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The "Come Pray with Me" project invites church members to pause at 10am and 3pm to pray for OneVoice27. https://adventist.news/news/adventist-church-in-southeast-brazil-launches-prayer-movement-for-onevoice27

Apocalypse Now: Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor Investigate the End-Timers Alliance The fight over the future is rapidly unfolding before our eyes. With debates roiling Washington over calls to rein in artificial intelligence before it’s too late as the U.S. continues to wage official and unofficial wars around the world, many of the world’s most powerful players are licking their chops. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/18/naomi-klein-astra-taylor-ai-religious-apocalypse-doom/? Facing Outraged Residents, Flock Got Help From Group That Uses AI to Rally Public Support The debate over Flock cameras in Knoxville, Tennessee, had reached a fever pitch this July when a stay-at-home mom received a text message from a nonprofit group she had never heard of. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/17/flock-cameras-ai-astroturf-support/? Ed Sheeran’s Craven “Neutrality” Is a Watershed Moment for Mainstreaming Palestine Solidarity Unprincipled pop star Ed Sheeran dropped principled pop star Macklemore from his U.S. stadium tour, following pressure from rabidly pro-Israel billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft over Macklemore’s wholly anodyne on-stage calls to free Palestine. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/16/ed-sheeran-israel-palestine-macklemore/? Crypto Darling Gillibrand’s 11th-Hour Flip-Flop Helps Block Trump Crypto Bill Hours before joining progressives to block a crypto bill that critics said was a handout to President Donald Trump, a top Senate Democrat was lobbying her colleagues to pass the legislation. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/15/congress-trump-crypto-clarity-blocked/? NYPD Misconduct Payouts Still Soar Under Mamdani — And May Keep Growing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani never quite promised to reform the police. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/16/nypd-mamdani-police-misconduct-settlement-payouts/? The New York Times Conveniently Forgets the Real Stakes of Attacks on Free Speech The New York Times recently published a sweeping accounting of President Donald Trump’s campaign against the American press: FBI agents arriving at reporters’ homes, subpoenas for journalists’ records, Pentagon access restrictions, regulatory pressure on television networks, numerous lawsuits against news organizations, and an increasingly politicized Federal Communications Commission. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/16/new-york-times-trump-free-speech-press-threat/? Pete Hegseth’s Unholy War What kind of Christianity is being proclaimed when the language of Jesus is attached to military power? https://theintercept.com/2026/09/17/hegseth-christianity-jesus-iran-war/?

🎉 Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. In today's edition: North Carolina's culture problem, Bills open Highmark Stadium in style, Pochettino names youthful USMNT squad, Behind the Lens, the Swoosh strikes back, Weekend Watchlist, Guess The Logo, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...   🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🏈 Highmark's grand opening: Josh Allen piled up 317 total yards and five TDs as the Bills beat the Lions, 41-31, in the first regular-season game at Buffalo's new Highmark Stadium. It was Allen's record-extending 10th game with multiple passing and rushing TDs, and he improved to 9-1 on Thursdays. This guy might be good. ⚽️ The kids are coming: Mauricio Pochettino named a youthful squad for the USMNT's upcoming friendlies, featuring 13 uncapped players and eight teenagers, none more exciting than 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan. Pochettino wouldn't say why Christian Pulisic was left off the roster, "and that silence is the message," writes Yahoo Sports' Steven Goff. 🙏 Scary scene in Queens: Mets first baseman Jared Young exited Thursday's game on a stretcher after taking a knee to the head from pitcher Nolan McLean, which appeared to momentarily knock him out. He gave the Citi Field crowd a thumbs-up on his way out and was taken to the hospital for further evaluation. 🏒 Standoff in Winnipeg: Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff told reporters that he continues to seek a resolution following a trade request from star goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who was suspended by the team this week for failing to report to training camp. 🎟️ Knicks pause ticket sales: The Knicks suspended all ticket sales on Thursday after a "mistake" led to much higher prices than intended. Fans who already purchased tickets will be refunded the difference once the team corrects the prices.   🏈 CHAPEL BILL "THE PATRIOT WAY" DOESN'T WORK IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL Bill Belichick's stint at North Carolina has been… not great. (Mario Hommes/DeFodi via Getty Images) Steve Belichick is out as North Carolina's defensive coordinator following an internal investigation into "allegations related to the culture and climate" within the football program led by his father. His exit follows that of GM Mike Lombardi, who resigned on Sept. 3. Details: Though we don't know everything North Carolina uncovered, the law firm conducting the investigation looked into whether Steve Belichick "used drugs on the job or provided drugs to at least one player," per Raleigh TV station WRAL. Lawyers also questioned people within the program about possible sexual relationships between staffers and players. Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports: For nearly a quarter of a century, Bill Belichick's New England Patriots had a reputation for being the most buttoned-up organization in the NFL. Maybe all of sports. It was the place where wayward characters fell in line, where egos blended into the culture. In a piece for The Players Tribune in 2017, former NFL running back Kevin Faulk wrote: "If there's one thing I know after having played for the Patriots for 13 years, it's that you don't want to be late to a Bill Belichick meeting." But in that same piece, Faulk told a story that might explain why Belichick's North Carolina program looks like a complete mess. In 2006, as Faulk remembers it, a good chunk of the team was engaged in a "prank war" where they tried to one-up each other. In one instance, Tom Brady had hired someone to take the tires off backup quarterback Matt Cassel's car. Then some offensive linemen opened up the sunroof of Brady's car and filled it with styrofoam peanuts. Only then, Faulk said, did Belichick learn about and put a stop to the escalating prank war because he was simply oblivious to anything happening outside the meeting rooms and practice fields. "Coach Belichick is the kind of guy who doesn't care what you do on your own time," Faulk wrote. "He wants you to know football … Anything else, he doesn't really care." Steve and Bill Belichick on the sideline during a Tar Heels game last season. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) So the question of the day is this: How could Belichick, famous for his ultra-disciplined "Patriot Way," be running a program at North Carolina that seems to have been dealing with major cultural rot in its building? Perhaps, at age 74, Belichick has simply lost a step. But the more likely reason ties back to Faulk's assessment of his time with the Patriots. In the cloistered environment of an NFL franchise, Belichick treated the team facility like a workplace. You show up, you do your job and you go home. If you don't, you're gone. The culture takes care of itself. College football does not work that way. These are sprawling organizations that exist within an athletic department, which exists within a college campus. It's a complicated and delicate dance with the outside world. If you are not on top of the culture every single day as the head coach, it will devolve into whatever you allow it to be. There is no clocking in and out from that job. It is a 24-hour, 365-day operation, and only a fraction of it relates to what's happening on the field. An aloof boss who "doesn't care what you do on your own time" cannot run a college football program effectively.   📸 PHOTOGRAPHY BEHIND THE LENS (Al Bello/Getty Images) Each week, Yahoo Sports AM goes "Behind the Lens" with Getty Images to share the stories behind the best photographs in sports. This week's photo: Qinwen Zheng serves against eventual champion Elena Rybakina during their US Open quarterfinal. Photographer: Al Bello Location: Queens, New York Date: Sept. 9 Behind the lens: Take it away, Al… There are a number of reasons I chose an overhead position to photograph Qinwen Zheng. It was sunny and clear, and it was the first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium that day. She wasn't wearing a hat and her hair was pulled back, which was good because I could clearly see her face and there were no shadows obscuring her. I took a moment to watch her serve, and noted the placement of where her hand and the ball were positioned across her face when she tossed the ball up to serve. It took me a few tries to line everything up, and I had to wait for her to be on the proper side of the court with regards to the sun. Once I figured out my angle, I got to work on this image. The long focal length I used required a steady hand, so this was not an easy photo to capture. The timing had to be right, and the key to making this a successful photo was keeping sharp focus on her eye while aligning the placement of her hand, her face and the ball. Everything had to come together, and I was happy it did in the end. Equipment and technique: Al shot this with a Canon R1 body, a Canon RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM lens and an RF 2x extender, giving him a focal length of 1200mm. He used a lightning-fast shutter speed of 1/3200th of a second, with settings of f/8 and ISO 400.   