Wednesday, June 24th, 2026 - Tulsi Gabbard Was Run by a Cult, Senate Passes War Powers Resolution, SpaceX Stock Is Already Tanking

Today's Headlines: Anti-ICE protesters in Texas were sentenced to between 50 and 100 years in prison after a judge stacked consecutive sentences for each count — normally they'd run concurrently — in what was explicitly viewed as a test case for how courts will handle dissent against the Trump administration, and separately the DOJ indicted 15 Minnesota protesters for "violently opposing federal law enforcement" by trying to block ICE arrests, so the message is clear. The Washington Post dropped a blockbuster investigation revealing that Tulsi Gabbard's political career was effectively run by her cult leader guru Chris Butler, who emailed her directives from a special address telling her what policies to support, how to behave on television, and writing her tweets down to the word and exact time to post. Ukraine, meanwhile, is winning the intelligence war against Russia using an underground network of "vidmas" — female honey pots drawn from Ukrainian folklore — to locate Russian troops for drone strikes, and separately knocked out power to half of Russian-occupied Crimea.  On the Iran war beat, the Senate passed a war powers resolution to prevent further military action in Iran on its tenth attempt — ten! — with four Republicans joining Democrats, Fetterman voting for the war, and Mitch McConnell still missing. In a rare bipartisan effort, Congress also passed a housing bill banning private equity from buying more than 350 homes at once and relaxing local building regulations, which won't fix the housing crisis immediately but is technically something. In other news,  Foreign hackers from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are infiltrating American homes through smart devices and cheap consumer gadgets like digital photo frames to steal data. Also, the Trump administration installed AI surveillance towers around the reflecting pool in the rain — which refilled the pool they had just drained — and put up chain link fences around the national monument, classy. Finally, SpaceX's stock is already down 45% from its all-time high less than two weeks after its IPO, and the company has already issued $25 billion in bonds despite just raising $75 billion, which is not a great sign. Resources/Articles mentioned: The Guardian: Texas anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism charges sentenced to at least 50 years in prison PBS News: Federal prosecutors charge 15 people with conspiracy to impede agents during Minnesota immigration crackdown The Atlantic: The Warrior-Witches of Ukraine’s Resistance  Kyiv Post: Half of Crimea Left Without Power After Overnight Explosions WaPo: Tulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that shaped her political career AP News: Senate for first time approves a war powers resolution in a rebuke to Trump over Iran conflict Axios: Congress passes big housing bill with bipartisan support WSJ: How Hackers Found a Back Door Into the American Living Room Yahoo: Trump Launches AI Surveillance of Reflecting Pool as Disaster Grows Yahoo Finance: SpaceX stock tumbles 16.4%, shaving off most IPO gains since debut Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices