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Reno Fire Spreads A fast-spreading wildfire near Reno, Nevada, has injured at least seven people, destroyed more than 30 homes, and burned about 23 square miles of land as of this writing. Officials have called on roughly 63,000 people to evacuate their homes. The Hawk Fire began Saturday near Hawk Meadow Trail, northwest of the city (how do dispatchers name wildfires?). Officials said Sunday the fire was human-caused but did not share additional details. The fire quickly spread, aided by dry vegetation and fast winds, with gusts predicted to reach 25 miles per hour today. The winds can change direction quickly and carry fires to new locations, making the fires especially difficult to contain. Dry thunderstorms risk fueling the spread further. Unlike many other states, Nevada is at especially high risk for wildfires due not only to its dry climate but also to its prevalence of non-native, invasive grasses, including cheatgrass and medusahead (w/videos). Listen to a fire historian explain the phenomenon via "1440 Explores."

Tehran Trade Squeeze The Trump administration expanded secondary sanctions against Iran yesterday, threatening penalties against foreign countries and companies that do business with Tehran. The move could restrict their access to the US financial system. The Treasury also sanctioned nearly 60 people, entities, and vessels that it says are tied to Iran's nuclear and missile programs, oil trade, and cyber operations. The measures add pressure to an economy already strained by previous sanctions and a US naval blockade. The rial hit a record low yesterday, with $1 buying roughly 2.02 million rials, while the IMF projects Iran's economy will shrink more than 5% this year. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did not specify which countries could face secondary sanctions, but China, Turkey, and the UAE are Iran's largest trading partners (see full list). China buys roughly 80% to 90% of Iran's oil exports. Iranian oil reaches China via intermediaries and ship-to-ship transfers that can obscure its origin. Independent refineries, known as "teapots," are among its major buyers.

I just heard that! Pretty sad, she was a really beautiful person! She will be missed by many!!

I posted many things about Dolly Parton in the obituaries section. It got me thinking. We are different than most people. To me the purpose of this life, is to serve God and go to heaven. By serving Him, I mean following His instruction book, living a life of love with the focus on God and His principles. Children have been important to me, even though I started later in life. Their salvation, and my teaching to them have been important. Evangelism has been a big part of my life. But most people don't feel the way I do.

I think this helps understand her life.

Her donation funded the critical early stages of development of the Moderna vaccine.[270] In March 2021, Parton was vaccinated against COVID-19 at Vanderbilt University. She labeled social media accounts of the occasion "Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine."[271] Parton strongly encouraged everyone to get vaccinated when eligible and performed a song celebrating her vaccination, set to the tune of her song "Jolene".[272][273][274]

She was the 4th of 12 children. Yet she had no children of her own. Parton was diagnosed with endometriosis and had a partial hysterectomy in her 30s, which affected her ability to have children, however she was married at 20, so we may never know what happened there. Seems sad, she was married to the same man for her whole life, a rare thing for an American celebrity, yet had no children. She was raised in the Church of God, but did not seem to have any affiliation as an adult.

American popular singer, and humanitarian, Dolly Parton, known to the world as a beloved singer, songwriter, philanthropist, actress, playwright, and author died peacefully today in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 80. Dolly is preceded in death by her beloved husband of 59 years Carl Thomas Dean (1942 – 2025). It is a shock to me. 80 does not seem that old. But she was not an Adventist. Adventist's do live longer.

People who donate blood in Sweden are sent a text message each time their blood saves a life. James

Is Social Security running out? The SSA projects Social Security trust fund reserves may be depleted by 2034, with Old-Age and Survivors Insurance running out as early as late 2032. https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-does-the-us-spend-on-social-security-is-it-sustainable/? How many civilian jobs are in the US federal government? There are about 2.69 million civilian jobs in the federal government as of June 2026. Federal jobs include all jobs ranging from janitors to air traffic controllers to nurses to postal workers and more. (Enlisted service people are considered government employees but aren’t included in this figure because they’re not civilians.) Out of the 159 million nonfarm jobs in the US, 1.7% are in the federal government, the nation’s largest employer. Another way to look at it: The federal government is responsible for 1 in every 60 jobs. https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-civilian-jobs-are-in-the-us-federal-government/country/united-states/? One last fact In 2024, Hawaii had the lowest rate of gun-related deaths nationwide: 3.7 deaths per 100,000 people. Mississippi had the highest rate: 28 per 100,000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that complex factors, including poverty, racial or ethnic inequities, and other socioeconomic conditions, influence differences in gun-related death rates between states.

