Trina's Kitchen

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Mushroom Bolognese in the Kitchen

Kendra e-mailed to note Southern Living's recipe for Mushroom Bolognese:

Ingredients

4 (6-oz.) pkgs. fresh portobello mushrooms, stems and gills removed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped (about 2 cups)

1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped (about 1 cup)

1 large celery stalk, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)

2 tsp. finely chopped garlic (from 2 garlic cloves)

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup whole milk

2 cups Mushroom Stock

1 (14 1/2-oz.) can crushed tomatoes

2 oz. Parmesan cheese, finely grated (about 1/2 cup)

2 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, plus more for salting water

1/2 tsp. black pepper

12 oz. uncooked tagliatelle, pappardelle, fettuccine, or linguine pasta

Shaved Parmesan cheese

Fresh basil leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to broil with rack about 6 inches from heat source. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Toss mushrooms and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium bowl to combine; arrange in an even layer on prepared baking sheet. Broil mushrooms until tender and very lightly charred, 10 to 12 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium until shimmering. Add onion, carrot, and celery; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato paste, and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add wine, and cook until liquid is almost completely reduced, 5 to 6 minutes. Add milk, stock, tomatoes, and broiled mushrooms to saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens, 55 to 60 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Cover to keep warm until ready to serve.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high. Add pasta; cook according to package directions. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water. Add cooked pasta to Portobello Bolognese along with 1/2 cup reserved cooking water, and stir gently to combine. Add more cooking water to reach desired consistency, if needed. Divide pasta among 4 bowls. Garnish with shaved Parmesan and fresh basil leaves, and serve immediately.

That sounds so tasty, I wish I'd read Kendra's e-mail before I cooked dinner tonight.

News? Thomas Kika reports:

President Donald Trump is "running out of options" as his war threatens to spiral from a "stalemate" to a real "prolonged conflict," a former CIA director warned on MS NOW, adding that the U.S. is now "really stuck."

On Monday, MS NOW's State of Play welcomed Leon Panetta, the former CIA director and Defense Secretary during the Obama administration, to discuss the latest developments in Trump's spiraling conflict with Iran. The president and his officials have recently begun touting a raft of sanctions against Iran coming this week, likening the move to an "economic D-Day" as the White House struggles to get the Middle Eastern nation to submit to its demands.

Host Peter Alexander suggested that Trump is desperate to avoid reigniting a direct military conflict with Iran, and asked Panetta if this pivot to "economic warfare" was a "concession" that his past strategies have failed.

"Well, I don't think there's any question that the president is running out of options here," Panetta said. "He's decided not to use military force. Our stockpiles are dangerously down. So that option may be off the table. And so he's using economic pressure, calling the blockade economic pressure. But the reality is that our intelligence pretty much makes clear that whatever kind of economic pressure we put on Iran, they have the capability to survive."

He continued: "And as long as China is around and the president doesn't decide to take on China, which would have to be a decision here if they want any kind of sanctions to work, the reality is that it's not likely that this is going to change the situation. And the bottom line is we're probably in for a continuing, prolonged war in Iran."

Thanks, Chump, for destroying our economy and starting your own forever war.

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for Monday:

Monday, August 24, 2026. Chump continues his war on immigrants and brings in his disrespect for service members, the Secretary of Education sees nothing wrong with a daily 8% increase for parents to provide a sack lunch to their child, and much more.

Donald Chump did not have a good Sunday or a good early Monday morning.

On CNN's STATE OF THE UNION Sunday, Dana Bash spoke with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. We'll note this exchange:

BASH: You too.

So, millions of students are heading back to school. And there are a lot of things on parents' minds. One of them is sticker shock. One analysis found that the cost of school supplies rose nearly 8 percent since last year, averaging nearly $175 per child, and the average cost of packing a school lunch is up more than 10 percent compared to last year.

What do you say to parents who are struggling not just with how to manage schooling, but also the economic strains of it?

MCMAHON: Well, I think if you -- if you look at what's going on here throughout the country, really, yes, there are some price upticks, I think, but the general economy is so strong and doing so well.

No, the general economy is not doing well. And a 10% increase in the costs of a packed school lunch is outrageous. I believe the number of days in a school year (non-year round school) are 180. You take that 10% and do it for 180 days? You're going to have a very big number and add in that many people have more than one child in school. Megan Cerullo (CBS NEWS) reports:

The U.S. job market is less robust than it looks, according to a new analysis.

The nation's unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in July, well within the range economists consider healthy. Yet that measure, which reflects the percentage of people over the age of 16 who don't have a job and who are looking for work, is an imprecise metric that fails to offer a full picture of the health of the job sector, according to Gene Ludwig, chairman of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP).

The economic research firm's "True Rate of Unemployment" (TRU) seeks to capture the share of workers that the group defines as "functionally unemployed." This includes not only people who are unemployed and looking for a job, but also those who are involuntarily working part-time and who are earning poverty-level wages, or less than $26,000 annually before taxes.

McMahon isn't the only one in the government giving false information. Yesterday, MORNING EDITION (NPR) reported on Chump's latest "false claims of widespread illegal voting by noncitizens:"

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

President Trump is using an unusual report out of the Census Bureau to renew false claims of widespread illegal voting by noncitizens. NPR has learned the analysis has ties to a think tank aligned with Trump, and both data and election experts say the report's conclusions are questionable. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang has our report.

HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Many past studies and audits show illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens is incredibly rare. But in these final months before the midterm election...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We are releasing the results of a stunning investigation by the Department of Homeland Security.

WANG: President Trump and officials, like Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, have been releasing a lot of numbers about noncitizen voting with little details about how they were produced.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARKWAYNE MULLIN: One thing that I love about numbers, and I love about facts, is they don't lie.

WANG: The latest number is over 24,000. That's how many noncitizens allegedly voted illegally in the 2020 presidential election, according to a highly unusual report from the Census Bureau. That number translates to less than 0.02% of more than 128 million voter records that this report says were compared with government files. But it doesn't say who at the bureau did the comparing.

AMY O'HARA: It doesn't mention which division produced it - who the authors were.

WANG: Amy O'Hara is a data scientist who once led the Census Bureau's research on matching data records to produce statistics.

O'HARA: It is light on details about the data sources that were used. And so I've got a lot of questions about how the matching was done.

WANG: Matching of different kinds of records. That's known to be an especially hard way to produce accurate numbers. In this case, the Census Bureau report used voter records from a firm called Data-Clear. Carolyn Carlson started the firm, and she says the voter file was part of a 2024 contract for improving surveys and the census.

Was there any indication that it would be used to look for noncitizen voting?

CAROLYN CARLSON: It is not in the 2024 documentation.

