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What Happened Today – August 19, 2026

President Trump signs his name on the granite of the new White House helipad as construction workers in safety vests stand behind him with the White House in the background

President Donald Trump signed the granite of his new $5 million White House helipad, paid for by Marine One's manufacturer, and promised cocktails there before ballroom events. (Official White House photo)

They can’t ban abortion everywhere, so they tried to ban telling you where it’s legal. Indiana moved to punish Planned Parenthood for telling minors which states allow abortion. Separately, HHS killed 53 teen pregnancy prevention programs that worked and ordered abstinence-only lessons in their place. Federal courts blocked both, with an appeals court ruling that … Read more

What Happened Today – August 18, 2026

Judge Tomoko Akane, president of the International Criminal Court, in judicial portrait

Tomoko Akane, president of the International Criminal Court, was sanctioned by Secretary of State Rubio as the State Department pursues its declared campaign to dismantle the court (© European Union, 1998-2026 / Laurie Dieffembacq).

Governor Greg Abbott turned Texas into a sanctuary state for one ICE agent. Christian Castro shot a Venezuelan man through the front door of a Minneapolis home in January, then lied about it so thoroughly that federal prosecutors charged the man he shot. Minnesota later charged Castro with felony assault, Texas Rangers arrested him, and … Read more

What Happened Today – August 17, 2026

Aerial view of the Rio Grande flowing through the 1,400-foot limestone cliffs of Mariscal Canyon in Big Bend National Park

The Rio Grande carved 1,400-foot-deep Mariscal Canyon through solid limestone in Big Bend National Park, where CBP paused its $1.7 billion border project as bulldozers cleared a route. (National Park Service photo)

Donald Trump threatened to bomb the country trying to end his war. Oman is a longtime American ally, the mediator both sides trust and the channel for every Hormuz negotiation. On Saturday, Iran announced the two countries had agreed on a plan to reopen shipping. Trump’s answer came Monday: “If Oman gets in the way, … Read more

What Happened Today – August 16, 2026

Aerial view of dead grass patches on the National Mall near the World War II Memorial in Washington

President Donald Trump posted this photo of dead Mall grass on Truth Social, blaming vandals for damage webcam images traced to his July 4 stage and crowds. (Truth Social photo)

Donald Trump just showed every nation the value of being America’s military ally. Hours before 18,000 South Korean soldiers began annual joint exercises with US troops, Trump ordered Hegseth on Truth Social to gut the drills because of his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un. He added, in what he called an unrelated point, … Read more

What Happened Today – August 15, 2026

Rendering of the White House ballroom interior with gold trim, marble floors, and a presidential seal, from Trump's Supreme Court filing

President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to restart construction of the ballroom that destroyed the East Wing, a project nearing $1 billion after his private-funding pledge collapsed. (White House rendering from Supreme Court filing)

Federal prosecutors spent the past year investigating Loren Merchan because her father presided over the trial that made Donald Trump a felon. Merchan co-owned a marketing firm until late 2024, and the subpoena that opened the investigation never named a crime. It demanded the firm’s private communications with top Democrats, including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, … Read more

What Happened Today – August 14, 2026

USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with rust-streaked hull at sea, full flight deck and two fighter jets overhead

Rust streaked the hull of the USS Abraham Lincoln by March 3, only four months into the deployment its sailors' families now describe as unbearable. (U.S. Navy photo)

At least three sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln have reportedly tried to jump into the ocean, but Trump says their deployment is “not nearly long enough.” He has kept the carrier at sea for nine months fighting his Iran war, including a record 208 straight days without touching land. This week, crew member families … Read more

What Happened Today – August 13, 2026

Analysts at computer workstations inside the Las Vegas fusion center, surrounded by a wall of surveillance video monitors

Analysts monitored surveillance feeds inside the Las Vegas fusion center, the kind of government data hub CBP employees exploited for more than a decade to stalk exes and tip smugglers. (FBI photo)

For the first time since Roe v. Wade fell, a federal judge ruled the Constitution protects abortion in Idaho. Legislators there barred doctors from ending a pregnancy to save a woman who might take her own life. Mental health was the leading killer of Idaho’s pregnant women, according to the state’s own maternal mortality committee. … Read more

What Happened Today – August 12, 2026

Aerial view of White House ballroom construction on the demolished East Wing site and a new helipad under construction on the South Lawn, July 2026

Trump's ballroom construction rose over the demolished East Wing in July as a new helipad tore up the South Lawn, work now totaling at least $927 million. (Photo: G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0)

Trump has been lying about who pays for his White House makeover since before he broke ground. He said dozens of times that private donations would fund the construction. The Washington Post found his administration stuffing more than $870 million into the White House upkeep budget, including one unidentified $70 million deposit, and we are … Read more

What Happened Today – August 11, 2026

Screenshot of Pete Hegseth's Signal message listing F-18 launch times and strike windows for the 2025 Yemen bombing campaign

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth texted these Yemen strike timings into an unsecured Signal chat in 2025; a Pentagon review now admits that campaign killed 153 civilians. (Signal screenshot published by The Atlantic)

ICE agents chased down an American mother in Virginia and put a gun in her face because she cursed at them. Carolina Molina was dropping off business cards at immigration law offices in Falls Church when she told the agents arresting two men what she thought of them. Two SUVs boxed in her car and … Read more

What Happened Today – August 10, 2026

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Sen. Darline Graham, and Gov. Henry McMaster stand at the new Joint Base Lindsey Graham sign in South Carolina.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dedicated Joint Base Lindsey Graham in South Carolina beside Sen. Darline Graham, appointed to her brother's seat within a day of his death. (Official Army photo by Curt Loter)

Donald Trump overrode virtually every medical scientist on Earth today. His executive order cuts the vaccines recommended for every American child to 11 and drops hepatitis and meningitis protection for most kids, in the middle of America’s worst year for measles in 35 years. It also orders the MMR vaccine split into three separate shots … Read more

What Happened Today – August 9, 2026

Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever in a red Indy jersey during a game against the Minnesota Lynx

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham faced the Minnesota Lynx on August 2, days before Florida's attorney general threatened assault charges over a flagrant foul on her. (Photo: John Mac, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Today Donald Trump maneuvered the lawyer who won his personal immunity case into the White House counsel’s office, which represents the presidency. Will Scharf was one of Trump’s personal lawyers who convinced the Supreme Court that presidents cannot be prosecuted for official acts. His reward comes two days after the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche, Trump’s … Read more

What Happened Today – August 8, 2026

Former President Joe Biden seated with Jill Biden, George W. Bush, Kamala Harris, and Mike Pence at Richard Cheney's funeral at Washington National Cathedral

Former President Joe Biden joined George W. Bush, Kamala Harris, and Mike Pence at Dick Cheney's November funeral, months before his son revealed his cancer had spread to his bones. (U.S. Army photo by Christopher Kaufmann)

America’s largest reservoir just fell to its lowest level ever. Lake Mead has been dropping for 25 years. On Thursday it hit its lowest depth since it was created nine decades ago. Forty million people in seven states depend on Lake Mead and the Colorado River. Trump calls climate change a hoax. Nine days ago … Read more

What Happened Today – August 7, 2026

Riot police with shields face protesters at night outside Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey

Riot police confronted protesters outside Delaney Hall in Newark before mass arrests on May 31, at the immigration jail whose operator New Jersey subpoenaed after a third detainee death. (Photo: Jwswikiuser191)

264,000 Americans stopped looking for work last month. Nobody needs a government report to tell them the economy is worsening. Grocery and gas prices have climbed for more than a year while paychecks barely moved. Today’s report showed where that leads. Stores and restaurants cut jobs because customers stopped spending, and more people decided looking … Read more

What Happened Today – August 6, 2026

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks next to a smiling President Donald Trump during a Camp David cabinet meeting on July 31, 2026.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke beside President Donald Trump at Camp David on July 31, days before Trump called reporting on their clash over missile stockpiles treasonous. (Official White House photo)

The Supreme Court ruled weeks ago that Donald Trump cannot erase birthright citizenship with an executive order. Today he tried again. He signed two new orders restricting who is born a citizen, called the 6 to 3 ruling from his own conservative majority “very unfortunate,” and told reporters “we’re making adjustments.” The Constitution says every … Read more

What Happened Today – August 5, 2026

Alt image tag Ruger Mark IV pistol with suppressor and red dot optic on white background

