- Thursday August 20th, 2026
- "It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
- --Geoff Metcalf
- Providing an on line Triage of the news since 1998
My son has narrated the last book I wrote.
Please consider listening to it and encouraging others to do so too.
(Click on Book Cover)
World & Nation
Economic Pressure on Iran Could Avert Major Military Operations
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the Trump
administration's plan to intensify economic pressure on Iran could
eliminate the need for a large-scale resumption of U.S. military
operations against the country.
"If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that
likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart," Bessent told
CNBC.
Bessent's comments came hours after President Donald Trump announced
plans to impose major economic penalties on countries that provide "any
type of lifeline" to Tehran as the administration seeks to further
isolate Iran.
"This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand
with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran
threat," Trump wrote Wednesday evening on Truth Social.
Tanker off Yemen Boarded by Armed Group, Diverted to Somalia
A tanker was boarded by six armed people who took control of the
vessel and diverted it towards Somalia, the United Kingdom Maritime
Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Thursday.
UKMTO earlier said it had received a report of an incident 136
nautical miles east of Yemen's Mukalla, where the tanker, traveling
west in the Gulf of Aden, reported being approached by an
unauthorized vessel.
UKMTO provided no further details and did not say whether the tanker or its crew were safe.
Iranian officials widely dismiss Trump's 'economic warfare' threat
Iranian officials have responded with ridicule to President Donald Trump's threat to wage economic war on their country.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and
international affairs, said the apparent pivot in U.S. strategy will
fail.
"The military war didn’t yield results, so now they’ve named the next
failure 'economic war,'" Gharibabadi said in an overnight post on X.
"They claim Iran is on the brink of collapse and hanging by a thread,
yet they beg all their allies to help them!"
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media that
Trump's "Economic D-Day" is a "a diversion from America's own crisis:
unprecedented debt & surging interest costs."
Trump says Iran's economy is collapsing. A former central bank adviser in Tehran pushes back
A former adviser to Iran's central bank pushed back against U.S.
President Donald Trump's claim that the country is on the brink of
economic collapse, but warned that the United Arab Emirates' decision
to sever trade ties could deepen Iran's contraction to about 5% this
year.
"We should be a little bit cautious about the view that the Iranian
economy is simply on the verge of collapse," Mehrdad Sepahvand, a
former economic adviser to the Central Bank of Iran, told CNBC's Dan
Murphy on "Access Middle East" on Thursday.
His comments came hours after Trump vowed "economic warfare and
isolation on an unprecedented scale" against Iran, declaring the regime
is "hanging by a thread," following the collapse of ceasefire talks.
The announcement extends a pressure campaign the Trump administration
has waged since April under the banner Operation Economic Fury, aimed
at cutting off what it terms the regime's global terror financing and
revenue streams.
Putin in the bunker: The Ukraine war could very well mean Russia’s president fears the worst as his war has come home
There is nothing as classic in the crime/murder mystery genre as the
infamous “killer returning to the scene of the crime.” In a real-world
example of how art imitates life, Russian President Vladimir Putin
appears to have done just that.
For months now, unofficial sources have said Putin has increasingly
confined himself to hiding inside underground bunkers or other hardened
sites.
Much like the billion-dollar command center in the Urals he was
reported to be ensconced in immediately after he began the full-scale
invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Reports on Monday, 17 August, are that Putin has indeed returned to
that scene: a subterranean shelter east of the Ural Mountains.
Iran loses key economic lifeline in Middle East that Trump's sanctions couldn't reach as deadlock persists
US resumes blockade on Iranian ports as Trump reverses 20% toll plan
The United Arab Emirates suspended all trade, commercial exchanges and
financial transactions with Iran after accusing Tehran of firing
ballistic missiles toward maritime traffic.
The action severs one of the Islamic Republic’s most important
commercial and financial links and threatens to close off an economic
route President Donald Trump's sanctions have struggled to reach. It
also further deepens Iran’s isolation amid its standoff with the U.S.
The UAE supplied 31% of Iran’s imports, valued at roughly $21 billion,
in 2024, and was the destination for 13% of its exports, according to
World Trade Organization trade data.
Bumbling Penn State frat bros used not-so-secret cash apps, Snapchat to plan cocaine deals: court docs
The bumbling Penn State drug-dealing frat bros used a not-so-secret app
to plot out cocaine deals – making it easier for investigators to nab
the illicit trafficking scheme, according to court docs.
Lucrative drug deals were hashed out on Snapchat and used traceable
cash apps to exchange thousands of dollars in payments for massive
amounts of cocaine, the documents claim.
Agostino Abbatiello, the 24-year-old alleged ringleader of the campus
conspiracy, used Snapchat “to facilitate the delivery of cocaine to
known persons,” according to the docs.
