Thursday, October 1st, 2026 - FlyDubai Near-Hijacking, Hegseth's State of the Force Rant, Trump's Sketchy Midterm $500 Checks

Today's Headlines: A FlyDubai pilot stabbed his co-pilot mid-flight, the plane nosedived 17,000 feet in under two minutes, and six passengers stormed the cockpit to overpower him before an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. In adjacent news, the UK confirmed "strong indications" that Iran was behind last weekend's suspected bomb plot at the military base used by the US during the Iran war, which Iran denied, because of course they did. Pete Hegseth gave his "State of the Force" address to hundreds of troops, laying out his military vision as "no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps — clowns are out, cowboys are in," called reporters covering the Iran war "anti-American losers" and accused them of treason, and unveiled a new autonomous warfare drone command called AutoWarCom set to be operational by October 2027, with Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich appointed to study the future of warfare under something called Project Meridian. The FTC opened an investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies over product risks — one day after they were all at Trump's AI lunch table. Trump began sending $500 checks to almost a million people just before the midterms, with a letter about his healthcare record enclosed, because nothing says policy achievement like a check arriving six weeks before an election. And the Massachusetts AG released a report finding 270 Catholic clerics across three dioceses were accused of abusing 944 children over several decades — the first full public accounting since the Boston Globe's Spotlight investigation — with no new indictments possible due to statutes of limitations. Resources/Articles mentioned: AP News: Pilot stabs fellow pilot on flight to Israel before passengers intervene to stop attack WSJ: U.K. Says It Has ‘Strong Indications’ Iran Is Linked to Foiled Attack on Air Base NYT: In Speech, Hegseth Targets Diversity, Transgender People, Reporters and Iran WSJ: Hegseth Unveils New Command to Oversee Military-Drone Tech CNBC: FTC is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies over product risks WSJ: Trump Sending $500 Checks With Letter Touting Healthcare Record Axios: Over 270 Catholic clerics abused nearly 1000 children, MA AG finds Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices