Here we go. As if we needed politics to get even uglier … The Senate has taken up a strict voter identification bill that President Trump has demanded Congress deliver him. Passed narrowly by the House last month, the legislation, which Republicans call the SAVE America Act, would normally seem to have little chance of enactment given near-solid Democratic opposition. That means it lacks the 60 votes required to move to a final vote.

But a bloc of House conservatives is making good on its threat to vote against even routine legislation in a bid to strong-arm the Senate into passing the voting overhaul bill. And Senate Republicans on Tuesday successfully launched their floor takeover to put Democrats on record against Trump-backed voter ID legislation.

President Trump says the legislation is a salvation from mass voter fraud. Sen. Chuck Schumer says it’s an effort at mass voter suppression, “Jim Crow 2.0.” But policy wonks say neither is reality. And a Pew Research Center poll in August tested a variety of election rules and found that 83% of U.S. adults support “requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote,” while 16% oppose it. That’s up from 77% support in a 2012 Pew poll. Of course, for most of the American public, showing an ID (to buy certain items or travel) is fairly common.

NBC News asked more than two dozen Democratic lawmakers whether they would accept some kind of photo ID rule to vote. Just one voiced openness to it: Sen. John Fetterman (the Democrat from Pennsylvania). But even Fetterman said he’ll oppose the SAVE America Act as written, citing other provisions in the sprawling bill.

While Republicans have focused on the popularity of the voter ID provision, Democrats note that the SAVE America Act would also require proof of citizenship (a passport or birth certificate) to register, a much higher burden of proof than photo ID. President Donald Trump has also called for it to be amended to include major new restrictions on mail-in voting and provisions against trans athletes and gender-affirming surgeries for minors.

Fraudulent voting by noncitizens is already illegal and extremely rare, and there is no evidence to support Trump’s charges that Democrats have tried to mobilize undocumented immigrants to sway elections in their favor.

Israel said it killed Iran's top security official, Ali Larijani, one of the regime's most powerful surviving figures. Israel also said it killed Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Basij force used to suppress protests in the Islamic Republic. Iran later confirmed both deaths and Iran’s army chief warned there would be a “decisive, deterrent, and regretful response” and the Revolutionary Guards reportedly said it had already launched missiles at central Israel “in revenge”.

An Iran-aligned militia group fired a combination of drones and rockets at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad earlier today, according to a U.S. official, who said that six of the seven projectiles were intercepted and that there were no injuries or serious damage. Videos geolocated by NBC News showed explosions and a column of smoke rising near the compound.

Separately, President Donald Trump has lashed out at NATO and other allies who he said “don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation” against Iran. In a long post on Truth Social, he also said the U.S. was the most powerful country and “WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!” With the critical Strait of Hormuz still blocked because of the war with Iran, some Gulf countries hope to mobilize oil pipelines to partially bypass the disruptions to keep up with energy demands.

OpenAI said it will eventually launch a text-only adult mode for ChatGPT, the Wall Street Journal reports, despite what are … um … some strong misgivings from the company’s own advisers. In adult mode, ChatGPT users will be able to have text chats with adult themes, the Journal said, citing an OpenAI spokesperson. But the chatbot will not be able to generate erotic audio, images or videos. The OpenAI spokesperson said the company considers these chats “smut rather than pornography.” Well then.

OpenAI said earlier this month that it was delaying the feature to focus on higher-priority items, including “gains in intelligence, personality improvements, personalization, and making the experience more proactive.” The company said it wanted to take the necessary time to get adult mode “right.”

According to Mashable, insiders said that one expert cautioned that ChatGPT would just become a “sexy suicide coach.” In addition, advisors warned that the chatbot's age assurance policies—including its new age prediction technology—were not robust enough to handle the X-rated experience.

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