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Aug 28, 2026 - World

The Trump administration has sparked a full-blown “financial crisis” within the U.S. Navy after pillaging coffers earmarked for service member payrolls, The Guardian reported after speaking with U.S. Navy officials and reviewing new documents.Dollars earmarked for U.S. Navy payrolls were being moved, according to The Guardian, to cover costs associated with President Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran, a conflict that has drained the United States’ supply of munitions stockpiles. A Pentagon memo reviewed by the outlet warns of “shortfalls in payroll” accounts for U.S. service members due to Pentagon “raiding.”“The piggy bank is broken,” said Harlan Ullman, a retired U.S. Navy officer and military academic, speaking with The Guardian. Another U.S. Navy official who spoke with The Guardian on the condition of anonymity revealed the “imaginative” workarounds being employed to circumvent payroll shortfalls.“The money for payroll was robbed to pay for overseas contingencies and is being backfilled by money that hasn’t been spent,” the U.S. Navy official said. “They are backfilling payroll so we get enough money in our paycheck.”While a U.S. Navy spokesperson dismissed reports that U.S. Navy payrolls were at risk of falling short, the “cash shortage” within the branch was “no secret,” The Guardian reported.“They’re just not speaking publicly about it,” said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.“And I suspect that is a deliberate decision of the civilian leaders in the Pentagon, starting at secretary, that this is for political reasons, that they don’t want to look like they’re damaging future military readiness over a war that is becoming increasingly a political liability.”One former military officer who now works for a U.S. Navy contracting company and was “briefed on the shortfalls” was far more bleak in his assessment.“They’re f-----,” the former officer said, speaking with The Guardian on the condition of anonymity. “They shot all their weapons; they trashed all their ships; they ran out of their money.”

Aug 28, 2026 - World

CIA Director John Ratcliffe's secret trip to Russia came at the personal direction of President Donald Trump while senior White House aides were kept in the dark.According to a Thursday report by the Wall Street Journal, the covert diplomatic mission to Moscow was tightly held as Trump dispatched his top spy to carry a message to top Kremlin figures. Trump's move bypassed aides and military brass who would ordinarily be looped in beforehand, The Journal noted.The choice to send Ratcliffe as an envoy also marked a shift, The Journal pointed out. Earlier rounds of talks were led by other Trump confidants but failed to halt the fighting in Ukraine. Trump then turned to Ratcliffe, according to anonymous U.S. officials who talked to The Journal.Ratcliffe reportedly also took a secretive route into Russia as he flew into Moscow aboard an unmarked U.S. C-17 military cargo plane out of Latvia, according to The Journal. European officials told The Journal that the move sent them scrambling to figure out what had happened once word got out about Ratcliffe's mission.Two European officials told The Journal that they were briefed on the meeting. Ratcliffe used the sit-down to stress Washington's continued backing of NATO's mutual-defense pledge and to warn Russia off any strike on alliance members, they told The Journal and later reporting revealed.Trump brushed off worries about Russian aggression when reporters asked him about Ratcliffe's mission on Thursday, The Journal noted. Putin "won't attack NATO territory," Trump told reporters.He also downplayed Ratcliffe's trip when he told conservative radio host Glenn Beck in an interview that the mission was "semi-routine," The Journal noted.Officials along NATO's eastern edge struck a similarly calm tone, according to The Journal. Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs addressed the matter in a video posted to social media, The Journal reported."There is currently no reason for concern," Kulbergs said. "Latvia's level of military threat hasn't changed. The risk of direct military invasion threats to Latvia is currently low."Former senior U.S. intelligence official J.C. Lintzenich, now at the German Marshall Fund, struck a graver tone when talking to The Journal, however."Putin has a tolerance for extraordinary risk and is even potentially willing to escalate to compel de-escalation," Lintzenich said. "But he is unlikely to roll the dice on actions that could threaten the Russian state."

Aug 27, 2026 - World

A Wall Street Journal piece is warning that GOP candidates are "running scared" from President Donald Trump as voter frustration grows in Iowa.A Thursday opinion piece published by The Journal highlighted the growing frustration among Iowa voters, which it tied to the hits to farmers caused by tariffs and the war in Iran, and how it's causing GOP candidates to create some separation with Trump."So many people are just so angry," Terry Arbogast, an Iowa nurse, told The Journal. "Things are hitting us more negatively," Dave Struthers, an Iowa farmer, added. "It's frustrating when you don't get your stuff going," southern Iowa limestone miner Brian Schaer said. "Iowans are frustrated, discontented, and downhearted," The Journal piece summed up. "That bodes ill for Republicans in November, and many GOP candidates are running scared—ducking interviews, avoiding issues, seeking a MAGA stance that doesn't involve praising Donald Trump. They're trying to be as generically Republican as they can."According to the Journal, Iowans say that they're downbeat because they've seen a 53 percent decline in net farm income between 2022 and 2024, and rural voters aren't convinced that the GOP has done enough to help them recover."Tariffs, wars, corporations taking advantage, lack of competition," Struthers, the farmer, told The Journal. "Those kinds of things that are on Iowa farmers' minds.""Right at the onset of the Iran war, fertilizer prices increased sharply due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz," economist Christopher Pudenz told The Journal. "The longer that conflict drags out, the more likely that it's going to impact fall fertilizer needs and then spring 2027 fertilizer needs."Trump won Iowa three times, and the entire congressional delegation is Republican, The Journal noted. However, the state has a couple of "competitive" races that have attracted national political figures, including Barack Obama, who filmed a video of him playing basketball with Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turek, the Journal noted.Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn told The Journal that "the first polling that came out pre-primary had me down about 10 points," and although he closed the gap somewhat, the Cook Political Report determined his race "leans Democratic." An August Emerson poll has Lahn's Democratic opponent, State Auditor Rob Sand, up 48 percent to Lahn's 43 percent. Sand is the only elected statewide Democrat in Iowa.

Aug 27, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump lashed out at a Fox News correspondent on Thursday over what he called "a particularly inaccurate report” about the U.S. war with Iran.“Jonathan Hunt of FoxNews did a particularly inaccurate report on the Failing Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I don’t want to meet, they do. In fact, they are begging to make a deal.”Trump concluded his heated post by demanding action from one of Fox News’ top anchors. “Bret Baier should straighten out his flunkies, for a change!” the president told his followers.

Nov 21, 2025 - World

The Queen's coffin will lie in state at Westminster Hall until her funeral on Monday.View Entire Post ›