Trump’s planned summit with Putin is canceled. Former special counsel Jack Smith disputes claims he tapped senators' phones. And authorities thwart a potential Atlanta airport mass shooting plot.
VR11 - Today on Vapid Response Wednesday: Thomas, Lydia, and Matt review some of the worst takes to last weekend’s 2700+ “No Kings” events around the U.S. But first, we savor an instant classic of an amuse douche: a recent video of a real-life encounter between a drunk-driving ICE officer and actual law enforcement. We then learn why the National Review is definitely not mad about the No Kings events going so well, and why House Majority Leader Steve Scalise IS mad about the raving socialists of the radical left who have shut down a government full of social programs which Republicans would otherwise absolutely want to fully fund if only they could.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have called off what would have been their second summit of Trump’s second term… but not for the reason you might think.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson makes a big announcement regarding the effort to release more information about the Epstein files.
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Food consumers are demanding a healthier and more sustainable food system. Yet labor is rarely part of the discussion. In Will Work for Food: Labor Across the Food Chain (U California Press, 2025), Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern and Teresa Mares chronicle labor across the food chain, connecting the entire food system--from fields to stores, restaurants, home kitchens, and even garbage dumps. Using a political economy framework, the authors argue that improving labor standards and building solidarity among frontline workers across sectors is necessary for creating a more just food system. What would it take, they ask, to move toward a food system that is devoid of human exploitation? Combining insights from food systems and labor justice scholarship with actionable recommendations for policy makers, the book is a call to action for labor activists, food studies students and scholars, and anyone interested in food justice.
What to know about the government shutdown that is now one of the longest in history—including what President Trump is urging Republicans to do next, and how some families could start losing food aid in a matter of days.
Also, why President Trump wants the Department of Justice to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars.
Plus: what a judge decided about book bans at school libraries on military bases, how Amazon’s next big move might involve half a million robots, and what to expect next year from the hugely popular K-Pop Demon Hunters.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
Since the start of September, President Donald Trump has ordered a series of lethal strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea, killing dozens of people. His administration has justified the attacks by accusing the boats of carrying drugs. But, we’re more than two months in, and we still haven’t seen any substantial evidence that the people killed were involved in trafficking narcotics. Meanwhile, Trump appears to be focused on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and last week, Trump acknowledged he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. So, to talk more about Venezuela and the legality- or lack thereof- of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign in the Caribbean Sea, we spoke with Tess Bridgeman, co-editor-in-chief of Just Security and Senior Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law. She previously served as Special Assistant to the President, Associate Counsel to the President, and Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security Council (NSC), and at the U.S. State Department in the Office of the Legal Adviser.
And in headlines, Vice President JD Vance visits Israel as Hamas continues to return the bodies of hostages, ICE recruits are going up against fitness testing, and the government is as shutdown as ever.
The NBA season kicked off last night…and it’s the official league of wine.
Warner Brothers Discovery stock jumped 11% on word of a bidding war… Netflix, Comcast, and Paramount all want to buy it.
An old Chinese tradition is getting new attention… in-person Marriage Markets run by parents in the park.
Plus, we found the perfect solution to shorten your screentime… The 6-pound phone case.
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Right after JD Vance was done dismissing concerns about racism in a group chat of GOP staffers and Young Republicans, POLITICO released messages from Trump nominee Paul Ingrassia that were so explicitly racist it may cost him the support of what has been an extremely compliant congressional GOP. And lest any vice presidents tell you otherwise, racism is as evident in policy proposals as it is in the chats.
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