A mother and daughter attended Sunday&#8217;s WNBA game between the Indiana Fever and the Atlanta Dream — but with just two minutes left in overtime, they were told to cover up their &#8220;offensive&#8221; pro-woman t-shirts or leave the arena.
Kasey Thomason and her daughter Annie said that after shelling out thousands for good seats, they were approached by arena security and told to cover their XX-XY Athletics shirts or leave. Kasey&#8217;s shirt featured the XX-XY logo in red, white, and blue; Annie&#8217;s shirt, with an XX on the front, came from the Riley Gaines collection and read, &#8220;For the Girls,&#8221; across the back.
Both Kasey and Annie said that they had come to the game — and had chosen to wear those particular shirts — to show their support for Fever shooting guard Sophie Cunningham. Cunningham, who has repeatedly declared her position as not political, unapologetically stood up for women and girls in sports, saying that they deserved a space where they could compete without being forced to take on biological men.
When the security guard first approached, Kasey asked if their shirts were a problem — and was told that someone had found them &#8220;offensive,&#8221; according to a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/mom-daughter-told-cover-xx-xy-t-shirts-threatened-ejection-fever-dream-game">report</a> from Fox News Digital.
&#8220;Biology and science is offensive?&#8221; Kasey asked. But with just two minutes to go in overtime, Kasey and Annie did put on the offered Atlanta Dream &#8220;Wellness &amp; Health Night&#8221; shirts so that they would not miss the end of the game. The Fever ultimately came away with the 95-91 win.
The two said they believe it was another fan who had complained about their attire — a woman wearing a t-shirt that read &#8220;Trans Kids Belong In Sports&#8221; and was previously featured on the Jumbotron during the game.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Hey <a href="https://x.com/AtlantaDream?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AtlantaDream</a> &amp; <a href="https://x.com/StateFarmArena?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StateFarmArena</a>,
Why was this woman not told to cover-up her “Trans Kids Belong” t-shirt like the mom &amp; daughter were told with their <a href="https://x.com/xx_xyathletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@xx_xyathletics</a> shirts?
Seems like a double standard to me… <a href="https://t.co/SAkXiYjrU3">pic.twitter.com/SAkXiYjrU3</a>
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) <a href="https://x.com/JonnyRoot_/status/2089339085324497356?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;She was the one that told on us,&#8221; they said, adding that after they&#8217;d put on the &#8220;Wellness &amp; Health Night&#8221; shirts, that same woman had approached them and said, &#8220;I like your shirt.&#8221;
It was unclear whether she&#8217;d also been approached about her shirt, but later in the game, Kasey and Annie noticed that her jacket was zipped up to cover the message.
The WNBA has rules regarding signs and attire, stating that no &#8220;obscene&#8221; or &#8220;indecent&#8221; messaging is allowed at the games. In addition, State Farm Arena&#8217;s rules state that &#8220;clothing, garments or signs displaying explicit language, profanity or derogatory characterization towards any person(s)&#8221; will not be allowed.
The security guard did not state which of those rules Kasey and Annie might have run afoul of, saying only that they&#8217;d been determined &#8220;offensive.&#8221;

Mother And Daughter Forced To Cover Up Pro-Woman T-Shirts At WNBA Game

SEE IT: Sophie Cunningham Fans Targeted Again

jennifer sey

Politics

Riley Gaines

Sophie Cunningham

Sports

Transgender

WNBA

xx-xy athletics

Actress Hayden Panettiere, best known for roles in &#8220;Nashville&#8221; and the NBC drama &#8220;Heroes,&#8221; has died at the age of 36.
A representative for the actress <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/08/16/us-news/actress-hayden-panettiere-dead-at-36-report/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=nypost">confirmed the news</a> on Sunday in a statement delivered first to ABC News: &#8220;It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen.&#8221;
Panettiere had been very open in recent years about her history of substance abuse and her battle with postpartum depression — and had just published her memoir, &#8220;This Is Me: A Reckoning,&#8221; in May.
The actress was raised in New York by her parents, actress and producer Lesley Vogel and Alan Lee “Skip” Panettiere, a retired New York City Fire Department captain — and she landed her first acting gig at just 11-months old.
&#8220;My introduction to acting was actually at 11 months old,&#8221; Panettiere said during a 2023 interview with <a href="https://www.etonline.com/hayden-panettiere-dishes-on-her-biggest-roles-from-a-wendys-commercial-to-remember-the-titans">Entertainment Tonight</a>, referencing a Playskool Toy Train commercial. &#8220;I don’t know if that would really be an introduction to acting, because I don’t think acting was involved at that point. I didn’t have lines, I was just playing.&#8221;
Panettiere went on to land guest roles on several soap operas and other shows like &#8220;Law &amp; Order: SVU,&#8221; but it was not until she landed the role of Claire Bennet — the indestructible cheerleader on NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Heroes&#8221; — that her career really got off the ground.
When &#8220;Heroes&#8221; ended in 2010, Panettiere landed another series — &#8220;Nashville&#8221; — that ran from 2012 to 2018.
Her on-again, off-again relationship with heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko lasted from 2009-2011 and 2013-2018. They had one daughter together, Kaya, who was born in 2014.
Panettiere had a younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who passed away in 2023 due to cardiomegaly — an enlarged heart — and aortic valve complications. He was 28 years old.
No cause of death has yet been reported for the actress.

