News of the Week for August 23rd, 2026
- 2026 Election
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Socialized Medicine
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
2026 Election
Election Officials Are Preparing for Prediction Markets to Sow Chaos in the Midterms
From threats to the safety of poll workers to voters who can’t distinguish between odds and results, prediction markets are already scrambling the political process.
Scandal Plagued Florida GOP Rep. Mills Ousted in Primary
Wasserman Shultz easily won in her black majority Florida district.
Trump takes double blow in Florida, third in Wyoming
President Trump suffered a pair of losses in Florida’s primaries and another in Wyoming on Tuesday as three of his endorsed candidates were defeated in key primaries, showing the limits of his influence with sagging approval numbers.
Democratic socialist Angie Nixon scores surprise primary win in Florida US Senate race
Nixon bested Alexander Vindman to win Democratic nomination and now faces Republican Ashley Moody in November
Fishback Mountain
The voters of Florida quit James Fishback, but Podcastistan will never quit him. He’ll join Tucker, Candace, Marjorie, Thomas Massie, etc. on the circle of jerks interviewing each other over and over about how the Jews are to blame for everything.
Abdul El-Sayed Can’t Even Pretend to Move to the Center
A sign that Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed can’t or won’t moderate his stances or tone or embrace of extremism between now and Election Day, and an update on where the U.S. Navy’s eleven aircraft carriers are.
‘2000 Mules’ maker settles defamation case with Gwinnett man on eve of trial
Mark Andrews sued Dinesh D’Souza after movie falsely portrayed him ‘harvesting’ ballots for 2020 presidential election.
The midterms of scandal are underway
Both parties have navigated a range of scandals this year — and haven’t found a uniform approach to handling them.
Sanford backs Norman over Graham in South Carolina Senate runoff: ‘Stakes are simply too high’
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) announced Friday he is backing GOP Rep. Ralph Norman (S.C.) in the race to serve a full term in the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) seat.
Colorado GOP Gov Nominee Claims to Have Battled ‘Demons’ With ‘Reptilian’ Eyes
Along with this story of a wild skirmish in the jungle, “Dangerous Gentleman” contains multiple tales of Marx doing battle with “demons” who had taken control of people. His detailed descriptions include claims that one man “transformed” in front of him, developing “pointy” ears and “superhuman strength.” In another episode, Marx said a “demonized” teenage girl “turned reptilian” before his eyes.
NY GOP House candidate honored Nazi grandfather in bizarre Veterans Day post: ‘I salute all who served’
An upstate New York congressional candidate honored his grandfather, who served in Nazi Germany’s military under Adolf Hitler, in a bizarre resurfaced Veterans Day post.
Abortion
Court Cases & Legislation
National Media Skip Extreme Pro-Abortion Law in Massachusetts
On Aug. 10, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill allowing abortion at any point in pregnancy. Abortion advocates call it “closing the gaps” in “abortion rights protections.” Abortion foes call it “abortion until birth,” making it legal to dismember fully formed babies, limb from limb.
Gun Rights
Penn Law Professor Argues Second Amendment Covers More Than Handheld Weapons
“letters of marque and reprisal”
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Claim: China is Considering Hosting COP33 in 2028
The private jets will fly climate delegates to the center of the world’s largest source of industrial CO2, to congratulate China on their emissions reduction progress?
Socialized Medicine
Government in Healthcare
Examining RFK Jr.’s Role in the Measles Outbreak
Measles cases have reached a 35-year high while Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s most prominent vaccine skeptic, is leading the Department of Health and Human Services, raising questions about what role he has played in the outbreak.
British Medical Association Requires Doctors to Help Patients Commit Suicide by Self-Starvation
The subtitle of the revised and updated version of my book criticizing utilitarian bioethics, Culture of Death, is, “The Age of ‘Do Harm’ Medicine.” Helping patients kill themselves by self-starvation and dehydration — known in euthanasia parlance as VSED (for voluntary stopping eating and drinking) — certainly fits that designation.
War & Terror
Eric Swalwell confessed to drug-fueled sex romp with suspected Chinese spy ‘Fang Fang,’ bombshell files reveal
Eric Swalwell confessed to a prescription drug-fueled sex romp with a suspected Chinese spy, according to newly released FBI files that confirm for the first time the disgraced former congressman got physical with Beijing’s purported honeypot.
