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Trump Goons Make Bombshell Admission About Enemies List A court filing reveals the true motivations behind billions of dollars in grant cuts. Trump administration officials admitted in court that they canceled hundreds of federal grants simply because they benefited states Kamala Harris won in 2024.That stunning acknowledgment, which contradicts what the administration said last fall when canceling upwards of $7.5 billion in funds, came in court documents this month, The New York Times reported. Several grant awardees had sued over the cancellations, and as a result, the Trump administration’s weaponization of all sorts of aid is now coming into fuller view. Last year, the Energy Department presented the White House Budget Office with a list of more than 600 Biden-era grants in blue and red states that it said should be canceled. But in October, the budget office, under 50-year-old Director Russ Vought, canceled 284 of those grants. Of them, 283 were in blue states. “With one exception, the 284 terminated grants had a recipient location and/or at least one place of performance in a state that awarded its electoral votes to Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and has two Democratic-caucusing senators,” an Energy Department lawyer wrote in a July 15 filing. None of the grants were canceled “based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction or performance-based factor,” the lawyer added. Rather, it was purely political. “DOE accepts that the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state, i.e., whether the recipient’s location and/or place of performance was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State,” the lawyer admitted. The Times reports that axed projects included electrical grid upgrades in California, as well as clean-burning hydrogen fuel hubs in the Golden State, where Gov. Gavin Newsom is a vocal Trump foe. Newsom, 58, responded Friday on X to the news. “The corrupt Trump administration has just admitted to withholding taxpayer dollars from states based on how they voted,” he wrote. “Last I checked we were a democracy, not a dictatorship. Where the hell is Congress?” Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, a ranking member on the GOP-led Senate appropriations committee, and Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who sits on the House’s top energy appropriations panel, issued a statement calling the cuts “outright un-American.” “This administration has now admitted in court what has long been obvious: It terminated nearly 300 cost-cutting energy projects for no reason other than the fact that the states they were in did not vote for the president in the 2024 election. This is an astounding admission that the president and his team corruptly abused their power to kill good jobs and punish hard-working families because of their political views,” they said. The pair also criticized Energy Secretary Chris Wright, 61, who said at a House hearing in June that “no decisions were made on politics.” Accusations to the contrary, he insisted then, were “b------t.” “Secretary Wright swore up and down for months that these project terminations had absolutely nothing to do with politics, and now his lawyers are declaring that, in fact, politics was the only consideration,” the lawmakers said in their statement. “Weaponizing the Federal government like this is outright un-American, and it’s hardworking families already struggling with sky-high costs who are suffering the consequences of this corrupt abuse of power.” Energy Department spokesperson Ben Dietderich told the Times in response to the filing, “There is no contradiction, and any suggestion of a contradiction is a misrepresentation of the court filing.” The Energy Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast, nor did the White House. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-goons-make-bombshell-admission-about-enemies-list/? ps:Pathetic!!!!!

‘No time to waste’: Greece bids for Mount Olympus to be included on Unesco list of world heritage sites More than four decades have elapsed since Evangelos Geroliolios made his first ascent to the home of the ancient gods. At the top of Mount Olympus, on the rocky peak of Greece’s highest mountain, he felt unalloyed awe. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/25/no-time-to-waste-greece-bids-for-mount-olympus-to-be-included-on-unesco-list-of-world-heritage-sites?

Reclaiming stolen childhoods: swimming classes resume in Gaza after three years of war Swimming classes have started again in Gaza after three years of war, with hundreds of children learning to float, doggy paddle and take their first strokes in five makeshift sea pools built from sandbags and rubble. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/25/swimming-classes-resume-gaza-after-three-years-war? Iran-backed Houthis claim missile attack on Saudi Arabia as regional tensions escalate Saudi air defences intercept ballistic missiles as Iran reports first night without US strikes in two weeks https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/25/houthis-vow-retaliate-saudi-strikes-yemen-iran-war?

Insults, potshots and quip about a third term: Trump’s rambling gala address President mocks opponents and journalists in mostly lighthearted speech at White House correspondents’ dinner https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/24/white-house-correspondents-dinner-trump-washington? Triggered Trump Launches Vile Attack on Kaitlan Collins Minutes into his one-hour speech, the 80-year-old president began mocking the CNN star. President Donald Trump met an awkward silence when he used a speech that was supposed to celebrate press freedom to attack a female reporter and liken her to a transgender influencer.Appearing at the redo of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday, Trump hit out at CNN star Kaitlan Collins after she won an award for her coverage of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the Oval Office. This year’s dinner was the first Trump had attended since 2015, after more than a decade of boycotts. But about 10 minutes into his speech, the 80-year-old president mocked Collins, telling the audience: “I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award. It was all about me. It was a fake, she shouldn’t get the award, it was a fake. But I didn’t mind. I said, ‘Kaitlan, congratulations.’ But it was fake, there’s no question about it. “But she’s a young, attractive woman,” Trump added, as some people in the audience grimaced. “She never smiles. I said, ‘Kaitlan do you ever smile? Smile!’ You have a nice position; you’re at CNN fake news. You should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan! Just smile.” Trump then went on to suggest Collins looked like transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who prompted a Bud Light backlash a few years ago when she appeared in an ad for the popular beer. “I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship,” Trump said. “But then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney.” The dinner took place three months after the original event was derailed in April by a gunman who breached security in a bid to assassinate the president. Trump aides and Cabinet secretaries attended, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. However, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were absent due to scheduling conflicts, according to the White House. The dinner has long occupied a peculiar place in Washington: part celebration of the First Amendment, part networking event, and part roast. The president kicked things off by declaring that the roast he had planned to give in April would have been even more of “a doozy” and a “ripping” of the media. But over the course of about an hour, he nonetheless took aim at everyone from CNN’s Jake Tapper (“it only took him one year to break the story that Joe Biden might have suffered from cognitive decline”), commentator Don Lemon (“he has the lowest ratings and the lowest IQ”), and MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell (“I never thought he had any talent”). The president’s jokes often fell flat, with many of the 700 guests in the room checking their phones as he launched his assaults. One of his better received gags involved calls for fixed term limits in Congress—something that several Republicans have also called for in the wake of Senator Mitch McConnell’s prolonged absence. “All joking aside, I do think we need term limits in Congress,” he said, regaling a story a senator had told him about his partner. “The other day, a senator I knew got a text… ‘When you get home, I want to have you immediately come up the stairs and make love to me.’ And he said, ‘I can’t do both!” Earlier in the night, the president was forced to endure a video roasting him about press freedom and America being a country of “no kings.” Things became even more awkward when The Wall Street Journal was celebrated for reporting on a lewd letter he allegedly sent to notorious child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Trump had filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the publication, but it was dismissed by a federal judge in April for failing to meet the legal “actual malice” standard required for public figures. Photographer Andrew Harnik was also awarded for his iconic photo featuring Trump looking lost and confused in the Oval Office after a man collapsed behind him during an event last November. The image immediately sparked ongoing speculation about the president’s health. Handing out the award, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer described it as a “truly striking image of contrast, skillfully captured in a chaotic moment.” Trump was seen repeatedly closing his eyes for extended periods of time as scholarships and awards were handed out. He ended his remarks on a more gracious note, giving the press a compliment of sorts as he donned a Trump 2028 cap and suggested he would run for a third term. “I just want to say… I have tremendous respect for the people in this room,” he told the crowd. “Sometimes I don’t feel you treat me fair, or maybe you do. I don’t know… Your profession is amazing and I want to thank you for having me.” A CNN spokesperson said in a statement: “Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional, trusted journalist being honored tonight for her depth of knowledge and the context she provides to audiences all over the world... We stand by her to the fullest extent.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/triggered-trump-launches-vile-attack-on-kaitlan-collins/?

Measuring Time Through Trees Most people know that you can count a tree’s rings to determine its age. Many also know that the rings indicate the climate in any one of the years of the tree’s life: a larger ring indicates a wet year while smaller rings indicate dryness. A tree’s rings form a pattern, kind of like a bar code, that scientists can “read,” allowing them to: 1) know when a tree grew and was cut; and 2) build unbroken chronologies by matching sequences of rings from different trees from the same region through time. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/measuring-time-through-trees/?

I had measles, as did all my classmates and neighborhood friends. Not a big deal. 1 in every 1000 children gets sicker. Now that's a big deal.

July 25, 2026 Good morning. What does summer taste like? The answer is something specific, personal, instantly familiar. María Jesús Contreras Flavor profile By Melissa Kirsch It’s a little early in the summer to luck into corn as perfect as I did last weekend: kernels plump and sweet, that satisfying snap when you bite in. Corn is one of those foods so intrinsically tied up with summer, along with tomatoes, strawberries and stone fruits (all to be extra carefully washed in this unprecedented cyclospora surge, of course.) Summer’s flavor profile begins to form in us early: the foods we ate as children, inseparable from our sun-bleached memories of ourselves in our dated outfits with our dated haircuts. Summer to me tastes like corn and tomatoes and peaches, but also like the flat, grainy surface of the little wooden spoon that came packaged with the individual cups of ice cream they served at camp. Watermelon, Hi-C fruit punch and Cracker Jacks. One summer, just out of college, some friends set up a kettle grill on their rooftop and we got busy putting together a cookout, our first as actual adults. “We should make hot dogs!” someone suggested. That sounded right. “We should have barbecued chicken!” Naturally. “We should make M.M.B.s!” I declared, to bewildered stares. This was one of those moments that occur often when you’re young, when you realize your experience of the world is narrow, that what was standard lingo in your family is not legible to anyone else. We’d called burgers made on the grill M.M.B.s in my family for so long that I’d nearly forgotten what the initialism stood for. “Michael’s Marvelous Burgers” were named for and by my father, the resident grill master. Summer, to me, tasted like M.M.B.s: sculpted patties, salted, peppered and latticed to perfection on the back patio. “It’s Not Summer Until You’ve Had a Proper Shandy,” a headline in The Times read last week. The shandy, the beer-and-lemonade mix, is “the entry-level drink, an intro to your first proper pint” in Britain, according to the restaurateur Annie Shi. Another headline: “Summer Tastes Like Mango (And Vice Versa)” rounded up treats from across New York including Thai sticky rice and frozen Mexican nieves. We could each fill out our own “Summer Tastes Like …” headline. The taste of the season is specific, personal, instantly familiar. That not-altogether-unpleasant sensation of a grain or two of sand in your beach sandwich, the charred edge of a campfire marshmallow. I asked my dad about M.M.B.s recently: Was the recipe a closely guarded secret, as I remembered? Wasn’t there an egg thrown in with the ground chuck? Certainly this mainstay of my summer palate was a Kirsch family heirloom. “It wasn’t that secret, honey,” he told me. “We tried to make it a big deal because it wasn’t a big deal,” he said. “We tried to embellish it, dress it up.” (He didn’t remember the recipe specifically, but he thinks that, yes, there may have been an egg, and perhaps a bit of breadcrumb, for binding.) These days, summer tastes to my dad like grilled chicken breast sandwiches with strips of zucchini. My friend Franny says it’s warm tomatoes off the vine with Duke’s mayonnaise, hot Gatorade from the cup holder in the car. For my colleague Minju, hot Korean soups with wilted kimchi she grew up eating. What does summer taste like? It’s a sort of silly question, but the answer comes from someplace deep. Now I just have to hunt down corn as good as last weekend’s. THE LATEST NEWS War in Iran President Trump met with advisers to discuss a major escalation in Iran. “I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before,” he said before the meeting. U.S. intelligence officials believe that Iran’s current supreme leader is far more interested in building a nuclear weapon than his predecessor. Air Force One President Trump leaving the new Air Force One this month. Doug Mills/The New York Times Trump’s rush to take delivery of his new Qatari-donated Air Force One jet led to ballooning costs and safety trade-offs, a Times investigation found. Times Exclusive: A credible threat from Iranian proxies is what prompted Trump to switch planes when leaving Turkey earlier this month. Health A patient vaccinated for measles in Texas last March. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images The U.S. has recorded more measles cases in 2026 than any other year since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. (Related: Biotech companies see declining vaccination rates as an opportunity to sell new measles drugs.) The cyclosporiasis outbreak associated with iceberg lettuce has expanded to four more states, the C.D.C. said, for a total of nine. So far at least 1,947 people have become ill, and 98 have been hospitalized. F.D.A. advisers, including several who work for companies that sell peptides, are considering whether to broaden access to them. Yesterday, they rejected adding emideltide, a sleep inducer, to a list approved for routine production. Here’s what scientific research shows about peptides. More on Politics Trump hurled insults at a postponed White House correspondents’ dinner last night. “Is this supposed to be fun?” he asked. Federal officials acknowledged that they canceled billions of dollars in grants to states “based solely” on the fact that Trump did not win them in 2024 . Trump ordered that new signs be placed outside a Smithsonian museum to warn that its depiction of U.S. history is “inaccurate.” After Senator Lindsey Graham died this month, Trump initially wanted a little-known House member to replace him. Read how the president decided to back Graham’s sister instead. Around the World Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Spain and France due to wildfires. A new $4.5 billion international bridge between Ontario and Detroit opened in “underwhelming” fashion, after Trump imposed new tariffs against Canada. After the World Cup final, people criticized Argentina for its players’ aggressive behavior and racist chants. Some Argentines are trying to recover their image. Business Paramount agreed to delay its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery while a judge considers a lawsuit aimed at blocking the deal. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond jumped to its highest level of Trump’s second term. The rate is an important economic barometer, and its rise will likely make the cost of mortgages and corporate borrowing higher. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Film and TV Matt Damon as Odysseus. Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures In both “The Odyssey” and “Oppenheimer” — very different films — the director Christopher Nolan asks us to consider how human bonds span epochs and civilizations, our critic writes. Zendaya is facing criticism for wearing ancient Iranian jewelry to an “Odyssey” event. Kevin Sussman started as a guest star on the hit sitcom “Big Bang Theory.” Now he has his own zany spinoff, A new biopic of Rupert Murdoch will compete for the highest prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival. In “72 Hours,” Kevin Hart plays an ad executive who tags along on a bachelor party weekend. Our critic found the humor broad and crude and genuinely funny. Music Kenneth Blume, the hitmaker formerly known as Kenny Beats, helped record breakthrough albums for Geese and Vince Staples. On a new solo project, he turns inward. The singer Chris Brown pleaded guilty to threatening violence in a London nightclub three years ago, when he was accused of hitting a music producer with a tequila bottle. More Culture A new museum in London reveals how British intelligence secretly wiretapped Nazi commanders in a stately mansion — and how a team of Jewish refugees translated their messages. August Wilson’s classic play “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” wouldn’t exist without a 1978 photomontage by Romare Bearden. Here’s how the two are intertwined. Matthew Taylor, an artist and political strategist, has quietly rubber-stamped many of Trump’s efforts to transform Washington. He’s a multifaceted guy: a Marcel Duchamp devotee who also filmed documentaries for Steve Bannon and Kash Patel. Click the video to learn more about him. The New York Times Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Armando Rafael for The New York Times By Melissa Clark Roasted zucchini pasta salad Do you know what ever summer gathering needs? A really good pasta salad, preferably one with enough vegetables to feel salad-y and light. And it should the kind of thing you can make in advance, at the ready for a picnic or potluck. Kay Chun’s roasted zucchini version checks all the boxes. It’s got vegetables galore, along with golden raisins for sweetness and sunflower seeds for crunch. You can toss with the tahini dressing a few hours ahead. It even gets better as it sits. REAL ESTATE James Estrin/The New York Times The Hunt: After growing up with both a front porch and a back deck, this Queens resident was tired of renting and ready for her own slice of the outdoors. What did she find? Play our game. What you get for $2.5 million: An adobe home in Santa Fe, N.M.; a farmhouse in New Gloucester, Maine; and a former coach house with a tower in Lake Forest, Ill. Pick your favorite. Take the bet: A Chicago suburb raffled off the opportunity for local residents to buy houses below market rate. LIVING Schwartz and Architecture designed this tiny home. Bruce Damonte Almost impossible: An architect and his client overcame regulatory hurdles to build a house that hovers over the water in Sonoma County, Calif. Embrace minimalism: See how a designer creates simplicity in his own home. Breathe easier: Wildfire smoke can contaminate the air inside a home, but there are steps you can take to make yours safer. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER You might be applying sunscreen wrong How much do you need? How often should you reapply? The short answer: about two tablespoons, every two hours. For stick sunscreen, that’s four passes back and forth. For sprays, until your skin glistens. Make sure you rub it in fully — yes, even for sticks and sprays, and even if the directions say otherwise. As for what to buy? The best sunscreen is the one you’ll apply liberally and often. Here are some of our favorites. — Rose Maura Lorre KING JAMES Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images, via Reuters Connect LeBron James is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. James is 41 years old and the N.B.A.’s all-time leading scorer; this will be his 24th season, extending what is already the longest career in the league’s history. He has agreed to join the team on a two-year, $8 million contract. “I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team,” he said, “and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time.” How did the Sixers hook him? NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was evoking. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Crossplay, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa 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 Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren

THIS DAY IN HISTORY July 25 1978 World’s first “test tube” baby born On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first baby to be conceived via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is born at Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England, to parents Lesley and Peter Brown. The healthy baby was delivered shortly before midnight by caesarean section and weighed in at five pounds, 12 ounces. Before […] read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1853 California Rangers kill Joaquín Murrieta 1832 The first railroad accident 1950s 1956 Ocean liners collide off Nantucket Arts & Entertainment 1965 Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival 1897 Jack London sails for the Klondike gold rush 1985 Rock Hudson announces he has AIDS Cold War 1961 President Kennedy talks to Americans about the need for bomb shelters Crime 1878 Black Bart strikes again 1984 A 9 year old’s murder puts an innocent man in jail Early 20th Century U.S. 1941 Henry Ford writes fan letter to Mahatma Gandhi Natural Disasters & Environment 2000 Concorde jet crashes, killing everyone onboard Sports 1992 Opening of the XXV Olympiad in Barcelona U.S. States 1898 U.S. forces invade Puerto Rico Vietnam War 1969 The Nixon Doctrine is announced World War I 1917 Dancer and suspected spy Mata Hari sentenced to die World War II 1943 Benito Mussolini falls from power

India’s ‘Cockroach’ movement ends protests after education minister resigns NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s “Cockroach” movement called off its weeks of protests on Saturday, saying the government had accepted all of its demands after the country’s education minister resigned over alleged exam paper leaks and irregularities in the education system. https://apnews.com/article/india-cockroach-education-minister-56d69c289589f057c0e72cde0c3d75d3?

Hunt for Earhart’s Plane An expedition to find the plane Amelia Earhart disappeared in is set to begin this October. The news was announced yesterday, on what would have been Earhart’s 129th birthday. A 16-person team of archaeologists, filmmakers, and other experts will travel by boat on Oct. 7 to a remote island in the central Pacific nation of Kiribati. The expedition believes Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, got stranded there while trying to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. Radio signals, human bones, and 1930s-era artifacts—including anti-freckle cream—all suggest Earhart and Noonan may have died on an unplanned stop at the uninhabited island. Shortly after a strong tropical storm in 2015, satellite imagery also captured a visual anomaly the expedition team believes could be the wreckage of Earhart's long-lost Lockheed 10-E Electra aircraft. Other experts say it's likely a downed coconut tree. See the satellite image here. Before her fatal 1937 mission, Earhart became the first woman to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, a college professor, and a fashion designer.

Texts reveal teen who singer D4vd is accused of killing was pregnant, had abortion year before death LOS ANGELES (AP) — Text messages between singer D4vd and Celeste Rivas Hernandez shown in court Friday indicate she had gotten pregnant at age 13 and had an abortion more than a year before she was killed. https://apnews.com/article/d4vd-burke-celeste-rivas-hernandez-killing-hearing-6a1dd6c605e4551553daa8aa5f25fcad?

US military says it fired on another merchant vessel trying to breach its blockade of Iranian ports IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday that it fired on another merchant vessel that was trying to breach its blockade of Iran’s ports, while the Islamic Republic targeted American strongholds around the Persian Gulf. https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-hormuz-strait-war-24-july-2026-78c2dbf538f6e61ab816479a4d9bdd85?

Deposed Turkish opposition leader forms 'New Party' to challenge Erdogan The deposed leader of Turkey's main opposition party on Friday formed a new political party to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, months after he was removed from his post by a court order that his supporters slammed as a political move to weaken the opposition. Read More.

Ford recalls more than half a million Broncos due to engine fire risk Ford Motor Co. is recalling more than half a million Broncos because a wiring harness in the engine compartment can short circuit and increase the risk of fire. Read More.

More than 200,000 people flee raging wildfires in France and Spain, some escaping by boat ARCACHON, France (AP) — Massive forest fires forced the evacuation of some 200,000 people in southwestern France and central Spain on Friday, with residents fleeing towns near Madrid and Bordeaux as the flames raged out of control. https://apnews.com/article/spain-wildfires-emergency-54c3d375fa1cca8399ea2645a8e119b0? France and Spain race to control wildfires as more than 250,000 evacuated – as it happened Meanwhile, in the UK, a blaze in the Cairngorms national park has been described as ‘very serious’ by Scotland’s first minister https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jul/25/france-spain-wildfires-latest-news-updates-madrid-cap-ferret-bordeaux-gironde

🚐 GOP's August road show House Republicans' strategy for keeping the speaker's gavel and their leadership suites next year hinges on being anywhere but Washington this summer. Why it matters: The Senate is in for another two weeks, but Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team are crisscrossing the country during the House's five-week August recess like German or Norwegian World Cup fans: no town too small, no state too far away. The plan is to tout their legislative wins in person and convince voters that they are, individually, the exception to the widely held belief that Congress doesn't work. 🚗 Driving the news: Johnson is leading the charge. He'll hit more than 30 districts in 17 states (18, if you count his home state of Louisiana) over the August recess, campaigning alongside Republican incumbents and challengers. Don't expect any X posts worthy of "Freddy," but he'll be seeing the country: Maine, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, to name a few spots. ✈️ His Southern colleague, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), is heading north for a major event in New York with the state's Republican members. "It'll be a good next few weeks to go around the country talking about what we did, letting people know, a lot of good things to talk about. But there's more to come," Scalise said. Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) will make dozens of campaign stops across the country, their offices told us. 📢 Between the lines: Republicans have acknowledged they've struggled to sell their signature legislative achievement — originally known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill" before being rebranded as the Working Families' Tax Cut Act. "Do we communicate our ideas great all the time? That's been a fault of the Republican Party," Scalise told reporters yesterday. "I think we're getting better at it." 🖼️ The big picture: Republicans are increasingly arguing the election is a choice between their economic agenda and what they characterize as a Democratic shift to the left — a contrast they'll spend August trying to reinforce. Or in blunter terms: "It's going to be a hate election," a Republican tied to President Trump's political operation told Axios' Marc Caputo. The bottom line: Public polling suggests Republicans still have work to do convincing voters their agenda is benefiting them. Democrats have an 11-point lead over Republicans on a generic congressional ballot, according to a new poll from Emerson College. — Kate Santaliz and Hans Nichols

Paramount delays closing Warner buyout while judge considers states’ challenge NEW YORK (AP) — Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have agreed to delay closing their $81 billion merger well into next year, a stunning move that arrives as a judge continues to consider a challenge from 12 states seeking to block the deal altogether. https://apnews.com/article/warner-bros-paramount-skydance-0f4ed7b4627b2d0ac8c1f1626689bf5d?

🏟️ 1 for the road: Fresh facelift in Charlotte Rendering: Tepper Sports & Entertainment 🏟️ Bank of America Stadium's $1.3 billion transformation is underway, Axios' Ashley Mahoney writes for Axios Charlotte. The 30-year-old Uptown stadium is among the oldest in the NFL at a time when plans for new facilities are popping up all over the country. Rendering: Tepper Sports & Entertainment Rendering: Tepper Sports & Entertainment 💼 The deal keeps Tepper Sports & Entertainment's teams — the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC — here through 2045. Bank of America Stadium's name will remain for the foreseeable future. ⚽ What we're watching: Charlotte FC and the Panthers will continue to play at Bank of America Stadium during renovations.

Radiology's AI lesson Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang thinks the artificial intelligence revolution is a wellspring of new jobs, rather than a labor market grim reaper set to bring on the employment apocalypse. "We need to help people understand what AI is and what AI can do," Huang told me on Axios' "Behind the Curtain" video series. "AI is creating an enormous number of jobs, not taking [them] away." 🔮 Huang said it's "complete nonsense" that the tech could destroy half of American jobs. He says AI will do the opposite: "While we're automating all of these different tasks, it's actually increasing the amount of jobs that the world needs." 📱 Huang wrote a similar message today in his first post since joining X: "AI will transform every industry, power every company, and be built by every country." 🩻 Case in point: Radiology. AI tools can study scans, freeing up time for more patients and driving demand for human radiologists, Axios' Avery Lotz reports. "Because there are so many people who need care, the number of patients they can now bring to the hospitals has increased dramatically, which results in needing more radiologists," Huang said. "This is the same with paralegals." 🥊 Reality check: AI is bound to change the way people work. But so far, it's not replacing them en masse. AI has also been increasingly cited in layoff announcements. Evidence suggests AI could play a role in hampering hiring for young workers. 📱 Watch the interview.

Hebrews chapter 10 continues the narrative of chapter 9. It begins by referring to sacrifices made "year by year," an obvious reference to the Day of Atonement service. Chapter 9:25 also refers to the "year by year" service. The Day of Atonement was an annual event. It happened year by year. Chapter 10:3 again refers to sacrifices made "year by year." The problem with the OT service was that the worshippers could not have their conscience permanently cleansed. They were reminded of their sin every year on the Day of Atonement. Verses 11-14 contrast the daily service of the OT with the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ took away sins forever. Verse 14 says the sacrifice of Christ perfected us forever. To be perfected forever is to have our sins taken away. We are not going to ever again face our sin. The Jews were reminded of their sin every year on the day of Atonement. Not so with us. Our sin has been removed forever.

ICC chief prosecutor removed from post over sexual misconduct allegations UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was removed from office on Friday, nearly two years after sexual misconduct allegations against him first emerged. https://apnews.com/article/icc-court-prosecutor-karim-khan-united-nations-5a9490e98b74f3bf13f5eae26fb3c3d7?

Trump says the US will investigate EU trade practices, claiming the bloc unfairly fined tech giants WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will open a formal investigation into the European Union’s trade practices, President Donald Trump said on Friday, claiming the bloc has unfairly levied billions of dollars of fines against Google, Apple and other U.S. tech giants. https://apnews.com/article/trump-eu-trade-tech-fine-google-2e125ac0d3c1ac7a96c9194a372ba47e? White House correspondents' dinner, redux: What will Trump have to say? When guests arrive for the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Friday at Washington's Waldorf Astoria hotel, security will be much tighter, the guest list smaller, the partying pared down, and the dress code more relaxed. Read More.

Democrats select South Carolina to kick off presidential nominating contest in 2028, leave Iowa out WASHINGTON (AP) — South Carolina was selected Friday to once again lead off the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominating schedule, cementing a dramatic break from decades of tradition by leaving Iowa out of the early-state lineup altogether and elevating more racially diverse states. https://apnews.com/article/democrats-presidential-nominating-calendar-2028-b3d153a33e39bd9e5ebcce3c58e9e84c?

There are already more US measles cases this year than in all of 2025 The number of measles cases in the U.S. has surpassed the record-breaking tally for all of 2025, with five more months of 2026 still to come. https://apnews.com/article/2026-measles-cases-cdc-outbreak-elimination-371823df32b92169c3d220295f00f054? ps:Just pathetic!!!!!

Teen pleads guilty to murder in a 2024 shooting that left 4 dead at Georgia’s Apalachee High School WINDER, Ga. (AP) — A teenager has pleaded guilty to all 55 counts, including murder, in a shooting nearly two years ago at Apalachee High School in Georgia that killed two students and two teachers. https://apnews.com/article/apalachee-georgia-school-shooting-colt-gray-8be7ba5efae9cce53e0f8c61253a5f1b? Supreme Court litigator gets 6 years in prison for tax evasion case after gambling millions on poker WASHINGTON (AP) — A prominent Supreme Court litigator was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison for evading a multimillion-dollar IRS tax debt and engaging in mortgage fraud, a case that cast a spotlight on his secretive lifestyle as a high-stakes poker player and featured trial testimony from a Hollywood movie star. https://apnews.com/article/thomas-goldstein-supreme-court-blog-tax-evasion-618a0a2f1bdf9643886b607073fee91d?