I’ve missed you, Wake Up Right fam! After nine days on the Maine coast, I am recharged, tan, and don’t need to eat another lobster roll until next summer.

Now, finally… Let’s break down the news!

• 🛅 Over 1M illegals have self-deported in 2025

• 📊 86% support releasing all Epstein files

• 👨‍🚀 Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell died at 97

• 🤖 Reddit is the most cited resource by AI chatbots

• 🚽 CNN dropped to 14th in TV ratings, below Food Network

^{Sources: DHS, Washington Post, NBC News, Statista, Trending Politics}

The left’s redistricting hypocrisy

Democrats are hyperventilating as Texas Republicans plan a mid-decade redrawing of the congressional map – hypocritically ignoring deep blue states like Illinois and Massachusetts, which run some of the most gerrymandered maps in America.

Gerrymandering is manipulating voting district boundaries to favor one political party or group over another.

The details: Texas GOP leaders, with encouragement from President Donald Trump, are pushing to redraw the Lone Star State's congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections – a move that could net the GOP an extra five House seats.

• In response, Democrat state lawmakers fled to Illinois to prevent the Texas House from reaching a quorum – the minimum number of people required to be present for the chamber to conduct official business.

• Texas Attorney General has asked the state Supreme Court to expel the absentee group.

Implications for midterms: Trump and the Republicans aren't just chasing Texas. They're looking to flip more than a dozen House seats with additional redistricting in Indiana, Missouri, and Florida.

• Democrat states like California have pledged to counter with redistricting of their own.

The hypocrisy: Democrats cry foul in Texas, yet in blue states, they engineer equally lopsided maps:

• Illinois is widely considered the most gerrymandered map in America. Democrats control 14 out of 17 House seats in the state, despite President Trump winning 44% (2.4 million) of the vote in 2024.

• Massachusetts has 9 Democrat members of the House and zero Republicans, despite Trump running 36% (1.2 million) of the vote in 2024.

• In both states, the under-representation is due to carefully drawn district maps. See the creative drawing in Massachusetts and Illinois here.

Is gerrymandering legal? Short answer is: Yes. The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that partisan redistricting claims are political questions that fall outside federal jurisdiction.

Big picture: Conservative social media influencer Rogan "DC Draino" O'Handley put it simply on X: "Democrats have gerrymandered this country for decades & now they’re mad Republicans are finally fighting back."

Related: Aside from redistricting, the Trump administration is looking at throwing out the 2020 census, which counted millions of illegal aliens, leading to an over-appropriation of House seats and electoral votes given to Democrat states. Trump recently wrote on Truth Social:

• “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to Immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate census… People who are in our country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”

[Source: CBS]

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Trump and RFK take on ultra-processed slop

Americans – especially kids – are hooked on ultra-processed foods at staggering levels. The Trump administration is making it a signature health fight.

The details: Americans over the age of 1 get more than half of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By age group:

• 1 to 5 years old: 56.1%

• 6 to 11 years old: 64.8%

• 12 to 18 years old: 63%

• 19 to 39 years old: 54.4%

• 50 to 59 years old: 52.6%

• 60 and up: 51.7%

On the bright side? After peaking in the mid-2010s, UPF consumption has declined slightly since 2017–2018.

What is ultra-processed food? They’re industrially made products with additives, preservatives, and artificial flavors – like soda, chips, fast food, instant noodles, candy, and packaged pastries. They’re typically high in added sugars, fats, and chemicals – and low in nutrients.

MAHA: The Trump administration's "Make America Healthy Again" initiative, led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is targeting UPFs as a driver of America's chronic disease epidemic.

• High-profile food companies have pledged to remove synthetic food dyes from their products.

• The FDA, in collaboration with HHS, is in the process of creating a federally recognized definition of UPFs to standardize research, labeling, and regulation.

• The USDA has approved waivers allowing states to restrict SNAP benefits from applying to EPFs like soda and candy.

Big picture: Defining this at the federal level may not sound groundbreaking — but it would be HUGE. It’s the first step toward reining in an out-of-control problem that’s driving chronic illness.

[Source: Axios, The National Pulse]

🏛️ President Trump will hold a press conference at 10 AM EST to discuss his plans to end the "Crime, Murder, and Death" in D.C. and "beautification" efforts to revitalize the nation’s capital. Read more.

✅ A federal appeals court overturned a left-wing judge’s threat to hold Trump officials in criminal contempt for deporting Venezuelan illegal aliens to El Salvador. Read more. Judge Boasberg should be impeached and investigated.

🏫 President Trump signed an executive order requiring colleges to report admissions data in order to prove they're not using race-based quotas or requiring students to write "diversity statements" when applying. Read more.

💸 Remittances — money sent to family outside the U.S. — to Mexico fell 16.2% in June, the sharpest drop in 13 years, signaling Trump’s success in deporting illegal aliens. Read more.

🇮🇱 Five Al Jazeera journalists, including prominent reporter Anas al-Sharif, have been killed in a targeted Israeli strike near Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital. Israel confirmed the strike, alleging al-Sharif was part of Hamas. Read more.

🔫 A juvenile was arrested for a shooting at the Navy Yard neighborhood in D.C. when he discharged his weapon at a large group. Read more.

🪸 NASA has captured an image of a coral-like rock on Mars estimated to be several billion years old, but says it’s not a sign of past life. Read more.

👍️ The FBI has arrested over 1,600 people for violent crimes against children, including 270 arrests for human trafficking, since Trump took office. Read more.

🇺🇸 President Trump has reportedly ordered the Pentagon to prepare military options for targeting drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations. Read more.

🤖 Illinois became the first state to outlaw artificial intelligence services from providing mental health therapy. Read more.

💾 Nvidia and AMD will pay the U.S. government 15% of their revenue generated from AI chip sales to China after President Trump lifted an export ban last month. Read more.

🎥 Nasty actress says MAGA "fat a**es" shouldn't be allowed to eat Mexican or Chinese food. Watch.

🎥 NBC calls out Illinois Democrat governor’s hypocrisy over gerrymandering. Watch.

🎥 Historic moment Trump gets enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan to shake hands and make peace. Watch.

🎥 La Quinta hotel in Florida replaced its front desk with a remote worker in India. Watch.

🎥 Rep. Jasmine Crockett compares herself to Beyoncé when asked about reports she is a DIVA to work for. Watch.

🎥 Scott Jennings SPANKS CNN panel trying to sabotage Trump-Putin summit. Watch.

🎥 NASCAR driver suffers an ugly fall while celebrating. Watch.

🎥 Liberal who worked for PBS and NPR agrees with Trump defunding them. Watch.

🎥 NFL quarterback Jameis Winston nails his throw while promoting bible study. Watch.

🎥 Couple discovers a massive Nazi bunker used in WWII under their home. Watch. 

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A few months ago, I was at a butcher in my neighborhood and saw a diagram of a cow, with all the cuts of meat labeled. And that gave me an idea for a t-shirt:

DOGE Butcher Shop — but instead of the cow, we use a pig. And the cuts of meat in the diagram represent all the waste, fraud, and abuse being butchered by the Trump admin.

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