Good morning, today is Wednesday. Icon, legend, and philanthropist Dolly Parton died yesterday at 80, and produced an increasingly rare and strange moment of unity — minus Ivanka Trump. We’ll discuss that, plus:
The big threat of Flock Cameras nobody is talking about
Trump has paused every single immigrant visa application
ICE arrests a mother and daughter after a deadly car accident
Alex Pretti’s family speaks out on national TV
Lindsey Graham’s sister wins her primary—after Trump drops some serious cash
And: Mamdani's city grocery plan is drawing lawsuits (which means it's working)
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1. Singer and icon Dolly Parton dead at 80
Dolly Parton, the singer-songwriter, actress and philanthropist who spent seven decades becoming one of the most beloved people in American life, died Tuesday in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer. She was 80.
Her family announced the news in a video posted to her official accounts, with her nephew, Bryan Seaver, saying she had "lived in the light."
Parton gave away fortunes quietly for decades.
Her Imagination Library has mailed more than 325 million free books to kids since 1995, no means test, no strings.
She put $1 million into early COVID research at Vanderbilt that helped fund Moderna's vaccine, bankrolled pediatric infectious disease research there too, and after wildfires tore through her home county in 2016, personally funded a program that paid displaced families $1,000 a month for six months. She won the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy for it in 2022.
"I just see a need and if I can fill it, then I will," she said.
Her death produced a strange kind of unity: every living president paid tribute to her, along with the biggest celebrities, and Trump ordered flags nationwide lowered to half-staff. But all that didn’t stop the internet from calling out Ivanka Trump for her absolutely tone-deaf post about Parton.
Parton never once badmouthed the Trumps publicly — but her life's work said enough about which side she was really on.
Rest easy, Dolly.
2. The big threat of Flock Cameras NOBODY is talking about
Flock cameras have quietly spread to 120,000 locations in 49 states — and they're not just tracking criminals, they're tracking you.
We dig into who's really behind the $9 billion surveillance boom, what happens when the AI gets it wrong, and why Peter Thiel is smiling.
2. The State Department paused every immigrant visa application on the planet
In early August, the Trump State Department quietly halted all immigrant visa applications at every U.S. embassy and consulate worldwide, citing the need for "in-depth training" to ensure officers can evaluate applicants for potential reliance on U.S. assistance.
This is not a border policy. This is a global shutdown of legal immigration — the kind Trump spent years promising.
Families waiting years for reunification, workers with approved petitions, people who did everything "the right way" the administration claims to want: all paused, indefinitely, while consular officers get trained to say no more efficiently.
3. ICE arrested a mother and daughter after a major car accident — and Alex Pretti’s family is speaking out
Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla, 39, and her daughter Giulianna, 19, were arrested by ICE agents at a Florida hospital after a car crash in Poinciana on August 20 — a crash the family says the women "almost died" in, with their car flipping four times.
The arrests happened while they were receiving medical care.
Separately, the family of Alex Pretti — the ICU nurse killed by federal immigration officers in Minnesota seven months ago — went on national television this week to demand accountability, telling interviewers ICE “murdered” their child, and that "there was more effort in vilifying him” than providing justice.
Odds are good that Democrats will retake the House — and the odds on the Senate are improving by the day, too.
But that doesn't mean much on its own. If we don't tell Democrats — loudly, clearly, and over and over — exactly what we expect from them, they'll default to the status quo.
4. Darline Graham wins South Carolina primary— with Trump's ble$$ing
South Carolina Republicans chose Darline Graham — sister of the late Lindsey Graham, backed by Trump — as their Senate nominee, defeating five-term congressman Ralph Norman in Tuesday's runoff.
This comes after Trump’s PAC — which has a war chest of $400 million that hasn’t been spent at allso far this cycle — dropped almost a million dollars for Graham last minute.
Trump posted his congratulations on Truth Social at 8:44 p.m., eleven minutes before she was projected to win by the AP and NBC News.
