After a primary season marked by socialist wins — and a party that can&#8217;t seem to stop the dramatic lurch to the Left — Democrats are losing the public relations game with average voters, and they&#8217;re losing big.
CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten detailed the Democratic Party&#8217;s flagging favorability numbers during a Tuesday morning segment — and although he was also careful to note that President Donald Trump was not faring any better in recent polls, he made it clear that Democrats still had some serious work to do ahead of November&#8217;s midterm elections.
&#8220;Donald Trump&#8217;s political brand ain&#8217;t too hot to trot these days,&#8221; Enten explained, holding his nose for emphasis when he added, &#8220;But I gotta tell you, P-U when it comes to the Democratic brand.&#8221;
&#8220;The net favorability rating of the Democratic Party — you know, back in 2018, when Democrats during the first Trump presidency, right? When they were able to win back control of the House? They were even,&#8221; Enten said.
Enten&#8217;s tone was incredulous as he dropped the comparison to 2026: &#8220;Twenty-five points underwater! Oof. Oof. You know, the Dem brand, it&#8217;s not too good these days, it&#8217;s not too good. It kind of smells like a New York sidewalk in the summer.&#8221;
But what Enten did not address was the wide ideological chasm between the Democrats who ran — and ultimately flipped a number of seats — in the 2018 midterms and the Democrats who have secured primary wins in the 2026 cycle.
Among the 2018 winners were two who eventually switched their party affiliation either to Republicans or independent: New Jersey&#8217;s Rep. Jeff Van Drew — now a Republican — and Arizona&#8217;s former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who declared her affiliation to be independent in 2022. Others, like Reps. Max Rose (D-NY), Antonio Delgado (D-NY), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) were somewhat moderate in their voting records.
Just eight years later, the big primary wins have gone to a number of far-Left candidates who openly attack Israel and embrace socialism — and even a few who are card-carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Michigan&#8217;s Democratic Senate nominee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dsa-whistleblower-says-hell-do-everything-he-can-to-elect-mike-rogers">Abdul El-Sayed</a>, for example, proudly campaigned alongside antisemitic communist and Mao Zedong superfan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-gives-el-sayed-a-chance-to-renounce-hasan-piker-he-does-the-opposite">Hasan Piker</a> — and he was not the only one to do so. DSA-aligned candidates won primaries in New York on the coattails of Democratic socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
And as more moderate Democrats lose to primary challenges from the far-Left, a number of others have opted to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/panic-sets-in-dems-tailspin-as-they-realize-the-hostile-socialist-takeover-already-started">fall in line</a> in an attempt to save their own skins, defending the rise of socialism by claiming that the Democrat tent is big enough for everyone.

Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Holds Rally In Detroit With Sen. Bernie Sanders And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Dems Are Losing The Public Relations War As Party Lurches Left

The Normies Don't Like Socialism, Dems Hardest Hit: Poll

Democratic Socialists Of America

Democrats

Donald Trump

Harry Enten

Media

Politics

Polls

Socialism

The Atlanta Dream issued a statement on Monday, effectively blaming &#8220;WNBA Security&#8221; for a confrontation at Sunday&#8217;s game that led to a mother and daughter being forced to cover up their pro-woman attire.
&#8220;The Atlanta Dream believes in creating a safe and inclusive environment for everyone,&#8221; the statement read. &#8220;Unfortunately, at last night&#8217;s game, WNBA security took actions that fell short of that standard. At no point was Dream personnel involved in the decisions made by WNBA security.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://t.co/NBILzMBYXS">pic.twitter.com/NBILzMBYXS</a>
— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) <a href="https://x.com/AtlantaDream/status/2089481993163591795?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;The league issued this statement earlier today,&#8221; the Dream added. &#8220;&#8216;The WNBA is aware of interactions at last night&#8217;s game in Atlanta in which fans were asked by league security to cover their shirts. This should not have happened.'&#8221;
At the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/see-it-sophie-cunningham-fans-targeted-again">game in question</a>, which featured the Indiana Fever playing the Dream at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, 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. As The Daily Wire previously reported, Kasey’s shirt featured the XX-XY logo in red, white, and blue; Annie’s shirt, with an XX on the front, came from the Riley Gaines collection and read, “For the Girls,” across the back.
They had gone to the game to show their support for Fever shooting guard Sophie Cunningham — who recently drew fire from the far-Left when she defended sex-based rights for women and girls in athletics — and with just two minutes left in overtime, they were told to cover up their shirts because someone had determined that they were &#8220;offensive.&#8221;
“Biology and science is offensive?” Kasey asked. But Kasey and Annie ultimately put on the offered Atlanta Dream “Wellness &amp; Health Night” shirts so that they could see the end of the game — which the Fever won, 95-91.
Kasey and Annie said they believe another fan — who had come to the game wearing a shirt that read &#8220;Trans Kids Belong In Sports&#8221; — had tipped off security to come and get them. That same woman, they said, commented on their newly acquired &#8220;Wellness &amp; Health Night&#8221; shirts in mocking tones after they were forced to put them on.

WNBA: AUG 16 Indiana Fever at Atlanta Dream

Team Blames ‘WNBA Security’ For Targeting Sophie Cunningham Fans

Atlanta Dream Blames ‘WNBA Security’ For Targeting Sophie Cunningham Fans

Atlanta

Indiana Fever

Sophie Cunningham

Transgender

WNBA

Women's Basketball

With control of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance, Democrats are pushing to pick up seats anywhere they can — but reports out of Alaska suggest a storm may be brewing for Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola ahead of Tuesday&#8217;s primary.
Peltola, according to several reports, will be going into Tuesday&#8217;s primary without her campaign manager, Anton McParland — who has been with Peltola since 2022 and previously served as her chief of staff.
The Alaska Landmine <a href="https://alaskalandmine.com/landmines/saturday-night-massacre-mary-peltola-fires-senior-campaign-staff-days-before-primary/">reported</a> that several senior staffers were handed walking papers in what the outlet referred to as a &#8220;Saturday Night Massacre&#8221; — leaving other staffers wondering whether they might be next.
New York Times political reporter Kellen Browning <a href="https://x.com/Kellen_Browning/status/2089172446872055865">appeared to confirm</a> at least part of the Landmine&#8217;s story, writing on X, &#8220;This is true [a]nd Anton McParland, Peltola’s campaign manager and former chief of staff, is no longer with the campaign.&#8221;
McParland&#8217;s departure is particularly notable because of just how long — and how closely — he worked with Peltola. By her side since her breakthrough victory to land a U.S. House seat in 2022, he remained on her staff throughout her one term in Congress — first as her deputy chief of staff, then as her chief of staff.
After Peltola&#8217;s 2024 reelection loss, both she and McParland moved on to take roles at lobbying firm Holland &amp; Hart in March 2025. When she launched her U.S. Senate run, he managed her campaign.
Prediction markets have Peltola&#8217;s race — against incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) — as a virtual dead heat, but losing a longtime adviser and campaign manager just hours before the polls open could hurt voter confidence.
Alaska is broadly viewed as a &#8220;must-win&#8221; state for Democrats, who need to pick up four seats in the upper chamber to gain control — and a major campaign shake-up going into Tuesday&#8217;s primary does not project the kind of strong message that Peltola needs to send.
Peltola also scrambled to do some damage control a few days prior, running away from the endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris&#8217;s Fight for the People PAC sent an email last Wednesday promoting Peltola, saying in part, &#8220;If there’s anyone who can flip Alaska and secure the Senate majority for Democrats — it’s Mary.&#8221;
Peltola&#8217;s campaign quickly dismissed the email as unsolicited and said no one on the campaign had been aware of it before it went out: &#8220;Mary isn’t seeking endorsements from anyone from the Lower 48 — her focus is and always will be Alaska.&#8221;
An <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-senate-hopeful-runs-from-kamala-harris-support">endorsement from Harris</a>, who performed poorly in Alaska in her 2024 presidential bid, is not expected to give Peltola any kind of boost — and being tied to Harris&#8217;s record and policies could put her at a disadvantage in the typically red state.
Thus far, it is unclear whether McParland&#8217;s exit is related to the campaign&#8217;s attempt to distance Peltola from Harris following that email.
But Peltola&#8217;s campaign shake-up is not the only complication dogging Alaska&#8217;s Senate race: incumbent Sen. Sullivan will be joined on the ballot by another candidate named Dan Sullivan — a retired 5th grade teacher who describes himself as a &#8220;pragmatic Republican.&#8221;
President Donald Trump and a number of others have suggested that his name on the ballot was an intentional move to confuse voters and damage the incumbent, but Democrats have denied any connection with his campaign.
Alaska&#8217;s &#8220;top four&#8221; primary — in which the top four candidates in every primary, regardless of party, advance to the general election — sets the stage for even more confusion in the general election, because both Dan Sullivans could see another face-off in November.

US-POLITICS-ELECTION-PORTRAIT

‘Chaos’ Reigns In ‘Must-Win’ Senate Race For Dems

2026 elections

Alaska

Kamala Harris

mary peltola

Senate Democrats

U.S. Senate

The autopsy for actress Hayden Panettiere has revealed more information about her shocking death at the age of 36.
The Greenville County Coroner’s Office delivered an initial statement on the &#8220;Nashville&#8221; actress&#8217;s post-mortem, saying that her body had not shown visible &#8220;signs of trauma&#8221; at the time of her death.
&#8220;The decedent has been identified as Hayden [Lesley] Panettiere, 36, of California. Panettiere was found unresponsive inside the residence, where she had been temporarily staying. An autopsy was completed today. At autopsy, no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death,&#8221; the statement read.
&#8220;This investigation remains active and ongoing. No further details are available for release at this time,&#8221; the coroner&#8217;s statement concluded, but the office stipulated that additional testing was ongoing and that additional information would be released as it was made available.
First responders were dispatched to an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, where Panettierre was reportedly staying with on-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson, on Sunday. Their arrival came following a 911 call indicating that there was an unresponsive woman who may have suffered a cardiac arrest. Two ambulances arrived on the scene, according to entertainment site TMZ, and both unloaded stretchers, but it is unclear why they thought a second stretcher might be needed. Hickerson was reportedly at the apartment at the time, but both ambulances ultimately left the scene without patients onboard.
Additional reports from TMZ suggested that first responders used both Narcan and epinephrine — used to treat opioid overdoses and cardiac arrest, respectively — but did not confirm whether they were used exclusively to treat Panettierre or someone else who may have been in the apartment.
Earlier reports included information from the 911 call from the apartment, and indicated that Panettierre was being treated for a suspected overdose.
The &#8220;Heroes&#8221; actress has had a long and well-documented history of struggling with addiction, dating back to her teenage years when she said adults had offered her &#8220;happy pills&#8221; ahead of red carpet appearances: &#8220;They were to make me peppy during interviews.&#8221;
As her battle escalated, she eventually compromised her liver function to the point that she developed jaundice.
&#8220;I was being told how to be and how to live by so many people in my life. I wanted certain decisions to be my own, and nobody could stop me. What I put in my body was like an act of defiance,&#8221; she said — and she added that her addiction had gotten much worse while she battled postpartum depression following the birth of the daughter she shares with ex Wladimir Klitschko.
&#8220;I never heard any stories about it at all,&#8221; she said of <a href="https://people.com/parents/hayden-panettiere-wishes-someone-told-me-its-ok-postpartum-depression/">postpartum depression</a> in 2023. “I just thought there was something seriously wrong with me, so I thought, ‘[Alcohol] will fix this. Duh!’ And it didn’t. It does for a moment, but then it made everything worse.&#8221;
By the time she sought treatment, her eyes were yellow from the jaundice and her hair had thinned and begun to fall out.
&#8220;Doctors told me my liver was going to give out,&#8221; Panettierre admitted during a 2022 interview — and in her recently released memoir, she added, &#8220;A doctor told me that if I didn’t stop drinking, I’d be dead within five years.&#8221;
Panettierre spent months in rehab, and went into great detail in her memoir describing her experiences going through withdrawal: &#8220;Once during withdrawal, I heard voices that were so terrifying I got on all fours and crawled to my bathroom, where I lay on the cool, clean tiles and waited for the panic to pass. I couldn’t sleep, and my head pounded like it was pressing against my skull.&#8221;
Panettierre was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m. on Sunday, just five days before what would have been her 37th birthday.

Build Presents Charles Esten & Hayden Panettiere Discussing “Nashville”

Hayden Panettiere Autopsy Reveals New Details About Her Death

Celebrities

Hollywood

Movies

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>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#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

Riley Gaines

Sports

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

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>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#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

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.
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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:
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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’

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.
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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

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Virginia Kruta