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Education Department Ties Federal Loans to Graduate Earnings
The Education Department finalized a rule that cuts off federal Direct Loans and Pell Grants from programs whose graduates do not out-earn typical high school diploma holders. The test uses IRS data on median earnings four years after completion. Undergraduate programs must beat high school workers. Graduate programs must beat bachelorâs-degree workers. A program loses aid after failing in two of three years. First calculations are expected in 2027. Loss of eligibility would not begin before the 2028-29 academic year. Humanities, social work and arts programs face the highest failure rates. About 33 percent of for-profit programs are projected to miss the bar.
Editorâs Note: The advent of useless degrees by these predatory education institutions should be grounds for being decertified and discredited.
đď¸ News & Politics
Thune to Skip White House AI Session With Tech Chiefs
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Monday he will not attend Tuesdayâs White House meeting on artificial intelligence with President Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and industry CEOs. Thune said he will meet some of the same executives later in the week on Capitol Hill. Expected attendees include Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Metaâs Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Googleâs Sundar Pichai and Nvidiaâs Jensen Huang. Amodei dined privately with Trump on Sunday. Johnson said the session has been long overdue and that the United States should not impose a development moratorium or lose ground to China. Trump has called existential-risk warnings a hoax.
Editorâs Note: Thune is a coward and needs to be removed from leadership.
Education Department Rescinds Biden Title IX Gender Identity Rule
The Education Department on Monday formally rescinded the Biden-era Title IX interpretation that treated sexual orientation and gender identity as sex discrimination. It reinstated the 2020 regulations. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the published rules now match court orders and congressional intent. She said the department will hold schools accountable for violating the rights, privacy, or athletic opportunities of women and girls. Federal courts had already vacated the 2024 rule. The Supreme Court this year held that Title IXâs reference to sex means biological sex. The department has enforced the 2020 rule since January 2025.
Watchdog Files Criminal Referral Against Nixon Over Omitted Senate Debts
The National Legal and Policy Center filed a criminal referral with Attorney General Todd Blanche over Florida Senate nominee Angie Nixonâs financial disclosures. Her August 31 state filing listed nearly $14,000 in unpaid IRS taxes and $17,600 in unpaid federal student loans. Her Senate disclosure the same day omitted those liabilities. Federal rules require candidates to report debts over $10,000. Nixon earned at least $270,000 in 2025. In July, she said it was crazy she was on a payment plan for about $12,000 in back taxes. In 2024, she posted that she did not want to repay student loans and that education should be free. The group said the omission was knowing and willful.
Trump Unveils $15 Billion Iowa Steel Plant Plan
President Trump announced Monday that Mesabi Metallics plans to build a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa, which the White House calls the largest ever built in the United States. The first phase is slated to produce 7.5 million tons a year and later 10 million tons. Officials said it would create 1,750 permanent jobs and 5,000 to 6,000 construction jobs. First steel is targeted for 2030. Iron ore would come from Mesabiâs Minnesota mine. The company is part of Indiaâs Essar Group. Officials said the plant would be an integrated mill capable of producing defense-grade steel. The mine and mill together are described as nearly $18 billion in investment.
Nvidia Unveils Open Agent Safety Platform
Nvidia on Monday launched an Open Agent Safety Platform meant to keep autonomous AI agents inside set boundaries. OpenShell is open-source software that sandboxes agents and enforces access rules on CPUs, including Nvidia Vera chips and others from Arm and Intel. Sentry runs separately on BlueField-4 data processing units and is designed to quarantine agents that try to leave their bounds in milliseconds. CEO Jensen Huang said safety is an engineering problem. Partners include Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Dell, HPE, Lenovo and Anthropic. The company said the stack covers software, hardware, and execution systems.
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đ˘ The Fifth Column Watch
60 Minutes Politically-Charged Pardon Segment Omits Clinton-Era Lobbying
Lesley Stahlâs â60 Minutesâ season opener framed President Trump as creating a new âpardon economyâ of high-priced brokers. The piece used hidden cameras to capture Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl pitching $300,000 in clemency help. Critics note the pair have not been shown to deliver a pardon. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said anyone paying lobbyists is wasting money and that Trump does not know the so-called brokers. The report did not recount Bill Clinton-era lobbying by Roger Clinton and Hillary Clintonâs brothers Hugh and Tony Rodham. Leaked acceptance letters show Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley and Liz Cheney used connected lawyers for Bidenâs last-day pardons.
AOCâs Cornell Event Opens With River-to-the-Sea Chant
Cornellâs Young Democratic Socialists of America opened a Sunday town hall for US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DS-NY) by leading about 2,000 people in âfrom the river to the sea.â Co-chairs Mina Petrova and Zoe Reisman also said âlong live the student intifada.â Petrova called Cornell a capitalist institution controlled by trustees, she said, who profit from war. The campaign billed the âStudents vs. Billionairesâ event as a midterm turnout effort. Ocasio-Cortez did not denounce the chant. She accused the university of cracking down on speech and said large crowds cannot be silenced. The House has previously called the slogan antisemitic.
Editorâs Note: That a Democrat 2028 front-runner and elected official is so unabashedly antisemitic should be a great concern.
Second Federal Judge Blocks New York Climate Superfund
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan granted the United States summary judgment and permanently barred New York from enforcing its Climate Change Superfund Act. Castel, a George W. Bush appointee, held the 2024 law is preempted by the Clean Air Act and the foreign affairs doctrine. The statute sought $3 billion a year for 25 years, $75 billion total, from large oil, gas and coal producers based on worldwide emissions from 2000 to 2018. Chief Judge Brenda K. Sannes in the Northern District had already struck the same law last month. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said states do not set national energy policy.
Iranian National Gets Just 18 Months for Sonar Parts Scheme
Reza Dindar, 44, was sentenced Friday in Seattle to 18 months in prison for illegally obtaining U.S. military sonar parts and routing them toward Iran through China. He pleaded guilty to two counts of exporting to an embargoed country and two counts of smuggling. From 2010 to 2014, he ran New Port Sourcing Solutions in Xiâan. In 2011 and 2012, he and others bought parts for three sonar systems from a Washington-based company while claiming the parts were for China. He was indicted in 2014, arrested in Panama in July 2025, and extradited in April 2026. U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez, appointed by President George W. Bush, also imposed a $10,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
Editorâs Note: And why was it okay that these military parts were going to communist China?
DHS Monitors Honduras-Origin Caravan Moving Through Mexico
A migrant group known as Fe y Esperanza, or Faith and Hope, entered southern Mexico from Honduras and grew to more than 600 people in Tapachula. Travelers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Haiti joined. The caravan left San Pedro Sula around Sept. 20 and crossed at the Rodolfo Robles bridge. Many say they aim for the United States. Others plan to work in Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security said Border Patrol is working with partners to watch the movement. A DHS account posted, âOur time has come.â The group remains hundreds of miles from the U.S. border.
ON THIS DAY IN 1920:
A grand jury in Chicago indicted eight members of the Chicago White Sox for intentionally losing the 1919 World Series in exchange for bribes from gamblers.
đ International
Britain Releases Fairford Plot Suspects as Iran Denies Role
Five British men arrested near RAF Fairford were released on police bail Monday. Counter Terrorism Policing head Laurence Taylor said they remain under investigation with strict limits on movement and contact. Officers are examining whether the men acted as proxies for a foreign state. The suspects are London residents in their 20s. They were held on suspicion of explosives offenses and preparing a terrorist act after three vans were found near the base early Sunday. A farmer reported masked men. The base has hosted U.S. bombers used against Iran. Iranâs London embassy called any link unfounded speculation and Iranophobia.
Belgian Intel Chief Ties Iran to March Jewish-Site Attacks
Belgiumâs Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis said Iran directed March attacks on Jewish targets. CUTA head Gert Vercauteren said perpetrators certainly acted on Tehranâs call to strike Jewish and Israeli sites worldwide. An explosive detonated outside a Liège synagogue before 4 a.m. on March 9. The same week, a car was burned in Antwerpâs Jewish quarter. No one was injured. He said the incidents were part of a coordinated campaign, not isolated acts of vandalism. A key suspect was later arrested in Turkey. Belgian officials linked the wave to similar plots in the Netherlands. The countryâs threat level remains high.
Kurds Warn of Vacuum as U.S. Troops Exit Iraq
The last U.S. troops are scheduled to leave Iraq on Sept. 30 under a 2024 deal with Baghdad. Kurdish leaders say the pullout will remove air defenses they have relied on against Iran-backed militias and ISIS. Kurdistan Democratic Party President Masoud Barzani compared it to the vacuum after 2011. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the region could not buy its own air defenses. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called the date final. Powerful militias have refused to disarm. The government pushed a disarmament deadline to June 2027. Recent days saw an ISIS clash near Kirkuk and drones hitting a camp in Koya.
Israel Strips Dutch Ramallah Diplomats After Goods Ban
The Netherlands began enforcing a ban on importing, buying or selling goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The rule covers travelersâ luggage, souvenirs and goods produced only partly in those areas. Intentional violations can result in up to 6 years in prison. Customs said it will seize covered items such as dates and oranges. Passengers arriving from Tel Aviv reported extra bag checks. Israel revoked credentials of Dutch diplomats in Ramallah and gave them seven days to leave. Foreign Minister Gideon Saâar said hostile one-sided moves will not pass unanswered.
Qatar Mediators Plan Separate U.S. and Iran Talks
Qatari mediators are expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in New York and separately with U.S. officials on Monday or Tuesday. An official briefed on the talks said the sessions would cover an amended seven-day plan Iran floated last week at the U.N. General Assembly. The plan calls for an end to hostilities in Iran and Lebanon, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. Tehran would then reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks. President Donald Trump rejected the proposal Saturday, saying Iran wants a quick deal under economic pressure. He also said U.S. negotiators would talk further this week. Araqchi said mediators had not formally delivered a U.S. rejection.
