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Nearly 4 million Floridians have voted so far Early voters plus mail-in voters equal nearly 3.9 million ballots cast so far, according to Thursday afternoon state data. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/29/nearly-4-million-floridians-have-voted-so-far/? ps:And I am one of those millions!! ‘Ambitious’ timeline means DeSantis could pass new vax rules before he leaves office Gov. Ron DeSantis’s efforts to pare back the number of vaccines children must receive to enter school or daycare could pay off for him before he leaves office on Jan. 5 in light of a state administrative judge’ agreement Thursday to expedite a hearing on challenges to them. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/29/ambitious-timeline-means-desantis-could-pass-new-vax-rules-before-he-leaves-office/? ‘We don’t want it’: Voter backlash against data centers consumes midterm elections SPRINGDALE, Pa. — Residents in a small southwestern Pennsylvania town are facing the prospect of a 47-acre data center facility on their doorstep. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/30/repub/we-dont-want-it-voter-backlash-against-data-centers-consumes-midterm-elections/? Data breached — personal information from Florida Department of Education Personal information, including Social Security numbers, of as many as 4.9 million individuals was vulnerable during a data breach at the Florida Department of Education, the agency announced Thursday. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/29/data-breached-personal-information-from-florida-department-of-education/?

Elke Sommer, German-born star of ‘A Shot in the Dark’ and ‘The Prize,’ dies at 85 https://apnews.com/article/elke-sommer-dies-05ef6ecfe095939515991b3553e5ca55?

Justice Department subpoenas California officials in escalation of its scrutiny of elections The Associated Press obtained copies of three subpoenas to employees of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, ordering them to appear in court on Nov. 4, the day after the election. Read more. Why this matters: The subpoenas represent the latest salvo in a fight between the Trump administration and California over the eligibility of voters in the heavily Democratic state, amplifying pressure on local election officials to comply with exhaustive government demands and setting the stage for legal challenges. They also come amid broader federal scrutiny of local elections, with the Trump administration issuing a raft of subpoenas in Alaska in a spoiler candidate controversy. A letter accompanying a subpoena says it was issued “in connection with an official criminal investigation being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations.” It didn't elaborate. It is unclear whether the Justice Department intends to bring criminal charges against anyone. The department does not typically subpoena people whom it regards as targets of a criminal investigation to appear before a grand jury. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Peltola denies she knew of effort to put candidate with same name as Sen. Sullivan on Alaska ballot WATCH: Voters in Alaska’s capital divided on same-name senate candidate controversy CNN, MS NOW and Politico ask court to make Trump access order permanent FACT FOCUS: Misinformation about voting spreads less than a week before Election Day Trump cancels rallies in Kansas and Iowa, opting for telerallies to reach more voters, RNC says Pentagon accuses newly fired general of leaking sensitive information to the media Judge blocks Trump administration’s Medicaid rule forcing sick recipients to prove frailty

