Did you know some Democrats think the 2024 election was stolen? There’s even a TikTok subculture called the 4 A.M. Club where psychics insist the timeline glitched and Kamala Harris is president… just not in this universe. Somewhere out there she’s giving State of the Union speeches to Peter Parker. Photo Credit: AI-generated image (ChatGPT/OpenAI)
In Case You Missed It
⚖️ A federal appeals court has allowed the U.S. Department of Education to move forward with significant layoffs in its Office for Civil Rights after pausing a lower court’s injunction that had blocked those cuts.
⚕️ Louisiana has issued a criminal arrest warrant for California physician Dr. Remy Coeytaux, accusing him of illegally mailing abortion pills into the state in violation of its abortion ban.
🏛️ On the eve of a government shutdown, the U.S. government announced a contract with Boeing for $123 million to replace the bombs that the U.S. dropped on Iran. Priorities.
🌀 Bermuda is on watch for Hurricane Imelda, scheduled to hit the island as a Category 1 or 2 on Wednesday.
🧠 A new study finds that ADHD medicines can increase the risk of psychosis.
*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00AM.
Lead: Billions for Ukraine, Pennies for Our Workers
Photo Credit: AI-generated image (ChatGPT/OpenAI)
Congress failed to agree on a bill to prevent a lapse in funding, so alas — the government will shut down.
Republicans are calling this the Schumer shutdown because Democratic House Leader Chuck Schumer refuses to support any funding that doesn’t restore the cuts Republicans passed in the Big Beautiful Bill. Democrats counter that Republicans, holding the majority, could push a bill through if they wanted — but without even a handful of Democrats crossing over, it stalls. Which means, in reality, it’s Democrats blocking the deal.
Not surprisingly, neither party is looking to solve America’s budget problems by cutting off the endless flow of money to foreign wars.
If history is a guide, shutdowns tend to be short. Only one — in 2019 — dragged on longer than a month.
Still, Americans have every right to be furious. The government always finds billions for Ukraine, Israel, NATO, and flashy military rallies (more on that next), but somehow can’t keep paying its own people. Air traffic controllers, TSA agents, VA hospital staff, active duty troops, National Weather Service forecasters — all will still be required to work, just without a paycheck, until Congress strikes a deal. It’s unimaginable.
America last.
Hegseth Outlines War Department Vision in Closed-Door Pep Talk
Photo credit: War.gov
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, formerly Secretary of Defense, laid out his vision for the U.S. military under its newly renamed department. After all, if you call it the Department of War, how exactly do you prepare for all that war?
Admirals, generals, and senior staff were flown into Washington, D.C., for a closed-door meeting at Quantico on Tuesday. Some feared the worst — a sudden announcement of war. Instead, in the words of combat veteran Don Davis, it turned out to be “a rah-rah speech. A pep rally. A weird one at that.”
Hegseth did make concrete announcements. Regular fitness testing will now be required across the ranks, with combat standards set to a gender-neutral male baseline.
He also ordered “a full review of the definitions of ‘so-called toxic leadership, bullying, and hazing,’ in order to re-empower leaders to enforce high standards without fear of reprisal.” Translation: he wants commanders to be tough on their troops again, without HR standing in the way.
Was the speech heavy on platitudes? Sure. But at least it wasn’t a declaration of yet another endless war — the kind the U.S. military seems to thrive on.
President Trump spoke after Secretary Hegseth and he was not applauded upon arrival, which he remarked upon.
“I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” he said. “You know what, just have a good time. And if you want to applaud, you applaud. And if you want to do anything you want, you can do anything you want. And if you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future.”
That got him a laugh. They were probably just confused.
Relevant question: How much did this pep rally cost, the day before active-duty military service members will lose their paychecks?
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President Trump just landed the first most-favored-nation pricing deal with Pfizer, meaning Pfizer will no longer charge Americans the highest price for prescription meds.
This is significant because the first Trump administration tried to secure a most-favored nation policy for prescription drugs but big pharma sued to stop it. Instead of fighting him this time, Pfizer played nice and gave in.
This was part of the White House and RFK Jr.’s plan to reduce prescription drug prices by up to 80% using what they call MFN or most-favored-nation price, meaning that Americans should get the lowest cost of prescription medications instead of the highest, which is what they usually pay.
Tuesday’s announcement applies to Medicaid and directly to consumers on a new website, TrumpRx.gov, set to launch next year. This means that if prescription plans can’t get low prices, consumers can buy their prescriptions at discounts directly. Pfizer says discounts could be between 50 and 85% of current prices.
It’s a clever workaround but it also raises huge questions: which drugs will actually be available through TrumpRx.gov? Will it only cover Medicaid-discounted medicines or expand into the wider market? And what happens if insurers retaliate by limiting coverage or steering patients elsewhere?
54. That is how many Starbucks will reportedly close in Manhattan on short notice.
$48.5 million. That is how much the Golden State Warriors will reportedly pay Jonathan Kuminga in a new two-year contract.
1,700%. That is how much the stock price for Palantir is up since its debut 5 years ago. It has a market cap of $432 billion, largely due to contracts from the U.S. government.
Can Israel Buy Back Gen Z?
Photo credit: AP News
Israel is ramping up propaganda for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and ChatGPT in an effort to reach Gen Z audiences. The company hired a conservative media firm called Clock Tower for $6 million to help win back the conservatives that once supported Israel but now find it morally indefensible to do so.
Clock Tower is owned by former top aide to President Trump Brad Parscale, who registered as a foreign agent to take this job.
How can Israel reach you on ChatGPT? It’s not a social experience. The Responsible Statescraft reports that “Clock Tower will even deploy ‘websites and content to deliver GPT framing results on GPT conversations.’ In other words, Clock Tower will create new websites to influence how AI GPT models such as ChatGPT, which are trained on vast amounts of data from every corner of the internet, frame topics and respond to them — all on behalf of Israel.”
Still, it’s a tall order. Gen Z support for Israel is tanking fast. No influencer campaign will reverse that.
It goes something like this: “We don’t take an interest in Israel. Let them do whatever. America first.”
That’s a ruse. The smart people who are saying this know that Israel controls American politicians and gets first dibs on war funding and that Americans don’t have the luxury to not care about Israel.
When they say that they don’t care, what they mean is that they want YOU not to care so that Israel can carry on.
If we all see this game, it won’t work. Not while American workers are being stiffed on their paychecks.
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This newsletter is written and researched by Natali Morris. Please feel free to reach Natali at [email protected] for any editorial feedback.
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