The Trump administration has paused construction of border infrastructure in Big Bend National Park in Texas following public criticism of the controversial project.
Crews were filmed bulldozing pristine desert wilderness earlier this month, sparking rare bipartisan pushback.

The construction is part of a larger plan for the Big Bend region to build hundreds of miles of walls, vehicle barriers and other border infrastructure.

The Department of Homeland Security waived requirements that federal contractors comply with a broad slate of environmental laws,
including the Endangered Species Act, to proceed with construction in the national park.
“I think the administration made such a massive miscalculation when they sicced their bulldozers on this great American national park,”
says Laiken Jordahl, a national public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity.
Laiken says the movement to protect Big Bend cuts across partisan and ideological lines and is “a force to be reckoned with.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/19/big_bend_border_wall

California’s Board of Forestry has approved sweeping Zone Zero rules,

banning plants within one foot of homes
and most combustibles within five feet

for millions in high fire-risk communities.

Existing homeowners in state responsibility and very high hazard zones
will have up to five years to comply with Zone Zero,
while new construction must adhere immediately.

Officials say the changes are crucial
as worsening wildfires have destroyed tens of thousands of homes;

studies show hardened houses and cleared Zone Zero improve survival and insurability.
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2026-08-19/state-approves-zone-zero-fire-safe-landscaping-rules

For years Natalie Harp has only been a minor character in the Trump Cinematic Universe.

But all that changed this week when Jon Ossoff, a Democratic senator and possible 2028 presidential contender,
accused Trump in a campaign speech of wanting to “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie” instead of doing his job.

The remark triggered a tsunami of online speculation about the precise nature of the relationship
and a furious backlash.
On Monday Trump lashed out at the CNN reporter Kristen Holmes
after she asked a question about Ossoff’s comments,
while the White House’s anonymous “Rapid Response” team posted at Holmes:
“Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question.”

Far from dousing the flames, the White House had in fact poured kerosene on them,
inadvertently enhancing Ossoff’s national standing among Democrats
and inviting millions of people to ask the same question.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/19/natalie-harp-trump-aide?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Five news reporters and two members of the military who were invited to an event at Vandenberg space force base in California
were briefly 👉 detained at gunpoint by security officers who thought they were gatecrashers, according to local news reports.

The incident happened Monday ahead of an invitation-only groundbreaking for a new training facility for missile operators at the federal airfield near Santa Barbara, California.

Reporters from Noozhawk and KEYT were among those detained, and both outlets published articles detailing the detainment.

In a statement to Noozhawk, a Space Launch Delta 30 public affairs spokesperson called the incident a breakdown in communication.

“Vandenberg space force base is experiencing an increased number of unauthorized entry attempts,” the statement said.
“Every potential unauthorized presence must be treated as a legitimate threat until proven otherwise.
While we recognize this may have been unsettling, the security of the base and its personnel is our priority.”

The reporters and military members were part of a convoy being escorted on to the base by uniformed public affairs staff in a government minivan
when they were suddenly ordered out of their vehicles with their hands up, according to news reports.

Officers pointed guns,
sirens were sounded,
and barricades went up at the gate entrance, KEYT reported.

The two military members assigned to the base
– one enlisted and one a junior officer
– were handcuffed and placed in base vehicles,
while the civilians were ordered to sit on a curb, Noozhawk reported.

The reporters for outlets also including KSBY-TV and the Santa Maria Times/Lompoc Record
were held for more than 30 minutes, causing them to miss the event.
All were let go without further incident.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/19/reporters-held-gunpoint-california-space-force-base?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Goodbye, Montecito.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly moving to U.K.

Harry and Markle will maintain their Montecito chateau as well as their Portugal getaway pad
but will reside at a private, non-royal home in the U.K.

The couple wed in 2018 and stepped away from their senior-royal duties in 2020 to head west in an unprecedented move.

