Zucker-Linked NPO Used Voter Data: DHS; 1st Ballots Sent Out Amid USPS Controversy; Judge Early Exit

Hello all you freedom-loving people. The first batch of mail-in ballots went out today and the Trump administration is appealing to the Supreme Court to allow UPS to enforce the new rules. A federal judge resigned before her suspension began for making 900 political donations. And the DHS is asking the DOJ to look into the transfer of voter data to a non-profit that is tied to Mark Zuckerberg. Okay, let's get into it. Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen is asking the Justice Department to investigate whether sensitive state voter data was improperly shared with a non-profit that is tied to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Mullen outlined the request in a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanch that was released by the White House today. According to the letter, the DHS first raised these concerns with the DOJ back in September but it's unclear what action was taken at that time. The letter now focuses on the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC. ERIC is a non-profit that helps states maintain voter rolls with 27 states and Washington D.C. as members. Mullen wrote that ERIC lobbies states into contracts that require the disclosure of private data including Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers for individuals who aren't even registered to vote. So Mullen said that this may violate the Driver's Privacy Protection Act, exposing millions of citizens' sensitive data to unknown contractors and agents. According to the letter, that data was later shared with the Center for Election Innovation and Research, or CEER. CEER is a non-profit that received more than $70 million from a foundation that was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan ahead of the 2020 election. ERIC and CEER were also founded by David Becker. Becker is a former government lawyer who also served as a director for the progressive group People for the American Way. The letter from Mullen to Blanch points to Pennsylvania as an example, saying that Pennsylvania's $13 million grant agreement with CEER required Pennsylvania to hand over motor vehicle data that was originally shared with ERIC. ERIC has argued that sharing the data with CEER was permitted under a research exception in federal law. But Mullen wrote that the research exception requires that the data not be used to contact individuals. However, the DHS has evidence that ERIC did contact eligible but unregistered voters. Mullen also cited Georgia emails, which were obtained through a public records request. The Georgia emails show that CEER was coordinating that outreach to eligible voters. Also, Mullen raised concerns about non-citizens that appear on ERIC-linked voter outreach lists. And Mullen pointed to a 2022 case in Colorado where 30,000 non-citizens received registration invitations. This was an error that Colorado later said was corrected. Mullen also cited data from Georgia saying that more than 42,000 deceased voter registrants were identified on Georgia's voter rolls after being run through a federal citizenship verification system. Mullen says that he's raising these matters now to ensure that Blanche is aware of the prior referrals while he's reviewing their ongoing work. Now, the DHS says that the DOJ could pursue several options, including a cease and desist order against ERIC, legal penalties, or a review of the non-profit's tax-exempt status. But this is not the only election integrity fight either. There are also two months to go until the midterm elections in November and the first batch of mail-in ballots started to go out today. So yesterday, the Trump administration once again lodged an urgent appeal with the Supreme Court requesting permission to enforce the new tightened rules around mail-in voting and mail-in ballots. The Trump administration has called on the Supreme Court to intervene immediately to In order to grant the United States Postal Service, the USPS, the authority to enforce the new regulations and to even permit USPS to refuse to deliver certain mail-in ballots that do not meet the requirements. This move has sparked a rare legal battle over voting rights and electoral jurisdiction in the United States. This legal battle stems from an executive order that was signed by President Trump in March of this year, which granted the USPS an unprecedented role in the election process. The USPS subsequently published specific details on how the new regulations would be implemented. Firstly, each state must submit to the USPS a list of eligible recipients of mail-in ballots. Secondly, all states must use USPS-approved envelopes for sending and returning ballot papers. Each envelope must bear a unique barcode. Furthermore, the USPS reserves the right to refuse to mail ballots where a list has not been provided or where the envelopes do not meet the new standards. In response to President Trump's directive, a coalition of 23 Democratic states, the District of Columbia and several voter rights organizations filed an immediate lawsuit in federal court. They argued that the Constitution stipulates that elections are administered by individual states, and that neither the President nor the U.S. Postal Service has the authority to determine which ballots may be delivered to voters. The lower court had previously issued the injunction on June 25, but on August 24, the Supreme Court set aside the injunction that was issued by the lower court. However, following USPS's publication of the final rules in August, Indira Talwani, the federal district judge in Boston, issued a 14-day interim restraining order on August 27, once again halting the implementation of the new rules. Talwani believes that the new regulations may violate the Constitution, and that the states will be unable to comply with them in time for the approaching elections. Consequently, the Trump administration swiftly lodged an urgent appeal with the Supreme Court yesterday, requesting that the Supreme Court issue an immediate order lifting the restrictions. For many years, President Trump has expressed his doubts about the security of postal voting, and critics and Democrats have pointed out that since Democrat voters are traditionally more likely to vote by post, restrictions on postal voting would disproportionately benefit the Republican Party. And New York Attorney General Letitia James said on August 26 that the postal regulation will create confusion, unnecessary costs, and unacceptable risks for voters