Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The bodies of two World War Two German soldiers have been found in Budapest’s Danube river, due to record-low water levels after an intense drought. Found alongside their remains were the identification tags of the two soldiers, a largely intact German army Wehrmacht motorcycle, a wedding ring and a Kuban shield – a combat badge of the Wehrmacht, the German War Graves Commission said. The remarkable finds have sparked hope that some families could finally discover the fates of their ancestors, more than 80 years on from the war. ‘Now begins a puzzle, in which we will try to determine the identity of the two dead,’ Arne Schrader, of the German War Graves Commission, told German newspaper Bild. The wreck in the Danube was reportedly discovered on 2 August, when a passersby reported part of the motorcycle protruding from the rocks on the riverbank in downtown Budapest.” (08/12/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2gp3zmkpmo
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Trump’s Unending War | Robert Wright, Curt Mills, and Andrew Day.” (08/11/26)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/69646
Source: The American Conservative
by Andrew Day
“Time to face an uncomfortable truth: America lost the Iran War. It’s a development not only discomfiting but world-historical, marking the pitiful conclusion of American primacy and the ‘U.S.-led international order.’ President Donald Trump is in a bind. Escalating the war in hopes of changing the outcome would worsen its deleterious effects and almost certainly fail to force Iranian capitulation. But reaching a peace agreement is difficult, thanks to a near-total absence of Iranian trust in any commitments that Trump might make. The solution to Trump’s predicament, I’ve come to believe, can be found in an unlikely source: a little-discussed work of political psychology published more than a half century ago.” (08/12/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/how-trump-can-break-the-iran-logjam/
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“North Korea on Wednesday performed its second ballistic missile test in less than a week, its neighbours said, a likely protest of the upcoming South Korea-US military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said a ballistic missile fired from the North’s eastern coastal Wonsan area around 6 a.m. flew more than 700 kilometres (435 miles). The Japanese Defence Ministry also detected the launch, saying the weapon landed in waters outside its exclusive economic zone, between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The launches, within days of each other, were seen as part of North Korea’s extended run of weapons tests as the country has refused to return to talks with the US and South Korea for years.” (08/12/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20260812-north-korea-conducts-second-ballistic-missile-test-in-less-than-a-week
Source: Hoover Institution
“Can AI Libel You? The Robby Starbuck Case | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambauer.” (08/11/26)
https://free-speech-unmuted.podbean.com/e/can-ai-libel-you-the-robbie-starbuck-case-eugene-volokh-and-jane-bambauer-hoover-institution/
Source: Reason
by Tosin Akintola
“At first glance, a new mother taking part in a drug screening seems reasonable. For the sake of the mother and child, a doctor performs a clinical test to rule out any complications or signs of risks to the newborn. But the story quickly takes a dark turn. If there’s a positive test result, it doesn’t stay between the doctor and the patient. In 24 states and Washington, D.C., a positive test alone is enough to initiate a child welfare report, according to a report by the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association. Depending on the state, that test could land the mother on a child abuse registry. Worse still, the mother may be notified the test has occurred only after the fact.” (08/11/26)
https://reason.com/2026/08/11/the-war-on-drugs-has-come-to-the-maternity-ward/
Source: SFGate
“The search for survivors in the rubble of Colombia’s powerful earthquake grew more desperate on Wednesday, two days after the quake brought down buildings, buckled roads and crushed cars. The devastation has tested Colombia’s new President Abelardo de la Espriella and his government as it scrambles to respond to the natural disaster and civil society as it pushes to provide aid to the vulnerable communities most affected by the quake. By Tuesday, de la Espriella said the 7.4 magnitude earthquake had killed at least 181 people and left 2,595 more injured in the west of the country. He said at least 195 remained missing, but civilian-run databases put that number at more than 4,000 Wednesday morning.” (08/12/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/earthquake-response-strains-colombia-s-new-22384589.php
Source: Antiwar.com
“Turkey Thinks Israel Faked Trump Assassination Plot, US Bombs Cargo Ship in Gulf of Oman, and More.” (08/11/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scMD7b4jLuk
Source: Independent Institute
by Christopher J Calton
“Last month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) suspended funding to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), which quickly sued to block the decision. The controversy raises an important question: to what extent are local bureaucracies entitled to federal funds?” (08/11/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/08/11/federal-social-service-spending-creates-a-sense-of-entitlement-among-bureaucrats/
Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper
“In one of America’s daily political subplots that would have been rejected from a pre-2025 Armando Iannucci script for being too silly, it turns out Donald Trump was recently smuggled out of Air Force One in a catering container for fear of being assassinated by Iran. He was visiting Turkey last month, and apparently intelligence came in warning of an Iranian threat. Trump had already forgone his Qatari bribe jet, which has not yet been outfitted with the usual security systems, and so was traveling on the old presidential 747. It seems he was too frightened to use that plane as well, so he boarded by the normal door in sight of the cameras, then was quickly bundled out the side entrance onto a catering truck and into a military jet.” (08/12/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/12/aftermath-donald-trump-invented-new-forever-war/
