October 22, 2025
Trump commitee pushes fats
Newsworthy News - The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, established under President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has released a strategy report advocating a major shift in national dietary guidelines. For decades, government policy has warned Americans to limit saturated fat, with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommending less than 10% of daily calories from saturated fat. Now, MAHA’s strategy promotes the inclusion of foods like steak, butter, and ice cream, arguing that animal fats have been unfairly maligned and should be central to “common sense” nutrition.
This new approach is already provoking a heated reaction from the nutrition science community and public health organizations. The American Heart Association and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have reaffirmed their position that saturated fat is strongly linked to heart disease, citing decades of robust research. Their experts contend that the science behind limiting saturated fat remains consistent and compelling, warning that relaxing guidelines could drive up heart disease rates, especially among vulnerable populations relying on federal nutrition programs. The MAHA Commission’s stance, while supported by some advocates of low-carb and high-fat diets, represents a sharp break from mainstream scientific consensus.
Donald Trump really said this
Donald Trump: "It looks like we're gonna have a Communist as the mayor of New York. But here's the good news -- he's gotta go through the White House. Everything goes through the White House. At least this White House it does." - Via Aaron Rupar
Polls
More than 100,000 New Yorkers faced with more expensive healthcare
Newsweek - Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul has slammed Republicans after health care premiums increased significantly for more than 100,000 New Yorkers. Around 140,000 in the state will experience heightened health care costs if the GOP continues to block the extension of existing enhanced premium tax credits....
Hundreds of thousands of New York residents rely on Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies for more affordable health coverage.
The ACA subsidies are the main source of contention between Republicans and Democrats in Congress—which are at a standstill over the current funding bill—triggering the larger government shutdown, and there's still no resolution in sight.
New York residents will see their health insurance premiums increase by an average of 38 percent next year, according to Hochul’s office. That amounts to an average yearly increase of $1,400 for individuals and $3,000 for couples.
Zelenskyy willing to freeze curent Ukraine borders
The Guardian - Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that US president Donald Trump’s call for Ukraine and Russia to stop at the current frontlines was “a good compromise”, reports Reuters. But Zelenskyy, who is visiting Nordic countries, said he doubted that Russian president Vladimir Putin would support it. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Zelenskyy told reporters:
[Trump] proposed ‘Stay where we stay and begin conversation’. I think that was a good compromise, but I’m not sure that Putin will support it, and I said it to the [US] president.
It comes as plans to hold a summit between Trump and Putin in Budapest have been put on hold as it was reported that Ukraine and its European allies had rallied in pushing for a ceasefire without territorial concessions from Kyiv.
Trump election appointee talks about changing election rules
Independent, UK - Before she was tapped as Trump’s “election integrity” official at the Department of Homeland Security, Heather Honey reportedly told a group of right-wing activists in March that the president could declare a “national emergency” to effectively take control of local election administration.
She said the move would follow an “actual investigation” of the 2020 election, if it revealed “manipulation” of the results, according to The New York Times, which had a recording of the call.
“We have some additional powers that don’t exist right now,” she said. “[W]e can take these other steps without Congress and we can mandate that states do things and so on.”
She added that she does not know whether such federal control of elections would be “feasible” or if the people surrounding the president “would let him test that theory.”
But in the months that followed, the president has launched an aggressive effort to radically reshape elections, from redrawing congressional maps to promising an executive order he says would eliminate mail-in voting altogether.
Meanwhile. . .
Newsworthy News - Fairfax County Public Schools faces criminal investigations after a brave teacher exposed how school staff secretly arranged and funded abortions for minors without parental knowledge, violating Virginia law and fundamental parental rights...
Yale - Iceland, one of the last places on Earth to be free of mosquitoes, recorded its first sighting this month. Scientists say warming is making the country more hospitable to the insects.
NPR - A federal judge has ordered the Department of Defense to return books about gender and race to five school libraries on military bases, following claims that the removal violated students' First Amendment rights.
MSNBC - President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Special Counsel, Paul Ingrassia, withdrew his name from consideration on Tuesday after his confirmation looked destined to fail... The announcement came after a whirlwind 24 hours for Trump’s nominee, which began when Politico published racist text messages allegedly sent by the nominee to a group chat with about a half-dozen Republican operatives and influencers. In those texts, Ingrassia is alleged to have said that Martin Luther King Jr. Day should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell,” and that he had “a Nazi streak.”
Roll Call - Adelita Grijalva and Arizona asked a federal court on Tuesday to allow someone else to administer her oath to be the state’s 7th District representative since Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to do so, nearly a month after she won a special election. Read more...
The job seeking scam
NBC News - At first, the job seekers didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary: One spotted a post on ZipRecruiter, another submitted an application on LinkedIn, and a third got an email from a recruiter about a high-level position. But there were no employers on the other end.
Instead, these listings were driven by increasingly innovative scammers using complex schemes to lure job seekers into a range of financial traps as a growing number of Americans struggle to find work. The job postings are nearly indistinguishable from legitimate listings, some appearing on trusted websites, or coming from spoofed or hacked email addresses of recruiters, according to interviews with more than 20 job seekers, cybersecurity experts and executives of hiring websites.
Trump's demand for $230 million
National Memo - President Donald Trump is under fire after a New York Times bombshell revealed he wants $230 million from the Justice Department over two investigations targeting him during his campaign.
The Times explained that there is “no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims.” The paper of record also called it “the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department.”
Critics are blasting the president...
Attorney Andrew Weinstein, a former Obama and Biden appointee, noted that “$230 million could feed every homeless veteran in America for more than 3 years.”...
Political historian Brian Rosenwald commented, “Like come the f– on, this is the most blatant corruption in American history. He’s just stealing from us the taxpayers.”
Derek Martin, founder and president of Pathfinder Research, wrote: “Trump is demanding taxpayers write him a check for $230 million while Republicans tell us they can’t afford to help ordinary Americans pay for health insurance. Cartoonishly evil.”...
Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz wrote: “The president of the United States is attempting a smash-and-grab on the U.S. Treasury, and the people with the ability to say no are his former personal lawyers, this is insane.”
Iowa: Where cooperatives matter
Nationl Cooperative Business Association - In Iowa, farmers built marketing and supply cooperatives to bargain fairly, invest locally and keep more dollars circulating on Main Street. Fourteen of the nation’s 100 largest farmer cooperatives are headquartered in Iowa—more than any other state—illustrating how farmers here have long used cooperation to build scale, efficiency and resilience.
Rural electric cooperatives, meanwhile, power 650,000 Iowans across all 99 of the state’s counties. They maintain about 62,000 miles of power lines—enough to circle the globe two and a half times—and cover two-thirds of the state’s landmass while serving 15 percent of its people. Over the past five years, Iowa’s electric co-ops have invested more than $4.7 billion in rural economic development projects, supporting over 7,000 jobs...
Iowa’s experience shows that cooperation isn’t nostalgia—it’s a competitive advantage. If we want faster innovation, stronger rural economies, and fair returns from farm to fork, we should invest in the model that lets people own the solution together. That’s the cooperative difference—here at home, and across the globe.
Ex Biden press secretary writes critical new book
NPR - Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who served during the Biden administration, has released her new book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines. She wrote about how the Democratic Party’s internal dysfunction led to its downfall during the 2024 presidential election. Before her new book hit store shelves, Morning Edition host Michel Martin sat down with Jean-Pierre. During their conversation, Jean-Pierre reflected on her decision to leave the party she once represented and the scrutiny she faced in her role as press secretary. Watch their interview here. Listen to Jean-Pierre discuss her decision to identify as an independent and read five takeaways from the conversation.
Jewish figures call for Israeli sanctions
The Guardian - Prominent Jewish figures around the world are calling on the United Nations and world leaders to impose sanctions on Israel over what they describe as “unconscionable” actions amounting to genocide in Gaza.
