Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A fresh round of discouraging economic news: “After splurging on the World Cup and Amazon Prime Day sales, Americans unexpectedly cut their spending in July by the biggest amount in more than a year. Retail sales fell 0.6% last month, marking the biggest decrease since May 2025, compared with a revised gain of 0.2% in June, according to the Commerce Department data released Friday. Economists were projecting a small increase.”
* It sure does seem as if Moscow is testing NATO: “Polish security services have foiled a Russian plot to assassinate a U.S. citizen in the country, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday. A Russian national working under orders of Russian intelligence was arrested Friday in Warsaw, Tusk told reporters. U.S. intelligence aided the effort, he said.”
* An unusual move from Huckabee: “U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee issued a rare rebuke of Israeli settlers this week, calling a recent siege of homes in the occupied West Bank, including one owned by a Palestinian American, a ‘horrific act of terror.’ Typically a fierce defender of Israel and its settlers in the West Bank, Huckabee took an unusually stern position against the recent violence against Palestinian residents of Qusra village in a post on X.”
* A case we’ve been following for years: “The yearslong case against six Nevada Republicans who were accused of submitting a bogus certificate that falsely declared Donald Trump the winner of the state’s 2020 presidential election has been dismissed, a judge ruled Thursday. The dismissal marks the latest setback in swing states’ efforts to prosecute fake electors who tried to keep Trump in the White House after he lost to Joe Biden in 2020.”
* Seems like the sort of thing Congress might want to look into: “Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment Michael Boren, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, asked agency staff last month to escalate the amount of aircraft at a seven-acre fire that had started near his mega-ranch in Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest, according to two Forest Service officials familiar with the matter. Boren, a tech billionaire and Trump appointee, oversees about 200 million acres of national forest and public land.”
* The latest in a series of White House departures: “White House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker, a long-serving foreign policy aide to Vice President JD Vance, will leave the Trump administration in the coming weeks.”
* Will the justices deliver for Trump once again? “President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to allow him to continue construction on his 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom, urging the justices to intervene before a court-ordered block on the project takes effect. Trump’s emergency application comes a week after a federal appeals court in Washington ruled his $400 million ballroom construction project unlawful because the administration bypassed congressional authorization.”
Have a safe weekend.
The post Friday’s Mini-Report, 8.14.26 appeared first on MS NOW.