A Ruger pistol fitted with the suppressor a Texas federal judge just freed from 90 years of registration rules, one year after Trump's tax bill erased their $200 tax. (Mitch Barrie / Flickr / CC BY-SA 4.0)

New Mexico sued the Justice Department after waiting seven years for the Epstein files it was promised. In 2019, federal prosecutors asked the state to shut down its investigation of Zorro Ranch and pledged to share everything when their case ended. New Mexico finally reopened the investigation this year and has asked ten times for … Read more

What Happened Today – August 4, 2026

Capitol security camera image from January 6, 2021, with labels identifying ten Oath Keepers members and associates in the crowd inside the building

Oath Keepers members moved through the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a surveillance photo prosecutors labeled as evidence before DOJ dismissed the final case against them. (US Department of Justice photo)

Kansas beat the anti-abortion movement twice in two days. On Monday, Judge Christopher Jayaram issued a 260 page ruling that the state cannot force women to wait 24 hours or answer questions about their finances or their reasons before ending a pregnancy. He wrote that under the Kansas Constitution’s guarantee of bodily autonomy, his ruling … Read more

What Happened Today – August 3, 2026

Masked ICE agents in tactical gear and camouflage confront protesters outside the Broadview ICE processing center, one demonstrator pulled to the ground beside a pink protest sign.

Masked and armored ICE agents confronted protesters outside Chicago's Broadview processing center, the anonymity a federal judge ruled this week that New York cannot ban (Photo: Paul Goyette, CC BY 4.0).

Border agents swabbed a four-year-old’s cheek and uploaded her DNA to the FBI’s criminal database. Federal agents sent more than 2,700 records into that database every day last year, nearly a million in all, most from people never charged with any crime. Immigration enforcement now captures more profiles than any police force in the country, … Read more

What Happened Today – August 2, 2026

Yellow and black Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk firefighting helicopter carrying a water snorkel over smoke and forest at the Sinlahekin Fire in Washington

Northwest Helicopters' Black Hawk "Bumblebee" worked the Sinlahekin Fire as wildfires burning into Spokane destroyed more than 600 structures and forced 60,000 evacuations. (Public domain photo via InciWeb)

Illinois went and found the people Washington stopped feeding. About 148,000 Illinois residents have lost food assistance since new federal work rules hit in May, veterans, people in their sixties, and parents of teenagers among them. On Saturday the state began depositing $400 onto the grocery cards of every affected person. Nobody had to fill … Read more

What Happened Today – August 1, 2026

AI-generated image posted by President Trump showing him peering over mountains above a Greenland village with the caption Hello, Greenland

Donald Trump posted this AI image of himself looming over Greenland a day after telling a radio host to bet on American control of the island (Screenshot via Truth Social)

Donald Trump spent his Saturday posting fake pictures of himself again. Between attacking his own prosecutor and declaring victory in Iran, he made time to publish 43 posts in an afternoon. In one he kisses a golden Jesus. In another he looms over Greenland, a day after telling a radio host to bet that America … Read more

What Happened Today – July 31, 2026

Workers painting the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue with the Washington Monument and Capitol dome in the background, April 2026

Contractors painted the drained Reflecting Pool in April, the rushed $14.6 million job prosecutors admitted Friday caused the damage Trump blamed on vandals. (Photo: G. Edward Johnson, Creative Commons)

A lie about paint put a 67-year-old Olympian in handcuffs. We knew nobody in Ohio was eating cats and dogs, and the vice president admitted he would “create stories” to get attention. We knew a Sharpie stretched that hurricane map into Alabama. And we knew there was no 300-foot gash in the Reflecting Pool. Trump … Read more

What Happened Today – July 30, 2026

U.S. Marines aboard a UH-1Y Venom helicopter flying over open water near the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer in the Middle East

Marines flew a UH-1Y Venom off USS Boxer in the Middle East on July 22 as the Senate rejected another bid to limit the Iran war 49-50. (U.S. Navy photo)

Senator John Cornyn refuses to vote for Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney general, until the Justice Department documents what it already claims is true. Blanche settled Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS with a $1.8 billion fund for his allies and a shield protecting his family’s past tax returns from audit, forever. Blanche testified the fund is … Read more

What Happened Today – July 29, 2026

Anthony Fauci seated at a Senate hearing witness table, reading from a printed statement into a microphone.

Former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth at Rand Paul's Senate COVID hearing, saying the chairman called it solely to trap him into a false statement. (Photo via gop.gov)

The morning after a federal judge ruled that a contract cannot erase state law, ICE wrote the same words into four more contracts. Washington spent three years in court getting health inspectors inside ICE’s largest Northwest detention center, where detainees filed 3,500 complaints and inspectors with every legal right to enter were turned away at … Read more

What Happened Today – July 28, 2026

Black-draped Senate desk of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham with white roses

Sen. Lindsey Graham's draped Senate desk bore white roses as the late South Carolina Republican lay in the Capitol Rotunda and Trump eulogized him at Washington National Cathedral. (Official U.S. Senate photo by Ryan Donnell, courtesy U.S. Senate Commission on Art)

Samuel Tunick gave border agents a passcode that wiped his phone, and the government made him the first American ever charged with that crime. The agents had no warrant. They pulled him into a back room at the Atlanta airport and refused his requests for a lawyer. The Justice Department wants to put him in … Read more

What Happened Today – July 27, 2026

Sen. Mitch McConnell seated with a neck pillow as Elaine Chao stands beside him in a photo released during his rehab stay.

Sen. Mitch McConnell posed with his wife, former Secretary Elaine Chao, in a photo his office released Sunday as he remained uncleared to leave rehab six weeks after his fall (Official U.S. Senate photo).

America chose sides. When the UN voted Friday to keep its human rights chief, 144 countries said yes. The United States and nine others, including Russia and North Korea, said no. France counted the votes out loud and posted that the world no longer listens to America. American diplomats answered Monday by walking out of … Read more

What Happened Today – July 26, 2026

Aerial view of the Gordie Howe International Bridge cable-stayed span crossing the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor before its July 2026 opening

The Gordie Howe International Bridge spanned the Detroit River days before opening to traffic, after Canada disinvited U.S. officials from the ceremony over new 50% tariffs. (Photo: WMrapids, public domain)

The Pentagon told Congress that the war it has been fighting since February started three weeks ago. That bought another 60 days of fighting before anyone in Congress can stop it. The books got adjusted this weekend. A second file opened in the casualty record, the dead and wounded were split between two wars that … Read more

What Happened Today – July 25, 2026

AI-generated image posted by Donald Trump showing a giant air filter wall on the US-Canada border labeled North America Air Filter Barrier

Donald Trump posted this AI-generated air filter wall on the Canadian border Saturday while wildfire smoke kept 100 million Americans under air quality alerts in 18 states. (Image: Donald Trump/Truth Social)

A federal appeals court showed up Saturday morning to stop Donald Trump from deciding who gets a mail ballot. His March executive order told Homeland Security to build citizen lists, ordered the Postal Service to refuse mail ballots to any voter not on them, and told prosecutors to charge election officials who sent ballots to … Read more

What Happened Today – July 24, 2026

Flock Safety automated license plate reader camera and solar panel mounted on a pole in a residential neighborhood

Post Falls, Idaho, vowed never to install Flock Safety cameras like this one and asked state lawmakers to require deleting license plate data within 90 days. (Photo by Julian Focareta / Flock Safety, via Wikimedia Commons)

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said politics never decided which grants got canceled, and his own lawyers just told a court it was the only thing that did. They agreed in writing on Friday that all but one of the 284 canceled grants, $7.5 billion worth, went to a state Kamala Harris won, and that nothing … Read more

What Happened Today – July 23, 2026

Snow-covered marsh grasses and docks at Apponaug Cove in Warwick, Rhode Island, with waterfowl on the winter water

Snow blanketed Apponaug Cove in Warwick, Rhode Island, where Gov. Dan McKee moved $28 million in credits so a 15% winter rate hike won't cost the average family a dollar. (Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management photo)

Two men looked at your electric bill today, and only one put money on the table. Rhode Island Energy announced a 15% winter rate hike this morning. Within hours, Gov. Dan McKee declared an energy affordability emergency and moved $28 million in carbon fees paid by power plants so the average family won’t pay a … Read more

What Happened Today – July 22, 2026

Locator map highlighting Mali in West Africa

Mali, highlighted in West Africa, emerged as the Trump administration's next potential target as officials weighed strikes that would make it the eighth country attacked this term. (Alvaro1984 18 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

