[FOX] SENOIA, Ga. - Senoia police say surveillance video captured a man stalking a woman before she was physically attacked and nearly sexually assaulted while walking near downtown Sunday night.
ORIGINAL STORY: Woman fights off attacker on Travis Street before escaping
What we know: Isaiah Phillips was arrested shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday at his parents' home in Fayetteville. U.S. Marshals and the Fayette County SWAT team used a loud speaker ordering Phillips out of the home before taking him into custody.
Senoia police said Phillips is charged with sexual battery, battery and false imprisonment.
POLICE REVIEWED HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF VIDEO
What they're saying: Senoia police credited Flock cameras and other surveillance cameras with helping investigators identify Phillips.
Investigators said they reviewed dozens of cameras and hundreds of hours of surveillance video before finding footage Tuesday morning that showed Phillips closer to the scene.
Police said that video showed Phillips following the woman as she walked around 10 p.m. Sunday.
"We were able to locate more video showing him closer to the scene, actually stalking our victim, driving behind her as she's walking with the headlights off, following her down the street, turning onto the road that led to the scene of the attack," police said.
The woman was walking along Travis Street when police say she was grabbed from behind and physically assaulted. Police said the man also attempted to sexually assault her. The woman fought back and was able to get away.
VICTIM NOTIFIED AFTER ARREST
Police said investigators remained in constant contact with the woman throughout the investigation and notified her as soon as Phillips was taken into custody.
Police said the attack also had an impact on the Senoia community. Following the incident, the department took the unusual step of warning residents to use caution while walking at night.
Phillips was previously arrested in neighboring Peachtree City in 2024, according to police.
WOMAN FOUGHT OFF ATTACKER
The backstory: The attack happened around 10 p.m. Sunday along Travis Street between Clark Street and Bridge Street.
Senoia police said the woman was walking when a man approached her from behind, grabbed her and attempted to sexually assault her.
The woman fought back and managed to break free, causing her attacker to run from the scene.
Police launched a search and asked anyone who had been near downtown Senoia, the Senoia Post Office, the railroad tracks or the Gin Street Properties area around the time of the attack to report anything suspicious they may have seen.
[IsraelTimes] Larry Montes called Jews ‘swine’ and denigrated synagogues in US and Israel, but also expressed affiliation with Judaism, according to prosecutors
Both Martin Luther and Mohammed arrogantly expected to be welcomed by the Jews, then turned viciously against them when they were not persuaded. While Mr. Montes did not invent a new religion, this has the same flavour of anger when not welcomed with open arms. And the man is apparently mentally unbalanced, as well.
A suspect who allegedly disrupted a Shabbat service at New York City’s Central Synagogue both insulted Jews and "identified as Jewish," according to a federal criminal complaint released on Tuesday.
Larry Montes, 46, from the Bronx, was charged with hate crimes in a New York City court last week. Tuesday’s complaint added federal hate crime charges against Montes and provided more detail about the incident, but also raised questions about the suspect.
The complaint, filed by an FBI agent investigating the case, said that Montes had been seated in the synagogue’s sanctuary for the Friday night service.
Around nine minutes after the service began, he stood up and began shouting, "You know who the fuck I am," the complaint said.
He approached the synagogue’s bimah, or stage, and knocked over two ceremonial candlesticks, causing damage.
The head of security at the synagogue wrapped his arms around Montes to physically restrain him and attempted to move Montes to the building lobby.
Montes said, "Fuck you people" and punched a 63-year-old woman in the face, knocking her to the ground and cutting her lip and forearm.
In the synagogue lobby, an NYPD officer arrested and handcuffed Montes. While he was being arrested, Montes shouted a racial slur at a Black security guard employed by the synagogue, headbutted him in the face and spat in his face.
Montes also said that he planned to return to the synagogue.
After his arrest, Montes told NYPD officers, "Fuck the Jews," and, "I will never affiliate with no filthy fucking synagogues, either here or in fucking Israel."
Montes told police that he felt disrespected during the service. When asked why, he said, "It’s all a racial thing," and that it was "all religious motivated."
He added that he used the racial slur against the Black security guard because he has "racial issues."
The complaint said that, during his post-arrest interview, "Montes stated that he identified as Jewish," without elaborating.
Montes’s aunt previously told The New York Post that Montes had a "desire to belong to that religion" and was "mentally traumatized."
A Facebook account that appeared to belong to Montes included posts supporting Israel and other posts about Judaism, as well as posts critical of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Some Jewish leaders have linked the incident to Mamdani’s repeated broadsides against Israel.
Jews are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group, and antisemitic hate crimes have increased since Mamdani took office at the beginning of the year.
New York prosecutors previously said that Montes had referred to Jews as "swine."
Montes was charged in the federal Southern District of New York court with a hate crime against the congregant, a hate crime against the Black security guard, and damage to religious property resulting in bodily injury.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/20/2026 08:00 ||
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[ABCnews] Trial judge removed from Karmelo Anthony case as teen seeks new trial over track meet stabbing. A jury found Anthony guilty of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf.
Newly released evidence raises questions in Karmelo Anthony appealABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire discusses newly released evidence and what it could mean for Karmelo Anthony's appeal.Collin County Jail
The Texas judge who presided over Karmelo Anthony's murder trial has been removed from further proceedings in the case, as the teen seeks a new trial.
Anthony, 19, was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison in June for fatally stabbing a fellow student at a high school track meet.
In the defense motion seeking to recuse Judge John Roach from the post-trial proceedings, Anthony's attorneys questioned both the judge's impartiality in the case and his courtroom restrictions.
Ahead of the high-profile trial, Roach imposed a gag order in the case and barred any electronics from the courtroom during the proceedings due to the attention the case had garnered.
The motion cited what it called "problematic comments" Roach made during an interview following the verdict, in which it said the judge "endorsed the jury's guilty verdict" and defended his courtroom restrictions. It also pointed to a public letter Roach released following the trial, in which he stated that those who worked on the case "contributed to ensuring the process was conducted fairly."
The court "made extrajudicial public statements that objectively appear to commit it to the verdict and the challenged access rulings while it still retained authority to decide a timely motion for new trial attacking those very matters," the motion stated.
During a hearing on Wednesday, defense attorney Russell Wilson argued that Roach "gave public comment about an impending proceeding," which should be an "automatic recusal," according to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA.
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye argued that Roach didn't do anything wrong and alleged that there was a "concerted effort from social media and influencers to disrupt" the high-profile trial, according to WFAA.
"I know Judge Roach. What is important to Judge Roach is being fair," Wirskye said, according to WFAA.
Judge Sid Harle, who traveled from San Antonio for the proceedings in Collin County, granted the defense motion to recuse Roach from any further matters in the Anthony case.
People walked out of the courtroom cheering loudly and crying. A crowd of dozens in the parking lot shouted chants including "Free Karmelo!"
A hearing on Anthony's motion for a new trial is scheduled for Thursday. His attorneys allege in part that Roach's courtroom restrictions denied him a fair trial. They also alleged that the court improperly instructed the jury and claimed that prosecutors prevented Anthony from testifying that he acted in self-defense.
Anthony's attorneys said they are "pleased" by Harle's decision to recuse Roach and "look forward to presenting the merits of Karmelo's motion for a new trial to a fair and independent judge."
Prosecutors called the deadly stabbing "unjustified" and "plain and simple murder," while the defense argued that Anthony acted in self-defense when he stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco in April 2025.
After hearing four days of testimony, a Collin County jury found Anthony guilty of murder following three hours of deliberation on June 9. The same jury sentenced him to 35 years in prison after several more hours of deliberation.
Jurors had the option to consider manslaughter, as well as whether the crime was one of "sudden passion," both of which would have limited the maximum possible sentence to 20 years.
Anthony did not testify during the trial.
The deadly stabbing occurred at a Frisco Independent School District stadium on April 2, 2025, during a track and field competition involving multiple schools in the district.
Police said Metcalf, an 11th grader at Frisco Memorial High School, was stabbed during an altercation under his school's tent in the stadium bleachers.
Witnesses told officers that the two got into an argument over Anthony, a then-17-year-old student at Frisco Centennial High School, being under Metcalf's school tent during the rainy track meet, according to the arrest report.
Multiple current and former students recounted the incident during the trial.
One witness testified that Anthony was asked to leave the tent about 15 times. Some witnesses recalled Anthony saying, "Touch me and see what happens," during the altercation. Another witness quoted Metcalf as telling Anthony, "I'm not going to fight you."
Witnesses recounted that Metcalf shoved or nudged Anthony, who was sitting on the bleachers, before Anthony stabbed him with a pocket knife. The blade perforated Metcalf's right ventricle, and he was pronounced dead after being transported to an area hospital.
BFD. After every trial I've sat jury on, the judge has said something similar, assuring the jury they did the right thing. One can only hope that this bovine excreta will backfire and the next jury gives him the needle.
#8
The go-fund-me cash grab, of course. They were living large on it before the first trial, but that was then and new Air Jordan's are critical to keeping their morale up in the fight for justice!
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Ilya Maximov
[REGNUM] The new Ebola outbreak sweeping the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has already been recognized as the deadliest in the country's history and one of the fastest-growing in recorded history. As of mid-August 2026, more than 5,000 confirmed cases and 2,378 deaths have been recorded.
The number of cases is growing at an alarming rate: the 1,000-case threshold was crossed in just 40 days, compared to about 235 days during the 2018 outbreak. UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher stated that the epidemic is claiming one life approximately every half hour.
This rapid spread is largely explained by the fact that the virus circulated undetected for weeks, even months, before medical officials raised the alarm. Retrospective analysis showed that the first cases could have appeared as early as February 2026, but the outbreak was officially declared only on May 15.
"The epidemic is far from under control. It had a huge lead in time, and we're still playing catch-up," said World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
This delay allowed the infection to spread: today, the virus has been confirmed in six provinces of the DRC, including Ituri, North and South Kivu, Tshopo, and Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé. Of particular concern is the emergence of cases in large cities such as Kisangani, with a population of over 1.6 million, which poses the risk of further spread along the country's transport arteries.
Ebola is considered one of the most deadly viruses in the world, ranking in the top danger group along with plague and smallpox. According to the Russian Ministry of Health's Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, in some cases, it kills over 70% of those infected.
The disease progresses very quickly: only a few days can pass from the first symptoms to a critical condition. The virus attacks the vascular system, causing profuse internal bleeding and effectively disabling the immune system.
The infection manifests itself almost immediately and is acute. While this makes it easier for medical professionals to quickly recognize the disease, it also means a tremendous strain on the body and a severe course of the disease for those infected. During the current outbreak, the case fatality rate among confirmed cases has risen from approximately 20% in early June to 47.4% by mid-August.
Experts note that the increase does not mean the virus itself has become more deadly; it points to ongoing problems with early case detection and access to treatment.
The main reason the current outbreak is so worrisome is the Bundibugyo strain, for which there are still no approved vaccines or specific treatments. Previously developed drugs target the Zaire strain. Despite expert predictions of a 60-70% cross-protection rate, there are still no licensed drugs specifically targeting this subtype.
The WHO has recommended clinical trials of a vaccine against the Zaire strain to assess its effectiveness against Bundibugyo. Simultaneously, phase I trials of two vaccines specifically developed against this strain have begun in the UK and Canada. However, approval may take months.
The fight against the epidemic is seriously hampered by a severe shortage of clean water. Oxfam's humanitarian mission data shows that only one in five health facilities in Ituri province has access to sufficient supplies.
In Mongbwalu, a major gold mining town with a population of approximately 140,000, only 20% of residents have access to clean drinking water, and only 25% have working toilets and basic sanitation. "Three jugs of water cost 1,000 francs. If you have 10 jugs at home and only have 1,000 francs left, and you also have to feed your children, what will you do?" asks a local resident who has to fetch water from a spring.
Doctors and nurses are forced to work in conditions where there is no safe way to flush patients' biological waste. In some medical facilities, patients' families are forced to collect water from open sources right inside quarantine zones, leading to new cases of infection.
As Dr. Manenji Mangudu, Oxfam's director in the DRC, put it, "without clean water and functioning sanitation, the basic conditions needed to stop the spread of the Ebola virus are simply not there." "When families are forced to collect water from treatment plants because they have nowhere else to go, it's no longer a public health crisis related to water supply. It's a public health crisis with a lit fuse," he added.
The situation is exacerbated by the local population's deep mistrust of healthcare. Residents attack doctors, set fire to mobile hospitals, and hide sick people.
Since the outbreak was declared in May alone, there have been 12 confirmed attacks on medical facilities. Ten Red Cross volunteers were injured while burying victims of the epidemic.
Locals who adhere to traditional funeral rites steal the bodies of those who died of illness to give them their final farewell in their own way. How many people fall ill after such funerals remains an open question.
According to Thierno Baldé, head of the WHO Ebola response, attacks on ambulances are occurring almost daily. During last Sunday's attack in the city of Aru, a crowd ransacked a hospital, wounding an ambulance driver, and escaping with two suspected Ebola patients.
As a result, a vicious cycle develops: people fear the disease, so they don't seek medical attention to help them protect themselves, and they don't go to hospitals because they risk infection. Consequently, many become ill and die at home.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that the epicenter of the epidemic is in Ituri province, which accounts for up to 90% of all confirmed cases.
The region is engulfed in armed conflict, making it virtually impossible for authorities to effectively control the epidemic. Due to the fighting, nearly two million refugees are regularly displaced within and across the region, contributing to the rapid spread of the virus.
Of no less concern is the situation in the provinces of North and South Kivu, where large areas are controlled by armed groups.
All of this poses serious risks to neighboring countries. Uganda has already confirmed 20 cases and two deaths.
The risk of spread to South Sudan remains extremely high: according to a publication in The Lancet, the probability of importation of the virus to the country is estimated at 69%. The WHO Director-General warned that the risk of further spread both within the DRC and across international borders remains high.
WHO officials believe the outbreak in the DRC can still be brought under control within three months, but resources are needed. As Thierno Baldé stated, "Regarding the plan for the next three months, if we have the necessary resources, I think it will be possible."
He emphasized, however, that this is a "window of opportunity" and not a guaranteed scenario: the spread of the disease in the region remains a serious problem, and if it cannot be prevented, the global forecast could also change.
Other senior officials note that the outbreak is still far from being brought under control: 70 to 80% of new cases have no known connection to existing cases, meaning the virus is still spreading unchecked. As Wessam Mankula, a senior official at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted, "We are far from understanding the true scale of this outbreak."
Fortunately, there is no threat to Russian citizens who do not travel to Africa, the Ministry of Health noted. The main thing to know is that there is nothing to fear, but we must not forget about global threats.
The **Ebola virus** undergoes a **lytic cycle** of replication, not a calendar-based cycle. This biological process involves the virus hijacking a host cell to produce new viral copies, leading to the destruction of the host cell.
The stages of this replication cycle include:
* **Attachment**: The virus binds to host cell receptors using glycoproteins.
* **Entry**: The host cell engulfs the virus through macropinocytosis.
* **Uncoating and Fusion**: The viral membrane fuses with the host cell's vesicle, releasing the nucleocapsid.
* **Replication**: The virus uses the host's machinery to replicate its RNA and proteins.
* **Assembly**: New viral particles form near the nucleus.
* **Release**: New virions bud off from the cell membrane, destroying the host cell in the process.
While the virus itself follows this biological cycle, **Ebola outbreaks** do not follow a fixed calendar schedule. Outbreaks occur sporadically when the virus spills over from animal reservoirs (such as fruit bats) to humans. For example, the **2026 Ebola epidemic** in the **Democratic Republic of the Congo** was theorized to have started in early 2026, but this timing is specific to that event and not part of a recurring annual cycle.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The death toll from the 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Colombia has reached 312, the National Disaster Risk Management Service (UNGRD) reported on August 19.
“312 people died, 4,380 were injured, 290 are listed as missing, 358 were rescued,” the department reported on social media.
The earthquake's aftermath affected 15 departments and 472 municipalities. A total of 292,043 people from 123,789 households were affected.
A total of 29,554 residential buildings were destroyed, another 134,342 were damaged, and 267 buildings collapsed. Also damaged were 303 medical facilities, 3,443 educational institutions, 413 roads, 49 road bridges, and five airports.
Previously, 304 deaths were reported.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on August 10. Dozens of buildings collapsed. The earthquake was the strongest to hit Colombia in the 21st century. A national state of emergency was declared in the country. Army units were deployed for search and rescue operations. The Russian Embassy reported that no Russian casualties or fatalities had been reported.
How many are Moslem colonists collecting jizya from the dhimmis?
[Breitbart] The number of people receiving direct welfare benefit payments in Britain has soared to an all-time high, the government has disclosed.
According to data published this week by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), 8.4 million people were receiving Universal Credit welfare payments as of May, an increase of around 700,000 from the previous year and 100,000 more than in February.
The DWP said this meant it is now the highest number of people receiving welfare under the Universal Credit scheme since it was introduced in 2013. The number of people on the rolls has increased from 5.5 million since March 2022.
Meanwhile, the proportion of welfare claimants with “no work requirements” rose from 46 per cent last year to 51 per cent in May, or 4.3 million. This was compared to 1.6 million claimants who were required to search for work.
The remaining 3.1 million claimants were employed while receiving the benefits, or 37.7 per cent of the total, down from 41.9 per cent just a year before.
The statistics showed that over 15 per cent of Universal Credit claimants in May were migrants, inclduing 8.9 per cent who were granted access to British welfare as a result of the EU Settlement Scheme following Brexit, which in turn allows for British expats living in EU nations to access their welfare states.
The data release comes as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has unveiled plans to cut welfare spending by £51 billion ($69bn) per year, which would purportedly save every British family £1,700 ($2,305) annually.
Shadow Chancellor Robert Jenrick said that, if elected, a Reform government would ban all foreigners from receiving welfare benefits, including EU nationals granted access under the Brexit withdrawal agreement. According to Jenrick, simply removing non-British citizens from the scheme would save taxpayers £21 billion ($28.5bn) a year by 2029.
The Reform Party would also look to adopt a similar scheme to that implemented in the Netherlands, in which businesses will be incentivised to encourage their workers to return to the force by requiring firms with more than five employees to purchase a new form of insurance to pay for employees who go on disability.
Jenrick said that the Dutch system upon which it is modelled had cut disability claims by 40 per cent.
Furthermore, Reform would also require that those able to work who have been receiving Universal Credit for over a year must do 20 hours of community service per week or lose their benefits.
“Without these changes, the cost of the welfare system will keep spiralling. We will face a genuine national debt crisis. Those least able to bear it will pay the highest price,” Jenrick warned. “Only Reform will do what it takes to avert this.”
#5
Looks like 52 million "Americans" (let's call it people currently living in America) are on "means tested government assistance". 21% of the population. Oh yeah - but only 42 million are on SNAP / food stamps.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump says he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year, in what would be their first encounter of Trump’s second term.
“Yeah, I will be,” Trump tells reporters during a tour of a new helipad he is building at the White House, when asked if he planned to meet Kim later in 2026.
“I get along with him great. He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. He’s gonna be fine,” Trump adds.
[Smart News] Andersen Air Force Base on Guam is the most important fully sovereign US Air Force base in the Eastern Pacific. However, it exists in a much broader context that includes important US bases in Japan and South Korea as well as bases in the Philippines and Australia. In the event of a conflict, some of these bases might not be available, as a country like South Korea could declare its neutrality.
Another issue is that Andersen is a very obvious target that could be knocked out, even temporarily. For aircraft to land and continue to operate, there need to be backup airbases in the region. There are other airports on Guam, most obviously the dual-use Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport ( Guam International Airport) as well as Claasson-Apra Regional Airfield and Northwest Field (being upgraded), which would be of use. Here are six airbases the US is building as backups to Andersen outside of Guam.
Palau is interesting as it is an independent country and a member of the United Nations, although it is rarely listed among the US's regional allies like Japan and South Korea. Palau is also an interesting case as it occupies a sort of middle ground between a fully sovereign state and a state with a level of autonomy a step or two above US territories (like Guam).
In 1994, the Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the United States entered into force, under which the US is responsible for Palau's defense and has exclusive military operating rights in its land, air, and waters. The US had previously administered Palau since 1947 under the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Trust Territory). One benefit of Palau is that it is further south than Guam, making it more complicated for Chinese targeting.
[Todayville] The Permian Basin has repeatedly proven forecasts of its decline premature [many of you remember "Peak Oil" and other enviro scares]
Stretching across West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, the Permian has become the center of gravity of U.S. oil production and one of the most important petroleum regions in the world. But as the industry looks toward 2030, the question is changing.
Wood Mackenzie has projected that crude and condensate production could eventually reach about 7.7 million barrels per day around 2035, assuming roughly $70 real WTI. Meanwhile, EIA's nearer-term projections show production flattening around today's extraordinarily high levels.
Taken together, those forecasts suggest that something in the range of roughly 6.5 million to 7.5 million barrels per day around 2030 is plausible, depending heavily on oil prices, technology, infrastructure and capital discipline.
------------------
other reservoirs, e.g., Bakken, Eagle Ford likely will also increase production
[JustTheNews] Prescription prices are down 3.9% since Trump took office and have declined every month of 2026. Nonprescription drugs fell 2.4% and medical-care commodities 2.7% over the past year.
President Donald Trump’s Most Favored Nation policies and TrumpRx platform have produced the largest annual drop in U.S. prescription drug prices in over 60 years, the steepest since 1963, according to the administration. The update follows years of price increases across much of the sector which had Americans footing the bill for other nations' usage.
"Without even twisting an arm, without trying to pass a new bill, he [Trump] brought all these players together with TrumpRX to lower the cost of prescription drugs, and he continues to do that because this guy understands leverage. He understands the bully pulpit," Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., told Just The News.
TrumpRx has already generated $700 million in patient savings. GLP-1 drugs that previously exceeded $1,000 monthly now start at $149; many other high-cost medications (insulin, inhalers, fertility drugs, cholesterol treatments) have fallen 50–90%. Prescription prices are down 3.9% since Trump took office and have declined every month of 2026.
Nonprescription drugs fell 2.4% and medical-care commodities 2.7% over the past year.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) also locked in more than $10 billion in pharmaceutical savings this fiscal year, with hundreds of billions projected long-term. The administration states this is the first time a president has actually lowered prescription drug prices.
DRUG PRICES WERE A DRAG
Prescription drug prices had been climbing for decades leading up to last year.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, prescription drug prices were 5.5 times higher in 2024 than in 1985 and rose roughly three times as fast as overall inflation since 1985. Cardiovascular and insulin/antidiabetic drugs showed some of the steepest increases. Brand-name medications saw repeated list-price increases that often outpaced general inflation, with cumulative rises leaving average annual costs for many therapies several times higher than in the early 2000s.
Over longer periods, prescription drug prices rose faster than overall consumer prices, contributing to higher out-of-pocket burdens and insurance premiums. Even as net prices after rebates moderated in some recent years, the long-term trajectory left many Americans facing elevated costs for essential treatments until the recent reversal.
