x01a Research Archives

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HBO’s John Oliver went on an especially nasty rant against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight for his recent majority opinion in Louisiana v. Callais. Oliver declared that Alito’s claim that the South isn’t as racist as it was in the 60s is “obviously horseshit” and suggested Alito supports segregation multiple times.

Oliver teed up a clip of a report from ABC’s Rachel Scott by claiming, “That ruling basically gutted Section Two of the VRA, which prohibits race-based discrimination when it comes to voting, including drawing election maps that dilute minority voting power, and in writing the opinion for the majority, Justice Alito took a bold swing.”

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President Donald Trump said on Tuesday evening that he is pausing the U.S. effort to guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz to allow time for a deal to end the Iran war, but that the American forces’ blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place.

Trump announced the decision in a social media post, saying the effort — which started on Monday in the vital waterway for global energy — would pause for a short period to see whether an agreement with Tehran on ending the war in the Middle East could be finalized.

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The Associated Press has declared Amy Acton the winner of the Democratic nomination for governor. The wire has also declared Vivek Ramaswamy the winner of Ohio’s Republican primary for governor.

Meanwhile, NBC News has called Sherrod Brown the winner of Ohio’s Democratic Senate race. We’ll be awaiting the Associated Press’s official projections.

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The tiny worm that rewrote the rules of animal life. Image Credits: Google Gemini

There is a worm living in water-filled cracks in ancient rock in a South African gold mine that has no business being there. It’s smaller than a grain of rice. It has no eyes, and it exists in conditions that most animals, even some of the toughest on Earth, simply could not cope with. Meet Halicephalobus mephisto, or the devil worm, as it’s more commonly known. This little worm blew scientists’ previous understanding of life on Earth.

A discovery that no one saw comingIn 2011, scientists announced they’d found a living nematode worm 1.3 kilometres (0.8 miles) below the Earth’s surface, about as deep as four Empire State Buildings on top of each other. The discovery, announced in the study Nematoda from the terrestrial deep subsurface of South Africa, was instantly significant. Not that nematodes were especially glamorous, but because there had never been a nematode found so far underground. Bacteria and microbes, sure. However, a multicellular animal? That was meant to be impossible.

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CT Mirror celebrated a gubernatorial bill signing May 4, claiming it would require federal agents to display their names or badge numbers — facilitating the already out-of-control doxxing against ICE — persecute ICE for defending themselves with lethal force, and prevent arrests at schools and churches. It appears that Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont might have made his disgusting accusations at his bill signing, when he claimed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are “brutal,” criticized Trump for referring to criminal illegal aliens as “criminal aliens,” and compared immigration enforcement to the historical Know-Nothing party, anti-Catholic laws, and “Jim Crow laws.” “Never before…has it been led by the White House,” he pontificated, ignoring the numerous Democrat presidents who explicitly aligned themselves with the KKK and political violence.

DHS was quick to respond to Lamont’s propaganda with a list of the despicable illegal alien criminals who were living in — and quite possibly receiving taxpayer-funded benefits in — Connecticut before ICE arrested them. The aliens’ crimes include murder, pedophilic sexual assault, and child abuse.

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The California primaries are the best thing to happen to Republicans facing a perilous midterms. It’s California, one of only two states the media cares about (the other being New York). The “jungle primary” puts Rs and Ds against each other early on, with the two top vote getters moving to the general. And having Rs on stage with Ds helps expose that, while Trump might not be polling well, Americans hate what the left has been selling. This was clear as Republican Steven Hilton totally pantsed all the Democrats on stage.

Point of information: Democrats have been in total control of California for decades, so anything happening in the state is their fault. This makes it awkward for other Democrats to say that the state isn’t working for Californians. Or, while we’re at it, New Yorkers either.

The safe, consultant-driven thing for Hilton to do would be to avoid the word “Trump” at all costs. Instead, he, as a legal immigrant, says if elected, he’ll work with Trump to enforce the laws dealing with the illegal ones. Then you had when the Democrats on stage tried to blame Donald Trump for California being a su-diddly-ucky place to live.

Donald Trump is the president in ALL the other states of America, where the cost of living is WAY LOWER than in California.

It’s not Donald Trump who’s given us gas prices $2 higher than the REST of the country! It’s Democrat policies, which ALL the Democrats here support.