October 30, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, said it had halted withdrawals after hackers stole more than $6 billion. We have more news below. But let’s start in the nation’s capital, and then visit China to see the latest development in the war against mosquitoes. 🦟 The New York Times View from the top The best view in D.C. is from the top of the Washington Monument, 555 feet above the National Mall. Spin in a circle and you can take the nickel tour: the White House, the Capitol, the Reflecting Pool, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, all the hits. It’s a great place, in other words, to see President Trump’s imprint on the city, even as his projects face legal challenges. To grasp the extent of his Washingtonian makeover (and to allow you to experience the grandeur of the urban landscape), Times journalists built a high-resolution panorama, using 32 overlapping, close-up images our photographers captured at the top of the monument. Then software stitched them together into a 360-degree projection that acts like a custom-made Google Street View built from the perspective of a soaring bird. It’s super cool. You can zoom in on the new helipad Trump installed outside the White House, and the new ballroom rising where the East Wing once stood. There’s the Eisenhower Executive Office Building he thinks is the wrong color. See where he wants to raise a 250-foot arch, and where he wants to replace athletic fields with a statue garden dedicated to American heroes. And there in the distance, you can see East Potomac Park, where Trump has already removed hundreds of trees as he replaces a municipal golf course with a championship-level one. A number of federal judges have said that Trump can’t build this element or that one without the approval of Congress. But the Republicans who control Congress have not pushed back on him, which is allowing him to remake Washington just the way he wants it. It’s starting. Come on up and see for yourself. In China. Qilai Shen for The New York Times Mosquito lasers! Check this out: A company in China has invented a $1,000 A.I.-enabled brick that tracks mosquitoes in flight and burns their wings off with a laser. The United States may be ahead of China in developing A.I. models, but the device is an example of how quickly China is putting powerful computing into consumer products. The technology also has military potential. As Keith Bradsher, who saw a demonstration, writes, “It’s not hard to imagine how a system that tracks and shoots down mosquitoes today could be adapted to target drones tomorrow.” What could go wrong? A lot. A laser powerful enough to dispatch a mosquito is powerful enough to damage your eyes. To protect people (and animals that are not mosquitoes), A.I. software recognizes them and prevents the laser from shooting, even in darkness. A camera also identifies shiny surfaces so beams don’t ricochet elsewhere. Keith’s description of the device’s effectiveness is bracing: For anyone who has ever wished mosquitoes a horrible death, this is a strikingly high-tech way to make that wish a reality. The laser delivers a gruesome end, though not a quick one. Mosquitoes whose wings have burned off can take hours or even days to die, lying on the ground and twitching slightly. After the demonstration, Keith examined the fallen bugs. Their wings were gone, but their legs and bodies appeared intact. They couldn’t fly, even when he waved his hand directly over them. See the device at work. PATRICK STEWART, 1940-2026 Ryan Pfluger for The New York Times Patrick Stewart survived a grim childhood in England’s coal-mining north country to become an acclaimed Shakespearean actor. Then, in middle age, he took on the role that would bring him worldwide fame, playing the baritone-voiced starship captain Jean-Luc Picard in the “Star Trek” spinoff “The Next Generation.” Stewart died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86. Read his obituary. Revisit seven of his most notable performances. Make it so. FREE TO READ Vincent Alban/The New York Times One-sided world: A Times editor lost hearing in his right ear after suffering a brain injury in middle school. At age 54, he decided to see an audiologist again. Ted Bundy: Utah investigators used advanced DNA technology to link him to a 52-year-old cold-case murder. Your pick: The most clicked link in yesterday’s newsletter was for a quiz about sugar. A.I. job ‘void’: Gen Zers are hunting for employment. But many aren’t interviewing with humans anymore. Click the video below to watch. The New York Times THE LATEST NEWS Midterm Elections High inflation is haunting Republicans before the elections. The Trump administration has opened a criminal investigation to prove that thousands of noncitizens are on California’s voter rolls. The Justice Department also sent out dozens of subpoenas as it investigates a Democratic effort to enlist decoy candidates to peel votes from the Republican candidate in Alaska’s Senate race. Trump canceled rallies in Kansas and Iowa, where polls show tight races. Hundreds of campaign websites and position papers include text written by artificial intelligence. More on Politics Jensen Huang Mikayla Whitmore for The New York Times Times Exclusive: American spy agencies concluded that a Chinese woman with a close relationship with Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, the chipmaker behind the A.I. boom, was a spy. Trump knew and took no action. Trump erupted after he learned that one of his former lawyers, Alina Habba Mildon, secured a contract worth more than $50 million to work for a billionaire Venezuelan family. Israel Elections After a final vote tally, Israel is facing weeks of uncertainty over who will govern. Arab citizens voted in record numbers, but many worry that their parties’ historic gains will not translate into real political influence. Around the World Flávio Bolsonaro near Miami. Ricardo Arduengo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Flávio Bolsonaro, the defeated presidential candidate from Brazil, is in Florida on a temporary immigration status, and he will likely be granted permanent residency later, officials said. The Trump administration expelled a Cuban diplomat after Cuba’s foreign minister and the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. got into a shouting match. The Chinese Communist Party is purging political and military officials that Xi Jinping deems insufficiently loyal. A court rejected an Australian woman’s appeal after she was convicted of murdering three relatives with death cap mushrooms. Other Big Stories The U.S. economy over the summer grew at its fastest pace in a year, even as many consumers continued to give it poor marks. (Perhaps because inflation has been accelerating.) Big Tech companies are spending so heavily on A.I. data centers that they are worrying Wall Street. ASK THE MORNING I don’t understand how one party or the other can simply redraw the congressional district maps. Aren’t there rules for how and when this can be done? Who sets them? | Carol Roach | Overland Park, Kansas Yes, there are rules, but they vary by state. Typically, congressional districts are redrawn once a decade after the census to ensure they contain about the same number of people. But federal law allows more frequent redistricting. In states where the legislature controls the process (instead of an independent commission), a majority party can pass a new map. States can even change their rules when they want, something California voters did last fall. The Supreme Court also recently changed its interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, clearing the way for states to eliminate majority-minority districts by redrawing maps. — Eve Washington, a data journalist with The Upshot OPINIONS After the Tiananmen Square massacre, Nicholas Kristof broke a basic rule for foreign correspondents. He’s proud of it, he writes. What’s next for Israel? Read a debate between four writers — Diana Buttu, Yossi Klein Halevi, Dahlia Scheindlin and Bret Stephens. The Midterms are here. Understand their impact with savings on The Times. Benefit from unlimited coverage of the elections — and what they mean for you going forward. Sale: $1/week for you first year. Subscribe now. TODAY’S NUMBER $350,000 — That was the cost one passenger paid for an “Endless Horizons” lifetime contract on the Odyssey cruise ship. It promised him permanent residency for the life of the ship with no monthly fees. He boarded on Oct. 1. Less than a month later, the Odyssey’s operators said they had run out of money and docked in Cambodia, stranding passengers. “I paid $13,461.53 per day for my 26 days,” the passenger told The Times. Read more about the end of the Odyssey. SPORTS W.N.B.A. The Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries, 80-69, and forced a Game 7 of the Finals. N.F.L. The Green Bay Packers overwhelmed the Carolina Panthers, 27-19. Solo sailing: On the grueling Route du Rhum, from France to the Caribbean, competitors face extreme sleep deprivation that can cause dangerous hallucinations. RECIPE OF THE DAY Armando Rafael for The New York Times I introduced you to Tini Younger the other day. She’s a trained and TikTok-famous chef with a cookbook coming out. This is the recipe that set her on her path: mac and cheese with enough cheese in it to qualify as cheese and mac. Debate before dinner. MOTHER OF EXILES The New York Times Take three minutes to listen to our critic Jason Farago explain how art and engineering brought the Statue of Liberty to New York. It’s a fascinating and beautiful accounting of an artwork caught between the sublime and the souvenir. Watch. More on culture This year is the 50th anniversary of “Interview With the Vampire,” Anne Rice’s 1976 debut novel, a gothic horror story about a 200-year-old vampire recounting the story of his life to a young reporter. The Times went to New Orleans, where the book is set, to talk to Rice’s son and to document her greatest muse: the city itself. The photographer Taryn Simon spent a decade channeling an F.B.I. agent’s life into more than 1,700 photographs that make up her new show at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, “Father Country I Do Love You.” Our critic really, really did not like it. That makes for terrific reading. The U.S. exhibition at the Venice Biennale ran out of money, leaving its massive sculptures potentially stranded in Italy. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Crack open one of these new mystery novels recommended by our Book Review, including the latest from Louise Penny and the American debut of Jiro Akagawa’s long-running Japanese series about a detective and his very intelligent cat, Holmes. Stop saying that drugs and supplements can extend life span. That’s just one of six things longevity experts wish we’d quit asserting as fact. Take your coffee to work with no fear it’s going to cool, or spill. The baristas at Wirecutter have found the very best travel mugs. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were grandpop and propaganda. 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 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

