Uncategorized

ACROSS THE NATION

Republican midterm convention provides Vance center stage moment as party faces midterm verdict

DALLAS (AP) -- Republicans opened the second and final day of their midterm convention in Dallas on Thursday knowing that history is not on their side this election season, but counting on President Donald Trump to propel voters to protect their House and Senate majorities.

They're also setting the stage for what could come next, in a post-Trump era, as Vice President JD Vance takes center stage with a primetime speaking slot just ahead of the president. Vance has not said whether he will run for the White House, and Trump has yet to name an heir apparent.

With Republican control of Congress at risk this November and the next presidential election two years away, voters are still assessing their options.

"We've got a deep bench," said Bruce Johnston, 62, who drove 29 hours with his son from Delaware to be in Dallas. "I mean you've got a lot of good candidates. I'd pick any of those for the primary. And we'll get a good one."

His son, Anthony, 33, said he believes Vance is being groomed as Trump's successor.

"No one's Trump," he said. "But I like him a lot."

More immediately, however, Republicans face a potential reckoning this fall.

They are struggling to bolster enthusiasm to get out the vote for congressional candidates and laboring to overcome voters' concerns about the economy and the war with Iran. While many Republicans skipped the confab at American Airlines Center, others in the party still see solidarity with Trump as their best shot at winning, despite the president's low approval rating.

They spent the first night denouncing Democrats as extremists before Trump capped Wednesday by making the outlandish promise of $5,000 to each American adult if his party wins. Such a proposal could cost more than $1 trillion and was roundly panned by budget experts, and even some Republicans in the president's party.

"The midterms are not supposed to be won by the sitting president," Trump acknowledged during a lengthy primetime speech.

But he framed the election as a referendum and encouraged voters to cast their ballots as if they were voting for him: "Pretend I'm on the ballot."

House Democrats, in Texas for a second day of counterprogramming, blasted the Republicans' convention as an opulent spectacle for an out-of-touch president.

"As Donald Trump and JD Vance party away for two days, the average American family can't afford the groceries," said Rep. Robert Garcia, D-California. "Donald Trump does not care about the average American family or about affordability."

Protesters chanting "say it loud, say it clear, Donald Trump's not welcome here" marched down streets, but were stopped by police from getting too close to the site.

Trump, hoping to salvage midterms, makes a dubious pledge to give every US adult $5,000 if GOP wins

President Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections, an extraordinary gambit to reverse his party's sagging fortunes in November.

The dubious promise would most likely cost more than $1 trillion and require congressional approval, and would further exacerbate the country's nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit and concerns about inflation.

"If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000," Trump said during the GOP's midterm convention in Dallas. "It will be called the Trump Dividend."

He likened the payments to a corporation's distributions to shareholders, citing "our tremendous strength and success economically."

Within an hour, Vice President JD Vance appeared to try to walk back Trump's proposal -- at least in part -- by suggesting the dividend payments would not go to the wealthy. Vance suggested it could be paid for by U.S. tariff revenues, though the suggested payment dwarfs what the U.S. has taken in through the protectionist measures.

The White House did not respond to a message seeking details.

Congress would need to approve or otherwise acquiesce to the payment. The sum would far exceed U.S. tariff revenues even before the Supreme Court tossed much of the president's tariff program last year.

The national debt last month topped $40 trillion for the first time.

Trump has frequently lamented that, during the modern era, the president's party almost always loses seats in Congress during the midterms, and he has looked for unorthodox ways to defy the trend, including this week's convention.

"We're going to change that," Trump said. "There's no reason for it."

Marc Goldwein, the senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank in Washington, said Trump has no authority to send money to Americans without approval from Congress.

Goldwein added that dividends are something that companies pay when there's a surplus, but the U.S. is running $2 trillion annual deficits and has $40 trillion in debt.

