Welcome to the March Friday 27th New Newsletter!
This newsletter is free, but if you’d like, please buy Jalon some coffee. She can’t do these newsletters without it! (Seriously).
Our Main Story: We’re Too Big A Country For This Tomfoolery
Senate approves funding for TSA and most of Homeland Security, but not immigration enforcement
House considers funding deal to reopen Department of Homeland Security
Trump says he’ll sign order to pay airport security workers, but gave no further details1
ICE Agents Frustrate Airport Workers as Shutdown Drags On
House Republicans Reject Senate’s D.H.S. Funding Bill, Extending Shutdown [AGAIN]
Our Main Story: I Ran So Far Away
Global Food Supply Faces a Dangerous Bottleneck as Iran War Persists
Iran-US war latest: Iran declares Strait of Hormuz closed and warns ships will face ‘harsh measures’
The View of the War From a Florida Gas Station
How Trump’s Plot to Grab Iran’s Nuclear Fuel Would Actually Work
Trump delays his ultimatum to Iran while US military builds up in the Middle East
FBI director gets his personal email hacked by ‘Iran-linked group’ and shared online
FBI confirms hackers targeted Kash Patel’s personal emails
Investors Are Losing Patience With the War in Iran
We’re Still Not Stopping Talking About Them Files
Epstein files shed new light on what prison officials were doing the night he died
Faith Kates: the woman who introduced models to ‘dear friend’ Jeffrey Epstein
Sarah Ferguson stripped of freedom of the city of York over Epstein ties
College Buildings Named for Epstein’s Friends Lead to Removal Demands
This Week’s Links
House ethics panel finds Florida Democratic Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick committed 25 violations2
A New, Highly Mutated COVID Variant Called ‘Cicada’ Is Spreading in the US. Know These Symptoms
Savannah Guthrie to return to ‘Today’ show on April 6 after mother’s disappearance
Treasury to put Trump’s signature on U.S. bills — a first for a sitting president
Sheriff failed to investigate 7 rape cases at ICE detention center
Why a private company is investigating rapes at an ICE detention center instead of the sheriff
Hegseth strikes two Black and two female officers from promotion list
Hegseth removes four officers – two women and two Black men – from military promotion list3
ICE Might Be Violating America’s Other Bill of Rights
Suspended Plymouth police officer and husband charged with multiple counts of child rape4
Montreal man wanted in connection with multimillion-dollar grandparent scam arrested in Nicaragua
Mexican Navy searching for two sailboats carrying aid to Cuba lost in the Caribbean
US officials tell allies Iran war could delay Ukraine weapons shipments
Pete Hegseth given brutal new nickname by Pentagon staffers
Florida’s Immigration Crackdown Is Showing Cracks: ‘We’re Hurting People’
‘Oh my God’: Legal experts stunned after judge catches ICE lawyers citing bogus cases
‘Visibly upset and struggling’: Acting ICE head hospitalized twice over stress, officials say
Humans Had Dogs Before They Had Farming, Ancient DNA Confirms
What We Know About Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ Protests
Why going to an HBCU might be better for Black students’ health
Election 2026
Florida Democrats Win Special Election in Mar-a-Lago’s District
Why Pueblo is key to the 2026 election in Colorado
Blindspot Stories
New Blood Tests Can Detect Early Signs of Alzheimer’s: Should You Get One?
Coleman Barks, Who Popularized the Islamic Poet Rumi in the West, Dies at 88
Under Reported Stories: Who Made All That Money?
Traders bet $500 million on oil price just before Trump’s post on delay to Iran attack
Thank You, Ghana
UN votes to recognise enslavement of Africans as ‘gravest crime against humanity’
U.S. Rejects Vote to Recognize Slavery as a ‘Crime Against Humanity’5
Ghana’s president, in New York, says US is ‘normalizing’ the erasure of Black history
UN’s landmark slavery ruling energises African Union’s fight for reparations
Democratic Wake Up Calls / Wins
How a 27-year-old upstart unseated longtime Texas House Democrat Chris Turner
California ‘jungle’ primary could hand governor’s race to Republicans
House Democrats rally behind DHS funding bill as GOP balks
AI / Tech News
When Satellite Data Becomes a Weapon
Meta’s smart glasses make it easy to secretly film people. It’s mostly women bearing the fallout
Welcome to a Multidimensional Economic Disaster
Meta and YouTube Found Negligent in Landmark Social Media Addiction Case
Meta’s stock drops almost 8% as 2 court defeats add to Zuckerberg’s recent woes
Parents see hope in back-to-back rulings that social media providers failed to protect young users
The Terrible Cost of the Infinite Scroll
Texas News
The Texas Moon, and Elsewhere (from 1975)
Texas suburbs lead U.S. for population growth as international migration slows, census finds
Texas saddles up for data center clash
I Know Ball News
How many 2026 World Cup tickets are actually still available? A FIFA release offers clues
Train tickets between Boston and Gillette Stadium to almost quadruple in cost during World Cup
England superfan set to sell house for World Cup trip6
Transgender women athletes banned from women’s Olympic events by new IOC policy
France calls new Olympic gender testing ‘backward step’
Maryland coach Brenda Frese went viral for yelling at Oluchi Okananwa. There’s more to the story
Your Moments of Zen
❤️7
Scientists watch sperm whales work as a team to assist a birth
That’s it for this week! Like, share, and subscribe if you haven’t yet. We are quite literally all in this together. xo, Jalon
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Get Pod Local: The Podcast (Season 2!) with Joey and Jalon
Joey and Jalon sit down with Politicians, Community Leaders, and movers and shakers making a difference. And almost every episode, the Dallas Mayor catches a stray. He deserves it. It’s fine. Episodes drop every Thursday…maybe…
GPL Presents: New Newsletter with Jalon Nichols
Every week, Jalon catches you up on what is going on out here, who is doing it, how does that impact your everyday life, and what everyone is saying about. We are based in Texas, so we have a lot of Texas news, but we cover the whole wide world. There is a LOT of stuff going on everyday, and no one can keep up with it all, but we attempt to….for you. (Clap for us).
GPL Presents: Organizers Corner w/ Joey Cade
Every Sunday night, Joey Cade, our Resident Precinct Chair, lays out our Call To Actions for the week. Because knowing what’s going on is one thing. But doing something about it is another. Let’s do both!
GPL Presents: Water Cooler with Jalon and Joey
Every morning, Jalon D’na and Joey Cade check in and talk about something we read or saw on slack. Videos drop every Thursday!
GPL Presents: Daily Briefs with Jalon Nichols
Everyday, Jalon reads you the headlines of the day — just to keep you in the know. Think NPR at the top of each hour, with a lot of shade some jokes.
Classic
Great! Now do the whole administration in the people’s house.
The fact that a former Major from the Minnesota National Guard can do any of this, is INSANE TO ME.
Not a Drag Queen…
Girl, WHAT?!
We did it. We made it to Friday. That alone deserves copious amounts of Zen.
This is the most epic newsletter EVER!!