Welcome! Chinese leader Xi Jinping stood in the White House on Thursday and announced that two giant pandas will arrive at the Atlanta Zoo “in a few days,” the first pandas in Atlanta since China took the last four back in 2024.
🚨 BREAKING 1: Supreme Court allows Trump administration to use citizenship database ahead of midterms - ABC
🚨 BREAKING 2: U.S. military lays groundwork for potential action around Cuba - CBS
🇨🇳 EXPLAINED: Is China Really Stealing A.I. From American Companies? - NYT (free)
🔥 FASCINATING: Evan Gershkovich, the WSJ reporter who Putin jailed for 491 days, has a new book out explaining what happened. - WSJ (free)
👀 WHAT: Kyrsten Sinema’s former bodyguard and ex-romantic partner charged after breaking into her home and throwing 22 paintings into her pool. - NBC
🗳️ FAILED AGAIN: The Senate rejected the latest Iran war powers resolution 49-50. Collins, Murkowski, Paul, and Tillis voted yes. Fetterman was the lone Democrat voting no. - NPR
🎟️ GET YOUR TICKETS: It’s the Not Safe For Radio show, things not safe to say on radio, not safe in front of kids or my mom, but a ton of fun stories on an off-the-record night, October 10th at the Gas South District / Gas South Theater, great hotel on site, tickets are on sale now.
➡️ Since I am on vacation, the team put together a mix of The Show Notes and Four Things. Enjoy.
With just 39 days until Election Day, the warning signs are piling up for Republicans:
The Cook Political Report moved 15 House races toward Democrats on Friday, the latest sign of a deteriorating political environment for Republicans. There are now 17 Republican-held seats rated as Toss Ups, compared with just five Democratic-held seats. Democrats need a net gain of only three seats to take control of the House. -AxiosNBC News’ polling average now gives Democrats their largest advantageof the cycle on the generic congressional ballot. Recent individual polls tell a similar story, with NBC, Fox and The New York Times/Siena all showing Democrats leading Republicans nationally. -NBCEven Florida is giving Republicans reasons to worry.The state has become a GOP stronghold in recent election cycles, but the governor’s race has tightened considerably, with recent polling placing it within the margin of error. The anxiety is showing at the local level, with one Republican county chair telling Politico,“we are hemorrhaging.”-Politico
When rates climb at such a rapid pace, history tells them something bad tends to happen.
The 10-year yield saw its most rapid one-day increase since April 7, 2025, on Wednesday, rising further on Thursday to top 5.17%, quite a move considering two weeks ago it was below 4.8% and at one point in August, it was below 4.6%.
“Something always breaks,” proclaimed a recent note from John Roque, head of technical analysis at 22V Research.
Roque pointed out on a chart of the 10-year Treasury yield going back the last five decades 16 instances where it experienced a rapid advance like it is now. During each and every move, some sort of financial calamity resulted. While the scale of the crises varied in their market impact (from the jarring-but-short-lived Silicon Valley Bank failure of 2023 to the 1987 stock market crash), the jump in yields almost always led to some sort of disruption to financial markets that weighed on risk assets.
“As sure as day follows night, when the 10-year Treasury yield rises, something gets knocked out,” Roque remarked to CNBC. “It just pays to be cautious.”
Full story at CNBC.
A prominent PR firm with ties to AI doomsayers worked for Jacob Coxon as the ex-Anthropic researcher made national headlines for sounding the knell of the apocalypse about artificial intelligence — even as he denied working with third parties in going public with his concerns — according to a report.
DEY. Ideas + Influence helped book interviews for Coxon on Sept. 9 — a day after he announced his resignation and warned that people building advanced AI believe the tech “could kill us all by the end of the decade” — Pirate Wires reported Thursday, calling DEY. a “doomer” PR firm.
The outlet cited two people familiar with the matter and an email it said showed DEY. seeking to arrange an interview for the 27-year-old techie.
Full story at NY Post.
Trump administration officials are weighing alternatives to imposing a ban on diesel exports to bring prices for the fuel down from record highs — including passing the issue down to the state level, three people familiar with the negotiations said Friday.
Several options are on the table to alleviate the financial burden the high prices have inflicted on the farming and transportation sectors without a full halt to exports of the fuel, which economists and oil industry executives have warned would ultimately disrupt fuel production and push prices higher.
Full story at Politico.
Netanyahu Is Said to Have Been Warned About Hamas Attack Before Oct. 7 -
NYT(free)Democrats running for office turn sharply against their own party -
AxiosTrump says Scott Bessent won’t be AI czar -
CNBCWisconsin police find dozens of partially clothed men in frat house basement in alleged hazing incident -
CBSWhite House plays ‘Les Miserables’ hit censored by China at Trump-Xi dinner -
NY PostDebate-shy: Candidates aren’t sharing the stage like they used to -
AxiosAmericans Are Going Wild for Minivans -
Bloomberg(paywall)
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For years, my friends at the American Energy Institute sounded the alarm on the progressive war on affordable energy. But thanks to the Trump administration’s commitment to safe, reliable nuclear energy, America’s energy future is brighter than ever. That’s why I am partnering with my friends at American Energy Institute to drive economic prosperity through abundant, affordable, and reliable energy for everyone. Learn more about the bright future of American energy here.
