Israeli attacks push Lebanon deeper into economic crisis(VIDEO)

More than a fifth of all farmland in the conflict zone has been damaged, according to the country’s Agriculture Ministry

Published 16 Aug, 2026 16:58 | Updated 16 Aug, 2026

Lebanese families are struggling to make ends meet as the country’s long-running financial crisis deepens amid Israeli attacks that have devastated homes and farmland, RT correspondent Steve Sweeney reports from Beirut.

Gasoline prices soared by around 25% in February, while food and rent costs spiked by around 20% last year, adding pressure in a countrywhere more than a third of the population lives below the poverty line, according to World Bank estimates.

Many Lebanese are alsograppling with unpaid wages, Sweeney reports.

“If the economic situation continues as it is, I’m telling you, there will be a social explosion.

People will turn against one another because when hunger strikes, boundaries disappear,” a local taxi driver told RT.

Lebanon is “living on borrowed time,” dependent on international decisions and aid for basic necessities, added.

Lebanon’s economic crisis dates back to its 2019 financial collapse. Its economy hascome under further strain from Israel’s war and continuing occupation of parts of the south of the country.

About 56,000 hectares (138,000 acres) of agricultural land had been damaged by Israeli attacks as of early May, according to Lebanon’s Agriculture Ministry.

The areas directly affected amounted to around 22% of all agricultural land located in the conflict-affected parts of southern Lebanon, it said.

IDF have reportedly deliberately ignited wildfires in woodland, farmland, and olive grovesin southern Lebanon since the June 17 ceasefire with Hezbollah.

https://www.rt.com/news/644307-israeli-attacks-lebanon-economic-crisis/

Ukraine leadhship is the same as Israel leadership. Both countries have their Mafia. Neither country cares who dies!

WATCH Ukrainian press gang tear-gas crowd trying to save man from conscription

The incident reportedly took place in Odessa amid growing public outrage over how Kiev’s ‘busification’ officers snatch men off the streets

Published 16 Aug, 2026 13:57 | Updated

Ukrainian conscriptionofficers reportedly sprayed civilians with tear gas in Odessa after they tried to stop a press gang from seizing a man for military service.

According to the Novosti Odessa Telegram channel,several people approached a vehicle carrying draft officers during an alleged attempt at ‘busification’ – a pejorative term denoting a practice whereby draft officers snatch military-age menin public and drag them into vans to take them to conscription centers, often using violence against those who resist.

A video posted online by the outlet showsseveral people trying to pull away a young man whom the press gang was presumably after, while pushing the draft officers back into their vehicle. The officers then appear to spray tear gas at the crowd before hastily driving off amid expletives and angry shouts of “get out of here.”

The outlet said the incident took place on Saturday evening in a busy residential neighborhood roughly midwaybetween the city center and Odessa’s Black Sea port.

Kiev hasincreasingly relied on violently enforced conscription amid battlefield losses and Russian advances, with reports of ‘busification’ emerging almost daily.

The campaign has fueled tensions across Ukrainian society, with multiple reports of draft officers brawling with relatives and passersby trying to free would-be conscripts from press gang vans.

While officials insist mobilization is unavoidable in the conflict with Russia,many citizens see the system as rife with state-sanctioned corruptionand as disproportionately targeting the poor.

Recruits and their families have also accused authorities ofsystematic abuse, ignoring exemptions and drafting men medically unfit for service. Meanwhile, military-age men have resorted to various means to avoid the draft, from fleeing the country illegally to setting military recruitment offices on fire or hiding in their homes for months.

Saturday’s incident is not the first reported case of draft officers using tear gas on civilians. Earlier this month,a video purportedly showed a press gang assaulting a young couple in a taxi and repeatedly spraying them with what appeared to be tear gas while trying to drag the man from the vehicle. In late June, a press gang reportedlyused tear gas on a 12-year-old girlcaught up in an attack on a vehicle carrying draft officers.

Some Ukrainian officials have grown increasingly critical of how the forced conscription is being carried out. Kiev’s human rights ombudsman, Dmitry Lubinets, recently blamed abuses on systemic Defense Ministry failures that had fostered a culture of impunity. In a Telegram post on Saturday, he cited the case of a Ukrainian scientist and archaeologist who was forcibly conscripted despite being entitled to a draft deferment, the documents for which were still being processed.