Although many were clutching their pearls over what the U.K. tabloids dubbed Megxit

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-08-19/prince-harry-meghan-markle-leaving-socal-to-go-back-to-u-k

#DrumFire

Area of the 4600 Block of Drum Canyon Road, Los Alamos
Santa Barbara County

https://share.watchduty.org/camera/YWxlcnR3ZXN0OjI2Nzg?image_url=https://cameras.alertcalifornia.org/public-camera-data/Axis-LosAlamos1/latest-frame.jpg?rqts=1787188726.315475

The Australian state of Victoria was due to enforce a legal right to work from home starting September 2026.
But just weeks away from its implementation, the new premier, Ben Carroll, has announced a year’s delay in response to fierce business opposition.
Thousands of miles away, in Portugal, parents of young children already have a legal right to work from home without needing their employers’ approval.
All of these developments raise the question:
How should workers be given a legal right to work from home?
There is an argument that firms should have full discretion over their employees’ working arrangements, including whether they can work remotely.
However, by giving bosses complete control over such decisions,
we are in danger of affirming the importance of profitability over wellbeing and ignoring the needs of working parents.
⭐️Workers’ wellbeing ⭐️
One justification for taking remote work policy out of bosses’ hands is to boost workers’ wellbeing.
There are plenty of reasons why you might want to work remotely.
Maybe you want to avoid a long, sweaty and costly commute.
Maybe you like to go on a jog during your lunchbreak.
Maybe you need to pick up your child from school.
When bosses have full control over their remote work policy, your preferences can be treated as irrelevant to that decision.
https://theconversation.com/working-from-home-should-be-a-right-not-a-reward-290001

An experimental personalized cancer vaccine from Merck and Moderna showed positive initial results in its first-ever late-stage trial.
The combination regimen met the main study goal of significantly extending the time patients lived without their melanoma returning, compared with Keytruda alone, and also reduced the risk of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body.
The initial data suggests that the combo could serve as a new treatment option for the deadliest form of skin cancer, and validate a new personalized treatment approach.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/19/moderna-merck-cancer-vaccine-shows-initial-late-stage-melanoma-data.html

A team of companies and universities from the UK, Spain, Estonia and Sweden is exploring
whether old satellites could be taken apart and reused directly in space.

Their work, known as DEXTER, was launched in 2025 and is led by Leonard Felicetti,
a space engineering associate professor at Cranfield University in the UK.

“We are cluttering space with new objects,” said Felicetti.
“What we want to do is to try and reuse the material that is already there"

https://projects.research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/en/horizon-magazine/rethinking-space-junk-age-satellite-overload

Billionaire-backed group
"Building a Better California"
put $5 million into the campaign against Proposition 40,
escalating a costly fight over California’s proposed one-time wealth tax on billionaires.

Proposition 40 would levy a 5% tax
on billionaires’ assets
to raise $100 billion for healthcare, pitting California Democrats, unions and progressives against one another.

While unions representing teachers and firefighters front the opposition,
billionaire donors are bankrolling parallel ballot measures to weaken or void the tax.

A handful of billionaires have pumped more than $156 million into Building a Better California, mostly from Brin,
who has given more than $100 million to the group.

It has also received more than $17 million from venture capitalist
L. John Doerr,
$12 million from Ripple Labs founder Chris Larsen and
$3 million from philanthropist and former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

In addition to opposing the wealth tax,
Building a Better California announced support for Proposition 3,
which would permanently extend an existing tax on certain high earners,
along with two housing bonds.

The group has already spent more than $127 million on two competing ballot measures written to weaken or nullify the billionaire tax:

Proposition 41 would require audits for new state special taxes and prohibit new taxes from being excluded from the state spending limit.

Proposition 42 would ban new taxes on assets such as as personal property, intellectual property and retirement accounts.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-08-17/billionaires-open-purse-to-fight-california-wealth-tax

Since China offered a truce in the trade war last October following its threat to deprive the United States of rare-earth magnets,
the Trump administration has been happy to stop escalating.