WANG: NPR has learned the report's analysis was not done by career civil servants. And the team behind it included individuals affiliated with the America First Policy Institute, a think tank started by officials from Trump's first administration. That's according to a Census Bureau employee who NPR agreed not to name because they fear retaliation at work. Spokespeople for the bureau and the think tank did not respond to requests for comment.

Jason Linkins (THE NEW REPUBLIC) reports:

If you want to get the unfiltered skinny on how the never-ending war with Iran is going, it’s written in the dust. Responsible Statecraft’s Trita Parsi reported this week that U.S. service members marooned in the Persian Gulf have been expressing themselves in messages fingered onto a dusty aircraft flap. The anonymous graffiti, which calls to mind the helmet scrawls of disgruntled soldiers in Vietnam, include “Operation Epstein Fury,” “Peace deal #64 incoming … ALL THIS FOR THE HOLY LAND,” and “Bibi’s cucks.” Sounds like things aren’t going so well! “I have no frame of reference, I can’t compare it to the sentiments of U.S. soldiers in previous conflicts,” Parsi wrote. “But I suspect these are new sentiments, or at least a new willingness to express them this openly and directly.”

Whether these sentiments are new is indeed unclear, but it’s not without a frame of reference. Trump has always been fairly explicit in his disrespect for the grunts who do most of the work—and all of the dying—in this racket that we call “war.” But only now is a seemingly unwinnable war bringing this all to a head. It’s no longer possible to pretend that the president doesn’t have boundless contempt for U.S. service members. They’re trapped in a war that was essentially kicked off to distract from all the other terrible news the Trump administration generates—or at least to turn attention away from the Epstein files. (Though if these dust etchings are any guide, Trump failed in this attempt to wag the dog.)

In recent weeks, this dynamic has been playing out on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has been on a nine-month deployment to support Trump’s war with Iran. Conditions on board the carrier have deteriorated to the point where some seamen have jumped overboard in an attempt to escape the misery. The crew has, for several weeks, been dealing with food shortages and grotesque sanitation issues. As TNR’s Hafiz Rashid reported, “In recent town hall meetings with military leaders, including acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, things have gotten heated, with family members expressing fear and worry over mental health and the risk of self-harm for the ship’s personnel.”

As it happens, this trouble is not confined to the USS Lincoln: Crews on the USS Benfold, Carl Vinson, and Tripoli have also reported miserable conditions in recent weeks. Pete Hegseth, our self-styled “secretary of war,” has gone to great lengths to downplay and even deny these accounts, characterizing them as misrepresentations while covering up the reason the Lincoln, which is now finally coming home, wasn’t resupplied. The dust scribbles surfaced by Parsi tell a different story.

If anything, the story is an old one. There has always been good reason to question Trump’s respect for U.S. service members. As The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg reported in September of 2020, Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Paris, questioning his senior aides as to why he should go to a cemetery full of “losers.” Per Goldberg, “In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 Marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as ‘suckers’ for getting killed.” All of this came about because he didn’t want to get his hair mussed in the rainy conditions. (Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, would later confirm Goldberg’s reporting.)

And of course his efforts at destroying STARS AND STRIPES is his combined war on truth and the troops. ALJAZEERA notes, "The Pentagon has fired the editor-in-chief of the Stars and Stripes, a prominent United States military newspaper, as well as one of its top reporters." Filip Timotija (THE HILL) notes three people got fired, "The Pentagon fired the publisher, editor in chief and at least one reporter at Stars and Stripes, a historically independent military news outlet, Friday as the department has looked to reshape its coverage in recent months." BrieAnna J. Frank (USA TODAY) explains, "The firings come months after the Pentagon dismissed the newspaper's ombudsman, a position Congress established in 1991 to protect its editorial independence." Jennifer Jacobs and Kathryn Watson (CBS NEWS) remind, "Recently, Stars and Stripes, along with the Military Times, reported on challenging conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, writing that family members of service members aboard the aircraft carrier were concerned about their loved ones' mental health and risk of self-harm. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump downplayed or denied those reports, but the ship left the Middle East this week to begin the journey home to the U.S. after a nine-month deployment." Minho Kim (NEW YORK TIMES) report:

The Defense Department on Friday fired the publisher and the editor in chief of Stars and Stripes, a government-funded news outlet that reports on the U.S. military, according to a senior Pentagon official and the dismissed journalists.

The firings raised questions about the Pentagon’s willingness to ensure the editorial integrity of the publication that has reported extensively on difficulties faced by military communities as the war in Iran has dragged on. The terminations came about 10 days after Stars and Stripes journalists reported on hardships that Navy sailors were facing on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier whose deployment was extended to nine months amid the war.

On Friday, the Pentagon sent termination notices to Erik Slavin, the editor in chief, and Max Lederer, the publisher, who had announced his retirement earlier this week, citing conflict with the Pentagon leadership on the paper’s direction. Lara Korte, a Middle East correspondent at the news outlet, was also fired on Friday, according to the official and a post she made on social media.

Edward Helmore (GUARDIAN) notes how Chump and company have been 'bothered' by the news outlet:

The outlet’s reporting on the Lincoln, which is heading for port in San Diego after an extended deployment in the Middle East as part of the war in Iran that the Trump administration started in February alongside Israel, was published on 12 August, on the same day as similar reporting in the Navy Times.

Donald Trump subsequently dismissed concerns about conditions on Lincoln in part, with the president saying the crew’s deployment had been “not nearly long enough”.

The outlet’s reporting on the Lincoln is not the only issue to have placed Stars and Stripes in conflict with the Trump administration. Heralded as representing “the free thought and free expression of a free people”, it has sometimes had a contentious relationship with its primary sponsor before evidently reaching a boiling point during Trump’s second presidency.

The Trump-led Pentagon has been warring with the press that covers it, restricting access and demanding that journalists not seek confidential sources. That led to reporters turning in their access badges rather than acceding to those demands, setting the stage for an influx of rightwing media voices at the Pentagon and a legal battle.

Today on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (NPR), Danielle Kurtzleben spoke with Lara Korte about her firing:

DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, HOST:

This week, the Pentagon fired three people from Stars and Stripes, a government-funded outlet that covers the Defense Department. A reporter, the publisher and the editor in chief were given notice the department was terminating them. The firings are the latest in a series of moves by the military to exert greater control over the publication. Lara Korte covered the Middle East for Stars and Stripes. She joins us now from Germany, where she lives alongside members of the military. Welcome, Lara.

LARA KORTE: Thanks for having me, Danielle.

KURTZLEBEN: Sure. So tell us, when did you learn that Pentagon officials had fired you, and what was your reaction?

KORTE: Yeah. This happened yesterday, almost exactly 24 hours ago. We were working on putting out a story, a story I've been working on for a while now, and we got the notice in our emails. It came as a shock, to say the least. I'm still processing it, still, you know, trying to figure out what this all means. But, you know, we're staying positive.

KURTZLEBEN: Now, you wrote online that your firing was because of an interview you gave to CBS, along with editor-in-chief Erik Slavin. Let's listen to a portion of that interview.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CBS SUNDAY MORNING")

KORTE: I'm working for Stars and Stripes, not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker.

KURTZLEBEN: Why did those comments constitute a fireable offense in the eyes of the government?

KORTE: You know, per the separation notice, they said that that was insubordination. But from my point of view, I was just reaffirming what the Pentagon has already said in its own policies and what has been longstanding tradition that Stars and Stripes is editorially independent. We have been very fortunate that we do not have government control over the contents of our paper. And so by saying that I work for Stars and Stripes, I feel like I was simply asserting what the Pentagon itself has said.

KURTZLEBEN: Now, that CBS story itself was about other recent developments at Stars and Stripes, like the Pentagon rescinding a regulation that maintains the paper's independence earlier this year. Has the editorial climate at Stars and Stripes changed in recent months?

KORTE: You know, I said this in the CBS interview that I had not been stopped from reporting as I usually do. I've been a reporter for a long time now, and I was able to conduct my work in the same way that I've always conducted it at Stars and Stripes. There was nobody telling us what to write or what we couldn't write. As other people have said before me, I think that's really critical to earning the trust of our readers and the trust of the military community. So as far as I could see, nothing had changed at that point.

[. . .]

KURTZLEBEN: I want to ask about your reporting, because you've reported closely on how the Iran war has affected service members. What do you think your reporting revealed about this war that the public should know?

KORTE: Something that I have reported on pretty closely is the evacuation of military families and civilian employees attached to the Department of Defense out of Bahrain. There is a naval base in Bahrain that has families attached to it. It's the only base in the region where families are allowed to accompany their service members. And they were evacuated very quickly, and in some cases, in a really scary environment. I talked to parents who were hiding with their young toddlers for days in closets, listening to drones hit high-rises.

And now, you know, it's six months out, and they've been evacuated, and thank goodness they are safe. But, you know, now they're dealing with a situation where they don't really know where home is at. And I talked to a lot of them this week, and they basically expressed frustration about not knowing where they're going to live next. They also, you know, are struggling with the finances of this. One person told me that they fronted $40,000 at this point to pay for rental cars and Airbnbs, and that their kids are sleeping on the floor of temporary housing. These folks are really frustrated with the system and looking for answers from the Pentagon.

KURTZLEBEN: That's Lara Korte, who covered the Middle East for Stars and Stripes. She was fired on Friday by the Pentagon. Thank you so much, Lara.

Family and friends are waiting for loved ones serving on the USS LINCOLN to return to the US. Safiyah Riddle, Amy Taxin and Jack Brook (AP) report one family member has been targeted by Chump:

When Luis Manuel Aviles was arrested by immigration authorities, his son was entering his ninth month on the USS Abraham Lincoln with the Navy — a vessel that set a U.S. military record for uninterrupted time at sea, stirring concerns about supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among soldiers.

Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, was arrested after leaving his house to take his car to the mechanic, according to his wife, Argelia Aviles. She said her husband, a handyman in Key West, Florida, has a permit to work in the United States. Originally from Nicaragua, he has lived in the U.S. for 19 years.

“He dedicates himself only to work so he can put food on the table at home. He is a good father. He loves his children with all his soul,” said Argelia, 47.

Aviles’ arrest comes as the Trump administration rolls back immigration protections for military families to pursue its mass deportation agenda, detaining at least dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty U.S. troops.

Camilo Montoya-Galvez (CBS NEWS) observes, "Historically rare, immigration arrests of military spouses and parents have become more common under the second Trump administration, which rescinded prior limits on arrests by ICE and Border Patrol as part of its mass deportation campaign." Bill Feather and Dennis Romero (NBC NEWS) add:

Joshua Aviles said on Facebook that he’s on board the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which is on its way back to the U.S. after its prolonged stretch at sea, including its deployment to the Middle East to engage in the war with Iran.

“I’ve been deployed for over nine months, out at sea in the Middle East aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, fighting for a country that has given me everything,” he wrote Saturday.

He said that his father is hard-working, giving and humble and that he has a work permit, a Social Security card and a driver’s license.

“This is heartbreaking for me,” Joshua Aviles said. “I don’t know how I can mentally continue working 12+ hour days knowing that my dad is somewhere, possibly being treated like a criminal.”

Chump doesn't care about those who serve. He makes that clear every day and this is just another example of it. In other ICE news, Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) notes:

The Trump administration deported a father of two who helped them prosecute Mexican drug cartels and put him at extreme risk of torture, Maryland court records show.

The man, identified only as John Doe, was the subject of a memorandum opinion filed Friday by U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher.

Doe was granted Deferral of Removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 2024 after an immigration judge found he would likely be tortured if returned to Mexico, where he had testified against cartel-affiliated defendants on behalf of the Justice Department.

Journalist Kyle Cheney wrote on social media Sunday that Doe "was illegally removed three times in recent weeks," including once to Mexico despite his CAT protection. Gallagher's opinion details a chaotic series of removals beginning in July, including one attempt to deport Doe to Guatemala, which refused to accept him and handed him to Mexican officials, who also declined to take him. Doe was deported to Mexico outright on Aug. 1 “without his phone or other personal belongings.”

The worst? The criminals? That's what those who defended Chump's immigration campaign promises said ahead of the election. The reality is that Chump and his comrades consider anyone who came into the country to have committed a crime. Therefore, they are -- in these people eyes -- criminals.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

Washington, D.C. — Today—over a year after Republicans passed the largest health care cut in history in their Big Ugly Bill—U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement after a new report found Trump and Republican’s $1 trillion cuts in health care, and refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits, have caused premiums to double for over 200,000 Washingtonians.

“We are over a year past Republicans passing the single largest cut to health care in our country’s history, and it has been nearly a year since Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to extend the ACA tax credits. Republicans have created a national health care crisis in America, causing costs to skyrocket and clinics to struggle keeping their doors open,” said Senator Murray. “Trump and Republicans would rather give trillions in tax breaks to billionaires and endlessly fund Trump’s war with Iran than help working Americans afford their doctor appointments and prescriptions. Republicans chose to put billionaires and foreign wars ahead of health care for the American people—but the people can have the last word using their voice and their vote.”

A new report has detailed how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)—which cut over $1 trillion from health care to fund tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires—has caused 50,545 Washingtonians to lose their Medicaid, CHIP, or ACA coverage they relied on to receive health care. Republicans also refused to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, which caused premiums to double for 226,813 people across Washington state. A family of four in Washington state who makes $130,000 a year saw their average annual premium rise by $12,392—costing them a total of $23,442 this year.

