
The crowd went wild after El-Sayed trolled Trump’s aide
Good morning, today is Thursday. Trump is threatening to demolish the Kennedy Center unless it's named after him.
We’ll discuss that completely normal development, plus:
Trump’s Navy is punishing a 19-year-old sailor who tried to kill himself
Trump's Argentina beef deal results in major recall
El-Sayed trolls Trump over Natalie Harp — and the crowd goes feral
Hundreds dead, missing after climate disaster on Nepal-Tibet border
Meta settles for up to $17 billion over what it did to kids
A Reagan appointee struck down Texas's drag show ban — and invoked Dolly Parton’s chest to do it
And: Trump finds a new way to make Dolly Parton's death about himself
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A sailor who jumped from the USS Abraham Lincoln on August 3 — sending his wife desperate messages about the toll of an extended deployment — is now facing non-judicial punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The Abraham Lincoln had spent months at sea during Trump's war with Iran. The Navy's response to a teenager in crisis on a warship was to open a disciplinary case against him.
This is the same military that, under Hegseth, has killed at least 227 people in strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — people the administration has accused of narco-terrorism without providing evidence.
The institution that cannot be bothered to investigate a Kid Rock helicopter stunt found time to charge a suicidal 19-year-old.
Separately, conscientious objector applications have risen six times since the Iran war began in February — the Center on Conscience and War, which normally handles about 50 cases a year, has already assisted roughly 140 applicants since February.
2. Trump's Argentina beef deal results in major recall — already
Nearly 30,000 pounds of raw Argentine beef hit Texas and Florida shelves without ever passing a USDA reinspection — and now it's all being recalled.
Corte Argentino, a Miami-area company, pulled five boneless beef cuts sold under the FrigorIfico Gorina SAIC brand after the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service flagged the import violation. Use/freeze-by dates run September 15–20, 2026. No illnesses reported yet.
This is the first food safety face-plant from Trump's beef import deal with Argentine President Javier Milei — the one that was supposed to lower grocery prices and had U.S. ranchers, normally among Trump's most loyal supporters, openly furious.
Agricultural economists pointed out the obvious: Argentine beef is roughly 2% of U.S. imports. Doubling it wouldn't dent prices. The real culprits are the smallest U.S. cattle herd since 1961, years of drought, and demand that hasn't let up.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of Agriculture admitted on camera that she doesn't even know where imported beef comes from.
3. Abdul El-Sayed trolls Trump over Natalie Harp and the crowd goes feral
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed brought the house down at a Farmington Hills town hall yesterday, joking that Trump's 35-year-old executive assistant Natalie Harp — paid $150,000 a year to essentially manage his Truth Social account — would show Trump this clip of El-Sayed mocking him and "he will be so mad."
El-Sayed, 41, also went after Trump's trade war, calling the tariffs "simply about his ego" and saying of the president: "You get money from daddy, become a nepo baby and all of a sudden you think you're some kind of master businessman."
Trump has called El-Sayed a "communist," a "man of hate," and said he is "full of sh--." The 80-year-old president cannot pronounce his name correctly either, which El-Sayed demonstrated by imitating Trump's drawn-out mangle of it: "Habibi, if you can't say the name, don't say the name."
Earlier this week, El-Sayed went on Fox News with Jesse Watters and came out of it with MAGA furious and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders calling his performance "insane and sad" — which, in 2026, is essentially a five-star Yelp review from the opposition.
A Muslim, progressive, first-generation American running for Senate in a swing state, refusing to soften, drawing crowds that roar — El-Sayed is running the race that a lot of Democrats were told was impossible.
➡️ If you’re able, please join us in donating to Abdul El-Sayed via ActBlue here!
4. Trump threatens to demolish the Kennedy Center unless it's named after him
Justice Department attorneys filed in court this week that the Kennedy Center is "structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe, and embarrassing to the Nation's Capital" — and floated replacing it with an outdoor amphitheater.
The filing came after Trump announced plans to close the venue for an "extensive renovation," a project that his administration has made clear is contingent on the building bearing his name.
The Kennedy Center, for context, is a living memorial to a president who was assassinated.
Trump's position, now argued in federal court by his own Justice Department, is that it cannot survive "either structurally or financially" without him getting proper credit.
5. Meta settles for up to $17 billion over what it did to kids
Meta agreed in an Oakland federal courtroom Wednesday to pay up to $17.1 billion to settle lawsuits brought by 48 states, D.C., and several U.S. territories over the harm its platforms caused to children and teenagers.
Under the settlement, Facebook and Instagram will cap daily use for users under 18 at two hours, block all usage from midnight to 6 a.m. without parental consent, hide likes on minors' posts by default, and ban "extreme makeup filters.”
Victoria Hicks, whose 16-year-old daughter Alexandra died by suicide, told reporters outside the courthouse that she feels "justice is possible." Instagram head Adam Mosseri had testified earlier in the trial that few teenagers used a key safety feature to limit their use — before it was turned on by default. Meta knew the problem — seventeen billion dollars is the price of admitting it out loud.
6. A federal judge struck down Texas's drag show ban — and told critics to simply not attend
U.S. District Judge David Hittner — a Reagan appointee — ruled Tuesday that Texas Senate Bill 12, which would have fined business owners up to $10,000 for hosting "sexually oriented performances" and hit performers with potential jail time was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.
"For those who find such activities as described in this case offensive, the solution is relatively simple," Hittner wrote. "Just don't go."
The judge cited Elvis Presley, Miley Cyrus, and Dolly Parton as examples of why the law was too vague to survive constitutional scrutiny. The law was championed by Ken Paxton, who is currently the Republican Senate nominee in Texas.
A Reagan judge just handed a Texas senate candidate a loss using Dolly Parton's name, the week she died.
7. Nepal death toll continues to rise as warnings of possible second flood emerge
At 8:37 a.m. on Aug. 26, a massive chunk of glacier broke off near the Nepal-Tibet border and sent a wall of ice, rock, and water tearing down the Bhote Koshi River valley. CNN reports 270 people are confirmed dead. More than 1,300 are missing — over 700 of them foreign nationals, including 65 Americans.
The water level reportedly rose 30 feet in 30 minutes. The same river flooded twice in 14 months. Experts are warning of a possible imminent second flood in the area.
This is not a freak accident. Climate scientists at ICIMOD confirmed an ice-rock avalanche triggered the flood — a glacial lake outburst event driven by warming temperatures. The Free Press Journal reported that the Himalayas are warming faster than most of the world, destabilizing glaciers that hold some of the planet's largest freshwater reserves.
Scientists say these events will become more frequent and more deadly.
We've started including more calls to action in this newsletter (petitions, protests, donation links). Heading into midterms, is that something you want to see more of?
KEPT OUT OF YOUR FEED
What the algorithm buried:
A MAGA host laughed in Trump’s face after he found a way to make Dolly Parton's death about himself
The Department of Education accidentally compared Trump to Hitler
Napa Valley wineries are bleeding out under Trump's tariffs
Debbie Dingell just made Natalie Harp famous in Michigan
Turns out JD Vance knows groceries are expensive — he just needs your credit card number first
Trump crashed a South Carolina Senate race — and his own supporters booed his name
Trump's National Nutrition Adviser Ben Carson thinks hot dogs are a health food "fresh from the ground." The MAHA agenda is going great
The head of the National Black Farmers Association called Trump's beef import plan a "national insult" — and he's not alone
Fossil fuel companies knew in 1988 that they were drying out the American West — and lied about it for decades anyway
Trump, 80, can't remember blowing up his own trade talks with Canada
The ex-JPMorgan exec who leaked confidential bank data to Epstein was also named trustee of his estate
The judge in Don Lemon's indictment asked to see grand jury records — adding to a pattern of judicial skepticism toward Trump’s DOJ
ICE arrested nearly 50,000 people in July — a 15% spike from the month before and the administration's highest monthly total to date
NOTICE POLLING
Yesterday, we asked, do you think Democrat Annie Andrews has any chance of beating Darline Graham for South Carolina's Senate seat?
82% OF YOU SAID YES!
➡️ You can donate to Dr. Annie Andrews via ActBlue here — she has a real shot in flipping South Carolina, but needs all the help she can get!
“If enough people in SC are as sick of what is happening in the USA, then yes, Annie does have a very good chance of winning, unless Trump declares there will be no mid term elections, or further closes our ability to vote backed up by SCOTUS.”
- twoasps
“She’s smart and kind and she knows how to handle people like Graham’s sister.”
- dalesallybaldwin
“We have to continue to support her by door knocking and educating people.”
- jomapo51
“It's a tough call, but one can hope.”
- capthonb3
That’s all for today — thank you so much for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow!
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