Over 450 signatories, including former Israeli officials, Oscar winners, authors and intellectuals have signed an open letter demanding accountability over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The letter’s release comes as EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday amid reports they plan to shelve proposals for sanctions over human rights violations.
“We have not forgotten that so many of the laws, charters, and conventions established to safeguard and protect all human life were created in response to the Holocaust,” the signatories write. “Those safeguards have been relentlessly violated by Israel.”
Signatories include former speaker of the Israeli Knesset Avraham Burg, former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy, British author Michael Rosen, Canadian author Naomi Klein, Oscar-winning film-maker Jonathan Glazer, US actor Wallace Shawn, Emmy winners Ilana Glazer and Hannah Einbinder, and Pulitzer prize winner Benjamin Moser. More
Health Insurance Costs Keep Rising
Time - Around 154 million Americans under age 65 rely on employer-sponsored coverage. And starting this month and into January, employees will be able to pick their plans for the next year during the open enrollment process—and this is when they’ll get a sense of just how much more they can expect to pay. One recent survey by Mercer found that employers expect to pay an average 6.5% more for health care for their employees in 2026, which is the highest increase since 2010. Another poll of employers by the Business Group on Health found that respondents projected health care costs to jump 7.6% in 2026, on average, the highest increase in over a decade.
Word
Jimmy Carter - “A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.”
October 21, 2025
Donald Trump
Chicago area judge warns that ICE agents can be arrested if they fail to follow his orders
Breitbart - A Chicago-area judge has ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers can be arrested at Cook County courthouses if they violate his orders and arrest a migrant without a warrant. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered that ICE officers are barred from arresting migrants at courthouses if they don’t have a warrant. He also ordered that federal law enforcement can be arrested if they violate his orders. The judge’s order aimed to prevent what are called “collateral arrests” of people whom ICE officers discover are illegal on the spot. These are migrants that ICE agents come across by happenstance while looking for someone they have a warrant to apprehend.
Cummings stated that courthouses must be places where witnesses and suspects feel safe.
“The fair administration of justice requires that courts remain open and accessible, and that litigants and witnesses may appear without fear of civil arrest,” he said in his order.
Judge Cummings also cited in his ruling arrests that have been made recently outside county courthouses where ICE has taken “collateral” migrants into custody in the Chicago area.
ICE spends 700% more than it did in 2024
Independent, UK - ICE has spent more than $70 million on new weapons in the first nine months of President Donald Trump’s second term, a 700 percent increase on the same period in 2024, according to a report.
Polls
Newsweek - The latest data from Civiqs shows that Trump remains strongest in traditionally conservative states in the West and South where he achieved decisive electoral victories, while facing deep unpopularity in Democratic-leaning states. Meanwhile, in the swing states, Trump's approval is generally underwater ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The data highlights how sharply divided the country remains and suggests that even after winning the 2024 election, Trump faces persistent challenges in broadening his appeal.
In swing states, where his approval is only slightly below 50 percent, his ability to maintain political momentum could influence legislative priorities, party strategy, and the positioning of potential challengers.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
What To Know
In traditionally conservative states, Trump remains strongly supported. Wyoming leads with 65 percent approval, 31 percent disapproval, and a net approval of +34. West Virginia follows at 61 percent approve, 33 percent disapprove (+28), while North Dakota, Idaho, and Montana also maintain net approvals above +20, highlighting a consistent base of support in the West and parts of the South.
By contrast, Trump faces significant opposition in Democratic-leaning states, particularly on the coasts.
Hawaii shows just 21 percent approve, 75 percent disapprove, with a net approval of −54, and Vermont is similarly lopsided at 24 percent approve, 72 percent disapprove (−48). California and New York remain heavily negative, with net approvals of −38 and −32, despite Trump winning 29 percent and 44 percent of the vote in 2024, respectively.
Other states such as Maryland, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island also continue to reflect strong resistance, with net approvals ranging from −40 to −42.
