President Donald Trump’s war against Iran is stretching the limits of US aircraft carriers and leaving the western Pacific without one of the key American warships as China shows more signs of aggression.

The USS George Washington is departing the Pacific and expected to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East amid growing concerns about mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed carrier. The Lincoln has had its time at sea extended from its original May return date to support operations against Iran.

The lack of a US carrier in the Pacific may be short-lived if the US Navy deploys another in the next couple of months. But it shows how the open-ended operations with Iran are running some American sailors ragged, analysts say, while the Trump administration further retreats from the Asia-Pacific region and focuses on the Western Hemisphere.

Webmaster Addition: The US is supposed to have 11 carriers in active service. At the moment, there are only 3. Several carriers—including the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)—remain tied down in extended complex overhauls or dry-dock maintenance availability.

by Dave De Camp, antiwar.com

President Trump on Sunday said that he had ordered US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his relationship with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

“Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises! While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!'” he added.

"...UNTHREATENING AND RESPECTFUL", My ASTROLABE!!!

So help me, Hieronymus Bosch, there are moments when I swear,  this President is PLOTTING to give me indigestion in the morning (hate it, hate it, HATE IT!!  :-(   )

Forgive me, but is this NOT the same Kim Jong Un who has been dispatching North Korean troops to fight with Russian soldiers against Ukraine?!?  Here's what Throck, my AI, tells us:

"North Korea itself acknowledged in April 2025 that Kim Jong Un had ordered North Korean forces to fight alongside Russia against Ukraine. 

A few important details:

• The first major deployment occurred in late 2024, when roughly 11,000–12,000 North Korean troops were sent to Russia. They were initially deployed to the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces had seized Russian territory. 

They actually participated in combat, rather than merely serving as trainers or guards. North Korean units conducted attacks, artillery operations and reconnaissance against Ukrainian forces. 

North Korea subsequently acknowledged the deployment, explicitly saying it was carried out on Kim Jong Un's orders under the Russia–North Korea mutual-defense agreement. 

The casualties have apparently been very substantial. Western estimates cited by the Council on Foreign Relations put North Korean killed or wounded at more than 6,000 among the initial deployment, although casualty estimates are inherently uncertain.   Some North Korean soldiers have reportedly been rotated back to North Korea, taking battlefield experience with them. Ukrainian intelligence reported in February that other North Korean troops remained active in Kursk. 

And there is a significant new development in August 2026

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is now saying Russia may receive another 30,000–50,000 North Korean personnel. The 50,000 figure is a Ukrainian estimate and should therefore be treated as an allegation rather than an established number. 

What makes this especially interesting strategically is that North Korea is getting something enormously valuable in return: real modern battlefield experience. Its soldiers are encountering drones, electronic warfare, precision artillery, surveillance systems and other technologies that are difficult to reproduce through exercises alone. Western analysts have specifically noted that North Korea is using the war to modernize its military knowledge. And this is becoming a much broader Russia–North Korea military relationship: North Korea has supplied Russia with large quantities of ammunition and ballistic missiles in addition to personnel. Recent Ukrainian reports say Russia is continuing to receive North Korean missiles. So, if you're asking "Is Kim Jong Un actually sending his own soldiers into Russia's war against Ukraine?" — yes, unequivocally. The North Korean government itself has confirmed it."

And what North Korea gets from this relationship?!?

"It is becoming a broad strategic bargain in which North Korea supplies Russia with ammunition, missiles and manpower, while Russia supplies Kim Jong Un with things North Korea has difficulty obtaining elsewhere.

The most important benefits appear to be these:

1. Oil and other desperately needed resources

North Korea is chronically short of energy. Russia has been supplying it with petroleum products and other natural resources, despite the international sanctions regime.

A 2026 NATO Defense College analysis describes the emerging arrangement quite explicitly: North Korea supplies military materiel and labor, while Russia provides petroleum products, minerals and fertilizers, along with potentially more sensitive assistance. 

That is enormously valuable to Pyongyang because fuel is one of the things sanctions are designed to restrict.

2. Hard currency — potentially billions of dollars

This may be one of Kim's biggest immediate attractions.

A South Korean Institute for National Security Strategy estimate cited in March 2026 calculated that North Korea may have obtained the equivalent of $7.7–$14.4 billion from its military relationship with Russia over roughly two years. That figure includes the estimated value of military transfers, so it should not be interpreted as $14.4 billion in cash deposited into North Korea's accounts. 

The researchers estimated that confirmed transfers of fuel, weapons and food alone represented roughly $580 million–$1.5 billion.

For an extraordinarily isolated and impoverished economy, that is substantial.

3. Most importantly: Russian military technology

This may ultimately be more valuable to Kim than money.

North Korea already possesses nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, but it has historically had serious technological and operational limitations.

Russia can potentially provide assistance in areas such as: ballistic-missile technology; satellite and space technology; guidance and targeting systems; electronic warfare; air-defense technology;  military aviation; submarine technology; drone warfare; and battlefield communications.

The exact extent of Russia's transfer of sensitive technology is difficult to establish publicly. But this is precisely why Western and South Korean governments are so concerned.

A July 2026 analysis by 38 North concluded that the emerging arrangement appears to involve Russian energy and military technology in exchange for North Korean troop deployments, while also noting Russia's growing diplomatic support for Pyongyang."

So President Trump, please;  don't try to "snow" the "little old lady from the Kingdom of Santa Claus" or the thinking public;  WE KNOW BETTER THAN TO BELIEVE YOU ON THIS ONE!!!!!!!!

The images were mundane in a way that made them land harder than any battle footage: half-empty meal trays, a gray slab of processed meat, sailors rationing food among themselves so no one got more than anyone else. Through the spring and summer of 2026, the crews of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and the assault ship USS Tripoli contended with food shortages, long chow lines, broken toilets, mold in the showers, dead laundry machines, and shortages of basics like soap and toothpaste — aboard warships operating in the Arabian Sea and the wider Indian Ocean after more than 250 days at sea. The strain told on morale, and in the worst cases on the safety of the crew.

When the conditions became public, the Navy’s institutional reflex was denial. The despicable Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, dismissed the early reporting as “fake news,” and a 5th Fleet spokesman insisted the crew “remain resilient and ready” and the ship “remains fully capable of meeting all mission tasking.” That response is worth remembering, because it is part of the failure rather than a rebuttal of it — a chain of command more prepared to defend its readiness narrative than to reckon with why its sailors were going without. The conditions were real. The more important question is why warships from the world’s best-funded navy were running short on food and hygiene supplies at all.

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Branko Milanovic, former Lead Economist at the World Bank’s Research Department for almost 20 years and Author of The Great Global Transformation. He discusses the looming danger of World War 3 and the similarities of the world today with the world prior to WW1, why more globalisation actually increases the risk of World War 3, how the Ukraine proxy war specifically is putting us at risk of WW3, and the rise of military-Keynesianism in the US & Europe. Afshin Rattansi challenges him on the record of the World Bank’s destruction of the economies of so many countries, whether BRICS institutions will be able to replace the IMF & World Bank, the success of China’s economic model and whether China is trying to export Chinese communism, and whether this is the end of neoliberal economics.

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump getting karma over his relationship with Natalie Harp which many people describe as a "boss to human printer" relationship as Democrats like Senator Ossoff are calling it out for the midterms.

Trump and his Pentagon are feeling the heat as their disaster in the middle east continues to haunt them. Francis Maxwell reports.

As the Pentagon secretly burns through its finite stock of missile interceptors, top foreign policy insiders and U.S. troops on the ground are sounding an unprecedented alarm: Washington is running out of time, leverage and ammunition.

In the Middle East, the initiative “Four Seas,” which envisages the creation of a transport corridor connecting the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean, is being discussed increasingly intensively. According to the authors of the post ⁠“Four Seas” at Al-Ahed News, the project would reduce the world trade’s dependence on the Strait of Hormuz and ensure an alternative route for the delivery of energy carriers and goods.

The idea did not arise by chance. The past few months have shown how vulnerable existing logistics is. Any escalation around Hormuz immediately affects transport costs, the insurance of ships, and global oil prices. That is why the USA and its partners are increasingly looking for ways to reduce the importance of this strategic hub.