ICE arrested more people in June than in any month in its history, and July is on pace to break that record. The agency is averaging nearly 1,600 arrests a day this month and has held as many as 70,000 people in custody on a single day this year. ICE officials privately called the crowding … Read more

What Happened Today – July 21, 2026

Man standing alone before the rubble of a collapsed building after Israeli airstrikes in the Bachoura neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon

Donald Trump cleared US airlines to fly direct to Lebanon Monday and told Americans to visit. His own State Department says do not travel there for any reason. This is Bachoura, in Beirut, after a March Israeli airstrike. (Megaphone photo, CC BY 4.0)

Donald Trump gave Saudi Arabia a path to enriched uranium while bombing Iran for already having one. American companies have long been legally barred from helping Saudi Arabia go nuclear. AP sources say Trump just approved a 30-year deal that allows US firms to help the Saudis enrich uranium on their own soil without the … Read more

What Happened Today – July 20, 2026

Official U.S. Army portraits of Pvt. Isabella Gonzales and 1st Lt. Tyler Feehan, soldiers killed in Iranian strikes on a Jordan air base

Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, and 1st Lt. Tyler Feehan, 25, were killed in Iranian strikes on Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, two of this war's 17 American dead. (Official U.S. Army photos)

Iranian missiles killed 19-year-old Pvt. Isabella Gonzales in Jordan on Friday, one year after she graduated from her Texas high school. 1st Lt. Tyler Feehan, 25, died the next day, weeks from finishing his MBA and set to be married when he came home. The Army named them today and will posthumously promote Feehan to … Read more

What Happened Today – July 19, 2026

JD Vance and Usha Vance holding hands on the set of Storytime with the Second Lady before the birth of their son Alec Neel

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance taped her storytime show weeks before welcoming Alec Neel, the first baby born to a sitting vice president's family since 1870. (Office of the Second Lady photo)

The FBI ordered its agents to stop investigating ICE confrontations. The written order went out Thursday, The New York Times reports, though the Justice Department denies it. The FBI’s role had already shrunk to one question: was the agent attacked before he fired? When ICE killed men in Houston and Maine this month, answering that … Read more

What Happened Today – July 18, 2026

Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the House rostrum with Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Ben Cardin applauding behind him

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress to standing applause in July 2024; New York City now weighs arresting him on his ICC war crimes warrant this September. (Photo: Office of Speaker Mike Johnson)

Milwaukee City Attorney Evan Goyke warned the Justice Department on Friday that he will prosecute masked federal agents operating in his city. His warning came on his office’s letterhead, after DOJ demanded that Milwaukee not enforce its ban on masked law enforcement. It points to Biddeford, Maine, where ICE killed a father this week who … Read more

What Happened Today – July 17, 2026

Masked GEO Group transport officers outside Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark

Masked GEO Group employees stood outside the company's Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark on May 25; on Friday Citizens Bank ended its lending to GEO and CoreCivic. (Public domain photo)

Ordinary people just cost ICE’s jailers their lender. For months they protested outside Citizens Bank branches from Washington to Vermont and moved $300 million to other banks. On Friday, Citizens said it will stop lending to GEO Group and CoreCivic, the private prison companies that run ICE’s biggest detention centers. The bank swears the decision … Read more

What Happened Today – July 16, 2026

AirNow fire and smoke map showing Canadian wildfire smoke covering the Midwest and mid-Atlantic with red and purple monitors marking hazardous air quality

AirNow's fire and smoke map showed Canadian wildfire smoke pouring across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic overnight Thursday, with hazardous air reaching 120 million Americans through Saturday. (AirNow.gov)

Donald Trump turned years of election lies into orders. He stood in the East Room Thursday night repeating claims his own declassified documents don’t support, the same story he’s told since 2016. The orders came after: he directed DHS to tell states to purge their voter rolls and told the FBI, CIA, and Justice Department … Read more

What Happened Today – July 15, 2026

U.S. Mint one dollar coin design showing Donald Trump's face beside Liberty and 1776-2026, with an eagle and 250 on the reverse

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled the U.S. Mint's design for a $1 coin bearing President Donald Trump's face, despite a law limiting currency portraits to deceased individuals. (Image: U.S. Treasury via X)

