Wednesday, October 21st, 2026 - Elon Throttled Starlink, TX Gerrymandering Is Backfiring, Hacked Voting Machines

Today's Headlines: The EU says it’s investigating whether Russian, Iranian, and Algerian actors helped fuel the riots in France and elsewhere, with pro-Kremlin and far-right accounts reportedly caught spreading violent videos (though officials stress they didn’t start the protests) and regulators asking Amazon and Vinted to pull listings for apparently looted goods, while the EU and Canada are also trying to cut their Starlink dependence, with Canada’s Telesat promising a rival network by 2028 that will be open to allies, which means defending against Russia and, apparently, us. Speaking of Russia, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff called Putin a “humanitarian” and saluted him after Russia released American Stephen Hubbard, who was captured in Ukraine in 2022 and accused of being a mercenary. Back home, polls keep moving toward Democrats, but votes alone may not be enough this year, and as proof, members of the Bush family, including Neil Bush, are backing Democrat James Talarico over Ken Paxton in Texas, while Stella Parton (Dolly’s sister) warned voters to double-check their ballots after hers kept flipping to the wrong candidate in Tennessee. Meanwhile, New Mexico had a big day, suing Epstein’s longtime lawyer and accountant Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn for allegedly helping finance and conceal his trafficking at Zorro Ranch, which could cost them their estate proceeds and push assets toward victims, and on top of that, a court ordered Meta to pay the state $25 billion over the Cambridge Analytica case after a jury found more than 43 million violations of its unfair practices act (down from nearly $220 billion, with 15% annual interest, and Meta is appealing). Speaking of Meta, it also warned California that Zuckerberg might leave the state over a billionaire tax and is creating a new stock class that lets him sell up to half his stake without losing voting control, and in more billionaire news, Elon floated merging SpaceX and Tesla by the end of 2027, which conveniently helps him chase that trillion-dollar earnout, while also promising Tesla will sell humanoid robots next year. Finally, Mayor Mamdani’s administration proposed the nation’s first rule on AI customer service chatbots, requiring companies doing business in NYC to disclose AI use, provide timely help instead of looping you through menus, and offer a human option, with fines of $525, $1,050, then $3,500 for repeat violations.

Today's Headlines: Trump posted that New Mexico should immediately rename itself “New America,” claiming it would raise home values and incomes and maybe even make its elections honest again. Speaking of elections, over 10 million Americans have already voted early in the midterms, with Texas early voting kicking off in the Talarico-Paxton race, where Paxton is reportedly losing suburban women even with Elon’s hundreds of millions behind him. Less fun: Wired reports election offices in at least 32 states have received suspicious white powder letters, some intercepted but others not, with at least four states evacuating offices and similar letters hitting congressional offices in both parties, including one to Rep. Hillary Scholten warning of an “impending civil war.” On top of that, Iran is reportedly obsessed with using oil prices in the final two weeks to punish Trump at the polls, Carter-1980 style, and those energy prices are also tied to the war in Ukraine, where Trump says he’s open to Putin’s Beijing summit but wants to talk “denuclearization” rather than Ukraine since Russia has been “fine” there. Fine?! Meanwhile, Zelensky told Bloomberg he believes steps have been taken to push Ukraine to capitulate, and Trump responded by posting that Zelensky probably never wanted peace. Over in France, the weekend’s riots led to curfews in Paris, Nice, and Lille, including an 11pm to 6am curfew in two looted areas of Paris, while the interior minister offered to resign (Macron declined), the justice minister admitted the government failed to contain the violence, the damage count doubled to at least 3,000 pillaged businesses, and another mass protest is being called for next weekend. In performative generosity news, Elon responded to Anthropic putting 5% of its shares into a public benefit fund by promising one SpaceX share to every kid in America next year, roughly $10.66 billion at $146 a share, with no details on how it would work, so let’s believe it when we see it. Finally, it was a big day at the Supreme Court, which refused to revive plea deals that would have spared 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad the death penalty, keeping it on the table for his June 2028 trial, and then agreed to hear a case on whether Congress could constitutionally ban home distilling in 1868, which will decide whether your bathtub gin habit is a federal crime.

