“Many Venezuelans suspected that there was going to be a price to pay for President Trump’s brazen capture of their autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was arrested by U.S. forces in January,” the New York Times reports. “On Friday, that cost became clear when Mr. Trump announced that the U.S. would be taking majority control […]

“President Trump raged at ‘Meet the Press’ anchor Kristen Welker Sunday for casting aspersions on his endorsement record — saying she should be reprimanded by the FCC,” the New York Post reports. Said Trump, on Truth Social: “How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because […]

“Providers are seeing more patients in need of abortions later in pregnancy as abortion bans and restrictions proliferate in U.S. states, all while access to insurance falls,” The Guardian reports. “Those bans and restrictions have also meant that later abortion care access has grown over the past decade in a handful of haven states and […]

“For much of the Afghanistan war, the only thing harder for the United States than winning was quitting,” the New York Times reports. “The country’s longest war ended in chaos and defeat five years ago Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans, desperate to escape Taliban insurgents, swarmed the Kabul airport. Thirteen U.S. troops died there […]

“Jimmy Kimmel is currently out on summer break from his late-night talk show on ABC. But the casual fan might be forgiven for thinking the host hasn’t left the building. Social media videos appear to show him commenting on everything from President Trump falling asleep in the middle of a meeting, to the president’s attacks […]

“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent faces a major test of his economic diplomacy skills this week as he presses finance leaders from the G20 major economies to shrink global trade imbalances, boost ​growth and sever business ties to Iran, while trying to calm worries about rising U.S. debt and bond yields,” Reuters reports. “After shunning the […]

“Democrats have struggled to win over Republican voters in recent elections. This year, some Democratic candidates argue they can change that — because they were once Republicans,” the Washington Post reports. “These party switchers say that they have unique insight into the concerns of voters distrustful of party politics, as well as those who feel […]

“A chain of gas stations that lowered prices last month in response to President Donald Trump’s call for cheaper fuel sparked a mystery over how it was able to sell at such a discount,” the Washington Post reports. “A new lawsuit offers a possible answer: A fuel supplier alleges that it was not paid for […]

“Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) told reporters Saturday that his campaign had ‘nothing to do’ with his own attack ad against his opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), which used a family’s highway tragedy to denounce illegal immigration,” Mediaite reports.

“Iceland’s voters rejected a proposal to restart negotiations on joining the European Union more than a decade after previous talks ended, the national broadcaster reported Sunday,” the Associated Press reports. “The vote will put the long-debated issue to rest more than a decade after a euroskeptic government ended EU talks.”

“Russia has turned up the heat on Kyiv’s allies in Europe, with a string of so-called gray zone activities aimed at sowing fear, as it struggles to advance on the ground in Ukraine and faces increasingly damaging Ukrainian drone and missile attacks at home,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Kevin Warsh cleared a crucial hurdle at his first appearance as the Federal Reserve’s chairman at its annual conference in Jackson, Wyo,” the New York Times reports. “He offered his most comprehensive views to date about the state of the economy. He cleared up confusion about the central bank’s commitment to getting inflation down to […]

“Imaginations run wild at what President Donald Trump and his allies might yet do to interfere in the coming midterm election. He’s already done quite a bit,” CNN reports. “This is the man who alleged widespread voter fraud even in the two elections he won and who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 […]

Ed Kilgore: “The heart of the 2026 midterm-election battle is a struggle for the high ground of public opinion between supporters and opponents of the president of the United States.” “That’s generally true of midterm elections, and it’s particularly true given the unparalleled visibility — ubiquity, really — of Donald Trump and the polarizing effect […]

“Social Security’s looming insolvency is the country’s most foreseeable problem, a blaring demographic siren threatening automatic benefit cuts in 2032. Congress is trying to work up the nerve to solve it,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Discussions on the government’s largest program accelerated this summer with actuarial warnings, hearings and scattered bipartisan efforts. Lawmakers on […]