Implementing such a project, however, will be extremely difficult. The proposed route runs through regions where the interests of Turkey, Israel, the states of the Persian Gulf, the countries of the South Caucasus, as well as Russia, Iran, and China overlap. Any major infrastructure initiative here will inevitably become an object of geopolitical disputes.

A US ship has been forced to abandon its post in the Pacific so it can relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, as sailors described nightmare conditions aboard the strained carrier.

The USS George Washington has departed the Pacific and is set to replace nuclear-powered aircraft full of sailors who have been deployed for nearly nine months supporting military operations and regional defense amid the ongoing war in the Middle East, the Associated Press reported. 

The USS Abraham was set to return home in May, but its journey has been extended to support operations in Iran. 

A US Navy admiral has dismissed widely reported concerns about the conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier as 'old news' after visiting the ship.

The USS Abraham Lincoln was deployed on November 21 and originally scheduled to return home in May, but its deployment was extended indefinitely amid the war with Iran, leaving its more than 4,000 sailors at sea for nearly nine months. 

Last week, relatives of those aboard the ship began telling the press that their sons, daughters, husbands and wives were becoming burnt out, with some even opting to jump overboard.

The Kremlin has initiated a new crackdown on anti-war voices ahead of Russia’s parliamentary elections in September, barring candidates from running if they show any sign of opposing the bloody, expensive and increasingly unpopular military operation in Ukraine.

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook Japan ’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday, leaving several people dead and dozens of others injured or missing after part of a shopping center and a huge chimney at a paper factory collapsed, officials said. A tsunami advisory was issued but quickly lifted.

At least three people, including two who were found without vital signs at the mall late Tuesday, were confirmed dead, and about 30 others were injured across the Kagoshima prefecture, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Wednesday.

A car thought to contain explosives has been involved in a crash in a neighbourhood in Amsterdam following a police chase.

The incident happened this afternoon following a pursuit after an ATM ram-raid in Germany, according to local reports. The police, the military and other emergency services are on scene on Nierkerkestraat in Osdorp.

The street is cordoned off and homes in a 100m radius have been evacuated as possible explosives were found in the crashed vehicle. One of the evacuated buildings is reportedly a care home.

Iran’s Hadid 110 drone has had an upgrade. Now, it flies lower, faster and is harder to see.

Jet-powered, with a top speed of more than 300mph, the new stealth drone has been built to slip through American air defences.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had been deployed for the first time in the past fortnight, fired towards US bases and warships in the region.

The Telegraph understands that the drone is an advanced version of their standard Hadid 110, a weapon Iranian officials consider one of their most capable.

Multiple open-source reports indicate that thousands of illegal aliens are massing near Spain's Ceuta border, raising the prospect of coordinated attempts to breach the enclave for the second time.

If verified, the invasion attempt comes just weeks after the first round, in which more than 60,000 military-aged men attempted to breach the border. This only suggests that migrant flows are being deliberately weaponized to pressure the socialist government in Madrid, potentially marking a second phase of sustained border destabilization.

A report released Aug. 13 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has shined a light on alleged fraud by health providers who performed pediatric gender procedures.

The report, titled “Wolves in White Coats: How Doctors and Hospitals Pushed and Profited from the Fraud of ‘Gender Medicine’,” examined the actions and motives of 225 healthcare institutions and found they allegedly put profits and gender ideology ahead of patient needs.

Here are five key takeaways from that study.

Predictably, Iran has on Saturday issued a full-throated rejection of President Trump's Friday evening words related to the status on the conflict and energy transit in the region.

In a speech on New York's Long Island, Trump introduced the idea of declaring the Strait of Hormuz a US territory. "After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon, I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States," Trump told a crowd of law enforcement officers.

America’s emergency oil stockpile has fallen below 300 million barrels for the first time since the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was filled in the early 1980s. Now, some energy experts are warning that the problem may go far beyond simply having less oil available during the next crisis.

The rapid drawdown could threaten the underground salt caverns that hold the crude, potentially reducing how quickly the United States can respond to another major supply disruption. The warnings come as the U.S. releases 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, in response to supply disruptions caused by the Iran war. When the current drawdown is complete, the reserve is expected to contain only about 243 million barrels.

That would put the SPR below what some experts consider its practical operating floor and raise new questions about the long-term viability of one of the country’s most important energy-security assets.