Putin gathers warships with hypersonic missiles in Baltic Sea amidst warning ‘Vlad is set to attack Nato in weeks’
A NIGHTMARE scenario is looming over Europe as a Russian frigate with nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles on board has arrived in the Baltic Sea.
Defending Down Under from Darwin to Perth
you’re going to need a bigger production line
The Visible Ships
China spent $91 billion subsidizing its shipyards and got back $16 billion. The 70.9 percent market share was never the part that mattered.
Trump warns North Korea has ’57 very powerful nuclear weapons’
President Trump warned Wednesday that North Korea has “57 very powerful nuclear weapons,” comments that come after he complimented the country a few days ago.
Ukraine’s new Tu-95 killer is a $48,000 copy of a drone China refused to sell
Ukraine went to China to buy the drone. China refused. Two years later, the MICH 2000 costs $2,000 less than the original—and just took out a Russian bomber.
Punishing South Korea Does Not Make Sense on Any Level
Yesterday, the Editors put the White House’s sudden shift in policy toward South Korea in stark terms, writing, “Trump Is Choosing the Wrong Korea.” Rich spelled it out even simpler: “Kim Jong-un Is Not Our Friend.” Alas, the president of the United States, who began his term by taking an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help him God, says the United States is minimizing its joint defense exercises with the South Korean military because those exercises are “very insulting” to North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Elsewhere, the hideous James Fishback doesn’t live up to the mainstream media hype down in Florida.
New York Woman Charged in Alleged ISIS-Inspired Plot to Attack State Capitol
Jessica Bowie: “I want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting.”
Iranian hackers shut down UK power plant
Unprecedented cyber attack believed to be most successful of its kind
National
Colleges Against Books
Man bites dog? I can top that. Just sink your teeth into my headline for some real news. For the moment, I’m not talking about a story you may have already heard: the growing inability of college students to read full books, or even lengthy scholarly articles. I’ll return to that problem below. I’m focusing here on a different story, one that’s barely been reported: Colleges are increasingly forcing students to swap out physical books for digital texts.
NASA Administrator ‘extremely confident’ in Artemis 3 mission in 2027
NASA is potentially less than a year away from the trio of rocket launches that will encompass the Artemis 3 mission and the agency’s leader said he is “extremely confident” that the mission will happen in 2027.
No Birthright Citizenship for Mexican-Born Man, Fifth Circuit Rules
No ‘birthright citizenship’ for Mexican-natives who have an American citizen ancestor, federal court rules.
Moderna Shares Double on Success of mRNA Cancer Vaccine
Result from Merck-Moderna partnership validates years of research into mRNA-based therapeutic cancer vaccines
Does AI stop children from learning?
New data show the peril and promise of the technology
She Spent 7 Months in Legal Hell After Cops Used Flock Surveillance To Identify the Wrong Car
From wrongful arrests to officers stalking exes, license plate cameras keep exposing police failures.
Tennessee pastor sentenced to life in prison for raping girl, 5, with help from wife
A Tennessee pastor who spent years traveling the country for his ministry will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a jury convicted him of raping a child, while his wife was found guilty of facilitating the abuse, authorities said.
FBI Raids Eric Swalwell’s Home, Seizes Electronics in Connection with Sexual Assault Investigation
FBI agents seized electronic devices from former Representative Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) at the San Francisco airport on Saturday and then raided his home in connection with an investigation into sexual assault allegations against him, according to several reports.
Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Rough rides, U.S. attorney vacancies, and the 26th Amendment.
Nancy Kassebaum Baker, former US senator from Kansas, dies at 94
Nancy Kassebaum Baker, a Kansas governor’s daughter who became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate without following a spouse into office, has died. She was 94.
Economy & Taxes
At Least There is Consistency
If you missed my piece from yesterday, I’d just like to highlight and appreciate the Vice President’s consistent support of a very bad idea. Here he is from 2023 arguing that because we are the reserve currency of the world, we export dollars, but not much else. In fact, he says we cannot build enough weapons domestically because of the reserve currency.
What Would Protectionist ‘Success’ Look Like?
