“Austria’s former vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache was convicted Friday over graft charges linked to the giant ‘Ibiza-gate’ scandal, which is still roiling national politics two years after it broke. The scandals can be traced back to a meeting in 2017 on the Spanish resort island of Ibiza between Strache, then leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), and a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch. Strache was filmed promising the woman state contracts in exchange for helping his party to campaign for elections on an anti-migration, anti-Islam platform.”

“Strache also discussed the possibility of the woman buying Austria’s most-read tabloid, Kronen Zeitung, and making its editorial line more pro-FPOe. He did not know the meeting was a sting and that he was being filmed. The video surfaced in German media in May 2019 and led to the collapse of a coalition government composed of the FPOe and the centre-right People’s Party (OeVP) of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Strache claimed in the video that several high-profile billionaires, as well as international gambling company Novomatic, had funded political parties through illegal donations to associations. All those named by Strache deny any wrongdoing” – AFP.

As a service to our NatZero readers, we listened to Trump’s rant on Hannity so you don’t have to.  In this rant, which was done without a break–and please note were not transcribing Trump’s most inane passages–Trump says he really, really wanted to get out of Afghanistan, and that he would’ve done a great withdrawal–like no one has ever seen before!–and the withdrawal would have been one for historians.  And he would have withdrawn all the troops… but yet somehow kept Bagram Air Base under US control even though there would be no troops there.  So… enjoy (?).

“We went into the Middle East [Trump is referring to Afghanistan as “the Middle East.”  It’s not.]  and we shouldn’t have been there and we blew it to pieces and now we’re leaving and because of what they’re doing we’re leaving in disgrace.  We could’ve left with great dignity.  We could’ve left with safety,” Trump says, apparently unaware that he occupied the Oval Office at one time, where he could’ve overseen a withdrawal with “dignity” and “safety.”

CNN: “The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s Covid-related eviction moratorium. ‘If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it,’ the court wrote in an unsigned, eight-page opinion. The three liberal justices dissented. This latest round of litigation was prompted by the version of the moratorium rolled out by the US Centers for Disease and Prevention on August 3, days after the last iteration of the moratorium had expired.”

The Hill’s current top “most popular” article, posted at 6:41 pm EDT on Thursday, titled “Biden presses Fox’s Doocey about Trump-Taliban deal” misspells the last name of Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy in the headline as “Peter Doocey”, and then again an additional seven times in the text of the article. This mistake occurred in spite of a tweeted video clip embedded between the paragraphs of the article from Vox’s Aaron Rupar in which “Doocy” is spelled correctly and the fact that nearly 3 hours have passed since the article’s publication in which The Hill’s editorial staff could have fixed it. In related-ish news, The Hill is valued at $130 million.

“‘On the same morning that at least 12 U.S. service members were killed in a bloody terror attack in Kabul, former President Donald Trump suggested Osama bin Laden wasn’t a big deal and only ‘had one hit.’ Calling into conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show on Thursday morning, Trump doubled down on his recent claims that the Taliban wouldn’t have quickly taken over Afghanistan following American troop withdrawal if he were still in charge. (Trump negotiated the original peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020, which included a May 1 withdrawal date and the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners.) At the same time, the ex-president also took the opportunity to boast about the terror leaders that had been killed during his term, notably ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Iranian military chief Qasem Soleimani. And he claimed that both of them were far worse than bin Laden, the former al Qaeda leader who killed thousands of Americans in the 9/11 attacks and prompted the War in Afghanistan.”

“‘And we took out the founder of ISIS, al-Baghdadi, and then of course Soleimani,’ Trump blared. ‘Now just so you understand, Soleimani is bigger by many, many times than Osama bin Laden. The founder of ISIS is bigger by many, many times, al-Baghdadi, than Osama bin Laden.’ Trump added: ‘Osama bin Laden had one hit, and it was a bad one, in New York City, the World Trade Center. But these other two guys were monsters. They were monsters'” – The Daily Beast.

This is what weakness looks like. pic.twitter.com/a7vqlqYUhU

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 26, 2021

“Today, U.S. Congressman Madison Cawthorn (NC-11) sent letters to the full Cabinet demanding that they immediately invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Congressman Cawthorn’s demand follows President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which resulted in hundreds of Americans being stranded in the country and created conditions that caused multiple servicemembers to become targets of radical Islamic terrorism today. ‘When I look to our commander in Chief, I do not see someone who maliciously makes poor decisions. And yet, today we witnessed devastating, heartbreaking American carnage as a direct result of his inept and incompetent actions. Joe Biden does not simply have a pattern of poor decision making – his mental decline is on full display. Our enemies know it. Americans have witnessed it. His disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal proves even further: our executive is in crisis,’ said Congressman Madison Cawthorn” – Statement posted to Cawthorn’s House.gov website.