Hospitals and clinics in Washington state are facing a $160 million loss in funding, a 5.6% spike in uncompensated care, and are expected to lose between $31 billion and $51 billion over the next decade due to Republicans’ health care cuts. So far 37 hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes in Washington state are at-risk, have announced cuts to services, are closing, or have closed, including:

AT-RISK: Astria Sunnyside Hospital, Coulee Medical Center, Dayton General Hospital, Forks Community Hospital, Klickitat Valley Health, Lake Chelan Hospital – Labor & Delivery Ward, Mason General Hospital, Mid-Valley Hospital, Odessa Memorial Hospital, Othello Community Hospital, Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington & North Idaho – Spokane, Prosser Memorial Health, Samaritan Hospital, Summit Pacific Medical Center, Three Rivers Hospital, Toppenish Community Hospital
CUTS ANNOUNCED: East Adams Rural Healthcare – Ritzville Hospital, Overlake Medical Center & Clinics, PeaceHealth, PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, Providence Swedish, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health
CLOSED: DominiCare (St. Joseph’s Hospital), Legacy Salmon Creek Pain Clinic, Legacy-GoHealth – Camas, Legacy-GoHealth – Cascade Park, Legacy-GoHealth – Salmon Creek, Outpatient Orthopedic Physical Therapy Clinic (Providence Medical Park), Overlake Medical Center – Lake Hills urgent care clinic, Planned Parenthood – Port Angeles Health Center, Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital Orthopedic Physical Therapy Clinic, St. Michael Medical Center Pediatric Outpatient Rehabilitation Clinic, Swedish Weight Loss Outpatient Clinic, The Spokane Allergy & Asthma Clinic, ZoomCare Super Bellevue – Emergency Care

ABOUT TRUMP’S MEDICAID CUTS:

Nationwide, the Republican health care cuts represent a more than $400 billion hit to America’s hospitals—with one estimate finding that over 170 rural hospitals will likely be forced to close or scale back their services, which will force more Americans to travel further for maternity care and emergency room visits, and face longer wait times. Washington state is one of the states most at-risk, with 22 hospitals at-risk of closing or reducing services. An estimated 477,000 health workers will lose their jobs as a result of the Republican cuts to Medicaid. Senator Murray has consistently advocated for rural health care access across the state, hosting numerous events to emphasize the importance of investment into rural communities.

Hospitals in Washington state could lose at least $662 million in Medicaid revenue every year under OBBBA—forcing hospitals to lay off staff, cut services, or close their doors entirely. Overall, Washington state is expected to lose between $31 billion and $51 billion in federal Medicaid dollars over the next decade. In 2024, Washington had an uninsured rate of 4.8 percent—the lowest in the country—but the Republican bill is expected to balloon that number into the double digits.

In Washington state, nearly 2 million people—roughly 1 in 5—are enrolled in Apple Health, the state’s Medicaid program. Washington’s 4^th Congressional District has the highest Medicaid enrollment in Washington state, with nearly 300,000 people—38 percent of all residents—reliant on Apple Health, including 70 percent of all children in the state.

ABOUT GOP REFUSAL TO EXTEND ACA TAX CREDITS:

Senator Murray forced the issue of the ACA tax credits at every opportunity before Republicans ultimately refused to take any action, speaking out nonstop about the urgent need to save health care and calling on Republicans to come to the negotiating table to work out a bipartisan deal to extend the ACA tax credits. She took to the Senate floor in November 2025 with her Democratic colleagues to call for a clean one-year extension of the ACA tax credits, and held numerous virtual press conferences with Washingtonians, as well as residents of neighboring states Idaho and Montana, about the exploding health care premiums that Americans would see due to the expiration of the tax credits. As the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray led legislation supported by the Democratic caucus that would have addressed the health care crisis during the government shutdown last fall. Senator Murray has also cosponsored multiple pieces of legislation over the past year—the Health Care Affordability Act and the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act—that would make the ACA tax credits permanent.

As then-chair of the Senate Health Committee, Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the ACA enhanced premium tax credits into law in the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.

###

Kat's "Kat's Korner: Sam Smith sings to and for lovers" went up yesterday. The following sites updated:

Friday, August 21, 2026

Shrimp and Burst Cherry Tomato Pasta in the Kitchen

Maggie e-mailed to note Southern Living's recipe for Shrimp and Burst Cherry Tomato Pasta:

Ingredients

6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tsp. kosher salt, divided
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 lb. red and yellow cherry tomatoes
¼ tsp. crushed red pepper
1 lb. uncooked spaghetti
2 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup), plus more for serving
Fresh basil, for garnish

Directions

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high. Pat shrimp dry with paper towels. Season shrimp with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and add to skillet. Cook, stirring often, until shrimp are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate; set aside.
Heat remaining 4 tablespoons oil in same skillet over medium-high. Add garlic, and cook, stirring often, until aromatic, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, crushed red pepper, and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are tender and release their juices, about 14 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high. Cook spaghetti until al dente. Drain spaghetti, reserving 1 cup pasta water.
Add shrimp and any accumulated juices to tomatoes, and cook over medium. Add cooked spaghetti, Parmesan, and 1/2 cup reserved pasta water, tossing to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce clings to pasta. Remove from heat. Garnish with fresh basil, if desired. Serve with additional Parmesan, if desired.

Sounds lie a quality dinner. I love the burst tomatoes. And shrimp is very good for you -- high in protein, no carbs, filled with vitamins and minerals -- omega 3 rich.

News? Edith Olmsted (The New Republic) notes:

In the last week alone, the U.S. Federal Food & Drug Association has recalled twelve different products—a rate four times higher than the same week a year ago.

In the past week, the FDA has discovered salmonella in granola, salad dressing, jalapenos, and animal food; glass in fruit popsicles; and metal in sourdough—just to name a few.

Between August 14 and 20 in 2025, the FDA recalled only three products. In the same week in 2024, the FDA recalled only two, according to the FDA website.

It’s not immediately clear whether the increase in recalls can be attributed to increased enforcement or more hazardous food—but the rapid recalls really make you wonder, is this what making America healthy again looks like?

This week of many public health announcements follows a national cyclospora outbreak that has sickened more than 13,000 people and caused two deaths. Last week, the FDA finally dispatched investigators to the facilities linked to the outbreak—nearly a month after linking the parasite to Taylor Farms. Before any of this, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly cut back on parasite monitoring.