AMERICANS FOOTED THE BILL
Americans have long paid substantially higher prices for brand-name prescription drugs than patients in other developed countries—often three to four times as much, according to RAND analyses of 2022 data comparing the U.S. to 33 OECD nations.
Pharmaceutical companies and economic studies maintain that these elevated U.S. prices generate the majority of global revenues required to fund the costly, high-risk research and development of new medicines.
Other nations’ price controls allow them to pay closer to manufacturing costs, effectively free-riding on American-financed innovation and leaving U.S. patients to shoulder a disproportionate share of the investment that benefits patients worldwide.
Trump’s Most Favored Nation policy directly confronts the long-standing imbalance in which American patients paid far higher prices, often three to four times of those in other developed nations, to fund the bulk of global pharmaceutical research and development.
By securing voluntary agreements with 17 major drug manufacturers like Eli Lilly, AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson, covering roughly 86% of the branded market, the administration requires U.S. prices to match the lowest levels paid by comparable countries.
It effectively ends decades of Americans effectively subsidizing cheaper medicines abroad, pressure that had allowed other nations to free-ride on U.S.-financed innovation while patients at home shouldered disproportionate costs for the same drugs.
#1
Pharmaceutical companies and economic studies maintain that these elevated U.S. prices generate the majority of global revenues required to fund the costly, high-risk research and development of new medicines.
[CTH] President Trump has paused the 50% tariffs set to go into effect against Canada at midnight.
According to media reports, after the Canadian trade delegation failed to come to a negotiated settlement on key USMCA terms, Prime Minister Mark Carney called President Trump earlier today to discuss the tariffs that were scheduled to begin tomorrow.
President Trump has announced a pause via Truth Social:
"I have paused the 50% Tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL! The great Keystone XL Pipeline, long ago killed by Sleepy… pic.twitter.com/u5xEHMKPaW
I’m curious to see how this works out. Apparently, there’s something about the Keystone XL Pipeline in a deal.
UPDATE:
Congratulations Mr. President. The deal will include comprehensive market access for all American goods, economic security commitments, digital trade alignment, and many important provisions that will continue to protect our market and American workers, along with our Canadian… https://t.co/YSQ4rNmKAv
— United States Trade Representative (@USTradeRep) August 19, 2026
[GaroweOnline] A federal judge allowed U.S. President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... 's administration on Tuesday to end legal protections granted to over 5,000 Æthiopians that have allowed them to live and work in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston lifted, opens new tab the last judicial block on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security terminating the Temporary Protected Status designation for individual countries after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the administration in June to end similar protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.
The Supreme Court's ruling, backed by its 6-3 conservative majority, curtailed the ability of judges to review DHS efforts under Trump to end TPS designations for 13 countries that provided humanitarian immigration protection to eligible migrants colonists from those nations.
James Percival, DHS' general counsel, hailed the decision in a social media post. "All TPS terminations are in effect!" he wrote.
LIVES AT RISK: ADVOCACY GROUP
The termination of Æthiopia's TPS designation had been challenged by several Æthiopian nationals and the advocacy group African Communities Together, which expressed disappointment in Tuesday's ruling.
"The crisis in Æthiopia is still ongoing, and this decision puts the lives of thousands of Æthiopians living in the U.S. at severe risk," said Diana Konaté, the group's deputy executive director of policy and advocacy.
TPS under federal law is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary events. It provides eligible migrants colonists with work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.
Former Democratic President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. The very model of probity.... 's administration first granted Æthiopians already in the United States that status beginning in 2022, citing the need to protect the African nation's citizens from armed conflict and humanitarian suffering.
DHS under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in December that it would end those protections because conditions no longer posed a serious threat to Æthiopians returning safely.
[Townhall] The start of President Donald Trump’s second term, he signed an Executive Order to kickstart the process of eliminating the federal Department of Education under Secretary Linda McMahon.
A year and a half into the administration, significant progress has been made, and the department has made key reforms ranging from the scope of bureaucracy to student loan changes, Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent explained to Townhall on Tuesday.
“We have shrunk the federal Department of Education by almost 50% since the secretary came in,” Kent said, describing it as “remarkable.”
“And it would probably be even slightly higher than that if the federal courts had not intervened in some of our civil rights work. So we've shrunk the department by nearly 50% in terms of FTE or headcount,” he continued.
Kent noted that “services have still went on” regardless of the downsizing, saying that under the Biden administration, “double the staff weren't able to do core functions like getting out the FAFSA on time.”
Shrink first, then eliminate. Going cold turkey causes screaming right before Election Day — instead no one seems to have noticed in the press of so much other news.
[ZERO] Amazon's Prime Air drone delivery service, first teased by Jeff Bezos in a 2013 60 Minutes interview as a way to get packages under 5lbs to customers in 30 minutes or less, represents the broader push toward autonomous aerial last-mile logistics that could bypass traffic and cut delivery times dramatically.
After years of regulatory hurdles with the FAA, technical iterations, and limited trials, the service has matured into a commercial offering using the MK30 drone, which hovers to drop packages.
A major breakthrough came in 2024, when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted Amazon a waiver allowing its drones to fly beyond the visual line of sight of their operators, and has already completed hundreds of thousands of deliveries in 2026 across 11 sites in seven states.
Today Amazon announced plans to expand it to nearly 500 US cities and towns by year-end - a roughly sixfold increase - bringing ultrafast options (as quick as 30 minutes) to tens of millions more customers in places like the Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, Syracuse, and Boise metro areas.
#1
Postal workers will still have to hump the huge bags of 'Amazon Prime' dog food, cat litter, and out sized rolls of paper towels. The USPS and Amazon contract is from hell. Neither the USPS tiny trucks nor the employees are equipped to handle the task.
We have postal and delivery people working in 100+ F-degree heat, here in the south. So a number of us will freeze a bottles of water for them. Place it in the mail box and flip the flag up, or in a styrofoam cooler on the pouch for them.