“Voting by mail would become much more difficult, if not impossible, for tens of millions of Americans if the U.S. Postal Service is allowed to implement a restrictive rule governing mail voting that President Trump has demanded,” the New York Times reports. “The effects would likely be greater for Democratic voters, who vote by mail […]

“Several U.S. military leaders have advised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the U.S. homeland, according to people familiar with a recent assessment prepared for the Pentagon chief,” the Washington Post reports. ”The warnings — detailed for Hegseth by […]

“MyPillow founder Mike Lindell has long denied President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election. Now, he’s refusing to accept his own election loss in the GOP primary for governor of Minnesota,” NBC News reports. “The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected Lindell’s bid Saturday to order a full recount of his Aug. 11 loss to […]

“Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts might be the only high-profile Democrat in America eagerly campaigning as a supporter of transgender rights,” the New York Times reports. “Even as many other top Democrats have grown cagey on the issue, Mr. Markey is offering a passionate defense of transgender athletes as he runs in a primary contest […]

“President Trump’s Justice Department had a problem. Judge after judge was rejecting its demands that hospitals across the country turn over internal records of transgender care provided to children,” the New York Times reports. “By the end of April, federal judges in Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Seattle had either quashed or substantially pared […]

New York Magazine: “n terms of their relations with the U.S. Canada, and Iran have very little in common. One is America’s closest neighbor and second-largest trade partner, sharing the world’s longest international border, extensive economic and cultural ties, and a long history of friendly cooperation. The other has been a U.S. adversary for nearly […]

“President Trump spent months declaring his ouster of Venezuela’s leader had secured the country’s oil for America. When U.S. energy companies resisted investing at the speed and scale he wanted, his administration devised an extraordinary solution to turn his vision into reality: make the U.S. government itself an investor,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The […]

“The far-right One Nation party has secured its first lower house seat in the state parliament of Western Australia, defeating the ruling Labor Party to win a special election,” Bloomberg reports. “The election was watched as an indicator of One Nation’s strength after the party surged in the polls over the past year.”

“Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed apologized to Jewish Democrats on Saturday for saying ‘hurt people hurt people’ as part of his response to a March attack on a synagogue near Detroit,” CNN reports. Said El-Sayed: “My comments might have been misconstrued to be justifying something I did not intend to justify. To anybody who […]

“Republicans and Democrats once praised Flock Safety as a protection tool for American communities. Now politicians across the political spectrum are turning against the mass-surveillance technology,” the Washington Post reports. “Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) froze state spending this week on the shoebox-size cameras that have proliferated across the nation.” NOTUS: What the Flock?

“Consumer sentiment among Republicans and independents is ‘starting to fade’ ahead of the midterm elections,” Semafor reports. “The Conference Board said last week that its overall consumer confidence index had dropped to its lowest level since January. Economists had predicted it would remain higher.”

“From trolling Canada about a lake to suddenly talking about Kim Jong-un, U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent distractions speak louder than words,” AFP reports. “The former reality television star has long been known for his reliance upon a simple tactic: when you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.” “But the 80-year-old’s recent stunts […]

“Speaker Mike Johnson is planning to meet with GOP megadonor Elon Musk in Texas,” Politico reports. ”The effort comes as Johnson stumps for Republican candidates across the Lone Star State ahead of the midterms. It’s the latest sign that GOP leaders hope Musk will spend heavily to help the party keep control of Congress.”

“Milo Yiannopoulos, the British far-right provocateur and former Yeezy executive, has been deported to the United Kingdom, the Department of Homeland Security said Saturday,” the Washington Post reports. ”U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Yiannopoulos on Thursday at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, according to a statement from a DHS spokesperson. The […]

“Six months into a conflict that President Donald Trump predicted would last ‘four to five weeks,’ Republican strategists worry there’s no way to keep the Iran war from hurting the party’s prospects in November’s midterm elections,” Bloomberg reports. “The continuing hostilities have demoralized GOP voters, who sent Trump to the White House in order to […]