Anthropic says it blocked misuse of its AI that could have supported biological weapons

Anthropic said Thursday it has blocked efforts by bad actors to use its artificial intelligence models for malicious activity such as cyberattacks, surveillance, and research that could have led to biological weapons.

As AI models grow more powerful, elaborate cyberattacks no longer require sophisticated skills and even lone individuals can create threats that would not have been possible even a year ago, Anthropic said. The company said it has added stronger safeguards in its latest models to restrict biological research that could also be used to make weapons.

"The cases we share here aren't typical misuse, but rather examples of the most notable and novel threat activity we've identified to date," Anthropic said in its third report since March 2025 describing AI misuse. The report includes snippets of the malicious code and AI prompts Anthropic said it found, and urges governments and AI competitors to identify and prevent similar abuse.

"We're publishing this work because we believe we have a responsibility to disclose malicious misuse of our services. As models become increasingly capable, their risks will increase, unless AI developers and society's defenders act to make them safer," the company said.

The lengthy report by the AI startup, which is planning an initial public offering this fall, was published two days after one of its researchers announced he's resigning over concerns that Anthropic and its competitors are not acting responsibly in AI development. He echoed concerns raised inside and outside of the industry about the technology's potential to elude human control.

Between December 2025 and August 2026, researchers at Anthropic found misuse by actors ranging from spyware vendors and "politically motivated individuals" to state-sponsored groups spreading propaganda.

Among the findings in the company's report are unnamed actors attempting to use its models for research that could have led to biological weapons. In one instance, Anthropic said its systems blocked a request for Claude's assistance in authoring a grant application for scientific funding.

"The work discussed in the application involved gain-of-function research (that is, research that genetically alters an organism to create a new or enhanced biological property) on the chikungunya virus. This gain of function research was aimed at the virus' transmissibility and immune evasion properties," the report said.

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne virus that causes debilitating symptoms such as severe pain and fever. The request involved a grant proposal for research seeking to enhance mutations to make the virus progressively more harmful. While such research could "certainly" be used to develop better vaccines and treatments, Anthropic said, "it could also be used to make the pathogen more dangerous."

Body camera video offers a rare look inside an immigration raid at a NY factory

The sprawling snack-food factory in upstate New York appeared to be closed when a small army of immigration officers arrived after 9 a.m. Following a brief discussion of whether to force their way inside, a manager opened the front door.

Over the next several hours, body cameras were running as federal authorities from several agencies made 57 arrests, debated which files to seize and when to release employees who were U.S. citizens. They also searched for anyone in hiding.

The footage from September 2025 shows the raid at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant in Cato, New York, a town of 2,500 people east of Syracuse, and offers a rare glimpse inside a workplace immigration sweep. The Associated Press analyzed the video, which was part of a lawsuit filed Thursday that accuses authorities of overstepping their search warrants.

The officers ordered a manager to announce their presence over loudspeakers while they entered the building and caught employees on the production line, in the warehouse and a few in the bathroom. Officers covered all exits while others swept the interior, including homing in on locked doors.

Male officers encountered a locked bathroom and began shouting instructions in broken Spanish at female employees through the door, demanding that they come out. After about 10 seconds, officers broke through the door.

One woman was outside of a stall and another in the stall. A male officer peered through a locked stall door, and his body cam video revealed a woman sitting on the toilet.

"Miss, pull up your pants. Come out of the bathroom," he told her.

"You have to wait. I can't come out like this, naked!" she replied.

Investigators interviewed the general manager and said they were looking into hiring practices and potential fraudulent documents. Inside and outside the building, officers checked every office, storage room and hallway for anyone who was hiding.

Employees were lined up and separated into groups of U.S. citizens and potential noncitizens. Officers asked for their immigration status, requested documents and posed questions about their entry into the U.S. Some employees were pregnant.

Some were parents and expressed concern for their children at home. Others said they would not answer questions without first speaking to their attorneys, and officers told them they would be arrested.