Hayden Panettiere

Actress Hayden Panettiere Dead At 36

Celebrities

Television

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) handed her party a problem it spent Sunday morning refusing to answer when she laughed off a slate of far-left policy positions as the excesses of &#8220;Woke 1.&#8221;
Two of the biggest Sunday shows put Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s remark to Democratic guests as a loyalty test, and both guests gave a near-identical non-answer. NBC&#8217;s Kristen Welker and CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper each raised it on &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EukfmKkYwS4">Meet the Press</a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCBVnEyVdwQ">State of the Union</a>,&#8221; respectively.
Welker put the question to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) directly, quoting Ocasio-Cortez and asking whether he agreed.
&#8220;She said &#8216;Woke 1 was crazy,&#8217; effectively suggesting some progressive views just went too far in the 2020s,&#8221; Welker said. &#8220;Do you agree with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that Woke 1 was crazy?&#8221;
&#8220;Well, I don&#8217;t know what these labels mean,&#8221; Khanna replied, immediately pivoting to a recitation of his own record: &#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what I&#8217;ve always stood for. I have never been for defunding police.&#8221; He went on to volunteer that he has &#8220;called for abolishing ICE.&#8221;
Welker followed up by asking about Francesca Hong — the Madison democratic socialist who narrowly lost Wisconsin&#8217;s Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday — and the resurfaced post in which she called for getting rid of Thanksgiving. &#8220;Did that kind of rhetoric hurt the progressive cause?&#8221; she asked.
Khanna refused to give an inch. &#8220;I really feel bad for what happened to Francesca. And I know it&#8217;s fashionable to distance yourself. I am not,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I was proud to endorse her and she&#8217;s far more than the caricature that was presented.&#8221;
Notably, Ocasio-Cortez herself never endorsed Hong. Asked in the same ABC News <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFwAnMLBSOw">interview</a> that produced the &#8220;Woke 1&#8221; line whether she would, she said her focus was &#8220;winning back the Congress&#8221; — putting her in line with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and the national Democratic Socialists of America, all of whom stayed out. Khanna did not.
On &#8220;State of the Union,&#8221; Tapper raised an almost identical line of questioning with Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), referencing Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s comments and pressing Moore for his view.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Democrat Governor of Maryland Wes Moore plays dumb when asked if Democrats went too far by calling to defund the police:
“I said I don’t know what woke 1 is, but frankly I don&#8217;t know what woke 2 or woke 3 is either.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/PFVN265qYw">pic.twitter.com/PFVN265qYw</a>
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/2088985603874463944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to have acknowledged the overreach of the 2020 era of progressivism last week. She said, quote, &#8216;Woke 1 was crazy,'&#8221; Tapper said. &#8220;You were asked about that. You said you didn&#8217;t know what Woke 1 was. So I&#8217;ve been trying to figure out how to ask this question. There&#8217;s no official definition. I think Woke 1 generally refers to what are now viewed as excesses of the progressive movement — defund the police, a far-left view of the world that views the world in terms of only oppressor and oppressee, language policing, holiday policing, cancel culture positions that turned off a lot of middle-of-the-road voters. What is your take on that era, even if that wasn&#8217;t part of how you ran or thought or governed — and what does the Democratic Party need to do if they hope to win outside of blue states and congressional districts?&#8221;
Moore took a position almost identical to Khanna&#8217;s, replying, &#8220;Well, it&#8217;s funny, it&#8217;s true — I said I don&#8217;t know what Woke 1 is, but frankly, I don&#8217;t know what Woke 2 or Woke 3 is either.&#8221; Moore then pivoted to gas prices, recounting a conversation with a woman at a Delmarva Shorebirds game who told him she can&#8217;t afford to drive to her doctor&#8217;s appointments. Tapper did not follow up.
Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-has-an-excuse-for-the-lefts-most-radical-woke-1-era">further popularized the phrase</a> during an August 9 appearance on ABC&#8217;s &#8220;This Week,&#8221; where she too was attempting to put some distance between herself and the less popular policies of the far left. Anchor Jonathan Karl had asked her about Hong&#8217;s record. The line wasn&#8217;t hers: she borrowed it from New York City Councilman Chi Ossé, a fellow socialist who deployed it in May while explaining away his own 2021 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/09/nyregion/nyc-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-freezing-eggs.html">declaration</a> that &#8220;a cis white man should not be the next speaker of the Council.&#8221;
“I have a local city councilman that has this saying, ‘Woke 1 was crazy,&#8217;” Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFwAnMLBSOw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Karl</a> during an interview. “What’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.”
She went on to blame the pandemic for the era&#8217;s excesses while insisting the debates it produced were worthwhile.
&#8220;I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place. And I actually think that the discussions that were had in that time were quite fruitful,&#8221; she said.