Graham overcame widespread concern about her lack of legislative experience — and the double standard did not go unnoticed. The people voting for Darline Graham are the same people who said Kamala Harris was unqualified, by the way.
The president’s endorsement may not be the asset it once was. Graham will now face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who actually deserves the seat.
“I’m a pediatrician, not a politician. But either way I know how to handle people who are full of sh*t,” Andrews has said.
5. Trump's imported beef and tariff reversal is splitting his own coalition — and farmers are furious
Trump announced the U.S. will import up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef without tariffs in a bid to lower grocery prices, and senior Republicans are now openly warning that "flooding" stores with imports will devastate American ranchers at a moment when U.S. cattle inventory is already at a 75-year low.
The farming counties that gave Trump 78 percent of their votes in 2024 are now grappling with soaring costs and what they describe as unprecedented uncertainty.
Meanwhile the administration refuses to even answer questions about where the beef is coming from — or if it’s safe.
6. Mamdani's city grocery plan is drawing lawsuits — which means it's working
A New York City business group filed two lawsuits in state supreme court this week targeting Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan to open five municipally owned grocery stores, arguing the city-run stores would undercut smaller, immigrant- and minority-owned businesses on price.The Multicultural Business Coalition says the plan violates civil rights.
Mamdani's office has not backed down.
Here's the tell: when a policy proposal is still in the planning stages and the opposition is already in court, it means the idea is real enough to scare people. The grocery store plan — public infrastructure designed to lower food costs for working-class New Yorkers — is exactly the kind of thing that sounds radical until you remember that public libraries and public parks exist for the same reason.
They’re just mad they won’t be able to keep jacking up their prices for eternity.
KEPT OUT OF YOUR FEED
What the algorithm buried:
The Fox News interview that ended with Jesse Watters announcing his circumcision status on live TV
Trump is threatening to rename Lake Ontario after Ontario's Premier told him to "kiss my ass"
The first measles deaths in Pennsylvania in 35 years happened back to back with Maryland declaring an outbreak
Trump says Karoline Leavitt “decided she loved her children more than she loved” him
Trump's poll numbers on the one issue he built his whole campaign around just got a lot worse
A U.S. military transport plane just landed in Moscow — and nobody's saying why
Even Steve Forbes is begging Trump to stop the Canada trade war — and that should terrify you
The U.S. national debt just hit $40 trillion, and here's what Scott Bessent is quietly doing about it
Only 35% of Republicans now "strongly approve" of Trump — and a three-time Trump voter just went scorched earth on him
There are two Dan Sullivans running for the same Alaska Senate seat — and the incumbent says the other one is a Democrat plant
NOTICE POLLING
Yesterday, we asked, even with all the midterm rigging, do you think Democrats will be able to win in November's midterms?
98% OF YOU SAID YES:
“Yes absolutely!!! If we all get out to the polls and actually exercise one of our last rights guaranteed in the constitution. Musk and his techno-turds could just rig it for the gop but I truly hope that enough Americans have seen the damage one wrong choice can make. ”
- a15anaya
“Yes, democrats can still win. Even with all rigging, gerrymandering and threats of ICE and/or military at polling places I think people are fed up enough to face any hurdles to make our votes count. Trump's polling numbers are underwater and people are not blind anymore to his antics. All his efforts to derail a democratic win are blowing up in his face. The GOP knows they are walking on thin ice. Our votes are going to be to big to rig and to real to steal. Vote Blue and reclaim our government. ”
- obitlinda1712
“Democrats will really have to get out and vote this time. There can be no delay in spreading the word to make this the year everyone votes.”
- annaflorin99
“The voters have had enough and know the stakes are too high not to come out against Republicans at any level.”
- a.smoot
“We WILL find a way to get our votes counted and DESTROY this EVIL VILE ORANGE ANAL WART FROM OFFICE!! HOPE THEY GIVE IT THE CHAIR!!??⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️”
- runnerfan74 (damn, tell me how you really feel!)
That’s all for today — thank you so much for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow!
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