“Last week, the State Department revoked the visa of ‘Andy’ López Beltrán, son of former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). The move is the latest escalation between the Trump White House and the Mexican government of President Claudia Sheinbaum of the Left-wing Morena party. We’ve seen other signs of stealth-conflict: a car crash killing two CIA agents in Mexico – who may have been involved in an alleged CIA assassination campaign against cartel operatives; the indictment by US authorities of Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya, a member of Sheinbaum’s Morena party, over alleged drug ties. Finally, the State Department revoked visas in June for Morena Govs. Alfonso Durazo and Américo Villarreal, stating that both were under investigation. All of this has come amid conflicting statements from Trump officials.” (08/18/26)
“The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send about 1,000 poll monitors to elections this fall, including some Tuesday in Florida and Wyoming primary races. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, told Bloomberg News that the number of poll monitors is ‘probably going to be a historic number for a Republican administration.’ ‘Election monitoring is an ongoing priority for this office,’ Dhillon said in a press release. ‘Nondiscriminatory monitoring ensures all elections remain free, fair and accessible to all.'” (08/18/26)
“A threat is not a strategy, and it definitely is not a negotiating position. We sit down with Ambassador Chas Freeman to unpack why talk of ‘decapitation,’ demands for compensation, and shifting US red lines do not move Iran toward a deal, they push everything toward attrition and escalation.” (08/18/26)
“Democratic socialist Angie Nixon scored an upset victory on Tuesday in Florida’s Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate, as voters in several states picked candidates for elections that will determine control of Congress. … she defeated former national security official Alex Vindman, who rose to prominence in 2019 when he testified to Congress during Republican President Donald Trump’s first impeachment. Vindman raised 16 times as much money as Nixon. … She will face Republican Senator Ashley Moody in November’s general election.” (08/19/26)
“American taxpayers have been throwing blood and treasure at South Korea for most of a century even as it has become an economic powerhouse that competes with US producers, and that commitment also feeds into US entanglement in every regional argument involving not just the Koreas, but China, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, etc. It’s a raw deal for America.” (08/18/26)
“Ukraine’s ousted Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections in a bombshell address on Tuesday, arguing the nation faced a crisis of governance, in the biggest internal challenge to President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia’s invasion. Fedorov’s call, delivered in a video address posted on YouTube, is the first such demand by a major Ukrainian political figure since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during wartime.” [editor’s note: That last sentence is a lie. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits holding elections during periods of martial law, which is an optional status that the president has to request, and the legislature grant, extensions of every six month. There might be reasons not to hold elections, but not holding them is a choice – TLK] (08/18/26)
“Last week we heard that US sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and other ships in the Middle East were being fed food that, from photos that surfaced in the media, looked worse than what you would feed a dog. Parents and spouses of service members risked disciplinary action against their loved ones to highlight to the US Navy Secretary and to the media the revolting conditions aboard the carrier, which has been at sea with no port of call for a record period of time. … the best way to support the troops is to bring them home. Never has that message been clearer than today.” (08/18/26)
“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott to compel the extradition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent arrested on charges connected to Operation Metro Surge. Christian Castro faces four counts of assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in Minnesota …. Castro was arrested in Harlingen, Texas, in May and booked into the Cameron County Jail. Ellison said Gov. Tim Walz asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in early June to extradite Castro to Minnesota, but he has yet to be extradited. According to Ellison, Walz’s request triggered a mandatory obligation for Gov. Abbott to issue a governor’s rendition warrant to Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino, initiating the transfer of Castro back to Minnesota to face justice.” (08/18/26)