A homecoming worth celebrating Maya Gebala in an undated photo. (GoFundMe) Maya Gebala, a 13-year-old girl critically wounded in the February school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, Canada, has been released from the hospital after 262 days, her father said Thursday, calling her “the bravest person I know.” Maya was among more than two dozen people injured in the attack in northern British Columbia that killed eight people, including six children, making it Canada’s deadliest school shooting in decades. + Read more: A father’s pride as his daughter reaches a recovery milestone + The investigation: US resident arrested in connection with Canada’s Tumbler Ridge school shooting

Final results confirm no clear winner Israel faces weeks, possibly months, of political limbo after final results show there is no clear winner in its elections. Both major blocs — one led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, the other led by the centrist Yashar party of his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot — have fallen short of the 61 seats needed to form a majority government. + What happens next: Here are the potential scenarios + Plus: Hundreds of thousands of Arab voters turned out to vote Difficult negotiations lie ahead in Israel after Netanyahu’s bloc loses its parliamentary majority The results released early Friday showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats in Tuesday's elections. The main opposition bloc won 48. Arab-led parties secured the other 19, a historic showing. Now parties must seek a way to team up for at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Read more. What to know: Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister, remains in charge. In the hours before final results were announced, Netanyahu and his Likud party amplified unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, potentially with foreign assistance. In Netanyahu's first public comment Friday, he posted on X asserting it is forbidden to form a coalition with Arab parties. If multiple attempts to form a government fail, Israel faces a new election early next year. President Isaac Herzog this week said he will do everything in his power to avoid that scenario. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Netanyahu’s party claims election ‘stolen’ Israel’s Palestinian Arab citizens went to the polls for a historic showing Here’s what could happen next

Helicopters collide midair near Oregon airport The aftermath of a deadly helicopter collision in McMinnville, Oregon, on Thursday. (Yamhill County Sheriff Office) Authorities are examining the wreckage of two helicopters that collided midair on Thursday in northwest Oregon, killing three people. The victims included a flight instructor from Texas, a pilot from Oregon and a student pilot from the United Kingdom. The aircraft crashed into a private farm field near McMinnville Municipal Airport about 40 miles southwest of Portland. + Read more: 3 dead after helicopters collide in Oregon

Hackers steal $6 billion in world’s largest crypto theft Hackers stole more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency on Thursday from Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. Since then, a team of cryptocurrency firms has managed to freeze about $3 billion of the stolen funds amid a frenetic battle with the hackers to find and control the digital money. + Read more: Why investigators suspect North Korea + Video: Hackers steal over $6bn in biggest crypto heist ever

Democrats are energized. Republicans are uneasy (Juan Carlo/Reuters) Across the country, Republicans are growing concerned that low enthusiasm could hurt voter turnout, from high-profile races to down-ballot contests. In Georgia, Rick Jackson, the GOP nominee for governor, said that rural voters have grown complacent. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Republican turnout underwhelming. And in Texas, conservative candidate Bo French criticized Republicans, particularly men, for lagging behind Democrats in early voting. President Donald Trump is also changing course in the final days of the midterm campaign. He canceled planned visits to Iowa and Kansas, where Senate races are tight, opting instead for telephone rallies. Adding another layer of uncertainty, an Election Day storm could affect voter turnout in key races across the central US. + Read more: How the GOP is confronting its voter enthusiasm deficit + The forecast: Severe weather looms over Election Day + Early voting: More than 43 million Americans have already cast their ballots

THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 30 1938 ‘War of the Worlds’ radio play is broadcast Orson Welles’ radio dramatization of a Martian invasion caused panic. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1864 The city of Helena, Montana, is founded after miners discover gold 1990s 1995 Quebec separatists narrowly defeated Arts & Entertainment 1811 ‘Sense and Sensibility’ is published 1905 George Bernard Shaw’s “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” premieres in New York, causing a scandal Crime 2002 Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC is murdered Early 20th Century U.S. 1908 Queen of American high society dies Natural Disasters & Environment 1948 Killer smog claims elderly victims 1991 “Perfect storm” intensifies in the North Atlantic Sports 1974 Muhammad Ali wins the Rumble in the Jungle U.S. Presidents 1735 John Adams is born World War I 1918 Ottoman Empire signs treaty with Allies

🧀 1 for the road: Brew Crew parade today Images: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Milwaukee Public Schools will close today for the Brewers' World Series Parade of Champions and Championship Rally, "Won Our Way." The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says: "The Brewers are coming! Warm the buses! Clear the streets! Tap the kegs!" 🍻 Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) proclaimed today a statewide "Won Our Way" Day, honoring the Brewers and manager Pat Murphy for being "extraordinary players and people both on and off the field." Proclamation ... Parade map. Photo: Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images Above: Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff hoists the World Series trophy during the second quarter of last night's Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau Field. The Pack tamed the Carolina Panthers, 27-19. Photo: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images This image, captured using a remote camera positioned above the diamond, shows Brewers catcher William Contreras celebrating after beating the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Wednesday night.

🔑 Reddit locks down Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Reddit is becoming a primarily logged-in experience, the company said yesterday, marking one of the most significant shifts in its 21-year history. Why it matters: Reddit has long championed the open web, but as AI chatbots vacuum up information from websites, platforms are trying to lock down their content and build a more direct relationship with users, Axios media trends expert Sara Fischer reports. In an interview yesterday, Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman said the company is making the change to improve its user experience, boost its ads business and prevent bots from scraping its proprietary data. "When users log in, they spend more time on Reddit, and we can better know their interests, so we can target ads better," he said. 👀 Reality check: Most other platforms have already made the log-in shift. Huffman said he personally resisted the changes because of his belief in the open internet. He ultimately came around because Reddit's scale made personalization more important — and because protecting content from unauthorized scraping has become more urgent.

🇭🇹 Scoop: Trump tells strongman to "do what you have to do" Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Getty Images El Salvador's strongman president, Nayib Bukele, is sending thousands of troops to Haiti to boost the island's push to wipe out its gang problem — and find four of his military personnel who were captured in a recent ambush, Axios' Marc Caputo reports. Bukele called President Trump on Tuesday to make sure he had no problem with this major military escalation, to which Haiti's government has agreed. "Do what you have to do," Trump told him, according to sources briefed on the call. Why it matters: If it works, Bukele's troop surge could stabilize Haiti, a country 700 miles from Florida that has been devastated by deadly gang violence and has lacked a president since the last one, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated five years ago. If it doesn't work, it could increase Haiti's death toll well beyond the 5,700-plus killed in gang violence this year, embarrass Bukele and mark yet another failed international effort to restore stability to the country. Read on.

⚡ Cyber's "Black October" Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Cybersecurity teams are being pummeled by a relentless barrage of attacks, vulnerabilities and false alarms during what cyber pros are calling "Black October." Why it matters: Humans are still on the front lines of a cyber fight enabled largely by AI. They're struggling to wade through mountains of threat data to determine who's been hit and which attacks pose a real danger to companies, Axios' Sam Sabin reports. 🛡️ The big picture: The people companies call when they're hacked are being swamped, piling onto the persistent burnout that has plagued the industry. "The last month has been the longest year of my life," says Justin Timothy, threat intelligence consultant at GuidePoint Security. Troy Bettencourt, who leads Palo Alto Networks' global digital forensics and incident response practice, told Axios that demand for his team's services has climbed by double digits over the last six weeks. What's next: AI's ability to uncover more software flaws threatens to bury defenders in even more work. To keep up, security firms are turning to AI themselves to spot weaknesses and speed up investigations. Keep reading.