Maryland Gov. Moore And Utah Gov. Cox Speak At National Press Club On Bipartisanship

Democrats Suddenly Can’t Define ‘Woke’ After AOC Says It Was ‘Crazy’

Dems Scramble To Break Free Of AOC's 'Woke 1' Label

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Jake Tapper

Kristen Welker

Media

Ro Khanna

Wes Moore

Woke Culture

One person is dead, homes have been swept off their foundations and more than 130,000 customers are without power as Tropical Storm Lala grinds westward across the Hawaiian Islands, a day after it brushed the Big Island as a Category 1 hurricane.
Gov. Josh Green (D-HI) said Saturday evening that one person was killed in a storm-related car crash on the Big Island&#8217;s southern end, and that 19 roofs had been lost and at least three hospitals were running on generator power. Hours later, flash flooding tore through the coastal communities of Naalehu and Waiohinu.
&#8220;Several occupied homes may have been swept off their foundations, and based on that, civil defense has initiated a search and rescue mission,&#8221; Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda said overnight. Responders went looking for people who had called 911 but could not be reached through the floodwaters.
&#8220;What makes this very challenging is that there&#8217;s rushing water, there&#8217;s debris, and there&#8217;s boulders on the road and it&#8217;s dark,&#8221; Alameda said.
Lala, since downgraded to tropical storm status, battered several of the islands with strong winds and heavy rains without officially making landfall on any of them. Roughly 65% of electric customers on the Big Island were without power Sunday morning, and more than 130,000 households were dark across Hawaii&#8217;s three largest islands, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/08/16/g-s1-138926/lala-tropical-storm-hawaii-hurricane">according</a> to NPR. A flood watch remains in effect for Oahu, Kauai and Niihau through late Sunday night.
Honolulu Police <a href="https://x.com/honolulupolice/status/2088939560977965347">released a statement</a>, warning residents not to travel unless absolutely necessary and noting that dispatchers had already fielded more than 100 storm-related calls.
&#8220;Officers are directing traffic and closing unsafe roadways. Crews have responded to numerous downed trees and debris, including multiple trees that fell along Pali Highway,&#8221; the statement read. &#8220;HPD is also coordinating with the Hawaiʻi National Guard and other first responder agencies. National Guard all-terrain vehicles capable of navigating high water and flooded areas have been strategically pre-positioned across the island and are ready for rapid deployment if needed.&#8221;
Up to eight inches of rain may still fall on Kauai, and tropical storm warnings remain in effect across the entire state.
Torrential rains made Rainbow Falls — in Hilo on the Big Island (Hawai&#8217;i) — unrecognizable &#8230;
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Rainbow Falls in Hilo, Hawaii, is roaring as Hurricane Lala brought torrential rain this weekend. <a href="https://t.co/lFGGkduy24">pic.twitter.com/lFGGkduy24</a>
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) <a href="https://x.com/accuweather/status/2088989303489827195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8230; and turned local roads into rivers.
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Massive debris flow taking place at our condos south of Pahala. This isn’t a river, this is our road, local that lives here says he’s never seen anything close to this in 25 years.
Many homes in this area may be in very serious danger, not a good situation. <a href="https://x.com/hashtag/Lala?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Lala</a> <a href="https://t.co/ooAiR4JoSx">pic.twitter.com/ooAiR4JoSx</a>
— Max Olson (@MesoMax919) <a href="https://x.com/MesoMax919/status/2088901905212977541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Lala even produced a summer blizzard at the summit of Mauna Kea — the dormant volcano that is Hawaii&#8217;s highest point, at nearly 13,800 feet — where forecasters clocked a 140 mph gust.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It&#8217;s happening. Hurricane Lala is currently producing SNOW on the summit of Mauna Kea <a href="https://t.co/kwz1RNm0Yl">pic.twitter.com/kwz1RNm0Yl</a>
— Greg Diamond (@gdimeweather) <a href="https://x.com/gdimeweather/status/2088791430982479875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Downed trees in Hana, on Maui&#8217;s east coast, trapped vehicles on the road.
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Giant tree comes crashing down on car blocking Ulaino Road in Hāna, East Maui leaving some people trapped.
Mahalo nui to <a href="https://x.com/mauinick?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mauinick</a> &amp; county crews for helping the man in this vehicle get out safely! He walked away with not even a scratch! <a href="https://x.com/hashtag/mauinokaoi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mauinokaoi</a> <a href="https://t.co/AyXa0hxUsb">pic.twitter.com/AyXa0hxUsb</a>
— Chelsea Davis (@ChelseaDavisHNN) <a href="https://x.com/ChelseaDavisHNN/status/2088819284726448146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Had Lala come ashore, it would have been only the third hurricane landfall in Hawaii in the modern record. Hurricane Dot hit Kauai in 1959; Hurricane Iniki, a Category 4, hit Kauai again in 1992, killing six and causing more than $3 billion in damage. Hurricane Iselle reached the Big Island in 2014, but had weakened to a tropical storm by landfall.
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Hurricane Lala has hit a new peak intensity of 80 MPH and 985 mbar as her eyewall directly crosses Hawaii’s shores.
It’s been 155 YEARS since the Big Island has been hit by a storm this strong. <a href="https://t.co/CBUZMXJzxo">pic.twitter.com/CBUZMXJzxo</a>
— Backpirch Weather (@BackpirchCrew) <a href="https://x.com/BackpirchCrew/status/2088824085040025953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Hurricane Lala In Hawaii

