Monday 3 August 2026
After an extraordinary rant on Friday, Joe Scarborough is nowhere to be seen this morning.
Trump has backed off a major attack on Iran again. He has little option but to declare victory and get the hell out. Trump has lost control of this war.
David French of the New York Times calls it the war that could “swallow the world.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/opinion/iran-war-russia-ukraine-world-war-threat.html
More than 4 million people are no longer receiving food aid after changes to SNAP. Just think about that – 4 million people.
Wall Street is paying for early access to Trump’s posts. The country has become a casino.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. claimed in an interview that the U.S. had the highest death rate in the world for COVID. We aren’t even in the top ten. He also claimed that businesses were shut down without “due process of law.” This was not a criminal case, it was a pandemic.
Word that needs to be eliminated from the language: “concerning” “deeply concerning.” While I’m at it, “politicization” has six syllables, not five.
Uganda took patients showing Ebola symptoms seriously. The Democratic Republic of Congo did not. Uganda has released from hospital what it thinks is the last of the Ebola cases. In the DR Congo, cases are spreading much faster than in previous outbreaks.
Article: Soy, Anne (8/3/26) “why Uganda is winning the battle against Ebola as virus spreads in DR Congo. BBC News.
Sam Clemens, our youngest rescue cat, figured out early this morning that I had treats left over in my pajama top pocket. He was nuzzling and kneading and burrowing into my breast trying to get them out before I woke up and provided him with a 4 AM snack. But, I didn’t get up this morning and work with Popsicle Pete (the orange and white kitty) as I usually do. Pete knows that we bought that day bed in the library for him and he loves to flop down beside my leg and work with me in the early morning hours.
So, here we go…
NEWS NOTES
ARTICLE: Latschan, Thomas (8/3/26) “Russia: Bridge-building with North Korea. DW.
Russia shares a 10.5 mile border with North Korea in the far east of the country. The two countries are cooperating on building a bridge across the Tumen River which Ukraine is afraid will serve to ferry North Korean troops to the front lines of Ukraine.
ARTICLE: Lepiarz, Jacek (8/2/26) “Poland: Prime minister Tusk defies anti-Ukrainian violence.” DW.
The Polish leader warned against increasing violence against Ukrainians in Poland. This comes after a video circulated of young men beating a Ukrainian man and his girlfriend in the street. The reputation of Poland was greatly enhanced by its willingness to accept Ukrainian refugees at the beginning of the war with Russia. But now, four and a half years later, the attitude has changed. According to one survey, Polish citizens were for the first time opposed to taking in more Ukrainian refugees (54%). 54% of respondents in another poll opposed Ukraine joining the E.U.
On 30 July 2026 a Russian rocket crossed into Polish airspace, landing inside the Polish border. Tusk commented on the mutual dependence of the two countries: “Poland’s security directly depends on the effective actions of Ukrainian forces, including in the air.”
ARTICLE: Guardian Staff (8/2/26) “Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv’s forces hit Wildberries again amid deadly trade of strikes with Russia.” The Guardian.
Ukrainian drone strikes killed at least nine people in Russia on Sunday, with targets again including retail giant Wildberries. Often described as the Russian Amazon, Wildberries attacks are an attempt to bring the war to Russian citizens and also to disrupt a chain of supply.
ARTICLE: Grove, Thomas and Daria Matviichuk (8/3/26) “the Kremin is bullying more Russians into fighting in Ukraine.” The Wall Street Journal.
As voluntary military service flags, Russia is trying to push more military age men into service. (note: The pressure campaign is an attempt to avoid a formal military callup, which would be extremely unpopular.)
Even after offering what are called “life-changing” sums of money to people to sign up, it has become harder and harder to recruit military age men. The Wall Street Journal attricutes some of this to “tales of abuse inside the Russian military and Ukraine’s increasingly lethal capabilities.”
Various tactics are used such as calling men into the police station to check their papers. There they are beaten until they agree to sign up.
ISRAEL
ARTICLE: Cohen, Moshe (7/31/26) “Eisenkot leads Netanyahu by 10 points Likud gains two seats…” Jerusalem Post.
ARTICLE: Levy, Yasmin (8/2/26) “The way Netanyahu treated his brother’s partner is the way he treats Israelis. Haaretz.
In a televised interview, Bruria Shaked-Okon, the partner of Yoni Netanyahu who was killed in the Entebbe raid, describes what Haaretz calls “the callousness that has defined Benjamin Netanyahu’s treatment of bereaved families and hostage relatives.”
“Instead of embracing the woman their brother had chosen to love, the Netanyahu family kept her as far away as possible…”
“Netanyahu’s treatment of Shaked-Okon Is no different from the way he treats Israel’s citizens like her, they simply do not interest him. The callousness, detachment, lack of empathy and absence of conscience he showed towards a young woman whose heart had been shattered. Or the same qualities he has displayed towards bereaved parents and the families of hostages since October the 7th.”
“… If there is anyone who deserves to be driven from power in disgrace, it is him.”
ARTICLE: Shpigel Noa (8/2/26) “Likud circulates alleged Netanyahu quotes distancing himself from ultra-Orthodox allies.” Haaretz.
“… Netanyahu allegedly said he intends to introduce a comprehensive conscription bill that meets the ID FS needs in the next government, adding that ‘anyone who is not studying Torah will either be drafted or imprisoned’..”
Shortly after the end of the Knesset session in 2026, the Likud party circulated quotes attributed to Netanyahu distancing himself from his ultra-Orthodox partners. These remarks are consistent with Likud’s election campaign messaging which conflicts with the legislation passed during the Knesset’s summer session.
As part of a deal between Netanyahu and the leaders of the ultra-Orthodox parties, the ultra-Orthodox backed the government’s judicial overhaul legislation (which brought hundreds of thousands of Israelis onto the streets to protest before October 7) in exchange for measures including the law preventing the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, and the Basic Law on Torah Study, which “grants special status to yeshiva students…”
ARTICLE: Editorial Board (8/3/26) “Netanyahu can’t campaign against draft-evasion law he just backed.” The Jerusalem Post.
LIFE AND NEWS NOTES
Law, Power, and Justice 
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