Alexander Vindman Suffers Double-Digit Loss To Socialist Angie Nixon In Florida Senate Primary

Alexander Vindman - a central Russiagate figure who flipped out when Donald Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Biden family corruption - and who was offered the job of Ukraine's Minister of Defense three times two months before the infamous 'perfect' Trump-Zelensky call - was just beaten out of a Florida Senate seat by Democratic Socialist Angie Nixon, 44-56 in Tuesday night's primary.

Vindman and Nixon - a state Rep., were vying to take on incumbent Republican Sen. Ashley Moody (R) in November. Meanwhile, Alexander's twin brother Eugene Vindman is a current US Rep. from Virginia. 

Nixon, a recent convert to the Democratic Socialists of America and a vocal critic of Israel, was expected to lose to Vindman - a Jewish immigrant born in Ukraine, who raised over $16.3 million for his campaign. Nixon brought in $975,000 and achieved a double-digit victory.

Screenshot: NY Times

"We showed the world what organized people can accomplish," Nixon told supporters Tuesday night. "And we showed the world what people of Florida are all about. Medicare for all. Universal child care. Real, affordable housing. Fully funded public education. And an end to senseless wars."

The DSCC also responded to Nixon's victory, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and DSCC Chair Kristen Gillibrand, D-NY, saying in a joint statement.: "Angie Nixon has dedicated her career to fighting for Florida. A lifelong native of Jacksonville and a former union organizer, Angie’s dedication to put working families first runs deep - and now, she’s running to take that fight to the Senate."

During the campaign, Nixon slammed Vindman for being a recent Florida resident.

In 2023 she introduced a resolution in the state House calling for "de-escalation and ceasefire in the state of Israel and occupied Palestine," and said last week that she would have supported a congressional resolution in July that would have stripped Israel of $3.3 billion in military aid. 

"I would have voted in support of that, because we cannot continue to send money to countries that are violating international law, that are violating human rights, that are actively destroying," she told WMNF radio in Tampa. "Throughout my adult career, I have fought for the safety and the well-being and the humanity of all people. And me stating this does not make me antisemitic at all."

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/19/2026 - 01:27

We're All On Borrowed Time...

Authored by Brad Todd via The What For Substack,

We bought our house in the same year I discovered Piemonte, and that was fortuitous. The house came with a walk-in wine cellar and the family-owned vineyards strewn across the rolling Italian hills from LaMorra to Serralunga D'Alba provided a learnable collection of producers to fill it up. It is a good thing I have enjoyed the chore of curating this wine because I will not get to enjoy drinking it.

This afternoon, maybe even as you read this, I will be in a long surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital to remove a nasty high-grade malignant tumor from my ethmoid sinus. It is a distant cousin of the cancer blob I had cut out in 2020, after an unnecessary Covid test speared loose a hunk of tumor I did not know was there. The pandemic saved my life once, and it put me in contact with the crackerjack medical team at the world's best otolaryngology unit that will save it again.

Sinus tumors are rare - though I prefer the term "exceptional" as only hundreds of people a year battle these bastards. After what will be a rough post-surgery recovery, I will get radiation and maybe a lagniappe of chemotherapy. But I will not be savoring my amazing Italian wine collection. After my 2020 surgery, I lost my sense of smell for about six months, and my taste overall for a little less than that. My olfactory receptors were removed from my left nostril, but I started with a bloodhound's nose so half of that was plenty to keep. Wine was still complex and wonderful as soon as I recovered from that surgery's trauma. But not this time, not with this surgical plan.

The question I am asking, and also suggesting for you, is what other wine did I store and not drink?

What other wine can I drink when this is all done?

Before I knew cancer was back, I had a conversation last month with someone about getting over it the first time. I told her, as I have often said, "you cannot un-hear that your body is trying to kill you." She immediately asked me: "what did you change?"

I gave two answers, one applied to work and one to home.

First, I said cancer made me adopt a professional policy of only giving the same good advice twice. The younger version of me would lay awake at night grinding on how I might get clients over the hump on a strategic decision they were resisting. Cancer in 2020 made me a more disciplined advisor. Sen. Dave McCormick, whose winning campaign I helped guide in 2024, often says he is glad he "got the post-cancer Brad." As a former CEO and Army officer who has made a career of perfecting leadership, he could see that I had developed perspective on how to sit on a running horse, in jockey terms, and dig in my heels only, and exactly, when it was critical.

On the personal side, I told my friend that enduring cancer in 2020 made me put my kids' big moments at the top of my priority list. The first time I left the house after surgery, too early of course, was to coach my daughter's rec softball team. It was excruciating and exhilarating at the same time. Then, over her four years in high school, I missed exactly one re-scheduled, rained-out prep game to my knowledge, and I have yet to miss my son playing football - though this Friday night's scrimmage is in doubt. There was one freshman baseball game, with one at-bat, up Interstate 270 at rush-hour that I could not reach. I made it to the recitals, the voice contests, the awards ceremonies, the parent chapels and school plays. I made them all, save one where she had just four lines. I skipped work meetings that were billed as essential. I rebooked CNN hits. I even ducked out on TV commercial shoots when I could not schedule them around the ball games and plays. I kept the main thing the main thing, and still do. Thank goodness cancer found me right before my kids hit the high school phase of important activities instead of finding me afterward, because I could have easily screwed this up based on my prior professional trajectory.

But I did still store up the wine.

My collection is mostly Barolo, the King of Italian wine, though there are some Barbaresco bottles, some California strays, and a handful of cheap but complicated Sagrantino vintages from Umbria that few Americans have discovered yet. I got hooked on single-cru wines, meaning they are made with grapes grown on the same small patch of ground, with the same sunlight. Over time I have listed toward the steeper crus that surround the village of Serralunga D'Alba, deciding that the Prapo cru is the best, though the higher-elevation Monvigliero cru is also a charm and Lazzarito a treat.

Art Credit: brunolo.nl

I have long-ish Barolo verticals by G.D. Vajra, my favorite producer, in the delicate Bricco Delle Viole and the easy-drinking Ravera crus, bottles of which I bought my surgeon and his assistant the week after my 2020 tumor resection, with a promise we would all drink them simultaneously when I hit the five-year-all-clear mark that cancer patients universally point toward.

That celebration happened last fall, and statistically speaking, I should not be fighting the same tumor in Year Six. But tumors do not keep calendars. Now I must undergo a medical path that will certainly obliterate my ability to savor Italian wine but save my life in the process. It is a fair trade that I am willing to make.

The imminent loss of my ability to appreciate this stored asset is making me contemplate what else I under-savored over the last six years.

One thing is vacations. Our family did not take one this year; we just did not carve out the time. My wife and I also punted our 25th Anniversary trip for the third year in a row. We now intend to take it in December after radiation, paired up with a speech I am giving. But I am a little ticked off we have not done it three times, instead of skipping it three times. Early in our marriage we took a great anniversary weekend every year and they are life highlights for me; we are highly compatible in travel habits and those trips bring out our beautiful integration. We fly by the seat of our pants, having the same high tolerance for uncertainty. We once went to Europe with exactly nothing planned for the last half of our itinerary until after we were on the continent. The resulting spontaneous side trip to Chamonix, hiking and then sitting poolside staring up at Mont Blanc with no agenda, was the unexpected dead-stop recharge we needed.

After this current crap is over, she and I will take more trips. Spending time with her, doing whatever she wants, has to be elevated as an aspiration on my post-cancer agenda. We have spent 19 years doing a darn good job of child-rearing together and I think the post-parenting phase of "us" also will rock.

I also intend to read more books. Substack has been a great addition to my life because it took over some of my X doom scrolling, but it also has been a parasite sucking away time I formerly devoted to literature. That needs to be rectified, as I am only halfway through Cormac McCarthy's library and that is unacceptable progress for a 56-year-old East Tennessean. Reading books overall has cratered in our society, so I am not alone in that, but I can do my part.

I volunteered more after cancer for charity and church initiatives I care about - but some of that may be attributable to aging as much as surviving. All of us should inventory our give-back quotient as we hit our peak executive years when we can do the most good. Stacking cans at the food bank is great but coming up with a plan to get weekly milk deliveries is more impactful.

Showing up has always been a good trait of mine - friends' funerals, moving days, performances have always hit my calendar - but I will probably up my percentage closer to 100 after this. Church services in general have been a bigger deal in my life since 2020 - my faith did not need an accelerant, but my worship discipline did. I recommend it. Cancer probably made me a little bolder in publicly professing my own faith - or a little less self-conscious about acknowledging it, even if it was live on CNN. I recommend that, too, and I predict I will be even more uninhibited now.

Live music is something I probably did not expect to elevate based on a medical diagnosis, but it will happen this time. Some of the highlights of my middle age have been great concerts. A show on a New York City rooftop this summer with my wife and kids and the Turnpike Troubadours, my favorite band, was the single best two hours of 2026 for me. The next Turnpike show in Richmond in October should coincide with commencement of my radiation and I hope to make that happen. Since my musical daughter loves shows too, and my son and I share a genre taste, I will pro-actively put big shows in concrete on the calendar, even if we must travel to get there.

The next few days will be a rough ride after at least seven hours of surgery - followed by a couple miserable weeks on the couch with my face full of surgical packing as I taper pain meds. I will binge shows on all the streaming platforms and grumble that college football is not yet here while staring down my fat but snuggly dog. Together, he and I will make a longer mental list of things I intend to do with the next, hopefully long, tranche of borrowed time God has given me.

You can make that kind of list, too, without the anesthesia and face-packing I will get, as all of us are on borrowed tranches of God-given time whether we learn that from a radiologist or not.

Drink the wine.

Make the game.

See the show.

Tell the people you love that you love them, out loud.