Living in the suburbs of central CT, almost everything I get through Amazon is delivered by Amazon. What I do get through USPS, FedEx or UPS are those things sold by independent sellers or otherwise not stocked in an Amazon warehouse.
Obviously more rural areas will continue to rely on USPS.
As for package weight, many smaller bullet suppliers catering to the reloading crowd are (or at least were) sending shipments in the USPS flat rate boxes with package weight around 70 pounds.
[Daily Reckoning] The idea of a universal basic income has gained traction lately. And not just among politicians. The notion that everyone should be entitled to a guaranteed paycheck is supported by the Silicon Valley elite, as well.
Their reasoning is tied to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). That the machines they are making will eventually usurp human minds. So they envision a world where AI will destroy employment.
Elon Musk, for instance, told the National Governors Association that the idea of AI wiping out jobs is "the scariest problem to me."
Now, Elon Musk is a brilliant entrepreneur, but he’s a fool in many ways — and this is one of them.
And not just because I believe a universal basic income would be disastrous for society. The idea that AI will somehow disrupt employment for all is absurd for two main reasons...
REASON 1: REPLICATION IS NOT CONSCIOUSNESS
The people who believe that AI will replace humans think that the universe is explicable entirely in terms of chemistry and physics.
That assumption, I believe, is manifestly false. But it is a religious conviction underlying almost all neuroscience and computer science.
In fact, that idea is utterly disproven by the computer itself.
You can know the position of every atom and molecule in a computer — yet not have the slightest idea what it is accomplishing. What the computer’s function is at that point is utterly opaque to a physicist who knows everything about the physical substrate of all the chips in the computer.
Why, then, would understanding all the molecules and atoms of the brain define a human mind?
Indeed, to fully usurp the human mind, AI would require mastering true thought. And thought, I believe, is a product of consciousness.
Most neuroscientists imagine that if logical processing is accelerated to a high enough rate, somehow consciousness will emerge.
I believe that this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the mind. Yet this idea is what’s driving computer science that purports to create artificial intelligence.
No matter how "human-like" AI appears, it’s essentially the result of massive amounts of data and statistics combined with accelerated processing speeds.
So no, the artificial intelligence being developed today will not "wake up" one day and think that it’s human. Why would it want to?
But there is a warehouses of already collected data, Data monitoring Centers be built, a global satcom system, AI programming developed by humans with conflicting political agendas. All taught to think and even adapt some. All now being implanted in thinking 2 & 4 legged systems, running around, programed to even seek out, monitor, report, control and even destroy, if that is its mission.
NO! AI is not Artificial Life, it is artificially programed thought to mimic life and movement. Where all its thoughts are coupled with ability do as it is allowed by it AI programming and/or limits.
Isaac Asimov may have been on to something 75 year ago, that is needed in the public AI sector. The Three Laws, presented to be from the fictional "Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D." (Note the date he used in the story will be our next generation)
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Like the Covid-scamdemic, the deadly Vax, 50 years of Climate-Scams. Time will tell who is on the real science side vs those milking the system for power & $$$$$.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Images of a lunar crater after the impact of the second stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket have become publicly available. This was reported on NASA's website on August 18.
The object crashed into the surface of Earth's satellite on August 5. Amateur astronomers initially calculated the trajectory, after which NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies tested impact prediction methods on the event. Experts searched for the exact impact site for six days. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took images on August 11 and 12. Using images from various angles, scientists determined the crater's dimensions. Its diameter is approximately 18 meters, and its depth does not exceed 3 meters. The images show bright and dark rays of rock and centuries-old cosmic dust.
Experts previously reported an imminent collision between a four-ton object and the Moon traveling at 8,700 km/h. According to the BBC, the debris belonged to a Falcon 9 rocket, which launched on January 15, 2025. The launch vehicle successfully launched the commercial lunar probes Blue Ghost and Resilience into space. The empty upper stage remained in deep space due to its high trajectory and lack of fuel. As a result, the object drifted in a chaotic orbit for 19 months until the Moon's gravity finally pulled it toward the surface.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] A disinformation tracker: An example of how "disinformation detection" technology and its results are themselves used for disinformation and manipulation.
A "disinformation tracker" has been launched at the Beacon of Democracy. The project is part of the Countering Disinformation Initiative (CDI) within the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction (GPWD).
"To create the tracking system, we systematically analyzed the archives and websites of key multilateral disarmament forums, including the UN General Assembly, the Security Council, and the Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions, as well as individual government data repositories of states frequently implicated in allegations of chemical and biological weapons use..."
Each entry was assessed for origin and context, chronologically coded by source, forum, and narrative type, and checked for consistency. Please note that the formula or rules for the "assessment" are not provided; it was conducted manually, and only trusted and ideologically correct individuals were allowed to evaluate it. And they did not disappoint – they evaluated it "correctly." Essentially, this is an attempt to use imitation technology to conceal the same old "blacklists," which are not used to research and study the information environment, but to rank sources based on their ability to influence the average American.
Western intelligence agencies used the same method to rank Wikipedia sources and, with the help of Big Tech, rank search results based on "sensitive issues." A similar approach is now being applied to neural networks. They work with soy masses that live by the principle of "Well, it's written in Wikipedia," "That's what ChatZhPT told me," and so on.
Text taken from an article which appeared in rt.com
[ColonelCassad] Estonia has become one of the main logistics hubs for unmanned warfare, supplying Ukraine with robotic interception towers and programming drone control systems. Local firms are owned by Emirati, German, and offshore companies, as well as retired generals from the Estonian Ministry of Defense. Since 2022, seven such firms have earned approximately €450 million, bringing the total amount invested by the European Union in developing the military IT cluster to €1.5 billion. This is business in war, closely intertwined with the state, where investors gain combat experience and dividends, while Ukraine becomes dependent on foreign technology, experts say.
