I’m going to divide it into three sections:

BIG News- the three or four stories that are persistent and really important throughout the week— there are always themes with this kind of thing…

Da News- these are more middle-importance stories: I use my discretion to decide which stories go into this category and which are…

👀- these are the stories that I, as a journalist and political scientist (at least according to my degree :P) think are important or worth mentioning, even if they aren’t highlighted as major news or repeated in the news cycle.

I hope you get invested and learn something new! Thanks for reading!

What’s the News? August 17-25

BIG News- these are the three or four stories that have dominated the news cycle this week

$40 trillion debt

The Treasury Department announced last Wednesday that the national debt topped $40 trillion. That number has doubled in less than 10 years. The debt is expected to grow two times faster than the economy over the next ten years. It’s grown to that point because the U.S. is spending more than it is earning or making.

Jessica Riedl, a fellow at the Brookings Institute, told NPR, “It’s just been a yearly drumbeat of spending increases and tax cuts.”

The main cause of increased spending has to do with three factors: an aging population straining the social security system, U.S. involvement in long-term wars, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and stimulus packages, like those seen after the financial crash in 2008 and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Congress has repeatedly passed tax cuts, which impacts the government’s overall revenue. Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” cut government revenue by $4.5 trillion but only cut spending by $1 trillion over the next ten years.

Military Carriers, the Iran War and Trump’s Economic Warfare

USS Lincoln is a U.S. Navy carrier that was scheduled to return to the U.S. in May. It received attention after reports of inadequate supplies, worsening mental health conditions and attempts to jump ship spread. It was initially scheduled to return in May.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called these claims “completely misrepresented.” But after 250 days at sea, it started the return to the U.S., with a stop scheduled in Thailand.

Its replacement vessel, the USS George Washington was rerouted from the Pacific. There are now no aircraft carriers actively deployed in the Pacific. This comes as the U.S. announced a scaling back of annual joint defense exercises with South Korea.

Efforts to resolve the almost six month long conflict with Iran have once again stalled. On Wednesday of last week, talks with Iran came to a halt, with Trump declaring the Strait of Hormuz open.

He warned of economic warfare for anyone aiding Iran. The threat of sanctions mainly impacts China, who relies on Iran for much of its oil supply. Iran has responded by threatening the Gulf states and threatening to attack oil tankers on alternate routes.

On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that 60 groups had been sanctioned for having financial ties to Iran— this includes flights in and out of the country and the shipment of items and money across the borders.

Canada and US trade dispute

There has been an escalation in the ongoing tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

After a delay until midnight on Friday to allow for negotiations, tariffs on certain Canadian goods went into effect. The 50% tariffs apply to $20 billion worth of Canadian goods imported to the U.S. While this is only 5% of total exports, experts are concerned about the expansion of tariffs to more products.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada will match U.S. tariffs “dollar for dollar,” announcing tariffs on $20 billion worth of US goods, including steel, dairy products, farm equipment and appliances.

Primary elections

U.S. primary elections were held in several states ahead of the upcoming fall midterms. In both Florida and Wyoming, Trump-backed candidates lost.

Mary Peltola (D) and Dan Sullivan (R) are advancing to the general election for Alaska’s next Senator. (The other Dan Sullivan is also continuing on to the general election.)

In Florida, progressive Democrat Angie Nixon beat Alex Vindman, a centrist, in the Senate primary. Vindman spent 16 times as much as Nixon. She faces long odds in a state as consistently conservative as Florida. She will be running against Ashley Moody, the incumbent.

The race is on for the replacement for Ron DeSantis as governor of Florida. Byron Donalds (R) and former Republican representative David Jolly (D) are running. There hasn’t been a Democratic governor in Florida since the 90s.

Da News- stories I think you should know about

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s push to regulate mail-in voting through the U.S. Postal Service. A nationwide injunction that blocks the implementation of the procedures for the Nov. 3 elections is still in place.