Pray a little more - and throw in a prayer for your favorite columnist.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 23:25

Why Are So Many Democrats Being Arrested On Fraud Charges?

An obvious pattern is emerging.  Multiple Democrat officials have been arrested and charged with fraud or related federal crimes over the past two years and the trend seems to be growing.  Democrat politicians and DNC members are over-represented when it comes to fraud and it's starting to look like the entire party has been pilfering the cookie jar for quite some time.

In the latest incident, Lawrence, MA Mayor Brian DePeña faces federal charges for allegedly using Covid-19 relief money meant for his tire business to fund his political campaign and pay personal debts, according to court documents.  His charges include: Wire fraud; aiding and abetting, and unlawful monetary transactions; aiding and abetting.

Records indicate that an arrest warrant was issued Thursday. City Council President Jeovanny Rodriguez confirmed DePeña was arrested Friday.  Neighbors described FBI agents shouting through a bullhorn outside the mayor's home early in the morning and using a battering ram to force open his door. 

This incident has developed right as another official, Former New Mexico Democrat House leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton, has just been convicted of 31 felony charges for diverting millions of dollars of school funds to her friend’s company while receiving kickbacks.

After the exposure of migrant fraud in Wisconsin and California linked to Democrat and left-wing NGO operations, it surprises no one that politics is one big criminal enterprise, for Democrats in particular.  Republican officials are not free from such charges; a handful of mostly low profile cases have occurred since 2024.  That said, when Democrats go for fraud, they go big, and many of these cases involve the misappropriation of covid relief funds.

In other words, the pandemic was a money-making bonanza for Dems, and a lot of this money was used to pay for campaign operations.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (Democrat, Florida) was arrested in November of last year and charged with 15 federal counts, including theft of government funds related to allegedly stealing approximately $5 million in FEMA disaster relief for the Covid crisis. 

Prosecutors say the money had been overpaid to her family’s health-care company (Trinity Healthcare Services), which held a contract to register people for Covid-19 vaccinations. Within two months of receiving the funds, more than $100,000 was allegedly spent on personal items, including a diamond ring for the congresswoman.  She also allegedly pumped millions into her own campaign operations.

It's not unfair to suggest that Democrats may have believed they were going to retain political power for years to come (many Americans view the covid event as an engineered coup).  Unfortunately for them, the Biden regime did not stay in office or destroy conservative opposition, so now they are under a microscope.  And, under the light of scrutiny, the ugly deeds of 2021-2024 are being exposed.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 23:00

Where Have All The Conservatives Gone?

Authored by Nikolai G. Wenzel via The Daily Economy,

Fusionism, a new book by Stephanie Slade, a Senior Editor at Reason, attempts to make sense of the seemingly incoherent New Right. Although Slade proposes a renewal of fusionism as a remedy to conservatism's drift and the challenges facing a divided Republic, the book's greatest strength lies in its analysis of the trends to date.

The Republican Party, for all its faults, was supposed to understand (instinctively, if not always intellectually) limited government, rule of law, and the basics of economics. From its elected leaders, though, we have gotten tariffs, increased public debt, dodgy respect for habeas corpus in immigration enforcement, and the Saturday Night Live tragicomedy of DOGE (a virtue-signaling, clumsy, and cruel flash in the pan destined to die on the vine when it removed entitlements from the chopping block). The coalition that constitutes the New Right has abandoned conservatism, and instead sells its own form of populist interventionism.

Slade starts by painting a rather glum sketch of the contemporary scene. Within the convoluted and heterogeneous mess she labels "the Dissident Right," she identifies three major strains:

1. the predominant national conservatives, who are eager to use the coercive power of the modern administrative state to advance (allegedly) conservative causes and push for national primacy;
2. the theocons, who dream of "immanentizing the eschaton" by creating a state theocracy to impose (their understanding of) a transcendent moral order;
3. the neoreactionaries, the Pajama-Boy Nitzscheans who have been given legitimacy to spew their blend of vitriol and conspiracy.

The NatCons have turned their back on the basics of markets and skepticism about administrative power (how sad in this 250th anniversary year of The Wealth of Nations!). The theocons would repoliticize salvation after three centuries of religious tolerance within Christendom. And, beneath all that, the country's baser instincts toward power and suppression are flourishing within the neoreactionary right. On the other side, the interventionist excesses of American socialism, with DEI, cancel culture, and continued growth of the administrative-welfare state, are equally horrifying. To paraphrase Richard Nixon, we are all interventionists now.

The titular Fusionism is shorthand for the collaboration of old-school conservatives and libertarians that held in America from 1945 to 1989, or thereabouts. Members of that alliance disagreed on details, but shared a horror for the rise of collectivism, the welfare-administrative state, and the existential threat of communism.

Slade's personal history of the movement is a rich and readable complement to some of the deeper treatments of the ideas (notably George Carey's magisterial compendium, Freedom and Virtue: The Conservative/Libertarian Debate, and my own work with Nathan Schlueter of Hillsdale College, Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives? The Foundations of the Libertarian-Conservative Debate). Slade's arguments are clean and incisive, and the prose is a pleasure to read, even if Slade occasionally indulges in the journalist's déformation professionnelle of descriptive wordiness.

Slade points to several explanations for the rise of the Dissident Right: the failed gamble of China's accession to the WTO without subsequent human rights improvements, the post-2007 bank bailouts, the costly debacle of attempted nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan, immigration, those left behind by globalization, and the authoritarianism of DEI.

These are all plausible. But I suspect that Slade is a bit too kind: the American administrative-welfare state is the real villain in this story. First, because it caused most of the problems that have energized the Dissident Right (crowding out of civil society, a culture of dependence, and erosion of the family). Second, because income inequality in the US is associated with cronyism replacing genuine economic activity - a problem exacerbated by the gutting of K-12 and college education standards by educrats, along with the rise of regressive regulation, including job licensing. Third, because the Dissident Right doesn't see the irony: its proposed use of the state is exactly what generated the outcomes it decries.

In just half a century, the US shifted from teaching Latin and calculus in high school to teaching basic English and algebra in college. It took a mere generation for discourse to collapse from Ronald Reagan's gentlemanly and beautiful oratory to Donald Trump's boorish grade-school-level word salad. What happened, in discourse and substance, between 1989 and 2016? Slade points to the populist conservative Pat Buchanan, but we could also mention Dick Cheney; the vice president was more refined, but also a lot more effective at pushing the power of the unitary executive and expanding the administrative state. There have always been "proto-Dissident Right" voices in America, Slade argues, but they were once kept in check by a loose coalition of libertarians, decent folk, fusionist conservatives, and the communist threat. The pre-1968 Dixiecrat segregationists, the Evangelical Christian Right under Reagan, Pat Buchanan, Dick Cheney and the more radical neocons under George W. Bush were always there. But there was always accountability, restraint, and public decency.

President Trump is tapping into real ills and soul sicknesses in American society and the American economy; but he is doing so in an ugly way that appeals to the lowest common denominator. Even FDR, Huey Long, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, for all their interventionist instincts and actions and their loose interpretations of the Constitution, operated under a veneer of respectability, and showed some shame when they got caught with their pants down.

Slade proposes a renaissance of fusionism as an antidote to the Dissident Right, in a bid to save both the Republic and the Spirit of '76. She reminds us that political analysis will require new language. In a similar spirit, I have long argued that the left-right taxonomy once made sense - in post-1789 France, where the left represented the Jacobin radicals like Robespierre, the centrists were today's classical liberals, and the right favored a return of the monarchy. But the Dissident Right is a misnomer. This modern movement Slade names does not align with the American conservative tradition, and is thus not clearly of "the Right." Even if it seeks nativist or religious or other allegedly conservative goals, it does so by promoting an increasingly intrusive and muscular central government.

How little we have progressed since 1944, when F.A. Hayek dedicated The Road to Serfdom to "the socialists of all parties."

Today's classical liberals are, indeed, alone in a two-front war. The paternalistic Left and the Dissident Right both aggressively push for social and economic control. Liberty, limited government, and free markets have few defenders. Fusionism is an appealing alliance, as Slade proposes it. But who will be the fusionist warriors for individual liberty? Where are the moderates to defend private property? Where have all the pro-business, small-government, free-trade conservatives gone? We can hope that there is a Nockian Remnant out there, biding its time while the dissident storm passes. In the meantime, the libertarian wing of fusionism stands alone, as core agreements have largely been abandoned by those who still call themselves conservatives, but now need hyphenations to distinguish conservatism from their preferred flavor of interventionism.

Nikolai G. Wenzel is Professor of Economics at Universidad de las Hespérides and Associate Research Faculty Member of the American Institute for Economic Research. He is a research fellow of the Institut Economique Molinari (Paris, France) and a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 22:35

Illegal Immigrant Killer Found Not Guilty By Insanity, Flees US During Hospital Leave

An illegal immigrant found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 2019 killing managed to flee the United States on a one-way flight to his native Tajikistan while on an approved 48-hour pass from a state mental health facility.

Now a Soros-backed prosecutor is under fire for his pattern of pursuing insanity pleas for violent offenders who are illegal immigrants.

Steve Descano, commonwealth's attorney for Fairfax County, Va., speaks at an event at the Center for American Progress about Virginia’s newly elected progressive prosecutors. (Getty Images)

In 2022, a court committed Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda after finding him not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2019 killing of his landlord, Mohammad Hemmatian, in Vienna, Virginia. Officers who reached the scene found him covered in Hemmatian's blood. He told them, "I am guilty.” Investigators believed Islam-inspired attitudes drove the violence.

Toshpulodzoda left the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) in Falls Church on July 6 under an unaccompanied 48-hour pass, a privilege allowed under Virginia law for certain committed patients. Instead of returning, boarded a Turkish Airlines flight at Washington’s Dulles International Airport to Istanbul, and continued to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, according to airline records attached to court filings.

