THE NEWS

The same voices warning that artificial intelligence will wipe out American jobs have a ready answer: stop working and take a government check. Some call it Universal Basic Income, others call it compassion. But I believe it is a calculated insult to the dignity of work and an admission that the people who actually build, move, and power this country have no productive role left to play.My father was a Teamster, and that fact shaped everything that came after it. My time in Congress was spent building genuine relationships with labor organizations that most Republicans had written off as unreachable. The Teamsters, Ironworkers, and numerous other unions supported my campaigns not because I told them what they wanted to hear, but because I showed up, listened, and treated their concerns as the serious policy questions they are. When President Trump named me Secretary of Labor, I remembered my father’s work and the mission handed to me felt personal.The real fight in this country right now is not left versus right. Rather, it is whether we will respond to technological change by paying millions of workers to disappear, or whether we will put American labor to work building the largest infrastructure mobilization since the interstate highway system, including the data centers, power plants, and supply chains that will actually power the future. I know which side of that choice my father would have been on, and I know which side I am on.A SOUTHERN STATE JUST TOOK THE TOP SPOT IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S FASTEST-GROWING INDUSTRIESLabor unions large and small are driving an infrastructure buildout across the United States that rivals anything this country has undertaken in generations. Data centers, the physical backbone of the AI economy, are going up faster than anything we have built in recent memory. In January, the White House announced Stargate, a $500 billion private investment to build AI infrastructure across the country, and that is just one project. Dozens more are already underway. A single large facility can put 1,500 skilled tradespeople to work at peak construction, many of them clearing six figures with overtime. They accomplish this without a college degree, or student debt.The workers building and maintaining these sites are overwhelmingly union tradespeople: electricians, pipefitters, ironworkers, HVAC technicians, and operating engineers. Electrical work alone can run 45 to 70 percent of a data center’s construction budget. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang has called this the “largest infrastructure buildout in human history.” Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, announcing a $250 billion U.S. investment commitment earlier this month, put it more plainly: “This is American investment. American technology. American workers.” They’re both right.The country has a choice about how to meet this moment. The right answer is to lean in, to expand registered apprenticeships, cut the permitting red tape that slows power projects, and get serious about training the next generation of electricians and pipefitters so that real demand and real skill drive real wages. That is the winning play, and it is already underway. It rewards the trades that built the interstates and the power grid the first time around, and it rewards the regions of America that have been told for two decades that their skills were obsolete and that they should “learn to code.”CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONThe other answer being pushed, with increasing volume, is universal basic income. The pitch is that artificial intelligence will eliminate work, so the government should write every American a check and call it compassion. It isn’t compassion. It is surrender. Work is not just a paycheck. It is the thing that lets a parent stand up, look their kids in the eye, and say, “I built this.”CALIFORNIA ‘BASIC INCOME’ EXPERIMENT FAILS TO PROVIDE ‘FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE,’ STUDY FINDSThe fight for the American worker is won by showing up year round, not just in November, and by choosing the side that builds, earns, and owns its future over the side that offers checks and excuses. The data center moment is the test, and the trades are ready, the workforce is ready, and the voters in the middle are paying very close attention.This is a commitment to what comes next: an American economy where the people willing to build the future get to own it. The interstate builders of the 1950s didn’t ask for a participation trophy, and neither will we. Let’s get to work.

Here is some investment advice you probably haven’t heard before: If you own stock, occasionally log in and jiggle the handle. Otherwise, depending on where you live, a state may eventually decide that you have abandoned your investment.Not because you died. Not because anyone proved you moved away. Not necessarily because your mail was returned. You may still be receiving statements. Your dividends may still be landing automatically in your bank account. You simply haven’t done anything lately.That distinction sounds absurd. It is becoming increasingly important.THE RICH HAVE ONE FINANCIAL HABIT MOST AMERICANS IGNORE AT THEIR PERILOver the last few years, states have quietly been rewriting unclaimed-property laws in ways that make securities easier to declare abandoned. The clock has gotten shorter and the definition of “abandoned” has gotten broader.Computershare, one of the country’s largest stock transfer agents, says there was a time when most states waited seven years before treating stock as abandoned. Today, more than half use three years. Even more consequential, states have increasingly shifted from a “lost” standard, such as returned mail, to an “inactivity” standard. Computershare itself calls the trend “unfortunate.”Think about what changed.Under the old logic, the government was essentially saying: We can’t find you. Under the new logic, it can be: You haven’t contacted us lately. That is a radically lower bar for taking custody of somebody’s investment.WE ALL ARE DESPERATE FOR A FINANCIAL CHECK-UP. TIME TO SAY, ‘SHOW ME THE MONEY!’And for the investor who follows the most basic rule of long-term investing, buy good companies and leave them alone, it creates a bizarre trap. Computershare warns investors that merely receiving statements or having dividends automatically deposited may not qualify as sufficient activity under some state laws.In other words, the financial system may know exactly where your dividends go but still decide that you have disappeared. Then the machinery starts.Your brokerage firm or transfer agent identifies the account as approaching dormancy. Notices go out. If the right kind of response doesn’t arrive, the securities can be transferred to the state as unclaimed property.And then something far more consequential can happen. The state can sell your stock.Ask Jan Peters. Peters is a German citizen who worked for Amazon and owned 1,029 Amazon shares before the company’s 20-for-1 stock split. California ended up with his shares even though Peters lived in Munich, Germany. His Supreme Court petition says his address had somehow become, “Munich, CA 00000.”California sold the Amazon stock for about $1.6 million. By June 2025, Peters calculated that those same shares would have been worth more than $4.2 million. He eventually received the sale proceeds. He did not receive the Amazon investment he had owned or its subsequent appreciation. His challenge ultimately reached the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it in October 2025.From the state’s perspective, Peters’ abandoned property had been processed. From his perspective, roughly $2.6 million of investment appreciation was gone.That raises an obvious question. Why are states making it easier for investments to enter this system? The official answer is consumer protection.States argue, with some justification, that unclaimed-property programs act as a giant lost-and-found. Instead of leaving forgotten assets with banks and corporations indefinitely, the state takes custody and creates one central place where owners can search for them.There is another side to the ledger, however. States get the money. Once unclaimed property reaches the government, states generally can use much of the cash while waiting for owners to appear. The liability to the owner remains, but the money itself can help finance government. And budget writers have occasionally been remarkably candid about what shorter dormancy periods mean.In 2011, the Texas Legislative Budget Board recommended shortening several unclaimed-property dormancy periods. It projected that doing so would produce a one-time $72 million gain to the state’s General Revenue Fund. The report also made the consumer argument that shorter periods could make owners easier to locate. Both things can be true.New Jersey was even more dramatic. When it considered reducing various dormancy periods to three years, the state’s Division of Taxation projected that revenue from existing unclaimed-property categories could jump from about $90 million to $309 million in one fiscal year. It separately projected another $72 million from newly covered or clarified categories, including securities.This does not prove that every state legislator changing an unclaimed-property law is plotting a cash grab.It proves something more important: The financial incentive is not imaginary. Governments calculate it. And everyone else in the system has incentives of their own.Transfer agents and brokers must comply with dozens of different state laws. They need standardized procedures that can process millions of accounts cheaply and efficiently. Contractors get paid to administer unclaimed property. Brokers can get paid to take custody and sell securities. States get assets sooner when dormancy periods shrink.The investor is the odd person out. The investor’s interest may be exactly the opposite: Leave my stock alone.And history shows that the machinery does not always get it right.In 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Bank of New York of failing to properly search for approximately 14,159 lost securityholders because of mailroom practices and computer coding errors. About $11.5 million of their assets ultimately went to states as unclaimed property.The SEC’s remedy was revealing. Bank of New York had to compensate affected investors based on the greater of the value when their assets were escheated or their later value, recognizing that an old cash value does not necessarily make an investor whole.Then, in 2023, the SEC found problems in the lost-shareholder procedures at DST Asset Manager Solutions. Federal regulators concluded that the firm’s internal screening rules prevented some potentially better addresses from being used to contact investors, putting their property at increased risk of being sent to states.So, this isn’t merely a hypothetical concern about what an automated system might do. Regulators have documented cases where the systems failed.Meanwhile, the volume is enormous. Computershare reported 51,320 lost-securityholder accounts remitted to states in 2024 alone. That does not mean those 51,320 transfers were improper. It means this isn’t some obscure process affecting a few forgotten stock certificates in somebody’s attic.It is an industrial-scale pipeline. And Washington is finally starting to ask questions.In April, Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the organization representing state unclaimed-property administrators to explain why states have been switching from returned-mail standards to inactivity standards and shortening dormancy periods.Florida, meanwhile, has begun moving in the opposite direction. Its 2026 reforms restore returned mail or failed electronic communication as an important trigger for securities and extend an owner-inactivity period from three years to 10 years in specified circumstances.That is closer to common sense. If I stop visiting my house for three years, I still own my house. If I leave a painting in a closet for 10 years, I still own the painting. And if I buy 500 shares of Apple and don’t touch them for years, that is not evidence that I abandoned them. It may simply mean I am a patient investor.Unclaimed-property law was created to protect owners whose property had genuinely become lost. Somewhere along the way, “lost” started becoming “inactive.” And once government can treat doing nothing as evidence that you’ve abandoned something, the concept of ownership starts getting awfully thin.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONThe rule should be simple: If you know who I am, you know where I am, and there is evidence that the account still belongs to me, my stock isn’t abandoned.It’s mine. Leave it alone.

British Police Unit Flags Over 100 Social Media Posts For Arrest Amid Immigration Backlash

Via American Greatness,

A specialist British police unit created to track online sentiment has referred more than 100 social media posts to local forces for potential arrest, according to data obtained through Freedom of Information requests and reported by The Times of London.

The National Internet Intelligence Investigations unit notified local police about 106 posts, with 50 of those flagged in June alone, in the aftermath of disclosures surrounding the murder of teenager Henry Nowak.

Nowak was stabbed to death by Vikrum Digwa, and his pleas for help were reportedly ignored by officers who doubted the dying student after his killer claimed to be a victim of racism.

Footage of Nowak’s final moments spread widely online and triggered protests and riots in Southampton, fueling accusations of two-tier policing among critics who argued Nowak was treated differently from his killer because he was white.

The task force traces its origins to the Southport riots, which broke out after Axel Rudakubana, a teenager of Rwandan heritage, murdered three young girls and wounded 10 others in a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event.

Rather than reckon with the role immigration policy played in the tragedy, the Labour government under then-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer labeled the public backlash “far-right” and launched a sweeping crackdown, arresting more than 1,876 people, including some individuals whose only offense was a social media post.

Police chiefs declined to detail the specific posts flagged by the unit, saying disclosure could jeopardize ongoing investigations.

They nonetheless acknowledged the initiative remains “still in the early stages of being established,” a signal that the volume of flagged posts is likely to grow.

Britain already ranks among the most aggressive Western nations in policing online speech. 

The Times of London has estimated that police made 33 arrests per day in 2023 over allegedly offensive online content, totaling 12,183 arrests for the year, all before this new task force reached full operation.

The National Police Coordination Centre, the same body that oversaw Britain’s policing response during COVID-19 lockdowns, defended the unit’s mission, saying it “supports policing’s understanding of protest-related activity in the online environment by developing a broader picture of emerging, potential risks.”

The centre added: “Looking across force boundaries enables the identification of issues that may not be evident from information held within individual force areas alone.”

The online monitoring effort follows a pattern set during the pandemic, when the British government deployed the Army’s 77 Brigade, a specialist “information warfare” unit, to track and influence public opinion, including monitoring journalists and politicians critical of lockdown policy.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 08/12/2026 – 05:00

A Kansas family of six is dead after the 53-year-old father killed his wife and four children before turning the weapon on himself.

EXCLUSIVE: The FBI on Tuesday marked the first anniversary of the Trump administration’s crime crackdown in Washington, D.C., touting thousands of arrests and seizures since the enhanced federal enforcement effort began.The milestone comes one year after President Donald Trump launched the Safe and Beautiful initiative in Washington, increasing the federal law enforcement presence and deploying hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops to combat crime in the nation’s capital.”Last summer President Trump made the historic decision to surge federal resources to Washington D.C. to crack down on crime – and thanks to his brilliant leadership, the work of brave FBI agents and our law enforcement partners, and the support of our Justice Department, our nation’s capital is now safer than it’s been in decades,” FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital.TRUMP’S DC LAW-AND-ORDER BLITZ MARKS ONE YEAR WITH EYE-POPPING HAUL OF SUSPECTS”One year later, the FBI has worked with partners to make over 6,000 arrests, nearly 2,000 drug seizures, and over 1,300 illegal firearm seizures,” Patel continued. “Homicides in D.C. are down an incredible 44% from last year.”The FBI said the enforcement effort has resulted in 6,121 arrests, 237 search warrants and the recovery of $252,592 in cash.Patel vowed that the federal enforcement effort would continue.”The greatest country on earth should have a capital city reflecting it – where American taxpayers can live, visit, and petition their government without fear of violent crime,” Patel said.TRUMP’S DC BEAUTIFICATION PUSH WINS RARE DEM PRAISE AS PRESIDENT SNAPS LANDMARKS BACK TO LIFE”Thanks to President Trump and brave law enforcement, one year later we have made historic progress to that end, and the work will only continue,” he added.The federal surge followed a series of high-profile violent crimes in Washington, including the June 2025 killing of 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian, the beating of a former DOGE staffer and the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy in a case involving alleged MS-13 gang members.The National Guard deployment also drew criticism from Democratic leaders, including then-Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser.”I don’t think it’s legal, let me start there, for the National Guard to police Americans on American soil,” Bowser said at the time.Fox News Digital’s Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.

Alleged International Crime Boss Daniel Kinahan Extradited To Ireland Following Dubai Arrest

Alleged Irish mob boss Daniel Kinahan was charged in Dublin, Ireland on August 9th with directing a criminal organization. 
Alleged Irish crime gang boss Daniel Kinahan, after being extradited from the United Arab Emirates, leaves the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 9, 2026. Natalia Campos/Reuters

The 49-year-old Kinahan was arrested in April in Dubai, where he had been residing for several years, following an extradition request from the Republic of Ireland. He was flown to a military base on the outskirts of Dublin after being handed over to Irish authorities in Dubai earlier Sunday – after which he was taken directly to the court for an unusual Sunday night sitting. Kinahan was remanded into custody afterward. 

After acknowledging that he he understood the charges, and one of the three presiding judges told him a bail application could only be made through the High Court, Kinahan said: “I think we know I won’t be getting bail, but thank you so much for explaining.”

He told the court he had not had time to arrange legal representation while being held in custody in Dubai, and believed a relative was arranging counsel. Kinahan will remain in custody and will have to appear again, either in person or via video link, on Oct. 5.

In Ireland, the Special Criminal Court hears cases involving terrorism and organized crime, which are heard by judges rather than a jury.

Justin Kelly, the commissioner of An Garda Síochána, Ireland’s police force, said Kinahan was handed over in Dubai as a result of an arrest warrant issued by the Irish courts, and was extradited following a judicial process in the UAE, the Epoch Times reports.

“This arrest shows our determination, along with our international policing partners including Dubai Police, to target transnational organized crime groups,” Kelly said. “As the matter will be before the Courts, An Garda Síochána will not be making any further comment.”

As The Epoch Times notes further, In April 2022, Kinahan was named by the United States as one of three leaders of the Kinahan Organized Crime Group (KOCG) and a $5 million reward was offered for information leading to his arrest.

At the time, then-U.S. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said, “The Kinahan Organized Crime Group smuggles deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe, and is a threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering.”

In April 2023, Kinahan’s alleged rival, Gerry “The Monk” Hutch, was acquitted at the Special Criminal Court of trying to kill Kinahan.

The prosecution claimed that on Feb. 5, 2016, Hutch tried to kill Kinahan at a weigh-in for a boxing event at the Regency Hotel in Dublin, but he slipped away, and an associate, David Byrne, 33, was fatally shot instead.

The Regency Hotel shooting was allegedly carried out in revenge for the murder of Hutch’s nephew, Gary Hutch, in Spain in September 2015 by the Kinahan gang.

After the Regency Hotel shooting, another 18 people were murdered in a series of tit-for-tat killings over the next three years. Hutch was arrested in Spain in August 2021, and extradited to Ireland, but after being acquitted, he returned to Spain.

Kinahan gave an interview with British podcaster James English last week, denying the allegations against him and saying everything was “in God’s hands.”

“I always wanted to do good things and big things,” Kinahan said. “Obviously life didn’t go that way for me, what with all the stuff in the media and what people think of me and the perception they have. But I’m still so proud to be from Ireland.”

In March 2022, Thomas Kavanagh, who Britain’s National Crime Agency said acted as the figurehead of the Kinahan organization in the UK, was jailed for 21 years after being convicted of smuggling large quantities of cocaine and cannabis into Britain. Two other Irishmen, described as associates, Gary Vickery and Daniel Canning, were also jailed.

The National Crime Agency’s deputy director of investigations, Matt Horne, said at the time that the cartel brought millions of pounds worth of drugs into Britain.

“Kavanagh was a high ranking member of the Kinahan cartel, an organized crime group synonymous with acts of violence,” Horne said.
Wanted posters showing the U.S. government’s $5 million reward for the arrest of Daniel Kinahan (C); his father, Christopher Kinahan (R); and his brother, Christopher Kinahan Jr.(L) are displayed at Dublin City Hall on April 12, 2022. Niall Carson/PA
Tyler Durden
Wed, 08/12/2026 – 04:15

MADISON, Wis. – For a second straight week, the progressive left-wing won a high-stakes Senate primary battle over the establishment in what is seen as a setback for longtime Democratic Senate Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.But the biggest ballot-box face-off between the far left and the center in the ongoing fight for the ideological future of the Democratic Party ended with a narrow victory for the establishment, as Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley defeated democratic socialist state Rep. Francesca Hong in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial primary.Meanwhile, the Democrats’ generational showdown claimed another longtime member of Congress.And it was a split decision for President Donald Trump’s endorsements in statewide Republican nomination contests, as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Vermont, South Carolina and Alabama held primaries on Tuesday.DEMOCRATIC GROUP LAUNCHES $15 MILLION WAR ON DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS: ‘MORTAL DANGER’Upper Midwest showdowns”I know we don’t have the final results right now but I do know we are ready to keep fighting,” Democratic gubernatorial candidate state Rep. Francesca Hong told supporters at a primary night event in Wisconsin’s capital city before the race was called.Hong, a former chef and single parent who is a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, narrowly lost to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who consolidated support from more mainstream Democrats and was backed by retiring Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.Crowley will face Rep. Tom Tiffany, who cruised to the GOP nomination. Tiffany is a hard-right member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who was backed by Trump in the primary. The general election winner will succeed Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who decided against seeking a third term in office.DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUBHong was backed by top nationally known progressives, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ro Khanna of California, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. But two champions of the left, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, didn’t endorse in the race.Hong ran on a platform that includes guaranteed paid leave, boosting the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $20 per hour, and a one-year moratorium in Wisconsin on building AI data centers. Hong has faced scrutiny over years-old social media posts calling for defunding and abolishing the police. But she says she no longer supports cutting police budgets or abolishing police departments.She also made national headlines over the past two weeks for a resurfaced social media post from 2020 where she argued that the country should “cancel Thanksgiving” in order to “stop celebrating colonialism.”Hong walked back her Thanksgiving comments, amid backlash, and now says that Thanksgiving is her “favorite holiday.”The Democratic primary was rocked this summer, as Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, two of the major contenders for the gubernatorial nomination, exited the race. And Crowley, who earlier suspended his campaign and backed Rodriguez, re-entered the contest.MEET THE FAR LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN THE 2026 MIDTERMSCrowley was backed by Evers, who joined him on the campaign trail in the closing stretch leading up to the primary, as they both questioned Hong’s electability and warned that a victory by her would help Tiffany in the general election. Meanwhile, pro-GOP super PACs, including one aligned with the Republican Governors Association, shelled out millions of dollars to boost Hong in the primary, because they view her as the weakest Democratic candidate.The final pre-primary polls indicated Hong with a healthy double-digit lead. But the polls were off again, as they were a week ago when left-wing Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens for the party’s Senate nomination in Michigan, which along with Wisconsin is a key Midwestern battleground.While his margin was razor-thin, El-Sayed’s win boosted the left. Fast-forward to this week, and progressives scored another victory, as Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan downed moderate Rep. Angie Craig by roughly 20 points to capture the Democratic Senate nomination.Flanagan, who was backed by top progressives including Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, will now face off with GOP nominee Michele Tafoya, a former longtime NBC Sports reporter, in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith.SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTERIt’s been 24 years since a Republican won a U.S. Senate election in Minnesota. But Flanagan’s victory may boost the GOP hopes of flipping the seat in a left-leaning but competitive state.Craig was supported by Democratic establishment leaders including Schumer. Craig’s defeat is the second major setback for Schumer in a week, following El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan. And Flanagan has said that if elected in November, she wouldn’t support Schumer remaining as Democratic leader in the Senate.Democrats’ generational battleRep. John Larson of Connecticut became the seventh House Democrat ousted so far this primary season.Larson, who’s been in Congress for nearly three decades, was defeated by double digits in the Democratic primary in Connecticut’s solidly-blue 1st Congressional District by former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.With both candidates touting their progressive credentials, this race was less about ideology and more about generational change in the party, which was fueled two years ago by then-81-year-old President Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race amid questions over his physical and mental stamina following a disastrous debate performance against Trump.The 47-year-old Bronin is three decades younger than the 78-year-old Larson, who became the latest political victim of a push by Democratic voters to sweep out older incumbents and replace them with younger leaders.”John Larson is a good man, but he’s been in Congress since the 90s. The stakes are just too high to keep doing the same thing,” Bronin, a retired Naval intelligence officer, argued in one of his campaign ads.Larson countered by touting his experience and his record as a fighter in Congress.”We are a country in absolute crisis. We need our toughest fighters. I’ve taken on Trump, DOGE, and ICE, and won,” Larson wrote in a social media post.Larson joined Reps. Al Green of Texas, Diana DeGette of Colorado, Adriano Espaillat of New York and Shri Thanedar of Michigan, who also fell to younger primary challengers.The generational battle will likely play out on a larger stage in a couple of weeks, as 47-year-old Rep. Seth Moulton challenges 80-year-old Sen. Ed Markey, a progressive leader, in the party’s Senate primary in Democrat-dominated Massachusetts.Split decision for TrumpBacked by Trump, appointed Sen. Darline Graham captured the most votes in Tuesday’s special Republican Senate primary in South Carolina, in the race to succeed her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.But with no candidate topping 50% of the vote, Graham will face off in a runoff in two weeks with Rep. Ralph Norman, who came in second. Rep. Russell Fry and former Gov. and former Rep. Mark Sanford, as well as other contenders, fell short in the special primary, which was held one month to the day after the longtime senator suddenly died at age 71.”I want to thank President Trump, his steadfast support and his complete and total endorsement means so much to me. He knows that I will stand with him and fight for his agenda, just like Lindsey did,” Graham said at her primary night event.Norman, who unsuccessfully campaigned this year for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in the race to succeed term-limited South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, is a Trump ally in the House and also showcased his support for the president in his Senate campaign.Trump’s sway over the GOP remains immense, and the power of his endorsements in Republican primaries faced another test in South Carolina, which the president passed.But the Trump endorsement hasn’t proven to be a sure bet this cycle in solidly-red South Carolina.Trump backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette for the GOP gubernatorial nomination — in the race to succeed the term-limited McMaster — ahead of the state’s early June primary.Evette was the top vote-getter in the primary but lost the ensuing runoff election against South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson in a landslide. And Trump, ever hungry for a victory, endorsed Wilson in addition to Evette days before the runoff.The big question going forward is whether Graham will suffer the same fate as Evette.The winner of the Senate runoff election in two weeks will be considered the clear front-runner in the solidly red state in the midterms against Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, a pediatrician.Meanwhile, Trump suffered a rare endorsement setback in Minnesota.Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and former CEO who is a close Trump ally who joined the president in denying former President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 White House race, had Trump’s backing. But Lindell lost the Minnesota Republican gubernatorial primary to state House Speaker Lisa Demuth.

MADISON, Wis — The left wing suffered a high-profile setback on Tuesday at the hands of the center-left establishment in their ongoing battle for the ideological future of the party.Seven days after far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged out more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in battleground Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, state Rep. Francesca Hong on Tuesday was upset in her bid to capture the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Wisconsin, another crucial swing state.Hong, a state lawmaker from Madison, Wisconsin and a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, was defeated by Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Associated Press reports.CONTROVERSIAL SOCIALIST CHEF FLIP-FLOPS ON ABOLISH THE POLICE, SAYS SHE’S ‘SERIOUS ABOUT PUBLIC SAFETY’Crowley will face off in the general election against likely Republican nominee Rep. Tom Tiffany, a hard-right House Freedom Caucus member who is backed by President Donald Trump. The race is considered a top flip opportunity for the GOP.Crowley was heavily backed by retiring Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, with both warning that a Hong primary victory could jeopardize Democratic control of the governor’s office.The governor’s race in Wisconsin opened after Evers announced he would not seek a third term. With Evers stepping aside, the race offered Democrats their first opportunity in 16 years to choose a nominee without an incumbent governor on the ballot.The primary was closely watched as an early test of whether Wisconsin Democrats favored the party’s progressive wing or its establishment, with the winner advancing to a high-stakes general election in one of the nation’s premier battleground states.Hong, a 37-year-old former chef and single mother, was backed by top nationally known progressives, including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ro Khanna of California, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. But Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a longtime champion of the left, last week said he didn’t plan on endorsing Hong, arguing that he was not familiar enough with her campaign or the race.SOCIALIST FRONTRUNNER’S TRADITION-TRASHING HOLIDAY RANTS COME BACK TO BITE HER: ‘WORST OF HUMANITY COMES OUT’Hong is running on a platform that includes guaranteed paid leave, boosting the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $20 per hour, and a one-year moratorium in Wisconsin on building AI data centers. Hong has faced scrutiny over years-old social media posts calling for defunding and abolishing the police. But she says she no longer supports cutting police budgets or abolishing police departments.”I’m not defunding the police, not abolishing police. I am serious about public safety,” Hong emphasized on Saturday as she took questions from voters.Hong also made national headlines over the past two weeks for a resurfaced social media post from 2020 where she argued that the country should “cancel Thanksgiving” in order to “stop celebrating colonialism.”Hong walked back her Thanksgiving comments, amid backlash, and now says that Thanksgiving is her “favorite holiday.”On her resurfaced tweets, Hong told reporters on Saturday that she has “evolved” and “learned.”Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, two of the major contenders for the Democratic nomination, exited the race this summer. And Crowley, who earlier suspended his campaign and backed Rodriguez, re-entered the contest.2026 MIDTERMS: PRIMARIES, KEY RACES AND ELECTION RESULTSCrowley was backed by Evers, who joined him on the campaign trail in the closing stretch leading up to the primary.There was a growing number of more moderate Democrats concerned that if Hong captured the gubernatorial nomination, it would give Tiffany a big boost in his bid to flip the governor’s office.A Wisconsin-based Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely argued that with Hong at the top of the ticket, “it will hurt Democrats down ballot, in key congressional and legislative races” in the Midwestern battlegroundMeanwhile, pro-GOP super PACs, including one aligned with the Republican Governors Association, shelled out millions of dollars to boost Hong in the primary, because they view her as the weakest Democratic candidate.MEET THE FAR LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN THE 2026 MIDTERMSIn a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the primary, Tiffany pointed to his expected general election showdown with Hong and said his state would be “the firewall… We’ll be the place that stops socialism.”Asked about electability concerns, Hong told Fox News on Sunday that “this election belongs to the voters. We let the voters decide. The candidate that’s the most electable is the one that earns the most votes. So we’re focused on meeting voters up until Election Day, until the polls close.”

Lightning struck a northern Ohio state prison, injuring at least 16 people, who were transported to the hospital, officials said Tuesday night.

UK Regulators To Prepare Tokenized-Gold Framework: Report

Authored by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com,

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has reportedly held talks with banks and other industry participants over potential rules for tokenized gold.

The FCA has also sought feedback on the use of tokenized gold as collateral in wholesale markets, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.

The regulator is reportedly preparing to outline plans for new regulatory standards for tokenized gold.

Cointelegraph has approached the FCA for comment on the matter.

London is the world’s largest over-the-counter gold trading hub, accounting for about 70% of global notional gold trading volume, according to the World Gold Council.

“There’s huge competitive pressure from Shanghai and Hong Kong… Shanghai wants to become the wholesale hub for the gold market,” one of the people said, adding that if London does not modernize its gold market through measures including tokenization, other venues may take the lead.

The talks come amid a broader UK push to expand tokenized financial markets.

A government-backed industry task force said in July that tokenization could add as much as 33 billion British pounds ($44 billion) to the UK’s annual economic output by 2035.

The roadmap also calls for the UK’s first tokenized government bond by early 2027 and seeks to make tokenized securities usable for trading, settlement and as collateral.

The World Gold Council said this year that digital gold would mean ownership “would no longer be constrained by bar sizes, vault locations or fragmented settlement mechanisms”.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 08/12/2026 – 03:30