Jay Feely, a former NFL kicker and CBS Sports analyst who is running for Congress in Arizona, has made “protecting women’s sports” a central theme of his campaign. Yet Feely has expressed retrograde views about female athletes. He described girls who compete in sports as “emotional” and more interested in getting along with their teammates than winning. Feely also argued that the WNBA is “the most unlikable league in the history of American sports.”
President Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., has raised over $400 million — more than any other entity has ever had to spend on the midterm elections. Trump raised a significant chunk of this unprecedented sum from corporations or individuals that are seeking, or recently received, favors from the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, Trump unveiled a new website, America.gov, that he claims will be an interface that provides services from the federal government. Currently, America.gov functions as an AI chatbot that bases its answers on government data. As a result, America.gov is capable of authoritatively debunking falsehoods that are a staple of Trump’s public remarks.
Since September 6, major Republican-aligned super PACs have spent $37 million on ads attacking Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on trans issues. On Tuesday, Texas PAC, a super PAC created by Senate GOP leadership, launched a new digital-only ad on Meta platforms that accused Talarico of supporting putting “parents in jail if they do not support surgically transitioning their children.” The ad is completely baseless. Texas PAC took the spot offline hours after being contacted by Popular Information.
The best of the rest
An AP analysis found that, since 2015, Ken Paxton, the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, “left about 730 workdays blank on his official calendars and took over 275 out-of-state trips to places such as the California wine country, Caribbean resorts and European tourism hot spots.” The trips “cost Texas taxpayers a minimum of $1.9 million.” (Associated Press)
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg touts the company’s AI achievements. But when filing taxes, Meta tells the Internal Revenue Service “that its A.I. data centers are a giant experiment that could fail,” in order to “tap into a tax credit intended for research and experimentation.” (New York Times)
Local elections for sheriffs and prosecutors could be crucial in deciding how jurisdictions across the country respond to misconduct by federal agents or claims of election fraud. Of the 2,400 such elections taking place this year, Bolts has identified 25 races to follow. (Bolts)
ProPublica paid for one of its reporters to use a sports betting app to test its guardrails for curbing problem gambling behavior. The experiment found that as the reporter displayed more problematic tendencies, like chasing losses with even bigger bets, the app provided incentives to bet even more. (ProPublica)
Numerical information
At least $2.5 million: The cost of the Trump administration’s pro-Trump taxpayer-funded ads so far, according to an estimate by AdImpact.
More than $227 million: The amount donated to Trump’s super PAC and other Trump pet projects over the last two years by attendees at a White House summit on AI this week, according to Public Citizen.
$810 million: The amount of congressionally allocated funds that Trump is refusing to spend. More than half of the money being withheld is supposed to go to programs that support “refugees, asylees, and other non-citizens.”
Quote of the week
“No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors… The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top.”
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on his vision for the military, 9/30/26
Photo of the week
Smith actually attended an Iowa Hawkeyes basketball game in Maryland, not an Atlanta Hawks game like Schmitt claimed. Willis was hundreds of miles away.
If Fani Wilson affair with a subordinate interfered with her investigation of Trump, every man who was ever involved with a subordinate must have his work questioned&we will go on the assumption his work was compromised.
I haven’t heard of any CODEL traveling to the CENTCOM AOR to visit the troops, witness our departure from Iraq, or inspect the damage from Iran’s strikes. Why is that?