Exclusive: Jobless boom Data: CivicScience. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Americans are optimistic AI will grow the economy — but not that it will create jobs in the process, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes from the first release of the new Axios-CivicScience AI Sentiment Index, out this morning. Why it matters: The AI boom is often criticized as a jobless one, which may explain why sentiment continues to run so negative on what is otherwise such a transformative technology. 💡 The new monthly Axios-CivicScience index tracks Americans' views across six measures: AI's effects on quality of life, society, jobs and economic growth, plus support for AI development and new data centers. By the numbers: October's net sentiment was 41.8 on a 0-100 scale, indicating broad negativity on AI. Of the six components, only economic growth had a positive sentiment score. 😨 Reality check: While economic growth net sentiment (positive responses minus negative responses) was +10, "create more jobs" sentiment was -30.4. That indicates a massive gap between what people think AI will do collectively and its individual impact.

Exclusive: Fired general admitted leaking to reporters Gen. Brett Sylvia at the Defender-Europe 20 joint military exercise in Poland in 2020. Photo: Janek Skarzynski/AFP via Getty Images The Pentagon's top military planner admitted to leaking classified information about Ukraine and Iran to two reporters from separate outlets over a one-year period, according to an internal investigation report shared with Axios' Marc Caputo and Thomas Novelly. Why it matters: Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia was fired this week by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for the alleged misconduct, which Sylvia acknowledged on video after he failed four polygraph tests, a U.S. official said. The Pentagon said it referred a leak case to the Justice Department, and The Washington Post reports Sylvia is the accused. 🔎 Zoom in: The report and U.S. officials said that Sylvia's leaking began as early as June 2025 — before mainstream media outlets were removed from the Pentagon — and continued afterward via the secure Signal app and once at a Silver Diner in Arlington, Va. For another story, the report said, Sylvia "admitted to being one of the 20 officials" who criticized Pentagon leadership. Read on.

Corporate America's Trump trap Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images America's corporate titans greeted President Trump's 2024 victory with open checkbooks, 12-figure investment pledges and fawning tributes to his coming "Golden Age," Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Two years later, on the eve of a potential blue wave, Democrats are preparing to greet those same executives with a stack of subpoenas. Why it matters: The CEOs who staked their reputations and fortunes on MAGA's staying power could spend the final two years of Trump's presidency defending their dealings under oath. 🔎 The big picture: A Democratic House would carry its campaign against billionaire power and corruption deep into corporate America, scrutinizing the relationships between Trump's White House and the executives who courted him. Corporate leaders now face a delicate balancing act: rebuilding ties with Democrats while avoiding retaliation from a president who still controls federal contracts, tariffs and regulators. Already, companies that scrambled to dismantle DEI programs or fund Trump's ballroom are hiring Democratic lobbyists, pushing back against the administration and rediscovering the virtues of bipartisanship. 🥊 Zoom in: Elon Musk is taking a more confrontational approach. The billionaire, who has poured $445 million into Republican super PACs this election cycle alone, has threatened retaliation against Democrats preparing to investigate his sprawling business empire and tenure in the White House. DOGE: As head of Trump's short-lived cost-cutting initiative, Musk gutted USAID, drove mass federal layoffs and gave his team access to sensitive government systems. Investigators want to know whether his companies benefited from contracts or regulatory decisions while he wielded power inside the White House. Ukraine: A fierce critic of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Musk ordered Starlink restrictions that disrupted Ukraine's military satellite communications. Democrats are now demanding records of his communications with Trump and Vladimir Putin. Musk responds to reports that Democrats plan to investigate him. Screenshot via X Zoom out: Across corporate America, the pursuit of Trump's favor has left a trail of donations, deals and concessions that Democrats are determined to follow. 🤖 AI accelerationists: Trump has made the AI boom a centerpiece of his economic agenda, while giving industry leaders extraordinary influence over regulation and chip exports. Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, who set the template for corporate America's reconciliation with MAGA, is among the AI leaders likely to face scrutiny for pressing Trump to back off safety regulation. 🗞️ Media consolidation: Trump ally Larry Ellison helped finance his son David's rise to control of CBS and CNN, culminating in a $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Along the way, Paramount paid $16 million to settle Trump's lawsuit against CBS while seeking federal approval for its Skydance merger. ⚖️ Elite law firms: Trump's pressure campaign against the legal establishment yielded $940 million in pledged free legal services and concessions on diversity policies from nine major firms. Democrats are probing the terms of those agreements and whether the firms compromised their independence to appease the White House. 🥂 Ballroom donors: Trump's massive White House construction project has drawn at least $333 million in private commitments, including $25 million apiece from Apple and Nvidia. Many donors — including some who kept their contributions secret — have lucrative business before the administration. 💰 Equity deals: Trump has transformed the U.S. government into a major corporate investor, striking roughly $30 billion in equity and warrant arrangements spanning more than 40 companies. Democrats are questioning how the beneficiaries were selected and whether political connections influenced the deals. 🛢️ Fossil fuel giants: Trump asked oil executives to raise $1 billion for his 2024 campaign while promising sweeping regulatory relief. His administration has since delivered major tax breaks and environmental rollbacks, prompting a Democratic probe of the industry's political contributions and the government benefits that followed.