A massive Ukrainian attack has ignited the largest remaining logistics hub of "Russian Amazon" Wildberries just 25 miles south of the Kremlin.

The blast at the site in Koledino, Podolsk District, was among the targets hit during a 600-drone onslaught which the region's governor Andrey Vorobyov has called "one of the most massive drone attacks in recent times".

An 83-year-old man was killed after a drone hit a private home in the Moscow region, Vorobyov said, while a second warehouse complex in North Domodedovo was also engulfed in flames this morning, close to one of Moscow's main international airports.

Can plants go moo? Well, not exactly, but a new Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) study has brought a step closer to the possibility that plant seeds could manufacture and store one of milk’s most important proteins – the same ones that give milk its nutrition, creamy texture, and cheese-making properties.

The discovery would thus help overcome a major hurdle in producing real dairy proteins without cows, paving the way for more sustainable dairy ingredients, less climate change, and alternative food production.

The Israeli minister also said he believes 'all of Gaza' belongs to Israel

by Dave De Camp, antiwar.com

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has called for Israel to kill 30 to 40 Palestinians every night in Gaza and said there are people in the Strip “who are not worthy of life.”

Ben Gvir made the comments when discussing the reduction in Israeli attacks in Gaza, though the IDF hasn’t fully stopped its strikes and continues to violate the US-backed October 2025 ceasefire deal.

“It’s no secret, I disagree with the prime minister,” Ben Gvir said on a podcast hosted by Rom Braslavski, who was previously held captive in Gaza, according to The Associated Press.

“I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat — there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people,” he added.

Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, is known as an outspoken proponent of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territory, views that he reaffirmed in the podcast interview.

“I see all of Gaza as ours,” he said. “Settlements not just in Gush Katif but throughout Gaza, encouraging as much emigration as possible, sending them to their countries, and for the terrorists, no emigration, nothing, just to kill them one by one.”

Claire's Observations:  And who, please, does Ben Gvir categorize as "not even people" in Gaza?!?  I'm really curious.

Because there was a guy, about 80-and-change years ago, who advocated for the deaths of all the categories of people he didn't like, and had a lot of them killed; yep, one  HELL of a genocidal racist.

And heck, what was that concept he advocated, as he invaded nearly every neighboring country around where he and the people who voted him in, lived?  Oh, now I remember; it was Lebensraum.. living space, for those poor folks who " just didn't have enough room" in their own country.  That was it!

There was a world war fought; his side lost;   and the guy most likely hightailed to Argentina, to live out the rest of his miserable life.

But in looking at what Ben Gvir is quoted to have said, I have to shake my head and wonder; why do such lousy ideas as dehumanizing people, then murdering them, have such a long damned  "shelf life" as to re-emerge, this time coming out of the mouth of a respected, 21st century Israeli political leader today?!? 

They have such a long shelf life, because people want to believe the lies.  

These lies are far easier to use to "justify" the extermination of "the other" than is the truth; that "the others" are, in fact, just as human as are the people wanting to assassinate them.   

If Judaism and Israel are going to survive, this is an issue which has to be honestly, morally addressed and resolved.....quickly.  

The world, in this 21st century, should have no time, room...or tolerance for this kind of thinking.  

Ever again.

President Donald Trump sent his son-in-law Jared Kushner into a surprise meeting with Hamas leaders in an attempt to get them to disarm Gaza, according to a new report. 

Kushner, the US Special Envoy for Peace, met with leaders of the Islamist terrorist group on Sunday in Egypt, two sources close to the meeting told Axios. 

He is due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to talk about 'corresponding steps' Israel must take as part of the 20-point Gaza peace plan brought forward by the US, a source said. 

The focus of the 'unusual' meetup was to 'translate' Hamas' duty to demilitarize Gaza 'into concrete, verifiable steps,' the report stated. 

While the glasses wearer ends up agreeing to step out of the frame, the horrid interaction perfectly illustrates why Meta is dealing with a major PR crisis. The company has been trying to crack down on sleazy pickup artists who approach women and make sexual or degrading comments. But considering how many of these accounts continue to fall through the cracks, the company is clearly struggling.