Lubinets called the situation “outrageous,” saying that “blind busification” and mobilization “for the sake of a tick must be eradicated.”

Moscow has argued that growing public resistance to forced conscription shows that theUkrainian government has lost its legitimacy and can only survive through increasingly authoritarian measures. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recently described the situation as “absolute lawlessness.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/644302-press-gang-ukraine-tear-gas/

(I don’t think Zelensky is going to be able to flee, because the horrors he and they have done is horrendous against their own citizens)

Russian satellite captures stunning view of total solar eclipse (VIDEO)

The rare celestial event, visible across much of Europe and northwestern Russia, was caught on camera from orbit

Published 16 Aug, 2026 15:15

Striking footage of this week’s total solar eclipse filmed from Russia’s Arktika-M satellite has been released, showing the Moon’s shadow sweeping across Earth.

Russian space corporation Roscosmos shared the video on Telegram, giving viewers a glimpse of the eclipse from hundreds of kilometers above Earth.

Roscosmos also shared another view from orbit, publishing four photographs taken by cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov from the International Space Station, around 400 km above Earth. The images show the Moon progressively ‘eating’ into the Sun from different sides.

The total eclipse occurred on August 12, with the path of totality stretching from Greenland and Iceland across the Atlantic to parts of Spain, Portugal, and northern Russia. A partial eclipse was visible across much of Europe, North America, and northwest Africa.

Total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth roughly every 18 months, but any given location can wait centuries to experience one.

The next total solar eclipse is due on August 2, 2027, when totality will pass across southern Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Yemen, according to the US National Solar Observatory.

https://www.rt.com/russia/644306-roscosmos-satellite-solar-eclipse-video/

“You know what else separates people from their jobs? Rampant shoplifting. Our nearest pharmacy closed due to unchecked shoplifting. All of those employees lost their jobs. Now all the elderly people in my neighborhood have lost their closest pharmacy. Last year I witnessed a guy clear out every toothbrush and every tube of toothpaste at my local CVS. He wasn’t doing that for his oral health. He was doing it to resell,” another user commented.

Meanwhile, Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) are warning that socialist ideas are gaining traction among young people across America, their comments coming as the November midterms approach, Breitbart News reported Friday:

Malliotakis argued that socialist systems begin by gradually expanding government power through measures such as price controls and restrictions on individual freedoms.

“It is sort of the baby steps where they begin to implement changes. They begin to take away freedoms. They begin to ration things, to implement price controls that are very destructive to the economy,” she said.

…

Tenney described her own experiences in Yugoslavia, saying she saw dramatic changes from her time there in the 1980s to what she has seen since. She recalled experiencing shortages while living there.

“There wasn’t anything on the shelves,” Tenney said. “I mean, you had to wait in line for bread, and everybody just figured that was part of it.”…

https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2026/08/16/watch-nyc-socialist-lawmaker-claims-stealing-for-biological-need-should-not-be-illegal/

Obama-Appointed Judge Defers to Supreme Court Ruling, Gives Trump a Somali Deportation Win

Aug. 16, 2026

President Donald Trump scored a big victory Friday after anObama-appointed judge cleared the way for immigration officials to end temporary legal protections for thousands of Somali nationals living in the United States.

Boston U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, who previously had issued a stay stopping the administration from terminating Somalia’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS),ended her previous action, saying she had to defer to the Supreme Court that in June sharply limited the ability of federal judges to override certain executive branch policies.

The decision, Fox News reported,allows the Trump administration to move forward with ending Somalian nationals TPS protection, potentially allowing deportation of thousands of affected migrants who lack another lawful basis to remain in the U.S.

TPS, which was created by Congress in 1990,gives critical protection to people who come to America from countries plagued with armed conflictand natural disasters because their return would be unsafe. They are also allowed to work in the U.S.

In January that administration announced it planned to terminate Somalia’s TPS designation, with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying the country’s conditions had improved enough to end the humanitarian protections.

