News From Around the Web
#10 Trump Denies He Wrote Lewd Birthday Note for Epstein as He Asks for Release of Court Papers - Emily Atkinson and Tiffany Wertheimer for BBC News, Bob Weeks, 黒山椒無躇, WhoLovesYaBaby, Fox28Columbus, Bob Stokes, and Harry Snapper Organs/Grok on X
US President Donald Trump is facing a mixture of backlash and support over the handling of the Epstein files issue, including from his often loyal political base. On Thursday, Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said: "If President Trump was guilty of anything regarding Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats would have used it against him the past 4 years." She also thanked Pam Bondi and Donald Trump, reacting to their announcement that they will unseal grand jury transcripts. Meanwhile, Representative Thomas Massie said on X: "Folks, keep the pressure on, it's working. But we want all the files." House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday the justice department should release all of its information on the disgraced sex offender...
#9 Bondi Says She’ll Try to Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Records - ABC News, Attorney General Pam Bondi, George, Jordan Sather, C3, and The White House on X
Facing uproar in his MAGA base over the Jeffrey Epstein files, President Donald Trump has called for Attorney General Pam Bondi "to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval" related to the case. Bondi responded on social media Thursday evening, saying, "We are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts." It's not immediately clear the extent of the administration's request to unseal the transcripts, which would be subject to the approval of a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, where Epstein was charged before he died by suicide in 2019.
#8 House Gives Final Approval to Trump’s $9 Billion Cut to Public Broadcasting and Foreign Aid - Kevin Freking and Mary Clare Jalonick for AP News, WPXI, WSFA 12 News, Web3 Warlord, WBAL NewsRadio 1090 FM 101.5, and JM Launiere on X
The House gave final approval to President Donald Trump’s request to claw back about $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid early Friday as Republicans intensified their efforts to target institutions and programs they view as bloated or out of step with their agenda. The vote marked the first time in decades that a president has successfully submitted such a rescissions request to Congress, and the White House suggested it won’t be the last. Some Republicans were uncomfortable with the cuts, yet supported them anyway, wary of crossing Trump or upsetting his agenda...
#7 ACA Health Insurance Will Cost the Average Person 75% More Next Year - Selena Simmons-Duffin for NPR, Alex Geidt, Terence, Esta/William Root/Molly M.Ed, NBC Politics, and Robert Lufkin MD/DILLIGAFinPA2022 on X
Health insurance premiums are going way up next year for people who buy their insurance on Healthcare.gov or the state-based marketplaces, according to an analysis out Friday. The average person who buys Affordable Care Act insurance will be paying 75% more for their premium, according to the analysis from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group. Summer is the time of year when health insurance companies set their rates for the following January and then submit those rates to state regulators...
#6 Trump Diagnosed With Chronic Venous Insufficiency, a Minor Vein Condition, After Noticing Swelling in Legs - Kathryn Watson and Sara Moniuszko for CBS News, Geo Politics Desk, Q95 FM, Jerry Dean Bowers, AlterNet, and First India on X
President Trump has been diagnosed with a "benign and common" vein condition known as chronic venous insufficiency after he noticed swelling in his legs, the White House said Thursday. The president's physician, Sean Barbabella, said in a memo that the president underwent a thorough health examination after he noticed mild swelling in his legs, and it revealed no evidence of a more serious condition like deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read the memo at Thursday's press briefing, and the White House later released it...
#5 Netflix Uses AI Effects for First Time to Cut Costs - Osmond Chia for BBC, Dr Tom Grant, The Times and The Sunday Times, The Mainstream, Shehzady Younis, and SciTech Era on X
Netflix says it has used visual effects created by generative artificial intelligence (AI) in one of its original TV shows for the first time. The streaming giant's co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, said AI, which produces videos and images based on prompts, was used to create a scene of a building collapsing in the Argentine science fiction show, The Eternauts. He said the technology allowed the production team to complete sequences faster and at a lower cost. The use of generative AI is controversial in the entertainment industry over concerns it creates content using others' work without their consent and fears that it will replace the work of humans... CBS will end "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and retire "The Late Show" franchise in May 2026, the company announced Thursday, calling it "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night." CBS called Colbert irreplaceable and said the show's ending was "not related in any way to the show's performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount," CBS' parent company. "We are proud that Stephen called CBS home," the network said in a statement. "He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late-night television." Colbert broke the news to the audience during Thursday's taping, saying he found out last night that next year will be the show's final season... XRP surged past a historic milestone on Friday, trading above $3.60 for the first time, after a wave of bullish developments reshaped the regulatory and market landscape for the Ripple-linked asset. The token peaked at $3.64, up nearly 68% over the past month, according to market data, as investors responded to a flurry of major catalysts. Chief among them was three key crypto bills passing in the US House of Representatives, including the long-awaited GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act, which aim to bring legal clarity to digital assets.XRP Gets Institutional Boost With ETF Debut Adding fuel to the rally, ProShares is set to launch the first XRP futures ETF in the US on the same day. As a result, this move opens the door for broader institutional participation in the XRP market, which until now has been largely out of reach for many traditional investors... Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Wednesday called for an immediate interest-rate cut, arguing that inflation is cooling and the labor market is weaker than it appears—bolstering the Trump administration’s case that the economy needs looser monetary policy despite recent tariff hikes. Speaking at a Manhattan Institute event in New York, Mr. Waller said he supports a 25 basis point reduction in the federal funds rate at the central bank’s meeting later this month. He cited slowing economic growth, weakening private-sector job creation, and inflation readings that he described as close to target once the effects of tariffs are stripped out...
When does consciousness first emerge in infants? Many insist infant (and fetal) consciousness doesn’t begin until around the baby’s first birthday, but another viewpoint maintains that consciousness begins in the womb before birth. Indeed, while pinpointing when and in what form consciousness begins is far from an absolute determination, new research has, not surprisingly, found compelling evidence suggesting that newborns and even late-stage fetuses possess the capacity for conscious awareness. Published in Cell in a review titled “Consciousness in the cradle: on the emergence of infant experience,” study researchers point to advanced brain connections, signs of attention, sensory processing, and behavioral reactions as evidence that the foundations of consciousness are already present around the time of birth, and we don’t know for how long before that, but it very well could be weeks or longer. One of the lead authors of the paper, Dr. Tim Bayne, Professor of Philosophy at Monash University in Melbourne, pointed out that, although we were all once babies, infant consciousness remains mysterious because infants can’t tell us what they think or feel. Bayne remarked...
#4 Does Consciousness Begin Before Birth? - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, UncoverDC, New Scientist/Philosophy's Tune, and Hendrik Wintjen on X
#3 “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to End in May 2026 - CBS News, Elizabeth Warren, Ian Jaeger, Adam Schiff, Daniel Howat/Variety, Jesse Watters, and Pop Crave on X
#2 XRP Hits All Time High Above $3.60 as Major Crypto Bills Clear House - Tracing View, Dave Portnoy, Brad Garlinghouse/Financial Services GOP, Watcher.Guru, Blockchain Backer, Shibo, and Crypto Rover on X
#1 Fed Governor Waller Backs Trump’s Calls for Immediate Rate Cut - John Carney for Breitbart, James Fishback/Nick Timiraos, amit, Colby Smith, Crick, and Evan on X
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