Insufficient Data View in browser One of the few issues that unites voters and politicians of both parties right now is data centers. Three-quarters of Americans would oppose a data center being built near where they live, according to a new poll released last week by Heatmap Pro and Embold Research. The two leading lights of the left, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, have sponsored a bill in Congress to create a temporary moratorium on new centers. They have an unlikely ally in archconservative Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, who said yesterday on ABC’s This Week that data-center companies “basically dug their own grave” and “got the backlash they deserve.” Standing against this consensus is Donald Trump. The president remains a big booster of data centers. “Communities that don’t take a data center—they’re making a mistake,” he said Thursday during an interview with his on-again, off-again lackey Michael Cohen. “Data centers throw off tremendous amounts of jobs and money.” This was no one-off. Trump had made several similar comments recently. “If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center, I would absolutely want it, because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous,” Trump said last week—although he allowed that the sector could use “a little public-relations help.” This puts Trump, the most successful demagogue in American political history, in the unusual position of misreading, and opposing, a populist groundswell. During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump took many stands that were unpopular among establishment politicians. Some of these positions put him at odds not only with Democrats but also with most Republican elected officials. Trump broke with Republicans in claiming that he would protect social-welfare programs such as Medicare and Social Security, and he broke a bipartisan consensus by attacking free-trade agreements and promising protectionism. On these matters (as well as on his willingness to encourage and participate in gutter racism), Trump demonstrated that a big constituency existed for views that other politicians had deemed electoral liabilities. Data centers’ political arc has been different. Initially, many officials seemed to back the centers, following exactly Trump’s logic: They offered jobs and tax benefits. But as public opinion turned—driven by a mix of backlash to AI in general, environmental concerns, worries about energy prices, and old-fashioned NIMBYism—politicians changed their view as well. Why has Trump missed the shift? Presumably one reason is that he is surrounded by advisers and tech executives such as David Sacks and Larry Ellison, who are major boosters of and players in the industry. Tech companies invested heavily in Trump at the start of his second administration, lavishing him with gifts, including a gold-plated bauble and donations to projects such as his inauguration and his ballroom, and Trump has reciprocated by taking policy stances that benefit them. Trump may also be personally profiting from the AI boom; his financial disclosures show he’s become more of a tech investor. Trump has always tended to adopt the latest thing he’s heard, no matter what it is. He has been willing to alienate corporate interests in the past—when he saw some political upside. But he is not hearing from voters who might alert him to how unpopular data centers are. Trump’s rallies and speeches once created a feedback loop in which he conveyed his message to voters and—crucially—they conveyed their thoughts to him. Now, as his energy sinks, his travel schedule gets lighter, and security makes events more challenging, Trump is getting out less. Though his stump speeches dragged on for hours, Trump was carefully attuned to audience attention and what did and didn’t work. “You know, if it gets a little boring, if I see people starting to sort of, maybe thinking about leaving, I can sort of tell the audience, I just say, ‘We will build the wall!’ and they go nuts,” he told The New York Times in 2016. I think often about a speech Trump delivered in July 2022. It was billed as the launch of a new policy agenda, but as he read it, both Trump and his audience seemed bored. Then he ad-libbed a riff about trans athletes and the crowd came alive. Trump picked up on the shift and emphasized it; trans issues would become a central talking point for his 2024 campaign. The president has always been susceptible to fake news and bad at filtering information, but rallies provided a gut check about his base, if not about the broader national reality. Now Trump isn’t even receiving that kind of information. One of his major conduits for information is Natalie Harp, a sycophantic aide who isn’t interested in exposing Trump to criticism. He could read public-opinion data, but as his own approval sinks, he has taken to saying (and may well believe) that polls are fake. As his world shrinks, Trump’s populist touch has faded. Despite being elected twice on an antiwar platform, he’s launched attacks on Venezuela and Iran. As the Iran war has gotten bogged down, he’s been incapable of reading the public mood. He has dismissed voter frustration over rising fuel costs, saying “I don’t even think about” gas; he previously called affordability a “hoax.” In response to reports that American sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln were struggling with a long deployment, Trump said they hadn’t been deployed “nearly long enough.” And the collapse of trade talks with Canada on Friday threaten Republican prospects in border states including Michigan and Ohio. Each of these cases represents a growing gap between Trump and his base, but none is as ironic as Trump’s stance on data centers. The AI facilities store terabytes of data, but the president can’t get access to the information about them that he needs. Related: The bubble-wrapped president Trump’s 2024 soft launch (From 2022)

