President Donald Trump suffered his most concentrated series of endorsement defeats of the 2026 primary cycle on Tuesday, when three Republican candidates he supported lost races in Florida and Wyoming. Representative Cory Mills was defeated in the Republican primary for Florida's 7th Congressional District, Catalina Lauf lost the contest for the GOP nomination in Florida's 19th District, and Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder fell short in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary. they add to a run of August defeats that has exposed the limits of the president's ability to carry candidates past local opposition, controversy or questions about their fitness for office. Former NBC News moderator Chuck Todd summarized the political moment in a post on X late Tuesday, writing: "August has been a cruel month for Trump politically."
President Donald Trump bragged on Wednesday, "I'm very good at flagpoles!" during what CNN described as an "impromptu tour of his various White House construction projects." CNN's Kasie Hunt reported on the moment during Wednesday's edition of The Arena, explaining, "The president's schedule initially said he was participating in a policy meeting during that time. Instead, he spent 32 minutes ... explaining in painstaking detail the changes that he's bringing to the People's House." While the CNN segment is a supercut of the event, the full clip shows Trump citing a 2025 donation of his, which he described on Truth Social at the time as "two beautiful Flag Poles on both sides of the White House."
The Mecca Agreement and regional pipeline bypasses confirm that Middle Eastern self-reliance, as a multinational region, is no longer theoretical. In January, CENTCOM aligned with a 17-nation Middle East Air Defense, Combined Defense Operations Cell at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Seven months later, on August 7th in Mecca, three of the region's largest militaries turned that coordination into commitment: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, declaring that an armed attack on any one member is an attack on all. It combines Saudi financial resources, Turkey's defense industry, and Pakistan's nuclear capability, anchored by a permanent secretariat in Saudi Arabia. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan cited NATO's collective defense clause as a technical parallel; the founders have said they don't intend to stay at three.
Reuters found the Guard mentioned in only a tiny fraction -- 1.3% -- of criminal prosecutions in a year-long deployment. Trump administration projects that sending troops to Washington will cost $1.4 billion through 2029. Soldiers mostly responded to incidents in wealthier, whiter areas and were absent from neighborhoods where 82% of murders take place.
Publishers Weekly: In a new study released by AI detection platform Originality.ai, 63% of paperback religious books listed for sale on Amazon were flagged as likely written by AI. To arrive at that number, Originality.ai analyzed 2,034 English-language paperbacks with at least a four-star average rating across 14 faith and belief categories. Over the first six months of 2026, the company scanned the three elements of books available on Amazon: summaries, author bios, and in-book samples, with the samples serving as the study's primary metric. Any text with a score of 50 or above was classified "Likely AI." (The study's authors note that detection indicates a book was likely written with AI, but doesn't prove authorship.) Read more
Columbia House, a pioneer of subscription music before streaming, is shutting down after seven decades in business. A widely reported statement appeared on its website saying the company is closing on September 15 has been removed, but a customer service representative confirmed to CNN by phone that it is soon ceasing operations.
Last June, two investigators employed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) showed up at David Streever's house in Rochester, New York. Streever was not home, so they left him a note. That note, presented as an official warning from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is at the center of a First Amendment lawsuit that Streever filed last month, alleging that ICE agents investigated and threatened him based on his constitutionally protected criticism of their boss. This month, the government responded to Streever's lawsuit, confirming his allegations while attempting to rebut them.
If I were writing a book about the U.S. war with Iran, I know exactly what the title would be. It would be President Trump's social media post of April 5, 2026, directed at the leaders of Iran: "Open the [expletive] Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell " JUST WATCH!" Wars are a crucible that very often exposes changes in the physics of the world around us " who has power, who doesn't have power and how power is being wielded. Nothing better captures the new power equation produced by this war than Trump's unhinged and obscene rant at the Iranian leadership for not bending to his bombs. Read more
Deborah Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), who never held a real job in the private sector after graduating college in 1990, won the primary for the newly created 20th CD, after Democratic critics accused her of undermining Black representation. Several weeks ago, some of us warned drudge.com readers that AIPAC will come out ahead in the Florida re-districting scheme; maybe Lord Jazz was one of them besides Coriolanus.
Florida CD is 49.1% Black
Aware of a USAF C-17 Globemaster III flight heading to Antarctica, Russia's civil aviation authority warned New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) about "potentially hazardous" space activity, who then issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen), forcing the USAF crew to return unharmed to Christchurch, NZ.
RFI to NZ CAA
Notorious Islamophobe Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) was caught on camera going through someone else's mail while campaigning door-to-door in his Florida district. For months, AIPAC "Agent 13" has been spewing non-stop bile and bigotry against the popular mayor of NYC, Zohran Mamdani (D). In 2024, Broward County Judge Scott Blaue held Randy Fine in contempt of court and ordered the hatemonger to attend rage therapy.
Randy Fine (R) is not a good human being
Progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon scored a major upset over former National Security Council aide Alex Vindman in the Florida Democratic Senate primary, NBC News projects, setting up a general election race against Republican Sen. Ashley Moody. Vindman, a retired lieutenant colonel and Iraq War veteran who rose to prominence as a witness during President Donald Trump's 2019 impeachment hearings, was viewed as a heavy favorite against Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, heading into Tuesday's contest. Vindman raised $16 million for his campaign, a significant number for a Democrat in red-leaning Florida, while Nixon brought in just over $900,000. Read more
President Donald Trump told a story about South Korea on Monday. Every single part of it is false. Trump has delivered versions of his fictional story before; CNN debunked one telling last year. The president delivered Monday's version the day after he announced the US would reduce military exercises with South Korea " citing his "very good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and also mentioning that South Korea declined to participate in the US war with Iran. Read more
It was the Democratic Party's "Summer of Socialism," as an email from the Republican National Committee cheerfully called it that morning, and Ashik Siddique, a co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, was standing on a chair outside a bar, rallying the comrades. Read more
Aug 18, 2026
This morning, NATO has deployed large aircraft forces around Putin's Kaliningrad region next to the Polish border in what appears to be a sudden and urgent show-of-force. We are currently monitoring ongoing developments.
In the meantime, NATO has also deployed several aircraft toward Northern Norway as it's believed that Russian submarines are on the move out of Murmansk for some unknown reason.
Meanwhile, Moscow came under the largest drone attack that it's experienced in the last two years over the past 24 hours, with more than 600 UAVs targeted the capital as explosions rang out across the area.
Meanwhile, Dubai has come under a missile attack from Iran as warnings were sent out to civilians to seek shelter, which marks the first Iranian attack on Dubai in Months.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- California energy regulators have approved new rules that will phase out some replacement tires sold in the state that do not meet energy-efficiency requirements. The standards target replacement tires that fail to meet the new efficiency requirements. State regulators say the changes will help drivers save money on fuel over time. Tire manufacturers, however, argue the rules could increase upfront costs for consumers by hundreds of dollars. Read more
