DN Speak Daily

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

The Trump administration weakens car fuel efficiency standards : NPR

The revised rules, which were finalized Monday, will now require carmakers to make their new passenger car and truck fleets up to 1% more fuel efficient each year, aiming for an average of 34.9 miles to the gallon in model year 2031.

This is down from Biden-era rules, which required an annual 2% increase in fuel efficiency with a goal of most vehicles getting, on average, 50.4 miles to the gallon by 2031…

https://www.npr.org/2026/09/28/nx-s1-5918509/car-fuel-efficiency-cafe-standards-rollback

Alito bows out of blockbuster Supreme Court climate case - POLITICO

Alito had faced calls to recuse himself from Suncor v. Boulder over his financial interests in energy companies. A Monday letter from Scott Harris, clerk of the court, informed the parties that Alito “has determined that he will not continue to participate in this case.” The notice did not further explain his decision to sit out arguments Oct. 5, the first day of the court’s new term…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/28/supreme-court-alito-climate-case-01095470

Corruption Chronicles No.23

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Nq6TA_DLlN0

Trump administration reinstates sexual misconduct rule for schools - POLITICO

“While the administration is unlawfully eroding protections for trans students under the guise of ‘protecting women and girls,’ they are systematically weakening the very laws that keep students safe and schools accountable,” said Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center. “Protecting women and girls means not limiting Title IX protections based on students’ reproductive traits and anatomy and enforcing Title IX to make sure schools are inclusive spaces that provide equal educational opportunity for all students.”…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/28/trump-administration-finalizes-repeal-of-biden-era-title-ix-rule-01094990

Most Americans don’t know Hasan Piker. The rest say he is changing this year’s elections

Piker features in Republican campaign ads. A photo of him nearly nude, inexplicably, appeared on the jumbotron at the party’s midterm convention. And Republicans have tried hard to tie Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in the critical swing state of Michigan, to Piker after El-Sayed campaigned with him in the primary. (The candidate has since distanced himself from Piker.)…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/sep/27/hasan-piker-republicans-democrats-us-midterm-elections

Rep. Levin: You Paid for Trump’s Illegal Propaganda

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/svd3SmsIdQk

Rep. Levin: Corruption Chronicles #26

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/T8eiun507xY

ICE operations are making it hard for vulnerable Republicans fighting for their political survival - POLITICO

Immigration enforcement in Kansas, Texas, Florida and beyond is forcing battleground Republicans to answer for the fallout…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/27/ice-crackdown-immigration-republicans-midterms-01093912

‘Love letter’: California AG takes aim at Trump’s links to Big Oil - POLITICO

Bonta also challenged Trump’s relationships with the fossil fuel industry and corporations, accusing him of failing to enforce antitrust laws.

“Trump has been writing an ongoing love letter, or at least attempting to, to the fossil fuel industry, writing different chapters and different verses and trying to provide them giveaways time and time again,” he said…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/28/love-letter-california-ag-takes-aim-at-trumps-links-to-big-oil-01094545

Inside the anti-climate campaign against researchers - POLITICO

It’s the latest strategy in a decades-long campaign by right-leaning groups to discredit scholars whose work could persuade judges and juries in the high-stakes climate cases. Now it’s gathering steam amid a growing push by the Trump administration to block dozens of lawsuits levied at energy companies by communities that were affected by extreme weather…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/28/climate-science-conservative-documents-universities-01065669

Where to Place Our Anger

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TgWUvXuhFz0

RNC falsely says 54% of NC’s commercial driver licenses were issued illegally to noncitizens – PolitiFact

The Republican National Committee based its numbers on a sampling — not a full accounting — of commercial driver’s licenses issued in North Carolina.

The North Carolina DMV says 8,540, or about 2.6% of its 325,114 active CDLs, were issued to noncitizens.

Of the 8,540 CDLs issued to noncitizens, 1,149 were issued incorrectly, but not to immigrants in the U.S. illegally...

https://politifact.com/factchecks/2026/sep/24/republican-national-committee-republican/rnc-falsely-says-54-of-ncs-commercial-driver-licenses-were-issued-illegally-to-noncitizens/

News publishers accuse Trump admin of bias toward AI companies in copyright suit - POLITICO

The publishers are suing OpenAI for copyright infringement. The Justice Department earlier this month filed a statement supporting OpenAI’s defense in the case, arguing that copying others’ content without permission in order to train large language models is protected under the “fair use” doctrine…

Trump asked Xi Jinping if China would like to buy US weapons, American ambassador says

…while the state department said: “US law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/28/trump-xi-jinping-china-buy-weapons

John Thune: Taxpayer dollars shouldn't fund Trump ads - Live Updates - POLITICO

One of the ads that has aired in recent days is virtually identical to a 2024 Trump campaign ad except that the new version states it is “paid for by the U.S. government.” …

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/09/28/congress/john-thune-knocks-trump-ads-01095763

Gone in 90 seconds: an ‘invisibilized’ ICE is arresting more people than ever

Though agents appear to be moving with more stealth than they were before, ICE arrests are still, often, violent. Glimpses of that violence are – despite Mullin’s initial intentions – still making national headlines.

Last week, an ICE agent shot Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez in Austin, Texas. The Venezuelan asylum seeker, who had received a deportation order after missing a letter to appear in immigration court, was discharged from a local hospital with a bullet still lodged near his spine and then taken to ICE detention. That same day, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a Guatemalan man died in a fiery crash while fleeing federal immigration agents.

Still, for every arrest that breaks through into public view, countless others happen quickly, before anyone can notice. “The detentions are happening in a flash – we’re talking, like, 90 seconds from the time ICE shows up to that person being driven away,” Willis said. “And often they are moving very quietly, with very soft feet.”…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/sep/28/ice-us-immigration-new-tactics

Trump asks Supreme Court to OK limits on transgender-related care for prisoners - POLITICO

“The lower courts have consistently found the administration’s policy is a direct threat to the well-being of transgender people in federal custody and an open violation of their fundamental rights,” the attorneys said in a statement Monday. “The withholding of medically necessary health care, including gender-affirming health care, from people in prison violates their Constitutional right to serve their sentence free of cruel and unusual punishment. We will continue to defend the rights of our clients and all incarcerated people.”…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/28/transgender-care-prisons-supreme-court-appeal