In South Carolina, Darlene Graham, Lindsay Graham’s sister, won the race to replace him in the Senate. In a debate, she said that she didn’t know much about foreign policy, sparking criticism from members of Congress and her opponent, Ralph Norman. Lindsay Graham frequently advocated for U.S. military intervention and support of allies, like Taiwan and Ukraine.

The Trump administration is planning to revoke 200,000 visas. This would be the largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history. The State Department and Department of Homeland Security are said to be reviewing business and tourist visas and looking for people who have overstayed. Earlier this month, 175,000 visas were revoked.

President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was in the Middle East to facilitate peace talks between Israel and Hamas. Israel refuses to allow reconstruction of Gaza until Hamas completely disarms. Israel is unlikely to make a deal until their elections later this year.

👀- the stories I’m keeping an eye on

Climate things:

• Around 100,000 people had to evacuate due to fires in Nevada. The fires are not yet contained.

• Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the country, has reached the lowest level on record, potentially impacting the water supply of millions of people.

• The Trump administration is trying to roll back protections that prevent fishing near Palmyra Atoll, a series of islands in the south Pacific with one of the world’s most pristine coral reefs.

• The same week, the administration rolled back protections to prevent logging in half of the U.S.’ national forests, citing a new emergency declaration over concerns from wildfires.

Lindsay Clancy’s trial has gained a mass following online. The Massachusetts mother is accused of killing her three children in 2023. Clancy has plead not guilty and was paralyzed after she fell from a second story window the night of the deaths. Clancy was seeking care for postpartum depression at the time.

Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) are sponsoring a bipartisan bill seeking to end personalized dynamic pricing. The form of price regulation allows stores to price items based on customer profiles rather than by item.

Paramount executives met with California officials to try to mitigate the difficulties surrounding the anti-trust lawsuit preventing the Paramount/Warner Bros. merger. Some companies may have to be sold or operate independent from its corporate owner.

Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are relocating back to the UK after six years in the U.S.

NATO shot down a suspected Russian drone in Romanian airspace. This is the fourth illegal incursion into Romanian airspace this year.

The trial concerning youth mental health between 29 states and Meta began. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New York led the prosecution, accusing Meta of violating consumer protection laws. They claim that Meta also violated federal law by gathering data from users under the age of 13.

A tourism helicopter in Kenya crashed killing seven passengers. The head of Ecuador’s intelligence agency and his wife were on board. Five Americans also died, including José Suárez, an executive with Telemundo, an American Spanish-language TV network.

The Supreme Court said that construction of the White House ballroom could continue for now after a lawsuit from a historical preservation society. According to an ABC News/Washington Post/ IPSOS poll, 56% of Americans oppose the ongoing White House ballroom renovations. The Washington Post has reported that tax money will be used in the project, conflicting with previous statements from the White House.

Dolly Parton, beloved singer and philanthropist, passed away at 80.

Hi! If you have any questions about my sources, research and writing process or ethics practices, please feel free to reach out and ask me about it. I try to always respond to good faith inquiries or questions!

Sources:

_{https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510318/up-first}

_{https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/5-things}

_{https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/whats-news}

_{https://www.nbcnews.com/world/ukraine/suspected-russian-drone-shot-romania-kyiv-moscow-exchange-strikes-rcna592763}

_{https://abcnews.com/GMA/News/trial-begins-mom-accused-killing-3-children/story?id=134926667}

_{https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/tech/meta-attorneys-general-addiction-trial-opening-arguments}

_{https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/kushner-hold-talks-with-netanyahu-after-rare-meeting-with-hamas-2026-08-17/}

_{https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/08/24/uss-abraham-lincoln-update-thailand/91442505007/}

_{https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6028091-pete-hegseth-uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-middle-east/}

_{https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-primary-elections/alaska-senate-results}

_{https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/16/climate/lake-powell-reservoir-record-low-colorado-river}

_{https://www.npr.org/2026/08/23/nx-s1-5941115/a-visit-to-the-remote-pacific-island-ecosystem-losing-protections}

_{https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-forests-emergency-logging-rollins-e2d7173bedcc697dee56f94ab613276f}

_{https://apnews.com/article/canada-trump-lake-810649a0a4143d9042094626c4a36dad}

It’s not perfect: there is the unfortunate and obvious product placement and pedestal-ification of luxury and fashion brands. There’s also a lack of color, but that is a widely discussed trend in Hollywood. The heart of the movie is about a changing world and advocacy for the survival of the arts and media.

