To power its sprawling Colossus supercomputer facility in Memphis, Tennessee, xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, has polluted the air of a number of historic Black neighborhoods, which already faced exceptionally high rates of cancer and respiratory diseases.

Five years ago today, on January 6, 2021, a violent mob stormed the Capitol building. Following the attack, over a hundred major companies released statements condemning the insurrection and promising to stop donating to the 147 members of Congress who voted to overturn the 2020 election.

“While Shirley’s video portrays the man as a party interested in purported fraud because he observed day care centers near his office in downtown Minneapolis, David, it turns out, is actually a political operative with connections to the Minnesota state House.”

“More than 300 federal judges, including appointees of every president since Ronald Reagan, have now rebuffed the administration’s six-month-old effort to expand its so-called ‘mandatory detention’ policy, according to a POLITICO analysis of court dockets from across the country.”

“President Donald Trump is amplifying baseless social media posts that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had been part of a conspiracy to kill Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman last year over a day care fraud scandal in the state that’s been spotlighted by right-wing influencers.”

Trump’s Venezuela move could deliver a big win for this MAGA billionaire [via @popular.info]

In a Saturday morning military raid ordered by Trump, U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The extraordinary attack, which legal experts said violated U.S. and international law, created a financial windfall for a prominent Trump-supporting billionaire, investor Paul Singer.

“The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked controversial new social studies standards from going into effect, ruling that the guidelines—which reference discredited claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election…—were approved without the legally required public notice.”

“The Department of Health and Human Services has terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including for initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome and identifying autism early.”

“The Navy quietly disciplined 18 Navy SEALs earlier this year after military investigators found a private group chat that contained racist memes targeting a Black SEAL who was also in the chat, according to documents and a Naval Special Warfare spokesperson.”

On Wednesday night, Trump delivered a prime time address to the nation that was aired by all major broadcast networks. It preempted the season finale of “Survivor” on CBS, the season finale of “The Floor” on Fox, and holiday specials on ABC and NBC.

“An epidemiologist who speculated about… a connection between Covid-19 vaccines and “turbo cancer”… and works… at a company that sells ivermectin alongside reviews that claim it has efficacy as a cancer treatment, has been appointed… to a key position overseeing the National Cancer Program.”

After “Trump ordered his administration to root out ‘illegal’ [DEI] efforts earlier this year… more than 1,000 charities rewrote their mission statements in forms they filed this year with the [IRS], removing or minimizing language tied to race, inequity and historically disadvantaged communities.”

“President Donald Trump has affixed partisan plaques to the portraits of all U.S. commanders in chief, himself included, on his Presidential Walk of Fame at the White House, describing Joe Biden as ‘sleepy,’ Barack Obama as ‘divisive’ and Ronald Reagan as a fan of a young Trump.”

“Companies and crypto projects linked to Trump and his family exploded in value as traders bet they would benefit from the president’s return to power… some of those Trump-related bets have paid off. But many others have imploded, costing investors who rushed in during the initial boom dearly.”

This week, Jared Kushner abruptly canceled his plans to build Trump Tower Belgrade after the project became enmeshed in a criminal corruption scandal involving Serbian government officials.

“The Trump administration is pausing new funding for National Institutes of Health grants that include terms like ‘health equity’ and ‘structural racism,’ pending review, according to new guidance sent to agency staff and obtained by NOTUS.”

“Bill Pulte, the embattled head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), once promoted a dubious memecoin created by a social media influencer facing fraud charges.”

Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead at their home on Sunday. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Reiner’s death was “due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

“The amount of money Americans are paying for their energy bills has increased since President Donald Trump took office earlier this year, according to a new report. In the U.S., electric bills have increased 13% in 2025, according to Climate Power.”

“Stephen Miller, a top adviser to President Trump, sold shares worth $50,000 to $100,000 in the mining company MP Materials following a July announcement of a lucrative deal between the Las Vegas company and the Trump administration, government filings show.”

“At Texas A&M, internal emails show staff are using AI software to search syllabi and course descriptions for words that could raise concerns under new system policies restricting how faculty teach about race and gender.”

There is a measles outbreak spreading rapidly in South Carolina. Already, 111 people have contracted the virus. Measles was “declared eliminated from the United States in 2000.” But that is due to the effectiveness of the MMR vaccine. In Spartanburg County, the immunization rate in schools is 90%.

“After years of promoting baseless claims of voter fraud that President Donald Trump has frequently touted, a conservative activist has landed a top position at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”

“For years, Sen. Ron Johnson has been spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19 and the safety of vaccines… Now [he] is endorsing a book by a discredited doctor promoting an unproven and dangerous treatment for autism and a host of ailments: chlorine dioxide.”

