THE NEWS

The Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) Liberation Caucus is rejecting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as a potential candidate for Democrats in the 2028 presidential election, arguing she is too far removed from the socialist agenda.”Liberation condemns Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s continued retreat from socialist politics and rejects any effort to present her as the future presidential standard-bearer for DSA, or for the broader socialist movement,” the DSA Liberation Caucus wrote in the statement.DSA slammed Ocasio-Cortez as an “opportunist” and condemned her vote to defend Israel’s right to exist and for not holding firm as an anti-Zionist.”In short, it was determined that she had failed to meet conditions concerning Palestine solidarity,” the statement said.DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS ERUPT OVER 2028 ENDORSEMENT AS AOC SPECULATION GROWS: ‘DANGEROUS PATH’After withdrawing a conditional endorsement of the “Squad” Democrat in 2024, DSA’s National Political Committee “determined” that Ocasio-Cortez hosted a public panel with an alleged Zionist organization — the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.She was also trashed for joining a group of House Democrats to co-sign a statement — after voting against providing Israel with supplemental weapon funding — that voiced support for Israel’s right to have defensive systems.The statement continued to attack her, pivoting to her recent remarks in an interview with ABC, where Ocasio-Cortez walked back on her support for the movement to defund the police and the language used around policing in 2020, calling the 2020 “Woke 1” era for progressives “crazyyyyy.””She has dismissed the mass radicalization around policing and abolition as part of the supposed excesses of ‘Woke 1’, seeking to reduce the historic Black-led uprising of 2020 to an embarrassing political phase,” the statement reads.It continues, “Ironically, her first electoral victory came in the heat of ‘Woke 1’, where she trafficked in the language of abolition. Now that she feels that she no longer needs it, she condemns it. This is the action of an opportunist dilettante, devoid of any principles whatsoever, not a socialist.”ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ SHRUGS OFF PAST ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ COMMENTS, JOKING ‘WOKE 1 WAS CRAZY’The DSA’s rejection of Ocasio-Cortez comes shortly after the organization recently announced its new program that calls for the complete elimination of the Senate, president and Supreme Court. The DSA said this program, “Workers Deserve More,” must be accepted and promoted by all candidates in order to receive a formal DSA endorsement.”This is why the current rumblings for and prospects of an AOC presidential campaign should be met with a clear answer from the socialist left: No,” the group said in the statement. “We will not endorse or give succor to a campaign to put a social democrat at the head of an empire, where she will make even more capitulations to the imperialists, and drag our organization into antagonistic contradiction after antagonistic contradiction.”While the national DSA does not endorse Ocasio-Cortez, and vehemently opposes her presidential bid, the New York City DSA chapter has routinely endorsed Ocasio-Cortez throughout her races. The statement claims that the NYC DSA chapter has hinted at “splitting away” from the DSA over disagreements similar to endorsing Ocasio-Cortez.HASAN PIKER VOWS NEVER TO CRITICIZE MAO ZEDONG IN RESURFACED VIDEO, HAILS HIM AS ‘GREAT LEADER’”This is not the behavior of socialist cadres,” the Liberation Caucus said in the statement.There has been widespread speculation that Ocasio-Cortez will run for president or Senate in 2028, and is polling as the leading choice among Democrats. But she has not yet formally announced if she will run.Formed in 2025, the DSA Liberation Caucus openly describes itself as a “Marxist-Leninist-Maoist caucus in Democratic Socialists of America.” The group’s website has a page dedicated to a list defending Maoism that includes labeling the period of mass starvation and disaster as “misconception 4” on the list.Both the DSA Liberation Caucus and Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Trump’s expanded sanctions strategy could pressure Iran while also weakening the interconnected Chinese and Russian support networks sustaining both Iran and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Iran’s economy, which was already floundering before the conflict with the U.S. and Israel, has been further damaged by the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The IRGC holds on largely because of support from third countries willing to bypass U.S. and international sanctions. President Trump has threatened to finally dismantle Iran’s support networks by enforcing secondary sanctions.
The plan could work, but only if the White House has the will to follow through.
Trump announced on Truth Social Wednesday what he called the “crushing economic operation” against Iran, consisting of “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” labeling it an “ECONOMIC D-DAY.”
He said any country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences,” specifically naming oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, and front companies as channels that “need to stop NOW.”
The threat came after a 60-day window to negotiate a peace deal with Tehran expired Monday without a breakthrough, nearly six months into the US-Israel war on Iran, which began February 28.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previewed the move on August 14, saying a new wave of actions against Iran was coming.
The US has been running Operation Economic Fury since April, imposing sweeping sanctions on Iran’s oil, shipping, and financial sectors plus a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna asked what economic pressure Trump could add that is not already in use; the new element is the secondary-sanctions threat aimed at third countries.
Iraq’s role in supporting the Tehran regime centers on oil smuggling disguised through blending.
The Treasury has sanctioned an Iraqi-Kittitian businessman, Waleed al-Samarra’i, for running a shipping network that covertly blends Iranian oil with Iraqi oil and markets the mixture as solely Iraqi-origin to avoid sanctions.
The scheme generates hundreds of millions of dollars for both the Iranian regime and al-Samarra’i himself. That action built on an earlier sanctions round against a similar blended-oil network.
Corruption reaches the Iraqi government itself. Treasury has designated Iraq’s own Deputy Minister of Oil for abusing his position to divert Iraqi oil for the benefit of the Iranian regime and its proxy militias.
They work through Iraqi politicians, front companies, and oil smugglers to siphon an estimated $1 billion annually from the Iraqi people for Tehran’s benefit.
Analysts describe Iraq as having become a central gateway where paper transactions mask real transfers of hard currency into Iran’s financial channels.
This prompted the Trump administration to block a $500 million shipment of U.S. banknotes tied to Iraqi oil revenues held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Separately, Iran piped 8.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Iraq in 2023, making Iraq its largest single pipeline gas customer. The U.S. has extended Iraq’s sanctions waiver for those gas imports even as it rescinded the waiver covering Iranian electricity.
China, Iran’s largest trading partner, is the country most likely to collide with a harder secondary-sanctions push. Sanctions could hit financial institutions serving independent “teapot” refineries, the last group still purchasing Iranian oil, though Beijing has warned Chinese entities not to cooperate with U.S. sanctions.
Additional shadow-network hubs include China and Hong Kong, which serve as primary centers for buying discounted crude and routing payments through front companies; Dubai and UAE logistics centers, which have hidden funds and managed Iran’s “shadow fleet” of tankers, though the UAE has since cut ties; Malaysia and Singapore, which have been used as transit points to relabel Iranian oil as “Malaysian Blend”; and Panama and Cameroon, which have allowed tankers to sail under flags that avoid scrutiny.
China’s support for Iran extends beyond oil purchases into military assistance. Chinese firms have exported large volumes of precursor chemicals, including ammonium perchlorate, to entities linked to the IRGC, which oversees Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal.
A single 1,000-ton shipment from Zhuhai to Bandar Abbas in early 2025 was assessed as sufficient propellant for 200 to 260 ballistic missiles.
Small Chinese firms have also been documented marketing drone engines, batteries, fiber-optic cables, and computer chips usable in Iran’s Shahed-136 attack drones, including engines barred from export to Iran.
China reportedly secretly supplied Iran with $5 billion worth of weapons systems, including CM-302 anti-ship missiles, HQ-9B anti-ballistic systems, and MANPADS, though the hardware was reportedly destroyed by Israeli and U.S. strikes on the first day of the war.
Treasury has separately sanctioned China– and Hong Kong-based individuals and companies for facilitating weapons procurement on behalf of the IRGC and Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.
Beijing has denied the allegations, saying it strictly enforces export controls on dual-use products.
Russia has provided direct military assistance to Iran, China’s support for Russia has helped prolong the war in Ukraine, and China is separately supplying Iran with weapons and dual-use equipment, even as Iran remains at war with the United States.
Russia has shipped drone components, ammunition, and TNT explosives to Iran via the Caspian Sea aboard more than two dozen vessels, helping Tehran replenish stockpiles depleted by U.S. and Israeli strikes.
China has exported precursor chemicals used in Iran’s ballistic missile fuel and reportedly supplied Iran directly with billions of dollars in weapons systems.
The three relationships run through overlapping financial infrastructure, including shared shadow fleets, front companies, and Hong Kong-based shell entities used to move sanctioned oil and payments for both Moscow and Tehran.
Effective secondary sanctions and embargoes targeting China and Russia for their military and financial support of Iran, combined with sanctions on China for its support of Russia, could help end the world’s two largest conflicts by degrading the shared evasion and supply networks both wars depend on.
Whether pressure of this kind would be sufficient on its own remains an open question. But because these support networks are interconnected, sanctions against one country or in one conflict will be most effective if they are enforced against all parties supporting both conflicts.

The post Trump’s Economic D-Day Threat on Iran Could Work if Coupled With Embargoes on Other Axis Nations appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Low rainfall caused by El Niño was blamed for a decision to cut vessel numbers permitted to transit the Panama Canal each day by more than a tenth.

Progressive California state Sen. Aisha Wahab won a special election to the U.S. House of Representatives to replace Rep. Eric Swalwell.

Market experts showed skepticism at whether the push would succeed against a bevy of factors working against Treasurys.

Businesses have warned that Trump’s new 50% duties could cripple U.S. their sales if they take effect.

The security situation in Hormuz remains contested but the U.S. is helping oil get through the strait.

Matt Zames is taking an unpaid position to help his former JPMorgan colleague Frank Bisignano tackle modernization of the SSA, CNBC has learned.

Services Sector Survey Surge Sparks US Growth Rebound Hopes In August

After a relatively ugly series of disappointing macro data – and a hectic week of interventions – preliminary August data from S&P Global’s PMI survey was expected to signal a slowdown in growth for the US economy (but still growth).

But, the respondents had other things on their mind as while Manufacturing slipped, the Services sector of the economy soared

Flash US Services PMI Business Activity Index: 56.8 (July: 54.6). 20-month high.

Flash US Manufacturing PMI: 53.2 (July: 53.9). 5-month low. 

“US business is booming,” says Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, “with firms reporting the fastest output growth for over four years so far in the third quarter as the expansion picked up further momentum in August.”

The survey data for the third quarter are currently pointing to annualized growth approaching 3.0%, up solidly from the 1.5% pace seen in the second quarter.

Jobs growth has also shown a welcome revival in August, with employers gaining in confidence as concerns fade over the negative economic impacts of tariffs and the conflict in the Middle East.

However, as Williamson writes, “the latter in particular remains a key area of concern for businesses, especially via the impact on supply lines and energy prices. ”

Supply delays were again reported in August to one of the greatest extents seen over the past four years, clearly constraining output in many companies.

Price pressures, while fading, also remain elevated and prone to renewed upward pressures should energy prices rise again.

Growth momentum has meanwhile shifted from manufacturing to services between the second and third quarters.

Williamson concludes: “As reduced safety stock building and supply delays dampen factory production growth, the service sector is now playing a key role in driving a sustained US expansion, underscoring a dependency on consumer spending and financial services growth.”

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/21/2026 – 09:56

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., endorsed Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., as the incumbent senator faces off against Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., in the Massachusetts Democratic U.S. Senate primary.”At a time when powerful special interests are making life harder for everyday Americans, Massachusetts working families need a champion in the U.S. Senate to stand up for them and fight corporate greed,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement released by Markey’s campaign.”Ed Markey has spent his career doing exactly that, from our partnership on the Green New Deal to running his campaign without accepting a dime of corporate PAC money.  His work is an inspiration to many of us who are committed to building a better future for all, and that’s why I’m proud to endorse him,” the congresswoman added.AOC DOCUMENTS EGG-FREEZING JOURNEY, TAKES AIM AT TRUMP ADMIN OVER WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE CHOICESThe House lawmaker previously backed Markey during his last election cycle.”The toughest fights need the most inspiring leaders, and that’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s got vision, she knows what’s at stake, and she never backs down,” Markey said in a statement. “We introduced the Green New Deal to tackle the climate crisis, lower costs, and build an economy that works for working people, not corporations and billionaires. I am incredibly proud to have her endorsement and look forward to continuing to fight alongside her for the livable future we deserve.”BOMB-THROWER DEM MAKES SHOCKING PROMISE TO KICK SCHUMER TO CURB DURING SENATE DEBATEMarkey, who turned 80 this year, has served in the Senate since mid-July 2013, but he had previously served in the House for more than 36 years.Moulton, who is 47, and will turn 48 in October, has served in the House since 2015.DEMOCRATIC SENATOR CLAIMS GOP ‘STOLE’ TWO SCOTUS SEATS IN 2016, 2020, CALLS FOR EXPANSIONThe Massachusetts Democratic U.S. Senate primary is on Sept. 1, and early voting is Aug. 22-28.