After all, imports from China have been falling, down by 40% in the year to June, compared with the same period in 2024.
Best to declare victory and call it a day.

But the US hasn’t won this battle
– and there’s strong evidence to show it’s afraid to really try.

Last week the White House was forced to accept that not buying Chinese stuff from China is not equivalent to not buying Chinese stuff.
While China’s share of US imports has fallen pretty dramatically, its share of the total value added in US imports has not.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro was in a huff on Thursday, furious about Chinese motors bolted on to recliners imported from Vietnam.
He cited an analysis by the commerce department that concluded $67bn of goods from China were transhipped through Mexico, India and Vietnam in 2025.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/19/china-trump-trade-weak-yuan?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Not another Trump sycophant': Democrats lambast Trump's nomination of Overton for FDA chief

And we’re already getting some sense from senators of how that might go. Democrat Patty Murray, of Washington, who sits on the Senate health committee, shared this on X:

Heidi Overton is a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA.
The American people deserve someone who will put science and facts FIRST,
not another Trump sycophant who will make it their mission to attack medication abortion.
I will vote NO.

Democrat Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, said:
Trump is throwing down the gauntlet to both sides in the Senate
– nominating an FDA head who demeans vaccines, denounces reproductive rights, & degrades science.
Republicans should have learned some lessons about needing to stand up now
– not handwringing later about Trump officials who threaten public health.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/aug/19/mary-peltola-dan-sullivan-alaska-primary-election-us-senate-florida-california-wyoming--donald-trump-us-politics-latest?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Tina Peters, the former top election official in Mesa county, Colorado,
was convicted of four felonies and three misdemeanors in 2024
after she allowed an activist affiliated with Lindell to impersonate a county employee and attend an upgrade of the county’s Dominion voting software.

The Gateway Pundit, the far-right news website, subsequently published screenshots of sensitive county information after that breach.

Peters was released from prison in June after Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, a Democrat, commuted her nine-year prison sentence.

The hiring of Peters was alarming, said Matt Crane, the executive director of the Colorado county clerk’s association.

“Tina Peters and others in the election-denial movement appear to have found another weak link in the chain in California,” he said.
“The idea that anyone would bring Tina Peters in as an election expert is almost beyond parody.
Maybe she’s an expert on leaving ballots sitting in a ballot box for months after an election.
Maybe she’s an expert on committing crimes in the process of trying, and completely failing, to prove election fraud.

“When it comes to actually administering secure, lawful elections, Tina Peters is the last person anyone should be looking to for expertise,” he added.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/17/election-denier-tina-peters-shasta-county?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The US Department of Justice has defended its prosecution of former FBI director James Comey, claiming in new court documents there is “no serious dispute” that his social media post last year featuring a photo of seashells arranged to read “8647” could be interpreted as a threat against Donald Trump.
“There is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey’s post could read it to mean ‘Kill President Trump’,” prosecutors wrote in a document filed on Tuesday in response to efforts by Comey’s efforts to have the case dismissed.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/19/justice-department-defends-james-comey-prosecution?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Primaries in Florida, Alaska and Wyoming held on Tuesday provided the latest view into how voters are feeling ahead of November’s US midterm elections.

One candidate aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) netted an extraordinary win
while another was defeated handily.
Donald Trump’s handpicked candidates received a mixed reception from voters.
In Alaska, voters chose their fighters for one of the year’s marquee US Senate races,
and in Florida, extremism remained alive and well among Republicans.
Here’s what we learned from the results:


1. Democratic socialists win their first statewide victory
In a shocking upset, state representative Angie Nixon beat Alexander Vindman for the Democratic nomination in Florida’s US Senate race, becoming the first member of the DSA to win a statewide primary, although the group did not endorse her.
Her odds of victory in November against Republican Ashley Moody appear long, but Nixon’s win was the latest sign that Democratic voters are willing to buck the preferences of their party’s establishment in favor of candidates whose policies and personalities they prefer. Vindman, known for his role as a whistleblower during Trump’s first term, had a significant cash advantage and backing from leading Democrats, yet lost by a wide margin.