Canada set to announce retaliatory tariffs as Trump tells its leaders to ‘fall in line’ TORONTO (AP) — Canada will announce retaliatory tariffs against the United States on Tuesday after relations deteriorated sharply Monday, with President Donald Trump telling Canadian leaders to “fall in line” or face consequences “far WORSE” than existing tariffs and Prime Minister Mark Carney accusing Washington of trying to subordinate Canada. https://apnews.com/article/canada-trade-trump-ontario-53c4f83c8365c14b372b314396ae8179?

Armed men ambush patrol in South Sudan and kill 2 UN peacekeepers Two United Nations peacekeepers were killed on Monday when armed men ambushed a patrol traveling to a remote area of South Sudan, according to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. Read More.

Congo's Ebola outbreak records one of its highest weekly death tolls yet More than 300 people died of Ebola in eastern Congo in the past week, one of the highest weekly tolls yet, government data showed Monday, as health workers struggle to catch up with an outbreak that is spreading at unprecedented speed. Read More.

AP Decision Notes: What to expect in South Carolina’s special U.S. Senate primary runoff South Carolina Republicans will return to the polls Tuesday for the fourth time since June to replace the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on the fall general election ballot. Read More. AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Georgia’s special congressional runoff Residents of Georgia’s 13th Congressional District outside of Atlanta will get a new representative to Congress after a special election runoff Tuesday to replace the late Democratic U.S. Rep. David Scott, who died April 22. Read More. AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Oklahoma’s state primary runoff Oklahoma Republicans will return to the polls Tuesday to settle an expensive nomination fight for governor, while Democrats will pick a nominee for U.S. Senate. Voters will also decide two statewide ballot measures, including one that would add a voter identification requirement to the state constitution. Read More. MAGA Inc. spends $827,000 to back Darline Graham on final day of South Carolina GOP Senate runoff The final day of South Carolina's Republican U.S. Senate runoff campaign on Monday came with a major cash infusion for Sen. Darline Graham from MAGA Inc., the super PAC that supports President Donald Trump and aligned Republicans but has spent little thus far on the president's midterm candidate picks. Read More.

Iran warns of a harsh response as US announces new sanctions and other Middle East news Iran warned that new U.S. sanctions on Tehran announced Monday would not bring peace to the region. Meanwhile, Israeli and Syrian officials met less than a week after Israeli strikes in Syria. And Israel said it killed a Hamas commander in Gaza. Read More.

Police find the body of Karen Solomon, who was sought in the killing of her police officer husband A mental health advocate suspected of killing her police officer husband was found dead Monday, six days after she disappeared from her Massachusetts home, authorities said. https://apnews.com/article/officer-killed-massachusetts-husband-wife-006117548f4d151c1878adb706cbd17a? New evidence prompts trial delay for Libyan man charged in 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday postponed a trial in the U.S. for a former Libyan intelligence official charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, citing the discovery of new evidence that defense attorneys want to examine in the nearly 40-year-old case. https://apnews.com/article/lockerbie-bombing-pan-am-libyan-1988-a0e103909055b034c36dd27d3a316b80?

Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on mail voting restrictions ahead of midterms WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court opened a path Monday for possible implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, though it remains unclear how much can be put in place before the fast-approaching midterm elections. https://apnews.com/article/trump-mail-voting-supreme-court-157afc3c195ce0a62c522da5ce904b04?

US set for largest mass visa revocation in history targeting up to 200,000 foreigners, officials say WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of up to 200,000 foreigners who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum status in the United States. If it happens, the move would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in U.S. history and would likely face legal challenges. https://apnews.com/article/trump-rubio-visas-revoke-e9c14fdfd0ada439d2b9d8694e678a46? Deportees who refused to exit a US flight in Liberia are sent to Equatorial Guinea Six people who were deported by the United States to Liberia last week resisted getting off the plane and instead were sent to Equatorial Guinea, another ‌African nation that signed a third-country deportation agreement with the Trump administration, a person on the plane and a lawyer in contact with the six said Monday. Read More.

