- Tuesday August 25th, 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
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World & Nation
US Offers $10 Million Reward for Intel on Iranian Leaders
The U.S. State Department has announced it is offering rewards of up to
$10 million for information leading to senior Iranian military and
security officials accused of directing operations and cyberattacks
against U.S. entities, as Washington escalates pressure on the Islamic
Republic.
The State Department's Rewards for Justice program announced Monday
that it was seeking information on five senior Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps leaders: IRGC chief Ahmad Vahidi; Ali Abdollahi, the former
head of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters who was appointed to
lead Iran's conventional military earlier this month; IRGC Aerospace
Force drone chief Saeed Aghajani; IRGC Cyber Electronic Command chief
Hamidreza Lashgarian; and IRGC Intelligence chief Majid Khademi.
The inclusion of Khademi is notable because he was killed in an Israeli
airstrike in April during Operation Roaring Lion, The Jerusalem Post
reported. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed his death at
the time, while the IRGC later acknowledged his death and included his
remains in a public burial ceremony for Iranian officials killed in
targeted strikes.
California sheriff doubles down on seizing ballots as state Supreme Court hears whether he must return them
Attorney General Rob Bonta argues Bianco violated state law by holding Proposition 50 special election ballots as evidence
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco remains defiant as the California
Supreme Court deliberates whether he has to return approximately
650,000 ballots he seized from a November 2025 special election on
redistricting.
The court heard arguments Monday from Bianco’s lawyers and from
California, where state Attorney General Rob Bonta launched a legal
challenge to Bianco’s ballot seizures in March, ordering him to return
the ballots.
Bianco, however, refused, arguing through his legal team that he had a
legal obligation to investigate the ballots after receiving a complaint.
Iran announced a gas field holding more than seven trillion cubic feet, equal to fifteen years of a South Pars phase
Iran has announced the discovery of a new natural gas field at a far
from convenient time, as the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian fuel
leaving the Strait of Hormuz remains in place and the country faces an
economic crisis.
Oil Minister Mohsen Paknehad said on Sunday, August 23, that a field in
the southern Fars province contains more than 7.5 trillion cubic feet
of gas, with roughly 5.7 trillion cubic feet deemed recoverable. The
ministry says that more than 72% of the gas could ultimately be
extracted, and would therefore become a valuable form of revenue for
the struggling Islamic regime.
But finding gas and producing it are two very different things - and at
present, there is little hope that Iran will have an easy time
recovering, processing, and selling it on the international market.
The discovery was announced by Paknejad during an appearance on Iranian
state television on Sunday, where he said the newly identified reserve
could eventually provide Iran with the equivalent of 15 years of
production from a single phase of South Pars, the massive offshore gas
field that Iran shares with Qatar.
Trump warns Iran after Navy reports milestone in de-mining Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump says the U.S. Navy has successfully cleared all mines from the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, adding that the
U.S. Space Force is watching "every square inch of the strait."
"I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines
have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters
of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has been notified that any ship or boat
placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed,"
Trump wrote.
Putin launches desperate power grab as humiliating attacks escalate
Russian President Vladimir Putin has executed a desperate power grab,
granting the state sweeping authority to seize control of critically
important infrastructure deemed poorly protected from Ukrainian drone
attacks.
The presidential decree allows the state to take over temporary
administration of physical and financial assets, as well as formal
ownership rights, for fuel, energy, industrial, communications,
transport, and logistics facilities if owners fail to protect or
quickly repair them.
The mandate follows Putin’s order last week to rebuild commercial
warehouses destroyed by Kyiv’s punishing air campaign, which has struck
at least two dozen logistics hubs belonging to top retailer Wildberries
since mid-July and targeted four southern hubs of second-largest
retailer Ozon.
Russia, meanwhile, continues striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure
ahead of winter, while Ukrainian urban areas face increasingly deadly
attacks as Kyiv battles a severe shortage of air-defense interceptors.
A US carrier strike group is shadowing tense waters as commanders warn of a miscalculation
A United States aircraft carrier and its escorting warships have moved
into the contested South China Sea following a series of confrontations
between Chinese and Philippine vessels, placing a heavily armed naval
formation into some of the most closely watched waters on the planet.
Defense analysts have warned that the concentration of rival forces in
a small, disputed area raises the risk of an accidental clash that
could escalate faster than either side intends. The deployment is the
latest chapter in a long-running standoff over sovereignty and freedom
of navigation.
A carrier strike group is built around a single nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier, which serves as a mobile airbase carrying dozens of
fighter jets and support aircraft. Surrounding the carrier is a screen
of guided-missile cruisers and destroyers that provide air defense,
anti-submarine protection, and long-range strike capability, often
accompanied by supply ships and at least one submarine. Together the
formation projects the firepower of a small air force into any ocean it
enters.
The presence of such a group is meant to signal commitment without
firing a shot, reassuring allies and deterring rivals. Naval affairs
coverage from the United States Naval Institute at news.usni.org
tracked the group’s movement through the region after weeks of
operations in nearby waters.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe secretly traveled to Russia — as mystery swirls over military flight landing in Moscow: reports
CIA Director John Ratcliffe is visiting Moscow Tuesday, according to
reports — after a mysterious military flight landed in the Russian
capital.
Ratcliffe arrived aboard a C-17 transport plane that departed Joint
Base Andrews, a base outside Washington used for high-ranking official
travel.
The plane stopped in Latvia en route to Moscow, with the Pentagon and
White House initially declining to comment on who was aboard.
Ratcliffe is one of Trump’s most trusted advisers and heavily involved
with the Iran war, though it is unclear what he may be discussing with
Russian leaders.
South Carolina Senate Race Dead Heat
A final Trafalgar Group poll shows South Carolina's Republican Senate runoff in a virtual dead heat ahead of Tuesday's vote.
The survey, conducted Aug. 22-24, found Sen. Darline Graham with 47.9%
support and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., at 47.8%, with 4.4% undecided.
The poll surveyed 1,031 respondents and has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
Public polling in the race has been scant. The Trafalgar results
underscore the uncertainty surrounding the special-election runoff,
which will determine the GOP nominee for a full six-year term in the
seat formerly held by Graham's late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Florida-led operation rescues 163 children around globe in historic state sweep, hunts suspected predators
Attorney General James Uthmeier said some children were runaways while others had been abandoned, abused or trafficked
A multi-agency effort in Florida has recovered 163 children — from 2
months old to 17 — across five continents during Operation Statewide
Shield, Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Tuesday.
Working with federal and foreign law enforcement agencies, Florida law
enforcement officials spent five days in mid-August tracking and
recovering the missing children.
Some of the children were runaways, Uthmeier’s office said. Some had
been abandoned, neglected or abused. Some had been trafficked.
"Many of these kids have been victimized by those who prey on the most vulnerable," Uthmeier said.
Denmark's left-wing PM warns: 'Big enemy has started to grow from within' as Europe faces migrant reckoning
Mette Frederiksen has long pushed strict migration rules and recently warned about Islamic extremism on the continent
Denmark's left-wing prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has sent shock
waves throughout the European left after recent comments about the
Scandinavian nation's — and the continent's — failure to deal with
radical Islam among migrant communities.
Her comments come after the mass migration chaos in the Spanish exclave
of Ceuta, when Frederiksen criticized the actions of Spain's leftist
leader, Pedro Sánchez, during a special session on Ceuta in the Danish
Parliament.
Responding to a question from a far-left legislator on Denmark’s
apparent lack of "solidarity" with Spain against "anti-democratic
forces" pressuring Europe, Frederiksen said, "If we talk about
undemocratic forces, then Russia is our biggest enemy. The problem is
that a big enemy has started to grow from within, and it is foreigners
who have come to Europe," according to an English translation.
Trump Floats Renaming Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' as Trade War With Canada Escalates
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is considering changing the
name of Lake Ontario to "Lake America" as the trade war between the
United States and Canada intensifies.
Such a change would be reminiscent of the Republican president's
unilateral action last year by executive order to rename the Gulf of
Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The United States and Canada are locked in a trade dispute, with Canada
expected to announce retaliatory measures Tuesday. That's in response
to the Trump administration enacting 50% tariffs on $20 billion of
Canadian goods over the weekend after talks between the countries broke
down.
China is cheering as the left blocks America’s AI infrastructure
Groups tied to American Marxist Neville Roy Singham have delayed about $24B in AI infrastructure, per BPI research
By Liz Peek
The progressive left is working hard to derail America’s AI dominance by blocking data center construction. So is China.
The AI push is critical to U.S. national security, to win what retired
Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis calls the "new AI Cold War with China." But,
it is also essential to U.S. economic growth. The U.S. needs to
buttress its shrinking workforce, and AI agents are standing by to take
over from retiring Boomers, self-deporting immigrants, and a declining
number of college graduates.
AI is coming of age at the perfect time and yet anti-growth activists,
amplified by foreign adversaries and media alarmism, want to shut it
all down.
China is helping them do that. While concerns about the build-out of
energy-hungry data centers across the country are spurring authentic
local opposition, there is also little doubt that America’s enemies are
encouraging the resistance.
Operation Economic Outcast is a recipe for success against Iran
By Richard Goldberg
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday launched what he called
Operation Economic Outcast — a global campaign to shut down every last
source of financial oxygen feeding a fractured rump regime in Tehran
that’s already circling the economic drain.
Combined with the US military’s growing success in covertly moving oil
out of the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump will edge one step closer
to checkmate against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard when he gives the green
light to drop the hammer on nations that ignore America’s final warning.
The United States can’t force other countries to join a bombing run. It
can’t compel foreign navies to patrol the Persian Gulf. But it can
change economic behavior through the threat and imposition of US
secondary sanctions — on private banks, brokers and exchanges, airport
authorities and aviation service providers, shippers and insurers, and
even state-owned enterprises and government instrumentalities.
The threat of secondary sanctions can shut down trade across land
borders and keep airplanes grounded. It can also disrupt the movement
of cash, cryptocurrency, goods and services.
Pulling the trigger on these sanctions can be disruptive. It can break
a diplomatic relationship, crash a foreign country’s economy or cause
temporary knock-on effects in the global economy.