The escape came mere days after a Fairfax County judge ruled that Toshpulodzoda still needed hospitalization. "On June 29, 2026, this Court found that the Acquittee remained mentally ill and in need of inpatient hospitalization," court documents state. 

This was not the first time authorities let Toshpulodzoda move outside a locked ward without an escort. He traveled to Washington, D.C., in 2024 to obtain a passport, and the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, led by Steve Descano, supported the trip. 

NVMHI placed Toshpulodzoda on escape status once he missed the deadline, revoked his pass, and issued a facility warrant. Virginia State Police, federal authorities, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection all received notice of the case, and CBP issued an alert in case he tries to reenter the country. 

"Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda was found by clinicians to be insane at the time he killed Mohammad Hemmatian – a legal finding that means the Commonwealth would be unable to secure a conviction at trial,” the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's office said in a statement. The office said prosecutors have opposed his release at every annual review hearing, including in June, and that a bench warrant went out the moment they learned he had escaped custody, adding that he "will be arrested and brought to Virginia" if he reenters the country. The Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's office, NVMHI, and Turkish Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.

Descano has been in office since 2020. His campaign received funding from left-wing megadonor George Soros. His office has pursued insanity agreements for 13 accused murderers claiming they were unfit for trial, and Descano himself has managed to survive two recall efforts over his criminal justice record.

 Toshpulodzoda's case fits a pattern the group has flagged for years: violent defendants, including illegal immigrants, funneled toward insanity findings that keep them off the felony docket and, evidently, sometimes off the continent entirely. The group posted on social media Monday, "Across Virginia, ONLY 50 killers got insanity pleas nowhere else gave more than two." Virginians for Safe Communities said of Descano, "They aren't crazy, he's just lazy."

A spokesperson for Descano's office told the Washington Examiner that independent evaluators declared Toshpulodzoda mentally ill and left prosecutors no legal path to a conviction, an explanation the office has given in prior cases. "To be found legally insane, both a defense expert and a separate, independent expert for the prosecution evaluate the defendant," the spokesperson said. "If the Commonwealth's expert finds the defendant to be legally insane, there is functionally no way to get a conviction at trial." The spokesperson said a prosecutor's role narrows to annual review hearings once such a finding is entered, and noted that, in Toshpulodzoda’s case specifically, prosecutors repeatedly asked that he remain confined due to community safety concerns, including as recently as June.

Toshpulodzoda's disappearance is not an outlier for Descano's office. Seven months earlier, a Fairfax County court declared another accused killer, Joshua Danehower, legally insane under an agreement with Descano's team. Danehower fatally shot a charity CEO in his own home in 2022 after he grew obsessed with the CEO's wife and drafted written plans to break into the house, according to police. 

Descano's poor prosecutorial discretion record has attracted the attention of the Justice Department, which announced an investigation in May into whether Descano gives "preferential treatment" to illegal immigrants in prosecutorial decisions.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 22:10

Minority Leader Jeffries Drops The Mask, Signals Democrats Are Coming For The Court

Hakeem Jeffries has developed a habit of saying out loud what his party once preferred to keep vague.

Hakeem Jeffries (photo: Anna Moneymaker, Getty)

Speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta, the House minority leader told the audience that Democrats see "[a] variety of different options that are on the table, and I think we can't foreclose on any single one of them" when it comes to the Supreme Court. The options under discussion include adding justices and imposing 18-year term limits on the ones already seated. The man floating them runs the House Democratic caucus and stands one election away from the speaker's gavel.

Jeffries also described the Court, in the same appearance, as "a subsidiary of the MAGA Republican Party."

For years, Democrats have been more cautious about openly discussing expanding the Supreme Court, but now they're not even hiding their intentions. Speaking at the National Urban League Conference in Nashville earlier this month, former Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed expanding the court to thirteen justices.

"We need to revisit the point of expanding the court to 13 justices like we have 13 District Courts," she said.

There are 94 federal district courts. There are 13 circuit courts. If the number of justices is supposed to match the number of lower courts, Harris picked the wrong number - or the wrong argument.

NBC's Kristen Welker put the question to Jeffries on Meet the Press on Sunday, noting Harris's comments on the issue. Jeffries declined to say yes, and he declined to say no. "What I support is dramatic reform, and what that looks like, to begin with, is making sure that the Supreme Court actually has an ethical code of conduct so that they're not able to simply conduct themselves in ways that are inconsistent with the notion in this country that no one is above the law," he said.

Then he named names. "We've seen right-wing justices like Thomas and Alito engage in behavior that is ethically questionable at best," Jeffries said. "That has to change, because the American people should have confidence in the highest court in the land." The ethics talk served as the on-ramp. He went on to describe reforms needed to deliver a court "functioning like a separate and coequal branch of government," and pointed to the Callais decision, where, according to Jeffries, "the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in ways that do the bidding of extreme MAGA Republicans who turned around in the deep south and unleashed these Jim Crow-like tactics, yes, I have a problem with that. It's inconsistent with the law and with the Constitution."

The same Court has ruled against Trump on birthright citizenship and on his tariff agenda, and he has won a lopsided share of the cases he has brought before it. Jeffries has not explained how a subsidiary rules against its parent.

What will those "reforms" look like? Jeffries wouldn't say, but told Welker, "Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, and other Judiciary Committee Dems are going to take the lead on what dramatic reform of the Supreme Court looks like," Jeffries said. A caucus assigns committee leads for legislation it intends to write, and such legislation exists to change who wins cases.

A group of Senate Democrats introduced a bill last month establishing 18-year terms and creating a Supreme Court appointment every two years.

The math, of course, is a problem for this. Any such bill needs 60 votes in the Senate, and, as president, Trump can still veto anything the Democrats might pass. Democrats understand both facts, which makes the quieter half of Jeffries' message worth a closer read. He endorsed major changes to Senate rules so a bare majority can pass legislation, and he invoked the last attempt, when Democrats held Congress and the White House under Joe Biden, and tried to nuke the filibuster for their election reform bills. The only thing that stopped that from happening was Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who refused to go along with the scheme, but neither is in the Senate anymore, and the party is much more unified today.

This is why Trump, who has seen the same math, has been warned that a Democratic majority will kill the filibuster to remake the court as a left-wing institution, and has urged Republicans to beat them to the punch, nuke the filibuster and help accelerate his agenda while they can. Trump has separately demanded that Jeffries apologize for calling the Court illegitimate.

Jeffries' comments make clear that Democrats have no qualms about gutting longstanding institutions to make them work more for their party and its agenda, which means what's at stake in the upcoming midterms and the 2028 election is bigger than just who controls Congress or the White House, it might very well change how our government works.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 21:20

Forbes Editor Fired Over $6m Payoff Had Threatened Companies Who Dared Hire Outgoing Trump Admin Officials In 2021

Authored by Monica Showalter via American Thinker,

Remember how vindictive the political scenario after Joe Biden first took office? It wasn't just the draconian prosecutions of Jan. 6 protestors, most of whom were non-violent and unarmed, many of them little old ladies. One guy got sent to jail who wasn't even at the scene of the Capitol crowd control incident.

Randall Lane at the ‘Forbes’ 50 Over 50 Luncheon on Dec. 8, 2022. Credit :
Cindy Ord/Getty

There also were the blacklisters. They vowed to hunt down and punish one in one way or another any former official who spent time in the Trump administration, putting them on public lists to ensure that none would be able to find future employment. It was vicious stuff and there were former Trump small fry who were unable to get jobs after leaving the White House for no other reason but this..

The scandal-plagued Lincoln Project drew the most publicity for this blacklisting project, but there was also another skeevy group called the Transition Integrity Project, and together with the Lincoln Project Stasi-wannabes shared big-dollar donors. Both kicked off their blacklisting plans around the same time in the early part of 2021, seemingly coordinating their talking points. I wrote about that here.

There was a third advocate for blacklisting, too - this guy, Randall Lane, the chief content officer at Forbes magazine.

He wrote this:

Whoa. @Forbes chief content officer warns against hiring @kayleighmcenany or other prominent Trump flacks: "Hire any of Trump's fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie." https://t.co/KeXF2gVXVV

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) January 9, 2021

According to NPR:

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Communications officials from the Trump administration might have a hard time finding work after January 20. That's at least what the chief content officer of Forbes is hoping. Citing numerous lies by various press secretaries throughout the Trump administration, Randall Lane wrote a column, warning businesses this way - if you hire any of Trump's communications officials, Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie. To talk more about this is Randall Lane. He joins us now.

Welcome to the program.

RANDALL LANE: Thanks, Audie.

CORNISH: So was this inspired by the violent sacking of the Capitol last week, or is this something you've been thinking about for a while?

LANE: A little of both. First, to clarify, we were just talking about the four press secretaries, plus Kellyanne Conway - the people who are paid by the American people to talk to the American people, to inform the American people. And looking at Wednesday night, there was no way to look at that and not recognize that that entire day was built on a foundation of lies. The people who were in the Capitol believed what they'd been told about rigged election. And again, that was based on lies. There needs to be a reset, and we need to hold ourselves to an accountability standard where truth and facts matter because that's the path forward for a healthy democracy.

CORNISH: I'm going to reveal some bias here and ask - you know, part of the job of political communications, as I have experienced it, is to spin - that it's rarely straight facts.

LANE: Yes.

CORNISH: What was different about this experience to you?

LANE: Yes. The job of press secretaries sometimes is a lie of omission or it's a spin. But never have we had, in modern history, an administration where up was down, right - you know, blue is yellow. Sean Spicer set the tone from Day 1 when he asked Americans to not believe their eyes when he's saying, this was the largest inauguration in history. And again, that's a trivial fact. But that's also what made it so bad because it established from minute one that there was no standard for what the truth is. And that's what's different.

