Kitchen Briefs

Kitchen Briefs - August 16, 2026

• The death toll in Lebanon due to Israeli invasion since March 2nd is at 4,346 and includes men, women, children and medical workers
• Jared Kushner has arrived in Egypt to meet with Hamas and discuss a peace plan before he heads off to meet with Netanyahu
• Iran has placed a $30,000 bounty for any Iranian who kills or captures an American soldier
• Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has become the longest and most expensive war at $142B
• Israeli drone attacks in Gaza have killed another 7
• Israel’s National Security Minister Ben-Gvir made a podcast appearance and publicly advocated for killing 30 to 40 in Gaza nightly
• Russia says Ukraine launched the largest scale attack of 2026 and Russia is also striking Ukraine
• In Hawaii, 1 person is dead and more than 130,000 are out of power due to what was Hurricane Lala which has been downgraded to a tropical storm
• Police arrested a 19 year old in the shooting at Virginia State University
• The Justice Department issued a legal opinion granting U.S. military personnel broader powers to detain migrants accused of trespassing near designated National Defense Areas at the U.S.-Mexico border
• Trump is posting on Truth Social more AI images of him and George Washington

Kitchen Briefs - August 15, 2026

• Iran says the waterway blockade will continue until the US accepts defeat
• At least 11 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon
• Israel is accusing Hezbollah of deliberately placing civilians in harm's way after they attacked Lebanon and are continuing to attack Lebanon right now
• A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia killing 47 people
• 5 people have been injured in a shooting at Virginia State University where multiple suspects were involved
• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency which was appointed by Trump conditionally approved a federal trust bank charter for World Liberty Trust Co., the crypto company that Trump and his family own a 38% stake in and whose chairman is Steve Witkoff’s son
• Trump doesn’t really like the location of the “island,” the multistory command tower on its newest Ford-class aircraft carriers, so the navy is considering moving them back toward the middle of the ship like they had in World War II
• Trump yesterday went on and on at law and order rally in New York about the young and beautiful, young and gorgeous girls come up to him at the white house to thank him for what he’s done with DC law enforcement
• And at this moment, Trump’s posting to Truth Social
• So on that note, thank you to Cheryl for supplying me with wine tonight

Kitchen Briefs - August 14, 2026 PM

• Trump said today that pretty soon he’ll declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory. Iran's deputy foreign minister responded and said the strait cannot be seized by tweet.
• Trump said that gas is at $4 and he’ll never apologize
• Trump also said the USS Lincoln deployment was not nearly long enough
• An air traffic controller in Phoenix acted quickly when he heard two American Airlines flights with the same flight number which could have caused them to both fly at the same altitude with one arriving and one departing
• Homicides in the US dropped 18.1% in 2025 making it the lowest rate since 1956
• Tropical Storm Lala is expected to strengthen to a hurricane before reaching Hawaii’s Big Island this weekend

Kitchen Briefs - August 14, 2026 AM

• Treasury Secretary Bessent says the US will apply economic measures against Iran that have never been seen before
• Iranian forces say they intercepted a MQ-9 drone
• An Iranian cleric says the US failed to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities which has humiliated America and will continue to do so
• Two more Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli military gunfire leaving one in critical condition
• France is calling on Israel to arrest settlers occupying Palestinian homes
• Unprecedented rain in Japan has killed 8 people
• Trump is asking the Supreme Court to let him build his ballroom citing national security needs and architectural values
• Trump now believes he’s an expert on aircraft carriers and has ordered the Navy to return to an older system of launching jets off of them because he prefers it
• Luigi has pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges
• Melissa L. Farris has been arrested and faces 2 federal charges for vandalizing the WWII memorial in Washington DC. Farris had spray painted “Clean Hands Dirty $” and put foam in the fountain

Kitchen Briefs - August 13, 2026 PM

• According to Secretary Hegseth, the US says it can maintain its blockade on Iran indefinitely by rotating its aircraft carriers
• An Israeli strike on a car has killed the Gaza City head of police
• A judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the guy in the White House’s administration that alleged Harvard university failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students
• I shared yesterday how sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are not only facing horrible conditions but that some are trying to abandon ship. It’s been confirmed by CNN that one sailor did jump overboard earlier this month
• A federal judge talked about possibly holding the Justice Department in contempt after repeated delays and ignoring his orders in the case brought on by Katie Phang
• The White House released a report estimating that countries routing exports through third-party nations to avoid U.S. tariffs cost the government between $19 billion and $26 billion annually
• The Kennedy Center has voted to put Trump's name back on the building and close for renovations for 2 years
• Now that the new season of Ted Lasso is back, I want to share with you a quote from last night’s episode by the amazing Leslie. Strong women stand up for themselves. Stronger women stand up for others.

Kitchen Briefs - August 13, 2026 AM

• The Iranian intelligence ministry has said two members “affiliated with American and Israeli intelligence agencies” were killed during a confrontation with security forces in the southeast of the country
• Iran’s Foreign Minister said the US “has long miscalculated due to intelligence failures,” including when launching its war on Iran
• Israel has killed at least one person and injured 7 in the past 24 hours in Gaza
• US ambassador to Jerusalem Mike Huckabee has denounced the settler sieges on Palestinians as a "horrific act of terror"
• In addition to forcing people from their homes, there are currently at least 2 families stuck inside their homes and have been without water or electricity since Sunday
• Taliban authorities detained six staff members from the Children Legal Research Foundation in Kabul, following a separate report that two Afghan employees of the United Nations mission were held in Herat
• Three men will be executed today in Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma marking the first time in nearly 16 years that three people are set to be put to death on the same day in the United States
• Bulldozing has started at Big Bend National Park in Texas as part of Trump’s $1.72 billion border barrier project
• Last month Haitian and Syrian refugees had their Temporary Protected Status expire and now it’s looking like Ukrainians are next as their TPS is set to expire on October 13th
• Forbes top editor Randall Lane was fired in July after it was discovered he received a secret $6M payment from RJ Shook founder of Shook Research which is a Forbes partner firm
• An Alaskan surrogate for a California couple refused to abort the baby she was carrying for them after it was discovered that he had a rare heart syndrome. Instead she fled to Texas and gave birth to the child
• Don’t forget that Kitchen Briefs is also a podcast available on all platforms

Kitchen Briefs - August 12, 2026 PM

• Correction on this morning: Darline Graham heads to a runoff
• The Israeli army is carrying out an air attack on Gaza along with bombs and demolitions in Lebanon
• The Israeli defense minister pledged today indefinite military presence in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza
• An Israeli rights group says settlers are accelerating ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank
• Iran says that claims and repeated posts by the US saying the Strait of Hormuz is no longer blocked does not change the reality that it’s blocked and will remain blocked until their conditions are accepted
• Major Russian grain export terminals have been hit in a Ukraine Black Sea port attack
• Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are facing even worse conditions than originally reported. Their deployment began November 21st and was expected to be done in May but has been extended indefinitely. Reports from the Military Times and family members are that in addition to a lack of food, water, laundry outages and more, some sailors have attempted to jump overboard and inflict self-harm
• The attorneys for Tyler Robinson who is accused of killing Charlie Kirk are arguing that he shouldn’t face the death penalty
• I shared last week how a Texas law firm was offered a $150M federal contract to represent migrant children and the firm has ties to the guy in the White House. Well, they’ve said no thanks
• Karoline Leavitt has resigned as White House Press secretary saying she wants to spend more time with her kids
• 2 people are dead after a military helicopter crashed in Central Texas
• New York City Council is launching an investigation into marketing schemes of 4 prediction market platforms that include Polymarket and Kalshi
• The LA Lakers have just sold for a record $12.5B to ex Disney CEO Bob Iger and Jared Kushner’s brother Josh

Kitchen Briefs - August 12, 2026 AM

• The Houthis have launched another attack in Yemen at a strategic port
• Two more Palestinians have been injured in more Israeli attacks on the Gaza strip
• The Israeli military has arrested 3 Palestinians including a journalist in raids of the occupied West Bank and have blown up and destroyed a public school in southern Lebanon
• The 14 point Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran is set to expire on Sunday, August 16th
• Senator Amy Klobuchar will be going up against Republican Minnesota State Representative Lisa Demuth for Governor of Minnesota
• The late Lindsey Graham’s sister, current Senator Darline Graham won the Republican primary and will be going against Dr. Annie Andrews for South Carolina Senate
• A rare derecho storm with hurricane force winds has knocked power out in the Midwest
• Trump is set to spend $900M in construction projects on the White House grounds in a combo of tax dollars and $323M that has been redirected from the National Park Services to renovations
• You know how there are scenario about who gets to get in the lifeboat when the ship goes down? Well, if it’s Air Force One then it’s Trump, his executive assistant Natalie Harp, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and personal aide Walt Nauta
• The Patriot Games have ended
• In a phone call town hall with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who is running for Senate, a voter asked Ken about cheating on his wife
• Today is a rare total solar eclipse visible in Iceland, Spain and a small corner of Portugal

Kitchen Briefs - August 11, 2026 PM

• Pakistan’s Interior Minister has arrived in Iran for mediation efforts between Iran and the US
• US Central Command said it’s fired two Hellfire missiles at a Panama flagged cargo ship after it ignored warnings and attempted to sail towards an Iranian port
• The UN is warning that the occupied West Bank is at the breaking point with over 3800 Palestinians displaced, 76 Palestinians including 18 minors being killed this year
• The search for survivors in Colombia continues and the death toll is now at 180 from yesterday’s earthquake
• Marco Rubio refused to answer the question over whether the administration put US lives at risk by letting Trump sneak into a catering truck
• Russia has released a former US Marine that had been held for over 4 years on disputed charges and is apparently in need of medical treatment due to abuse in the prison
• The DOJ’s legal office says outside advisors of Trump can be shielded by executive privilege if their discussions relate to official decision making
• The Pentagon released their report and says they haven’t killed anyone in the drug boat strikes
• The US has hired 2000 video gamers as new air traffic controllers
• AP News is reporting that ICE officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver electric shocks intended to gain compliance from combative individuals
• The media company owned by Trump and Truth Social is seeing a decline in visitors over the past 3 months and a loss of $238M

Kitchen Briefs - August 11, 2026 AM

• Yemen’s Houthis attacked a ship in the Red Sea killing 3
• Iran launched a missile in northeast Iraq’s Kurdish region
• Israel is claiming to have killed a Hamas sniper in northern Gaza
• An Israeli drone targeting paramedics has injured one in Lebanon
• Zelensky says that Russia is using North Korean missiles to strike Ukraine
• Oil prices are back up
• Last month when Trump was leaving the NATO summit, there was an Iranian assassination threat against him
• Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on Monday said he’ll sue to force the Trump administration to restore his security clearance
• It’s voting day in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, and Connecticut
• Trump was on Truth Social again in the middle of the night ranting about donors who support the Center for American Progress
• Secretary Hegseth appointed Marc Andreeson and Blake Masters to the Pentagon’s Defense Policy board despite both men being involved in Don Jr's business
• Thank you to Betty for sending me a gift card to Flip Coffee! My coffee has arrived and it’s delicious! Flip Coffee supports the rehabilitation of shelter dogs