I never got around to seeing this movie in theaters, despite my love for the original and my incessant fangirling over Anne Hathaway (I’ve never seen a bad performance from her). So, when I opened a streaming platform, bored and listless, and The Devil Wears Prada 2 appeared, I thought, “Alright, I’ll bite.”

I watched the movie and was blown away. From the start, it’s ambitious, with a more modern lens on the fashion industry than the og. The sequel, at least upon first impression, learned from the toxicity of 2000s Hollywood and fashion. It touches on fast fashion, the digitization of media, representation and inclusivity and the mass consolidation of businesses across nearly all industries. TLDR: it has a lot to say.

Some things matter more than money. Journalism still f***ing matters.

The story centers on Andy Sachs, my hero, now a journalist who is let go from her investigative reporting job and hired (again) at Runway. The main conflict is the potential removal of Miranda as editor-in-chief and decimation of Runway’s budget, which would cause a loss of integrity of Runway as a brand, a “century-old institution” that shapes tastes, business and economic trends.

Andy is a catalyst for change. Ever the go-getter, it is her hard work that opens doors throughout the movie. Her relationships get her jobs, knocking on doors gets her answers and working hard and centering integrity gets her interviews that no one else can.

There is a montage, within the first 30 minutes, that shows Andy writing good articles. She gets no praise or feedback and keeps going anyway, doggedly pursuing her next story. I literally watched with heart eyes, as one of my fictional icons struggled with something familiar to me.

Even when she is the only person who has not accepted the “inevitability” of Benji Barnes’ (a Jeff Bezos-esque billionaire) plans for Runway (replacing Miranda), Andy continually pushes for the preservation of Runway. Even Miranda, a longtime advocate for the dignity and inherent worth of the fashion industry (remember the whole cerulean monologue from the first movie?), tells Andy “not to concern (herself) with this.” Andy does not do that. (And thank goodness for that, because that would be a short and boring movie.) It is ultimately her pushing and effort that lead to the survival of Runway and grudging acceptance by Miranda.

Miranda almost thanks her at the end of the movie and encourages Andy to write a tell-all book about her “because people should know. They should know there’s a cost.”

And, then she adds: “But, boy, I love working. I really do. Don’t you?”

That hard work, and love of it, is central to the conflict of the movie: the tension between the ease of AI-powered conglomeration and cuts and the struggle for survival of skilled work requiring integrity and real humans.

We can’t just keep sucking the soul out of everything and gutting it and then repackaging it. To what end?

We live in a society where everything has been capitalized on and given a price tag (ironic in an article about high-end fashion). The worth of inherently human activities: art, storytelling, music, dancing — has all been commodified and filtered through the lens of those who are talented and permitted to make art and those who are not. As a society, we run the risk of losing art for art’s sake.

Part of the importance of art, outside of its ability to entertain, is the possibility it shows us. Art is what allows us to dream. We can empathize with and understand the experiences of others. When we see people who look like us, identify in similar ways or who go through struggles we have also gone through and then get through them, it allows us to imagine. We can see new limits for ourselves and our lives, have goals and ambitions and dreams for ourselves.

Many of the young female journalists I know look to this movie as one of the ones that inspired them to get into the business. Without art like this, it would have been harder to imagine themselves working as a TV reporter growing up in Nowhere, Michigan or Texas.

The continued pursuit of the excellent and the unparalleled in the world that we love so much.

This movie is a love letter to real art – human art – and the work, craft and skill going into it, as well as the years it takes to become good at it. Hard work is what makes art and media meaningful. The effort, sweat, tears and messy fingerprints make it worthy of consumption and our attention. Have we reached a point where the bottom line is truly more important than integrity and talent? I hope not. Why would I want to consume something that has no meaning or effort or skill attached to it?

Yes, people like dopamine hits and want to be captivated, but that doesn’t mean we want to be mindless drones. We live in a world where everything comes at you all at once. There is a seemingly endless feed of bad news and we are made to feel powerless in an age of automation, corporate downsizing, conflict and economic struggle. Sometimes it’s easier to shut down. But when we do that, we risk missing out on connection and the vibrance of ordinary moments in our daily lives (the things that inspire creativity and art making).

Part of why I love this movie is the failure to retreat into nihilism that is embraced by so much of media and arts. On one of her most recent singles, Charli XCX sings about the world ending and says “nothing’s gonna save us, not music, fashion or film.” While I completely acknowledge that she is a pop diva and entitled to her opinion and artistry, I’m not sure I can get behind the message that the world is going to end and the arts will not save us. This kind of thinking crucially undervalues the power of agency and collective action, implying that we (the common dude) are at the whim of forces out of our control. TDWP2 does not do that. It centers the relentless, continued struggle against forces that seek to devalue art and media.

At the end of the movie, Andy is an editor at one of the world’s leading magazines thanks to the relationships she’s built and her commitment to hard work and integrity. The role of the arts and the importance of the people who protect art and artists is crucial. Art and media – whether that is fashion, painting or journalism, are fields that deserve respect, acclaim and integrity. I hope they will always have it.

As Miranda Priestly herself says: “Surely some things will stay the same. A commitment to beauty, artistry – the best in human achievement.”

PSA: The subtitles are all quotes from The Devil Wears Prada 2

But when the heat of July comes, searing and soup-like, I resist the urge to laze about — even if I’m not successful much of the time. These are the days of old AC units, hoping for clouds and jumping into the largest and nearest body of water you can find. And avoiding sunburns — always avoiding sunburns.

The walk home from my neighborhood grocery store is short: five minutes if I hurry. I relish the walk these days, despite my general loathing of the heat. I know in February I will long for it as the wind whips off the water, freezing the lakefront where I go for runs.

I buy an extra apple, a 99¢ down payment on the best part of my day. As I leave the store, walking into the wall of steam, I dig through my bag.

The fruit is a sweet summer delight. I stroll home unhurried, hauling thirty pounds of groceries.

I snack as I walk on the shady side of the street, hidden from the mid-afternoon sun. The meditation-like prayer of eating the apple accompanies me: the satisfying crunch of the first bite, the casual perusal for the next, the pat-pat-pat of my sandaled feet as my bag repeatedly slams into my hip, music blasting through my headphones.

It feels sacred, a moment shared between me and the universe. The casting of a proverbial spell: an apple a day….

My feet slap across the pavement, past the Mexican restaurant, the ophthalmologist and a rogue sprinkler, which sprays the entire sidewalk and none of the intended plants.

I eat the fruit down to the core and still hunger for more.

But the other apples in my bag will have to wait, my hands are too full. (This is another blessing I ponder on the way home.)

I’m there before I know it, climbing the steps of the brownstone I’ve come to call home. I unlock the door, pile the groceries on the hall table and wash my hands.

My to-do list is full and grocery shopping was only one stop of my day, the journey to and from a respite from laundry.

All that remains is the simple echo of a prayer: a memory of a tart treat on a scalding day and an apple core tossed in the bushes somewhere along the way.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been creating worlds in my head— fictional and aspirational. I’ve escaped to distant and far-off lands, both in the things I’ve read and what I’ve sought to learn. This eventually transferred to journalism and telling real stories grounded in compassion, ethics and accessibility.

I want to start sharing. I have no idea what that will look like— short stories, essays or articles. It could be all of that. Or it could be something totally different.

But if you want to follow (or even subscribe) I’d love that. All my posts will be free for now as I try and figure out what this will be.

I promise that whatever appears here will be true (no AI slop, rigorous fact checking, clear labeling, etc). My goals for this page are integrity, compassion and earnestness.

Feel free to join and enjoy my ramblings.