As a matter of fact, no, it's not different. All you have do do is look at the statements of Jen Psaki or Joe Lockhart to recognize the real lies. Somehow, those press secretaries didn't bother him.

This was just naked Trump hate, or some kind of talking points obedience as it came at the same time as the other two organizations beating that drum. Very disgusting to see in an editor who clearly was consumed by his own political hatreds, which only made themselves known at that moment. Weird, really.

Turns out this guy was on the take, though, and got fired from his job because of it, failing to disclose a $6 million payment from R.J. Shook, a content partner, in a transation explicitly forbidden by Forbes rules and its handbook. He, uh, forgot.

Really?

It's a rule everyone would have known about and would have been carefully enforced and I know this because I used to work there 20 years ago. I cannot imagine any of the great editors of Forbes I worked with - Bill Baldwin, Tim Ferguson, Laurie Minard, Nigel Holloway, or Luisa Kroll, to take a few examples, ever doing such a thing, it wouldn't happen, they were always very careful to avoid any conflicts of interest or violations of the rules, and they always kept politics out of their writing. They were extremely conscientious editors. They had integrity.

He didn't. So the question raised now is whether someone paid him off for that vindictive call for blacklists of former Trump officials. I have found no evidence it was R.J. Shook or Shook Research, they only revealed that Lane was buyable for the right price. The fact that Lane took big dollars, from Shook Research, which had an interest in rankings of money managers, probably indicated some kind of quid pro quo. So was there another payoff from somewhere else for the loud calls to blacklist? We know the donors were donating. That might be worth looking into given the egregious nature of what he did.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 20:55

Derek Chauvin Seeks To Dismiss Charges In Death Of George Floyd

Derek Chauvin's legal team filed a new court petition Tuesday morning seeking to dismiss the charges against the former Minneapolis police officer and vacate his convictions, arguing that the case that sent him to prison for the death of George Floyd rested on a foundation that never had legal standing to begin with.

Attorney Greg Joseph submitted the 31-page filing in Hennepin County, alleging that Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Hennepin County Attorney's Office engaged in unlawful and fraudulent conduct when they brought the case against Chauvin. The central claim is procedural: a grand jury never reviewed the state’s evidence, and, under Minnesota law, Joseph argues that this omission means the state never lawfully brought the charges in the first place.

“Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill presided over a year-long due process violation by failing to convene a grand jury to consider the State’s evidence at any point between the moment he was assigned to the case, and the verdict,” the filing reads. “He lacked jurisdiction over the charges, as this Court does, because they were never lawfully brought.”

Joseph told Alpha News reporter Liz Collin the conduct amounted to a serious breach.

"What was done here is shocking," Joseph said. "It's inexcusable."

The petition places much of the blame on the trial court itself. It states that Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill presided over what it calls a year-long due process violation "by failing to convene a grand jury to consider the State's evidence at any point between the moment he was assigned to the case, and the verdict." The filing goes further, arguing Cahill "lacked jurisdiction over the charges, as this Court does, because they were never lawfully brought."

That argument extends up the chain of command. Joseph contends Walz's decision to hand the prosecution to Ellison was itself an unlawful appointment, and that Ellison used authority he never had to add a second-degree murder charge to the complaint against Chauvin. Hennepin County prosecutor Amy Sweasy withdrew from the case against the officers involved and, according to court documents cited in the filing, disagreed with the decision to pile on additional charges. 

Part of the reason for this is that the case unfolded amid extraordinary political pressure. Minneapolis erupted into riots for days after video of Floyd's detainment and death went viral. Elected officials rushed to condemn Chauvin, and activists made clear that anything short of a murder conviction would be treated as a miscarriage of justice. 

Joseph's petition suggests that pressure extended into the charging decision itself, with Walz and Ellison escalating the case to a murder charge that Hennepin County's own prosecutor did not support. 

According to the petition, “Because Hennepin County's unlawful charges against Mr. Chauvin were not severe enough for the mob, Walz referred the case to Keith Ellison, who signed and e-filed a second unfounded complaint against Derek Chauvin that included the murder charge it wanted."

Chauvin is serving two concurrent sentences, 22.5 years on the state second-degree murder conviction and 21 years on federal civil rights charges tied to Floyd's death. Joseph's petition argues the entire proceeding is unreviewable on its own terms. "It is impossible to assess the trial errors in State v. Chauvin because the entire trial was a fraud; it was based on unfounded charges that were never properly before the Court."

Joseph acknowledged the due process argument is a late addition to years of post-conviction efforts. "In a very short period of time there were very fundamental and basic violations of due process," he told Collin. "And those aren't necessarily things that defense attorneys normally look for."

The filing arrives alongside a separate, ongoing push for clemency that has run through conservative media and social platforms for more than a year. Elon Musk shared a video on X last year calling on President Trump to pardon Chauvin. While Trump holds the power to pardon Chauvin's federal civil rights convictions, the state sentence, the longer of the two, sits outside his authority.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 20:30

ICE Proposes Insurance Coverage For Local Officers Involved In Immigration Arrests

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has proposed an insurance plan to shield local police officers involved in immigration arrests from financial liability if they face allegations of misconduct during those arrests.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026. Blake Fagan/AFP via Getty Images

A proposal document published Aug. 14 by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shows the agency intends to pay for liability insurance coverage for state and local law enforcement officers who are trained to perform immigration officer functions.

The plan would allow officers to purchase up to $500,000 in professional liability insurance, which typically covers financial losses, legal defense fees, settlements, and judgments. Officers would be reimbursed up to $250 each year for insurance costs, according to the document.

The proposal also states that ICE intends to hire a contractor to provide outreach, training, and support to its 287(g) partners. The contractor would also be tasked with coordinating professional liability insurance coverage and reimbursement for law enforcement officers, according to the document.

The 287(g) program is a federal partnership that allows ICE to delegate authority to state and local law enforcement officers to perform specified immigration officer functions, including identifying and processing removable illegal immigrants who have criminal charges.

ICE is seeking industry feedback on the proposal by Aug. 20, according to the DHS's notice.

The proposal comes as the Trump administration has intensified its immigration enforcement efforts nationwide, with ICE playing a major role.

A notice published on Aug. 10 by DHS showed that ICE also planned to provide its agents new gloves, known as CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E, or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, which can deliver electric shocks.

A DHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email on Aug. 12 that ICE aims to ensure that its officers have the tools and equipment they need to safely arrest and remove "criminal illegal aliens" from the country.

"Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to ensure that any technology ICE utilizes is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards," the spokesperson said.

"Our officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training."

The Democratic National Committee's Resolutions Committee on Aug. 13 approved a resolution that calls for the abolition of ICE. The resolution cited the deaths of ICE detainees and allegations of poor conditions at detention facilities.

Natalie Baldassarre, the national press secretary for the Republican National Committee, criticized the resolution, saying that Democrats should prioritize the safety of Americans. Baldassarre also said the Trump administration's enforcement efforts have mostly targeted illegal immigrants accused or convicted of crimes.

Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 20:05

Fauci Aide Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy That Shielded EcoHealth Records, Countered Lab-Leak Narrative

Dr. David Morens, the longtime senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pleaded guilty in Greenbelt federal court on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371). The plea caps a records scandal that began with his own emails bragging about making federal documents disappear.

According to the DOJ: After the NIH terminated the bat coronavirus grant, Morens and a co-conspirator pledged to help its recipient restore the canceled funding and "counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab."

The 78-year-old from Chester, Maryland, took the deal in exchange for prosecutors dropping the remaining charges in a five-count April indictment. Those dropped charges included destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting - counts that carried up to 20 years apiece at the maximum end. "By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so," his attorney, Tim Belevetz, said.

Morens faces up to five years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis is overseeing the case, with sentencing set for Nov. 12 at the federal court in Maryland. A supplement to the plea agreement - the kind that typically covers cooperation - was filed under seal.

The Anatomy of the Conspiracy

According to the plea agreement and accompanying stipulation of facts, the conspiracy ran from roughly April 2020 through at least June 2023, and it began the moment the NIH pulled the plug on a grant titled "Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence."

That grant had been awarded to EcoHealth Alliance, the New York-based nonprofit that subawarded U.S. taxpayer funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The NIH terminated it in 2020, in the Justice Department's words, "based on allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology."

What followed, per the plea, was not improvisation. Morens and his co-conspirators "agreed in writing to intentionally hide their communications from public view" by routing government business through Morens's personal Gmail account instead of his official NIH email - in explicit anticipation that those communications would be sought under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Through that channel flowed non-public NIH information, strategy on restoring the canceled funding, edits to draft letters addressed to NIH leadership on EcoHealth's behalf, and "back-channel" material passed to a figure the filings call Senior NIAID Official 1 - who, according to CBS's reading of the court documents, appears to be Fauci himself. Every one of those matters, the government notes, fell squarely within Morens's official duties and constituted federal records required to be created and maintained on government systems.

Illegal Gratuities and "Behind-the-Scenes Shenanigans"

Morens also admitted to discussing illegal gratuities with "Co-Conspirator 1," widely understood to be associated with EcoHealth Alliance leadership. In June 2020, that co-conspirator shipped two bottles of wine to Morens's Maryland home as thanks for his "behind-the-scenes shenanigans."

Per the DOJ, Morens then allegedly identified an official act he could perform to "deserve" the gift: authoring a scientific commentary in a prominent medical journal advocating that COVID-19 had natural origins. The co-conspirator floated further compensation, including meals at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, New York, and Washington, D.C.

"Secret Back Channels": The Email Trail

None of this scheme had to be inferred. Morens wrote it down repeatedly in emails pried loose by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic - the congressional investigation that preceded the criminal case.