Besides, many of the offending videos can easily live on on other sites Meta has no control over, like TikTok. A separate video showing the same harasser accosting a group of women was shared on YouTube as well.

Netizens were particularly appalled at the video of him harassing Morgan.

“I do not know how you film that video, watch it back, decide ‘This is how I want to present myself to a globally connected population,’ and post it,” one Bluesky user wrote.

Posted by Tyler Durden:  Authored by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is out with a new report (more than 100 pages) that takes a deep dive on the “2026 Midterm Elections” in November. 

Armstrong says, “The computer is showing this is going to be a very, very tight election..."

"It’s a 50/50 deal where we didn’t see either party coming in with a landslide. 

The bottom line looks like the Democrats can take the House, but not the Senate. 

So, you will have a 50/50 divided government.  You are going to get a lot of the crazies on the Democrat side.  Even the conservative Democrats are getting very nervous. 

You recently had (Democrat) James Carville talking about how the party is going to split, which was our forecast in 2024.  So, this is where we are heading. 

By the Dems taking the House, you will see all kinds of investigations, there will be another impeachment of Trump, etc. 

They will be real obstructionists.  They don’t give a crap about the country. 

If Trump says the sky is blue, they have to say it’s red.  This is the way politics degenerated.”

The implications for the Democrats will be long lasting and not in a good way.

Claire's Observations:  Armstrong....  is one of those guys with an annoyingly consistent  track record of calling things correctly, and his observations about a potentially "hung Congress", ring very true right now.

Years ago, way before I was born, when the US found itself in a depression, it's leadership's answer was to get the country involved in a war;  the US government's involvement in World War 1 and World War II, were direct consequences of this thinking.  

Move forward to 2026, however, and I have a news flash for you; this "ain't" your Grandma's , or your Great-Grandma's geopolitical/fiscal environment, in any way, shape, or form.  

Russia is no longer a Communist country; China is, although you are seeing entrepreneurship starting to re-evolve here, albeit at a very low profit margin (Think:  temu.com). 

Both countries have nuclear weapons, as does Europe; India; Israel;  and Pakistan (that we know of). Russian and Chinese weapons are capable of accurately targeting, and hitting, US targets, so there is no such thing as "geographical isolation" from foreign attack anymore, as there was during the last two world wars.

The Federal Deficit is hovering around $40 trillion bucks with interest.   

Attempts to "inflate the debt away",are going to leave the domestic purchasing power of the US dollar at almost Weimar Republic levels, creating massive poverty and extreme suffering in its wake.

As a Christian Pacifist activist who never advocates violence, I want to gently remind Mike's readers that just like people, national governments have.... a life cycle. 

And at the end of that cycle, that national government, if it has any collective brains at all, will either re-invent itself in a way which serves its people;  and/or balkanize, as did the Former Soviet Union.

I would like to politely suggest, that the folks in DC had better decide which of those two pathways it wants to see happen.  

Because, ultimately, these are the only two alternatives left to consider; and our alleged "representatives" had better decide,  and quickly, as to how they want to proceed, hung Congress... or not.

By Tyler Durden

Despite a June ceasefire technically being in effect, new weekend Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon mark the deadliest escalation since fighting largely came to a halt earlier this year.

The Saturday attack saw eleven Lebanese killed - among them three children - and 19 injured after Israeli warplanes bombed several areas. It's by far the biggest mass casualty event since the ceasefire took effect, also in terms of extent of destruction.

"Israeli warplanes bombed a home on the outskirts of the village of Ansar, killing seven people and flattening the building early on Saturday morning, The Guardian reported. "Rescue services were working at the site to try to find survivors and locate bodies."

"Another airstrike hours later on a home in the town of Deir al-Zahrani killed two, wounded nine and covered the streets in rubble and smoke," the report continued to detail. "An Israeli drone also targeted a motorcycle in the nearby city of Nabatieh, but it was unclear if the driver was killed."

And additionally there was a rare Saturday statement (on the Jewish Sabbath) from Prime Minister Netanyahu's office: it said "Hezbollah violated the ceasefire in Lebanon by attacking our soldiers in the security zone, which protects Israeli communities just across the border."