Much of President Trump’s tariff regime has been reconstituted, but its objective is no clearer. If the aim is to spark a manufacturing resurgence shielded from foreign competition, the tariffs have yet to succeed — likely because they are too haphazard to foster any long-term investment. But they have still succeeded at their most basic function: raising prices for Americans. Trump’s tariffs may never achieve the second-order effects proponents want, but we can survey what “success” looks like in corners of the U.S. economy where protectionism is long established. The common thread through them is entrenched inefficiency, stagnation, and higher costs for everyone else.
The China Shock Narrative Is a Myth, Not a Fact
Here’s the narrative: A shadowy, nefarious elite chose to open the U.S. to trade with China in 2000 and 2001, which sparked the loss of a very large number of manufacturing jobs and led to widespread deindustrialization.
6% Treasury yields are the biggest risk facing stocks right now. Here’s why.
‘We would argue that the equity market is not prepared for a swift move higher in the long end,’ says one technical strategist
Capitalism, as Told by Its Enemies
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy handed its capitalism entry to the system’s fiercest critics.
‘Affordability’ and the Problem With Populist Pandering
Lessons from Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump.
Vance wants to break the dollar’s global reserve currency status: Why American consumers would pay
A recently resurfaced video of Vice President J.D. Vance has brought renewed attention to his argument that the US dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency is a raw deal for America. Vance contends that global demand for dollars generates demand for dollar-denominated assets, which supports the dollar’s value. In his view, that makes American exports more expensive for foreign buyers and puts US producers at a competitive disadvantage.
Are Populists Winning the Economic Debate?
The fight between government intervention and free markets continues to rage within the Republican Party, particularly with the rise of right-wing populism. On today’s episode of The Editors, Rich highlights the debate and poses the question to Noah, “The populist right is winning the economic debate currently within the right: Yes or no?”
America is heading for bankruptcy
The story should be leading every bulletin. The national debt has just risen to $40 trillion.
International
Japan aims for the moons of Mars
Japanese scientists are readying a mission to Mars’ moons to retrieve samples that may unlock the origins of the Solar System and life on Earth, although a rival Chinese mission aims to make it back first.
France’s Top Court Kills the Under-15 Social Media Ban
Macron wanted to export the model around the world. His own constitutional court sent it back with notes.
China’s plan to dominate global food supply chains
Beijing’s 15th five-year plan will marshal all levers of state power towards one end
Sex-mad German politician reveals plan to turn city into ‘nudist swinger paradise’ and host raunchy parties at city hall
A SEX-obsessed politician wants to transform a city into a nudist and swinger haven, plotting wild sex parties inside a government building. Councillor Julian Ferrat, 35, said the industrial city of Mannheim, Germany, should become a “swingers’ paradise” in a new unorthodox plan.
Opinion
‘They’ve lost’: Generational end to GOP predicted as bad omen emerges
Geopolitical and national security expert Brandon Weichert issued a bold prediction in response to reports on the cratering morale of U.S. service members deployed to the Middle East, one suggesting the Republican Party could pay for it for a generation.
From School Choice to College Choice
Educational freedom shouldn’t end when students graduate from high school.
Why Would We Rename the USS Doris Miller Aircraft Carrier?
As discussed earlier this week, the U.S. Navy could use another aircraft carrier. We have eleven; only three are out beyond America’s shores, while the remaining ones are in U.S. docks, in various stages of resupply, midlife refuelings, repairs, and other scheduled maintenance.
Erick Erickson’s Show Notes
Two things can be true at once. Foreign entities have seeded the opposition to data center growth in the United States. China, in particular, through its control of TikTok and other influence outlets, has relentlessly worked to stop the American AI advantage against China. Also, at this point, much of the opposition is organic, bipartisan, and growing. Americans are deeply opposed to data centers. They are wrong and shortsighted, but my view is the minority view.
The Cowardice of ‘Who Are We to Judge?’
Abdicating responsibility isn’t democratic. It’s spineless.
Trump’s Lawfare Against Swalwell
These are the kinds of allegations, however serious they may be, that federal prosecutors would not normally pursue.
Huey Long Was Wrong
The Louisiana politician is unworthy of the admiration he gets from the left — and, increasingly, from the right.
From theory to practice: The American experiment in self-governance in the 19th and 20th centuries
In this week’s column, our exploration of the texts that helped define America continues into the 19th and 20th centuries.
