August 11, 2026 - US Just Had Its Hottest Month Ever

The Washington Post reported last night that President Trump did not leave last month's NATO summit in Turkey aboard Air Force One, despite the White House saying he did.

According to the Post, a credible Iranian assassination threat set what one U.S. official called a "deception operation" in motion. On July 8, Trump boarded the legacy blue-and-white Air Force One in Ankara in full view of television cameras, waving as he climbed the stairs. Minutes later, he and several aides stepped into an airport catering truck - the kind used to load meals - which was lowered, driven across the tarmac, and raised again at an Air Force C-32A, a modified Boeing 757. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded that plane separately, by the stairs, to make the flight look routine.

Trump flew to Britain on the C-32A under the nondescript call sign "Reach 18," with tracking systems switched off. The legacy Air Force One - carrying White House staff and members of the press who believed the president was with them - took the "AF1" call sign midflight and landed in Britain roughly nine minutes later. Staff had instructed journalists to close their window shades before takeoff.

Trump later told reporters he is "number one" on Iran's list, adding: "But if I go, you go. Right?"

On CNN, David Axelrod raised the obvious problem. If the plane was thought to be a target because the president was aboard, then everyone still on it was a target too. They were, in his word, decoys - and nobody told them. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on radio today.

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July 2026 was the hottest month on record in the Lower 48, averaging 3.3 degrees above the 20th-century norm and edging out July 1936 and July 2012, as relentless heat domes drove more than 600 monthly high-temperature records from the East Coast to the Southwest.

CNN

Facing an Iranian assassination threat, President Donald Trump secretly departed a NATO summit in Turkey last month aboard an alternate military aircraft while the White House publicly said he was flying home on Air Force One.

The Washington Post

The US labor-force participation rate fell to 61.4% in July, its lowest since February 2021, as baby boomer retirements, a declining birth rate, tighter immigration enforcement under President Trump and discouraged job seekers shrank the workforce by more than 1 million people over the past year.

MarketWatch

A new survey finds half of 1,000 respondents back moving U.S. House elections toward proportional representation, a system that elects multiple representatives in a single district in rough proportion to a party's vote share, as frustration with the two-party system deepens amid redistricting fights.

NPR

Ukrainian forces struck the Tobolskneftekhim petrochemical plant in Russia's Tyumen Oblast, roughly 2,200 kilometers from the border, hitting a gas fractionation unit that produces materials used in rocket fuel, aviation fuel, and drone components.

The Kyiv Independent

After years of fragmented feeds and algorithm-driven entertainment, a summer packed with the World Cup, Taylor Swift’s wedding and blockbuster films has brought Americans back together around the shared cultural moments they thought they’d lost.

The Wall Street Journal

President Trump signed an executive order Monday recommending only 11 core childhood vaccinations and splitting the MMR shot into three separate visits, directing HHS to expand vaccine safety research with a focus on autism.

The Hill

A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake has devastated western Colombia, killing at least 111 people, prompting the president to declare a national emergency, and leaving thousands missing as rescue teams and families race to find survivors trapped beneath the rubble.

Associated Press

Francesca Hong, the democratic socialist leading Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, faces scrutiny over progressive positions on policing, taxes, immigration and even her outspoken dislike of popular holidays like Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day.

The New York Times

Dave Portnoy tore into ESPN on FS1's "Wake Up Barstool," calling the network "absolute morons" for downplaying DiJonai Carrington's "white privilege" Threads post after her flagrant foul ejection in the Fever's 90-86 win over the Sky.

New York Post