The U.S. government just made a land deal with the world's first trillionaire. Not a sale. A trade. Because apparently that's how we do things now. 715 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge - built by Congress in 1979 to protect one of the most biodiverse wildlife corridors left in North America - handed to SpaceX. Endangered ocelots. Aplomado falcons. Piping plovers. Land the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas has called sacred since long before there was a United States. SpaceX built a rocket launch site next door. Then came the explosions. Concrete and metal hurled six miles across refuge land. A 2024 study found that after one launch, every single monitored shorebird nest near the site suffered egg damage or loss. The Fish and Wildlife Service's response was not enforcement. It was a land swap. FOIA documents show internal planning for this transfer started as early as April 2025 - while Musk was running DOGE and threatening to fire federal workers who didn't justify their jobs to him. The agency developed what they called "the most expedited schedule possible" to get it done. Part of what's being handed over includes the Palmito Ranch Battlefield - the site of the last battle of the Civil War. A National Historic Landmark. Once transferred, SpaceX can restrict public access whenever they want. 25,000 people submitted public comments. Most opposed the deal. The government moved forward anyway. A coalition of tribal and conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit this week to stop it. Because someone has to. Why are we cutting real estate deals with a trillionaire when we could have just made him pay for it? #DemsUnited

A 141-year-old mother and her 3-week-old babies

Cardinal Zuppi read the names of every child who passed away in Gaza. It took him 7 hours.