🐦 1 fun thing: Texting for the birds Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios A pair of new apps let users send messages at the speed of a carrier pigeon — or a snail or penguin, The New York Times reports. Carrier Pidge and Roost are meant to evoke the slower, riskier messaging styles of yesteryear. 🪦 Plot twist: On Carrier Pidge, the digital pigeons sometimes get lost or die en route, just like their physical counterparts. User Olivia Macdonald tells The Times: "The uncertainty of that, compared to the numbness that we feel receiving so many texts and notifications a day, is something that I just find really attractive about it." Gift link.

⛽️ Diesel dilemma Data: NYMEX, FactSet. (Continuous contract futures prices on U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil and New York Harbor ultra-low sulfur diesel.) Chart: Matt Phillips/Axios Diesel futures prices have soared to roughly $100 above those of crude oil, Axios' Matt Phillips reports. Their divergence reflects a dearth of global diesel refinery capacity. 💥 That shortage has been a growing issue since Ukraine launched a highly effective drone campaign targeting Russian refineries. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has also curtailed global supplies of refined products previously exported by Gulf states. What's next: Costlier diesel will likely filter down to everyday life. Diesel accounts for 3–5% of production costs for major crops like wheat, soybeans and corn. Diesel is the key fuel for trucking, and its surge has already raised the costs of truck transportation for goods throughout the economy. Go deeper.

Smarter ways to cool Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios Engineers are looking for new ways to keep buildings cool without driving up electricity demand, Axios' Rebecca Falconer reports. It's not just about generating more electricity to power air conditioners — it's how to use less power and ease demand when grids are most strained. 🏢 Some of the coolest new building tech includes smart windows and shading to block heat, reflective roof coatings, built-in energy storage to ease peak demand, and automation and ventilation to cut down on AC use. Zoom in: In Colorado, clean-energy nonprofit RMI and Boulder County are testing passive daytime radiative cooling paint on roofs. Ankit Kalanki, RMI's lead cooling expert, calls it "a more advanced version" of white paint — it reflects sunlight while also radiating heat into the sky. Mat Santamouris, a University of New South Wales professor, tells Axios that the right mix of cooling methods for any particular building depends on its type, location and the local climate. A 2024 study co-authored by Santamouris found that combining cool materials and greenery in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, could reduce peak ambient temperatures by up to 4.5°C. (Read the paper.) 🥵 Reality check: None of these technologies eliminates the need for AC. Instead, the goal is to reduce how frequently and intensely it operates. Kalanki says: "Efficiency is the cheapest resource that we have available." Go deeper.

Murdoch Paper Savages Trump for Making His ‘Dumbest’ Plan Even Dumber The Wall Street Journal says the president’s latest move makes no “economic or political sense.” The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal blasted Donald Trump for reigniting a trade war with Canada just weeks away from the midterms. The newspaper’s editorial board savaged the 80-year-old president for announcing a sequel to his “dumbest” tariff plans against a close ally and neighbor by imposing 50 percent import levies on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods over the weekend. In turn, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that the country is being “attacked” by Trump and vowed to match the U.S. tariffs “dollar for dollar.” The Journal’s editorial board questioned why Trump has decided to escalate a tariff war with Canada when it makes no “economic or political sense” and during a particularly crucial period for the president and the GOP. “President Trump took exception last year when we called his tariffs against Canada and Mexico the dumbest trade war in history,” the board wrote. “It got dumber this weekend as Mr. Trump escalated with another round of border taxes on Canadian imports, a mere 10 weeks before midterm elections.” Trump’s tariff plans against Canada came into effect on Saturday after talks between the two countries to stop the potentially devastating levies broke down.The tariffs target a long list of Canadian exports, including hockey sticks, agricultural products, wine, and cement. The tariffs will be paid by companies importing those goods into the U.S., with the cost eventually passed on to consumers. Trump’s tariffs were imposed under a long-dormant law, Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows a president to set tariffs against countries that discriminate against “commerce of the United States, directly or indirectly.” Trump is the first U.S. president to use the Depression-era law to impose tariffs. Carney warned that the Canadian government would impose retaliatory measures against the U.S. starting Sept. 8. The Journal’s board noted that both sides could “still walk back from the ledge,” but Trump’s escalation could “make this harder for Mr. Carney politically since Canadians don’t like being bullied by Washington.” A fresh trade war, with the cost trickling down to U.S. consumers, could further exacerbate the financial hardships of tens of millions of Americans already suffering in a cost-of-living crisis. The president has been recording dire approval ratings on the economy throughout his second term, as voters turn on Trump over his original tariff plans and the war in Iran, which has sent gas prices soaring. Backlash to Trump’s handling of the economy could doom Republicans in November’s midterm elections, where the GOP could lose control of both the House and the Senate. “Mr. Trump’s latest round of border taxes will hit an array of consumer goods, construction materials and manufacturing components. Republicans are already getting pounded on the campaign trail over his tariffs and inflation,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote. “One reason for Mr. Trump’s frigid approval rating is that voters believe Mr. Trump is waging blunderbuss wars without a strategy, and on trade they’re right.” In response, White House spokesman Kush Desai told the Daily Beast: “American workers, businesses, and farmers have, for decades, been undermined by unfair Canadian trade practices. “Canada tore up an incredibly generous and fair trade deal with the Trump administration to instead demand unrestricted access to the American economy while boxing American exports out of its market. President Trump will never waver from putting Americans and America First.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/murdoch-paper-savages-trump-for-making-his-dumbest-plan-even-dumber/?

