It’s official: California Democrats are moving to redraw their congressional map in direct retaliation against Texas Republicans’ gerrymander — a high-stakes, coast-to-coast redistricting battle that could shape the 2026 midterms and the balance of power for years. This is no longer politics as usual. It’s an open contest for the future of our democracy, with both parties racing to tilt the map in their favor. The only questions: who will do it more effectively, who will stay within the law, and who will ultimately come out on top.
Today, I walked the streets of D.C. alongside National Guard troops — a surreal scene given that violent crime here is at a 30-year low — because this is where power is being flexed, and where the stakes are real. If you value reporting that refuses to flinch, that digs into the fights others avoid, this is the time to stand with it. Subscriptions amplify the work. Paid ones keep it alive. Your support is the only reason I can keep holding power to account — and right now, that work matters more than ever.
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With that, here’s the news:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, alongside top Democratic allies, announced Thursday that the state will press forward with a redistricting plan designed to secure five additional Democratic seats in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 2026 elections. The move comes as a direct counter to a Republican-led redistricting push in Texas, championed by President Donald Trump, which seeks to add five GOP seats to the House. Texas Democrats have temporarily stalled the plan by leaving the state, preventing a legislative vote.
California Governor Gavin Newsom accused President Trump of trying to “rig the system” ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, saying Trump “does not believe in the rules” and urging Democrats to “meet fire with fire” rather than rely solely on symbolic gestures like vigils.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared “liberation day” as he announced plans to ask voters to approve new congressional maps in response to Texas’s redistricting plan, urging other Democratic-led states to “meet fire with fire” rather than rely on symbolic gestures, and calling for broader action from blue states.
Border Patrol agents appeared outside California Governor Gavin Newsom’s event at the Democracy Center, where at least one person was arrested; Newsom vowed on Twitter that Democrats would “not be intimidated,” while speakers inside drew parallels to 1942 Japanese American incarceration, with Ann Burroughs of the Japanese American National Museum likening current ICE enforcement to historic acts of forced removal.
Texas House Democrats said they are prepared to return to the state after a nearly two-week absence aimed at blocking a Republican congressional map that would add five GOP seats, on the condition that the legislature ends its current special session Friday and California unveils a new map adding five Democratic seats; caucus chair Gene Wu framed the standoff as resistance to President Trump’s “assault on minority voting rights” and said returning would help build a legal case against the map.
President Trump repeated the false claim that crime in Washington, D.C., is “the worst it’s ever been,” calling it “tragic” and an “epidemic,” despite Justice Department data showing the city experienced a 30-year low in violent crime in 2024.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Justice Department employee Sean Charles Dunn was fired after being arrested for allegedly throwing a sandwich at a federal law enforcement officer in Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening; police allege Dunn approached Metro Transit Police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, yelled obscenities, and called them “fascists.”
D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith issued an executive order allowing officers to notify ICE about undocumented immigrants encountered during traffic stops, marking a shift from previous policy and enabling reports on individuals not charged with a crime.
Donald Trump praised a new executive order by D.C. police chief Pamela Smith that allows the Metropolitan Police Department to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents about undocumented immigrants discovered during traffic stops, calling it “a great step” and predicting similar actions nationwide, while declining to say whether he pressured the department to adopt the policy.
Senator Lindsey Graham said the White House will send him and Senator Katie Britt a funding package to establish a “DC Security Fund,” following discussions with President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and senior staff; Graham said the fund would provide Trump with resources to improve safety and quality of life in Washington, D.C.
Donald Trump cold-called Norway’s finance minister Jens Stoltenberg last month to discuss tariffs and express his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to Norwegian business daily Dagens Næringsliv; Stoltenberg confirmed the call focused on tariffs and economic cooperation, while noting several White House officials were present, and the conversation occurred amid ongoing U.S.–Norway tariff negotiations.
President Trump said: “Mexico does what we tell them to do, and Canada does what we tell them to do.”
Ahead of his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump said his main goal was to arrange a second meeting rather than secure an immediate ceasefire, despite having stated the previous day that Russia would face “very severe consequences” if Putin refused to agree to a ceasefire at the initial summit.
Russian president Vladimir Putin is expected to offer President Donald Trump financial incentives and expanded economic ties in exchange for siding with Moscow over Ukraine; the meeting follows reports that Trump’s envoy floated a proposal for Kyiv to cede control of Luhansk and Donetsk for a ceasefire, while analysts say Putin aims to secure U.S. recognition of Russian claims and exploit Trump’s business instincts, though significant differences over territory and Ukraine’s NATO ambitions remain.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced plans to open a second immigration detention facility, dubbed “the deportation depot,” at the shuttered Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, which will house up to 1,300 undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation; the move comes as a federal judge considers whether to close the state’s existing controversial Everglades facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the Trump administration is still “likely” to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical imports as part of a national security trade investigation, despite President Trump signing an executive order a day earlier to strengthen the supply chain for essential medicines; Reuters reported the tariffs are still “weeks away” as Trump prepares for his upcoming meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
A lawsuit alleges that ICE unlawfully deported three U.S. citizen children — including a 4-year-old boy with Stage 4 kidney cancer — to Honduras along with their mothers, Rosario and Julia, despite the women’s objections and without giving them a chance to arrange care in the U.S.; the Trump administration denies wrongdoing, saying the parents chose to take their children and that medical care was available abroad, while advocates argue the deportations violated due process and disrupted critical medical treatment.
Stanford University scientists have developed the first brain implant capable of decoding and vocalizing “inner speech” — words imagined silently — in people whose paralysis prevents physical speech; using electrodes in the motor cortex and AI models trained to interpret neural activity, the system achieved up to 74% real-time accuracy, and included a password-protection feature to prevent unintended decoding of private thoughts.
The FBI returned a priceless 16th-century manuscript page signed by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to Mexico, decades after it was stolen from the country’s national archives; dated 20 February 1527, the document details logistics from Cortés’s expeditions and is considered protected cultural property, with investigators tracing it to the U.S. but not charging anyone due to its multiple changes of ownership over the years.
Wildlife officials in Colorado say cottontail rabbits spotted in Fort Collins with hornlike facial growths are infected with Shope papillomavirus, a mostly harmless disease that cannot spread to humans or pets; while the virus can cause wart-like protrusions that inspired the jackalope myth, it typically clears up once the rabbits’ immune systems respond, unless growths interfere with eating or vision.
Micherre Fox, 31, of New York City, found a 2.30-carat colorless diamond at Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park after a month-long search and is using it for her engagement ring; the gem, the third-largest of 366 found at the park this year, was discovered on her final day of digging and symbolizes her belief in solving challenges through hard work rather than money.
House Judiciary Committee Democrats demanded answers from Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Bureau of Prisons director over the “unusual and abrupt” transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell, warning that the move raises concerns the administration may be attempting to tamper with a crucial witness.
A 60-year-old man in Washington state was hospitalized for three weeks with paranoia and hallucinations after replacing table salt with sodium bromide for three months, a decision he said he made after consulting ChatGPT; doctors diagnosed bromide toxicity, a rare condition today, and noted that while the chatbot’s response mentioned that context matters, it did not issue a specific health warning or advise seeking medical guidance.
The Supreme Court allowed Mississippi’s new social media law to take effect, requiring all users under 18 to verify their age and obtain parental consent, rejecting an emergency challenge from industry group NetChoice, which argued the law violates minors’ First Amendment rights; Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately that NetChoice may ultimately prevail but had not shown grounds to block the law at this stage.
See you in the morning.
— Aaron
