August 12, 2026
Election Results, War, and History
Good morning, everyone!
Be sure to check out one of my recent Notes on President George H. W. Bush greeting the Obamas upon their arrival to Texas in 2014:
Today, we will look at election results, the situation in the Middle East, and a series of historical snapshots.
Let’s get to it.
United States
-Alabama, Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin held statewide primary elections yesterday.
In Wisconsin’s high-profile Democratic gubernatorial primary, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly defeated Democratic socialist candidate Francesca Hong.
Crowley will now face Republican Tom Tiffany in the general election.
In the Minnesota Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan defeated Congresswoman Angie Craig and will now face off against Republican Michele Tafoya, a former broadcaster.
Flanagan was backed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Meanwhile, South Carolina held a special Senate Republican primary election for the seat vacated by the death of Lindsey Graham.
Darline Graham, who was appointed to serve the remainder of her brother’s term, and Congressman Ralph Norman advanced to a runoff election.
The vote will be held on August 25.
View full election results here.
-Asked about his recent comments on a possible 2028 presidential campaign last night in Ohio, President Donald Trump said, “I’d love to run, but the law is very strong.”
-In an interview yesterday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that her goal is for Democrats to win 30 seats in the House of Representatives this year.
-The average U.S. gas price stood at $4.01 yesterday, amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, according to AAA.
-Trump is reportedly growing frustrated with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin after he made a “series of off-message remarks.”
-Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed a bill into law eliminating the state’s gestational limits on abortion.
-Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs named former Mesa Mayor John Giles as her running mate ahead of this year’s gubernatorial election.
Giles, a former Republican, endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
-New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prospective 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, is documenting the process of freezing her eggs.
-The University of Washington canceled a speaker series appearance planned for leftist streamer Hassan Piker, with the school saying, “It was determined that the process for organizing this event did not meet the necessary level of rigor for University-hosted events in the Speaker Series.”
-Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his wife, Jeanette, sat for an interview with Katie Miller.
Miller is the wife of senior Trump advisor Stephen Miller.
View it here:
-Chief Justice John Roberts penned an essay on his predecessor and former President William Howard Taft.
Read it here:
-On this day in 1974, President Gerald Ford addressed a joint session of Congress just three days after taking office following Richard Nixon’s resignation.
In his remarks, Ford said, “To the limits of my strength and ability, I will be the President of black, brown, red and white Americans, of old and young, of women's liberationists and male chauvinists and all the rest of us in between, of the poor and the rich, of native sons and new refugees, of those who work at lathes or at desks or in mines or in the fields, and of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Atheists, if there really are any Atheists after what we have all been through.”
In 1980, Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy addressed the Democratic National Convention in New York City following his bitter battle for the party’s nomination against President Jimmy Carter.
In his remarks, Kennedy declared, “For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”
In 2009, President Barack Obama awarded former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying she “built a bridge behind her for all young women to follow.”
Other Links:
Trump comes up short with Lindell in Minnesota gubernatorial primary - The Hill
Minnesota Democrats choose Amy Klobuchar as nominee for governor - Reuters
Democratic Rep. John Larson loses his primary to opponent calling for generational change - NBC
Michael Alfonso, son-in-law of Sean Duffy, wins congressional primary - Michael Alfonso
Fighter Jets Intercept Aircraft Over Trump’s Patriot Games in Ohio - The New York Times
President Trump appears, and briefly stars, at his Patriot Games - The Washington Post
Judge Temporarily Blocks Mamdani’s Pied-à-Terre Tax - The Wall Street Journal
Trump says NYC pied-à-terre tax ‘must be stopped,’ eyes federal block - CNBC
‘Jumping around Congress’: Democrats brace for Wall Street regulators’ coming crypto plans - Politico
Congressional Democrats to investigate efforts to deport U.S. military members and their families - PBS
Justice Samuel Alito says he’s not retiring ‘for another term’ - CNN
Adam Schiff declines to swear off AIPAC support - Politico
US auto loans hit record high in second quarter, New York Fed says - Reuters
Coca-Cola’s personalized cans show inconsistent enforcement against disallowing controversial phrases, groups - Fox Business
Confusion as NYPD denies City Hall claim Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji will get police escort on Syria, Lebanon trip - New York Post
Africa
-Civil society groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo called on President Félix Tshisekedi to abandon plans for a referendum that critics say could open the door for Tshisekedi to bypass presidential term limits.
Lawmakers in Kinshasa approved a new framework for holding public referendums, which the opposition says could be used to more easily change the constitution.
The measure was upheld by the country’s top court.
In a letter sent to Tshisekedi this week, 65 civil society groups urged the government to abandon the change, saying that the country is facing a myriad of crises that demand action, including the ongoing war in the east and an Ebola outbreak.
Tshisekedi took office in 2019, marking the first peaceful transfer of power since the country gained independence from Belgium in 1960.
His current term is set to expire in 2028.
-On this day in 2013, Nigeria became the first African nation to sign and ratify the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.
Other Links:
Somalia malnutrition response hit by more than 80% funding drop as child hunger surges, MSF says - Reuters
Libya’s central bank governor resigns without explanation - Africa News
Nigerian army rescues 33 people abducted by gunmen in northwest region - AP
South Africa dump site collapse kills 14 suspected illegal miners - BBC
Johannesburg’s water crisis angers voters, drives rich off-grid - Reuters
Americas and the Caribbean
-Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s lead over Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has narrowed ahead of this year’s presidential election, according to a new poll.
Bolsonaro is the son of conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for his efforts to remain in office following his election defeat to Lula in 2022.
Lula, 80, is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term amid concerns over his age. The leftist leader served two terms from 2003 to 2011, before returning to office in 2023 after defeating Bolsonaro.
The vote is scheduled for October 4.
-Venezuela and Israel have restarted consular services after a 17-year diplomatic break.
-The death toll from a major earthquake that struck Colombia’s coffee-growing heartland on Monday has surpassed 200.
-An exception to a U.S. oil embargo against Cuba that allows U.S. firms to export fuel to private Cuban businesses has spurred a chaotic black market on the island nation, according to Reuters.
-On this day in 1898, the Spanish-American War ended with an armistice.
Following the signing of the Treaty of Paris later that year, the Spanish Empire relinquished all territorial claims to Cuba while ceding control of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States.
Other Links:
Homicides down 51% since Sheinbaum took office - Mexico News Daily
Bolivia’s Paz tests fragile coalition with reform push, IMF deal - Reuters
Key Amazon cases reach Brazil’s Supreme Court following Lula’s defeats in Congress - AP
Goldman Sachs staff named as suspects in Brazil investigation - Financial Times
Canada puts the military on standby as British Columbia wildfires kill 1 and displace thousands - AP
Asia/Indo-Pacific
-Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosted Vietnamese President To Lam in Sydney yesterday, where the two leaders pledged to deepen their countries’ bilateral relations.
-The Chinese and Indonesian militaries will conduct joint exercises in the waters to the east of Taiwan later this month, China’s defense ministry announced yesterday.
The drills come as Beijing continues to ramp up pressure on the self-governing island, which it regards as a renegade province.
China’s military operates around the island on a nearly daily basis.
-Typhoon Dolphin has inundated China’s central province of Hubei after making landfall over the weekend.
The storm has forced more than one million people to relocate across the country’s east coast.
Other Links:
Police in India Use Tear Gas to Break Up Another Youth Protest - The New York Times
Vietnam’s VinSpace signs deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch its first satellites in 2027 - AP
Australia adds optional gender identity and sexual orientation questions to census - AP
China says Long March 7A rocket launch failed after flight anomaly - NBC
U.K. Discovers Component in Its Naval Drones Sent Signals to China - The Wall Street Journal
Europe
-Ukrainian officials said yesterday that Russian aerial attacks had killed at least 10 civilians.
The strikes came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that North Korea had supplied ballistic missiles to Moscow used in overnight attacks.
Over the weekend, Zelenskyy said that Russia is preparing to deploy an additional 30,000 to 50,000 North Korean soldiers to its territory to assist in Moscow’s war effort against Kyiv.
According to press reports, there are currently an estimated 14,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia.
-The United Nations estimates that Russia continues to imprison over 16,000 civilians it detained during its war against Ukraine.
-Lawmakers in Hungary elected former Supreme Court chief justice András Baka as president yesterday.
The move is part of the government’s effort to purge loyalists of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
-Poland now boasts the sixth-largest economy in the European Union.
-On this day in 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill concluded four days of talks aboard a ship at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, where they discussed war strategy against the Axis powers and a post-war order.
The Atlantic Charter would emerge from the talks, establishing the founding principles of the United Nations.
In 1961, authorities in East Berlin began construction of the Berlin Wall, dividing the city amid Cold War tensions.
Other Links:
Trump told Ukraine it had no cards. Then Kyiv took the war to Russia - AP
Ukraine says it hit Russian oil refinery 1,500km from frontline in overnight strike - BBC
Swiss government rejects rigid interpretation of neutrality ahead of referendum - Reuters
World’s oceans hit record-high July temperatures - BBC
UK and France prepare for another heat wave as western Europe sets new temperature record - AP
Middle East
-An attack on a vessel transiting the Bab el-Mandeb strait by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen killed at least six people yesterday, dimming prospects that a deal to end the war between the United States and Iran could be reached.
The strait serves as the entrance to the Red sea, which serves as a conduit for roughly 12% of the world’s total seaborne-traded oil.
Meanwhile, Iran has said that a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz would not be reached until Washington agrees to new hardline demands.
President Trump said over the weekend that Washington would wait until economic conditions in Iran force Tehran to agree to a deal. Just a week earlier, he paused a planned major military offensive against Iran to allow for negotiations to continue.
-A Syrian court sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his brother in absentia for crimes against humanity and a litany of other crimes during the country’s 14-year civil war.
Assad was ousted by rebels led by Ahmed al-Sharaa in December 2024. He fled to Russia and was granted political asylum.
-Lawmakers in Lebanon voted to abolish the death penalty yesterday.
-On this day in 1992, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met with Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton during a visit to the United States.
Other Links:
Oil Prices Touch $90 a Barrel Over U.S.-Iran Stalemate - The New York Times
Gulf stocks fall on fading prospects of US-Iran deal - Reuters
Oman says grounded tanker oil spill covers 400 square km - Reuters
Russia says Syria base deal will boost ties, source says some Russian forces will stay - Reuters
Turkey’s Kurdish region greets a conditional PKK pardon with relief, joy and doubt - AP
That’s all for today. See you tomorrow.
So much happening in the world at present
The world has been through so much we tend to forget. Jacob keeps reminding us nothing is really new.