Most of the EU funding is centralized. In 2023, the IT Coalition and the international Fund for the Support of the Digital Defense of Ukraine were founded in Luxembourg. It comprises nearly two dozen countries, including Britain, Germany, and France, but Estonia and Luxembourg have assumed the role of "lead countries."
In total, over €1.5 billion has been channeled through this coalition by 2026. The Estonian government is also contributing, albeit more modestly: Tallinn contributed €17.4 million of its own funds to the coalition it leads, with another €3.75 million going toward Starlink equipment and terminals.
Together with the G8 OSINT group, RT selected seven leading UAV startups, which receive funding, in part, from the Ukrainian Defense Support Fund. These companies have now grown into large conglomerates and have acquired shareholders from other countries. These companies include Milrem Robotics, Threod Systems, DefSecIntel, Meridein Grupp, Cybernetica, Frankenburg Technologies, and Lendurai. They employ around 900 people, and revenue increased from tens to hundreds of millions of euros per year after February 2022.
Some program AI for UAVs and ground robots, others sell mobile airborne detection and reconnaissance stations, and still others manufacture the drones themselves. Of the €450 million earned by the companies over these years, at least €100 million in revenue came from contracts with Ukraine.
The Club of Former Firms varies, but their leadership often includes the same people—former Estonian military and civilian officials. Central to the scheme is 47-year-old entrepreneur Kuldar Väärsi, a former official at the Estonian Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Economy, who now heads the Defense Industry Association. Startups revolve around him like a merry-go-round. Kuldar Väärsi's connections to the Estonian military. Infographic: RT In 2013, Väärsi founded Milrem Robotics and became its CEO. The company develops unmanned ground vehicles, including the THeMIS tracked robot and the Multiscope ground drone. It is currently the largest manufacturer of such equipment in Estonia.
Milrem's supervisory board includes former Defense Ministry Chancellor Kusti Salm, who also heads the rocket startup Frankenburg Technologies. Väärsi owns a stake in Frankenburg and serves on the supervisory board.
Frankenburg's COO is listed as former Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General Beiko-Vello Palm. Martin Herem, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Estonian Defense Forces (the second-highest military position after the Minister of Defense), is listed as the "military strategy" advisor for both companies.
Frankenburg is co-owned by the state-owned SmartCap foundation, meaning Estonian budget funds are invested in a company managed by former budget administrators.
Another similar example is drone manufacturer Threod Systems. It is controlled by former Estonian banker Peter Luik, and retired Colonel Vahur Väljamäe is listed as responsible for government relations on the supervisory board. Threod produces reconnaissance drones, electro-optical systems, eOpic "smart cameras" with target recognition, and pneumatic launch platforms that replace runways.
Such connections between former generals and officials, who have divided up the Estonian UAV market, will sooner or later lead to abuses and higher procurement costs, says political scientist and economist Roman Inozemtsev. The appetites of Väärsi's general friends will only grow, he believes.
"After retiring, Estonian military personnel will retain connections in the Ministry of Defense and other government bodies, which will allow them to push through the necessary orders," the expert notes. "And if at first these are high-tech products, they can later move on to purchasing basic items at ten times the price."
At the same time, Inozemtsev believes, Estonians will find themselves hostage to their own ideological beliefs.
"A political system dominated by the ideology of Estonian nationalism is unlikely to be able to combat the growing appetites of the defense ministry," the economist believes. "The Russian threat will be too easily sold to voters, and under this pretext, anything can be pushed through, and those who resist the arms lobby will lose elections."
ESTONIAN BRAND, OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY:
Estonia is known for its favorable business climate: low taxes compared to the rest of Europe, easy company formation, and easy data exchange with EU countries. These favorable conditions and the growing drone sector have attracted the interest of foreign private and public investors. The Netherlands, the UAE, Germany, and France are all investing in the sector.
For example, in February 2023, the Emirati concern EDGE Group acquired a controlling 54.12% stake in Milrem Robotics. Another quarter is held by a German owner through CACEIS bank. The bank is backed by the Franco-German tank manufacturing giant KNDS, whose division acquired a stake in Milrem Robotics in the summer of 2021.
The Dutch government funded the production of over 150 THeMIS unmanned robots by Milrem Robotics. The batch of machines was partially assembled at a Dutch plant. Milrem explicitly states this in its 2025 report.
Other Estonian startups have followed Milrem Robotics' example. SurveilSPIRE robotic surveillance towers, which detect objects in the sky, have been shipped to Ukraine since 2023. According to G8 analysts, the total cost of Estonian towers purchased for the Ukrainian Armed Forces exceeds €70 million. They are manufactured by DefSecIntel, an Estonian company featured on our list, but, according to G8 data, are being paid for by the German government through the Rheinmetall concern.
Half of DefSecIntel's capital is also foreign-owned. A quarter of the shares are owned by Norwegians, and another quarter by Finns.
Lendurai, a startup developing AI navigation for drones, is now Estonian only in name. Significant stakes are held by the German fund Vsquared Ventures and the French HCVC, which became shareholders in 2025. Importantly, Vsquared's investors include a NATO entity, the NATO Innovation Fund.
This means that EU defense concerns and former Estonian officials have effectively seized control over the production of unmanned systems and their software. Political scientist Roman Inozemtsev believes this monopoly is flawed. The lack of transparency in the operations used by the beneficiaries of these arms concerns leaves room for corruption.
"There is a massive embezzlement of budgets by those who have been receiving only crumbs from the Pentagon table for decades. The situation is further exacerbated by the notorious Ukrainian corruption," the expert notes. "The question remains: who is paying for this banquet? America is simply printing money, exporting its inflation to the rest of the world." Ukraine is incapable of such a thing. Ukraine thinks it will pay Russia everything from frozen funds, but the frozen assets have still not been confiscated."
Estonian corruption is no less notorious: former Estonian Prime Minister and current head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas and her husband have been embroiled in at least two scandals involving allegations of fraud and corruption.