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for Thursday:

Thursday, August 20, 2026. Chump continues to wreck the economy, the US national debt soars to new heights, Pete Hegseth is responsible for the suffering on board THE USS LINCOLN, did FBI documents on Epstein get 'released' to REDDIT, and much more.

As Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes in the video below, the rats are fleeing the sinking ship.

Daniel Orton (NEWSWEEK) notes Chump's losses Tuesday night:

President Donald Trump suffered his most concentrated series of endorsement defeats of the 2026 primary cycle on Tuesday, when three Republican candidates he supported lost races in Florida and Wyoming.

Representative Cory Mills was defeated in the Republican primary for Florida’s 7th Congressional District, Catalina Lauf lost the contest for the GOP nomination in Florida’s 19th District, and Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder fell short in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary.

The three losses do not erase Trump’s long list of successful endorsements, including several victories on the same night. But they add to a run of August defeats that has exposed the limits of the president’s ability to carry candidates past local opposition, controversy or questions about their fitness for office.

Former NBC News moderator Chuck Todd summarized the political moment in a post on X late Tuesday, writing: “August has been a cruel month for Trump politically.”

And we note that again today because Chump can never admit he's wrong or that he lost. And so the day after the election, he had to announce that he had told Cory Mills to drop out of the race:

On Wednesday, in a post on Truth Social, Trump called Mills a friend but said he had urged him “to get out of the Race, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Then why, if this lie were true, did you endorse him?

Regardless, you endorsed him and he lost. You called on your followers to vote for him and they told you "NO!"

Sarah Ewall-Wice (DAILY BEAST) reports:

Donald Trump’s effort to boost Republican candidates isn’t packing the punch he wants it to, as his losing endorsements hit double digits this week thanks to a series of primaries in his home state.

Ten GOP candidates endorsed by the president have now lost their primary race after the Florida Republican primary season came to a close on Tuesday.

[. . .]

Trump seeing ten candidates he endorsed lose so far is only one shy of the eleven candidates he endorsed who lost their primary bids in 2022 in total, and the 2026 primary season has not completely wrapped up.

Back in 2022, only one of the incumbents Trump endorsed lost his primary, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who was facing numerous investigations. Six of the primary challengers he backed also came up short, making up the vast majority of his losing endorsements. Four were running for open seats.

In 2024, just four Trump-backed candidates lost their primary bids as the president ran for a second term.

The last time Trump was president and faced a midterm election season in 2018, only two of the candidates he endorsed in the primaries lost, but he went on to face a rough general election season, and Democrats retook the House that year.

While Trump struggles to admit the truth, FOX "NEWS" fesses up to one of their own lies. Ayeesha Walsh (THE MIRROR) explains:

Fox News was forced to broadcast an on-air retraction after making false claims about gas prices in the US.

The news broadcaster issued a correction to viewers after they broadcast a graphic on Monday, August 17, where it was claimed that in 2025 consumers were paying $4.13 a gallon, with current prices at $4.06 a gallon. The report stated that this meant the current average gas price was actually lower than last year, despite President Donald Trump's ongoing conflict with Iran.

However, the graphic was actually false, with prices a year ago really sitting at $3.13 a gallon, meaning that there has been an 93 cent increase based on the current average. Fox claimed in the correction that the Trump administration has claimed "those gas prices will fall quickly, once the operations in Iran end." It comes as CNN analyst Harry Enten shared figures showing the president at a record-low approval rating.

On that low approval rating, Stephen Silver (NATIONAL SECURITY JOURNAL) observes:

President Donald J. Trump, at least according to a Reuters poll this week, has the lowest approval rating of his second presidency and is tied for the lowest across both of his presidencies. The war in Iran, which Trump launched and with which he is closely associated, is also wildly unpopular; there’s not much confidence among anyone in either party that the United States will be able to pull itself out of that conflict anytime soon.

Therefore, the Iran War, along with rising gas prices and related inflation, is likely to be top of mind for voters as the November election approaches. And that could be bad news for the GOP, beyond the traditional expectation that the president’s party will lose seats in a midterm election. And the Republicans are already defending a slim majority in the House.

A CNN report on Tuesday looked at how Republicans are approaching this dynamic.

CNN reported that some Republicans are “growing impatient” with the continuing war, which they fear “threatens to further imperil their chances in the midterms.” However, as the story notes, very few Republicans still running for Congress have publicly broken with the president. Most Republicans in the House with any degree of public skepticism toward Trump have either declined to run again or lost their primaries.

Those candidates are “gambling that voters can stomach the economic pain of the war for national security.

“Let’s deal with this now, and let’s get it done,” Rep. Zach Nunn of Iowa, who is running for re-election, said of the war, contrasting that with the position of Democrats, whom he implied want to give up on the Iran mission.

Barrett Marson, a Republican strategist in Arizona, was a bit more circumspect about the party’s predicament.

“There is one person in this country who doesn’t care about gas prices — just one — and unfortunately that one person kind of controls our fate,” Marson told CNN. “For Republicans, it is a balancing act on the thinnest of wires to still support the president but also feel the pain that voters are going through.”

Indeed, Trump said at a rally last week that he would never apologize for high gas prices and told his supporters that a bit of a pain at the pump is worth it to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Be interesting to see how he feels if the voters respond that entering a war of choice and doing so with no Congressional resolution nor oversight means it's his problem and his alone. As Joe Scarborough noted yesterday on MS NOW, "They've got no message. But I would say the worst message right now is to go out and actually say to a microphone, 'Your family would be doing much better if we had listened to every expert over the last generation and not launched an unnecessary war in Iran'."

And it will be interesting to see how voters react to a higher inflation as a result of diesel costs. In a second article, Stephen Silver notes:

According to a Financial Times analysis published on Tuesday, rising diesel prices “threaten [a] new jolt of inflation” this fall, ahead of the vote in November. Diesel cost $3.46 at the start of the year, but surged throughout the Iran war, occasionally dipping on a couple of occasions when it appeared the conflict was nearly over. At the same time, the continuing war between Ukraine and Russia has affected oil supplies as well, with frequent drone strikes on oil tankers and refineries.

Per FT, the “pump price” of diesel hit $5.47 a gallon on Tuesday, an eight percent increase over the last month, and is approaching the all-time high of $5.82, which occurred shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The “crack spread,” which is the difference between the cost of diesel and crude oil, has also reached a record high. It’s sometimes called the “3-2-1 spread.”

Per Bloomberg News, that spread, defined as the “margin for making diesel from crude oil,” has risen above $100 per barrel. Monday was the first time that it had ever settled in the triple digits, after that number had never gone above $89 per barrel before this year.

The “Crack Spread,” Skip York wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Wednesday, “is going to make your life unpleasant.”

The high cost of diesel can have many effects. It drives up costs for truckers and across the industrial chain, and businesses may pass those costs on to customers. That could mean inflation that Americans notice day to day.