It’s NOT Donald Trump that’s given us the highest housing costs in the country. It’s Democrat policies that all these Democrats support!

Obviously, it is way past time for change in California and endlessly going on about Donald Trump doesn’t serve the needs of the struggling families and small businesses.

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What the Epstein files have done is crystallize for all of us how power actually works in the shadows,” says journalist Vicky Ward.Davide Bonaldo/SOPA/ZUMA

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In 2002, journalist Vicky Ward—then a writer for Vanity Fair magazine—was assigned to investigate a mysterious New York City financier named Jeffrey Epstein. During her reporting, she stumbled upon sexual abuse allegations against Epstein by Maria and Annie Farmer, whose account was ultimately cut from Ward’s piece, titled “The Talented Mr. Epstein.” That decision sparked recriminations between Ward and then–Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter that have continued for more than a decade.

In previous interviews, Carter has claimed that Ward’s reporting didn’t meet Vanity Fair’s editorial standards and that the allegations came too late in the editing process. But Ward says the magazine left out the Farmer sisters’ account after Epstein personally pressured Carter to remove it.

“I’ve since been asked if Tina Brown or any other woman had been an editor at Vanity Fair at the time, do I think the Farmer sisters’ allegations would have run?” Ward tells More To The Story host Al Letson. “The answer to that is absolutely yes.”

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Americans do not care about the climate crisis, only economic issues: That’s the message some wonks have put forth in the past year, as the Trump administration has dismantled environmental protections. But the shift away from climate is misguided, an influential group of progressives is arguing.

“The climate crisis is a core driver of the cost-of-living crisis and instability we see across the economy,” says a new policy platform from left-leaning think tank Climate and Community Institute (CCI).

The proposal, “Stop Greed, Build Green,” outlines a framework for what its authors call “green economic populism.” Decarbonization should be understood not as competing with affordability, but as a potential tool for achieving it, says the group, which has written federal bills for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and was behind a groundbreaking New York public power law.

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Just before midnight on Nov. 24, 2025, New Castle County police officers conducting a routine property check in Wilmington’s Canby Park spotted a white Toyota Tacoma parked after hours. What initially appeared to be a standard traffic stop uncovered a detailed terror plot. The suspect — a University of Delaware student — was found in possession of a converted machine gun, more than 100 rounds of ammunition, body armor, and a handwritten notebook mapping out a planned attack on the campus police department, including entry points, escape routes, and the name of a specific officer. When FBI agents interviewed him, he stated that achieving martyrdom was “one of the greatest things you can do.” The acting U.S. Attorney called it “a quintessential example” of law enforcement collaboration that stopped a catastrophe.

Public safety professionals have spent two decades training to detect threats like the one in Delaware, yet it was a chance traffic stop that ultimately exposed it. But the threats arriving now are far subtler. State-sponsored reconnaissance, espionage, and pre-operational surveillance do not announce themselves with machine guns and manifestos — picture a graduate student flying a drone over a shipyard, a photographer lingering near a port crane, or a series of probing visits to a water treatment facility. If our patrol officers are catching terrorism by accident, they are almost certainly missing foreign adversary surveillance entirely.

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U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran will be bombed “at a much higher level” if it doesn’t agree to a peace deal.

The president said the war “will be at an end” if Iran agrees to the proposals, meaning the Strait of Hormuz “will be open to all.”

His post on Truth Social came after markets reacted to an Axios report that the U.S. and Iran were close to an agreement that would bring their two-month war to an end.

The outlet reported on Wednesday that Washington expects responses from Tehran on several key points to form the basis of a one-page memo within the next 48 hours.

Oil prices fell sharply in response, while U.S. stock futures, equities listed in Europe and global sovereign bonds rallied.

In his Truth Social post, the president warned that if Iran did not agree to a deal, “the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”

Before the post, a Pakistan government official told MS Now: “The prospect of a proposal to end the war is very likely in the coming days.”

A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry told CNBC earlier on Wednesday they were “evaluating” a 14-article peace proposal from the U.S.

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British maritime risk management group Vanguard said authorities would investigate whether the damage might have been caused by an attack, a drifting sea mine or another external object.

In response to the incident, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said on Tuesday it had asked Korean vessels in the area to move to safer locations and said authorities were in close communications with shipping companies and stranded vessels.