going into Election Day. An Orange County circuit judge has resigned from the bench after facing possible suspension and public reprimand over hundreds of political donations that she wasn't allowed to make. Judge Diana Tennis, whose last day on the bench was today, has served since 2015 on the 9th Judicial Circuit, which covers Orange and Osceola counties. According to court records, she admitted in May of 2025 to making hundreds of political donations to Democratic candidates and organizations since 2016. Her donations included President Joe Biden and Florida Senator Bill Nelson. But Florida's judicial code prohibits sitting judges from making political contributions. Florida elects its judges on nonpartisan ballots. And according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a judge who writes checks to political campaigns has at a minimum the appearance of a partisan stake in who holds power. Judge Tennis was investigated by the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which is the judicial watchdog agency for Florida. But she remained on the bench throughout the investigation, and she was most recently assigned as an administrative judge in the family court. The commission described her as far and away the most prolific offender it had reviewed, both in total dollars and the number of contributions. In total, Tennis made more than 900 political contributions, totaling over $29,000 while serving as a sitting judge. During a hearing, she told the commission that she believed the prohibition against donations applied only to state candidates and races, not to federal ones. However, the commission recommended that she be publicly reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court. But the Florida Supreme Court wasn't satisfied with that punishment, and they said on June 25th that they would impose a fine in addition to a public reprimand. Then one week later, the Florida Supreme Court said that suspension would also be included. However, they didn't specify how long Tennis should be suspended for or how much she should be fined. But instead, Tennis resigned four months before the end of her term. Warren Lindsay, the attorney for Tennis, said in a statement, Judge Tennis is an outstanding judge who has diligently served the Central Florida community with distinction for many years. Her retirement is a loss for the community. So what do you think? Should a resignation like this be the end of the story, or should the judge still have to face discipline even though she resigned? Yesterday, an ICE agent who took part in an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis in January has been charged by federal prosecutors. On January 14th, ICE officer Christian Castro was carrying out checks on the status of undocumented migrants in Minneapolis alongside another officer. Several suspects refused to comply with the checks and fled. During the chase, the two officers entered a townhouse complex. Castro then fired a shot striking the Venezuelan man, Julio Cesar Sosa Celis, in the leg. Agent Christian Castro was charged not because he shot and injured a suspect, but because he made false statements to investigators. According to the sworn testimony of an FBI investigator, Agent Castro initially alleged that one of the suspects had violently resisted arrest. Sosa Celis and others then attacked the officers with a snow shovel and broomstick, forcing Castro to fire through the front door of the flat, striking Sosa Celis in the leg. The man subsequently fled into another nearby flat where he was detained. However, footage of the incident released in April contradicted the accounts given by ICE agents. Subsequently, the initial charges against Sosa Celis and another man for resisting arrest and assaulting police officers were dropped. At the same time, several agents, including Castro, were accused of giving false testimony under oath and an investigation was launched. In May, ICE told Newsweek that lying under oath constitutes a serious offense. The U.S. Attorney's Office is actively investigating the matter. On May 29th, Castro was arrested in Cameron County, Texas, and he was charged in May by Texas prosecutors. Previously, the Minnesota District Attorney had brought state-level charges against Agent Castro, including second-degree assault and filing a false report, and had requested his extradition from Texas to Minnesota. But Texas Governor Greg Abbott has refused to extradite him, prompting a legal battle. Castro was released from a Texas jail last week. A federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment on Wednesday, but the case has not yet been unsealed. According to a Bloomberg report yesterday, CNBC informed its staff on Wednesday via an internal memo that it had decided to close its Hong Kong office and cancel several daily live programs. The programs in question were discontinued on the same day. In an email statement sent to Bloomberg, CNBC confirmed that it had canceled several weekday programs including Inside India, The China Connection, and Europe Early Edition. Programs such as CNBC Meets and Build for Billions will also be taken off air once their current series has finished. However, CNBC has stated that news from Hong Kong will continue to form part of its Asia coverage. The Singapore team and the Beijing-based correspondent will continue to provide editorial coverage of Hong Kong, China, and the wider Asia-Pacific region that is committed to serving an international audience. According to an internal memo that was obtained by the South China Morning Post, following an assessment of international programming, commercial viability, and resource allocation over the past few months and in light of changing production demands in Asia, management has made a number of very difficult decisions. This comes after Comcast Corporation spun off its cable television networks, including CNBC and MSNOW, into a new company, Versant, at the start of 2026. CNBC also laid off about 10 employees earlier this year, including the managing editor of its website. Yesterday, the Supervisory Board of Germany's Volkswagen AG approved a large-scale cost-cutting plan that will see 50,000 jobs cut and the number of Volkswagen's models halved. At the same time, car production at four factories in Germany will be halted. The Volkswagen Group has stated that following an assessment, its German plants have an annual overcapacity of around 500,000 vehicles, but it has not disclosed any specific plans for layoffs or plant closures. Volkswagen said yesterday that this initiative, known as the