2026-05-13
Missouri upholds GOP map. Lawmaker calls Thomas slur. Anthropic eyes $950B valuation.
Good morning. Missouri's court handed Republicans a redistricting win. A Democrat responded with a racial slur. Meanwhile, AI startups keep inflating, and Trump's heading to Beijing with a film director in tow.
Morning Reality Check
The Missouri Supreme Court blessed the state's Republican-friendly redrawn congressional map in two Tuesday opinions. It's legal. It stands for 2026.
Alabama representative Juandalynn Givan launched into Justice Clarence Thomas over the redistricting ruling. The language was racial. The headline wrote itself.
The Senate passed the 21st Century Housing Act, which blocks institutional investors from buying single-family homes. The House is next. Both parties claim to want this. Probably both are lying.
The AI startup released a model called Mythos and is battling the Pentagon. Previous valuation: $380 billion. New ask: $950 billion. The bar for math has officially lowered.
The Southern California mayor resigned after agreeing to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for China. Specifically: spreading pro-Communist propaganda in the Asian community. Naturally.
Jensen Huang boards Air Force One. What happens when the world's largest chipmaker meets the world's second-largest economy at the same table.
High-stakes meeting. Both sides claim strength. Nobody's actually sure what gets solved.
Brett Ratner, director of 'Melania,' boarded Air Force One Tuesday to scout filming locations in China. Diplomacy and Hollywood logistics: same plane.
- Police drop charges against Palestinian Australian protester arrested at Isaac Herzog rally as more set to be withdrawn
- Trump arrives in Beijing amid war and inflation
- Turkey Depleted Reserves at Record Pace in March Over Iran War
- Trump’s Shrinking Ambitions on China
- King Charles III will lay out UK government agenda as Starmer's job hangs in the balance
- 'Golden Dome' missile defense pegged at $1.2 trillion
- Silicon Valley congressman pitches AI reins, wealth tax
- Lake Tahoe Power Crunch Shows AI’s Growing Energy Toll in West
- Srinivasan woos Malaysian officials on startup school
"Standard noise. Calibrate accordingly."
"Worth paying attention to. Don't doomscroll."
One lawmaker called a colleague a slur; a court handed Republicans a map; a startup hit a billion-dollar valuation; Trump flew to Beijing wi
Back at 12:00 PM ET with the lunch reset brief.