The federal government rewrote the story of slavery in the middle of last night. Park Service crews entered Philadelphia’s Independence Park and stripped the memorial to the nine people George Washington enslaved. The new display says they enjoyed “a greater modicum of autonomy” under the man who owned them. A federal judge quoted Orwell when … Read more

What Happened Today – July 14, 2026

National Guard soldiers in camouflage cross a city street alongside civilian pedestrians near a Whole Foods in Washington, DC

National Guard troops patrolled a Washington crosswalk near Capitol Hill in June, part of a garrison the Pentagon plans to keep through the 2029 inauguration at $3 million a day. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Tianna Wilson)

Senate Democrats just refused to pay for Trump’s war. Congress has passed a defense bill every year since 1961. The streak survived Vietnam, both wars in Iraq, and every shutdown fight since. On Tuesday the Senate blocked this year’s bill rather than hand over $1.15 trillion for a war Congress never authorized. Four senators missed … Read more

What Happened Today – July 13, 2026

Metal spikes installed on a brick ledge in Washington DC, hostile architecture designed to prevent people from sitting or resting

Metal spikes lined a building ledge in Washington, DC, the hostile architecture Morgantown, West Virginia voted 5-2 to ban so homeless people can rest in public. (Public domain photo)

ICE agents killed the wrong man this morning in Biddeford, Maine, and left his body handcuffed in the street for five hours. Joan Sebastian Guerrero was 26, married, with a 3-year-old daughter. Agents staking out an address on his street rammed his car as he left for work and fired up to seven shots, four … Read more

What Happened Today – July 12, 2026

Soldiers stand between concrete blast walls and prefabricated buildings at Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, in 2021

Maj. Gen. Heidi Hoyle toured Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, in July 2021, five years before an Iranian drone strike on the lightly protected facility killed six US soldiers. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. David Simon)

The soldiers who survived one of the deadliest attacks on Americans in the Iran war just told the country that six of their own didn’t have to die. Seventeen soldiers talked to The Washington Post about the drone strike at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait. They say their generals were briefed that the port was on … Read more

What Happened Today – July 11, 2026

Two Israeli settlers, one carrying a rifle, stand among vehicles on a dirt road in the West Bank where Rep. Ro Khanna's congressional delegation was detained.

Rep. Ro Khanna photographed armed Israeli settlers who detained his congressional delegation for 90 minutes in the West Bank as IDF soldiers refused to intervene. (Photo: Rep. Ro Khanna via Instagram)

Kash Patel spent Friday inside the White House running a criminal investigation of The New York Times. The Times reported that Trump’s $400 million Qatari gift plane still hasn’t been fitted with missile defenses, so the Secret Service flew him home from the NATO summit in Turkey on the old Air Force One. The White … Read more

What Happened Today – July 10, 2026

Ethan Nordean leads Proud Boys members past the US Supreme Court on January 6, 2021

Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean marched past the Supreme Court toward the Capitol on January 6, 2021; a Trump-appointed judge erased his seditious conspiracy conviction today. (Photo: Elvert Barnes Photography, CC BY 2.0)

A Trump-appointed judge erased the Proud Boys’ seditious conspiracy convictions today and wrote that no one should mistake his ruling for agreement. Judge Timothy Kelly sat through the six-month trial where a jury convicted the group’s leaders of plotting to keep Trump in power by force on January 6. The Justice Department asked him to … Read more

What Happened Today – July 9, 2026

Homepage of the renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport website, formerly Palm Beach International Airport

Palm Beach International Airport rebranded its homepage as President Donald J. Trump International Airport after becoming the first US airport named for a sitting president. (Screenshot: pbia.org)

Donald Trump emailed termination notices to the two Democrats who oversee America’s voting machines and let the lone Republican resign. Congress built the Election Assistance Commission with two Democrats and two Republicans so that neither party controls it. Four months before the midterms, the commission cannot legally act. The White House says the president can … Read more

What Happened Today – July 8, 2026

The VC-25B bridge Air Force One aircraft in red, white, and navy presidential livery inside a hangar at Joint Base Andrews beneath an American flag

The Qatari-gifted jet serving as Air Force One sat at Joint Base Andrews; the Secret Service urged President Donald Trump off it today for the flight leg near Iran. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo)

