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5:45 PM ET, August 17, 2026

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Sam Blewett / Politico:
Burnham exchanged messages with impersonator of top Trump aide  —  The U.K. leader believed he was communicating with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.  —  LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham engaged with messages from somebody impersonating one of Donald Trump's closest advisers, four officials have told POLITICO.
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
Trump Will Make South Korea Pay for His Iran Humiliation
Joseph Gedeon / The Guardian:
Trump's move to gut South Korea alliance is ‘inane, haphazard decision’, lawmakers say
Discussion: Wonkette
Politico:
Do Dems need their own Stephen Miller?
Discussion: Washington Post
Cleve R. Wootson Jr / Washington Post:
Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises
Ashleigh Fields / The Hill:
South Korea hoping for talks after Trump reduces joint military exercises
Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:
Trump's Overture to Kim Jong-un Strains Alliance With South Korea
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
From Natalie, With LOVE ...  With the growing attention being given to Trump handler/confidante Natalie Harp, I looked up this November 2024 Times article which captures some of the relationship ...  Given that Natalie Harp is not only a conventionally attractive women but also Trump's type …
RELATED:
Owen Scott / The Independent:
Trump roasted over ‘flying palace’ trips with aide: ‘He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie’  —  Democratic senator Jon Ossoff claimed that the president is ‘treating citizens as fools and those who serve as pawns’  —  Donald Trump would rather build the White House ballroom …
Julia Curlee / The Atlantic:
The Wrong Kind of American  —  The Trump White House needed me—until the fact that I am trans became public.  —  At the cia, they'd started an office pool on when I'd be fired.  —  President Trump would be sworn in for his second term at noon; the smart money had me gone by 12:15.
Discussion: Advocate
RELATED:
Politico:
More than Trump's ‘human binkie’  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond.
Associated Press:
Supreme Court asked to review Texas law requiring the Ten Commandments in public schools  —  Civil rights advocates on Monday said they asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Texas law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments, teeing up a case that could set a new national standard …
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Supreme Court asked to hear case on Texas law requiring Ten Commandments in schools  —  The case could set up a landmark clash over the separation of church and state.  —  Summary  —  Civil liberties groups on Monday asked the Supreme Court to hear their challenge of a Texas law requiring …
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:   Supreme Court asked to review Texas's Ten Commandments requirement for schools
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
‘Show How 3M Is 0% at Fault:’ Expert Witness Used ChatGPT to Write Report Defending Company in Deadly Explosion Lawsuit  —  ChatGPT prompts show how an expert witness report was created in a $61 million lawsuit over an explosion that killed three people.  —  An expert witness testifying …
Discussion: Blaze Media
Jason Lange / Reuters:
Trump approval falls to 33%, lowest of his presidency, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds  —  President Donald Trump's approval rating fell to the lowest level of his presidency with an overwhelming majority of Americans concerned the U.S. war with Iran will last a long time, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Monday.
Discussion: Washington Examiner and Al Jazeera
Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books.  It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility … Amazon is buying massive quantities of books, scanning them for AI training data, and destroying them in the process.  —  A 404 Media investigation was able to reveal Amazon's book buying operation …
Yunior Rivas / Democracy Docket:
Trump DOJ readies 1,000 election monitors for midterms  —  The Trump administration plans to deploy approximately 1,000 Department of Justice election monitors across the country in November, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said Monday.  —  In an interview on Bloomberg's Balance of Power …
Discussion: Bloomberg, NOTUS, MS NOW and NBC News
RELATED:
Bloomberg:   DOJ Plans to Deploy 1,000 Monitors to Watch Midterm Elections
Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
“Suckers and losers” as policy  —  PN is supported by paid subscribers.  Become one ⬇️  —  🚢 Subscribe to PN 🚢  —  The Navy Times reported last week, based on interviews with family members, that multiple sailors have recently tried to jump overboard …
Discussion: Salon
RELATED:
Adam Bonica / On Data and Democracy:
With Fear and Favor  —  Institutions don't have courage.  They have incentives.  —  Institutions don't have courage.  They have incentive structures.  When incentives line up just right, it is not uncommon for an institution to make a collective decision that almost no one inside it would have made alone.
Discussion: The Nation
Amy Furr / Breitbart:
WATCH: WNBA Security Accused of Forcing Mom, Daughter to Cover XX-XY Shirts amid Transgender Debate  —  A mother and daughter said they were forced to cover up their XX-XY Athletics t-shirts on Sunday during a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) game at Atlanta's Gateway Center Arena …
JusttheNews.com:
