Dave Bondy
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Wednesday February 26, 2025
February 26, 2025

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NEW YORK, NY - Apple’s iPhone voice-to-text feature sometimes displays “Trump” when users say the word “racist” into the microphone. The company claims it is aware of the “issue” and promises it is “rolling out a fix as soon as possible.”

Apple iPhone owners are recording videos of themselves using Apple’s voice-to-text feature, demonstrating that the smartphone briefly flashes “Trump” before switching back to the correct word they they say the word “racist” into the microphone. This is widespread and confirmed on multiple personal devices by Breitbart News.

While the smartphone did not display “Trump” every time “racist” was said using the device’s voice-to-text feature in the above sample video, it did show the 45th and 47th president’s surname three out of five times the iPhone user said the word “racist.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Breitbart News was able to replicate the issue several times, seeing “Trump” flash briefly when “racist” was spoken into Apple’s voice-to-text tool, before eventually switching back to the correct word. Click here to read more.

 

CHICAGO, IL - Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson asked the city to take out $830 million in bonds just one day after Chicago’s credit rating hit near-junk status, according to Standard & Poor’s Global.

Johnson claims the bonds are for infrastructure and capital improvements, but there is broad language in how the money could be spent. He could use it for the contract his former coworkers at the Chicago Teachers Union are seeking.

In listing acceptable uses for funds, the ordinance includes “loans or grants to assist individuals, not-for-profit organizations, or educational or cultural institutions, or for-profit organizations, or to assist other municipal corporations, units of local government, school districts, the State or the United States of America.”

Johnson could use the borrowed money to pay for the city’s contract with the CTU, which is his former employer and his largest campaign contributor at nearly $2.3 million. CTU is in the middle of contract negotiations with Chicago Public Schools.

S&P putting Chicago’s credit rating from BBB+ to BBB, two grades away from junk status, should be enough reason to reconsider borrowing nearly $1 billion. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said council members should reject the added debt. Click here to read more.

 

BOSTON, MASS - The New England Journal of Medicine is the world’s most prestigious medical journal. It publishes only 5 percent of the original research submissions that it receives. Physician Marty Makary, President Trump’s nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration, has written that publishing a study in the journal “is rocket fuel for your academic career.”

But like so many other institutions, NEJM has allowed a dubious commitment to “social justice” to overtake its pursuit of excellence in medical science—particularly when it comes to youth gender medicine. NEJM’s coverage of this controversial field has abandoned even the pretense of objectivity, declining to hold researchers to scientific standards or air alternative views that would advance scientific knowledge.

“Gender-affirming care” for youth involves the use of puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries to treat children who experience distress associated with their sex. Once embraced by many Western countries, this protocol has faced criticism in recent years for lacking credible evidence of its safety and benefits, for its potential harms, and for imposing life-altering treatments on children unable to give informed consent. In the U.S., though, medical associations have bucked the growing international consensus, maintaining their commitment to what they regard as a nonnegotiable human right. Click here to read more.

 

AUSTIN, TX Texas farm land is at risk. It’s not the Chinese, although lawmakers have introduced a suite of bills to fight against foreign adversaries gobbling up precious land.

Something else is destroying the soil itself and livestock that graze on it.

PFAs (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, colloquially called “forever chemicals”) are an imperishable poison that is seeping into the waterways and lands of Texas farmers with destructive force.

A case in Johnson County, Texas, set off alarm bells across the state. Environmental crimes investigator Dana Ames had tests conducted in late December of 2022 on a stillborn calf from a Texas ranch at a Texas A&M lab. The test results came back; this calf, that had never breathed contaminated air or ingested poisoned water, had PFAs totaling 610,000 parts per trillion in its liver.

For context, this is 152,500 times what the EPA considers a safe amount in drinking water. On February 11, Johnson County issued a disaster declaration because of the contamination. Click here to read more.

 

SAN ANTONIO, TX - An improvised explosive device killed a Texas rancher last month, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says.

“This shocking act of violence highlights the growing threat posed by cartel activity along our southern border,” Miller said in a statement Tuesday.

Antonio Céspedes Saldierna, 74, was killed at the end of January when his vehicle detonated an IED on his ranch in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, according to local Rio Grande Valley’s KGRV-TV Channel 5, the local ABC affiliate. Tamaulipas borders the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas.

Miller urged all Texans living and working along the border with Mexico and traveling between the two countries to “exercise extreme caution.”

“The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) is a crucial part of Texas agriculture, and the safety of our agricultural community is of utmost importance,” he said. “We cannot overlook the rising violence that threatens not only lives, but also the security of our farms, ranches, and rural communities.” Click here to read more.