Deadly Hurricane Ravages Hawaiian Islands, Houses Float Away

Hawaii

Hurricane

Severe Weather

Weather

WNBA star Sophie Cunningham climbed onto a bar at a downtown Indianapolis honky-tonk Friday night and belted out Toby Keith&#8217;s &#8220;Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue&#8221; with a roomful of Indiana Fever fans, hours after her team beat the Dallas Wings.
Cunningham had stopped in at Clayton&#8217;s Country Bar after the Fever&#8217;s 98-87 win over the Wings at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Country singer Clayton Anderson spotted her at the end of the bar, grabbed a microphone and introduced her to the crowd — &#8220;Ladies and gentlemen, my friend, America&#8217;s sweetheart, Sophie Cunningham!&#8221; — before the two climbed up onto the bar to sing the post-9/11 anthem&#8217;s closing verse together.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Only Sophie Cunningham could go from playing a Fever game to randomly showing up at a bar and singing “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” with the fans. 🥰🇺🇸
She’s truly the freaking best. ❤️❤️ <a href="https://t.co/FSvsnUOjPZ">pic.twitter.com/FSvsnUOjPZ</a>
— Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) <a href="https://x.com/ginamilan_/status/2088636239431790786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Cunningham took the last verse and the final chorus as the bar sang along loudly enough to drown her out in stretches, pulling up a pant leg and kicking the air on the chorus&#8217;s best-known line.
&#8220;Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list, and the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist. And the eagle will fly and it&#8217;s gonna be hell, when you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell,&#8221; she continued, nearly drowned out by the other voices in the bar. &#8220;And it will feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you, brought to you courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.&#8221;
Keith wrote the song in the weeks after the September 11 attacks, scrawling the lyrics around the edges of the back of a fantasy football sheet in about 20 minutes. He has said the song was as much about his father — Hubert &#8220;H.K.&#8221; Covel, an Army veteran who lost his right eye in the service and was killed in a car crash in March 2001 — as it was about the attacks. He did not originally intend to release it as a single, and for a time only played it for military audiences.
He recounted the song&#8217;s turning point in an <a href="https://theboot.com/toby-keith-courtesy-of-the-red-white-and-blue-the-angry-american-lyrics/">interview</a> with country music outlet The Boot:
&#8220;I was at the Pentagon, playing for a bunch of Marines that were shipping out to Afghanistan for the first time … I said, &#8216;I’m going to play this song. The band doesn’t know it, but I’m going to play it on my acoustic &#8230;&#8217; And when I got done, [the commander] said, &#8216;You’ve got to release that as a single &#8230; That’s the most amazing battle song I’ve ever heard in my life,'&#8221; Keith recalled. &#8220;And so I prayed about it and discussed it with everybody for a long time, because I knew it was going to cause a storm. But at the end of the day, I was like, &#8216;If it means that much to those guys, then I don’t care. I’ll do it.&#8217; And that’s when we finally decided we were going to release it.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sophie-cunningham-smacks-down-opponents-white-privilege-comment">Cunningham</a>, for her part, has been the focus of a lot of media attention in recent weeks, primarily because she has repeatedly defended women and girls and their right to have sex-specific spaces — whether those be on sports teams or in locker rooms.
Her comments have drawn rallies outside at least three Fever games, with demonstrators on both sides of the issue turning out — supporters in &#8220;Thank you Sophie&#8221; and XX-XY Athletics shirts alongside activists chanting for transgender inclusion.
Cunningham has been at the center of a national fight since ESPN published a <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/49306657/sophie-cunningham-finger-point-indiana-fever-wnba">profile</a> on July 21 in which she said she wants &#8220;to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn&#8217;t have to go against biological men.&#8221;
She has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/after-sophie-cunningham-speaks-up-for-girls-the-wnba-speaks-up-for-delusion">repeatedly pushed back</a> on being cast as a political figure, telling ESPN she is &#8220;very much in the middle,&#8221; though <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7464960/2026/07/22/sophie-cunningham-trans-comments-womens-sports/">she has not budged</a> on the underlying position: &#8220;I said what I said. I think it&#8217;s kind of common sense.&#8221;

WNBA: JUN 13 Indiana Fever at Connecticut Sun

Sophie Cunningham Jumps On A Bar And Belts Out Toby Keith After Fever Win

Sophie Cunningham Walks Into A Bar — And Brings The House Down

2026

9/11

Military

Only Sophie Cunningham could go from playing a Fever game to randomly showing up at a bar and singing “Courtesy of the Red

Toby Keith

White and Blue” with the fans. 🥰🇺🇸She’s truly the freaking best. ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/FSvsnUOjPZ— Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) August 15

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he tried the ketogenic diet once, and it quickly became what he referred to as a &#8220;near-psychotic event.&#8221;
Rubio told podcast host Katie Miller — who is married to White House adviser Stephen Miller — that he&#8217;d tried the popular high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, and the constant lack of sugar had made him so angry that he often felt like he might snap.
&#8220;I did, one time, maybe four or five years ago, I tried this thing called keto,&#8221; Rubio told Miller. &#8220;You&#8217;ve heard of this?&#8221;
Miller said she had, and Rubio continued, &#8220;And you just eat all this protein, so you go through this massive withdrawal from sugar and carbohydrates for the first 72 hours. It was a near-psychotic event for me.&#8221;
Jeanette Rubio, sitting beside her husband, laughed out loud, confirming, &#8220;It&#8217;s true. It&#8217;s true.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s like, if I did [keto] in this job, I would be in there, &#8216;Mr. President, we must bomb, you know, Paraguay,'&#8221; Rubio said, adding, &#8220;And it&#8217;s like, why? I don&#8217;t know, I&#8217;m just really mad, I haven&#8217;t had any sugar,&#8221; he laughed.
&#8220;It&#8217;s true!&#8221; Jeanette said again.
Rubio clarified that he wasn&#8217;t saying the diet itself — which focuses on restricting carbohydrates so the body burns fat instead of sugar — was necessarily bad, only that it was most definitely not the right choice for him.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not against this diet. I&#8217;m not asking that we ban it. I encourage people to try it,&#8221; Rubio added with a laugh. &#8220;I&#8217;m just saying it&#8217;s not for everyone. That&#8217;s what I&#8217;m saying.&#8221;
During the wide-ranging interview, the Secretary of State also shared his thoughts on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy&#8217;s diet — and weighed in on the merits of the classic 1975 movie &#8220;Jaws&#8221; compared to the cult classic &#8220;Sharknado.&#8221;

US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-RUBIO

Rubio Reveals The Diet Plan That Became A ‘Near-Psychotic Event’

Donald Trump

Foreign Policy

Marco Rubio

President Donald Trump turned a long-running joke into a birthday gift for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who turned 55 on May 28.
Trump has already tasked Rubio with several official jobs within the administration — which spawned constant speculation whenever a new vacancy appeared — and a viral meme was born.
An Oval Office photo of Rubio slouched on a couch — wearing an expression that suggests he&#8217;s not thrilled with the way things are going — became the template for hundreds of potential new jobs for the Secretary of State/Acting National Security Adviser/acting administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/acting archivist of the National Archives and Records Administration.
Trump and other White House staffers capitalized on the popularity of the meme, and put together a collage — featuring dozens of iterations of the &#8220;Rubio realizing&#8221; meme. The finished product was framed in gold and presented to Rubio for his birthday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The White House made a Rubio Realizing Meme collage for his birthday (May 28), which the president &amp; others signed <a href="https://t.co/5oVDfTFaed">https://t.co/5oVDfTFaed</a> <a href="https://t.co/S2KsnRta3S">pic.twitter.com/S2KsnRta3S</a>
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) <a href="https://x.com/MarcACaputo/status/2087694087482704381?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The central photo, which appears to be the un-doctored original image, has President Trump&#8217;s signature scrawled across it, along with the note, &#8220;YOU ARE GREAT!&#8221;
The other images — 68 in total — each show a different meme version of the original photo, and they all bear the signatures of other White House staffers.
The photo that spawned a thousand Rubios was taken during an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February of 2025, and Rubio told Lara Trump on her Fox News show &#8220;My View&#8221; that he did not like the picture. He explained that particular couch, without a pillow, often caused people to sink lower than they might otherwise.
But once the photo took on a life of its own, it grew on him, he added: &#8220;It turned into this other thing &#8230; and it&#8217;s funny.&#8221;