FBI had evidence Swalwell got illegal donations from suspected Chinese spy, bombshell memos show  —  The newly declassified investigation files also show that the FBI had initially tried to recruit the infamous Fang Fang as a source that could share information on Chinese influence operations …
RELATED:
New York Post:
FBI stumbled across Eric Swalwell's affair with Chinese spy Fang Fang when agents tried to recruit her: docs
Discussion: The Daily Wire
Nicholas Kerr / ABC News:
Trump contradicts Vance, says nukes, not oil prices, No. 1 priority in Iran  —  Vance laid out a different order of priorities than Trump's stated mission.  —  President Donald Trump speaks at the David Mack Center for Training and Intelligence, Aug. 14, 2026, in Garden City, N.Y.
Discussion: NewsMax.com and MS NOW
Annabella Rosciglione / The Daily Beast:
White House Reporters Find New Way to Bow to Trump  —  'IT'S HAPPENING'  —  The president already has an invitation to the 2027 White House Correspondents' Dinner.  —  Even after President Donald Trump secretly put White House reporters in grave danger, the White House Correspondents' Association …
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Dems plan Oman war powers push after Trump threatens bombing … - “At this point we may just need to file war powers resolutions for the 192 other countries,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told Axios.  — The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rebecca Santana / Associated Press:
Trump administration pauses contentious border construction in Texas' Big Bend National Park  —  The Trump administration says it is temporarily pausing construction of a controversial border construction project in the Big Bend National Park while the head of the agency tasked with building …
Kate Santaliz / Axios:
House Ethics investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez over sexual misconduct allegations  —  The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it is investigating Congressman Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) over allegations of sexual misconduct. … - The committee provided no further details about the allegations.
Jordan Rubin / MS NOW:
Supreme Court denies Trump's rehearing petition, cementing Carroll's $5 million win  —  The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump's long-shot request to reconsider taking up his appeal in one of the two civil cases he lost to E. Jean Carroll.
Anna Bower / Lawfare:
What's So Special about a Special Grand Jury?  —  A primer on how special grand juries work, what federal law actually permits them to do, and why this one might backfire.  —  annabower.bsky.social  —  Meet The Authors  —  The Justice Department has empaneled a special grand jury in Washington …
Margaret Hartmann / New York Magazine:
Trump Consults AI George Washington on Ballroom Design  —  Since Donald Trump flattened the East Wing last October, his justification for building a White House ballroom has evolved considerably.  Originally, the president suggested he needed a place to throw killer parties.
Asawin Suebsaeng / Zeteo:
SCOOP: Trump's Iran War Has Burned Through Well Over 90% of Key Long-Range Missiles  —  Sources tell Zeteo the percentage of critical long-range missiles that the Trump administration has depleted in its failing war is in ‘at least the high nineties.’  —  However terribly you think the Iran war …
Steve Benen / MS NOW:
New evidence suggests White House took steps to punish Colorado over Tina Peters case  —  Exactly one year ago this week, Donald Trump threatened to impose “harsh measures” on the state of Colorado unless it agreed to release election denier Tina Peters from prison several years before her sentence runs its course.
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Is the DSA a Republican Psy-Op?  —  If I told you the DSA was secretly run by Roger Stone to hurt Democrats it would make more sense than . . . this.  —  1. Sides  —  Over the weekend Hakeem Jeffries was asked if he endorsed the agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America.  He said no.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Josephine Walker / Axios:
Trump's Iran strategy opens Pacific security gap
Discussion: Daily Mail
CNBC:
30-year Treasury yield tops 5.31%, the highest in 19 years
Praveena Somasundaram / Washington Post:
Planned Parenthood to spend more than $600,000 against Susan Collins in Maine
Hudson Crozier / Washington Examiner:
Socialist group panics over FBI allegedly investigating it again
Discussion: NewsMax.com
Dave Levinthal / NOTUS:
House Ethics Chair Violates the STOCK Act
Gary Fineout / Politico:
Trump votes by mail again in his home state of Florida
Kathryn Watson / CBS News:
Trump welcomes teen lifeguard Ryder Williams and boy he rescued to Oval Office
 Earlier Items: 
Mac William Bishop / Rolling Stone:
Trump Has Opened the Door for Putin to Make a Move on NATO
Discussion: The Sun and The Atlantic
Brian Beutler / Off Message:
Reclaiming “Normalization”  —  Normalization is a dirty word in the pro-democracy movement …
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
Trump ‘Won’ on Tariffs? Lol.
New York Times:
Islamophobia's Rise in Texas: 'I Won't Rest Until Every Muslim Is Gone'
Discussion: New Republic
Eric Mack / Fox News:
Trump confirms IRGC backchannel, but calls for Iran's ‘white flag of surrender’
 

 
From Techmeme:

Anissa Gardizy / Wall Street Journal:
OpenAI signs a 20-year, 10GW data center deal in Ohio with SoftBank's SB Energy; Nvidia agrees to backstop a portion of the value of the completed data center

Bloomberg:
Sources: the US DOJ has been investigating a16z for nearly a year over whether its partners are improperly serving on the boards of competing AI companies

Bloomberg:
Sources: Anthropic's revenue run rate reached $65B by the end of July, up from $47B in May and $9B in late 2025

 
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