Vice President JD Vance appeared on ABC's The View June 11 upon the release of his book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith. ABC parent Disney is suing the Federal Communications Commission in federal court for challenging its broadcast license and seeking to regulate such talk shows for criticizing President Trump.
Bonds Down – Bond yields are heading back up to a nearly 20-year high Friday, a sign of a troubled economy even in the face of a bullish stock market after Secretary Scott Bessent signaled Wednesday a Treasury Department plan to double long-term government bond buybacks from a $2-billion maximum to at least $4 billion per operation for September to November, according to The Wall Street Journal. Initial result Wednesday is that yields for a 30-year bond fell to about 5.23% from 5.311%.
A lower rate is better for signaling a good economy, as higher rates mean less confidence in the US economy and higher interest rates overall.
Shortly after Bessent’s announcement Wednesday, bond yields began to shoot back up toward that 5.311% high as the gross national debt breached $40 trillion. Heavy borrowing for the AI industry is another major factor for rising bond yields over the past several months.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.32%, with the NASDAQ down 1%. Bitcoin values were up, a sign of weakness in the US dollar’s value, the WSJ reports.
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Meanwhile, at the Pump – AAA’s national average for unleaded regular Friday is $4.1092 per gallon, 0.88 cents higher than Thursday and up $1.2938 over February 27. Diesel is $5.5764 per gallon, up 2.87 cents over Thursday and +$1.8308 versus late February. –TL
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THURSDAY 8/20/26
A Trillion Here, A Trillion There ... Gross US debt topped $40 trillion for the first time Tuesday to hit $40.47 trillion, up from $39.978 Monday, The Wall Street Journal reports. That’s about 100% of annual gross domestic product and about double of what government debt had reached just nine years ago, in 2017, according to NPR’s All Things Considered.
Tuesday’s debt is about 100% of annual US GDP, the WSJ notes, up from just 31.5% of GDP in 2001, after four years of government surpluses. The newspaper pointed to wars, the dot-com bubble and tax cuts for the sudden onset of big-time debt. The 2007-09 Great Recession also quickly built debt by draining tax revenues and prompting stimulus programs, much like the COVID-19 pandemic a half-generation later, the WSJ writes.
Pretty soon you're talking about real money.
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Meanwhile, at the Pump – AAA’s national average for unleaded regular Thursday is $4.1044 per gallon, 1.84 cents higher than Wednesday and up $1.285 over February 27. Diesel is $5.5477 per gallon, up 4.57 cents over Tuesday and +$1.8021 versus late February. –TL
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WEDNESDAY 8/19/26
Canada Gets Three Days – In a social media post about 90 days before 50% tariffs on Canadian lumber and other goods were to take effect, President Trump announced a three-day reprieve, saying progress in negotiations had been made, The New York Timesreports.
Prime Minister Mark Carney was less optimistic, saying only that progress has been made in the negotiations.
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Trump Ends Military Drills in South Korea – Regularly scheduled US military drills with South Korea are all but over, BBC Radio reports. President Trump denounced them as they commenced Monday, characterizing North Korea as “unthreatening and respectful.”
NPR’s Tamara Keith noted South Korea’s unwillingness to help the US in the war on Iran, and Trump also mentioned his “very good relationship” with North Korea’s leader/dictator, Kim Jong Un.
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Meanwhile, at the Pump – AAA’s national average for unleaded regular Wednesday is $4.086 per gallon, 0.32 cents higher than Tuesday and up $1.2666 over February 27. Diesel is $5.502, up 3.65 cents over Tuesday and +$1.7564 versus late February. –TL
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TUESDAY 8/18/26
Disney’s ABC Strikes Back – Disney’s ABC network has filed suit in federal court in Washington, D.C. alleging efforts by the Federal Communications Commission, as led by chairman Brendan Carr, to challenge its broadcast licenses and regulate its talk show, The View are illegal and an attempt to stifle speech President Trump finds objectionable, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Carr last year launched an investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to determine whether they violate the FCC’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination. ABC executives consider the FCC’s DEI probe a reaction to its late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live poking fun of the president and of The View’s harsh criticism of Trump.
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Disarming Hamas – White House Son-in-Law Jared Kushner returned Monday from Israel to tout on Fox News the Trump Board of Peace’s success in negotiating a disarmament plan for Hamas in return for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among others, have been dubious about the plan’s chance of success.
Now an official tells The Times of Israel that the Board of Peace may abandon its initial plan, which Hamas approved July 30, that would break up the Gaza Strip into five sections with the Israeli Defense Force withdrawing from each one at a time as Hamas turns over its arms, one at a time. Under the new plan, according to the official, Hamas would hand over all its weapons in Gaza before the IDF would pull its troops back to the Gaza border.
Such a plan would get Israel on board at the potential expense of losing Hamas support, according to TToI.
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Tuesday’s Primaries – Arkansas, Florida and Wyoming hold their primaries Tuesday according to Ballotpedia.
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Meanwhile, at the Pump – AAA’s national average for unleaded regular Tuesday is $4.0654 per gallon, 0.18 cents higher than Monday and up $1.2634 over February 27. Diesel is $5.4677 per gallon, up 0.13 cents over Monday and +$1.7262 versus late February. –TL
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MONDAY 8/17/26
SCOTUS Rejects Trump Appeal – With no noted dissent, the Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s second request for a review of writer E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million judgment against him after a federal jury in New York found he had sexually abused and defamed her, The New York Times reports. SCOTUS gave no reason for its refusal to hear Trump’s request, which is not unusual.
Still pending is the president’s request for SCOTUS to overturn a much larger 2024 jury award of $83.3 million for defaming Carroll in 2024 after she accused Trump of a decades-old rape.
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Past Expiration Date – Remember the 60-day ceasefire the US negotiated with Iran to give time to reach a peace deal, open the Strait of Hormuz and guarantee Iran would never build a nuclear weapon? You’re excused if you slept right through the early Monday expiration.
White House Son-in-Law Jared Kushner marked the occasion by negotiating with Hamas over the Trump Board of Peace’s 15-step roadmap to end the fighting with Israel in Gaza. Kushner was to present the deal for approval to Israel Monday, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considered a hard sell, what with his latest re-election bid coming in 10 weeks, before our midterms.
Trump says he may endorse a candidate in Israel’s election, though he considers intervening inappropriate.
“I think it’s most appropriate for me to stay out of Israel’s elections,” Trump said, according to Haaretz. “But I may endorse somebody.”
It wasn’t long ago that Trump appealed to Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu from charges of bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust. Now Trump’s endorsement will not necessarily go to his erstwhile close ally.
Meanwhile, Trump threatens to bomb Middle East ally … Trump “confirmed” backchannel negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent nuclear arms development, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in an interview Monday morning with Fox News’ Trey Yingst. But the president said of the US ally that has been negotiating directly with Iran these last 60 days, “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.”
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Meanwhile, at the Pump – AAA’s national average for unleaded regular Monday is $4.0636 per gallon, 1.4 cents lower than last Friday and up $1.2616. Diesel is $5.4454 per gallon, up 1.89 cents over Friday and +$1.7249 versus late February.
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Blanche Explains His Devotion to Trump – Former personal attorney to Donald J. Trump and newly confirmed (51-50 in the Senate) Attorney Gen. Todd Blanche would not commit to acting independently of the White House, he told NBC News’ Kristen Walker on Meet the Press Sunday.
Blanch explained: “There’s a big difference between saying we will always do our job and prosecute any case and act independently of the White House. No, I’m not going to pledge that and no, no attorney general should ever pledge that and if I were to pledge I’m going to be independent of the White House, what that means is if President Trump says, ‘I want the Department of Justice to go after every violent criminal in this country,’ which is what he said, what you’re saying to me is I’m going to say, ‘No sir, I’m not going to do it.”
Notice Blanche singled out “violent” criminals and not the white-collar ones. The AG said he would act with integrity and without fear or favor, “and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing and what every Department of Justice should do.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa