September 1, 2026 - Court Lets WH Ballroom Work Proceed

Today's poll question requires respondents to be familiar with three stories from recent newsletters. First, sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln will have shore leave in Thailand after a deployment of more than 200 consecutive days at sea before returning to the United States. Second, as per today's link, Pattaya is gearing up for them. Nearly 5,000 sailors and Marines will come ashore in a city the FBI has identified as one of the world's leading sex-tourism destinations. The mayor estimates each will spend $30 to $91 a day, and the head of the local nightlife business association told Reuters, "I have lived in Pattaya for more than 20 years, and I have never seen any year as slow as this one." And third, the FBI has changed the policy that automatically disqualified anyone with a history of prostitution.

This raises a legitimate question that I ask not (solely) to be provocative. What about a sailor who has been at sea for more than 200 days now paying for sex in Thailand? Should that be a preclusion to serving in the FBI?

Consider what the Bureau actually did. Under guidance issued this spring, a past encounter with a prostitute is no longer an automatic disqualifier. Each case is judged in context. The bright lines that survive: nothing within the last 10 years, no more than twice, and never while holding a position of trust such as public safety. And one of the reasons the FBI cited was applicants, including former service members, who paid for sex overseas where it was legal.

There is a real case for the FBI's change. The old rule punished candor and rewarded lying to the polygraph. It also swept in people on the other side of the transaction. Someone sold into the trade at 16 was barred for life from the Bureau for having been a victim. And one night at 22 tells you little about judgment at 35.

There is a real case for keeping the old bar in place. Prostitution is illegal under Thai law, though widely visible and unevenly enforced. Pattaya police detained 40 to 50 suspected sex workers before the Lincoln even docked. "We are doing our best, but it is difficult," the police chief said. The trade there is tangled up with trafficking, and a customer cannot always know who is there by choice. An agent who broke a foreign law is an agent who can be leveraged. That is why the bar existed.

Then there is this. Patronizing a prostitute is a court-martial offense under Article 134 of the UCMJ no matter where it happens. So the sailor is not the strongest argument for the new policy. He is its toughest test.

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A divided Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, paused a lower court injunction and cleared the way for construction of a new White House ballroom to continue, with the majority finding that the National Trust for Historic Preservation likely lacks standing to sue and Chief Justice John Roberts joining the three liberals in dissent.

SCOTUSblog

After more than 200 days at sea supporting the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, nearly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln will come ashore this week in Thailand, prompting hopes of an economic boost and a police crackdown on Pattaya's notorious sex tourism trade.

Defense News

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to President Trump after months of friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, citing concerns over Army transformation and readiness, and Hegseth's firing of generals leading those efforts, sources told CNN.

CNN

A review of the first reported combat use of the U.S. military’s new Precision Strike Missile suggests its wide-area blast may have killed at least 21 civilians, including seven children, and damaged homes and vehicles far beyond its detonation sites in southern Iran.

Associated Press

A UMass Amherst national poll finds President Donald Trump's job approval at 32%, with 68% disapproving of his handling of the war with Iran and 75% saying he has not handled inflation well.

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Kalshi issued its first-ever lifetime ban to former Rep. George Santos and tacked on $71,356 in penalties after he allegedly pocketed more than $17,000 betting on his own attendance at President Trump's State of the Union address and refused to cooperate with the platform's probe.

New York Post

Harold Gene Lucas, 74, is scheduled to be put to death Sept. 1 for the 1976 shooting of his 16-year-old girlfriend in Bonita Springs, becoming the latest inmate executed under Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has issued 15 death warrants this year as Florida shatters its own execution records.

The News-Press

Some Gen Z men on TikTok are skipping showers, deodorant and cologne in the belief their natural body odor will attract women, but dermatologists and olfactory scientists say the practice has no scientific backing and amounts to little more than "bacteria-maxxing."

USA Today

Jurors in the Massachusetts murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, who is accused of strangling her three young children in 2023 and has pleaded not guilty by reason of postpartum psychosis, were sent home after a second full day of deliberations and will resume Tuesday.

ABC News

CBS News is facing backlash from progressive lawmakers, commentators and even an anonymous staffer who called a report on Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed's deleted 9/11-related tweets Islamophobic and racially charged.

Mediaite