The South Korean government has said 26 South Korean-flagged vessels were stranded around the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on the Truth Social platform, Trump said Iran had fired shots at the ship and other targets as the US launched an operation seeking to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

He suggested it could be time for South Korea to join his new effort to help guide stranded ships through the waterway typically used to carry about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed the DOJ antitrust division has been investigating possible violations by the meatpacking industry.

Blanche spoke at a press conference:

As you all know, last November, the president tasked the department to investigate the costs and prices of beef. As a result, we prioritized investigating potential antitrust violations in US cattle and beef markets.

In the beef industry, the big four processors control over 85% of the beef processing market. Two of the big four are primarily foreign owned. Multiple plant closures across the country. The current market structure and high concentration in the industry indicate anti-competitive activity. Since the President’s executive order, the department has been actively investigating with a review of over 3 million documents. Hundreds of industry participants, including ranchers, cattlemen, producers, and processors have been contacted and many interviewed as part of this ongoing investigation.

More broadly, the department has also executed on the President’s executive order to stop anti-competitive behavior in the broader food supply market.

Later this week, we will be announcing an historic settlement that will directly affect the prices of proteins like chicken, pork, and turkey. This business model allows competitors to exchange competitively sensitive information on every aspect of the protein industry, and has raised the prices on chicken, raised the prices on pork, and raised the prices on turkey.

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Not a single Democrat in the Senate is willing to support the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, and a new op-ed from The Washington Post might just explain why.

The SAVE America Act would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and voter ID to cast a ballot in federal elections. The current “safeguard” preventing noncitizens from registering to vote and voting is a tiny square box on the federal registration form asking applicants to attest they are telling the truth about their citizenship status. In other words, the honor system.

The legislation passed the House (with a single Democrat voting alongside Republicans) but has stalled in the Republican controlled Senate, with a few RINOs and the entire Democrat apparatus opposing the election integrity legislation.

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Bengaluru, India – In the sultry August heat of 2007, India’s government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was sweating over the future of negotiations with the United States over a landmark nuclear deal. The proposed agreement aimed to ease access to nuclear fuel and technology in exchange for greater international scrutiny of India’s facilities.

The problem? India’s communists – suspicious of the US – were opposed to the deal. And they were India’s kingmakers.

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As Catherine Salgado reported last week, Trump lambasted anti-MAHA Sen. Bill Cassidy, current chair of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, for his leading role in tanking the recent nomination of Casey Means for surgeon general, presumably on account of her lukewarm enthusiasm for the current vaccine schedule.

(Cassidy is a tireless champion for all vaccines, including, as I have covered in depth before, the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. Whether he truly believes in the safety and efficacy of these products is probably immaterial; the salient factor is that he’s up to his ears in pharma cash. According to Open Secrets, from 2019 to 2024, he raked in $1,313,974 in “donations” from PACs and individuals in the “Health Professionals” category and $712,504 from PACs and individuals in the “Pharmaceuticals/Health Products” category. I have written about this particular Swamp creature, his misdeeds, and the dire need to purge him from Washington extensively, including here.)

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The Center for Christian Virtue is prepared to pursue legal action after the group’s proposal for displaying three crosses on top of its building was rejected by the city of Columbus, Ohio.

The unanimous decision against the center, a 501(c)(3) family policy organization in downtown Columbus, was made on April 28 by six members of the city’s Downtown Commission, which laid out their objections in a staff report.

It’s a move that Aaron Baer, the center’s president, called “frustrating.”

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Vladimir Putin has threatened Kyiv with his most massive strike of the war if Ukrainian drones disrupt his major military parade in Moscow on Saturday. His defence ministry warned that civilians and diplomats should leave the city promptly if Volodymyr Zelensky attacks the Red Square showpiece, citing a rapid and massive retaliatory missile strike.

The Russian warning implies a hit by the hypersonic Oreshnik missile, which Putin boasts has the power of a full nuclear explosion even in its conventional mode. Putin said previously that using several such systems at once would be comparable in strength to a nuclear strike. His favourite newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, warned today that Oreshnik also has a nuclear configuration.

Vladimir Putin has threatened Kyiv with the most massive strike of the war if Ukrainian drones disrupt his major military parade in Moscow this Saturday. His defence ministry warned that civilians and diplomats should leave the city promptly if Volodymyr Zelensky attacks the Red Square showpiece, citing a rapid and massive retaliatory missile strike.