The economy's in the toilet and Chump put it there with his tariffs, his war on immigrants and his war on Iran. Business are going under. Christopher Edwards (NEW YORK POST) notes, "Classic American fried chicken chain KFC has permanently closed a total of 44 restaurants across California from July 2025 to July 2026, according to a new analysis from search visibility platform Local Falcon. The chain closed 312 restaurants nationwide in the same period, representing a 7.6% loss in the chain’s national footprint." Alexander Kirk (9NEWS) reports, "Mission Foods will close its tortilla plant in Pueblo and lay off 90 workers. The world's largest tortilla maker will close its factory plant at 2110 Santa Fe Dr. in Pueblo on Oct. 13, the company said in a letter to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment." Jordan Hart, Madeline Berg, Natalie Musumeci and Kelsey Vlamis (BLOOMBERG NEWS) report,

Retailers and restaurants are gearing up for another wave of store closures.

It's shaping up to be the continuation of a retail pullback that Business Insider tracked in 2024 and 2025. Major chains, from department stores like Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue to restaurant chains Pizza Hut and Wendy's, have already announced multiyear closure plans that extend into 2026, as have some niche stores.

And Jordan Valinsky (CNN) reports another closing.

Columbia House, a pioneer of subscription music before streaming, is shutting down after seven decades in business.

A widely reported statement appeared on its website saying the company is closing on September 15 has been removed, but a customer service representative confirmed to CNN by phone that it is soon ceasing operations.

Columbia House became a household name in the 1980s and 1990s for offering monthly deliveries of records, tapes, CDs and later DVDs each month.

Streaming didn't kill off COLUMBIA HOUSE but Chump did.

Things are bad and they could get worse. And the new reality has not been good for Chump. BALLER ALERT notes:

Nearly one in four people who backed Donald Trump in 2024 now say their financial situation has gotten worse since he returned to the White House, putting fresh attention on the economy just months before voters head back to the polls. The latest Trump economy poll from the Financial Times and Focaldata found that 24 percent of Trump’s 2024 voters said they are worse off financially. 23 percent of voters who supported Trump in 2020 said the same. Across the broader survey, 53 percent of respondents said their finances have worsened since Trump’s second term began, while about 20 percent said they are doing better and 26 percent said their financial situation is about the same.

Today on MORNING JOE (MS NOW), Joe Scarborough noted that Chump promised he was going to pay off the national debt has done nothing but increase the national debt.

The US national debt hit 4 trillion dollars this week. Fatima Hussein (AP) notes, "The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October." Michael Race and Francisco Velasquez (BBC NEWS) add, "The faster-than-expected rise has sharpened concerns about how quickly the government's borrowing needs are growing and what that means for future interest costs." Brittney Melton (UP FIRST, NPR) points out, "The government will spend more than $1 trillion this year just to pay interest on the debt, which is about 15% more than it spent on interest last year. " Myles McCormick and Kate Duguid (FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON) explain:

Trump returned to office in 2025 pledging to curb wasteful government spending. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent vowed to curb the budget deficit to 3 per cent of GDP by the end of Trump’s term.

But measures taken to cut spending in some areas have been offset by large tax cuts in the president’s 2025 signature budget legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is set to push up debt by more than $4tn by 2034. Trump has also called for annual defence spending to be increased by more than half to $1.5tn, the largest funding request in US history.

Vivian Ho (GUARDIAN) notes:

The US gross national debt reached $40tn for the first time on Wednesday, the highest in US history.

The government deficit doubled over the past decade, with government spending growing under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden – Trump approved $8.4tn worth of debt during his first term, with a large chunk going to Covid-19 relief spending, while Biden approved $4.3tn worth of debt.

In fiscal year 2026, which began in October 2025, $1.8tn has been added to the debt so far.

Both Democrats and Republicans responded to the milestone with outrage, with Democrats placing the blame on Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress for the uptick in spending.

“The President said he’d pay off the debt in his first term. Well we all knew that was a lie. Instead he ran it up to $40 trillion while he and his family made billions,” Mark Kelly, a Democratic senator from Arizona, posted on X.

“Republicans ran up the tab, handed billionaires another tax break, and now wanna lecture working families about ‘fiscal responsibility’. You can’t max out the card AND pretend you’re the accountant. Pick a struggle,” Jasmine Crockett, a Democratic congresswoman from Texas, said.

“The Republican One Big Ugly Bill adds over $4 trillion alone—all to shamefully give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations,” Jason Crow, a Democratic congressman from Colorado, posted on X.

Meanwhile, Chump continues his war on the First Amendment. As he orders and encourages FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to go after ABC, not only is ABC fighting back, but also others are noticing what's taking place. Matthew Rozsa reports:

President Donald Trump’s war against ABC and Disney for platforming comedian Jimmy Kimmel has boomeranged on him, with the entertainment behemoth suing Trump’s FCC for violating their First Amendment rights. More recently, the FCC has challenged ABC’s broadcasting licenses.

Even a conservative newspaper is siding with ABC and Disney over the Trump administration.

“ABC sued the FCC on Tuesday for ‘coercing and retaliating’ because it ‘refuses to bow to the Administration’s demands,’” wrote The Wall Street Journal editorial board on Tuesday. “The lawsuit says the government has violated its First Amendment rights ‘by launching pretextual regulatory investigations and threatening the Stations’ valuable broadcast licenses.’”

Describing FCC Chairman Brendan Carr as a “mob-boss” and agreeing with the premise of the lawsuit, the Journal opined that Trump’s FCC is indeed violating “the First Amendment by letting the FCC interfere in editorial judgments and suppress disfavored content and viewpoints. ABC’s lawsuit says the FCC’s pressure has resulted in it ‘passing on further consideration of booking several political candidates,’ and none have appeared on the program since February.”

The Journal added that Carr once criticized Democratic administrations for violating free speech rights, and concluded that “in 2020 he lambasted a progressive media group for petitioning the FCC to censor broadcasts of Mr. Trump’s Covid press conferences, calling it a ‘dangerous and sweeping attempt by the left to weaponize the FCC.’

"It’s a shame Mr. Carr won’t defend ABC’s free-speech rights today," the board added.

Yesterday on NPR's MORNING EDITION, Leila Fadel spoke with FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez:

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: ABC agreed to a settlement with President Trump over a defamation lawsuit, and there were critics at the time that said, well, you're just conceding to an intimidation over your - over speech. That was the criticism at the time. Why do you think the network is now choosing to challenge the actions of the government versus settle?

