🚨HAPPENING RIGHT NOW🚨
President Trump escalated his fight with Silicon Valley over AI safety Monday, blasting what he called a "SICK conspiracy" against artificial intelligence and data centers after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman both endorsed deliberately slowing down frontier AI development to allow time for safety checks. Trump argued the only real guardrail AI needs is a strong, smart president, warned that China stands to benefit most from any American slowdown, and took a direct shot at Amodei for acting like a "perfect little angel" after his own administration flagged the Anthropic CEO as a supply-chain risk. The clash was still unfolding into Tuesday morning, with policy voices and rival tech leaders weighing in live.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th, 2026
Before we get to today's news, here's what happened on this date in history. General Douglas MacArthur got his way on September 15, 1950, when U.S. Marines stormed ashore at Inchon, a risky amphibious landing that cut North Korean forces in two and let United Nations troops retake Seoul within weeks.
Thirteen years later, the date carried one of the civil rights era's darkest chapters: on September 15, 1963, a bomb tore through Sunday services at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls — Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair — in an attack still remembered as a turning point for the movement, History.com recounts.
🗳️ Supreme Court Blocks Trump's Mail-Ballot Rules Ahead of the Midterms
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's request to revive strict new U.S. Postal Service mail-in ballot rules before the 2026 midterms, leaving a lower court's nationwide block in place through Election Day.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed the rules could not take effect this close to the election.
The proposed USPS rules would have tightened standards for how mail-in ballots are processed and counted nationwide.
An election-law expert cited in coverage of the case argued a lower-court judge was effectively trying to "run out the clock" on the administration's push.
— Fox News
🏛️ Mitch McConnell Returns to the Senate After Months-Long Absence
Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, 84, returned to the Capitol Monday for the first time since a June fall at his Washington home left him hospitalized and battling pneumonia, arriving just in time for a vote Republicans need him for.
McConnell said lingering effects of childhood polio complicated his recovery and rehabilitation over the summer.
His return comes as the Senate prepares to vote this week on a major farm-aid and funding package that previously failed without his support.
"I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me," McConnell said.
— Fox News
🪙 House Votes Unanimously to Permanently Kill the Penny
The House passed the bipartisan Common Cents Act Monday, voting unanimously to permanently bar the U.S. Mint from producing new pennies and to set up a system for rounding cash transactions to the nearest nickel.
The bill would lock in a change the Trump administration already began when the Mint stopped making pennies in November 2025 after 232 years in circulation.
The Treasury estimates ending penny production saves roughly $56 million a year, since each coin costs more than three times its face value to produce.
Led by Reps. Lisa McClain (R-MI) and Robert Garcia (D-CA), the bill now heads to the Senate.
— Fox News
🕵️ Congress Digs Into 'Trojan Horse' Foreign Influence Networks Tied to China, Iran and Cuba
Lawmakers are probing an alleged web of foreign influence operations run through American activist groups, nonprofits and social-media influencers, with investigators tracing hundreds of millions of dollars back to a Shanghai-based backer.
Groups named in the probe include CodePink and the People's Forum, accused of amplifying messaging favorable to Beijing, Tehran and Havana.
Tech financier Neville Roy Singham, married to CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans, has funneled an estimated $591 million across the network since 2017, investigators say.
"My goal is to raise the curtain to expose these operations and stop them from undermining our national security," said Rep. Bill Huizenga.
— Fox News
🎣 Newsom Says He Won't Run in 2028 if Kamala Harris Does
Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNN's Jake Tapper during a Montana fly-fishing trip that he'd step aside from a 2028 presidential bid if Kamala Harris runs, pointing to how closely their bases of support overlap.
"Of course not. Why would I?" Newsom said when asked whether he'd stay out of the race if Harris enters it.
He argued the "Venn diagram" of his and Harris's supporters is "pure crossover," making a shared run redundant.
Newsom conceded Tapper had a fair counterpoint — that Harris has already run for president twice, while he hasn't.
— Fox News