A federal lawsuit brought by four Somali nationals and two advocacy groups challenged that decision and Judge Burroughs had responded with a stay.

However, the Supreme Court ruled in June in Mullin v. Doe that the TPS statutein fact prevents judicial review of certain non-constitutional decisions by the administration, such as terminating TPS designations.

In short, “the ruling curtailed lower courts’ ability to review Trump administration efforts to terminate TPS designations for nationals of multiple countries,” Fox News reported Saturday.

Burroughs wrote that she was “bound … to view things through the Mullin prism,” according to the cable news outlet’s coverage.

The decision allows the Trump administration to move forward with ending TPS for Somalia,potentially exposing affected migrants who lack another lawful basis to remain in the U.S. to deportation.

Plaintiffs in the Somalia case had argued that the administration’s decision was caused by biasagainst non-white immigrants, citing Trump’s previous descriptions of Somalis as “garbage” and “low IQ people.”

Judge Burroughs wrote that the plaintiffs had made a “convincing showing” that they would suffer “irreparable harm” if the TPS status was removed.Despite those findings, the judge cited the Supreme Court’s ruling and lifted the stay.

Sources at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services told Fox News Digital previously that 2,471 Somali nationals in the U.S. currently have TPS, while another 1,383 have applied for that status.

Somalia is just one of three other African countries where the Trump administration has ended TPS status, the others being Cameroon, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.

The addition of the four countries makes a total of 13 countries that were affected by the latest wave of TPS terminations, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Myanmar, Business Insider reported Sunday.

“The latest move is part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to unwind TPS designations that have protected hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals from deportation,” that outlet reported.

(https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/08/16/obama-appointed-judge-defers-to-supreme-court-ruling-gives-trump-a-somali-deportation-win/

That judge did the right thing!

https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/08/16/obama-appointed-judge-defers-to-supreme-court-ruling-gives-trump-a-somali-deportation-win/

@JoeHoo57

This is why you never tempt flood waters. This occurred in Tucson Arizona. The first girl who fell in with the black t-shirt on eventually was sucked into the hole and had to receive CPR to survive after coming out the other side.The girl in the white T-shirt who jumped in to help was almost immediately sucked into the hole and can be seen being swept Downstream. She eventually was rescued

https://x.com/JoeHoo57/status/2088526710643834913

I teach calculus at Berkeley. Some of my students can’t do middle school math

Since the University of California abandoned the SAT and ACT, thousands of faculty say it’s admitting students who aren’t prepared for the coursework. Will UC listen?

In March, two California families opened college admissions decisions that should make anyone who cares about higher education stop and think.

One student — I’ll call him Elias — was admitted to a top University of California engineering program. His family was thrilled though surprised. Math had been his weakest subject in high school, but they assumed the university had seen something they hadn’t.

Another student — Nadia — watched rejection after rejection arrive from UC campuses. One turned her down even though she had earned A’s there in Calculus II and other college-level STEM courses through concurrent enrollment.

These are real students. I’ve changed their names, and withheld their schools, to protect their privacy.

Seen side by side, their outcomes don’t make sense. They make perfect sense only if you imagine admissions working less like careful evaluation and more like chance.

I don’t use that comparison lightly.

I teach mathematics at UC Berkeley. Three days a week, I stand in front of lecture halls with 500 to 1,400 students. By the second week of the semester, I already know who is in trouble. Some students are five to eight years behind in mathematics. Office hours that should be spent discussing integrals instead become lessons on fractions and basic algebra you would expect students to learn in middle school.

That is why this spring and summer, thousands of faculty members across all 10 UC campuses — including more than two-thirds of UC’s mathematics faculty — signed open letters

(opens in new tab)urging the system to restore the SAT and ACT in admissions. Five Nobel laureates joined us, along with professors from across the university, including Beatriz Manz, Berkeley’s first Latina full professor.

We did so because what an admission letter is supposed to mean — that a student is ready to attend the school — no longer matches what we see in our classrooms.

The math collapse

This isn’t a new debate.

In January 2020, a UC task force(opens in new tab) studied standardized testing and recommended keeping it. Then-President Janet Napolitano nevertheless urged the Board of Regents to phase out the SAT and ACT, citing pandemic disruptions and long-standing equity concerns. The regents voted that May to make testing optional, and a court ruling(opens in new tab) later that year, focused on access for students with disabilities, required UC to become completely test-blind through 2025.

Since then, admissions officers have been forbidden from considering the one standardized measure that provided a common academic benchmark across California’s thousands of high schools.

Many peer universities have since reconsidered. MIT, Stanford, Harvard, and Yale all suspended testing requirements during the pandemic. All have reinstated them. Across the Ivy League, similar reversals are underway.

UC has moved in the opposite direction.

Faculty asked the university to revisit the policy quickly, but the timeline has repeatedly slipped. The Academic Senate now plans a review that will conclude in June 2027, meaning no new admissions policy could take effect before fall 2028.

Students don’t have that kind of time: They attend college once!

The reason so many faculty have spoken out isn’t philosophical. It’s because of what the data — and our classrooms — show.

Before 2020, Berkeley administered a diagnostic exam to incoming Calculus I students. Between 2018 and 2020, 71% of roughly 2,200 students tested as ready or nearly ready for calculus. At the bottom of the distribution there was almost nobody. Just 0.14% tested below basic algebra.

After UC adopted test-blind admissions, the picture changed dramatically.

Berkeley Calculus I readiness, before and after test-blind admissions

Among approximately 2,800 Calculus I students tested between 2021 and 2023 with a different diagnostic that measured proficiency in eight mathematical topics, the share who were ready or nearly ready for calculus (meaning, they had proficiency in five to eight subjects) fell to 51%, dropping to 44% by 2023. Most troubling, the bottom of the distribution exploded. Seventeen percent of students answered none of the eight diagnostic topics correctly. By 2022-23, more than one-third had severe math deficits, and the single most common score on the exam was zero.

The classroom itself changed shape…

https://sfstandard.com/opinion/2026/08/15/uc-berkeley-sat-test-blind-admissions-math-scores/

The Colorado River Is Shrinking. See How Authorities Are Trying to Save It.

Combined storarge of the two biggest reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin

Note: Annual averages

After years of impasse between states, the federal government has stepped in to try to save the beleaguered Colorado River.

The plans include a short-term fix for an ailing reservoir and longer-term efforts to keep the river flowing. It is unclear how effective these measures will be.

The Colorado River provides water for 40 million people and more than 5 million acres of farmland. But drought and overuse have drained its reservoirs.

The Bureau of Reclamation announced in April moves to boost water levels of Lake Powell, which straddles the border of Arizona and Utah. The massive reservoir was at risk of falling below levels needed to generate hydropower. Its dam helps provide electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes across seven Western states.

Officials channeled water into Powell from an upstream reservoir and cut planned releases from the lake by 20%. So far, the efforts seem to be working. Projections now show levels staying just above “minimum power pool” through next March, when the reservoir is expected to be its lowest.

Years of drought and overuse have left Lake Powell’s water levels near historic lows.

Officials were projecting that levels would fall below those needed to produce hydropower.

After a much-needed infusion, the lake’s levels are now expected to just make it above “minimum power pool” next year.

Notes: Dead pool is the level below which water cannot flow through the dam's outlets. Current levels as of Aug. 1. Projections for March 2027. Elevations above sea level. Not to scale.

Powell’s problems have been exacerbated by exceptionally dry conditions this year. Record-low snowpack in many parts of the Rockies last winter deprived the river of needed replenishment. Runoff into Powell is now far below historic averages.

Daily inflows into Lake Powell

Note: Seven-day moving averages

The dry conditions follow a “megadrought” that has gripped the region since 2000. Reduced river flows have made it harder to meet the needs of states downstream of Powell, leading to more frequent deficits over the last 25 years.

Lake Powell’s water budget

Water released downstream

Notes: Includes losses to evaporation; does not include bank storage

To compensate for these deficits, officials have taken water from Powell. Years of drawing down the reservoir—and the larger Lake Mead—have taken a toll. Last month marked a grim milestone: the combined volume of both reservoirs hit their lowest level since 1957, when Glen Canyon Dam was still under construction.

