Politics

Soros-funded group offers to pay student protesters

An organization funded by leftist megadonor George Soros’s nonprofit network runs a program paying students to protest “the Military Industrial Complex” on their campuses.

Never Trump, Still a Republican

Why Jeff Flake still believes the spell over his party will break

US intelligence ‘believes Russia was behind Leipzig airport drone bomb’

German government talks of a ‘new level of danger’ but declines to say who it thinks was responsible for device

Cuba expert: Trump more likely to tighten screws than send in troops… for now

Welcome to Monday’s edition of Washington Secrets. We’ll be with you all the way through August, even as the rest of the city slows down. Today, we dive into the Trump administration’s thinking on Cuba with someone who knows what they are talking about.

The rainbow reds are more dangerous than communists of old

The Marxist revolution, symbolized by the hammer and sickle and animated by the cry “Workers of the World, Unite!”, killed at least 50 million people through mass murder and gross economic mismanagement in the 20th century. The United States rightly saw it as an existential threat. Patriots fought hot and cold wars to reverse its advance, and the pushback was largely effective. Communists never gained a foothold in American politics.

Trump admits reflecting pool makeover was rushed but renews vandalism claim

US president on Truth Social concedes contractor had cut some corners to finish $14m renovation project by deadline

Will Ukraine retaliate against North Korea outside of the war zone?

North Korea has previously sent approximately 15,000 troops to join Russia’s war against Ukraine. That’s not all. North Korea has also provided Russia with hundreds of thousands of artillery shells and dozens of ballistic missiles. But Pyongyang is now escalating. As Reuters reported last week, “A North Korean missile unit has begun deploying to western Russia and could ​be equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for strikes against Ukraine.”

To save the republic, Congress must learn to legislate again

There is a quiet crisis unfolding in our constitutional system, one that goes to the heart of whether we remain a self-governing people. The framers designed Congress as the first branch: Article I of the Constitution. It’s the body of our federal government that is closest to the citizenry, charged with the hard, deliberative work of writing the laws that shape our national life. It was designed to be the primary mover in our government. Congress creates executive agencies and even lower courts. It can remove members of the other branches, too, but neither the executive nor the judiciary can remove members of Congress. The other branches (in theory) can act only within the bounds of whatever Congress has chosen.

Big Tech spent $40 million to convince you saving kids is 'censorship'

This week, the Kids Online Safety Act was favorably reported out of committee — an important procedural hurdle in bringing the bill to the floor of the Senate for a vote, and eventually, to the president’s desk.

Singapore destroyed Cuba’s favorite excuse

For years, Cuba’s hardships have been explained primarily as the fault of the United States. External pressure can be real. But when the same explanation is repeated year after year, decade after decade, it becomes something else: a convenient refusal to confront internal failure, mismanagement, and the incentives that steadily destroy competence, initiative, and hope.

Over 70% of people hate AI data centers. Politicians just learned the hard way

Voters are disgusted by the unchecked expansion of AI data centers and made their concerns known across the country in Tuesday’s primary elections.

Trump taps staff secretary Will Scharf to be next White House counsel

August 10, 2026 / 10:29 AM EDT / CBS News