"The IDF responded by striking the Hezbollah terror headquarters which ordered the attack," the PM's office said. "Only later did the IDF learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound," the statement added.

Claire's Observations:  The destruction of Lebanese homes just isn't moving fast enough to suit the current Israeli government or the IDF, so "justifications" must be found for destroying more residences, in the process of the "Israelifcation" of Lebanon's southern border. 

And at the "end of hostilities" here, if that day ever comes, how much of this alleged "security zone" do you imagine will ever revert back from Israeli military control to sovereign Lebanese control?!? 

Were I a betting person, my bet would be, absolutely none. 

This "security zone" is simply a "beachhead" enabling more Israeli absorption of Lebanese territory,  to ultimately be subsumed into "Greater Israel".

by Tyler Durden

The Pentagon says it does not discuss contractor support to particular missions. The gear aboard mimics cell towers.

Private military contractor Metrea has spent months quietly operating two surveillance-equipped aircraft along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Arizona Mirror.

(image courtesy of arizonamirror.com)

The planes have traversed Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, circling at high altitude over border cities including Bisbee and Douglas in Arizona, and Laredo and El Paso in Texas.

Metrea holds multiple contracts with the U.S. military, including a $5.7 million award to support training for U.S. Special Operations Command. The company also conducts simulated training missions for the Marine Corps.

It performs comparable border work overseas, providing what it describes as advanced aerial surveillance to the Australian government for monitoring that country's border regions.

Arizona Mirror reports:

"One of the major pieces of equipment installed on the aircraft is a DRT 3300, also sometimes referred to as a "dirtbox." A dirtbox is a piece of equipment that mimics a cell phone tower and acts in a similar manner to "stingray" devices that track cell phones and reportedly can even intercept messages."

It isn't the only equipment on the aircraft meant for "signals intelligence" either. Signals intelligence refers to the collection of information that is transmitted through the airwaves such as radio, wifi or other electronic means. One of the aircraft lists a "Windjammer System" as a piece of equipment that has been installed. The Trump administration declined to say what the aircraft are doing over the border, or which agency they are working for.

Civil liberties advocates contend that the secrecy itself is the problem.

"Whatever security rationales are used to justify mass surveillance, whether it is patrolling the border or pursuing the war on drugs, if you're intent on pursuing those policies you have to do it in a way that respects the privacy and constitutional rights of Americans," said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, in a statement to the Arizona Mirror.

Claire's Observations:  Electronic surveillance can be a Godsend, in terms of potentially keeping a country's citizens safe from harm.  

That being said  however, surveillance, in and of itself, can be an incredibly powerful "weapon of mass destruction", wreaking absolute havoc on the lives of many potentially innocent people. 

Jay Stanley, at the ACLU, is correct in voicing his concern about how this technology is currently being deployed by the Federal Government, with utterly zero transparency.

Posted by Tyler Durden:  Cross post from RC Whalen, The Institutional Risk Analyst.... 

August 13, 2026 | In this issue of The Institutional Risk Analyst, we return to the troubled world of private credit. People in the private credit trade will tell you that raising new money today is almost impossible. Why? Because there are growing signs of contagion in the insurance sector after years of dubious business practices by insurers controlled by private equity and credit firms. As details of some of these situations emerge, we suspect that the mainstream financial media will become more engaged.

The scale of the financial collapse of 777 Partners is truly epic, yet very little notice to this massive default has been paid outside of the specialty media. Yet the Miami-based private equity and alternative investment firm has actually received intense, sustained coverage across global financial, investigative, and sports media outlets—particularly regarding its multi-club soccer network, the failed takeover of Everton FC, and subsequent collapse.

We believe that the unwind of 777 Partners and the literally hundreds of affiliates involved in this fiasco provides a picture of how the private credit trade is going to end. Millions of retirees who depend on life insurance and annuities could be affected by unsound management practices by private credit and equity managers who care only about profits. The First Day motion for Signal National LLC from the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas (Case 26-90190-elm11) is below for your "reading pleasure"

Click link for original post with graphics and attachments:   https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/post/theira879

Claire's Observations:  One of the most terrifying things about how, and how long, this financial entity operated, is that there are absolutely zero  regulatory"guard rails" in place to prevent the people who depended on incomes from these investments, from getting royally "rooked" by horrifically bad management when there was nothing they could do, to stop it.

One has to wonder how many  other American financial institutions just like this one, are flailing on the edge of bankruptcy about which we won't know, until they've actually filed for bankruptcy, or suddenly gone into receivership.

by Tyler Durden

The Democratic Party has so much going for it in the 2026 midterm election season, yet it looks like one man in particular might blow it for them. Hasan Piker, the 35-year-old left-wing influencer, is becoming a genuine electoral liability that could extend well beyond the races he's personally gotten involved in, and according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Democrats are trying to do something about it.

In Michigan, Piker has been campaigning alongside Democrat U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed despite warnings from party operatives who would rather he didn't. The two have continued campaigning together even as Democratic officials worry the association could bleed into contests in Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin and Maine, states where Piker hasn't lifted a finger for any candidate. That's the nature of viral notoriety. A candidate doesn't need Piker in the room to become an issue because of him.

Piker built his following on livestreams that pull in an audience of millions, a platform he has used to deliver commentary that ranges from standard progressive fare to remarks widely considered to be antisemitic, particularly his treatment of Israel and its supporters. Piker rejects the antisemitism charge, saying his quarrel is with Israel and its defenders rather than with Jews.

In addition to his criticism of Israel, one of his most controversial remarks was that America "deserved 9/11," a line he later claimed he should have phrased more carefully.

Even as his rhetoric becomes a liability for the party he's trying to help, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have aligned themselves with him, while others are drawing a line in the sand. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and strategist James Carville both threatened to walk away from the party over Piker's rising influence within it, though Carville later softened the threat.

Two primaries in two weeks offered the first real test. Even though El-Sayed won his Michigan Senate primary on Aug. 4, his margin of victory was smaller than polls predicted. A week later in Wisconsin, DSA-aligned Francesca Hong lost the gubernatorial primary despite polls showing her with a commanding lead. Notably, neither Ocasio-Cortez nor Sanders endorsed Hong, even as both went to bat for El-Sayed.

Piker rejects the idea that he's dragging down Democratic candidates. "I don't think that progressives have a harder time beating Republicans," he told the Wall Street Journal. "I think that logic is flawed. It's just somewhat untested."

Despite his claim, the record on progressive and socialist candidates winning outside deep blue turf is thin to nonexistent. Progressive mayors run Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and New York City under Karen Bass, Brandon Johnson, Katie Wilson and Zohran Mamdani, and Democrats hold every governorship on the West Coast plus Massachusetts and Illinois. Every one of those wins happened on turf Democrats were always going to carry. The candidates who actually flipped competitive ground, Barack Obama and Joe Biden among them, ran as moderates first and only governed further left once in power. Piker's theory requires competitive states to behave like safe ones. They haven't yet, and nothing in this cycle suggests they're about to start.

Claire's Observations:  This intense leftward shift of the Dementocrats, will not serve them well at all in the mid-terms, if  mid-terms are actually allowed to happen in this country, which I think is still a very-much open question.

The populist rhetoric the Leftorias espouse is going to ring pretty damned hollow, in the face of massive, grinding income loss, courtesy of that horrific combo of inflation and job losses which is hitting so many Americans so hard right now.  

Americans are going to be looking at fiscally responsible, intelligent solutions to these issues; not propaganda. Unless and until the Dementocrats realize this, and appear to be able to do something about it, they may poll slightly  more favorably before the mid-terms, but not add to Congressional majorities appreciably if those mid-terms actually happen. 

If it appears that this administration is going to get royally "creamed" by the voters in November,  we might be looking at some kind of presidentially-declared "national emergency" this fall, enabling President Trump to suspend the Constitution and Bill of Rights; invoke Martial Law; and "postpone" this election.

With both the US  economy and the Iran War in shambles right now, and no real resolutions to either in sight, such a move may well look attractive to one of the most incredibly corrupt and inept Administrations in this country's history, but will come at a tremendous political and moral cost to both those currently in power in this country, and to this country's potential future.

Believe me, I hope and pray that I am absolutely dead wrong in looking at this as a viable scenario ; but considering the way "Trump 2.0" has handled  international diplomacy"; the war in Iran; and the economy, I cannot rule such a move out.