As U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has warned Congress that not appropriating roughly $1.5 trillion towards the Pentagon's next fiscal year budget is the "greatest threat" the country faces, a new budget report shows that the nation's rampant spending exceeds the Defense Department's own budgetary aspirations. The United States borrowed $1.8 trillion in the first ten months of Fiscal Year 2026, according to the latest Monthly Budget Review from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That amount, which includes $431 billion borrowed in July alone, is roughly $169 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year. Revenues rose by $139 billion (3%) and outlays increased by $308 billion (5%), per the CBO. That comparison is affected by a shift in the timing of certain payments. For example, payments that otherwise would have been due on Aug. 1"which fell on a weekend"were shifted into July. Read more
Americans pulled back on their retail spending in July and their confidence in the economy is taking a hit. That's a potentially troubling combination for a consumer-driven economy. Retail sales fell 0.6% in July from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Friday, down from June's 0.2% and marking the steepest drop since May 2025. Those figures are adjusted for seasonal swings but not inflation. A separate report from the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment declined about 8% early this month to a preliminary reading of 51, ending a two-month streak of rising sentiment. Read more
Food banks across the US, from New Mexico to Oregon to Illinois, are seeing massive increases in demand as the unprecedented federal nutrition aid cuts that President Donald Trump signed into law last summer take hold, stripping benefits from millions of Americans amid elevated grocery costs"a recipe for disaster. An estimated 4.5 million people, including roughly 1.5 million children, have lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits since the Trump-GOP budget law took effect last year, enshrining around $200 billion in cuts"the largest in the program's history"as well as new work reporting requirements that are expected to put millions more at risk of losing aid. The large-scale loss of benefits and expectations of even more hardship in the near future have heavily strained local food banks.
Flight-tracking data showed the planes converging along the same path while separated by about 3 miles horizontally and 2,000 feet vertically.
Sailors suffering a mental health crisis aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln were told by President Donald Trump on Friday they hadn't been stuck on board "nearly long enough." Trump made the remark Friday when a reporter asked whether the deployment had gone on too long. The Lincoln's roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines are nine months into a deployment that was supposed to end in May, with no return date announced. Families of sailors have described moldy showers, broken toilets, weeks without laundry service, and a meal that came to two tortillas and a half-cup of rice. Annabelle Loma told the Military Times her husband had tried to go overboard and was placed on a medical hold.
The Southern District of New York informs: "Luigi Nicholas Mangione (28) pled guilty today before US District Judge Margaret M. Garnett in connection with the 4 December 2024 permanent removal from the planet of greedy oligarch UnitedHealthcare (UHC) CEO Brian Thompson whose AI decision panels caused the deaths of untold numbers of patients who for years loyally paid their premiums to UHC, enriching him and his company. The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on 18 December 2026 and federal prosecutors are seeking his liquidation."
The sinister Trumpf junta wants to give poor Luigi Mangione the "stainless steel ride." He is also on trial in a NYS court facing similar charges.
Don't believe what the sailors families are saying. Some guys just wanted to go for a swim.
President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to allow him to build a ballroom at the White House, citing previous threats to Trump's life, national security needs and architectural values. The emergency request filed Friday comes after lower courts repeatedly ruled that Trump needed approval from Congress before moving forward with the $400 million project. Read more
Former Republican NYC mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa rebuked families of 9/11 victims who have illogically demanded Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) stay away from this year's annual ceremony marking the 2001 terror attack.
No uproar about His Honor being at Ground Zero with King Charles III this past April 2026, but that was before the devastating AIPAC primary election losses this summer.
James Lawhorn (54) of Wasilla Alaska was indicted for threatening to murder Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud. Some of the threats he transmitted include:
Foreign and rightwing agitprop is spurring irrational hatred and violent attacks against Muslims and Arabs in the US.
A Russian plot to kill a Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw was thwarted by Poland before it could be carried out, the Polish prime minister said Thursday, marking the first time in decades that a Western leader has publicly accused Moscow of plotting to kill a U.S. citizen. Western officials have previously warned that Russia has stepped up a campaign of targeted killings since President Vladimir Putin launched the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, saying they have disrupted several plots across Europe. But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this incident was unprecedented.
The Trump administration has finalized a rule that will allow shell companies and other questionable entities to conceal their ownership from federal investigators, in a move that critics say will only further facilitate corruption in the U.S. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced on Tuesday that it is ending the regulation that requires companies to disclose beneficial ownership. This refers to situations in which a person actually controls and benefits from a company, but legal documents list the company under a different name, like a bank or accountant.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) informs: "El Nino conditions continue to intensify and are likely to be very strong, resulting in a potentially historic event in the coming months that could significantly influence our weather, the hurricane season, and global temperatures."
Super El Nino won't be pleasant at all.
Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley pushed back against claims that the company's expanding network of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) is contributing to a surveillance state, telling Newsweek that transparency and accountability are central to the company's approach as it unveils new privacy protocols this week amid widespread backlash and protests. The technology executive told Newsweek in a Tuesday video interview that Flock's "end goal isn't a dystopian future of surveillance; it's one where we all feel safe."
US Vice President JD Vance outlines Washington's key objectives in the Iran conflict as keeping energy prices stable for Americans, preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons and securing a stronger US position. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says that the US can sustain its blockade against Iran "indefinitely".
Germany has provided a new package of humanitarian and emergency services equipment to Ukraine, including a raft of firefighting robots from German firm Magirus. With a strong pedigree for firefighting vehicles, Magirus also has a range of robotics designed for hazardous environments -- perfect for the embattled homesteads of Ukrainian cities.