“The Trump administration jettisoned a plan to honor the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage and the civil-rights movement on quarters for the nation’s 250th birthday.”

Likely the biggest source of cash in the 2026 election will come from Leading the Future. LTF has already secured more than $100 million. The effort, at least at the outset, was nominally bipartisan. But on Wednesday, LTF released its first two television ads.

“The lawsuits against the two women are among at least 1,000 that PrairieStar has filed against patients since 2020 for unpaid medical bills…Many patients PrairieStar sued were uninsured and made so little money they qualified for discounted care, a former patient accounts employee told ProPublica.”

“The Trump administration has put together a plan to send immigration agents to the U.S.-Mexico border to catch migrants who are in the U.S. illegally and are trying to return home voluntarily around the holidays, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by HuffPost.”

“More than 300,000 Missourians have signed a petition demanding that the gerrymander be put to a statewide referendum… That’s far more than the roughly 106,000 signatures required to trigger a vote.”

“Years of underfunding and new delays in federal grantmaking threaten buoys and ocean monitoring assets run by [NOAA] that protect fishermen, cargo ships and endangered species across the country… regional operators warn that some of those services could go dark at the peak of hurricane season.”

Over the last 12 years, Elon Musk and Tesla have secured hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to help grow their business, while making numerous commitments to state and local governments that often failed to materialize.

Good time to re-up this article I wrote for @popular.info a couple weeks ago: popular.info/p/how-trumps...

In three weeks, many of the government subsidies that help people afford health insurance will expire. If the subsidies are not extended before the end of the year, the impacts will be cataclysmic.

“The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is in the process of recalling hundreds of employees it placed on paid administrative leave, acknowledging it could not keep up with civil rights complaints without them.”

“President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act will shift billions in costs for SNAP and Medicaid to states. But with 26 having cut or eliminated state income taxes just since 2021, they may not have the money to continue the programs.”

“The Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to dismantle protections for trans and intersex people in federal, state and local prisons, jails and youth detention facilities, according to a government memo obtained by Prism.”

On Monday morning, Paramount announced a $77.9 billion hostile takeover offer of Warner Bros. Discovery. What is not mentioned in the press release is that the majority of the equity financing comes from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar.

“A Medicare pilot program will allow private companies to use artificial intelligence to review older Americans’ requests for certain medical care — and will reward the companies when they deny it.”

“In 1993, Trump signed a mortgage for a ‘Bermuda style’ home in Palm Beach, Florida, pledging that it would be his principal residence. Just seven weeks later, he got another mortgage for a seven-bedroom, marble-floored neighboring property, attesting that it too would be his principal residence.”

Two major news networks, CNN and CNBC, recently announced partnerships with Kalshi, an online predictions market. Kalshi allows the public to place bets on a dizzying variety of news events.

“House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is quietly working to strip a provision that would mandate health care coverage for assisted reproductive technology — including in vitro fertilization — for all active duty service members, according to Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.”

“The donors’ response letters, obtained by HuffPost, are remarkably evasive. The 21 responses ― two came from contractors on the project, the rest from companies that donated ― almost universally do not answer Blumenthal’s questions, instead boasting about their philanthropy and love of America.”

“Zillow, the US’s largest real estate listing site, has removed a feature that allowed people to view a property’s exposure to the climate crisis, following complaints from the industry and some homeowners that it was hurting sales.”

A small startup funded by 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm where Trump Jr. is a partner, will receive a $620 million loan from the Defense Department, the Financial Times reported. The contract was awarded just three months after 1789 invested in Vulcan.

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was pardoned by Trump earlier this week. While it’s unclear who exactly convinced the president to issue the pardon, Hernández and his associates were heavily involved in an experimental libertarian colony in part funded by Trump donor Peter Thiel.

“An increased markup on canteen goods adds to the financial burden on incarcerated people and their families, highlighting how prison systems squeeze them for revenue.”

“The Justice Department launched a new wave of lawsuits against six more Democratic-led states Tuesday — escalating a federal effort to seize unredacted information from millions of voters.”

“A doctor who falsely claimed that Covid was a U.S.-made bioweapon and that Covid vaccines cause cancer, miscarriage and widespread heart disease is leading a federal panel likely to implement sweeping changes to the childhood vaccine schedule this week.”

On Tuesday, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, traveled to Moscow and sat across the table from Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. Kushner’s participation in the Moscow meeting likely violates the law.