Tuesday, August 26, 2025

August 26, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

'Uncharted Waters': Trump's Attempt to Take Charge of the Fed . . . President Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is the most dramatic step yet in his effort to take control of the independent central bank and its vast authority over interest rates. Trump has for months demanded the Federal Reserve lower rates to boost the economy, make housing more affordable, and lower the cost of servicing the national debt. Cook said late Monday night that Trump has no authority to fire her and that she would continue in her job. By replacing Cook, he could add enough voices to the seven-member board of governors to potentially outvote Powell and move interest rates in his preferred direction. Wall Street Journal

Politics

Trump's federal stake in Intel divides conservatives . . . Trump's announcement that the federal government would take a 10 percent stake in Intel, once the nation's most successful chip manufacturer, has raised alarm bells with conservative Republicans, who see it as part of a bigger trend under Trump of the federal government asserting itself in corporate decisionmaking. Trump also reached a separate deal earlier this month with two other U.S.-based chipmakers, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, that will see them pay the U.S. government 15 percent of their revenue from AI-chip sales to China. The Hill

Trump expands federal anti-crime agenda, enlists more agencies for the effort . . . In the new order, Mr. Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to create and start training, manning, hiring and equipping a D.C. National Guard united specializing in public safety and order. The president ordered the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation to get involved. The additional measures are designed to tackle the "crime emergency" that Mr. Trump declared Aug. 11 in the nation's capital. Washington Times

DNC Calls Trump's DC Crime Crackdown 'Political Liability' After District Has No Murders For 12 Days

Virginia gubernatorial race tightens . . . A new poll is signaling that Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is closing in on her Democrat opponent in the Virginia governor race. The Roanoke College poll showed Democrat gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger leading Earle-Sears 46% to 39% in the category of likely Virginia voters. That is a significant diminishment from May where Spanberger was leading by 43% compared to Earle-Sears's 26%. Daily Signal

Speaker Johnson says Trump deserves Nobel Peace Prize for DC police takeover

Texas Redistricting to Accelerate Democrats' Tilt Left . . . Besides likely gaining Republicans five new Texas seats in the United States House of Representatives, the Lonestar State's congressional redistricting is speeding up the evolution of the Democrat Party. At the end of his term, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, a 78-year-old who became a Texas lawmaker in the 1970s, appears to want to hand over his district to fellow Texas Democrat Rep. Greg Casar, a 36-year-old, "squad"-aligned firebrand. Daily Signal

Fani Willis' Office Melting Down So Fast She's Begging For Resumes On LinkedIn . . . Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking applicants to serve as prosecutors in her office, according to a Monday post on the social media site LinkedIn. A Georgia appeals court threw Willis off a criminal case targeting President Donald Trump in a 2-1 ruling released in December, saying the trial court failed to "address the appearance of impropriety" stemming from a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The announcement came as Willis is reportedly clashing with Fulton County officials over funding for her office. Daily Caller

Culture

Judge: Minnesota Can't Discriminate Against Religious Schools . . . A federal judge Friday struck down a Minnesota law barring colleges that require statements of faith from a state-funded program. U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel said the law, signed by Gov. Tim Walz in 2023, violated both the First Amendment and the Minnesota Constitution by disqualifying "'some private schools' from funding 'solely because they are religious.'" Daily Signal

JK Rowling Flags Harmful Message Trans Activists Are Sending To Women: 'You Are A Costume' . . . "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling planted a red flag on the clear message radical trans activists are sending to women and girls when they demand access to single-sex spaces that are meant to be for women only. Rowling, whose support for sex-based rights and privacy has often put her at odds with the trans community, said that the obvious takeaway was as simple as it was insidious: women, to them, were little more than costumes that afforded the wearers everything that went along with actually being women. Daily Wire

Columbia Law School Tells Students To Avoid Offensive Terms Like 'Crazy Uncle' and 'Grandfathering'

Snoop Dogg Says He's 'Scared' of the LGBTQ Content in Disney Movies . . . Iconic rapper Snoop Dogg said on Monday that he is "scared" to watch movies after his grandson witnessed a lesbian couple in a Disney film. Snoop Dogg said on "Dom Lucre: Breaker of Narratives" that he took his grandson to see the 2022 Pixar film "Lightyear," which featured characters Alisha Hawthorne and her wife Kiko in a lesbian relationship. He described the awkward moment when his grandson asked him how two women can have a child together, saying he did not "come in for this s—. Daily Caller

National Security

Trump Floats Renaming Pentagon Back To 'Department Of War': 'We Won Everything' . . . "Pete Hegseth has been incredible with the, as I call it, the Department of War. You know, we call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we're going to change the name," the president said. "You want to know the truth, I think we're going to have some information on that maybe soon." He added, "I don't want to be defense only. We want defense, but we want offense, too, if that's okay." Daily Wire

Trump Declares August 26 A Day To Remember 13 Americans Lost In Abbey Gate Attack

Kilmar Abrego Garcia's Deportation Again Blocked By Obama-Appointed Federal Judge — For Now . . . The Trump administration has another hurdle to leap if it's going to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, as a federal judge once again stepped in on Monday to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement from sending the Salvadoran national to Uganda — at least for now.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee, ruled that Abrego Garcia must remain in the United States until she can hold an evidentiary hearing on a lawsuit filed by Abrego Garcia. Daily Wire

Kilmar's new friends are waiting for him.

Navy looking to drone vessels to take on future enemies . . . Ukraine's stunning success with drones in the Black Sea, sinking or heavily damaging an estimated 30 Russian naval vessels in more than three years of war, has not gone unnoticed in the U.S.

Drones have become a priority at the Pentagon. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency this month christened the USX-1 Defiant, a first-of-its-kind autonomous unmanned surface vehicle designed from the ground up for deployment in the sea without a human crew. Washington Times

Money

There Is Now Clearer Evidence AI Is Wrecking Young Americans' Job Prospects . . . Artificial intelligence is profoundly limiting some young Americans' employment prospects, new research shows. Young workers are getting hit in fields where generative-AI tools such as ChatGPT can most easily automate tasks done by humans, such as software development, according to a paper released Tuesday by three Stanford University economists. At the same time, the economists found evidence that in fields where AI can help people in their work, rather than replace them, employment among young people is improving. Wall Street Journal

You should also know

Ukrainian refugee, 23, who fled war for safer life in US knifed to death by homeless career criminal in NC . . . Iryna Zarutska suffered multiple stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the East/West Boulevard light rail station in South End, Charlotte just before 10 p.m. Friday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Saturday. Zarutska had "recently arrived in the United States, seeking safety from the war and hoping for a new beginning," according to a GoFundMe page set up to fundraise for the young woman's aunt and other family members during the "heartbreaking time." New York Post

Guilty Pleasures

NC Opens Summer Meeting In Most Virtue Signaling Way Possible . . . Land acknowledgements are often used to acknowledge "indigenous peoples" who allegedly "owned" the land where an event is taking place. "Good morning, DNC members, friends and relatives, let's talk about the land for a second. The DNC acknowledges and honors the… Dakota people, who are the original stewards of the lands and waters of Minneapolis. Daily Caller