2. The US Senate battle is set in Alaska
As expected, the Republican senator Dan Sullivan won his primary in Alaska, and former congresswoman Mary Peltola won the Democratic nomination to take him on in what will be one of the top US Senate contests of the year.
The state conducts non-partisan primaries in which the top four vote-getters advance, and while counting is not complete, the Associated Press reports that another Republican candidate named Dan Sullivan and Democrat David B Leslie are in the lead to appear on the November ballot.
In what may be a troubling sign for Sullivan in the midterms, Peltola led him in the primary, winning 48% of the vote to the Republican senator’s 42.8%.


3. No clear answers for progressives
Progressives did not win everywhere. In south Florida, the Democratic congressman Jared Moskowitz won his primary, easily beating DSA-endorsed challenger Oliver Larkin.
In the hours that followed, the congressman harshly criticized the DSA and the popular streamer Hasan Piker for campaigning against his renomination, arguing that because his district has been gerrymandered by Florida’s legislature to be more easily winnable for Republicans, he’s the best candidate to keep it in Democrats’ hands in the US midterm elections.


4. Democrats continue to show strength down the ballot 
A handful of local and special elections offered further evidence that Democratic voters were fired up this year. Pennsylvania statehouse candidate Brandon Dukes won a special election against his Republican opponent Scott Timko, in a seat Trump carried by 18 percentage points in 2024.
And though Florida has become increasingly conservative and Republican in the past decade, Democrats ousted a Moms for Liberty board member in Sarasota and won an at-large city council seat in Jacksonville.


5. Extremism in the Republican party was on display 
The primary elections included several extremist candidates.
Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, backed by neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes, lost badly in the Republican primary, but still picked up support in precincts around college campuses.
Election denier Chuck Gray won his bid for the at-large US House seat in Wyoming.
Congressman Randy Fine, who has been criticized for Islamophobic and homophobic statements, survived a primary challenge from antisemitic and transphobic influencer and businessman Dan Bilzerian


6. Trump endorsees lose
Several candidates Trump had endorsed were not to voters’ tastes. The president had backed state superintendent of public instruction Megan Degenfelder in Wyoming’s Republican gubernatorial primary, but she lost to state senator Eric Barlow.

Congressman Cory Mills lost his primary in Florida to former TV reporter Ryan Elijah, while a former official from Trump’s first term, Catalina Lauf, failed in a bid for a nomination to the US House.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/19/key-takeaways-primaries-florida-alaska-wyoming?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is proposing to subsidize liability insurance for state and local officers who are trained and deputized to enforce federal immigration laws, according to a planning document published Friday.

ICE’s partnerships with local departments have soared since Trump returned to the White House last year
and may get an additional boost with liability insurance
by removing a hurdle that has made some local police departments reluctant to join.
Under the plan, officers would purchase insurance covering up to $500,000 in personal liability,
which typically funds legal fees, settlements and judgments.
Officers would be reimbursed up to $250 annually — roughly what the insurance is expected to cost.
One prominent critic of ICE’s immigration crackdown said the program would be
yet another way for officers to avoid personal accountability for misconduct
https://apnews.com/article/ice-liability-insurance-misconduct-civil-lawsuit-af330d49dcb9e40295c1fea4fc9ae6f6

FLORIDA: “Mike Caruso, Palm Beach County clerk + staunch ally of Gov. DeSantis, arrested on child sex abuse charges for allegedly molesting his grandson… could potentially face death penalty under a law he championed as a Republican state legislator…” www.rawstory.com/mike-caruso-...

State Representative Angie Nixon of Jacksonville,
a progressive firebrand who ran an underdog campaign,
won the Democratic nomination for Senate in Florida, according to The Associated Press,
the latest left-wing victory against establishment Democrats.

