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Today's Headlines: The Supreme Court blocked Trump's executive order restricting mail-in ballots with less than two months to the midterms — genuinely good news, though just one prong of a multi-pronged operation that also includes the DOJ sending threatening letters to 30 election officials demanding voter data, and a DHS whistleblower accusing the department of illegally directing agents to access voter rolls and investigate 40 voters a day each. Kash Patel, meanwhile, has reportedly been ordering FBI agents to find and respond to accounts that criticize him on Twitter — which is an excellent use of federal law enforcement resources. Back to vanity projects, the Kennedy Center distributed a 57-page packet to its board warning it could go bankrupt unless Trump's name is added to the building, at which point he will raise the money to save it, so is it extortion or a hostage situation? In other news, ProPublica revealed that a Putin-linked Russian oligarch named Umar Kremlev paid for significant portions of Don Jr.'s wedding celebration, including a fireworks show and a private island rental, with Bettina Trump clarifying on Instagram that Umar merely "hosted two incredible nights of celebrations" as "an extraordinarily generous wedding gift," which is totally normal. Let’s move on to President Trump who called AI safety concerns a hoax, compared warnings about AI risks to climate change warnings and called Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang mid-appearance on stage to deliver this message. Speaking of climate change, the EPA repealed rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas plants and added a separate rule preventing future administrations from ever regulating climate pollution from power plants. Great. And finally, Mitch McConnell showed up to work after three months, cast the deciding vote on a conservative judge confirmation.
Resources/Articles mentioned:
NYT: Live Updates: Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Restrictions on Voting by Mail
NYT: Whistle-Blower: Federal Agents May Have Broken State Laws in Search For Voter Fraud
The New Republic: Texts Reveal Kash Patel Ordering Staff to Fight “Ifindretards” Account
WaPo: Kennedy Center could close as early as Tuesday, warns of bankruptcy, documents show
ProPublica: Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch
AP News: Trump calls AI risks a 'hoax,' says there is a 'SICK conspiracy' against AI and data centers
AP News: EPA eliminates rule that limits planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants
AP News: McConnell returns to the Senate for the first time since his June hospitalization
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