August 31, 2026 - US, Iran Trade Strikes Near Hormuz

I was driving a rental car in Florida last night and let the phone do the navigating. Somewhere along the southwest coast I glanced down at the map, and there it was: Gulf of America.

Not in a proclamation. Not in a statute. On Apple Maps, in the dark, on the dashboard of a car I'd had for three hours.

That is the whole story of this fight.

Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico by executive order in January 2025. The House voted to make it permanent, 211-206, with Don Bacon of Nebraska the only Republican voting no. He called it juvenile. The Senate never took it up. Legally, the thing is a house of cards. Practically, Apple and Google flipped the label, and everyone with a phone started seeing it.

On Friday he did it again, renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America" in the middle of a trade fight with Canada. Doug Ford answered Saturday with a billboard on the Canadian shore: "Lake Ontario - Now and Always." Mark Carney pointed out that the name predates both Canadian Confederation and the Declaration of Independence. Kathy Hochul says New York won't use it. Google's solution is to show you "Lake America" in Buffalo and "Lake Ontario" in Toronto.

Presidents have undone each other before. Obama made it Denali. Trump made it McKinley again. No name is permanent.

But something has changed. The Board on Geographic Names no longer decides what you call a body of water. The company that made your phone does. And a name you have read a thousand times from the driver's seat has a way of quietly becoming the name

##

US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island near the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran's IRGC retaliated with missiles and drones at two US air bases in Jordan that Jordanian air defenses intercepted, marking the first escalation between the two sides in more than a month.

CNN

Google Maps will display the Great Lake as "Lake America" for U.S. users after President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming it amid an escalating trade fight with Canada, though Canadian and international users will still see "Lake Ontario."

NBC News

Severe flash flooding Saturday near Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch destroyed bridges and structures in Grand Canyon National Park, forced the evacuation of at least 62 people to the South Rim, and left more than 15 hikers and campers missing or unaccounted for, according to the National Park Service.

KJZZ

Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez said a new 25-year bilateral agreement with the U.S. will develop 17 oilfields targeting more than 1.5 million barrels per day, with Venezuela receiving $19 per barrel while retaining ownership of its reserves.

The Hill

President Trump threatened to report NBC's Kristen Welker to the FCC over her comments on his mixed primary endorsement record, as the Treasury Department denied G20 credentials to some reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

CNBC

Cuba's deputy minister of foreign trade told USA Today the government will let private companies trade directly with foreign firms, drop a requirement that foreign investors hire workers through a state agency, and expand foreign real estate development, even as Trump administration sanctions and an oil blockade tighten.

USA Today

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei urged Muslim nations to unite against the U.S. and Israel as fighting intensified, with U.S. forces striking Iranian rocket launchers and Iran retaliating with missile attacks on U.S. sites in Jordan.

Associated Press

Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a former congressman, told donors in a fundraising email that he saw Osama bin Laden's body with his own eyes, though as House intelligence chair in 2011 he was at home in Washington during the raid and only later viewed a photograph.

Yahoo

After Australian police mistook a bruised, discarded sex doll for a woman's body, a Guardian investigation examines a global sex doll industry projected to hit $13.4bn by 2033, with AI-powered companions, custom heads modeled on real women, and unsettled questions about its links to misogyny and violence.

The Guardian

Pat's King of Steaks and Jim's are taking opposite approaches to seeded rolls on their cheesesteaks, with Pat's testing a short-lived seeded version while the two rivals stake out different sides of a bread debate.

The Philadelphia Inquirer