Democratic primary turnout has soared in some states. Can it carry over to November? – MPR News
News Source
00 First Filter
Myanmar’s leader heads to Russia – thestandard.com.hk
News Source
Fauci Refuses Second Senate Testimony After Pleading the Fifth 111 Times– slaynews.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
Dr. Anthony Fauci has refused to voluntarily appear before a second Senate panel investigating his handling of the pandemic, weeks after invoking the Fifth Amendment 111 times during testimony before another committee.
Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, rejected a request from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, arguing that another appearance would “impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”
The refusal deepens Fauci’s confrontation with Republican lawmakers who are examining his role in the federal pandemic response, COVID-19 origins, vaccine policy, and government-funded research.
Somalia federal troops and armed opposition clash in Baidoa city – Internazionale
News Source
Iran suspected in wave of US water-system cyberattacks – The Arab Weekly
News Source
Enes Kanter Freedom declares himself an eligible WNBA prospect | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
“I look forward to the WNBA honoring its stated principles. See you at training camp.”
Amid controversy surrounding who can and should play in the Women’s National Basketball Association, former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has declared himself to be an eligible prospect. The announcement challenges the assertions of WNBA coaches and some players who say that trans women, also known as men, should be able to compete on women’s sports teams.
In a video, Freedom said “after careful consideration and reviewing the current eligibility guidelines, I am officially declaring myself a WNBA prospect. If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA.”
“My team and I have carefully examined the WNBA’s eligibility criteria and governing framework surrounding self-identification and inclusion. Based on the current guidelines, I can and am officially declaring my eligibility for the upcoming WNBA draft in May 2027,” he continued.
“I am definitely not here to mock, make fun of, or disrespect and community or personal choices. I am simply asking that the current rules be equally applied to everyone, the rules that represent the very values that many WNBA players and coaches have publicly advocated for.
“My team and I are prepared to ensure these guidelines are applied equally, consistently, and without exception. And I look forward to the WNBA honoring its stated principles. See you at training camp.”
‘Stop politicizing our courts’: Stein to veto bill enabling NC chief justice to suspend judges – WRAL
News Source
GOP Senators Launch Modern Inquisition Against Dem Candidate– crooksandliars.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
Sen Ted Cruz and Sen. Roger Marshall called a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate a heretic. The candidate they attacked is a pastor in a United Methodist Church. Cruz and Marshall target Adam Hamilton, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Kansas. Media outlet Kansas.com explains the reason for the aggressive attack.
“Marshall finds himself facing something he’s never seen before, an opponent with a decent chance of actually beating him, the Rev. Adam Hamilton.”
Less than a week after winning his primary, the GOP senators are already launching what some call a modern-day Spanish Inquisition. For those who may not be versed in the horrors of religious persecution, the Spanish Inquisition was a dark period in history known for extreme religious fanaticism, harsh intolerance of different beliefs, and strict demands for ideological purity.
Does that sound familiar? It should because it’s the type of religious extremism the GOP is trying to implement in America.
Kansas.com journalist Dion Lefler wrote:
“Marshall and Cruz have appointed themselves The Kansas Inquisition…attacking mainstream Christian beliefs for lacking the zealotry and bigotry they associate with Christ’s ministry and message on Earth.”
Yemeni Drones Target Houthi Forces in Al‑Aqsha, Army Foils Infiltration in Taiz – Yemen Online
News Source
China’s economic woes mount with disappointing start to half – straitstimes.com
News Source
China’s open-weight AI models are prompting US players to reconsider their strategy. – Bloomberg.com
China’s open-weight AI models are prompting US players to reconsider their strategy. – Bloomberg.com
News Source
‘Did Chinese army block Indian army patrols in Arunachal?’ – Rediff
News Source
Iran’s Supreme Leader Signals Intention to Keep Country on a War Footing– www.nytimes.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment of hard-line loyalists to top jobs suggests he is prepared to keep the country on a war footing and to quash domestic dissent.
AI Data Centers Head Out to Sea, Leveraging Seawater Cooling and Wave Power – finance.biggo.com
News Source
Attorney General Todd Blanche says DOJ may take states’ voter roll fight to Supreme Court – NBC News
Attorney General Todd Blanche says DOJ may take states’ voter roll fight to Supreme Court – NBC News
News Source
Ukraine launches 600 drones toward Moscow in major barrage, mayor says– www.reddit.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
| submitted by /u/eaglemaxie [comments] |
Iran-US war latest: Tehran’s army chief tells Trump ‘we’ll break your legs’ and places $30k bounty on US soldiers– www.independent.co.uk
News Source
EXCERPT:
An Iranian military official said on Sunday that Qatar should let an Iranian team in to investigate the fate of Iranian pilots who Tehran says are being held there, Iranian media said on Sunday. Qatar denies holding any pilots.
Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the Committee for the Search for Missing Persons of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, said the air force and fact-finding team had been waiting for months to enter Qatar, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Baqerzadeh accused Qatari officials of repeatedly delaying the investigation and preventing the pilots’ return to Iran. He called for the International Committee of the Red Cross to urgently follow up on the case.