“The U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has requested communications between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Trump White House officials in the months leading up to the insurrection. The request was issued this week as a part of a series of letters seeking materials from the National Archives and Records Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and other executive agencies. Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, demanded that the national archives hand over ‘all documents and communications referring or relating to the 2020 election results between White House officials and officials of State Governments.'”

“The document then listed Paxton specifically, along with seven officials from other states. In the letter, Thompson emphasized the urgency of the request and gave a deadline of no later than Sept. 9 to comply. ‘This is our first request for materials, and we anticipate additional requests as our investigation continues,’ Thompson wrote. This demand comes after Paxton spoke at the pro-Trump rally in Washington D.C before the insurrection began, touting his unsuccessful legal effort to overturn the 2020 election. ‘We will not quit fighting. We’re Texans, we’re Americans, and the fight will go on,’ Paxton told the crowd” – Texas Tribune.

“The U.S. government said Thursday it is shutting down an embattled federal jail in New York City after a slew of problems that came to light following Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide there two years ago. The federal Bureau of Prisons said the Metropolitan Correctional Center will be closed at least temporarily to address issues that have long plagued the facility, including lax security and crumbling infrastructure. The facility, in a complex of government buildings in lower Manhattan, currently has 233 inmates, down from a normal population of 600 inmates or more. Most of them are expected to be transferred to a federal jail in Brooklyn” WNBC reports.

“The decision to close the Metropolitan Correctional Center, which had been billed as one of the most secure jails in America comes weeks after Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco toured the jail and saw the conditions firsthand. ‘In an effort to address the issues at MCC NY as quickly and efficiently as possible, the Department has decided to close the MCC, at least temporarily, until those issues have been resolved,’ the Justice Department said in a written statement.”

NBC News: “In the chaotic minutes before he shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, Lt. Michael Byrd focused his attention on the glass doors leading into the lobby of the U.S. House of Representatives chamber. About 60 to 80 House members and staffers were holed up inside, and it was Byrd’s job to protect them. As rioters rampaged through the Capitol, Byrd and a few other officers from the Capitol Police set up a wall of furniture outside the doors. ‘Once we barricaded the doors, we were essentially trapped where we were,’ Byrd said in an exclusive interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt, speaking publicly for the first time since the riot. ‘There was no way to retreat. No other way to get out.’ ‘If they get through that door, they’re into the House chamber and upon the members of Congress,’ added Byrd, who granted NBC News permission to use his name after authorities had declined to release it.”

“Byrd, a 28-year veteran of the Capitol Police, took a defensive posture with his gun drawn as rioters smashed the glass doors. He said he yelled repeatedly for them to get back. But the mob kept pressing forward, and then a lone rioter tried to climb through one of the doors. What happened next was captured on video: Byrd fired one shot, striking Babbitt in the shoulder. For Byrd, who is Black, the incident turned his life upside down. He has been in hiding for months after receiving a flood of death threats and racist attacks that started when his name leaked onto right-wing websites. But in his interview with Holt, Byrd said he has no doubt that he made the right decision in light of the circumstances. ‘I know that day I saved countless lives,’ Byrd said. ‘I know members of Congress, as well as my fellow officers and staff, were in jeopardy and in serious danger. And that’s my job.'”

“One day after Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced that 105 National Guard personnel would be deployed to 10 hospitals across the state, a metro Atlanta facility, not on that list, has asked for help. Piedmont Newnan tells CBS46 they have reached out to the governor’s office asking for further assistance from the National Guard. ‘The fourth COVID-19 surge has put a strain on many hospitals, and due to a need for additional staff members throughout the state, Piedmont Newnan Hospital has requested assistance from Gov. Kemp to deploy the National Guard to our hospital and we should know with the next 24 hours on commitment and date of deployment,’ Piedmont Healthcare said. The hospital says it is specifically asking for combat medics who can assist with the high numbers of COVID-19 patients, largely unvaccinated” – CBS46.

After shocking people by raising more than $30 million in new donations in the first six months of the year, Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again Action PAC raised just $1.5 million since the beginning of July, according to New York Times’s Shane Goldmacher.

The money came primarily from three donors:  $500,000 from banker Andrew Beal, $500,000 from casino owner Phil Ruffin, and $100,000 from Dallas businesswoman Carol Adams.

The Trump war chest has about $60 million cash on hand, with about $30 million of that coming from a transfer of funds from his losing 2020 campaign.

Fox News reports Senator Marsha “Life Coach” Blackburn, Former UN Ambassador Nimrata Haley, and a litany of other Republican Party figures have called for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Mark Milley, Lloyd Austin, and Antony Blinken to resign over the ISIS terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed at least 12 US soldiers, Marines, and sailors on Thursday. Now, even in our current environment of constant degradation of what used to be at least public-facing veneer of political civility, that’s a pretty ballsy thing to say and as such calls for an even harsher reaction. However, given our personal circumspection, we’re going to have to frame it as a hypothetical.

That the attack was probably planned by Blackburn and Nimrata themselves to delegitimize the Biden Administration, is what we would report if we had the same lack of character and decency as a right wing news site. We would not have any evidence of this claim, but it wouldn’t matter because it would feel true. We’d probably cite some secret, “high-level” source in the US intel community that doesn’t exist or – even better – channel some Chinese propaganda farm’s bullshit into our article as if it were stated fact. Then we’d call for Blackburn and Nimrata to be investigated by the FBI for links to foreign terror groups since they’ve hated the Biden Administration since day one, they never gave him a chance. They’re just trying to overturn the result of the 2020 election.

But that’s not who we are. Plus there isn’t really a market for that sort of thing these days. Center-left readers don’t really like thinly-sourced conspiracy theory bullshit, even if we were to say we were “just asking questions” about who benefitted politically from such an attack.

Pete Wehner, The Atlantic: “Not long ago, Trump was viewed as avant-garde, outrageous, and scandalous, America’s enfant terrible. His actions were viewed as so shocking and norm-shattering that he couldn’t be ignored. In today’s Republican Party, however, Trump is becoming what was once unthinkable – conventional, unexceptional, even something of an establishment figure.”

“In a right-wing movement that is home to a growing assortment of cranks and kooks – Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar and Lauren Boebert, Mo Brooks and Madison Cawthorn, Ron Johnson and Marsha Blackburn, Mike Lindell and Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, Cyber Ninjas and QAnon, anti-vaxxers and insurrectionists – Trump looks rather ordinary. He wants credit for the vaccines that were developed during his administration, which mark a genuine medical milestone, but in some quarters of today’s Republican Party, that makes Trump suspect, too closely aligned with the hated Anthony Fauci, a dumbass.”

“The dark, destructive place the GOP has found itself in isn’t shocking. For more than half a decade, the Republican base – MAGA world – has been fed a constant diet of outrageous lies and conspiracy theories, not just by Trump but also by his allies in the party and the right-wing media ecosystem. Negative emotions such as fear, rage, and resentment have been constantly stirred up. Over time, transgressive behaviors became chic; ‘owning the libs’ became the name of the game. What mattered was hating the right people… To better understand what’s happening in the GOP, think of a person with addiction who over time develops a tolerance; as a result, they need more potent and more frequent doses of the drug to get their desired high. And sometimes even that isn’t enough. They might turn to a more potent drug, which offers a more intense experience and a longer-lasting high, but at the price of considerably more danger.”

Associated Press:  “Two people were killed and another was injured Thursday morning in a shooting near the courthouse in the small northern Illinois city of Kankakee, the mayor said.

“Mayor Christopher Curtis told The Associated Press in a text message that suspects in the shooting have been taken into custody. Curtis did not provide any other details about the victims or the suspects. His assistant, David Guzman, said the area has been secured and that there is no longer any danger to the public.

“Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey told WGN TV that the shooting happened at about 9:45 a.m. near the courthouse and the county jail. Downey provided no other details.  Kankakee is a community of about 26,000 people located about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Chicago.”

“At least 10 U.S. Marines and soldiers have been killed in the suicide bombing outside Kabul airport Thursday, U.S. officials tell Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson. Dozens of service members have been wounded in the explosion as well, the officials added” – Fox News.

There is blood on Joe Biden’s hands.

Four marines died in an attack he failed to prepare for during one of the most incompetent military operations in history.

Their lives can never be replaced.

My prayers are with their families & the loved ones they’ve left behind.

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) August 26, 2021

“A staff attorney for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has been arrested on a child solicitation and was immediately fired. Chase Tristian Espy, 36, is charged with child solicitation by computer/electronic solicitation of a child, which is a Class B felony. Espy, a Birmingham attorney and former deputy general counsel in the Office of Governor, was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 9:28 p.m. Wednesday, according to jail records. The Vestavia Hills resident was released from lockup at 1:56 a.m. Thursday after posting $30,000 bond” AL.com reports.

“Efforts to reach Espy for comment weren’t immediately successful. Homewood police Sgt. John Carr confirmed the department’s Special Investigations Unit arrested Espy. No additional information was released, but Carr said the operation is part of an ongoing effort by the Homewood Police Department to combat crimes involving the exploitation of children. Ivey’s office confirmed Espy was fired Thursday morning and released this statement to AL.com on Thursday: ‘The allegations against Mr. Espy are serious, tragic and shocking. While he was employed by our office for only a few months, Mr. Espy has been terminated. As this is an ongoing investigation, no further information is available at this time.'”