Future Plan, aims to make the Volkswagen Group and its brands more efficient and competitive and to better prepare them for future growth. In a statement yesterday, Olaf Lise, the Minister President of Lower Saxony, said, Given international competition, the challenges facing Volkswagen and the German automotive industry are enormous. The so-called international competition referred to here is the threat posed by low-cost electric cars from China, which we have been discussing over the past few days. Thanks to subsidies from the Chinese Communist Party government, Chinese car manufacturers are able to sell electric vehicles that would normally cost $70,000 for $35,000. So you may ask which free-market enterprise could survive in such a low-price competitive environment? Volkswagen reported that the Group's profit after tax for the first half of this year fell by 30% year-on-year due to a slump in sales in the Chinese market. The brands within the Volkswagen Group have already cut 50,000 jobs since the end of 2024, and with the plan announced yesterday, the company will make a total of 100,000 layoffs by 2030. The Group originally had around 700,000 employees. The 100,000 employees that were laid off in these two rounds of layoffs account for more than 14% of the total workforce. Furthermore, the company has stated that the layoffs include management positions. Furthermore, by 2035, the Group could reduce its model range by as much as 50%, having faced criticism and pressure from the other 19 nations at the G20 summit. The Chinese Communist Party government has also begun to scale back various incentive schemes for new energy vehicles in China. Car News China reported on Friday that the Beijing authorities will impose a 2% consumption tax on lithium batteries and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries starting on September 1st. This policy has brought to an end the long-standing preferential treatment that had supported China's electric vehicle battery industry. Furthermore, Beijing has issued a directive requiring electric vehicle manufacturers to respect local market regulations in overseas markets and to refrain from price competition. However, it would be a mistake to assume that the Chinese Communist Party has fundamentally changed. It is willing to abandon the electric vehicle market because it has found a new arena, humanoid robots. In the field of humanoid robots, the Chinese Communist Party government is strongly backing Unitree Technology. Unitree Technology went public on August 19th with its share price soaring to more than six times the issue price at the opening bell. So how on earth could a company's share price rise so much on its first day of trading? This is because everyone in China knows that this is Xi Jinping's AI gamble. So what's the story behind this? We'll go into more details on our next episode on Monday. The severe mudslides that struck the China-Nepal border last week virtually leveled settlements along the Teresuli River, killing at least 1,280 people and leaving more than 4,000 people missing. Several hydropower projects were also among the worst hit areas. The Epoch Times reported on the harrowing ordeal of Dan Tamang, a 32-year-old hydroelectric support worker who narrowly escaped death in a dark tunnel. He and his companions were rescued nine days after the disaster. Arnold Dix, an international tunneling expert who was involved in the rescue operation, remarked that given the extreme challenges faced during the rescue, finding survivors after nine days was nothing short of a miracle within a miracle. Tamang recalled that before the flood struck, he had noticed an unusual change in air pressure inside the tunnel accompanied by a cloud of dust after which the floodwater surged in instantly. In his panic to escape, he climbed onto a tanker truck and a pipeline. Then, driven by his love for his family and his instinct for survival, he narrowly escaped death in the harsh conditions as the water level rose rapidly. Still shaken by the experience, he said that the situation at the time made him feel as though he was about to lose his life time and time again. When the flow of the floodwater slowed, he realized that the original entrance had been blocked by rubble, leaving him no choice but to venture deeper into the tunnel. Sustained only by their remaining willpower and in the darkness, Tamang and his companions held hands and they made their way through the debris and corpses by the faint light of a single torch. He recalled that it was a long and grueling struggle. He also said that the area around the scene was littered with the bodies of his co-workers and the seriously wounded, creating a scene straight out of hell. At present, people in the disaster-stricken areas are under threat of a second wave of damage. As the floodwaters gradually receded, a large number of mysterious giant fish unexpectedly appeared in the affected areas, prompting a rush among local residents to catch them. Fishermen described these fish as not only exceptionally large, but also bearing a striking resemblance to dolphins. Vinod Nishad, a fisherman in Saharsa, told the newspaper, We see such fish very rarely in our normal catch. Most of them die after they are caught. These days we are catching fish weighing 27-38 kg, even 40-45 kg, which is over 80 pounds. Chattu Sahani, a fisherman, told the newspaper that he had rarely seen anything like the fish now appearing in the state's rivers. There have already been reports of people experiencing physical discomfort after eating these giant fish, though. The local authorities have issued a public notice urging members of the public not to catch, eat, buy or sell rare fish that were washed ashore by the floods. It said that the danger lies not in the fish themselves, but in what they may have absorbed during their journey downstream. This is because these fish can be carried far beyond their normal habitat due to contact with sewage, dead animals or decaying matter during floods, and they may therefore be contaminated with bacteria, viruses or fungi. And that's a wrap for this episode. Thank you so much for your support of Front Page. Please remember to leave a comment below the video or just an American flag emoji. This is really helping us to be seen all around the world. The more people who watch Front Page, the more freedom-loving people the world will have. And please hit the like button and hit the notification bell after subscribing. And please share this video with your friends and family, because everybody deserves to know the truth.