FBI surprises Eric Swalwell at California airport, seizes electronics in sexual misconduct probe
Former Congressman Eric Swalwell, the disgraced California politician
accused of rape, was confronted by FBI agents at San Francisco
International Airport, where they seized his electronics as part of a
federal criminal probe.
Agents served Swalwell with a search warrant Saturday after he arrived
in California and seized his cellphone and other electronics, a source
confirmed to The Post.
Agents also executed additional warrants at Swalwell’s Washington, DC,
home Sunday, where they seized other potential evidence, the source
said.
Apple News, Google promote outlets that endorse Dem presidential candidates — while shutting out Republicans: study
The most-promoted news outlets on Apple News and Google News haven’t
endorsed a Republican in the last 10 presidential elections — the
latest sign of alleged anti-conservative bias by the popular news
aggregators, according to a new analysis.
Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group that tracks media
bias, found that newspapers and magazines featured most prominently on
the Apple News and Google News feeds have exclusively endorsed
Democratic presidential candidates since 1988 — while Republicans
received zero endorsements.
Apple News’ five most-featured outlets — the New York Times, the
Washington Post, the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today —
endorsed Democrats a combined 28 times since 1988.
The Times editorial board endorsed Democrats in every single election
dating back to Michael Dukakis in 1988 — a total of 10 times. WaPo has
endorsed Democratic candidates on eight occasions; the Guardian, five
times; the LA Times, four times; and USA Today once.
FAA Cites Concerns With Contractor in Air Traffic Overhaul
Federal Aviation Administration officials are raising concerns about
the performance of the lead contractor helping oversee the Trump
administration's overhaul of the nation's air traffic control system,
with dissatisfaction potentially leading the agency to scale back the
company's role, according to sources close to the situation.
Peraton, a government contractor based in Herndon, Virginia, won a $1.5
billion contract in December to serve as the modernization project's
lead systems integrator, coordinating contractors and technologies
involved in the effort.
But three people familiar with the project told Politico that problems
have emerged since Peraton took on the role, including concerns over
project management, subcontractor oversight, and delays.
Fox News issues breaking Harry and Meghan alert as viewers say 'what a disgrace'
Fox News viewers were angered by the conservative network's breaking
news alert about Harry and Meghan's return to the UK after they left
for the United States.
Since 2020, Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, have been living in the United
States with their children, Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie, but as
of Wednesday, August 19, it was announced that they would be moving
back to the UK. The major news came amid the rift between Harry and
Meghan and the reportedly repaired rift between Harry and the royal
family.
On X, some Fox News viewers made it clear they didn't tune in to the
network for updates on Harry and Meghan. "What a disgrace to world
affairs on multiple levels- including Fox even reporting on this trash
story," one X user shared as another added, "Shame on America." It
comes after King Charles was reduced to tears after overhearing Prince
William's private conversation.
Want to stop socialism? A modern civic education needs a lot more than you'd think
Only about one-quarter of students who began college in 2012 received any college-level economics instruction
By Scott Carrell
The recent election victories of socialist and progressive candidates
in New York, Michigan and Minnesota, along with Democratic Socialist
Francesca Hong’s narrow loss in Wisconsin, highlight the changing
political and economic attitudes of a growing segment of Americans.
Perhaps most surprising is the constituency driving this movement:
younger, college-educated voters.
Recent analysis shows support for Democratic Socialist candidates
particularly strong among highly educated younger voters. By contrast,
support among working-class voters without a college degree is weaker,
despite these candidates’ emphasis on policies intended to benefit
working-class households.
There is no shortage of explanations for the recent rise in support for
socialism among young college graduates. Conservatives emphasize
ideological capture within universities. Progressives emphasize housing
affordability and economic insecurity. Both likely play a role, but
these results raise a more fundamental issue. Higher education has
spent decades encouraging students to engage in political and economic
debates without first ensuring that they possess the foundational
knowledge to adequately evaluate those debates. Hence, before students
decide what they believe about capitalism and socialism or vote to
reform America's political and economic systems, they should first
understand how our systems actually work.
Jon Ossoff’s disgustingly sly and sexist attack on Trump aide Natalie Harp backfires big time
By Miranda Devine
Jon Ossoff must be pleased with himself.
The accidental senator for Georgia has finally made a name for himself
with a disgustingly sly attack on President Trump that insinuated an
adulterous relationship with Natalie Harp, the sweet young woman who
posts Trump’s social media missives.
Harp, 35, is the last person who deserves such shabby treatment.
She battled debilitating bone cancer in her 20s that caused her severe pain and trapped her in a wheelchair.
She is devoted to President Trump because she believes he saved her
life when he gave patients access to experimental drugs in his first
term.