Pentagon Spokesperson Admits There’s a Secret Blacklist of Journalists U.S. Central Command maintains a secret directory of journalists who have been blacklisted by the press office, according to an official with CENTCOM public affairs. The disclosure comes amid a failed war in Iran, a “cover-up” of U.S. casualties from that conflict, and repeated refusals by CENTCOM to address questions about civilian deaths in Iran, including the killing of a family recently disclosed by The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/24/pentagon-military-journalist-blacklist-press-media/? What American Doctors Saw in Gaza It’s been nearly three years into Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians, and still no step closer to its end. Since the latest “ceasefire” began in October 2025, Israel has continued to bombard Gaza and has killed more than 1,200 people, United Nations experts reported earlier this month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more recently rejected President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace agreement with Hamas for Israeli troops to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/21/gaza-hospitals-american-doctor-documentary/? RIP to the Russiagate Liberals Alexander Vindman lost to Angie Nixon in the Florida Democratic senatorial primary on Tuesday, marking a long-overdue end to one of the worst liberal mass delusions of the Trump era: Russiagate. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/22/russiagate-resistance-liberals-alex-vindman-angie-nixon/? This Mysterious “Astroturf” Group Popped Up to Defend the Paramount Merger A state attorney general challenging the controversial mega-merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery is under attack from a newly created mystery nonprofit accused of being an “astroturf” front group. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/21/paramount-merger-warner-discovery-david-ellison-antitrust/? The Dawn of a New Cold War In my youth, pop culture told me that the Cold War would end in one of two ways: a Soviet–Cuban invasion that would necessitate my taking to the hills and fighting a guerrilla war against the Communists, à la “Red Dawn,” like a young Patrick Swayze; or riding out an atomic winter after a full-scale nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union, as in “The Day After.” The only other hope was Rocky besting Drago in a proxy war held in a boxing ring (“In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess it’s better than 20 million”). Instead, in November 1989, I watched the Cold War end on a TV with an antenna, as the Berlin Wall came crashing down. Suddenly, there was only one superpower left standing. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/23/trump-china-ai-chips-rare-earth/?

Trump threatened on Monday to impose a 50% tariff on Canadian automobiles, car parts and steel starting next year as the trade rift with Ottawa continued to deepen. The announcement comes after trade talks between the otherwise reliable trading partners collapsed last week. Long-planned U.S. tariffs on various Canadian goods went into effect after the talks broke off, and Canada has vowed to retaliate. 🇮🇷 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Operation Economic Outcast: The U.S. will impose punishing sanctions on countries and entities that do business with Iran — an attempt to bring the country to heel absent renewed military strikes. More from Barak Ravid. 📰 An independent arbitrator ruled that former Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah was wrongfully terminated last year over social posts tied to the death of Charlie Kirk, and ordered her reinstated with back pay and lost benefits. More from Sara Fischer 🇨🇦 President Trump threatened to hit imported cars, trucks, automobile parts and steel from Canada with 50% tariffs starting on Jan. 1. He wrote on Truth Social: "Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years. Their ridiculously high tariffs on our Farmers and farm products has made life impossible for these great American Patriots, and has long created a 60 Billion Dollar Deficit between our two Countries." Go deeper.