“NATO scrambled four jet fighters to shoot down a foreign drone that entered Latvian airspace early Friday, amid concerns that Russia’s war in Ukraine is increasingly breaching the military alliance’s eastern frontier,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The U.S. will soon announce unprecedented economic measures against Iran, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, intensifying the Trump administration’s effort to force Tehran’s capitulation after almost six months of war,” Bloomberg reports. Said Bessent: “Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen […]

“President Donald Trump sought U.S. Supreme Court approval to keep building his massive new White House ballroom after two lower courts said he was flouting the law by proceeding without congressional authorization,” Bloomberg reports. “In a filing made public Friday, Trump asked the justices for an emergency order letting construction continue without restrictions while a […]

“A memorial in Washington DC for the second world war was vandalized with bubbly ⁠soap and graffiti on Thursday, prompting vows from the U.S. government to find the perpetrator,” The Guardian reports. “The fountain bubbled over with suds ⁠and someone painted ‘Clean hands Dirty $’ ⁠on one ​surface, splattering the area with red and green […]

“Lawyers for the former Olympian David Hearn filed a motion on Thursday night seeking to bar federal prosecutors from reviving a felony charge that he vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying they needed to head off possible ‘prosecutorial harassment’ prompted by President Trump,” the New York Times reports.

“Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment Michael Boren, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, asked agency staff last month to escalate the amount of aircraft at a seven-acre fire that had started near his mega-ranch in Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest,” the Washington Post reports.

“An election that pitted Nigel Farage against a man dressed as a bin, and turned the English resort town of Clacton into a seaside media circus, ended on Friday morning with a fizzle rather than a bang as the victorious Reform UK leader ducked out of public appearances,” Bloomberg reports. “As the candidates lined up […]

“U.S. retail sales fell in July by the most in more than a year as consumers pulled back on purchases of autos and at online stores,” Bloomberg reports.

“For most of his second term, President Donald Trump has been arguing that the ‘golden age’ he promised for America’s economy is already here. There’s hardly been much evidence that voters agreed,” Bloomberg reports. “Now, with midterm elections less than three months away and campaigning poised to get underway in earnest, the gap has become […]

“The U.S. wants to know how loyal each NATO ally is to Donald Trump’s policies before cutting military assets defending the alliance,” Bloomberg reports. “In a document recently sent to North Atlantic Treaty Organization members… the U.S. asks a series of questions that gauge support for the president’s approach. Has the country ‘been publicly supportive’ […]

“Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill on Friday after two more ships were attacked there and the United States said it ​could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely,” Reuters reports.

“A deputy assistant to President Donald Trump was caught on camera drunkenly playing around with a sex toy hours after attending a children’s hospital benefit gala at Mar-a-Lago,” the Daily Beast reports. “A video obtained by the Daily Mail captured Lynne Patton, a longtime Trump aide who has worked in both of the president’s administrations, […]

“President Donald Trump is headed to the Nassau County Police Academy in New York Friday to tout new FBI statistics showing a historic decline in crime nationwide,” NewsNation reports. “The FBI 2025 crime report, expected to be released Friday, is projected to show a significant drop in violent crime. According to reports, the data could […]

“Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) made a remarkable argument on Thursday, explaining that in his opinion, Congress ‘should do a little more’ for wealthy Americans,” Mediaite reports. Said Grothman: “Don’t let anybody tell you that people running, uh, Congress right now are looking out for the rich. Actually, I think we should do a little more […]

“Trump administration officials and allies suspect U.S. Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro might be trying to get back on President Donald Trump’s good side by convening a rare special grand jury in the district,” Semafor reports. “The move followed Trump’s repeated, public criticisms of Pirro over her decision to drop charges in a Reflecting Pool […]

“Democrats are hoping a potential blue wave will make a reddish Florida district competitive,” Semafor reports. “New polling from GQR shared first with Semafor shows retired Army Brigadier Gen. Leela Gray polling at 44% and incumbent Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna at 47% — representing a statistical tie, within the 4.4-percentage-point margin of error.”

Punchbowl News: “Steve Scalise said he won’t challenge Mike Johnson for speaker if House Republicans keep the majority. Johnson has done ‘a great job,’ the majority leader told us, and the speaker has ‘earned’ the right to keep the gavel.” “But we asked Scalise three times whether he’d run against Johnson for minority leader if […]

“When Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump met in the Oval Office two weeks ago, the president asked the Israeli prime minister how he was doing in the polls ahead of an Oct. 27 election,” Axios reports. “Netanyahu paused. Then one of his advisers piped up: ‘Mr. President, he is winning,’ the aide said, according to […]

“Republicans have a new name on their growing list of progressive midterm targets: Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, fresh off a landslide Senate primary win,” Axios reports. “With President Trump’s approval ratings in the 30s, Republicans are trying to turn the midterms from a referendum on him into a choice between the GOP and a […]

ABC News: “The party is expected to give a final vote on Saturday, during its scheduled meeting, to finalize the 2028 calendar order, which would have South Carolina’s primary on Jan. 22, Nevada on Feb. 1, New Hampshire on Feb. 8, New Mexico on Feb. 15, Michigan on Feb. 22 and Virginia on Feb. 29.” […]

Nat Cohn: “Progressives had high hopes of dominant victories in marquee primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin, but in the end their candidates fared much worse than expected. The results would have been a lot less disappointing if the pre-election polls hadn’t been so far off.” “The polls helped set extraordinarily high expectations for progressives: Dr. […]

“James Talarico’s Senate campaign is celebrating an endorsement from an unlikely political figure — a Texas attorney who once accused Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton of stealing his $1,000 Montblanc pen,” Semafor reports. “Joe Joplin’s pen, a gift from his wife, became a source of controversy after he left it in a dish near a […]

“After years of battling fellow Republicans and helping lead the culture wars in Texas, Ken Paxton is campaigning on tax deductions, appearing with state lawmakers who once voted to impeach him, and openly appealing to the Washington establishment for financial help,” CNN reports. “It’s all part of Paxton’s efforts to unify his party after a […]

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“Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform UK party, has won re-election to parliament in a vote he triggered himself last month by stepping down amid controversy over his finances,” CNBC reports. “Farage, who has previously been praised by U.S. President Donald Trump and was a figurehead in the U.K. campaign to leave the European […]

“The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan five years ago this week, returning to power after two decades and restoring an Islamic government that had severely restricted women’s rights,” the New York Times reports. “In those few years, women and girls have been systematically erased from most public life, experts say. And, some add, the limitations […]

“Francesca Hong’s Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign embraced the new era of campaigning for progressive candidates, from a social media-dominated bid to her democratic socialist-influenced policy platform,” NOTUS reports. “But part of her razor-thin loss to David Crowley on Tuesday could be explained by the traditional, or a lack thereof: broadcast TV ad spending.” “Despite leading the […]

Comedian Shane Gillis appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience: GILLIS: Trump’s selling faster access to his tweets and then you can bet on the markets. It’s literally insider trading. ROGAN: Wait a minute, is that real? How is that legal? Who’s telling him this is a good idea? $100K to get early tweets? That’s literally […]

“Graham Platner, the embattled former Democratic nominee for the Senate in Maine, was named as a speaker at a Labor Day rally in Maine next month in what would be one of his first public appearances since he took his name off the ballot in July,” NBC News reports. Washington Post: Graham Platner to speak […]

“House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on Thursday signaled that Democrats would look to overhaul the Supreme Court if they regain power in Washington, nodding to his party’s long-running frustration with the court’s rightward turn,” the Wall Street Journal reports.