“Sometimes a meeting is just a meeting. And sometimes it’s treason. The meeting in question was between the Democrats’ House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser. My first reaction to the news about the get-together was probably like that of most Americans: OK, two guys from opposite sides had a meeting. After all, people in Washington have meetings all the time. And perhaps Democrats and Republicans could get more done for the country if they often met privately instead of just shouting at each other during interviews and campaigns. Ah, but the rules — and common sense — go out the window if you are the leader of House Dems in the era of Trump. Then you must be on a total war footing at all times.” (08/29/26)
“To most Arab leaders, stability in a unified Syria is a necessary cornerstone for Middle East peace. Until late August, however, the country had not been very unified or stable for 15 years, even after the ouster of a dictator in 2024. More than 5.5 million people remain displaced within the country from past conflicts. For most Syrians, a simple everyday act such as using a Visa credit card has been nearly impossible. For 47 years, the United States isolated Syria because it was deemed a sponsor of terrorism. For the country’s largest ethnic minority, the Kurds, independence from Syria was an urgent goal. Despite recent moves toward democracy and the rule of law in Syria, unity and stability are still a ways off.” (08/28/26)
“So how is it going? In the Republic, I mean. Pretty well, I’d say. President Trump just announced the Mother of All Oil Deals with Venezuela, the country he liberated from its narco Chinese puppet Nicolás Maduro at the beginning of 2026. … ‘BREAKING NEWS’, the president reported on social media, ‘The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY! At my direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Highly Respected Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and, through a partnership with private business, have secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to the American Taxpayer. …’ This is good (nay, great, which is to say GREAT) news for America and ordinary Americans. It is bad news for Democrats.” (08/30/26)
“Many of us in the United States are asking hard questions for the first time: Will we lose our democracy? Is there still time to save it? How can we make sure we can vote? Will our votes be counted? And what do we do if, when we try to vote, we are stopped by armed men? How, if we have to, can we stop a coup? These are not hypotheticals. We have a president who denies election results and has already ordered a thousand Department of Justice monitors to flood voting places this November, and who has said he will not rule out sending military troops or ICE officers to the polls. The good news is we are not alone when we ask these questions. And many of us are working together to create solutions.” (08/30/26)
“Pennsylvania state representative and Democratic Socialist Chris Rabb is the latest Democrat to reaffirm his alliance with virulent antisemite Hasan Piker. What is most notable, however, is his attack on establishment Democrats as ‘institutionalists’, a new label reflecting the radical agenda for changing our constitutional system. It is a term that is now in vogue on the far left by those who want to tear down our institutions and scrap our Constitution. Across the country, attacks are growing on Democrats and independents who are viewed as insufficiently radical. Those of us who continue to celebrate the Madisonian democracy as creating the most successful and stable republic in history are now ‘cultists’ and ‘institutionalists’ who are trapped in ‘nostalgia’. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have drawn support from many who want a literal revolution.” (08/29/26)
“Guinea-Bissau was voting Sunday in a referendum to decide on granting new presidential powers ahead of December’s general election, which will return the West African nation to democracy after its latest coup. There was a low turnout across many voting stations after the opposition urged voters to boycott the referendum, saying it would make the head of the military government more powerful. The military government seized power in November of last year following a disputed election in which former President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and opposition candidate Fernando Dias both claimed victory. If passed, the new constitution by the self-styled National Transitional Council will grant more powers to the president and reduce parliamentary representation, among other issues.” (08/30/26)
“For years, Arthur Kermalvezen, the child of a sperm donor, saw possible fathers everywhere he went. ‘I imagined it might be my teacher, the people I saw on the bus… and I was very angry because it’s impossible to live like this’. When, as an adult, he fell in love with Audrey, another sperm donor baby from Paris, the question became even more pressing. Audrey describes the moment they met at a gathering for donor conceived activists in 2010 as ‘love at first sight’ – but was this connection a romantic or genetic attraction? When they were born, there were only two sperm banks in Paris and many men had made multiple donations – so there was a real possibility they could be half-siblings. Before building a life together, Arthur and Audrey needed to know whether they were related. But in France, laws governing genetic testing and donor anonymity made finding the answer extremely difficult.” (08/30/26)
“Some years back, I was toying with the idea of writing a book-length history of World War II from the perspective of wild and domesticated animals. I bought a number of relevant texts for research, like The Long Shadows: A Global Environmental History of the Second World War, edited by Simo Laakkonen, Richard P. Tucker, and Timo Vuorisalo. Ultimately, the project was more ambitious than what I was capable of, so I set it aside. Still, I remained interested in the question which, at least partially, inspired my focus on the topic—namely, what would a pro-animal foreign policy, that we could plausibly get politicians to adopt, look like? Recently, I sought to ask various animal activists and thinkers that question. I had hoped to feature a broader range of figures. Nevertheless, I’m very grateful to all of the people who took the time to answer.” (08/30/26)
“Authorities in Nepal warned of possible fresh flooding on Sunday and urged residents in flood-affected districts to remain on high alert after water levels rose in the Bhotekoshi River. Flood warning notices were sent to people’s phones early Sunday as rescue crews worked to clear a major highway connecting Kathmandu to one of the areas worst hit by Wednesday’s catastrophic floods, which killed at least 800 people and left more than 3,000 missing in Nepal and Tibet. The latest warnings came after Chinese authorities informed their Nepalese counterparts of increased water flow upstream, according to Dharam Raj Uprety, chief executive of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. The Chinese state news agency Xinhua, citing the country’s water resources ministry, said a new lake formed after Wednesday’s floods high in the mountains had largely drained. But Xinhua said the ministry warned that a crater located 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles) upstream, which held an estimated 1.4 million cubic meters of water, still posed some risk and required close monitoring.” (08/30/26)
“Hundreds of people crowded into a church near Haiti’s capital on Sunday for the funeral of four of the 47 people killed in a recent gang attack so brutal that it shook a country that has long struggled with violence. Mourners wiped away tears, raised their hands and cried out as coffins arrived at a church in the farming community of Kenscoff. ‘We thank everyone who came in solidarity with the families that died and those who lost their loved ones,’ Pastor Jean Robert Dorlus said. ‘God will open a space to receive them.’ Inside the church, people swayed to gospel music. Some wailed as their shoulders shook. The church was so packed that dozens had to stand outside, peering through the windows, as they honored those being laid to rest: a mother, father and their son, and a 70-year-old man whose body had been set on fire by the gang members.” (08/30/26)
