiel’s biblical warning

Trump scores YouTube settlement

VP JD Vance said the government is likely “headed into a shutdown,” blaming the situation on the Democrats, while rejecting their $1.5T plan prioritizing illegal aliens over Americans and pledging bipartisan healthcare talks post-funding.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune backed a House-passed "clean" extension to November 21, with only lawmaker security funds, dismissing Democrat claims of partisanship.

Thune called Democrats' tactics a "hostage-taking exercise," open to later ACA subsidy talks with reforms, countering Schumer's demand for immediate action as obstructive.

Trump and Vance signaled openness to healthcare discussions, while White House threats of mass firings highlighted GOP resolve against Democrat "wishlist" items like Obamacare extensions.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: The Trump administration expanded its trade blacklist to encompass subsidiaries of sanctioned Chinese tech giants, sealing a loophole in export controls on advanced semiconductors. (WSJ)

Trump imposed a 10% tariff on softwood lumber and timber imports and a 25% duty on kitchen cabinet products starting October 14. (INV)

Trump announced plans for a 100% tariff on foreign-produced movies to combat overseas tax incentives luring filmmakers from California. (FOX)

U.S. pending home sales surged 4% in August, far exceeding economists' 0.2% forecast, fueled by mortgage rates nearing an 11-month low. (RTS)

Switzerland proposed investments in U.S. gold-refining operations to persuade Trump to lift the 39% import tariff on Swiss goods. (BBG)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Charlie Javice, founder of the fintech startup Frank, was sentenced to over seven years in prison for orchestrating a fraud that misled JPMorgan Chase into acquiring her company for $175 million. (CNBC)

Exxon Mobil plans to eliminate about 2,000 jobs worldwide, roughly 3% to 4% of its workforce, as part of a sweeping restructuring. (BBG)

Boeing launched early development of a 737 MAX successor, aiming to deliver a next-generation single-aisle jet by the mid-2030s to compete with Airbus. (WSJ)

Wealthfront, the robo-advisor pioneer that popularized automated investing, filed publicly for a Nasdaq IPO after a confidential submission in June. (FOR)

A bitter family feud within Texas barbecue dynasty Terry Black's is engulfing the historic smoked-meat haven of Lockhart. (WSJ)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: General Motors is curtailing its aggressive electric-vehicle ambitions amid softening consumer demand and waning federal subsidies. (WSJ)

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), eyeing a potential 2028 presidential bid, pivoted to approve the largest oil permitting overhaul in decades to curb price spikes. (BBG)

A Bloomberg Intelligence report projects a $350 billion nuclear investment boom in the U.S. by 2050 to add 53 gigawatts of capacity. (BBG)

The Trump administration unveiled plans to unleash 13.1 million acres of federal land for coal mine leasing while committing $625 million to bolster coal-fired power plants. (FBN)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Chinese national Zhimin Qian pleaded guilty to orchestrating a $6.7 billion crypto scam, leading to the world's largest Bitcoin seizure of 61,000 coins. (CN)

Visa launched a pilot program enabling businesses to fund cross-border payments via stablecoins such as Circle's USDC and EURC. (TB)

The tokenized gold market has surged to nearly $3 billion in value as physical bullion hits record highs. (CD)

YoungHoon Kim, claiming to have the world's highest IQ, converted all assets to Bitcoin and predicts a $10 million price within 10 years. (CC)

Thiel is delivering a four-part lecture series in San Francisco through early October, hosted by the Christian nonprofit ACTS 17, encouraging continued scientific advancement while cautioning against fearing or over-regulating technology, which he believes could empower a totalitarian "Antichrist" regime.

Thiel cites existential risks like nuclear war, environmental disasters, bioweapons, and AI-driven autonomous robots as potential triggers for a one-world government promising peace but embodying the Antichrist, drawing from texts like the Book of Revelation and dystopian novels.

Thiel’s talks reflect a growing spiritual discourse in secular Silicon Valley, with tech leaders like Elon Musk openly discussing Christianity, while Thiel’s theories incorporate sources from Renaissance art to Japanese manga and conversations with historian René Girard.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: OpenAI announced Instant Checkout, a ChatGPT-integrated feature that lets users buy single items from Etsy sellers, with expansion slated for Shopify merchants. (CNBC)

Anthropic unveiled Claude Sonnet 4.5, touting it as the world's premier coding model with breakthroughs in agent-building, computer interaction, and reasoning. (ANT)

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed the U.S.’s first AI safety bill requiring major developers to disclose safety protocols and report serious incidents. (POL)

Microsoft rolled out a dedicated Office Agent in Copilot, powered by Anthropic's models, enabling users to create intricate spreadsheets and documents from basic prompts. (VER)

OpenAI is preparing to debut a TikTok-style social media app fueled by its advanced Sora 2 video-generation model. (WIR)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: NVIDIA unveiled the open-source Newton physics engine model, supercharging humanoid robots' grasp of physical simulations and reasoning for real-world tasks. (IE)

A robot-assisted bronchoscope, guided by advanced CT scanning, has demonstrated an 84% success rate in navigating to small, hard-to-reach lung tumors for biopsy. (USN)

Seven-Eleven Japan will deploy AI-powered humanoid robots in stores by 2029 for automating routine tasks while freeing staff for customer-focused roles. (SC)

A TikTok video of vlogger Christian Grossi testing robotic exoskeleton legs in China went viral with 30 million views. (YH)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: China simulated a "triple-nuke-strike" in laboratory tests, revealing that three successive nuclear detonations substantially enlarge crater sizes over a single blast. (DP)

Anduril is developing ground-launched variant of the Barracuda-500 cruise missile to address the Pentagon's munitions gap. (BD)

Raytheon clinched a $5.04 billion contract with the U.S. Army to supply the versatile Coyote counter-drone missile system. (DIEU)

SpaceX is aiming for an October 13 launch of its Starship megarocket, planning to catch the Super Heavy booster with a tower at Starbase in Texas. (SP)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: AI chip startup Rebellions raised $250 million in a Series C funding round that valued the company at $1.4 billion, backed by investors including Arm. (BBG)

Modal Labs raised $80 million in Series B funding to expand its platform of programmable building blocks that simplify cloud-based AI infrastructure. (SA)

AI recruiter startup Alex raised $17 million in a Series A round led by Peak XV Partners to advance its autonomous interview technology. (TC)

Qovery secured $13 million in Series A funding, led by Speedinvest, to enhance its platform that simplifies cloud app deployment for developers. (TVN)

YouTube suspended Trump’s channel on January 12, 2021, citing violations of policies against inciting violence, with reinstatement in March 2023.

The settlement includes $22 million donated on Trump’s behalf to the Trust for the National Mall for a new White House State Ballroom and $2.5 million to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union and author Naomi Wolf.

Negotiations involved mediation sessions at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in May, attended by Google CEO Sundar Pichai and co-founder Sergey Brin, with discussions continuing over golf and lunch at Trump’s nearby club.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: A College Fix report highlights the most shocking examples of university faculty members openly celebrating the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (CF)

Germany opened a rare criminal investigation into X executives, including two Americans, for allegedly obstructing justice by rebuffing demands to hand over user data. (RTN)

Former DOGE staffer Edward Coristine recounted in his first interview a brutal August assault in Washington, D.C., by a group of boys, leaving him with a broken nose and concussion. (FOX)

Burberry's DEI head, Geoffrey O. Williams, exited as the luxury brand eliminates the role amid a broader executive restructuring. (DO)