ANNA GOMEZ: One of the things that we learned from this administration is if you capitulate, it doesn't buy you peace from the administration. Instead, it just buys you time. The administration will keep coming back and continuing the threats, continuing to use whatever leverage it can in order to retaliate against critics. And so Disney has found its courage and it is pushing back. And this is good. It's good for the First Amendment, it's good for the public and it's good for broadcasters in general.

FADEL: The FCC chief, Brendan Carr, says that he is upholding requirements that broadcasters operate in the public interest. What do you say to that?

GOMEZ: When we talk about the public interest traditionally, we say we want licensees to provide service to their communities and that means providing them content that matters to the communities. The problem with saying that you're using this public interest standard in a vague way is it's now being wielded about in order to say, any content we don't like is contrary to the public interest. That is not what our Constitution allows the FCC to do, it is not what our Communications Act allows the FCC to. And so I've called on the FCC to say, OK, if we're going to say - keep using this public-interest standard - a vague, nebulous standard that really has no definition - then the FCC needs to establish rules that specifically say what that means. And if those rules violate the First Amendment, then we will learn that lesson.

FADEL: Are other commissioners concerned? I know you're the only Democrat on the commission, and there might be people listening to you saying, well, that - she thinks that 'cause she's a Democrat and the president is not. Are other commissioners concerned?

GOMEZ: Well, I will say this. Protecting the First Amendment is not a partisan issue. And, in fact, this FCC has heard from former FCC chairs that were Republicans, former FCC commissioners that were Republicans. We have heard from Senator Cruz, Senator Kennedy and other Republicans who have been concerned about the FCC's actions and their effect on the First Amendment. There is bipartisan support for respecting the First Amendment.

As we noted yesterday, there are rumors this week that Pete Hegseth, failed and failing Secretary of Defense, wants to be a presidential candidate in 2028. Ed Kilgore (INTELLIGENCER) offers his take on that possibility:

Put aside, if you can, your priors about Hegseth’s reported history of alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct, and adultery, or any visceral reaction you have formed toward his juvenile addiction to public displays of physical fitness, hypermasculinity, and performative bellicosity. Has this martinet done anything in his 46 years to show he is presidential timber?

Yes, it’s true the man who lifted Hegseth from a Fox News studio to the summit of the Pentagon has largely obliterated past assumptions about qualifications for the presidency. But compared to Hegseth, the pre-presidential Donald Trump was a virtual Pericles, running (however erratically) huge businesses, developing a national following, and expressing opinions on a broad range of issues. The secretary of War was trounced in a Minnesota GOP convention by a Ron Paul disciple in his one bid for public office (a doomed 2012 U.S. Senate run in Minnesota for the chance to get beaten by Amy Klobuchar) and then devoted his life to bloviation on Fox News. That was clearly enough to qualify him for the Trump Cabinet but not to form a Cabinet of his own.

What would a Hegseth candidacy for president represent, other than outlandish claims about his brilliance in directing the U.S. military in a war whose outcome doesn’t look that promising right now? His well-worn tirades against DEI, LGBTQ+ troops, and the debilitating effects of feminism would hardly make him stand out in any sort of GOP presidential field. Now, it is true that he is the highest-ranking over-the-top Christian nationalist in public life today, and that the particular form of patriarchal neo-Calvinism to which he avidly subscribes might have a constituency in places like Iowa and South Carolina, both well-established Christian-right strongholds. But does he have any point of view at all on topics like the cost of living, AI (other than its military applications), health care, education, or any other dimension of government beyond bristling militarism?

If your reaction to Hegseth for President speculation is to laugh, then laugh longer and louder and maybe he can be shamed into ruling it out. Even for Pete Hegseth, hubris must have its limits.

Zeesham Aleem (MS NOW) also weighs in on a presidential run on the part of prissy Pete:

What makes it all the stranger is that Hegseth is exceptionally unpopular in the Trump administration. CNN data analyst Harry Enten, reviewing recent polling from Fox News and Quinnipiac University, called Hegseth “the lowest of the low” in the president’s Cabinet. In the Quinnipiac poll, Hegseth’s job approval is 22 points underwater — significantly worse than the net approvals of Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-8%), and Vice President JD Vance (-17%). Given that Rubio is also associated with the war with Iran (as well as Trump’s intervention in Venezuela), it suggests Hegseth has something uniquely repellent about him to the public.

Remarkably, despite his poor marks with the public, The Washington Post reported that “officials familiar with Hegseth’s thinking believe that he is considering a run for president or some other political office after his time in the Trump administration is over.” Appearances in Iowa are a surefire strategy for potential presidential candidates to float trial balloons about their viability. Given his track record, anti-charisma and polling trends, I think we already have the answer to that. Something tells me Hegseth might need more convincing.

Hegseth's attention appears to be everywhere but where it should be: Focused on doing the job of the Secretary of Defense.

The USS LINCOLN remains a scandal and, we are learning, that it's such a shock because Hegseth lied to the American people. Brendan Cole (NEWSWEEK) reports:

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “hid” how Iran had destroyed much of the main resupply base for the U.S. military in the Middle East, according to MS Now, as concerns grow about the conditions faced by sailors on board USS Abraham Lincoln.

The network’s senior national security reporter David Rohde made the claim about the aircraft carrier, which, according to The New York Times, has faced supply problems since Iranian strikes hit the logistics hub Naval Support Activity Bahrain at the start of the war.

During a segment in MS Now discussing President Donald Trump’s dismissal of reports of low morale and the mental health concerns of those aboard the carrier during an unusually long deployment, Rohde said the resupply issue was “because Pete Hegseth hid the fact that Iran destroyed the main resupply base that the United States has in the Gulf.”

“He did not make that public in press conference after press conference, and that is, again, the way that they have mishandled this war,” Rohde added.

Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBLIC) explains:

The USS Abraham Lincoln wasn’t able to be resupplied because the U.S. Navy’s main resupply base in the Gulf of Oman was destroyed by Iranian strikes—a fact that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth chose not to make public, David Rhode, MS NOW’s senior national security reporter, said on Tuesday.

From late February until June, Iran launched extensive missile and drone strikes on Naval Support Activity Bahrain, causing devastating damage that was not acknowledged by the Pentagon.

The U.S. Navy was forced to evacuate most personnel, and move supply operations to a U.K. naval base on Diego Garcia, a tiny island in the Indian Ocean 2,200 miles from where two aircraft carrier groups have been operating in the Gulf of Oman.

That's presidential? No. No it's cause to fire him from his post immediately.

Let's note this from Senator Tammy Duckworth's office:

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined all of her fellow members on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) minority, as well as the Democratic leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Subcommittee on Defense, in demanding answers from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth about deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Senators’ letter follows reports that the aircraft carrier’s crew has endured food and water shortages, broken plumbing and mental health crises severe enough that multiple sailors reportedly attempted to go overboard during its record-setting deployment. The Lincoln has been at sea for more than 250 days, including over 200 consecutive days without a port call, the longest continuous deployment at sea for a U.S. aircraft carrier in the modern era.