In a huge upset, Ms. Nixon, 42, defeated Alex Vindman,
a former national security official who was a top witness in President Trump’s first impeachment trial.
His entry was largely welcomed by Democratic Party leaders hoping to make Florida, which leans right,
at least competitive this fall.
Mr. Vindman far out-raised Ms. Nixon and was the clear front-runner in the race.

But there was no public polling ahead of the primary.
Pollsters most likely saw little upside to spending money in a state that Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2024.

Ms. Nixon, a union organizer, ran a grass-roots campaign,
often driving herself to events across the state
— clad in her signature hot pink outfits
— and relying on volunteers and union members for field organizing.

In a low-turnout primary, they bet that reaching enough Democratic voters directly,
and talking to them about issues such as unaffordable health care and child care,
would drive them to the polls to support Ms. Nixon.

The strategy succeeded:

Ms. Nixon defeated Mr. Vindman across Florida’s urban counties,
including Miami-Dade and Broward,
where Mr. Vindman has lived since he moved to the state in 2023.

“We came up short,
but we have Angie Nixon,”
Mr. Vindman told supporters inside an American Legion hall near Fort Lauderdale in his concession speech on Tuesday night.

“Rep. Nixon ran a strong campaign.
She challenged the status quo.
She put in the hard work, and tonight, she earned the nomination.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/us/politics/florida-democratic-senate-primary-results.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

RE: https://c.im/@cdarwin/117120453168614178

OTHERING

“From the beginning, mass deportation was never about public safety.

It was always about targeting anyone and everyone this administration deems undesirable,
for whatever reason,”
said Joanna Kuebler, Chief of Programs at America’s Voice.

“Stephen Miller and Donald Trump have total disdain for our immigrant community,
our civil liberties,
and the US constitution.

They prefer the monstrosity they have created:
an out-of-control, trigger-happy ICE agency to do their bidding.”

“This kind of chaos and recklessness has left death and destruction in its wake,” she continued.

“We saw it with Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January
and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastián last month,
and if it continues,
we will see it again.

Congress and DHS owe the American people real accountability
before this administration’s recklessness costs someone else their life.”

The harassment of two Latina U.S. citizens comes as The New York Times reports on the civil rights nightmare unleashed by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh,
who authored the disgraceful opinion giving the green light to what are now called
“Kavanaugh stops.”

“Body-camera video and other court evidence capture federal agents using slurs and targeting Latinos
while bypassing white bystanders during immigration sweeps in Chicago and Los Angeles,”
The NY Times reported.

In one court declaration, U.S. citizen Angel Santiago Tafolla
“said that agents chased him
— a dark-skinned Latino man
— while ignoring his light-skinned co-workers at the Orange County carwash.

One agent discharged a Taser, arcing electricity in front of Mr. Tafolla,
whose clothes were wet from his work.

He was handcuffed and loaded into a van, according to the document,” the report said.

“I kept saying
‘I’m American,’
but they just kept telling me I was Latino and my documents were false
and to stop talking,” Santiago Tafolla said.

Court documents examined by The NY Times further revealed federal immigration enforcement agents paid with our tax dollars using slurs against Latinos as a matter of routine.

“Tonk” is a “derogatory term typically used to refer to Mexican immigrants and intended to echo the sound of agents’ flashlights striking their heads”
while “wet” is “shorthand for the slur wetback,”
the report said.

Other messages reported by HuffPost also show Border Patrol agents describing individuals as
‘an influx of rats’ from ‘whatamala, el salvado and hondodas.’”

Not even mass deportation agents themselves have been spared from their coworkers’ racist taunts.

“In another text chain, Border Patrol personnel mocked a co-worker for ‘marrying a tonk’ because ‘he cant find a legal chick here WOW,’” HuffPost continued.

https://americasvoicecnn.substack.com/p/when-it-comes-to-ice-no-one-is-off?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1728374&post_id=211622337&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=lnel&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email