A federal judge pried loose the $5.8 million Donald Trump has owed E. Jean Carroll for three years and told him it’s time to pay. Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote that Trump “has been stalling this case for years.” A unanimous jury found he sexually abused and defamed Carroll, every appeal failed, and the Supreme Court … Read more

What Happened Today – July 7, 2026

Steaks with price tags in a grocery store beef case

Beef prices at an American grocery counter reflected a record-low cattle herd as President Donald Trump claimed credit for cuts Walmart had already put on shelves. (Nebraska Corn Board photo)

ICE forced detained Iranians to sit down with officials of the government they fled, and those officials had already read their asylum files. A federal lawsuit filed today says the Trump administration cut a deal with Tehran in March 2025 and handed over the immigration files of hundreds of Iranian detainees at monthly meetings for … Read more

What Happened Today – July 6, 2026

FBI surveillance still of a hooded, masked suspect carrying a bag along a dark Capitol Hill sidewalk on January 5, 2021, in the January 6 pipe bomb case

The hooded figure prosecutors say is Brian Cole Jr. carried pipe bombs through Capitol Hill on January 5, 2021, hours before the insurrection whose pardon he now claims. (FBI surveillance photo)

The office ICE created to investigate its own agents is instead investigating 131 Americans for criticizing the agency. David Streever is believed to be one of the 131. Two agents visited his Rochester home over an angry email and handed his wife a formal warning that he may have violated federal law. They later tracked … Read more

What Happened Today – July 5, 2026

Doctored image posted by Donald Trump showing Barack and Michelle Obama waving from Air Force One covered in fake graffiti including BLM and Arabic writing

President Donald Trump posted this fabricated image defacing the Obamas' 2017 farewell with graffiti and Arabic script, one day after Patriot Front marched through Washington. (Screenshot, Truth Social)

Three Supreme Court justices just voted to end birthright citizenship, and the Speaker of the House wants to finish the job. The Court ruled 6 to 3 that the 14th Amendment protects citizenship for every child born on American soil. Donald Trump demanded Congress end it anyway, promising his “Complete and Total Support.” By Sunday, … Read more

What Happened Today – July 4, 2026

Masked Patriot Front members hold American and Confederate flags on the National Mall at the 2026 March for Life in Washington DC

Masked Patriot Front members massed American and Confederate flags on the National Mall at January's March for Life, six months before marching on America's 250th birthday. (Photo: WatchYoNacho, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)

A Black woman rode the DC Metro alone on the Fourth of July, surrounded by masked men on their way to march for a white America. Patriot Front brought about 400 members and their Confederate flags to the capital’s 250th birthday. None were arrested, and they were gone before lunch. But a photographer caught that … Read more

What Happened Today – July 3, 2026

Masked Patriot Front members hold American and Confederate flags on the National Mall at the 2026 March for Life in Washington DC

Masked Patriot Front members massed American and Confederate flags on the National Mall at January's March for Life, six months before marching on America's 250th birthday. (Photo: WatchYoNacho, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)

Three weeks ago I started showing you government getting it right, and I wish I’d started sooner. The Good Government category debuted at issue #500, and your comments keep saying the same thing: thank you for the hope that good government still exists. Since then I’ve run 19 of these stories: Oregon teamed with Dolly … Read more

What Happened Today – July 2, 2026

Archived Department of Energy Home Cooling Systems webpage showing the deleted 75 to 78 degree thermostat guidance

The Energy Department's own Home Cooling Systems page recommended 75 to 78 degrees, guidance the agency deleted after conservatives mocked NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani for identical advice. (Energy Department webpage via Internet Archive)

Kash Patel just ordered every FBI field office in America to send analysts to recount an election Donald Trump lost six years ago. The directive pulls 260 analysts and gives them two weeks to comb through Fulton County’s 2020 records. Georgia counted those votes three times, once by hand, and got the same answer every … Read more

What Happened Today – July 1, 2026

Rep. Jamie Raskin speaking at a microphone on the House floor

Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, spoke on the House floor as his party pressed for full release of the Epstein files. (House Democrats photo)

ICE agents took a nun’s rosary and handcuffed her while she walked to Sunday Mass. Sister Letty Ugboaja is a 56-year-old nurse who has served South Texas for a decade. She spent the day in a detention cell until members of Congress from both parties called the Homeland Security secretary to demand her release. Her … Read more

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