Good morning! Best of luck to Geoffrey Epstein in his bid for mayor of Framingham, Massachusetts. No, not Jeffrey. Geoffrey. The theoretical physicist.

In other news, people are getting plastic surgery to fix Ozempic face. Oh, and a Secret Service agent is under investigation for trying to, get this, smuggle his wife aboard a Secret Service cargo plane during Trump’s recent trip to Scotland. We’ll take “Stupid Ways to get Fired” for $2,000, Alex Ken.

POLITICS

🗺️ Texas Republicans drop new congressional map

The Republican-dominated Texas legislature is plowing full steam ahead with a Trump-backed plan to redraw the boundaries of the state’s U.S. House districts. The hope? Give Republicans a good chance of picking up five extra seats in the 2026 elections.

They released the proposed new map on Wednesday. As expected, it draws gobs of Republican-dominated areas (think exurban and rural areas) into U.S. House districts currently held by Democrats. The changes should net them the five extra seats they’re looking for.

• In 2024, Democrats won 40% of Texas’s congressional vote.

• Democrats currently hold 34% of the state’s U.S. House seats (13 of 38).

• With the proposed changes, that would drop to 21% (8 of 38).

When asked about the blatant partisanship of the move, some (non-Texas) Republicans pointed to Illinois. In the Land of Lincoln last year, they received 47% of the congressional vote but won just 18% of House seats. Three years ago, they had 28%.

• They also note that the Census Bureau dun goofed during the last count — a mistake that may have cost Republicans up to 10 seats.

Is this legal? Yes. Redistricting (this process) is usually only done immediately after the Census, and some states ban mid-decade redraws. But Texas isn't one of them. Many states also ban drawing districts meant to give one party an advantage. But again, not Texas.

Can Democrats fight back? Obviously, Democrats are ticked about the blatant partisanship here, which they say is unethical and unfair. But fighting back is, well, complicated. California Democrats want to redraw their state’s districts, but the California constitution bans partisan redistricting. Changing that would require a statewide vote of the people. Even if it passes, it would likely take too much time to affect the 2026 midterms.

• Other Democratic states, including New York and New Jersey, have state constitutions that ban mid-decade redraws.

• One last-ditch effort Texas Democrats may try? Leaving the state en masse to prevent the legislature from achieving a quorum — it can’t work if too many people are absent. But doing so risks arrest and large fines.

There’s just not much meat left on the bone for Democrats. They might be able to squeeze another seat out of Maryland, and maybe one in Illinois. But the White House is pushing Republicans to do the same in Indiana, Missouri, and Florida.

Future: We’ll find out in about 15 months whether the redistricting gambit was enough to save Trump from the horrific fate suffered by most presidents during their midterm elections: losing control of Congress.

In other political news, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may be looking for a parachute out of the Pentagon (via a run for office in Tennessee), and Kamala Harris has decided not to run for governor of California next year (hello, 2028?).

GOVERNMENT

🌳 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to revoke a 2009 scientific finding that underpins many of its recent climate regulations. The "endangerment finding" declared six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, to be air pollutants. That made them public health threats that could be heavily regulated by the EPA. The EPA's effort to dump the finding is subject to a lengthy legal process, so it probably won't be finalized until early 2026. Proponents of the move say the rule, via all the regulations it backs, needlessly drives up the cost of cars, energy, gas, flying, shipping, and well, just about everything. The other side says it's critical to fighting climate change and has vowed to fight the move in court.

📈 According to the Interior Department's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) records, Tuesday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake in the Russian Far East was the largest in the world since 2011 and one of the 10 largest since 1900. Tsunami warnings were issued as far away as Chile, clear across the Pacific. Because math is weird, an 8.8 magnitude quake releases nearly 16 times as much energy as an 8.0 and nearly 16 million times as much as a 4.0. Despite its massive size, no one died* and the tsunamis it caused were minor.

💰️ After a depressed Q1, the U.S. economy beat expectations and grew at an annualized rate of 3% in Q2. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee voted to keep interest rates where they are, despite Trump's demand for big cuts. But it wasn't an easy decision. For the first time since 1993, two members of the Fed's Board of Governors dissented, voting instead to move forward with cuts.