While the recent federal actions offered a lifeline for Powell, they shifted water around rather than addressing systemwide deficits. Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University, likened the measures to rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship. “The ship continues to sink,” he said.

New proposals by the Bureau of Reclamation may do more.

The bureau is weighing in now because the seven Western states that rely on the river couldn’t agree on a plan of their own. Upper basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico have been aligned against lower basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada. As water supplies have shrunk, each side has insisted that the other cut consumption.

On average, lower basin states have consumed about twice as much as the upper basin over the last 25 years. And while they have used less in recent years, it hasn’t been enough to steady the system.

Under the new federal plan, the lower basin could have to cut consumption by up to 40% from allotted levels.

Annual consumption of Colorado River water by lower basin states

7.5/yr

Historic

allocation

4.5/yr

With max.

proposed cuts

Lower basin states have objected, including Arizona, which would be hardest hit because of its lower rights to the river. “Such reductions would devastate Arizona’s water users and its economy,” state officials warned.

The federal plan also calls for potential reductions in releases from Powell and voluntary conservation measures by upper basin states.

Agriculture accounts for more than two-thirds of Colorado River consumption and potentially offers significant savings.

Options include “more efficient irrigation, less water-intensive crops and short-term fallowing of fields,” according to Michael Cohen, a senior fellow at the Pacific Institute.

Lower basin states now await details on how much they may have to cut.

(https://archive.ph/jgpVO

Ukrainian conscription officers detain Orthodox bishop amid church crackdown

Metropolitan Sergius was unlawfully detained without the required procedures, the church’s lawyer has said

Published 16 Aug, 2026 21:04 | Updated

Ukrainian draft officers detained Metropolitan Sergius of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) on Sunday, a lawyer for the church said, in the latest escalation of Kiev’s long-running crackdown on the country’s largest denomination.

Ukraine’sconscription drive has grown increasingly violent and corrupt as it attempts to make up for battlefield losses and with the supply of willing recruits long since exhausted. Regional mobilization officials have been detained on charges of taking bribes for deferments,and the threat of being pressed into military service has reportedly been used to pressure journalists to not publish damning reports.

Sergius heads the UOC’s Tulchin diocese in Vinnitsa Region. Draft officers detained him, along with Archpriest Anatoly Vishnev, in southeastern Kiev, according to a Telegram statement by Archpriest Nikita Chekman, a lawyer who represents the UOC.

Both were taken for medical evaluations at the local Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support (TCK), the body tasked with overseeing Ukraine’s conscription drive, according to the lawyer.

Sergius was released later in the day,but his passport was seized, Chekman said in an update.

Both the detention and the seizure were carried out “without proper procedural formalities,” with no paperwork or legal basis provided for either action, he said, adding that the UOC considers the TCK’s actions unlawful.

Conscription officers were still attempting to process Archpriest Vishnev as of Sunday evening, Chekman added.

Our team will take all measures provided by law to challenge the unlawful detention, confiscation of the passport, and illegal mobilization of the clergyman.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Ukrainian authorities have imposed sanctions on UOC clergy, raided its monasteries and churches, and backed efforts to transfer its properties to the Kiev-affiliated Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The schismatic organization was launched in 2019 under then-President Pyotr Poroshenko.

Forced conscription has reportedly been used to pressure UOC priests.

Moscow, meanwhile, has called it an attempt to “destroy Orthodoxy in Ukraine.”

In late June, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned plans to rebury prominent Ukrainian political figures at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, accusing the authorities of using the iconic monastery to promote “anti-heroes disguised as heroes.”

The head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Aleksandr Alferov, who previously served as a spokesman for the neo-Nazi Azov unit, said last month that the government plans to establish what he called a national “Pantheon” at the Lavra.

Ukraine’s state-level veneration of World War II Nazi collaborators and nationalists has long drawn harsh condemnation from Russia. Moscow has made the “denazification” of Ukraine on of the key goals of its military operation.

(https://www.rt.com/russia/644308-ukrainian-conscription-officers-orthodox-bishop/

Iran Offers $30,000 Bounty for Killing, Capturing US Soldiers

Iran's military announced on Sunday that it was offering a bounty equivalent to $30,000 for killing or capturing US soldiers, with the reward doubled if carried out by a woman.

Army chief Amir Hatami said the plan had been drawn up following "the large number of requests" to participate in the financial support, according to the IRNA state news agency.

There has been no known deployment of US ground forces in Iran during the Middle East war, with the exception of a rescue mission in April for a downed American pilot.

Hatami did not provide any details on where or when the killing or capturing of US soldiers was expected to take place.

"Anyone who kills or captures and hands over an invading American military personnel will receive a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans from Iran's Army," Hatami said, using an informal unit equivalent to 10,000 Iranian rials.

"Courageous Iranian women who carry out such an action will receive double the reward," he added.

The war between Tehran and Washington began on February 28 after the United States, joined by Israel, attacked Iran. It was followed by an April ceasefire after nearly 40 days of fighting, and a June framework for peace talks that later collapsed.

Iran and the United States have since traded fire sporadically, with fighting mainly centered in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz.

https://english.aawsat.com/world/5307685-iran-offers-30000-bounty-killing-capturing-us-soldiers

LIVE

Iran-US MoU nears end with both sides dug in

• A senior Revolutionary Guards official said Iran’s military actions, which he described as defensive so far, could become “offensive” in the future and warned adversaries to expect “strategic surprises.”

• Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran achieved a “genuine victory” in both the military and political dimensions of the recent war.

• Iran's army commander-in-chief said on Sunday that any Iranian who captures or kills a US service member will receive a $30,000 reward.

• Iran executed Shahram Sadeghi early Sunday after accusing him of security offenses and deliberately driving into police officers during protests in Karaj on January 8.

39 minutes ago

Trump cuts South Korea drills, cites Seoul refusal to join Iran campaign

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he had instructed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea, while also criticizing Seoul for refusing to participate in US actions against Iran.

Trump said on Truth Social that it was too late to cancel the exercises entirely but that he was “not happy” the United States had agreed to participate.

He said the drills were costly and sent an “inappropriate and hostile” signal to North Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with its leader Kim Jong Un.

“While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!’” he wrote.

1 hour ago

Trump hails Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan defense pact as ‘big, bold’ step

US President Donald Trump welcomed the recently signed joint defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, describing it as a major step toward greater regional security cooperation.

“THIS IS A BIG, BOLD, AND IMPORTANT FIRST STEP — WOW!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“It shows how the Middle East is coming together, and how Countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way,” he added.

1 hour ago

Qatar presses Hormuz navigation in regional calls

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister SheikhMohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani discussed the expiring US-Iran memorandum and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz in separate callswith the top diplomats of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry issued a series of statements on the calls, saying the approaching expiry of the MoU was discussed in each conversation alongside the importance of guaranteeing “freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

The calls point to continued regional diplomatic activity around the agreement as its deadline approaches, with Persian Gulf shipping and access through Hormuz remaining central to efforts to prevent another escalation.

2 hours ago

Iran’s military actions could turn ‘offensive,’ IRGC political deputy says

A senior Revolutionary Guards official said Iran’s military actions, which he described as defensive so far, could become “offensive” in the future and warned adversaries to expect “strategic surprises.”

“The enemy should know that it cannot carry out surprise actions against us and should expect strategic surprises,” Yadollah Javani, the IRGC’s political deputy, told state broadcaster IRIB.

Javani said Iran’s armed forces would take whatever measures they deemed necessary to defend the country, ensure security and counter threats at what they considered the appropriate time.

He also said the newly appointed military commanders were “among the best” and that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had set out his expectations in their appointment decrees.

Javani said thearmed forces would adopt “transformative approaches”based on those decrees.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202608153827

>>24942332

3 hours ago

CENTCOM chief praises USS Abraham Lincoln crew

US Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper praised the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln after visiting the aircraft carrier on Saturday, calling his time aboard “awe-inspiring” in a statement posted on X.

“I wish every American could see the crew in action. You would beam with absolute pride when witnessing their camaraderie, teamwork and resilience,”Cooper said.

He said the Lincoln had among the lowest number of mental health-related cases among the US Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers.