Taiwan's $110M Drone Defenses Can't Detect China's Newest Drones, Audit Finds – Seoul Economic Daily
Taiwan's $110M Drone Defenses Can't Detect China's Newest Drones, Audit Finds – Seoul Economic Daily
News Source
Trump cuts military drills with South Korea citing ‘very good relationship’ with Kim Jong-un – US politics live | Donald Trump– www.theguardian.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
US president Donald Trump said he ordered the Pentagon to scale back “inappropriate and hostile” military drills with South Korea, hours before the exercises began on Monday.
The drills under Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of two major annual exercises held by South Korea and the US, start on Monday and run until 27 August.
They were expected to involve about 18,000 South Korean troops, alongside US forces and personnel from 11 of the 18 member states of the United Nations Command (UNC), the multinational body that oversees the 1953 armistice that halted hostilities of the Korean war.
However, on Sunday evening, the US president said he was “not happy” with US participation “based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong-un”. He added that they were costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a country that, as long as Donald J Trump has been president, has been unthreatening and respectful”.
California AG’s block of Paramount-Warner Bros. merger could chase away key source of funds for Dems – nypost.com
News Source
Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it gets in way of Iran deal: Report– www.channelnewsasia.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday (Aug 17) threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a US deal with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz and called for Iran to surrender.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst, referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks.
Iranian and Omani officials have been talking for weeks on future maritime navigation arrangements through the shipping route, and the foreign ministry in Tehran said earlier Monday that the two sides were working on a joint declaration.
However, Trump has repeatedly insisted that the strait – which Tehran effectively closed at the start of the Middle East war on Feb 28 – is under US control despite traffic remaining throttled.
On Friday, Trump claimed that he would even declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory, while Iran retorted that the crucial energy waterway it has blockaded “will remain Iranian”.
Prior to the launch of the US-Israeli war against Iran, the Hormuz Strait was considered an open, international waterway. It carries significant portions of global energy shipments, as well as other commodities.
US Appeals Court Orders Lower Court to Reconsider DJI's Military Company Designation, Demands Review of Classified Records – finance.biggo.com
News Source
100,000 Ton US Navy Nimitz-Class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Is Finally Coming Home After Record Breaking Deployment – 19FortyFive
News Source
Iranian drones target Iraqi Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Barzani’s office, security chief’s home – i24NEWS
News Source
NEW: Democrat Mayor Arrested In Connection With $1.5 Million Fraud Scheme– trendingpoliticsnews.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
Mayor Brian DePeña of Lawrence, Massachusetts was arrested and charged Friday with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with allegations that he fraudulently obtained more than $1.5 million in COVID-19-related small business loans and diverted the proceeds for personal and campaign purposes.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, DePeña, 61, who was elected mayor of Lawrence in November 2021 and reelected in November 2025, previously served on the Lawrence City Council from 2016 to 2021. He owns Tenares Tire Services Inc., a tire sales and automotive services business in Lawrence.
Prosecutors allege that in 2020 and 2021 he applied for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) from the U.S. Small Business Administration on behalf of that business. These loans, offered during the pandemic to eligible small businesses experiencing substantial financial disruptions, carried an interest rate of 3.75 percent and were restricted to use as working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by COVID-19. Working capital, according to the charging documents, did not include funding a political campaign, paying personal taxes, or paying off mortgages.
The charging documents state that DePeña caused Tenares Tire to apply for and obtain an initial EIDL of $150,000 in June 2020 and used the majority of those funds as working capital for the business. By early 2021, however, prosecutors allege he needed additional cash because his mayoral campaign was struggling to pay bills, he owed the IRS for back taxes, and he owed nearly $900,000 to two private hard-money lenders charging 12 percent and 8 percent interest on loans secured by various properties he owned in Lawrence.
Bernie-backed California House candidate called DEI a ‘social justice-driven duty,’ embraced activist role – foxnews.com
News Source
Minnesota Supreme Court rules Minneapolis, City Clerk must appoint election judges – WDAY Radio
News Source
Premier says gun buyback ‘a price worth paying’, will fight for it at the ballot – ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
News Source
Democrat Ro Khanna Thinks That Racist America Needs a ‘Multi-Racial New Deal’– townhall.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna, who is openly floating a run for the presidency in 2028, is now advocating for a “multi-racial New Deal” because of the allegedly racist nature of the United States.
Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna suggests America is racist and needs a “multi-racial new deal” to be “the world’s first multiracial cohesive democracy.” pic.twitter.com/8F6sfV3mxq
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 13, 2026
“A multi-racial New Deal, in my view, is what is needed,” Khanna told NPR. “It will probably be one of America’s greatest moments because of what we can do, or will do, in America. I don’t know if it’ll be my generation or the next generation. We will become the world’s first cohesive multi-racial democracy.”
Khanna’s proposal has followed the work of his fellow California Democrats, who approved a “reparations fund” for black residents in San Francisco earlier this year. A proposal for the fund had suggested that the city dole out one-time payments to the tune of $5 million for each eligible party.
How to beat an earthquake: The Colombian city where no one died – The Washington Post– news.google.com
News Source
EXCERPT:
- How to beat an earthquake: The Colombian city where no one died The Washington Post
- Hopes fade in Colombia as more bodies recovered days after powerful quake reuters.com
- Groom-to-Be, 24, Found Dead in Rubble of Collapsed Building Days Before His Wedding People.com
- A Bright Spot in Colombia as Rescuers Free Quake Victim The New York Times
- Colombia’s earthquake tore apart this family with triplets. Only one survived cnn.com