"As you know, I try to always communicate on gmail because my NIH email is FOIA'd constantly," he told correspondents in one message, adding in another that they shouldn't worry because he would "delete anything I don't want to see in the New York Times."

In February 2021, he detailed the mechanics:

"I learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after i am foia'd but before the search starts, so I think we are all safe. Plus I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to Gmail."

By June 2021, he was telling colleagues, "I have retained very few emails or documents on these matters," and requesting that anything sensitive go to his Gmail. And in an April 2021 message, he explained how the protection extended upward:

"There is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony [Fauci] on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble."

The paper trail triggered a criminal referral long before the indictment: Sen. Rand Paul urged the DOJ in May 2024 to investigate Morens and the NIH FOIA office he claimed had coached him. When the grand jury indicted Morens this past April, then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the conduct "a profound abuse of trust," stating that Morens and his co-conspirators "deliberately concealed information and falsified records in an effort to suppress alternative theories regarding the origins of COVID-19."

Morens served in NIAID's Office of the Director from 2006 until 2022, the year Fauci retired. As the emails surfaced in 2024, Fauci distanced himself in congressional testimony. Morens, he said, was not an adviser on institute policy or other substantive issues; he claimed to be unaware of Morens's personal email practices; and he insisted he did not use personal email for government business himself - though he acknowledged Morens's conduct violated agency policy.

The plea lands amid a widening accountability fight over COVID-19 origins and the ensuing cover-up. A Senate committee voted this month to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for declining to answer questions about his conduct during and after the pandemic, referring him to a Justice Department that has yet to respond. Fauci's lawyers maintain he was well within his rights to invoke the Fifth Amendment - and he holds a pardon from then-President Joe Biden covering conduct from Jan. 1, 2014, through Jan. 19, 2025.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 19:40

Inside The DSA's Dilemma: Grow The Democratic Party Or Become It

Authored by Russ Jones via The Epoch Times,

The Democratic Socialists of America's national leadership was split 14-13 in Chicago this summer. Not over whether to endorse Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for president in 2028, but over whether the group's own 120,000 members should even get to vote on the question.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The narrow margin, which blocked a nonbinding member poll, landed in the same season the DSA became, by its own count, the largest socialist organization in American history. It also exposed a fault line that the organization's recent winning streak has mostly obscured. The DSA has not settled on what it wants to be.

Ocasio-Cortez has kept the door open for a potential run for White House. Asked on ABC's "This Week" this month whether she would run for president or Senate in 2028, she said, "I haven't ruled out the possibility, and I'm very humbled [by] the tremendous amount of support out there." That leaves the DSA debating an endorsement for a candidacy she has neither confirmed nor denied.

The DSA was formed in 1982 through a merger of two earlier socialist organizations and describes its mission as replacing capitalism with democratic socialism, an economic system in which workers, not private owners, control production and resources. Its platform, called "Workers Deserve More," calls for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, universal rent control, and an end to mass incarceration.

Some of the DSA's positions have drawn particular scrutiny. The group's platform calls for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and scaling back its deportation efforts, and its "defund the police" plank goes further, calling for eventually eliminating police and prisons altogether.

Within the Party

Frank Llewellyn, the DSA's national director from 2001 to 2011, told The Epoch Times the organization has no interest in becoming a third party, regardless of how the endorsement debate is resolved. Llewellyn is also treasurer for Ocasio-Cortez's congressional campaign, a role he's held since 2018. He said he was speaking in a personal capacity, not on her behalf.

"All the success DSA has had is within the Democratic system," Llewellyn said. "We don't really want a third party. It's a complicated topic, but we are committed to this path, even though there are those who would disagree."

Llewellyn attributed the movement's momentum to shifting economic conditions rather than any single tactic.

"The conditions are driving the success," he said, including "where power lies, changes in the economy, and running people who have that perspective and convincing people they will do their best to make those changes." Voters, he said, simply "see the economy is not working for them."

He also pointed to generational turnover inside the party.

"There's generational change going on," Llewellyn said. "Being around a long time is no longer an advantage."

He was careful not to predict whether the DSA will ultimately back Ocasio-Cortez.

"AOC is a formidable candidate with strong support," Llewellyn said. "I'm sure her future political aspirations will become more defined in due time."

Miriam Bensman, a longtime DSA member in Queens who has organized for the group since the 1980s, told The Epoch Times that staying inside the Democratic Party was a founding principle, not a recent compromise. She traced the debate back to the Socialist Party in the 1960s, before the DSA's 1982 founding, and recalled a New York City Council candidate, Jabari Brisport, who ran on the Green Party and Socialist Party lines and lost, then won a state Senate seat two years later running as a Democrat.

"Overcoming people's loyalty to voting as Democrats was really hard," Bensman said. "People had to learn it for themselves."

Bensman acknowledged that running under the Green Party banner and only gaining 2 percent of the vote wasn't worth the time or the expense.

Bensman, who volunteered for Zohran Mamdani's New York City mayoral campaign, a state Assembly primary, and congressional campaigns in Michigan this year, also said the DSA's momentum reflects economic conditions. She spent much of this year knocking on doors for Assembly candidate David Orkin, who defeated an incumbent in a Queens Democratic primary, and for Rep. Claire Valdez in an overlapping congressional district.

"The inequality of wealth and income has gotten so extreme over the last almost 50 years," she said, pointing to tax cuts dating to President Ronald Reagan's administration, weakened unions, and rising rents. "People are rightfully angry."

She said the DSA sometimes works alongside the Working Families Party, which backs candidates who are not DSA members, including Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan. Bensman said she also campaigned this year for Donavan McKinney, a DSA-backed congressional candidate in Michigan.

Bensman's support for the DSA is rooted in ideology, not just electoral tactics.

She said she is "moved by the ideals of democratic socialism," arguing that people can't live dignified lives amid extreme inequality and that democracy itself is compromised when government is shaped by corporate interests and concentrated wealth.

Bensman pointed to healthcare specifically, saying people "shouldn't have to worry about not being able to eat in order to take care of their healthcare," and compared it to services Americans already take for granted, like public schools, libraries, and toll-free roads.

"Even when we can't get all of that," she said, the DSA's platform still "reshapes how we design public programs."

This involves a belief, she said, that "government can help make life better."

Establishment Democrats

State Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-N.Y.) told NY1's Errol Louis that establishment Democrats should not try to block democratic socialist candidates following their recent wins.

"I keep trying to make this point to people who are anti-DSA or whatever it is. You're not opposing these individuals who are running for office. You are opposing thousands of people who vote for them," Gianaris said.

Llewellyn made a similar case in blunter terms, arguing that keeping the party's current coalition intact is not the point.

"Those who can't get on board with the DSA agenda need to leave and find another home," Llewellyn said. "The Democratic corporate money people are at odds with DSA."

That framing puts Llewellyn well to the left of Gianaris, who argues for coexistence rather than a clean break. Where Gianaris describes the DSA's rise as an expansion of the Democratic coalition, Llewellyn frames it as a takeover already underway, one in which the party's older, more moderate wing is expected to adapt or leave rather than the other way around.

The result is a party weighing two different versions of what "making room" for the DSA actually requires. A coalition broad enough to include democratic socialists, or one that eventually replaces its old guard with them.

Party Split

Not everyone views the DSA's rise as a sign of durable strength. Ralph Rebandt, a Michigan pastor of 30 years who ran for governor there, told The Epoch Times the party's leftward shift will cost Democrats votes in November. That kind of accommodation from elected Democrats, he said, is exactly what worries him: a party absorbing a movement it may not be able to control.

Rebandt pointed to Abdul El-Sayed's Senate primary win in Michigan, which relied heavily on college towns, while Democratic voters in Detroit and other working-class areas favored Rep. Haley Stevens.

"There's a huge split right now in the party," Rebandt said. "The Democrats we're talking to and working with in Detroit are telling us they don't want anything to do with socialism or communism."

Rebandt predicts El-Sayed will lose to Republican Mike Rogers in the general election. He also said he expects Generation Z voters, not older Democrats, to ultimately reject the socialist label.

"They know what socialism does. They know what socialism brings, and they don't want that," Rebandt said. "They want to be able to live the American dream."

Asked whether the DSA intends to remain inside the Democratic Party or eventually break away, Rebandt predicted the opposite of a third-party strategy.

"At some point when they feel they're large enough to take over the Democratic Party, they're going to be the Democratic Party," he said. "I don't think they would do a third option."

That prediction lines up with what Llewellyn and Bensman describe as DSA's actual strategy. Growth through Democratic primaries, not a break from the party. Llewellyn pointed to a historical precedent he believes the DSA is emulating.

"The Republicans replaced the Whigs," he said. "They were a third party."

Whether that comparison holds may depend on what the DSA decides to do about Ocasio-Cortez. For now, the narrow vote in Chicago suggests the organization itself has not resolved the question, even as its membership and its influence within the Democratic Party continue to grow.

"People are afraid to argue with us because we are finding success," Llewellyn said.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 19:15

Rubio Announces Sanctions Against International Criminal Court President & Top Lawyer

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday new sanctions against International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane and Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye as tensions flare between the court and the Trump administration.

“These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” his statement said.

The ICC, he added, has attempted to “assert authority over” over U.S. citizens and nationals of other nations that have not consented to the Rome Statute that set up the court.

The United States is not a party to the ICC.

“Our whole of government campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the ICC to national sovereignty will be sweeping and we expect more countries to join our campaign by ending their funding and participation in this politicized and unaccountable court,” Rubio said, suggesting that “additional measures” may be taken against the Hague, Netherlands-based body.

As Jack Phillips reports for The Epoch Times, the sanctions against Akane and Seye were issued ​under a Trump executive order last year authorizing sanctions against the court, according to Rubio.

In July, Rubio said that the Trump administration would seek to dismantle the ICC by using visa revocations, sanctions, the targeting of individuals, and diplomatic pressure on countries to withdraw from the body.

“The American people never agreed to any of this, and they never will,” Rubio said last month.

“Read the words of our Declaration of Independence. We fought a revolution against a foreign power, transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses. Independence is our birthright. We will never let foreign bureaucrats take that away from us.”

The court, which was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, has been adopted by more than 120 countries. Countries that do not recognize the court’s authority include the United States, China, Russia, Israel, India, Saudi Arabia, and more.

However, the ICC has argued that the Rome Statute ​gives the court power to prosecute war crimes committed on the territory of member states by nationals of non-member states.

The Trump administration imposed targeted sanctions last year on several ICC officials such as prosecutors and judges, citing the ICC’s 2024 decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime ​Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over what the court alleged were improper actions carried out by the Israeli government during its war in Gaza.

Earlier this year, three sitting ICC judges sued Trump and his administration over the sanctions, arguing that they were unlawful.

And earlier this month, multiple human rights groups sued the administration over the sanctions, describing the actions and Trump administration order as unconstitutional.

“The plaintiffs are seeking an end to this sanctions regime, which transgresses the president’s authority and violates international and U.S. law, including the rights to freedom of expression and religion,” said lead counsel Andrew Loewenstein in a statement carried by Human Rights Watch, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The ICC did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for comment.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 18:50

Why Teens Are Struggling To Find Summer Jobs

Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,

Joslyne Baird has been looking for a job for about a year to help her family pay the bills.

She began her job search at 14 years old, applying to summer camps and grocery stores around her small Kentucky town of about 1,500 people, without success, she told The Epoch Times.

"I'm looking for babysitting jobs, mowing jobs, cleaning jobs, and so much more," the now 15-year-old said. "Anything I'm able to do to make money for, I will do."

Baird has not heard back from a single employer to which she submitted applications, she said.

What the Kentucky teenager is experiencing is a continuation of a trend that began in 2025: a worsening job market for American teens looking for summer work.

Experts accurately predicted last summer to be the toughest on record, and forecasted this one to be even worse, which some teenagers feel is true.

Whether it's waiting tables, bagging groceries, or stocking shelves, a summer job is one of many rites of passage into adulthood as kids seek more responsibility, less parental oversight, and their own money to spend, but experts say these roles typically filled by teens are fading.

However, there still exists a path to making money, some teenagers told The Epoch Times, even if it means becoming your own boss.

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers in Washington on March 12, 2026. The year 2025 is seeing a worsening job market for American teenagers looking for summer work. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times Job Search Struggles

Baird is one of 12 siblings and described herself as patient, caring, responsible, and mature - all attributes a hiring manager would look for in a teenage employee.

"I have not heard back from anybody," Baird said. "I want a job because my family has been struggling a lot with money, and I would really like to help them."

She has applied to many jobs over the course of about a year but to no avail.

Younger teenagers between the ages of 13 and 15 are more limited in their options due to the complexity of arranging transportation to get to work.

"Now that I'm 15, I'm hoping that people are willing to hire me since I'm older," Baird said. "I'm very hopeful on my job search."

Even older teenagers who are able to drive on their own described similar struggles.

Olivia Watson, 18, is going into her senior year in high school and looking for a part-time job.

She's heard back from a few employers and participated in some interviews but has not yet landed a position.

"Most employers are looking for employees with experience, which makes it difficult for young adults like me to find work," Watson, of Calhoun, Louisiana, said. "But also, most young adults are less motivated than others, so employers don't take young adults seriously, especially where I'm from."

Olivia Watson, 18, in West Monroe, La., on Jan. 1, 2025. Watson is going into her senior year in high school and looking for a part-time job. She is navigating a worsening job market for teenagers and has been searching for a job for about a month but has not landed a position yet. Courtesy of Olivia Watson

Like Baird, Watson has applied for many jobs, including at local businesses, bakeries, retail stores, and restaurants, and she has applied for some customer service roles.

The Louisiana-based teen said she's been searching for a job for about a month, spending ample amounts of time filling out applications and following up with employers to try to make herself stand out as a candidate.

"Even though it's been challenging, I believe that if I keep applying, working hard, and staying positive, I'll eventually find a job that's a good fit for me," Watson said.

Watson said she wants to earn her own money to save for her future, help pay her own expenses, gain experience to prepare for adulthood, and ultimately become more independent.

Asked about whether she believed expert predictions about this summer becoming the worst on record for the teenage job market, she said she and many friends, who are also looking for similar jobs, are finding this to be true.

"Some have found jobs, but many are having the same experience I am - submitting lots of applications without hearing back or waiting a long time for interviews," Watson said. "It seems like finding a job has become much more competitive than many of us expected."

Cashiers process purchases at a Walmart Supercenter in North Bergen, N.J., on Feb. 9, 2023. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File/AP Photo Job Search Success

Amid a worsening job market for teens, some are tapping into their entrepreneurial side to make money.

Tyler Brock was born and raised in rural Duplin County, North Carolina. He began working at 10 years old for a farmer up the road because he wanted gas money for his four-wheeler and to go bowling with friends.

"At that point in time, I was still doing stuff like that," Brock said. "But when I started my company, I [had] a one-track mind, and it was 'let's see how hard we can work and how much we can accomplish.'"

Eight years later, Brock is the owner of Tyler's Lawn Care, which services about 80 properties, and is a partial owner with his father in a trucking business.

Brock also recently bought a hog farm.

"I've always loved working, and that's something my dad has always instilled in me - hard work and dedication," Brock told The Epoch Times. "There's no time to complain."

Brock's hog farm is capable of holding up to 2,600 hogs, and he is partnered with Smithfield Foods, a food-processing company in Virginia.

The company owns the pigs and gives them to Brock when they're about 13 pounds. He cares for them until they're anywhere from 45 to 270 pounds, at which point they're ready to be taken to a processing facility.

He described all business ventures as a "dream" and a "blessing."

"I would get up, go to school, go to football practice, or whatever sport we were in, I'd leave there, and I'd go work," Brock said. "I can't stand sitting still, and most of the people my age, they like to game - I don't know how to run an Xbox controller."

Eventually, Brock said he quit sports to pursue work.

There were times he considered giving up and struggled with work, but there also have been moments of wild success and deep fulfillment, he said.

Tyler Brock, 18, is the owner of Tyler's Lawn Care in Duplin County, N.C., on April 21, 2026. Despite a worsening job market for teenagers, he is finding success in more ways than one—he recently purchased a hog farm in Duplin County, N.C. Courtesy of Tyler Brock

Jay Edouard, a 19-year-old from Long Island, New York, has a similar entrepreneurial spirit.

He told The Epoch Times his first job, technically, was selling candy to classmates in middle school. Edouard wanted to make money because he felt regretful asking his parents for some while growing up. He also said he wanted to buy new Jordan sneakers.

"I thought it would be easier, better for me to make my own money, so they can't tell me no," Edouard said. "My dad, even my mom, they loved that at a young age I just started to make my own money or at least try."

Once he entered high school, Edouard found work in landscaping businesses and shoveling snow. He and his friends used to enjoy the snow and play in it until they found out they could make money from it, Edouard said.

Eventually, he signed up for MyTeenGig, a website that connects teenagers to homeowners who will pay them to complete a chore around their home.

"They have all sorts of things on there," Edouard said. "Regular yard work, or even, at one time, we had to move a hot tub."

Read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 18:25

Battle Over Ten Commandments Arrives At Supreme Court

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 17 to review a federal appeals court decision that upheld a Texas law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit cleared the way in April for the Texas law to take effect.

The state law known as Senate Bill 10, or SB 10, requires that public elementary and secondary schools conspicuously display in classrooms an easily readable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments with no additional commentary.

The Fifth Circuit’s 9–8 ruling in Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District raised questions about freedom of religion and how the Supreme Court had ruled on these issues in the past. If the justices agree to hear the case, their potentially landmark ruling could change the legal landscape for how governments deal with religion.

The Fifth Circuit said that the law complied with the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

The Texas law “looks nothing like a historical religious establishment,” because it does not tell houses of worship what to believe, how to worship, or whom to employ, the appeals court said. It does not punish people who reject the Ten Commandments, impose taxes to support the clergy, or require churches to carry out civic functions, the court said.

“These are the kinds of things ‘establishments of religion’ did at the founding. [The Texas law] does none of them,” it said.

The Fifth Circuit also held that a 1980 precedent, Stone v. Graham, which struck down a nearly identical classroom display law, is no longer binding.

The circuit court ruling upholding the Texas statute came after a federal district court preliminarily blocked it, finding the law likely violates both the Constitution’s establishment clause, which forbids the government from favoring one religion over another, and the free exercise clause, which prohibits the government from infringing on worship and other activities. The district judge also found the displays would coerce students and interfere with parents’ rights to direct their children’s religious upbringing.

The challenge in the district court was brought by a group of Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Baha'i, Unitarian Universalist, and nonreligious families. The families argue in the petition that the Texas law violates the Constitution by forcing religion on students, and that the Fifth Circuit misinterpreted Supreme Court precedent.

The Ten Commandments Monument displayed at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. Oct. 15, 2004. Jana Birchum/Getty Images

“The question of whether a state may impose scripture on impressionable, captive-audience children—for nearly every hour of every school day, for up to thirteen years—implicates the most fundamental guarantees of the First Amendment and our Nation’s highest ideals,” the ACLU said in the 314-page petition filed with the nation’s highest court on Aug. 17.

Chloe Kempf, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, which is representing the families, said in a statement that the Supreme Court “has rejected this kind of government-imposed religion before, and it should do so again.”