“This doesn’t mean that all is perfect.

Find any of the nearly 4 million Navy veterans in America today and they will likely tell you that service at seafor long periods isn’t for everyone. It is uniquely challenging and tough, and every single one of us, including me, reacts to stressors in different ways,” he said.

Cooper praised the ship’s leadership for making mental health and crew resilience a priority.

The Lincoln,which carries about 5,000 service members, arrived in the Middle East in January and has since supported US military operations during the conflict with Iran after initially deploying to the Pacific in November 2025.

Dem strategist SOUNDS ALARM over DSA party TAKEOVER

Political strategists Angie Wong and Melissa DeRosa join 'Fox News Live' to discuss internal divisions within the Democratic Party, the rise of DSA candidates and disputes over key policies.

6:40

https://youtu.be/tpe-mERRhO0

Republicans worry their chances of keeping Congress are slipping away. Inside the Trump campaign plan to change that

(From CNN-take with grain of salt)

President Donald Trump has finally given the green light to pour millions of dollars from his personal PAC toward boosting vulnerable Republicans in November, two people familiar with the plans told CNN, as some top campaign advisers privately acknowledge that Republicans’ chances of keeping control of both the House and Senate are dwindling.

Trump’s political team is still debating what the final dollar figure will be, though one person familiar with the discussions floated $30 million in the first tranche. Another official cautioned that the final amounts have not yet been decided. The long-awaited cash infusion is happening in the coming weeks, two people said, describing it as the first salvo in a stretch-run effort as November looms just three months away.

And it comes amid growing GOP concerns that severe headwinds over the Iran war and high gas prices could suppress voter turnout.

There is a path where we keep the House and the Senate,” one source told CNN. “I’m not in a place today where I’m prepared to say we’re cautiously optimistic about that.”

Trump is also belatedly preparing to ratchet up his own campaigning schedule, with plans to travel at least once a week to hold a spate of rallies in battleground districts, one adviser said. His team first promised this move months ago, and Republicans have long argued it’s a crucial step to energizing MAGA voters critical to the party’s midterm chances.

“He loves to travel, but he hates to travel,” said one of his advisers, noting that domestic issues and the Iran war upended early plans to get him on the road more frequently. Trump has recently told his closest aides that he wants to be out more stumping for GOP candidates. But advisers acknowledge his enthusiasm could evaporate just as quickly.

“We’ll see how long that lasts,” the adviser said. “Once he’s traveling, he’s like: ‘Why am I doing this? I want to be doing other things.’”

Still, there’s widespread angst within the party that Trump has waited too long to get more directly involved. Lawmakers and operatives have privately agonized for months over the president’s reluctance to commit his vast sums to helping elect candidates across the country. The GOP is fighting to hold dozens of House districts and a handful of critical Senate seats amid voter backlash over rising prices and the deeply unpopular war in Iran — with no end in sight on either problem.

“President Trump is the unequivocal leader of the Republican party who is committed to maintaining Republicans’ majority in Congress. In just over one year, the President has made our country greater than ever before with the most secure border in American history, the largest middle-class tax cuts ever, and the lowest murder rate since 1900,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said in a statement to CNN.

“President Trump will continue to draw a sharp contrast with his commonsense agenda and the radical Democrats in Congress,” she added.

Leaning into the base

An adviser close to Trump acknowledged that, with the president’s approval ratings scraping new lows, there’s little expectation he can win over large numbers of independents and swing voters — which was part of his path to victory in critical swing states in 2024. Instead, Republicans believe their fate in November rests almost solely on turning out millions of the MAGA faithful who typically don’t vote in midterm elections.

“Without a doubt, we’ve got to make sure we get some of these voters who show up for Donald Trump in presidential elections to show up for these congressionals,” the adviser said.

But in recent months, Trump and Republicans haven’t offered much to energize their base. Congressional Republicans squandered the final weeks before the August recess fighting amongst themselves over legislation — specifically the president’s controversial elections bill that would cement federal voter ID laws and install more voting restrictions, which stands little chance of becoming law and never even made it to the Senate floor.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/15/politics/trump-midterms-campaign-strategy