TRADE

⛏️ Somaliland pitches minerals deal

Rare earth minerals are so hot right now. So hot. They’re critical to everything that fuels the modern world, and China has a vice grip on the global supply. The United States is looking to break that grip and is working on getting its own mines online to help. But they won’t be enough.

A few months ago, the U.S. landed a defense-for-minerals deal with Ukraine. Now, Somaliland is on the hunt.

Somalia? No. Somaliland. Somaliland is a breakaway region of Somalia that has effectively governed itself since declaring independence in 1991. It's got all the hallmarks of a real country except one: international recognition that it's a real country.

Somaliland has loads of mineral deposits, but it’s poor and doesn’t have a well-developed mining industry. Its president recently spoke with U.S. diplomatic and defense officials, saying the U.S. is “most welcome” to "land in Somaliland." All he wants in exchange? Some of that sweet, sweet recognition.

Access to critical minerals isn’t the only thing on the table here, though. Somaliland sits at a critically important location near the mouth of the Red Sea, just across from Yemen. In pursuit of recognition, its president sweetened the pot by also offering the U.S. the right to plop down a phat military base on his territory.

• Myanmar in Southeast Asia made a similar offer this week: Access to its rare earth deposits in exchange for diplomatic help ending its problems with internal rebel groups.

Number one: If the U.S. takes the deal, it would become the first country to officially recognize Somaliland, much to the dismay of neighboring Somalia … and everyone else with a separatist movement.

In related news, Trump announced a trade deal with South Korea yesterday. Imports from the country will be hit with 15% tariffs, and South Korea will invest $450 billion in the U.S. economy. Expect a flood of trade news today, going into tomorrow's Aug. 1 make-a-deal-to-avoid-massive-tariffs deadline.

TRIVIA

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, mentioned in a story above, is old. Like, really old. The man is 91 right now and says he plans to run for reelection in 2028 at age 95. He’s been there since 1981 and is the longest-serving member of the chamber’s majority party.

As such, Grassley holds the title of President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate. It's mostly ceremonial, but it does have one big perk: It puts him third in line for the presidency behind the VP and House Speaker. According to federal law, who is the final person in the line of presidential succession?

Hint: It’s the secretary of the newest Cabinet department.

BRIEFS

● The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to draft a law to ban the use of masks by law enforcement. The move targets federal ICE officers who say they have to hide their faces due to security concerns. Expect this thing to end up in court soon.

● A bill to ban stock trading by members of Congress, the president, and the VP is gaining bipartisan steam. If it passes, the ban will hit Congress in a few months, but it wouldn’t affect the president or VP until 2029.

● The Senate voted 50-49 to approve the nomination of DOJ official Emil Bove to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Bove, Trump's former defense attorney, has attracted controversy for alleged abuses of power, but some say that’s just partisanship.

● The Trump administration has reversed course after freezing research funds at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Tuesday. Following an outcry on Capitol Hill, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) quickly released the cash on Wednesday.

● The New York Times apologized for a viral front-page story that used an image of a starving young boy in Gaza. Except, he isn't starving. He has cerebral palsy and other medical disorders. The Times also omitted images that included his healthier brother.

● VPN usage has skyrocketed in the United Kingdom after the country’s new online age verification rules kicked in. Intending to protect children, the U.K. now requires ID checks on sites deemed dangerous, including porn sites, Reddit, Discord, and X.

QUOTE

ANSWER

If disaster strikes the top three people on the list, America could end up with a 91-year-old president who’s held political office continuously since (get ready) 1959. So that could be interesting.

Anyway, the Presidential Succession Act puts the 15 Cabinet secretaries in line right behind Trump, Vance, Johnson, and Old Man Iowa. They’re mostly listed in the order their departments were created. That means the last name on the list is none other than Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

There’s been some discussion over the years about reordering the list a little. In the event that we end up in a real-life disaster movie, sooooome people think the Homeland Security secretary would be more qualified than, y’know, the Housing and Urban Development guy.