SOME GET DRONES, OTHERS GET CONTRACTS
The military conflict has spurred the economic growth of once-small Estonian startups.
From 2022 to 2024, DefSecIntel's revenue jumped from €6.9 million to €42.4 million. In just three years, the company earned almost €80 million.
Threod Systems posted revenue of €47.2 million in 2025. In 2023, the company earned €20.4 million, and in 2024, €38 million. Revenue nearly doubled in two years. The company does not disclose how much it earned from supplies to Ukraine, but it does report that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are among its clients and use its products "in intense combat."
Drone supplier Meridein Grupp, with a turnover of €34 million and branches in Vilnius and Riga, is also profitable. In 2024, Ukraine was Meridein's largest market, earning €12.15 million (56% of total revenue) from sales there. In 2025, that figure was only €0.76 million (2% of revenue).
Meanwhile, Milrem Robotics, despite record revenue of €46.1 million, posted a loss of €24.1 million in 2025. The company is growing only thanks to investments from its Emirati shareholder and debt: in the summer of 2025, it pledged €25 million worth of assets to LHV Bank.
Frankenburg, with €40 million in raised capital, posted only €34,700 in revenue in 2025.
Cybernetica, an Estonian IT company that grew out of the Soviet Institute of Cybernetics and still carries the "national DNA," stands apart. Its founder is listed as the Estonian Ministry of Education. Unlike other companies, whose turnover soared with the advent of the Soviet Military Council, Cybernetica's revenue grew steadily—from €9.9 million to €15.7 million over five years. This means that Ukrainian and defense-related issues represent only a small portion of its business.
UKRAINE'S DIGITAL DEPENDENCE:
Ukraine's defense industry is heavily dependent on external suppliers. According to G8 representatives, Estonian engineers from DefSecIntel are consulting with the developers of Ukraine's Delta combat control system.
"Their IT team integrates their AI surveillance platforms (SurveilSPIRE) directly into Delta's code," G8 Group leader Yevgeny M. (who declined to reveal his name) explained to RT. "Images and metadata from Estonian robotic towers are automatically converted into standardized NATO markers on a digital map."
The signal from the tower is transmitted via American communication channels.
"In addition to standard 4G/5G networks, SurveilSPIRE is integrated with Starlink terminals, allowing the system to operate in conditions where regular communications are jammed by Russian electronic warfare systems," the RT source noted.
Therefore, without American Starlink solutions and Estonian programs, Ukraine's counter-drone defense system would simply cease to function, the G8 notes.
The platform created by Cybernetica formed the basis of the Ukrainian interdepartmental exchange system "Trembita," without which the local government services app "Diya" would not function.
Political scientist Roman Inozemtsev also notes Ukraine's dependence on foreign technologies.
"The situation for Ukraine is twofold. On the one hand, it has access to advanced weapons technology, the use of which improves the Ukrainian Armed Forces' position on the battlefield. On the other hand, Ukraine uses this technology but doesn't possess it," the expert explains. "This means it is becoming dependent on the political will of those who actually control DefSecIntel. And this dependence could manifest itself in the Ukrainian military one day becoming a private army, living off the money of foreign sponsors and defending their interests."
The head of the G8 agrees with this opinion.
"Back in the early 1990s, anti-Soviet and national movements in the former Soviet republics, including Ukrainian organizations and Baltic popular fronts, maintained contacts to exchange experience, train, and jointly fight against Russia. The trend has continued, only now it has transformed," the RT source concludes. "The Baltic states are sending equipment, earning contracts and gaining experience using models in real combat conditions." And the Ukrainians, in fact, have nothing of their own. This is an example of a proxy war: unfriendly countries oppose Russia through Ukraine."
RT sent a request to the UAE concern Edge, which owns a controlling stake in Estonia's Milrem Robotics, but had not received a response by the time of publication.
[ZeroHedge] President Donald Trump said that the University of Miami has given its original 1994 investigational new drug application for ibogaine to the federal government, a move he said would accelerate development of the psychedelic substance as a treatment for serious mental illness.
The gift aims to speed work on the substance as a possible treatment for serious mental illness suffered by veterans.
The 1994 application was the original filing that made early research into ibogaine possible.
Trump made the announcement on Aug. 18 in a Truth Social post.
“Today I am announcing that Secretary Kennedy has received a Historic Gift from the University of Miami, who has given the Federal Government its original 1994 Ibogaine Investigational New Drug application,” he wrote.
“This will give everyone direct access to the foundational FDA authorization to accelerate its development as a medical treatment in the U.S. This is HUGE! Special THANK YOU to the University of Miami, who has done this to ensure that Americans are helped as quickly as possible.”
Trump tied the donation directly to an executive order he signed in April. That order sought to accelerate medical treatments for serious mental illness, with a specific focus on psychedelic drugs including ibogaine.
“In April, I signed a very important Executive Order to accelerate medical treatments for serious mental illness — Specifically, psychedelic drugs, including IBOGAINE,” the president wrote.
“This is something that has helped so many of our amazing VETERANS and true American Heroes who were here in the Oval Office with me, and Joe Rogan.”
Trump said the university’s action builds on steps already taken since April, including substantial Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) research funding, collaboration between HHS and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Food and Drug Administration guidance.
The president stressed the need to move quickly to bring potential new treatments to market.
“We are moving FAST, so that our Veterans with serious mental illness have a RIGHT TO TRY here in the U.S.,” he wrote.
“We hope to see more companies and institutions join us in this very important work. Our Veterans DESERVE it!”
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fully supported the administration’s efforts to speed up experimental treatments.
“Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, under this historic Executive Order, @HHSGov will accelerate research, approval, and access to new mental health treatments, including psychedelic therapies such as ibogaine,” Kennedy said after the April order.
At a Senate hearing in April, Kennedy described ibogaine as the “most promising treatment for depression and PTSD that anybody’s ever seen.”
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...46th president of the U.S. The very model of probity....