🎓 NIKE NATION THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 11 years after losing the University of Miami to Adidas, Nike is heading back into the eye of the Hurricane, agreeing to a 10-year deal worth more than $200 million, per the Miami Herald. Swoosh supremacy: The $20+ million annual outlay is believed to be Nike's richest ever to a university and follows the 2025 losses of longtime partners Tennessee and Penn State to Adidas, which raised questions about its commitment to college sports. Consider those questions answered: Nike paid up for "The U," and despite the recent tug-of-war for some of the country's top programs, the Swoosh is still king. I mean, just look at that chart. This is a preview of today's edition of Yahoo Sports Biz. Sign up here to get the full Nike breakdown, plus more sports business analysis, in your inbox later this morning.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST Lane Kiffin returns to Oxford this weekend to face his former team, led by Heisman contender Trinidad Chambliss. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) 🏈 College Football Saturday There are three ranked matchups on tap this weekend, with none bigger than No. 7 LSU at No. 8 Ole Miss (Sat. 7:30pm ET, ABC). The others: No. 22 Houston at No. 13 Texas Tech (Fri. 8pm, Fox) and No. 16 SMU at No. 23 Louisville (Sat. 3:30pm, ESPN2). Best of the rest: Saturday's slate also includes Arizona State vs. Kansas at Wembley Stadium (12pm, FS1), Florida State at No. 10 Alabama (3:30pm, ABC), Florida at Auburn (7pm, ESPN), UNC at Clemson (12pm, ESPN) and West Virginia at No. 25 Virginia (7:30pm, ACC). 🏈 NFL Sunday There's plenty of intrigue in Sunday's early window, with the Bears' explosive offense hosting the Vikings' formidable defense (1pm, Fox), the fearsome-looking Ravens hosting the peskier-than-expected Saints (1pm, CBS) and the Texans hosting the Bengals (1pm, CBS) as Joe Burrow takes on Houston's ball-hawking secondary. Later on: The afternoon slate is headlined by Seahawks at Cardinals (4:25pm, Fox), which is somehow one of just two games on Sunday between 1-0 teams (Vikings at Bears). Jaguars at Broncos (4:05pm, CBS) should be a good matchup if Denver can flush Week 1, and the Chiefs host the Colts in the nightcap (8:20pm, NBC). ⚾️ MLB Home Stretch The penultimate weekend of the regular season features five series between teams who have either already clinched the playoffs or are in the hunt: Brewers at Orioles, Red Sox at Rays, Blue Jays at Rangers, Braves at Astros and Yankees at Diamondbacks. Season finale: The Orioles host the Brewers in the season finale of "Sunday Night Baseball" (7:20pm, Peacock), which has drawn an average of 2.7 million viewers per game in its first year on NBC. That's up 48% from the same slot last year on ESPN (1.83 million). 🥍 PLL Championship The eighth Premier Lacrosse League season comes to an end this weekend in New Jersey (Sun. 12:30pm, ABC), where the top-seeded Philadelphia Waterdogs and Denver Outlaws are squaring off in the title game. Dynamic duo: Philadelphia's second-year standout CJ Kirst scored a PLL-record 34 goals this season, while veteran teammate Michael Sowers added 29, trailing only Kirst for most in the league (Sowers also ranked first in assists with 22). Both are MVP finalists, with the winner set to be announced today. More to watch: 🏀 WNBA: Liberty at Lynx (Fri. 7:30pm, ION); Mystics at Fever (Sun. 4pm, NBA) … With the postseason field already set, the final week of the regular season is all about seeding. 🏁 NASCAR: Bristol Motor Speedway (Sat. 7:30pm, USA) … The third stop in the 10-race Chase takes place under the lights in Tennessee. 🎾 Davis Cup: USA vs. Czechia (Fri-Sat, Tennis) … One of seven matches this weekend, with the winners joining defending champion Italy in the eight-team Davis Cup Finals in November. ⛳️ Golf: Biltmore Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf/ESPN+); BMW PGA Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf) … Max Greyserman (-7) leads in Asheville; Aaron Rai and Joakim Lagergren (-6) are the co-leaders in England. ⚽️ European Soccer: Brighton vs. Arsenal (Sat. 10am, USA); Roma vs. Inter Milan (Sat. 12pm, Paramount+); Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid (Sun. 10:15am, ESPN2) … Three different leagues, three great matchups. 🏒 NHL Preseason: Maple Leafs at Canadiens (Sat. 7pm, NHL); Islanders at Devils (Sun. 1pm, NHL); Capitals at Bruins (Sun. 5pm, NHL); Kraken at Flames (Sun. 8pm, NHL) … The regular season begins in 11 days. Plus: 👊 UFC 331 in Los Angeles (Sat. 9pm, Paramount+); ⚽️ NWSL Week 22 (Fri-Sun, Prime/ESPN/CBSSN); ⚽️ MLS Week 27 (Fri-Sun, Apple); ⚾️ WPBL Championship (Sat-Sun, ESPN+); 🏍️ MotoGP Austria (Sun. 8am, FS1)   🔎 LET'S PLAY GUESS THE LOGO Question: Can you guess this zoomed in NBA logo? Hint: They made the playoffs last season. Answer at the bottom.   🏈 WHO YA GOT? MAKE YOUR PICKS (OR COPY MINE)! Welcome to Week 3 of our College Football Challenge! Before getting to this week's matchups, I (Jeff) have to address the elephant in the room, which is that by some miracle I'm tied for first place in our 3,000+ person group. (You can still join if you haven't yet!). Tail or fade? Now that I've acknowledged my hot start, it's sure to come crashing down. But we might as well have some fun with this, so I'm sharing my Week 3 picks for you to tail or fade as you please. The most intriguing matchups: No. 8 Ole Miss (+2.5) vs. No. 7 LSU: The first top-10 meeting between these two schools in over 60 years doubles as Lane Kiffin's highly-anticipated return to Oxford. Give me the spurned Rebels in this one. My pick: Ole Miss +2.5 No. 10 Alabama (-20.5) vs. Florida State: The Seminoles nearly upset a ranked SMU squad earlier this month, but I'm going with my gut here and taking the Tide by three touchdowns. My pick: Alabama -20.5 Florida (-2.5) at Auburn: This is somehow the first time these SEC rivals have played each other since 2019. Common sense says to take the home team in what should be a close game, but I'm zagging. My pick: Florida -2.5 No. 6 Ohio State (-52.5) vs. Kent State: The Buckeyes have lost three of their last four games, including last week's fourth-quarter collapse against Texas. 52.5 points is an insane spread. I don't care. Buckeyes by a million. My pick: Ohio State -52.5 The rest (my picks italicized): Arizona State (-5.5) vs. Kansas at Wembley Stadium; No. 2 Georgia (-24.5) at Arkansas; Utah State (+28.5) at No. 17 Utah; No. 12 USC (-23.5) at Rutgers; No. 9 Texas A&M (-16.5) vs. Kentucky; No. 3 Notre Dame (-29.5) vs. Michigan State.   ⚾️ YAHOO SPORTS x APPLE TV TUNE IN: MLB ALTCAST Yahoo Sports and Apple TV are teaming up to deliver alternate broadcasts of "Friday Night Baseball" and Major League Soccer games, with the second such MLB altcast coming during tonight's game between the Phillies and Mets. Tune in: Baseball Bar-B-Cast hosts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman will broadcast the first two innings of tonight's game (7:10pm ET), as well as a pregame show (6:45pm), on Yahoo Sports. Following the two-inning altcast, viewers can watch the rest of the game on Apple TV.   Logo reveal: Toronto Raptors

Advocate emphasizes there are no major changes to state election laws this year With Americans showing increasing concern about the integrity of the midterm elections, a Florida voting rights advocate said Thursday that there have been no major changes to election laws in the Sunshine State this year, and that individuals should not hesitate to cast ballots either by mail, in early voting, or on Election Day. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/09/17/advocate-emphasizes-there-are-no-major-changes-to-state-election-laws-this-year/? Maria Elvira Salazar breaks with Trump on immigration enforcement in campaign ad A South Florida Republican U.S. House member battling for re-election is airing a campaign ad in which she declares that President Trump’s immigration efforts have gone “too far.” https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/09/17/maria-salazar-breaks-with-trump-on-immigration-enforcement-in-campaign-ad/? 11th Circuit rules evidence justifies charges in Florida child pornography case A federal appeals court has rejected arguments from a Tallahassee man charged with child pornography that police were wrong to rely on evidence from his internet service provider through the federally authorized CyberTip program. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/09/17/11th-circuit-rules-evidence-justifies-charges-in-florida-child-pornography-case/?

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Jew? with Rabbi Raphael Shore Today we are excited to feature excerpts from our podcast discussion between Tim Mahoney and Rabbi Raphael Shore. Rabbi Shore is a filmmaker who has written the important book, Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Jew? Learning to Love the Lessons of Jew Hatred. He has also made 18 feature-length documentary films including the recently released, Tragic Awakening: A New Look at the Oldest Hatred. https://www.patternsofevidence.com/2026/09/18/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-jew-with-rabbi-raphael-shore/?

I've been thinking about that, and for me I know no one that has died from a vaccine shot! Now that doesn't mean that there are people that have not died from vaccines? No!! But, from what I've read it's a very low number, and also from what I've read they're also other complications that contribute to the death total!!!

9 ¶ I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. Daniel 7 11 ¶ And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Rev. 20 Any connection between these verses?

According to these statistics, adverse effects from vaccination are not common: Vaccine Injury Statistics (2026): Latest Data

The Nicodemites were a group described by Calvin and Bucer. They sympathized with the evangelical cause and yet refused to avow their faith publicly. These were often people of higher station in life, those who stood to lose much in Catholic lands. People of all classes were interested in peaceful coexistence. Compromise or silence was a small price to pay. These people were somewhat different from the host of SDA denominational employees who keep silent to preserve their station and paycheck. It is easy to discern the large number of silent church employees who dismiss the IJ doctrine as a mere face saving device. All one has to do is listen to some of Peter Dixon's conversations on "SDA Q & A" or read numerous articles on SDA media sites, or Gill Ford's monumental work on her husband's career. The number of people who decided to come clean after retirement, when their status and salaries were no longer at risk makes one wonder the caliber of the SDA academy. Even "conservative" media sources include "confessions" that might have gotten one fired prior to retirement. Well known SDA scholars sat through Glacier View in silence as they watched one of their peers being pilloried for views they themselves held. Some admit that it can not be found in Scripture but accept it on the authority of EGW. Probably a lot of these folks would deny EGW has doctrinal authority in any other context. The source for the description of Nicodemites is "The Radical Reformation" by Charles Williams pp. 892-896

If they are so rare, how come I know so many people injured or dead?

He did pay for it, vicariously, through the slain sacrifice. Sin was transferred when the penitent laid his hand upon the sacrifice and confessed. The animal was slain in the sinner's place. The blood then atoned for the sinner. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send [him] away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.   27 And the bullock [for] the sin offering, and the goat [for] the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy [place], shall [one] carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. [Underlining is mine]

Prolific storms soak the Southwest Flooding is seen in the Crownpoint District of New Mexico on Tuesday. (Navajo Police Department) Unusually potent storms triggered deadly flash floods across the normally arid Southwest this week. The storms dropped more than a month’s worth of rain in just a few hours north of Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon and caused flash flooding that killed three people in New Mexico. Officials also reported inundated roads and stranded vehicles, with multiple drivers rescued in parts of Arizona. Meteorologists say the heavy rain threat will gradually diminish across the rest of the Southwest today, but anticipated downpours across the Midwest and Great Lakes region could trigger flash flooding through the weekend. Today’s threat stretches from Minneapolis and Milwaukee to Des Moines, shifting Saturday toward Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland. + Read more: Latest on flash flooding in the Southwest + Video: ‘Muddy puddle’ befuddles a Waymo self-driving vehicle after Arizona storm + Stay ahead: Get your local forecast from the CNN Weather app

A measles surge meets vaccine skepticism As vaccination rates decline nationally and measles cases rise globally, experts warn the US measles death toll could climb this year and beyond. Medical professionals stress that vaccines are highly safe and effective, and serious vaccine injuries are extremely rare. But Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to cast doubt on their safety and effectiveness. On Thursday, he received a standing ovation at a conference hosted by the anti-vaccine advocacy group Children’s Health Defense, where he delivered the keynote address. Amid the worst US measles outbreak in decades — driven largely by unvaccinated people — Kennedy said he would not restrict access to vaccines but spoke critically about them and vowed to fight for those who share his views. + Read more: Kennedy tells anti-vaccine group that he’ll ‘stay in this fight’ + Plus: How common are measles deaths in the US as vaccination rates fall?

Does anyone know if Dr. Gulley affirms that Christ was a 1/3rd of "God", could have sinned, lost His salvation, been eternally smitten by "Father God" causing Christ to eternally cease to exist (i.e. become as if He never existed in the 1st place)?

Senators from both parties voice criticism about Pentagon briefing on US defense strategy Lawmakers said they were left deeply unsettled Thursday after the Pentagon's top policy adviser, Defense Undersecretary Elbridge Colby, failed to provide an expected update on the Trump administration’s National Defense Strategy at a classified briefing. Read more. Why this matters: Tensions are mounting between the Pentagon and Congress over the flow of information to lawmakers about the U.S. military’s priorities. Both Democrats and Republicans accused Colby of being frustratingly opaque. They also say they were unsatisfied with Colby’s answers to questions ranging from inquiries about the Iran war to growing concerns that Trump could deploy troops to polling places during November’s midterm congressional elections.

Millions of people have crossed into the United States over the past decade. But what happened after the border? Data obtained exclusively by The Associated Press paints a picture of who these migrants are and where they went. Cincinnati, for example, saw a large number of arrivals from West Africa, Uzbekistan and India. The suburbs south of Salt Lake City were listed as destinations for many Venezuelans. Chinese migrants were most often listed as heading to major metro areas. Explore our interactive map and look up your own zip code here. Why this matters: It provides both a sweeping and an unusually granular look at how the immigration surge — one that peaked during President Joe Biden’s administration and was a major reason voters returned his predecessor, Donald Trump, to the White House — is playing out today. AP’s analysis is based on federal records giving the self-reported destinations of 4.5 million migrants released in the United States after crossing the Mexican border — both legally and illegally — between October 2018 and July 2025. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ How AP obtained and analyzed data on 4.5 million migrants Many Venezuelan immigrants shun Florida and turn to smaller cities in Utah, elsewhere African asylum seekers find home in unlikely new American melting pots PHOTO ESSAY: A small town on Cincinnati’s outskirts is among those transformed by immigration surge

September 18, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. Let’s look at some art. The National Gallery Destiny’s child The exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum was the talk of London when I got to town. Lots of people were still jamming into the Tate Modern to see the Frida Kahlo show. Had I seen the bloody Anish Kapoor installation at the Hayward? Nope. My target was the National Gallery, where I wanted to visit a towering portrait of an 18th-century French nobleman, “Le Comte de Vaudreuil,” painted in 1758 by François-Hubert Drouais. That’s it, above the headline. ☝️ Even in this museum crowded with portraits of the wealthy, the Vaudreuil portrait stands out: imperious, childlike, pompous, vain. I don’t know what it’s like to have some kid dressed in sunglasses and Ralph Lauren Purple Label show up on my doorstep looking to pick my daughter up for a date. But I stare at this wigged broheim with some fast-running combination of fascination, worry, contempt and curiosity — and feel as if I might. In a museum, those are excellent things to feel. They’re a reminder of the power of art. Look at the guy yourself for a moment, with his teenage hauteur! Observe his rosebud lips and apple-hued cheeks, his doe eyes, perfect grooming and shining velvet clothes stitched with gold. Check out those red-heeled Louboutin-style slippers while you’re at it: talons rouges, uniform of the royal court. He’s pointing at a map of the Caribbean, not so much to show you something as to declare it is what he owns. The National Gallery Who is this character? Beyond his title, the count has a mouthful of a name: Joseph Hyacinthe François de Paule de Rigaud. He was born in 1740 on the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), the son of the governor, whose family wealth derived from vast sugar plantations worked by laborers held in slavery. That wealth brought the count to Paris, bought him his clothes, bought him his Drouais portrait and eventually allowed him to amass one of the great art collections in France. He’s 18 here, new to Europe. Something about his portrait reminds me of the work of the photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield, who has spent decades documenting the lives and milieu of the wealthy. Greenfield has a particularly great eye for rich young people like Vaudreuil, scions who present themselves as people in full. She captures the essential falsity of that notion while allowing her subjects to maintain their self-confidence, their sense of self-worth. Drouais, too. Meredith Martin and Hannah Williams, art historians who’ve been studying art in 18th-century France for years, and who’ve written movingly about Vaudreuil’s portrait, suggest that getting the artist to paint it was savvy. In 1757, Drouais was well on his way to becoming the leading portraitist of Parisian high society. If you wanted to make a statement about your place in it, he’d be your guy. Martin told me the scale of the painting alone — it’s more than seven feet tall and just over five feet wide — is of the type “usually reserved only for royalty.” Certainly Drouais gave Vaudreuil the royal treatment. His pose is nearly casual, free of the military stiffness that you might expect from someone with a heap of armor at his feet (look to the right of the count’s left foot). “He’s relaxed,” Martin told me. “There’s something brash about how he’s thrown his hat and gloves down on the chair.” The National Gallery The setting is definitely grand: a map room of the sort that Martin said would be rare even in the grandest of Parisian homes, with beautifully patterned wood floors and gold leaf everywhere. And take a close look at how the count inhabits the space, at how he’s pulling the map from the wall and stabbing his forefinger at the place where his father’s plantations lie: This is where it’s at. Look at the guy again. Behind Vaudreuil is another map: continental Europe, theater of the Seven Years’ War, where the count had been a short-lived junior officer. Remember the pile of armor? The painting seems to say: Forget about Europe, about wars on horseback. That’s the past. Look to the Caribbean instead, to the riches waiting there. The French Revolution sent Vaudreuil packing in 1789. Two years later, revolution in Haiti took his family’s holdings. I walked out into the London afternoon feeling pretty grand. Related: The white manager on Vaudreuil’s plantations had a child with an enslaved worker there. That son is depicted in another painting in a London museum. Martin and Williams tracked down one of his descendants, Madeleine Le Cesne, a poet and scholar from Louisiana. Then they shot a short film about both paintings with her. Watch. FREE TO READ They tore down a mansion and put up a parking lot. That’s the $25 million plan, anyway. Republicans have found themselves pouring money into districts and states that President Trump won easily in 2024. In some of those races, strategists wonder if it’s too late. Photos captured through the windows of Air Force One show Trump reviewing a poster with the title “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” What does it mean? Your pick: The most clicked story in The Morning yesterday was about new words in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. THE LATEST NEWS Politics Trump is considering business deals with Russia to entice Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Trump withdrew his nomination of a former Oklahoma state trooper to lead ICE. He did not explain the decision. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told members of the anti-vaccine group he founded that they had a “friend at the White House.” A Republican congresswoman from Florida released an ad directly attacking Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying Hispanic voters “feel betrayed.” The streamer Hasan Piker said in an interview that the United States had caused more terror than Al Qaeda. It’s yet another headache for Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, who campaigned with Piker during the primary. The Trump administration is moving forward with selling F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite intelligence warnings of Chinese espionage risks. Attorney General Todd Blanche is upending Justice Department norms and wading into partisan politics. He has repeatedly participated in campaign events recently. Around the World Magdalena Andersson, who is likely to be Sweden’s next prime minister. Jonas Ekstromer/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Sweden’s center-left political parties won parliamentary elections this week, making the country one of the first in Europe to stop the far right’s march to power. After deadly floods in Nepal, experts are worried the region is unprepared for future climate disasters. Before the war in Iran, China imported and stockpiled huge amounts of foreign oil. Its strategy is paying off. The Iran-backed Houthis are expanding their offensive in Yemen. Japan raised interest rates after pressure from the United States. Artificial Intelligence Internal documents show Microsoft and OpenAI employees worried that using news articles to train artificial intelligence was a form of theft. Human scientists are teaching A.I. bots to work as “scientists” in virtual labs, researching potential drugs and running experiments without having to eat or sleep. Initial results are promising. Other Big Stories Alabama executed an inmate by lethal injection, months after the Supreme Court blocked the state from executing him with nitrogen gas. Scientists reported that they had found a gene-editing defense in nature, in viruses themselves. It seems to be the evolutionary ancestor of CRISPR gene editing. OPINIONS The New York Times turns 175 today. A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher, writes about what it means to be the paper of record when the future of America’s free press is uncertain. The organ donation system in the United States should be trustworthy. It is not, argues the founder of a nonprofit focused on reform. Introducing the Shows tab. A new place to find and follow podcasts in audio and video. Explore Shows in The Times app. TODAY’S NUMBER Paola Chapdelaine for The New York Times 40 — That’s how many life-size buffalo puppets will stampede through New York this weekend as part of a public art spectacle. Amir Nizar Zuabi, the artist behind the event, explains why. 🦬 SPORTS M.L.B.: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ owner, Mark Walter, faces a class-action lawsuit that accuses him of insurance fraud and hiding an investigation from insurance policyholders. Fitness: A Hyrox athlete who continued competing despite defecating on herself has apologized. N.F.L.: Josh Allen passed for three touchdowns and ran for two to power the Buffalo Bills to a 41-31 win over the Detroit Lions in the Bills’ new Highmark Stadium. RECIPE OF THE DAY Bryan Gardner for The New York Times I dig this Kay Chun recipe for eggplant dal, a silkier version of the Indian creamed lentil dish known as masoor dal. It’s simple stuff, terrific to cook at the end of a long week. You just toast cumin seeds, coriander, garlic, ginger and fresh chiles in oil and butter, then simmer them with lentils and eggplant to magic a rich, perfumed stew. Basmati rice on the side, please. THE SPACESHIP Jake Michaels for The New York Times The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens in Los Angeles next week. Michael Kimmelman, The Times’s architecture critic, calls it “a weird kind of wonderful and an instant city landmark.” It’s a vanity museum devoted to the idiosyncratic art collection of its founder, the “Star Wars” director George Lucas, a cathedral of work made by his kindred spirits — in Michael’s words, “fellow populists, visual virtuosos and storytellers.” That may not be for you. But the building, wow. Take a look at the photographs. More on culture The psychedelic pop artist (and businessman) Peter Max died this week at 88. Jason Farago, our art critic, took the measure of his work, “a benign and still enduring fantasy of individual expression at corporate scale.” Max saw America shining. The face of London in the 1960s, Twiggy, is living her best life at nearly 77. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Courtesy of the brands Consider a purse that looks like a log cabin — or one that resembles a robot. I like the pomegranate shoulder bag, myself. Read this story about a school superintendent in Joplin, Mo. After a deadly tornado, his experience shows how local officials are carrying undue burdens as disasters become more common. Do your family’s laundry this weekend without turning into a grumpus. The washerfolk at Wirecutter, with thousands of loads in their rearview mirrors, have great tips and hacks. Take our news quiz. Deploy these phrases to help defuse arguments with your loved ones. One of them is definitely not “calm down.” (Read the comments for more.) Catherine Pearson Reporter What phrases would you add to this list? I'll add one: My wise and wonderful 99-year-old nana has long recommended saying something like, "huh, you might be right!" when a marital spat is brewing. I've tried it — with pretty decent success. (And it works with kids, too.) S Seth Eisenberg Fort Lauderdale Three helpful additions: “Here’s what I want, not just what I don’t want.” “Something I appreciate about you is…” “Here’s what I heard you say — did I get it right?” View all comments GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was foamily. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson

THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 18 1793 George Washington lays the Capitol cornerstone George Washington lays the cornerstone to the United States Capitol building, the home of the legislative branch of American government. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 1980s 1987 Hundreds are accidentally poisoned in Brazil Arts & Entertainment 1970 Jimi Hendrix found dead 1987 “Fatal Attraction” opens in the U.S. 1974 Doris Day wins malpractice lawsuit Games This Week in History Quiz Test your knowledge of major events that occurred this week in history. play now Asian History 1976 One million people attend funeral of Mao Zedong Civil War 1862 Union General George B. McClellan lets Confederates retreat from Antietam Cold War 1960 Fidel Castro arrives in New York Colonial America 1634 Anne Hutchinson arrives in America Crime 1975 Patty Hearst captured by police 1959 Serial killer Harvey Glatman is executed Inventions & Science 1981 Canada mall sets parking-lot record Mysteries & Folklore 1973 Future President Jimmy Carter files report on UFO sighting

🇻🇪 Scoop: Trump plans Venezuela sit-down President Trump is planning a first-ever meeting with Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, as early as Tuesday, sources familiar with the discussions tell Axios' Marc Caputo. Why it matters: The potential meeting showcases the close relations between the nations under Trump. But it's also fraught with political risks that stretch from Miami to Caracas. 👀 Behind the scenes: Trump is already planning to meet with Gulf leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York next week to discuss the Iran war, and those who know his thinking say he wants to make time for a sideline sit-down with Rodríguez, sources said. A Trump adviser told Axios: "Iran is tough, but Venezuela is without a doubt the president's top success and Delcy is a key to that. Unless something goes really wrong, the president wants to make time." A senior administration official cautioned: "Nothing is finalized. This is up to the president."

Inside the scramble for trusted AI cops Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images A host of industry players, policy wonks and businesses are grappling with the question of how to regulate AI in a trustworthy manner. Inside the White House, it's mostly business as usual, Axios' Maria Curi reports. Why it matters: The industry's mad dash stems from an ad hoc regulatory apparatus. But swift action from Washington is unlikely. 🎨 The big picture: An ecosystem of safety and benchmarking groups already exists. But some White House officials and AI execs see them as too closely tied to top AI companies. Other options include businesses and startups that already do evaluations.

🤷 Stumping Wall Street Data: Financial Modeling Prep. Chart: Axios/Emily Peck JPMorgan analysts offered an unusually blunt assessment of the oil market: They have no idea what happens next. "For the first time since the start of the Iran conflict, we don't have a baseline view. We simply don't know how to model the endgame." Why it matters: Market watchers have come to grips with the likelihood that the status of the Strait of Hormuz — and the number of barrels getting through — will be messy for months to come, Axios' Ben Geman writes.

Claude helping build its next version Chart: Anthropic Claude is helping Anthropic develop the next, more intelligent version of itself, the AI lab announced: "Claude is not operating fully autonomously for any measured subset of AI R&D work," Anthropic said. "Claude 'leads' 26% of Anthropic's AI R&D work." Why it matters: The announcement was unclear about how close the company believes it is to achieving recursive self-improvement (RSI, when AI builds itself). But the pace at which Claude is increasingly contributing to research and development is escalating, AP notes: The portion of work Claude "leads," or does in large part while remaining under human supervision, was zero in February. Six months later, in August, it was 26%. Read the announcement.

🐊 Fear and loathing in Trump's backyard Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios Axios' Marc Caputo, a Miami Herald alumnus, writes from his Miami home: Staring into the camera, Rep. Maria Salazar cut a new campaign ad that told President Trump what so many of her fellow Hispanic Republicans in Miami are saying: The immigration crackdown has gone too far. Why it matters: The anger at Trump over heavy-handed immigration enforcement is palpable in Miami-Dade County, and there's mounting political worry among Republicans across the state that it could cost the GOP in the midterm elections. 🔎 Zoom in: A bellwether, Miami-Dade is Florida's most populous county, which Trump flipped to the Republican column in 2020 and 2024 thanks to strong Latino support, especially among Cuban Americans. "Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far," Salazar says in her ad. "The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today." Trump carried her district by 15 points two years ago. Today, she's tied in polls with newscaster Eliot Rodriguez, a fellow Cuban American, who said her new ad was a sign of desperation. A Trump adviser told Axios: "I'm getting the Trumpiest Cubans sending me videos from Miami of guys getting busted at places like the gas station, for no apparent reason." A GOP pollster from Miami said: "Support is just evaporating. The economy sucks and ICE is just out of control. People feel they didn't sign up for this." Keep reading.

"Most contentious interview" In the new episode of "The Axios Show," out this morning, left-wing streamer Hasan Piker said he "absolutely" wants to campaign for New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez if she runs for president in 2028 and said he has talked with AOC and her team. Why it matters: Piker, who has millions of followers online, has been a high-profile campaign surrogate this year for a new generation of left-wing candidates, and wants to do the same in 2028. In an hourlong interview with Axios' Alex Thompson that Piker later described as his "most contentious" ever, the Twitch star defended his stances that some Democrats are recoiling from: China: Piker traveled to China last year and has said that the country is the closest government model he would like to see adopted in the U.S. He also thinks that "trajectory-wise, I worry that a Chinese child might have better conditions in the next decade or next two decades than an American one. And I think that should worry every American citizen." Asked about his past praise of Mao Zedong, Piker said: "He's a great man of history. Of course, there were a lot of excesses." When asked to clarify what he meant by "excesses," Piker said: "Deaths borne out of mismanagement and famine." Political violence: Axios asked Piker about several of his past statements about killing or harming political opponents, and he said they amounted to "three or four choice quotes." He said he consistently says that the "appropriate way to deal with political problems, even violent ones, is to advocate, organize, and create a response that is borne out of labor militancy, work stoppages and the like, to apply political pressure that way." Talking with a friend on his stream, Piker once said of landlords who don't rent their properties: "Kill those motherf*ckers and murder those motherf*ckers in the streets. Let the streets soak in their f*cking red capitalist blood, dude." He told Axios that "we were messing around. It wasn't a serious call to violence." Piker — a frequent and aggressive critic of Israel's government — said he believes "Zionism is fascism" and that it was equivalent to neo-Nazism. Asked about the potential danger of his rhetoric, Piker said: "I'm not worried that [my followers are] going to be violent against Zionists. No, I'm not." Watch the full interview ...