Trump Turns Beloved Rubio Meme Into Birthday Gift

Memes

Family members are blaming &#8220;misinformation&#8221; and a &#8220;campaign of harassment&#8221; for the death ex-Cambridge professor Jason Arday.
&#8220;Jason was subjected to a campaign of sustained abuse for more than three years since he accepted the role of professor at Cambridge University by those who would leave no stone unturned in their quest to undermine him,&#8221; <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/08/14/world-news/family-of-dead-ex-cambridge-professor-jason-arday-says-he-was-victim-of-misinformation-campaign-despite-plagiarism-allegations/">Arday&#8217;s family</a> said in a statement first published by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/14/jason-arday-found-dead-after-resigning-from-cambridge-over-plagiarism-claims">The Guardian</a>.
&#8220;The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone. We are in shock to have lost this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son,&#8221; they wrote, adding, &#8220;We won’t comment further at this point beyond asking the press to leave us alone now, and to stop the campaign of harassment which has been waged against Jason and his family for too long.&#8221;
Arday, 41, was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/professor-recently-outed-for-fraudulent-biography-found-dead">found unresponsive</a> in his South London home on Friday — just over a week after he left his position at the prestigious university. Prior to leaving his post, he&#8217;d been accused of plagiarism and of embellishing his life story ahead of the release of his memoir, &#8220;Great and Unfortunate Things.&#8221;
Cambridge initially backed Arday, the youngest black professor to ever teach there, saying in a statement that Arday was &#8220;the victim of a vile campaign to undermine his credibility.&#8221;
In the days that followed, however, Arday filed a &#8220;harassment&#8221; claim against a journalist who was investigating his work — and Cambridge University launched an investigation as well.
&#8220;The University of Cambridge has begun an investigation following new information about Professor Arday’s academic qualifications and honorary appointments. In order to ensure a fair process, we will not comment further until this has concluded,&#8221; the university&#8217;s statement read.
Arday&#8217;s death, according to local authorities, is being treated as &#8220;unexpected&#8221; but not &#8220;suspicious.&#8221;

Cambridge sign

Family Of Ex-Cambridge Professor Blames ‘Campaign Of Misinformation’ For His Death

Family Of Ex-Cambridge Professor Blames 'Campaign Of Misinformation' For His Death

Cambridge University

Education

Misinformation

Plagiarism

Professors

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington has begun heading toward the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, as reports have circulated of mental health concerns aboard Lincoln.
The carrier switch, according to a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-sending-fresh-aircraft-carrier-to-middle-east-amid-iran-war-strain-d0d6e98d?eafs_enabled=false">report</a> published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, is part of a scheduled rotation to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln after more than eight months at sea with limited port calls. The extended deployment — since November 21, 2025 — has reportedly resulted in several sailors aboard Lincoln attempting to jump overboard.
The Navy Times reported on Tuesday that at least two sailors had made such attempts. Annabelle Loma told the outlet that her husband was one of them, and that he was on medical hold.
&#8220;He’s scared. He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right. That’s not what he should be worrying about right now,&#8221; she said.
Maria Rodriguez told The Navy Times that her husband had been on watch when another attempt was made, and that he&#8217;d been able to stop the sailor from going overboard.
&#8220;He said he hadn’t felt adrenaline like that in his life, and he was just so thankful he was able to get to [the sailor] in time, to stop them from going overboard,&#8221; she explained.
The Navy has disputed the accounts, telling USNI News on Wednesday that it has &#8220;not identified an increase&#8221; in reported suicidal ideation or suicide attempts aboard Lincoln.
Other reports have mentioned a number of issues, such as broken toilets, moldy showers, and water contamination — in addition to alleged food shortages and complications with the mail service that kept some care packages from reaching their destinations.
Democrats in Congress <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/13/poor-conditions-are-reported-uss-abraham-lincoln-democrats-demand-answers/">quickly blamed</a> President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration for creating the situation.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) fired off a letter to War Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, demanding answers to several questions about conditions aboard the Lincoln and expressing concerns about Iran, claiming that the objectives had never been clear.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) posted a link to mental health resources for military service members, but <a href="https://x.com/SenMarkKelly/status/2087732648181366848">jabbed vaguely</a> at the administration as well: &#8220;The reports from the USS Abraham Lincoln about multiple sailors attempting to jump into the sea are disturbing. Long deployments are hard. They are a lot harder when the mission isn’t well defined and there is no end in sight.&#8221;
Over the last week, both Cao and Vice Adm. Joseph Cahill (commander of Naval Surface Forces) met with families either in person or virtually to address their concerns. Cao had said that the USS Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group would be deployed to replace Lincoln — but later reports suggest that it will be Washington instead.
&#8220;We hear you loud and clear [regarding] the impact this has on families, on service members and the long-term ability of us to stand, sustain our forces’ health,&#8221; Cahill said.
<a href="https://news.usni.org/2026/08/13/uss-george-washington-heading-west-lincoln-deployment-nears-9-months">Lincoln</a> has been at sea for 241 consecutive days — more than a month longer than the previous record of 206 days, set by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower during the COVID-19 pandemic. The last port call was December 11, 2025, in Guam. The deployment was supposed to end in May, but has been extended due to the ongoing war with Iran.
Secretary Hegseth said on Thursday that some of the reporting concerning the conditions on Lincoln had been &#8220;completely misrepresented.&#8221;
&#8220;Americans don&#8217;t understand what it&#8217;s like to do that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;As someone who&#8217;s — not been on a ship like that — but been on long deployments, I feel it. I want them home as soon as everybody else. I want folks rotated as quickly as possible &#8230; to that crew and to all those crews, we&#8217;re going to do everything we can for you and we are so grateful for their dedication.&#8221;

U.S. Conducts Blockade Operations Near Strait Of Hormuz

Two American Sailors Try To Jump Overboard From Ship Plagued By Food Shortages, Water Problems

USS George Washington To Replace USS Abraham Lincoln As Concerns Grow About Mental Health Of Crew

Iran

Pete Hegseth

U.S. Navy

Lindsay Clancy used her phone to search the phrase &#8220;can you treat a sociopath&#8221; just four days before she killed her three children and then attempted suicide, a Massachusetts State Police investigator testified Thursday.
Sgt. Timothy Chiappini told jurors that a forensic review of Clancy&#8217;s phone revealed that the search was made on January 20, 2023. In the weeks leading up to the January 24 killings, the phone was also used to search terms related to mental illness, including &#8220;bipolar disorder,&#8221; &#8220;postpartum depression,&#8221; &#8220;hallucinations,&#8221; &#8220;schizophrenia,&#8221; and &#8220;psychosis.&#8221;
Clancy is on trial for the murders of her three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months. She does not dispute killing them, but her attorneys argue that she had postpartum psychosis and was legally insane at the time. Prosecutors contend that Clancy deliberately planned the killings and understood what she was doing.
Under cross-examination Thursday, defense attorney Kevin Reddington questioned Chiappini about several other disturbing searches allegedly recovered from Clancy&#8217;s phone.
&#8220;Did you come across a search, &#8216;where is the carotid artery?'&#8221; Reddington asked.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t recall,&#8221; Chiappini replied.
Reddington also asked whether he&#8217;d found searches for &#8220;how to slit throat to die&#8221; and &#8220;how to turn airbags off on Kia Sorento,&#8221; but Chiappini said he could not recall those either.
&#8220;These all came from Lindsay&#8217;s phone, right?&#8221; Reddington asked as he held up posters showing blown-up screenshots of the searches.
Chiappini replied, &#8220;I can&#8217;t confirm that.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s a pretty good inference though, right?&#8221; Reddington pressed.
&#8220;Yes, sir,&#8221; was Chiappini&#8217;s response, and he noted that the phone number displayed on the screen matched the one he&#8217;d used for the forensic search.
Investigators also recovered notes from Clancy&#8217;s phone describing her struggles with motherhood and fears that she was failing her youngest child:
<blockquote>I am sad and depressed because I am not able to parent my third child like my 1st. I want to treat any one of my babies like my first, but I know that&#8217;s not a feasible possibility. I&#8217;m sad that I stopped breastfeeding. I feel not as connected with Cal now. I think I sort of resent my other children because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby, and I know that&#8217;s not fair to them. I know that.</blockquote>
Clancy also wrote that she had &#8220;fallen out of the habit of doing anything fun&#8221; and described being terrified that something would happen to her children or that she would make a mistake that negatively impacted their development.
&#8220;For the last 5 years, I&#8217;ve just filled my mind with all things parenting, and it&#8217;s just unhealthy,&#8221; she wrote.
State Trooper Kyle Pavao also testified on Thursday, stating that he&#8217;d reviewed a Surface Pro tablet and found searches for country musician Tom T. Hall — who died by suicide in 2021 — and stated that someone in the home had then clicked on a link that opened a page detailing &#8220;suicide methods.&#8221;
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9:40 AM: The device accessed a Facebook profile page (Lindsay.969).
09:42 AM: A search was conducted on Spotify for the musician Tom T. Hall, leading to playing the song &#8220;That&#8217;s How I Got to Memphis&#8221; at 9:44:18 AM.
09:44:30 AM: A Google search for Tom Hall was performed, which…
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) <a href="https://x.com/cathyrusson/status/2087903299873989060?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Other search terms included:
<ul>
<li>What to do when a psychiatrist overprescribed</li>
<li>Lamictal / &#8220;Zolafi&#8221; [Zoloft])</li>
<li>Can bipolar disorder be temporary?</li>
<li>Can benzos reveal bipolar disorder?</li>
<li>What is mania?</li>
<li>How long are detox programs?</li>
</ul>
Patrick Clancy, Lindsay&#8217;s former husband and the children&#8217;s father, previously testified that he was the person who searched for Hall because he wanted to listen to his music. He said he opened Hall&#8217;s Wikipedia page and accidentally clicked a hyperlink that took him to information about suicide methods.

Nurse practitioner who treated Lindsay Clancy testifies about Duxbury mother’s desperation to improve amid postpartum struggles

SEE IT: What Lindsay Clancy Searched Online Days Before Killing Her 3 Children

SEE IT: What Lindsay Clancy Searched On The Web Before Murders, Suicide Attempt

Crime

Google

Lindsay Clancy

murders

postpartum depression

Suicide

Lindsay Clancy&#8217;s emotional outburst brought trial proceedings to a halt on Wednesday as she sobbed throughout the testimony given by the medical examiner who performed autopsies on two of her three children.
As medical examiner Barbara Olson delivered details about the autopsy performed on Cora Clancy (age 5), Clancy could be heard crying intermittently — and at one point, she cried out, &#8220;I can&#8217;t do this!&#8221;
Olson testified that Cora Clancy had died of asphyxiation, and she explained that the child had likely felt pain until she passed out from the lack of oxygen — which could have been as brief as ten seconds or as long as 30 seconds.
&#8220;There is a component of pain present until loss of consciousness occurs,&#8221; Olson said.
Olson testified a short time later that Dawson (3) had also died of asphyxiation.
Video showed Clancy&#8217;s lawyer, high-profile defense attorney Kevin Reddington, holding Clancy&#8217;s hand as she wept throughout the testimony, her head resting on her arms on the table.
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Credit: Lindsay Clancy Breaks Down In Court
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Twice during Wednesday&#8217;s proceedings, as Clancy showed visible emotional reactions to the testimony, Judge William Sullivan brought the trial to a halt, sending the jury out as two women came in and tried to console the defendant.
Clancy is on trial for strangling all three of her young children with exercise bands — Cora (5), Dawson (3), and Callan (eight months) — before cutting her own wrists and throat and jumping from the second-story window. The fall did not kill her, but left her paralyzed from the waist down — and she has been attending court in a wheelchair.
The defense has not argued that Clancy did not strangle her three young children, but has instead argued that she is not criminally responsible for the killings by reason of insanity. Clancy, the defense says, was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis — made worse by a series of mood-altering medications — at the time of the killings.
Clancy had also been turned away after calling a suicide hotline twice because she reportedly did not have concrete plans at the time to act on her suicidal thoughts.

Patrick Clancy describes ex-wife’s mental health struggles leading up to children’s deaths in her murder trial

Lindsay Clancy’s Courtroom Outburst Brings Trial To A Halt

Courts

trial

Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a moment during a recent podcast interview to weight the merits of &#8220;Sharknado&#8221; vs. &#8220;Jaws,&#8221; laughing as he warned the host she&#8217;d never be able to air the clip: &#8220;This thing&#8217;s off the rails.&#8221;
Rubio and his wife Jeanette sat down with podcast host Katie Miller — wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller — for a wide-ranging interview, and the conversation turned to a visit from a nephew and his choice of movie.
&#8220;I have a little nephew who was visiting us here yesterday,&#8221; Rubio explained, and said that he&#8217;d jumped to the rescue when the boy had asked if they could watch &#8220;Jaws&#8221; together. &#8220;I said I have an even better movie than &#8216;Jaws,&#8217; &#8216;Jaws&#8217; is boring. &#8216;Sharknado.'&#8221;
Miller laughed as Jeanette shook her head: &#8220;Oh, my gosh, it was such a ridiculous movie! Such a ridiculous — who puts that — for kids?&#8221;
&#8220;Where the hurricane brings the shark to the shore?&#8221; Miller asked.
&#8220;It was awful,&#8221; Jeanette added, but she continued to laugh as Rubio described the movie.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a &#8216;Sharknado,&#8217; I think it&#8217;s number three, that&#8217;s in Washington, D.C., and the sharks are in the White House and there&#8217;s a president that&#8217;s shooting at them and all that — which all sounds crazy, but now you can see — actually, there&#8217;s a scene where the sharks are in the reflecting pool!&#8221; the secretary of State said, getting increasingly animated and prompting more laughter from Miller and his wife. &#8220;In the &#8216;Sharknado&#8217; movie, and this is ten years ago.&#8221;
&#8220;So I&#8217;m like, man, I gotta show this to the president,&#8221; Rubio laughed. &#8220;You know, we might have a feature here for people. Can you imagine? If we put sharks in the reflecting pool. Oh, gosh. Anyway.&#8221;
&#8220;This whole thing&#8217;s off the rails,&#8221; Rubio said to his wife — and then turned to Miller, adding, &#8220;You&#8217;re not going to be able to even air this thing.&#8221;

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Rubio Dives Into ‘Jaws’ Vs. ‘Sharknado’ In ‘Off-The-Rails’ Interview

Marco Rubio Answers The Question On Everyone's Mind: 'Jaws' Or Sharknado'?

Reflecting Pool

Sharks

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Virginia Kruta