Chinese Spy Targets Nvidia US intelligence agencies believe Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is the target of a Chinese spy, according to a New York Times report (free w/email). Alice Huang, who is unrelated to the Nvidia CEO, is a senior executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, which has been accused of smuggling AI chips into China. The pair were seen together at a Taipei bar in 2024 and a restaurant in 2025, interactions Nvidia is defending as standard business engagement. President Donald Trump was reportedly briefed on US intelligence concerns about Alice Huang a year ago and did not take action. Nvidia has generated roughly 15 cents of every dollar the US stock market has returned since 2023. Jensen Huang has, meanwhile, lobbied Trump to ease restrictions on the sale of advanced AI chips to China. The US and China are battling for an edge in AI development. See inside the underground network to get chips into China.

Football’s toll About three in four former NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a new study suggests. The research offers a clearer picture of how widespread the brain disease is among former pros.

Paywalled.

If she only understood the deep power of fasting. It could have been a cornerstone of the health message. Today, there is a powerful movement of health and longevity audience based on research and clinical practice that dwarfs the Adventist health message. Most Adventist think they are healthy because they are vegetarians. Just a look at the people in the churches should dispel that myth. She was right about sugar though. Diabetes is the number one plague today. Here she is predicting the future again. This is the western world today. People do not cook with whole foods but rely on processed foods. I remember having a discussion in Loma Linda about 25 years ago with one of the doctors there. We were discussing the health message and Mrs White. He had disdain for her. What's the problem with her writings? He looked me right in the eye and said. "Sugar is not harmful" Well she was right all along about that. And what is the best medicine for diabetes? Fasting and whole foods.

‘Manosphere’ retreat Joe Rogan helped define 2024 as the “podcast election.” But two years later, some of its biggest players have receded from politics or soured on President Donald Trump. CNN’s Brian Stelter looks at what changed. 🗞️ Is Fox News pivoting to its post-Trump era? Look at how it’s covering the midterms

305. The true fasting which should be recommended to all, is abstinence from every stimulating kind of food, and the proper use of wholesome, simple food, which God has provided in abundance. Men need to think less about what they shall eat and drink of temporal food, and much more in regard to the food from heaven, that will give tone and vitality to the whole religious experience.—[Letter 73, 1896] Medical Ministry, 283

An accomplished actor for sure. I think I first saw him in Dune, Star Trek of course and X-men all of which I thought were great movies. He will be missed!