Today's Headlines: Katie Zacharia lasted five days as White House press secretary (less than half a Scaramucci), and she went out with a farewell photo in the Oval Office where she blurred a map on Trump’s desk that eagle-eyed viewers say shows East Potomac golf course renovation plans, which are currently being fought over in court after a judge scolded DOJ attorneys for chopping down trees they weren’t allowed to. Speaking of things going wrong, Saturday also brought hundreds of No Kings protests and, conveniently, a Meta suspension of the main No Kings account mid-protest, blamed on an “automated action” for high-frequency posting despite the account barely posting, while TikTok permanently banned the account for Alex Gibney’s Musk movie for “political content” before reinstating it Sunday and calling it an error. Meanwhile, Elon’s still everywhere: between the movie ad fights, the scam-ish flying Hot Wheels demo, and hundreds of millions poured into the election, Starlink restrictions are reportedly keeping Ukraine from using its drone interceptors against Russian strikes (not deliberate, he says), even as Ukraine makes gains by hitting Russian data centers. On that front, Putin floated a Beijing summit with Trump and Xi next month to settle Ukraine’s fate. Over in Europe, things are literally on fire: more than half a million people marched in France over living costs and school conditions, with nearly 1,000 police injured, almost 2,400 detained, a 19th-century city hall torched, and around 1,500 reports of looted or damaged stores, while five days of protests in Albania over corruption and the economy (Kushner’s island deal included) ended with the Supreme Court set ablaze in Tirana and police firing rubber bullets, water cannons, and tear gas at crowds demanding PM Edi Rama’s resignation. And finally, Trump endorsed Netanyahu for reelection ahead of Israel’s October 27 vote.

Today's Headlines: Another day, another school shooting. Four people were killed in a shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon — some of the victims are children — with the teenage shooter also dead and details still emerging. In other gun violence news, Trump reversed his plan to livestream the Fort Hood shooter's firing squad execution, writing that while it "might have been a strong deterrent," many well-meaning people would rather not watch, and Hegseth immediately released a statement saying he "supports the president's decision and they are completely aligned." Sure, Pete. Pivoting back to Kimberly Guilfoyle, she is still everywhere despite being fired — Democrats are investigating her, Trump is claiming she "dated my son a long time ago" as if that's a casual acquaintance, and she's reportedly putting together a burn book of Trump family secrets while planning to stay in Europe to find a rich husband. Meanwhile, the reflecting pool's own inspection report — commissioned by Trump's contractor — found the liner failed in at least 85 places due to improper materials and being filled before it dried, with zero mention of vandalism or boxcutters, and a 15-year-old Maryland student is now suing CBS News for falsely reporting he was arrested for vandalizing it. Apple and Meta announced a partnership to run Meta's AI on Apple desktops, which Meta's AI chief described as "mommy and daddy playing nice again," and New York City is banning horse-drawn carriages after Mayor Mamdani and the City Council moved to phase out the industry.

Today's Headlines: Elon Musk's Starlink cut off service to Ukraine without warning right as Russia launched two consecutive nights of ballistic missile strikes — and the US stopped providing Ukraine advance intelligence about incoming strikes, which it had done for years. Zelensky said the Trump administration is threatening to cut intelligence sharing entirely unless Ukraine stops hitting Russian oil refineries, and Musk responded by saying Trump and the military control speed restrictions so it's their fault, while also noting a commercial company shouldn't be helping with offensive military operations. Georgia broke its first-day early voting record by 50,000 votes with 189,000 ballots cast, and the DOJ is threatening emergency court action against California unless they investigate a thumb drive's worth of alleged noncitizen voters within 48 hours and set aside their ballots. In other immigration news, the Wall Street Journal reported that the goal of the Ilhan Omar investigation is to strip her of citizenship and deport her, with a dozen subpoenas already issued to her relatives. September inflation came in at 3.7% annually with a 9.1% monthly spike in gas prices, and Trump's economic adviser spun it as "a bunch of good news." A federal judge ruled Trump cannot legally ban CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from White House coverage, and a watchdog group filed a bar complaint against new press secretary Katie Zacharia for claiming to be a lawyer in California without a license, which is a crime in California. Eight states sued OpenAI alleging the company misled users about ChatGPT's safety and failed to prevent it from encouraging self-harm and suicide among teenagers. And finally, a Harvard survey found that 53% of men claimed to know two completely fake AI executives, compared to 40% of women — men are faking AI expertise at scale, which tracks.