In the letter, the Senators wrote: “Our sailors and Marines signed up to serve and to be treated with respect. They did not sign up to be kept at sea indefinitely with no announced return date and, by multiple accounts, without reliable food, hot water, or working plumbing. That is not how we treat the men and women we ask to carry out this mission.”

“This situation was preventable, and the conditions aboard the Lincoln are nearly identical to the issues faced by the USS Ford when it conducted an extended deployment that ended earlier this year,” the Senators continued. “The USS Lincoln was redirected to the Middle East as the war with Iran began and has remained there as that war has dragged on with no clear endpoint. This is a symptom of poor planning by both you and the President and exacerbated by the deeply unsound decision to start a war with Iran. Open-ended deployments driven by an open-ended war have real consequences for our servicemembers, and we are seeing those consequences now.”

The Senators pressed Secretary Hegseth on his Department’s failure to provide a clear timeline for the crew’s return and condemned his public dismissal of the reports as “completely misrepresented,” as well as President Trump’s remarks suggesting the Lincoln had not been deployed “nearly long enough.” The Senators demanded detailed answers on mental health and medical resources aboard the ship, the state of good order and discipline, hygiene and food conditions, the full extent of the reported man-overboard incident and support being provided to military families, along with a formal request for a bipartisan congressional delegation to visit the ship.

Along with Duckworth, the letter was co-signed by the following SASC members: Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Chris Coons (D-DE) of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense also joined.

The full text of the letter is available on Senator Duckworth’s website and below:

Dear Secretary Hegseth,

We write regarding the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln and mounting evidence that conditions aboard the carrier have deteriorated to the point that the safety and wellbeing of its crew could be compromised. These are deeply troubling reports, and the American people deserve honest answers.

The USS Lincoln departed San Diego on November 21, 2025. The ship has now been deployed for more than 250 days, including over 200 consecutive days without a port call, setting a modern-day record for continuous time at sea for a U.S. aircraft carrier. Family members of the sailors and Marines serving aboard have received urgent messages describing conditions that should alarm you, and everyone serving in a position of leadership at the Pentagon, to include concerns about exhaustion, food and water shortages, and mental health crises serious enough that multiple sailors reportedly attempted to go overboard.

In response to these reports, you publicly stated that the conditions aboard the carrier have been “completely misrepresented.” Even more galling, when asked by reporters about the conditions on the Lincoln, President Trump dismissed the concerns of the families and stated that the Lincoln had not been deployed “nearly long enough.”

Our sailors and Marines signed up to serve and to be treated with respect. They did not sign up to be kept at sea indefinitely with no announced return date and, by multiple accounts, without reliable food, hot water, or working plumbing. That is not how we treat the men and women we ask to carry out this mission.

This situation was preventable, and the conditions aboard the Lincoln are nearly identical to the issues faced by the USS Ford when it conducted an extended deployment that ended earlier this year. The USS Lincoln was redirected to the Middle East as the war with Iran began and has remained there as that war has dragged on with no clear endpoint. This is a symptom of poor planning by both you and the President and exacerbated by the deeply unsound decision to start a war with Iran. Open-ended deployments driven by an open-ended war have real consequences for our servicemembers, and we are seeing those consequences now.

Recent press reports indicate that the USS George Washington will be deployed to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln. While that is welcome news, the Department’s mismanagement of carrier deployments also means that the U.S. will not have an aircraft carrier in the Pacific for the foreseeable future. However, ensuring the USS Lincoln returns to port takes precedence, and it is incumbent on the Department to inform Congress, and the families, on the plan and timeline to get the crew home. Denial and defensiveness are not acceptable responses. Congress and these families need accountability.

Given the seriousness of these reports, we request written answers to the following:

What is the current timeline for the USS Lincoln’s relief and return to homeport, and what specific operational requirements are driving continued extensions of this deployment?
Was the crew informed that the deployment could be extended indefinitely? Have any members of the crew been changed out since the beginning of this deployment, and if so, how many?
Has there been any degradation in the operational capability of the USS Lincoln or her airwing?
What mental health resources are being provided to the crew?
Have there been any suicides aboard the ship during this deployment? How many instances of detected suicidal ideation or attempted self-harm, including attempts to go overboard, has the Department recorded?
What other medical resources are available aboard the ship, and are resources sufficient to meet the crew’s needs given the length of this deployment?
What chaplain resources are available to the crew, and have they been adequate to the scale of need aboard the ship?
What is the current state of good order and discipline aboard the USS Lincoln?
What is the hygiene and healthy food situation on board, including the status of reported plumbing failures, water contamination, and food shortages?
What is the extent of illness or injury aboard the ship, including full details of the reported man-overboard incident and any other similar incidents?
What is the state of the families of the sailors and Marines aboard the USS Lincoln? What resources are being provided to them, and are they being kept informed on a regular basis about the status of the deployment and their loved ones’ wellbeing?
Will the Department authorize a bipartisan congressional delegation to visit the Lincoln to conduct firsthand oversight of conditions aboard the ship?

As the Secretary of Defense, you are accountable to the men and women who serve our nation. It is time for you to demonstrate leadership, rather than peddle excuses. The servicemembers we send into harm’s way deserve nothing less.

Sincerely,

-30-

Turning to the topic of Jeffrey Epstein, Chump's dead buddy who was a pedophile and a sex trafficker. Jane Doe in The Epstein Files is a woman who spoke to the FBI four times about being assaulted. The file summary on that released by Todd Blanche was the one noting Jeffrey Epstein. Three other interviews -- hidden by Blanche -- had her noting Donald Chump. Katie Phang is suing to get the files released -- as the act of Congress mandated. Yesterday, Ellie Leonard reported on what may be FBI files that have ended up posted to REDDIT.

In other Epstein news, Stephanie Kirchgaessner (GUARDIAN) reports:

The Republican chairman of the House oversight committee has threatened to hold the private equity investor Leon Black in contempt if he does not fully cooperate with the panel’s ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, amid accusations that the billionaire is purposely delaying and disrupting the panel’s inquiry.

A letter released by Representative James Comer’s office on Tuesday, which was addressed to Black’s lawyer, revealed new details about the high-stakes clash between the powerful Kentucky congressman and Black, the co-founder of Apollo Asset Management who was Epstein’s friend and former client and paid Epstein tens of millions of dollars in fees.

“If Mr Black refuses to provide the Committee with responsive documents or refuses to appear for his scheduled deposition on September 3, 2026, the Committee will use all tools at its disposal, including contempt,” Comer said.

The following sites updated: