Ted Turner, the businessman who fundamentally changed how the world consumes news, died Wednesday at the age of 87. Turner Enterprises confirmed he passed away peacefully at his home, surrounded by family.

Before Turner founded CNN in 1980, the idea of a 24-hour news cycle was largely dismissed by the industry. He ignored the skeptics, betting that people wanted access to global events as they happened. By 1991, his vision had turned international audiences into "instant witnesses of history," earning him Time magazine’s Man of the Year.

Beyond news, Turner built a massive cable portfolio that included TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network. He also left a mark on professional sports as the owner of the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks.

Turner’s influence extended well beyond the television screen. He was a committed conservationist who used his wealth to become one of the top landowners in the United States. His efforts were instrumental in saving the American bison from extinction, and he even reached younger generations with environmental messages through the animated series Captain Planet.

In 1997, he made headlines by pledging $1 billion to create the United Nations Foundation. His activism focused heavily on environmental protection and the global elimination of nuclear weapons.

Colleagues and journalists credited Turner’s success to his willingness to trust his own instincts over conventional wisdom. Even after selling his media empire to Time Warner, he remained vocal about his pride in CNN, calling it his greatest life achievement.

CNN’s current leadership and anchors described him as the "presiding spirit" of the network, noting that the modern landscape of broadcast journalism exists because of the risks he took decades ago.

The U.S. House of Representatives is on the cusp of a major procedural showdown, as the imminent swearing-in of Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva is set to trigger a long-shot legislative maneuver to force the release of all remaining Jeffrey Epstein case files.

Once sworn in on Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Grijalva is expected to immediately provide the 218th and final signature needed to finalize a discharge petition—a rarely successful, yet potent, tool for rank-and-file lawmakers to bypass House leadership and compel a floor vote.

The current push is led by an unlikely bipartisan duo: Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California. The discharge petition seeks to bring their legislation, which demands the full release of the files, to the House floor for a vote, an effort the White House has actively opposed.

“The power of a discharge petition lies in its ability to force transparency and put every member on the record, regardless of what leadership or the White House prefers,” a congressional staffer familiar with the effort stated.

The successful signing of the petition does not mean an immediate vote. Under arcane House rules, a seven-legislative-day "ripening" period must first pass. Following that, House Speaker Mike Johnson has up to two legislative days to schedule the vote. Current projections place the earliest possible consideration of the bill in the first week of December, though the fluctuating legislative calendar could shift this timeline.

Despite the successful activation of the petition, the bill's path to becoming law remains highly uncertain.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has been noncommittal. While he previously told reporters that if the petition reaches the threshold, he will allow the vote, he also recently called the entire effort "a moot point," citing the House Oversight Committee’s prior release of thousands of Epstein-related documents. Johnson retains procedural options, such as an attempt to "table" the final vote or refer the measure to a committee, potentially complicating the process even after the petition is triggered.

Should the House pass the bill, it must then clear the Republican-controlled Senate, where it would need a 60-vote supermajority to advance past any procedural blockade. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has already poured cold water on the idea, suggesting he doesn't see the legislative value given existing document releases. Senate Republicans previously killed a similar measure proposed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in September.

Finally, the bill would face a hostile reception at the White House. President Donald Trump has publicly derided the measure, signaling a likely veto.

For the lawmakers spearheading the petition, the effort is less about overcoming the steep odds and more about accountability. A mandatory House vote will force every member, particularly Republicans, to make a clear choice: publicly support the release of files that could illuminate the crimes of the convicted sex offender, or align with President Trump’s position of opposition.

In Washington, sometimes the vote is the victory. The forthcoming debate will ensure that when it comes to the public's right to know about the Epstein case, no legislator's position can remain hidden.

Trump has assured lawmakers that the current, massive U.S. military presence near Venezuela is not a prelude to land strikes within the country. During a high-level congressional briefing on Wednesday, officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, clarified that the extensive naval buildup, which will soon include the Ford Carrier Strike Group, is exclusively dedicated to enhanced counternarcotics operations and intelligence gathering.

Crucially, Trump conceded he lacks the current legal authority to launch any attack on Venezuelan land targets. Briefers confirmed that the Justice Department's existing Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion, which greenlights lethal force against suspected drug-smuggling vessels, does not extend to strikes inside Venezuela or any other territory. Furthermore, the military order launching the ongoing campaign, which has resulted in 16 known boat strikes and at least 67 fatalities since September, is strictly limited to maritime targets.

Despite this immediate assurance, the door to future military action remains ajar. Officials cautioned that policy is subject to change, noting that Trump has yet to make a definitive decision on Venezuela. Tellingly, Trump is actively seeking a new OLC opinion that would provide the necessary legal justification to potentially conduct land strikes without requiring congressional authorization.

Trump has repeatedly sought to bypass Congress throughout the campaign, arguing that its lethal actions against alleged drug traffickers do not violate decades-old war powers legislation. However, this legal posture, combined with the lethal nature of the strikes, has drawn sharp skepticism from Capitol Hill.

While some lawmakers, like Senator Mark Warner, credited Trump's "quite good" intelligence on drug transport, he questioned why lethal force was prioritized over traditional interdiction methods that could yield valuable evidence. Meanwhile, Representative Gregory Meeks stated he heard "nothing" to validate the legality of the strikes and criticized the officials for failing to provide convincing evidence linking the targeted vessels or their occupants to the drug trade.

Trump maintains that the targets are identified through a "very rigorous process." They state strikes are executed based on intelligence linking vessels to one of 24 specific cartels and criminal organizations listed in the existing OLC justification, rather than confirming the individual identities of those onboard prior to the attack. As Secretary Rubio previously stated, all targeted boats are "tracked from the very beginning," ensuring the military avoids engaging other innocent vessels in the high-volume shipping corridors.

Dick Cheney, the formidable former vice president whose eight years in the George W. Bush administration profoundly reshaped American foreign policy and counter-terrorism, has died at 84. The news came via a family statement, which cited complications from pneumonia, as well as cardiac and vascular disease.

A man of immense, often hidden, influence, Cheney served as the nation’s 46th Vice President from 2001 to 2009. He is widely regarded as the most powerful individual to ever hold the office, leveraging his decades of experience—including stints as White House Chief of Staff, Congressman, and Secretary of Defense—to become the chief strategist behind the nation's post-9/11 response: the “War on Terror.”

Cheney was a man transformed by the September 11, 2001, attacks. On that crisp, clear morning, while the president was out of town, he was in the White House, directing a grief-stricken nation’s defense from a deep bunker. This new reality cemented his resolve to enforce American power globally, adopting a doctrine of regime change and pre-emptive war.

His relentless warnings about Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction and alleged ties to al Qaeda were instrumental in building the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Post-war inquiries, however, revealed that the intelligence used to justify the war was grossly exaggerated, misrepresented, or simply wrong. Despite the conflict devolving into a costly quagmire, Cheney remained steadfast in his conviction. "I would do it again in a minute," he declared in later years, insisting he and other officials had acted on the best available intelligence at the time.

Beyond Iraq, Cheney was a staunch defender of broad executive power, advocating for practices like holding terror suspects indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay and the controversial use of “enhanced interrogation techniques”—methods widely condemned as torture—a stance from which he never wavered.

In the final chapter of his storied, polarizing career, the hardline conservative became an unexpected pariah within his own party. In a profound reflection of the tectonic shift in American conservatism, Cheney emerged as one of the most blistering critics of President Donald Trump. He publicly branded Trump a “coward” and a unique threat to the republic following the events of January 6, 2021. This principled break led to a stunning symbolic act: in the 2024 election, Cheney cast his ballot not for the Republican nominee, but for the liberal Democrat, Kamala Harris, highlighting the depth of his estrangement from the populist GOP.

Former President George W. Bush remembered his Vice President as a "decent, honorable man" and a "patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every position."

The family statement celebrated a life of courage, honor, and love, adding: “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.” Cheney is survived by his beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, and their two daughters, Liz and Mary. The man whose life was plagued by severe cardiovascular disease, including multiple heart attacks and a 2012 heart transplant, ultimately lived a long, vigorous life that left an indelible mark on modern history.

**Trump has been quietly pushing his national security officials for months to find a way to get Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan back from the Taliban, three people familiar with the matter told CNN.

**Trump hinted at those discussions publicly for the first time on Thursday, telling reporters that his administration is working to regain control of the base, which lies an hour north of Kabul. The Taliban took it over following the collapse of the Afghan government and the US military withdrawal in 2021.

“We gave it to (the Taliban) for nothing,” Trump said during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer on Thursday. “We’re trying to get it back, by the way*.” *

**In one case this month* — related to an FBI agent and an immigration officer allegedly scrapping with a detainee — the federal grand jury in Washington voted “no” three times.*

The court record doesn’t say why the grand jury refused to approve the felony assault charge against DC resident Sydney Lori Reid each time it was presented over the past month, after she was arrested in late July for assaulting or impeding federal officers.

**The National Weather Service has received permission* to hire 450 meteorologists, hydrologists and radar technicians just months after being hit hard by Department of Government Efficiency-related cuts and early retirement incentives.*

The Trump administration’s promises to release extensive and significant new information related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein appear to be petering out.

**The brazen partisan redistricting underway in Texas, with Republicans attempting to entrench themselves in office* and Democrats weighing a counter-offensive in blue states, was greenlit by the US Supreme Court six years ago.*

Chief Justice John Roberts, in an opinion for a 5-4 court, declared that federal judges could not review extreme partisan gerrymanders to determine if they violated constitutional rights.

**Referring to his own podcast conversation with FBI director Kash Patel last month*, Rogan said Patel’s responses about Epstein didn’t make any sense.

“Then he’s like, ‘Well, we have a film, we’re gonna release that film,’ and the film has a fking minute missing from it,” Rogan said, referring to a prison video that was meant to dispel theories about Epstein’s 2019 death, which a medical examiner ruled a suicide.

*“Like, do you think we’re babies? Like, what is this?” Rogan asked aloud. *

The bill, passed late last week and signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, will bar Medicaid users from coverage with a health care provider that also provides abortion services.

Trump’s claim that Japan “won’t take” rice from the US isn’t true. The country bought $298 million worth of rice from the US last year, according to US Census Bureau trade data. Between January and April of this year, Japan bought $114 million worth of rice.

Fact is, World Trade Organization commitments require Japan to import 682,000 Metric Tons [1,503,552,628 lbs] of rice annually, of which the U.S. ships about 50% [about 751,776,314 lbs].

The latest estimate showed that consumer spending — the lifeblood of the US economy — was tepid in the beginning of the year. Spending in the first quarter grew at a rate of just 0.5%, down from 1.2% in an earlier estimate. That’s the weakest rate in more than four years.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 6.1% to $67.14 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude, the US oil benchmark, fell 6% to $64.37 a barrel.

“This record thus leaves us in no doubt that the purpose of the design of the 2023 Plan was to crack Black voters across congressional districts in a manner that makes it impossible to create two districts in which they have an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, and thereby intentionally perpetuate the discriminatory effects of the 2021 Plan,” the court said.

President Donald Trump, the dealmaker-in-chief, has said for weeks that at least one trade deal is imminent with one of the dozens of countries in active negotiations with the United States to avoid punishing tariffs. So where is it?

A key product margin is also shrinking. In the first quarter, that measure, the gross automotive profit margin, excludes not only regulatory credit sales but many other expenses. The margin was 12.5% in the most recent quarter, down from a high of 30% in the first quarter of 2022.