“Having these posters in Texas classrooms puts students at risk of bullying, stigmatization, and religious coercion. Our nation’s bedrock principle of separating church and state means that families and faith communities — not politicians — get to decide what role religion plays in children’s lives,” Kempf said.

The Epoch Times reached out to the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment. No reply was received by publication time.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at an event in Magnolia, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

In April, Paxton praised the Fifth Circuit ruling, calling it “a major victory for Texas and our moral values.”

“My office was proud to defend SB 10 and successfully ensure that the Ten Commandments will be displayed in classrooms across Texas,” he said at the time. “The Ten Commandments have had a profound impact on our nation, and it’s important that students learn from them every single day.”

It is unclear when the justices will consider the petition.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 17:00

DSA Lawmaker Claims Shoplifting For "Biological Need" Shouldn't Be Illegal

A radical Democratic Socialist lawmaker from New York is under fire after declaring that theft driven by "biological need" shouldn't be treated as a crime, effectively green-lighting shoplifting while slamming big retailers.

Emily Gallagher, a New York State Assembly member and part of the Democratic Socialists of America's New York State Socialists in Office caucus, sparked outrage this week with comments defending petty theft at a press conference outside Manhattan Criminal Court.

"Most of what we saw were crimes of poverty - people who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who were stealing things like, you know, soap. And that means if you're stealing those things, you need them. And we are choosing to protect billion-dollar companies, like CVS and Walgreens, over the people who are struggling to get by," Gallagher said, according to the New York Post.

"So I would say that the true crime is that there is such incredible wealth disparity in this city that there are people who can be thrown in jail simply for having a biological need."

Gallagher went on to tout her soft-on-crime criminal justice "reforms" while blasting conservative media for opposing the anti-law-and-order policies that have already wreaked havoc on New York City and other Democrat-run cities across the country.

However, everyday New Yorkers aren't buying it.

The Post quizzed several shoppers at the Food Universal supermarket in the Bronx's Co-op City, who told the paper that Gallagher's comments were downright ridiculous.

"It's foolish to think one should not be punished for stealing. It is a crime," said one shopper. "Mamdani can implement that in his [city-run grocery] stores, so if you don't have the necessities, you can go there and get them for free,"

"People are going to feel entitled because they know they can walk in and walk out and nothing will happen," said another shopper. "Allowing people to shoplift with no consequence is wrong. I'm a single mom and at one time I had four jobs. I would never think of stealing anything.

Anyone still dismissing the DSA as a fringe outfit with no real pull inside the Democrat Party need only look at the growing roster of newly elected socialists popping up nationwide, some already eyeing Congress. DSA-backed candidates toppled 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette in Denver and Rep. Shri Thanedar in Michigan this summer, and captured two safe blue New York House seats outright. Socialists Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Melat Kiros and Donavan McKinney are now on track to join Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib in Washington come January. Over the weekend, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries even admitted the group is part of the party's "broad caucus."

Good luck with that.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 16:40

Why Is This Scumbag Still In America?

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

A 26-year-old Ghanaian migrant stalked and attacked women across Oklahoma City over a two-week span in August, getting arrested three times for sexual battery before firefighters witnessed him trying to rape a fourth woman on a public trail and held him for police.

Jeff Kufi (Kofi) Asare was booked on a first-degree rape charge with a $75,000 bond. The Oklahoma County District Attorney's office is pushing to raise that bond because of the rapid series of alleged assaults.

Court records show at least 19 criminal felony and misdemeanor charges filed against him since August 2023, with more than 20 arrests stretching back to 2022 for larceny, trespass, obstruction, injuring an officer, and breaking and entering.

?DEAR GOD!!!

A migrant from Ghana HUNTED women on the streets of Oklahoma City.

He attacked one. They let him go.
He attacked another. They let him go AGAIN.

Then he tried to R*PE a third woman in BROAD DAYLIGHT, and FIREFIGHTERS tackled him off of her.

He's been arrested... pic.twitter.com/R4Y6Wmmr8M

— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) August 17, 2026

Why is this guy still in the country?

Jeff Kofi Asare was arrested THREE times in just the past two weeks for allegedly r*ping women in Oklahoma. Nearly 2 dozen arrests since 2022.

WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS pic.twitter.com/PVSIEcB0Ai

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 16, 2026

On August 1 near Northwest 23rd Street and Classen Boulevard, police responded to a possible rape. Asare allegedly pushed a woman against a bus stop window and put his hands down her pants.

The same day a second woman reported he came up behind her on Classen Boulevard, pulled her pants down, and fled when she pushed him away. He was arrested for sexual battery and indecent exposure.

Five days later near Scissortail Park, Asare allegedly walked up behind another woman, grabbed her buttocks multiple times, and began digging in his pants. When she told him to leave he walked away. Police later spotted and arrested him again for sexual battery.

On August 12 on the Lake Hefner Trail, Asare allegedly approached a woman from behind, pulled her down, and attempted to rape her. Local firefighters saw the attack, intervened, and called police. He was arrested on the first-degree rape charge.

Kufi Asare is a migrant in Oklahoma. Here is his criminal record so far:

8/12/26: Rape (1st degree)
8/6/26: Sexual battery in a park
8/1/26: Sexual battery in a park
3/5/26: Breaking and entering
10/3/25: Breaking and entering
2/23/25: Trespass + obstruction
8/27/23: Retail... pic.twitter.com/uOfUK3hNuo

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 16, 2026

Judges just kept releasing him.

Asare had previously been released through the TEEM pretrial program by Oklahoma County District Court Judge Cindy Truong after earlier cases. Court records indicate he received an official immigration warning in April after pleading no contest to breaking and entering.

Social media reports have described him as a migrant who is not a U.S. citizen, though ICE has not yet confirmed his immigration status.

Open borders and soft-on-crime judges create the conditions for so many cases like this. When officials treat deportation as optional and pretrial release as the default for serial offenders, the result is predictable. American women end up hunted on sidewalks, in parks, and on trails in the middle of the day.

Policies that enforce immigration law and keep dangerous scumbags locked up, or better still removed, are the only real answer. Judges who keep releasing repeat predators must face accountability. The public should not have to rely on firefighters to prevent rapes.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 16:20

Vaccine-Maker Claims Splitting MMR Shot Could Take Up To 10 Years

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

Splitting the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine into separate shots could take up to a decade, according to one of the two companies that produce the vaccine for the U.S. market.

A tray of MMR vaccine vials at a clinic in Lubbock, Texas, on March 1, 2025. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images

"Even under current expedited review pathways, it could take years - potentially as many as 10 - to meet the safety and efficacy requirements to obtain FDA approval and then begin manufacturing and commercialization" of single-disease shots, Merck said in a statement.

Merck, which did not respond to a request for more details, had told Politifact in 2025 - after President Donald Trump floated splitting the MMR vaccine - that it could take more than 10 years to separate the components into three separate vaccines.

Trump said in an Aug. 10 order that he was issuing "gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations," which "recognize that the combined measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available." The order directed agencies to take steps to advance the recommendations.

Before signing the order, Trump said, "You have the MMR, we want it in three separate vaccinations given at separate times. Together there could be a possibility they are quite lethal and separately, it looks like they are not at all lethal but just very effective." The White House did not respond to a request for citations by the time of publication.

Dr. Robert Malone, a former member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel, said in an Aug. 10 post on X that splitting combination vaccines into separate shots could reduce adverse events without sacrificing protection.

The CDC's website says, "No published scientific evidence shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots." A January update to the childhood vaccine schedule retained recommendations for MMR vaccination, advising that children receive one dose around the age of 1 and a second dose from 4 to 6 years of age.

The MMR vaccine has been available since the 1970s. Merck and GlaxoSmithKline produce it for the United States.

Standalone vaccines were discontinued in the United States in 2008. Merck said in a 2009 letter to health care providers that it was moving forward with the MMR and not the monovalent vaccines because the combination shot "eliminates the need for 3 separate injections and reduces the chance of delays in helping protect against any of these potentially serious diseases." The standalone vaccines are still available in certain other countries.

Side effects of the MMR vaccine include febrile seizure and severe allergic reactions, according to regulatory labels.

A healthcare professional prepares a measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine at the Andrews County Health Department in Andrews, Texas, on April 8, 2025. Annie Rice/AP Photo

GlaxoSmithKline told news outlets in a statement after Trump signed the order that its vaccines "are clinically proven to provide vital protection against infectious disease, and support public health goals by reducing missed doses, improving immunization coverage, and minimizing the burden on families and healthcare systems."

Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said although it's possible to separate the MMR vaccine into its constituent components, each component would have to be manufactured and tested.

"They wouldn't be able to do that probably for another 10 years, and there's no indication that they have any interest in doing that," he said.

A White House official told reporters on a call about the order that the administration would work with the private sector to make the option of separate vaccines available to parents, relying on market-based solutions.

"Right now we have a lot of Americans and a lot of American parents who want to see additional options," the official said.

The Food and Drug Administration did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

A person walks past a sign at a health center where the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is administered in Lubbock, Texas, on Feb. 27, 2025. Ronald Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images

Establishing and obtaining regulatory approval for the manufacturing processes for the separate shots could be time-consuming and costly, Jesse Goodman, former chief scientist at the FDA, said.

"They'd be making three times as many vials or vaccines and filling three times as many," Goodman said. "It's not like they have facilities sitting around idle - so they might need to either change current facilities or even create additional capacity for them."

Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 15:45

Pentagon Weighing Permanent Smaller US Presence In Gulf (Just Don't Call It Retreat)

Already US officials have signaled they may just abandon hard-hit bases in the Middle East altogether, in the wake of Iran's retaliation as a result of Operation Epic Fury, and a conflict that's dragged on for nearly six months.

On Tuesday The Washington Post reviews the damage control underway, as the Pentagon 'evaluates' its future military footprint. All of this is framed as if Washington has a choice and full control over the matter, when it seems that all along the Trump administration was woefully underestimating what an Iranian response would look like.

"The Pentagon is evaluating its military footprint in the Middle East in an early sign of the Iran war’s potential to transform the U.S. presence in the region, according to eight people, including officials and others familiar with the matter," Washington Post writes.

Air Force file image

"One of the key areas the Defense Department is assessing is whether to pull back troops from the Persian Gulf, where America’s large overseas military bases have been battered by months of Iranian strikes, two people familiar with the ongoing analysis said," it adds, further calling this a "once-in-a-generation" chance for the Pentagon to alter its presence in the region.

The whole thing is being reported as if the 'smart people' are in the room and in control, and also as if the US hegemon in the region didn't already take a massive reputational hit following 'forever wars' and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 20 years after the initial invasions, the Taliban remains in firm control of Kabul and Afghanistan, and Shiite pro-Iranian politicians run Baghdad.

And now a half-year into a war where the response should have been entirely anticipated (having been predicted by years and decades of Persian Gulf war-gaming and intelligence papers), this is where things stand:

“The war really did highlight the vulnerability ... of U.S. forces in the region,” said Michael Ratney, a former diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the deputy chief of mission in Qatar.

Moving troops and equipment further west to Jordan, Israel or the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia could help alleviate some of the pressure, he argued, while noting the added distance wasn’t a “perfect solution to this problem.”

Iran has already demonstrated it can strike faraway targets in Jordan and Israel. Last month an Iranian attack on Jordan killed four U.S. service members.

Anyone with eyes to see knows that this is already happening. For months at this point, dozens of US refueling aircraft have clogged up Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, for just one example.

For smarter and more legitimate analysis, one can turn to Amerikanets, which one month ago was chronicling Tehran's successful campaign of 'debasification':

The broad picture of the Iranian air war in this phase has been a steady wave of concentrated missile and drone strikes sweeping its way across the region. In contrast to the previous hot phase of the war, in which Iran targeted bases across the entire theater simultaneously, this wave started with the targets close to Iranian shores, and has progressed steadily to the Israeli border. After destroying much of the radar network protecting regional US Axis bases in the previous hot phase of the war, Iranian planners have prioritized targeting fuel storage, drone hangers, refueling tankers, and barracks.

The American response has been to pull assets back ever further from Iran, to bases in Israel and Jordan. We’ll call this process debasification. Iran’s debasification strategy takes advantage of the inherent asymmetry between the vastly different force structure and capabilities of Iranian rocket forces and US Axis air forces.

A concluding section predicted the dilemma laid out in WaPo concerning a grand Pentagon evaluation of its force posture in the Middle East:

By all available evidence, the Iranian debasification campaign appears to be working. The US force in the region is likely incapable of generating the same combat power in its air operations against Iran as it could when the war started, and things are trending ever further in a negative direction. Even worse, there’s no clear solution on the horizon. The most obvious lever for American planners to pull is to accept more casualties and losses of personnel and airframes, but this is an unprecedented step the modern incarnation of the US military has never faced.

"The Iranian debasification campaign appears to be working.

The US force in the region is likely incapable of generating the same combat power in its air operations against Iran as it could when the war started, and things are trending ever further in a negative direction.…

— Alex Shams (@alexshams_) July 21, 2026

What's worse is that the Iranians know all of this full well - and probably earlier than the Western public - and they smell blood in the water. Hence, this week they've been strongly signaling a new 'offensive' military posture, and have vowed to hit harder in whatever next waves of conflict come.

So will the US rebuild bases battered by Iranian strikes? Well, Tehran is now saying that in essence it won't let that happen. The WaPo article operates under the illusory assumption that US planners have some big array of options set before them, when increasingly American forces are in obvious retreat and no one can do anything about it. Also, what happened to Pete Hegseth's rah rah Epic Fury press briefings on all the 'winning' and chest-thumping? It's been a while.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 15:25

Maryland Court Strikes Down Nation's First State Tax On Digital Advertising

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

A state tax court in Maryland invalidated the nation's first state tax on digital advertising and directed state officials to refund tax payments already collected from major tech companies.

People pass a building on the Google headquarters campus in Mountain View, Calif., on July 23, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The legal dispute had been closely watched by other states that are considering taxing online advertisements.

The Annapolis-based Maryland Tax Court ruled on Aug. 14 that the digital advertising gross revenues tax was unconstitutional after it was challenged in three separate lawsuits by Google, Apple, and Peacock TV. Refunds are expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The state imposes the levies based on the businesses' global revenue. Lawmakers previously said the tax could raise $250 million per year. The money raised from the tax was earmarked for a state education program.

The 2021 tax statute specifically targets the revenue large companies earn from digital advertisements shown in Maryland. Companies that take in more than $100 million in annual global gross revenue were taxed at 2.5 percent.

A sliding scale applies to companies with larger revenues, maxing out at 10 percent for those earning more than $15 billion in global gross annual revenues.

The law's backers argued that Maryland needed to overhaul its tax system to deal with major changes in how businesses advertise. Lawyers representing the affected companies said their clients were targeted unfairly.

The state court said the tax runs afoul of the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, the First Amendment, and the due process and commerce clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

The court held that regulating interstate commerce was the business of Congress - not the Maryland General Assembly - and that it was inappropriate that the tax law was premised on global revenue rather than revenue that comes from in-state advertising.

The Internet Tax Freedom Act forbids taxation of electronic commerce if similar services are not taxed. The court held that there is no meaningful distinction between digital advertising and print or billboard ads, meaning the federal bar applies.

The Apple logo during the preview of the redesigned and reimagined Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York City on Sept. 19, 2019. Brendan McDermid/Reuters

In August 2025, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously struck down the disclosure ban in the Maryland law that prevents companies from listing the digital advertising tax on customers' receipts.

Forbidding the disclosure of the tax on customers' receipts means that if companies opt to pass on the cost of the tax to their customers, they are not allowed to advise customers why prices have risen, which means Maryland is insulated from political accountability, the appeals court's written opinion said.

The law "prevents companies from describing the tax in the one setting where the consumer is guaranteed to look: the invoice," the opinion said.

"Keeping out of hot water with voters is not among the interests that can justify a speech ban.

"Criticizing the government - for taxes or anything else - is important discourse in a democratic society. The First Amendment forbids Maryland to suppress it."

The Tax Foundation hailed the Maryland Tax Court's new ruling in an Aug. 14 blog post.

"This is a robust win for the petitioners on all counts," Jared Walczak, a senior fellow at the foundation, wrote.

Although Utah and Illinois enacted digital ad taxes this year, none followed Maryland's approach. Lawmakers in other states that are "considering a digital advertising tax should likewise take note of today's result. It's a look into their own future if they choose to adopt a similar tax," he said.

Democratic legislative leaders in Annapolis said the state will appeal the court ruling.

Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk said they "respectfully disagree with today's ruling and expect the legal process to continue."

The tax was enacted because the state's tax system needs to keep pace with a changing economy in which more commerce and advertising have been moving online, they said in an Aug. 14 statement posted on X.

"It was appropriate to modernize our tax code so that large digital advertising companies contributed alongside other businesses operating in our state."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 15:05

Jefferies Identifies High-Quality Energy And Materials Stocks As Cyclical Rotation Accelerates

Jefferies analyst Lloyd Byrne wrote in a note on Monday that surging refined-product margins, stronger gas-fired power demand, and improving earnings estimates are providing clear tailwinds for energy stocks, even as valuations and technicals appear stretched.

Byrne showed that the clearest source of strength in the energy market is refining. The six-month New York Harbor diesel-to-crude spread topped $100 (HOCL1 Index on Bloomberg) and has moved in close tandem with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE).

Included in the "10 Charts That Mattered" report that Byrne published for clients on Monday is chart No. 9, titled "Energy & Materials Among High-Quality, High Real Rate Favorites."

He makes the case that rising refined-product margins and a high-real-rate environment favor several energy and materials stocks. Materials do not benefit from refining margins, but rather from the higher rate environment.

On the energy side, he outlined how Valero is the top crack-spread play because it directly benefits from higher refining margins. He then pointed out that ConocoPhillips and EOG are upstream producers, which means they benefit mainly from higher crude oil and natural gas prices, not higher refining margins, while CF Industries, Avery Dennison, and Crown Holdings are materials stocks that benefit in a higher rate environment.

He posted a chart showing the 10-year Treasury inflation-protected yield at about 2.5%, placing real interest rates in the 79th percentile since 1997. In other words, inflation-adjusted borrowing costs are extraordinarily high.

Byrne sees energy and materials as attractive havens for investors in a high-real-rate regime, but only Valero has direct exposure to the diesel crack-spread blowout.

Diesel crack hits record $102. This is absolutely unprecedented.

Industrial economy either grinds to a halt or consumers about to be hit with the biggest energy pass through in history pic.twitter.com/OtAdgrCvb3

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 17, 2026

He then pointed to ETF flows, which only indicate that investors are favoring cyclicals.

Materials ETFs have received net inflows equal to 28.6% of assets year to date, followed by industrials at 16.7% and energy at 14.1%. Technology, on the other hand, stands at only 4.1%.

Conversely, investors have been dumping semiconductor stocks.

The key takeaway is that investors are rotating out of semiconductors and into cyclicals, particularly materials and energy. Energy's robust year-to-date inflows remain intact, with widening refining margins and positive earnings revisions, which may only suggest further rotations into cyclicals.

Professional subscribers can read more about crack spreads, the Gulf energy crisis, and US consumers here on our new Marketdesk.ai portal. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/18/2026 - 14:45