Swing states, which were decisive in the 2024 election, show a more nuanced picture. In Pennsylvania, where he narrowly won 51 percent of the vote, approval now stands at 43 percent with 52 percent disapprove, giving a net of −9. Michigan and Wisconsin show similar trends, with approval around 41–43 percent, disapproval 54 percent, and net approval at −11 to −13.
North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada also lean slightly negative, with net approvals ranging from −7 to −10. While Trump retains a dedicated base of roughly 40–44 percent in these battlegrounds, disapproval consistently outweighs support, suggesting that public opinion is less enthusiastic than the election results might suggest.
It comes as Morning Consult polling showed this week that for the first time since Trump's second term began, his approval rating was underwater in every swing state.
Thomas Gift, associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, told Newsweek that ahead of the midterms, the polling is "bad news for Trump and the GOP."
"The fact that Trump's approval is underwater in every swing state underscores how divisive his presidency continues to be — he’s consolidating his base but struggling to broaden it. Trump not being on the top of the ticket in 2026 also spells challenges for Republicans, as in the past they’ve underperformed in many state races when Trump wasn’t in the running,” he said.
Newsweek - California Governor Gavin Newsom has suffered a setback in early polling for the 2028 Democratic presidential race, with new surveys showing his support slipping. The latest Noble Predictive Insights poll, conducted between October 2-6, shows that among Democrats and independents Newsom is now trailing former Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2028 nomination, after leading her in August.
Newsweek - Traditionally, the party that does not hold the White House tends to do better in midterm elections. In 2018, Republicans lost the House and the Democrats gained 41 seats....
In the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, Republicans hold a narrow 219-213 majority, meaning a net loss of just six seats would cost them control of the chamber. This, in turn, would affect their ability to pass key legislation and advance Republican policies.
According to a Center Square Voter's Voice poll, 34 percent of independents would vote for a Democratic candidate if congressional elections were held today, while 25 percent would choose a Republican candidate. A further 31 percent were unsure.
Noble Predictive Insights conducted a poll of 2,565 registered voters between October 2 and 6, with a margin of error of +/2 percentage points. The survey found that overall, the Democratic Party had a 2 percent lead among all voters, with 45 percent saying they would choose a Democratic candidate and 43 percent voting for a Republican. Ten percent said they were unsure.
Why Mamdani is doing so well
The Nation - Thanks to New York City’s nearly four-decade-old clean elections system that publicly finances candidates for municipal office, [mayoral candidate] Mamdani has had nearly $13 million of government funds to run a competitive campaign against tens of millions of dollars that oligarchs spent to boost disgraced Democratic former governor Andrew Cuomo.
Without that public money matching small-dollar donations to
Mamdani’s campaign, he might never have had enough resources to finance
his reported
$5 million television and digital ad campaign that spread his message,
his $1 million of mail and literature that made him a household name,
and his $2 million campaign staff that organized communities and flooded
the social media algorithm...
This inconvenient truth runs counter to the fairy tales that pundits, activists, and armchair strategists love to manufacture—the romantic myths about campaigns being won purely through idealism, grassroots energy, strong messaging, likeable candidates, and shrewd Moneyball-style tactics, cash be damned.
Tariffs
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- As of August, fiscal year revenue from customs duties reached $165.2
billion, which was 136.7% higher than it was in the same month last
year. In comparison, the federal government collected $77.0 billion
customs duties (which includes tariffs) for all of FY 2024.
- Customs duties revenue, adjusted for inflation, remained between $27
billion and $47 billion from 1980 to 2018. It grew from FY 2018 to FY
2022, reaching $108.2 billion.
- Tariffs and other customs duties were the largest source of federal
revenues in the 18th and 19th centuries before the establishment of
income taxes.
- Learn how tariffs affect trade in this video with USAFacts Founder Steve Ballmer.
The Democrats political problems
Axios - Democratic congressional candidates nationwide, feeding off voter fury, are raging against their leadership and vowing ruthlessness against their own establishment....
Axios interviewed dozens of Democratic congressional candidates — some challenging longtime Democratic incumbents, others running in open primaries in blue or purple seats.
- What was consistent across many of those interviews was a notion that the Democratic party establishment hasn't met the moment since President Trump returned.
That echoes what Democratic elected officials have heard from their constituents, particularly their liberal grassroots, for the last nine months.
- And it signals a headache ahead for Democratic leadership, which may have to grapple with its own version of the Tea Party wave that wreaked havoc on GOP leadership.
Dozens of Democratic candidates for U.S. House are refusing to commit — or outright declining — to vote for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) as speaker or leader.
- Many of the leading Democratic candidates in key battleground primaries are Jeffries loyalists or recruits. But it may only take a handful of renegades to frustrate leadership if he wins a small majority next year.
The nearly dozen House Democrats retiring or seeking higher office this cycle have left a slew of crowded Democratic primaries in their wake that leadership will have difficulty controlling. Share this story.
Meanwhile. . .
Former President Biden completed several weeks of radiation therapy to treat an aggressive form of prostate cancer, but his treatment may not be over. (CBS News)
Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire
Time - The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which took hold on Oct. 10, remains in place as of Monday evening, local time, but it appears to be increasingly fragile following reports of further clashes in Gaza and accusations of violations from both sides.
With the U.S. eager for the cease-fire to hold, Vice President J.D. Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday morning. He's set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem during his trip. Vance joins U.S. President Donald Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who arrived in Israel on Monday to monitor the cease-fire.
Israel again accused Hamas of violating the terms of the truce over the weekend, saying they targeted and killed two Israeli soldiers. Israel reported that its military personnel were targeted by Hamas in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, which is still under Israeli control. Responding to what it called Hamas' "blatant violation" of the deal, Israel launched air strikes in the territory on Sunday and temporarily suspended humanitarian aid. More
Hamas has maintained it was Israel that first breached the cease-fire.
There were further threats to the cease-fire's stability on Monday morning, when the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that “terrorists” had approached Israeli troops in the Shejaiya area of northern Gaza, crossing the agreed-upon withdrawal line within the territory. MORE
New studies on medical marijuana
NPR - Medical marijuana is a common resource for people with chronic pain, but there are few high-quality studies on whether it is beneficial. That’s why two major clinical trials in Europe that evaluated cannabis for low back pain caught the attention of those investigating the plant’s potential for pain management. The first showcased that a blend of cannabis oil, containing the psychoactive compound THC, as well as CBD and other natural compounds in the plant, outperformed a placebo. The other trial compares the same proprietary cannabis elixir with opioids, revealing that patients who used the elixir experienced fewer gastrointestinal side effects like constipation than when using painkillers.
➡️ Currently, there is one cannabis-derived medication approved by the FDA, and it does not contain any THC. Though it isn’t entirely clear, experts believe THC is one of the primary compounds responsible for reducing pain.
➡️ While most Americans reside in states where marijuana is legal, there are significant concerns about the quality and consistency of cannabis products. If the FDA were to approve a cannabis product, it would give patients with chronic pain more confidence to use it.
Read more about cannabis as an option for pain relief.
Shutdown
NPR - Many federal workers expect not to get paid this Friday, marking the first full paycheck they will miss due to the government shutdown, which began three weeks ago. So far there has been limited economic fallout. But analysts say that the longer the shutdown continues, the bigger the dent it could leave.
By law, federal workers are supposed to receive back pay once the shutdown ends, but the White House has attempted to cast doubt on that, NPR’s Scott Horsley tells Up First. That rhetoric could result in some federal workers pulling back their spending habits, which could impact some of the businesses that those workers frequent. The total price tag of the shutdown is unknown, but past ones show that it has been costly for the government and the broader economy. Horsley says if Congress doesn’t resolve the government shutdown by the beginning of next month, the food stamp program, which helps feed millions of people, may not be able to provide benefits.