 

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October 22, 2026
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Who Is Lady Budgetdown? The Mystery Account Raising Eyebrows and Uncovering School Finances
The anonymous figure behind a growing school transparency website says the project is run by one person, has faced threats of legal action and is expanding its reach across Michigan.

MICHIGAN — Who is Lady Budgetdown?

It’s a question that has circulated among Michigan educators, school administrators, taxpayers and social media users as a mysterious online watchdog continues digging into school district finances, superintendent salaries, bond proposals and public spending.

Now, the person behind the increasingly visible project is revealing new details about its origins, operations and future — while refusing to disclose their identity.

In an exclusive written interview, Lady Budgetdown confirmed the operation is run by a single individual, not a larger organization or political group.

 

“It started with just me, and it currently is only me,” Lady Budgetdown said.

The anonymous researcher said the project receives technical assistance with website development but independently oversees the research, reviews public records, creates content and determines what information gets published.

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October 22, 2026
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Michigan school funding tops inflation since before the pandemic

Funding for public schools in Michigan has grown faster than inflation since before the pandemic.

Yet some school teachers, like Amanda Walker of Bay City Schools, have said that schools are being defunded. Walker is vice president of her district’s chapter of the Michigan Education Association.

“I do think there’s been a concerted effort to dismantle public education by defunding, by diverting funds to private schools, by tearing down teachers and accusing them of all sorts of nonsense. People see it, and they feel it, and they don’t like it,” Walker told an MEA news publication recently.

It can feel that way at school districts such as Bay City, where the student count dropped 16% between 2018-19 and 2025-26, according to MiSchoolData.org. Fewer students means less in per-pupil funding. Click here to read more.


 

Data centers become midterm minefield as candidates scramble to answer voter backlash

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his support for building new data centers across the country, but candidates in both parties are trying to show voters they are listening to growing concerns about the technology. With the midterms two weeks away, the issue could help decide who voters ultimately choose.

The debate is playing out in city halls nationwide. In Memphis, Tennessee, the city council voted down a proposal Tuesday that would have halted new data center development for a year, following a heated meeting. “We demand a healthy environment, clean air, clean water, which we have a human right to. We also demand representation that chooses us, the people, over the profits of a billionaire’s experiment,” said KeShaun Pearson, who attended the meeting. Click here to read more.

Stay in contact with family with push to talk nationwide waterproof walkie talkies. Click here to learn more and get an extra 10% off.

 

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The debate is playing out in city halls nationwide. In Memphis, Tennessee, the city council voted down a proposal Tuesday that would have halted new data center development for a year, following a heated meeting. “We demand a healthy environment, clean air, clean water, which we have a human right to. We also demand representation that chooses us, the people, over the profits of a billionaire’s experiment,” said KeShaun Pearson, who attended the meeting.

In Hermantown, Minnesota, a rural community of about 10,000 people in the northeastern part of the state, the city council moved closer to approving a new Google data center. Some residents said officials haven’t pushed hard enough. Click here to read more.

 

Consumers Energy’s rate hike request comes days after $139M increase approved

Consumers Energy is looking for a rate hike on natural gas prices less than a week after the public service commission approved a $139 million increase.

The utility provider filed its notice of intent with regulators on Monday, which is required before it can submit its rate request.

The previous rate hike came out to about a 4.3% bump in monthly payments for natural gas.

Big picture view:

Consumers Energy has not said how much more it is asking for it its latest failing, but did say the new rate would last 12 months, ending Oct. 31, 2028.

Utility companies cannot set rates themselves. Instead, they submit a request to increase rates for either natural gas or electricity with the Michigan Public Service Commission.

After making the request, both parties and any other stakeholders weigh in on the case.

The Michigan Attorney General frequently intervenes in these cases. Click here to read more.

 

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President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday announced a $25 million program to encourage the public to blow the whistle on suspected fraud in the U.S. government as they ramp up efforts to end the abuse of federal programs and dollars.

The White House said that under the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, anyone who submits a tip that leads to a fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action is eligible to receive up to $30,000, and that the Justice Department will administer the program.

During the announcement, Trump said payments will amount to a 1% commission on the amount of fraud the tip helps uncover. Trump also said he will decide who gets reward money in cases where more than one person claims to have provided the tip.

“I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions,” Trump in the Oval Office with Vance and other administration officials standing behind him. “It’ll be a binding arbitration.”

Trump said journalists could participate in the program. Click here to read more.

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Michigan Audit Raises Questions About Medical Procedures Performed on Children in State Care
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LANSING, Mich. — Children under Michigan's guardianship underwent medical procedures without required consent or documentation, while thousands of others were not being consistently tracked by the state agency responsible for them, according to a new audit.

The Michigan Office of the Auditor General released a 40-page report Oct. 15 identifying significant deficiencies within the Michigan Children's Institute, which operates under the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

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