Surrogate asks the Supreme Court to intervene over care for a sick baby

A California couple's surrogate who refused their wishes to have an abortion has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a custody dispute over the 4-week-old child, who was born with a serious heart defect.

McKenna West filed the emergency appeal Wednesday amid a legal battle over surrogacy and abortion that has won the support of Republican officeholders and anti-abortion groups. West, who lives in Alaska, traveled to Dallas to give birth in August. Most abortions are banned in Texas.

West is asking the nation's highest court to halt a California court order that recognizes Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the parents of the child whom she calls Gabriel and they call Rumi. West wants final custody or conservatorship because she believes the couple will not provide life-saving care, citing their request for an abortion at 23 weeks.

The boy was born Aug. 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a life-threatening condition that prevents normal blood flow to the organ. He underwent surgery soon after he was born. The couple's attorney said in August that the newborn was in critical condition and appeared to be "suffering from potential complications."

Surrogacy is not regulated at the federal level. Each state has its own laws, which can leave room for gaps in interpretation. The Supreme Court is not obliged to hear the case.

Ahmed and Gilkar have not responded to the Supreme Court filing. They previously said West violated the surrogacy contract, and they obtained a restraining order preventing her from seeing or holding the child.

Gilkar called West unstable during a hearing Aug. 25 in Dallas, telling the court she was trying to take their baby away.

"He's our child," Gilkar said, wiping away tears.

West and her attorneys argue that Gilkar and Ahmed are not committed to guaranteeing the baby will undergo surgeries or "life-saving care."

Both sides were publicly silent after the hearing last month and the case file was sealed, but West's Supreme Court filing says she lost her plea in Texas to win conservatorship of the child.

Kimmel says interview with James Talarico won't air on TV under pressure from the FCC

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said the agency that regulates television "threatened" the show and that an interview with James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, will not air on television but on YouTube -- thus bypassing any control or regulation by the Federal Communications Commission.

It's not the first time a TV show has moved an interview with Talarico to YouTube. The candidate's appearance on Stephen Colbert's show in February was moved online over network fears that it would violate regulatory guidance from the Federal Communications Commission on giving equal time to political candidates.

Talarico is in a tight race against Republican, Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, and has given Democrats hope of winning statewide in the otherwise GOP-dominated Lone Star State.

"For the whole 20+ years of our show, in fact, I've been interviewing Americans who are running for office with no problem," said Kimmel on his Wednesday night show, the titular "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

"Something has changed," he continued, suggesting that Trump's presidency was that something. "His FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates our local stations, based on simple traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings it would seem they don't like."

The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Anna Gomez, the Commission's sole Democrat, said in a Thursday statement on social media that Kimmel's decision to keep the interview off-air "shows just how far this Administration's campaign of censorship and control has gone."

Gomez condemned the latest "intimidation" from her agency -- and added that she hopes "courts will soon make clear that the FCC has no place dictating editorial choices or what viewers are allowed to see."

In August, in a further escalation of its battle with the Trump administration, Disney-owned ABC sued the FCC on First Amendment grounds, saying the agency's demand for early review of its broadcast licenses -- years before they were set to expire -- posed an "existential threat" to the network.

The FCC had ordered the review months earlier, citing the network's diversity and inclusion practices as a reason, but the development came shortly after a joke by Kimmel -- a long-outspoken Trump critic -- had infuriated the president. In April, Trump and first lady Melania Trump called for ABC to fire Kimmel over a joke where the late-night comic described the first lady as having "the glow of an expectant widow."

Kimmel didn't elaborate further Wednesday on what grounds the FCC cited when the agency, as he put it, threatened the show over the Talarico interview. In the past, including with Talarico on Stephen Colbert's show, the contention has been over a requirement that broadcast stations give equal time to political candidates when they appear on-air.

The rule traditionally hasn't been applied to talk shows. But the Trump administration, through the FCC, announced in January that late-night and daytime hosts had to follow it.