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"Blue Bloods" star Jennifer Esposito, 53, opened up about her battle with severe depression and being sent to a psych ward before a celiac diagnosis.

"Blue Bloods" star Jennifer Esposito, 53, opened up about her battle with severe depression and being sent to a psych ward before a celiac diagnosis.

Russia Agrees To Repurpose Strategic Military Bases In Post-Assad Syria

Some 20 months after Syria's Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus and went to Moscow, amid jihadist groups taking over the capital city in December of 2024, Russia has finally reached a negotiated settlement over the fate of its Syrian bases with the new Sharaa government.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that a memorandum of understanding over the future of its bases at Tartus and Khmeimim has been set. While some Russian forces will remain at the bases, civilian facilties at these locations will be handed over and operated by the Syrian government and civilian administrators, including Khmeimim airport and the commercial berth at Tartus port.

via Associated Press

The military facilities are expected to be repurposed as joint training sites, where Russian troops will still be based, and the sites will also likely serve as transit hubs for Russian military and logistics operations in Africa. 

It's as yet unclear the degree to which this marks Russia losing its only deep-water naval port on the Mediterranean, at Tartus, but it certainly at least represents a significant downgrade.

The Sharaa government described that the new arrangements represent a "reorganizing of the Russian presence" along Syria's coast and that "this move marks the most significant development since negotiations began approximately a year and a half ago, paving the way for a new phase in Syrian-Russian relations."

Russian forces have long been on their way out of Syria after the Syrian Arab Army under Assad had lost the long-running proxy war. Russian troops had intervened in 2015 in Syria, at Assad's request, and for much of that time had pounded Al-Qaeda held Idlib from the air. 

Ironically it's many of those same jihadists which the Russians were fighting in Idlib which now hold government posts in Damascus.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has acknowledged, "We regard the signing on Aug. 9 of the memorandum between the Russian Federation and the Syrian Arab Republic on the operation of our bases in Khmeimim and Tartus as an important step aimed at further improving bilateral cooperation in the military sphere."

"We believe that reaching this agreement will give further impetus to the development of the full range of relations between our countries, which are based on a long history of friendship and partnership," it added.

Moscow is now having to deal with a completely new reality in the Levant region, and is facing a greatly diminished presence and influence in this post-Syrian war situation. Iran also retreated from Syria, and Hezbollah has completely moved back to its home front in Lebanon.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/11/2026 - 21:20

To use the device, officers must complete a course and be recertified every two years, the manufacturer says.

A Yankees lineup that has napped for weeks (and arguably months) can begin to see a few reinforcements on the horizon. 

“She can cozy up to the ‘Lulu Lenins’ all she wants to,” Sen. Kennedy quipped.

Could Paramount’s David Ellison back up a super-sized U-Haul truck and take two historic studios out of California?

AFC Richmond's got a new goalie!

AFC Richmond's got a new coach!

Donald has all the room he needs to make his decision. Everyone else just has to keep waiting.

Fauci Privately Flagged Miscarriage Risk Before Telling Pregnant Women There Were 'No Red Flags'

Newly disclosed text messages show Dr. Anthony Fauci privately entertained the possibility that the COVID-19 vaccine could trigger first-trimester miscarriages, months before he told the public there was no risk.

The messages come from a trove that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) released, containing more than 34,000 texts and 522 voicemails the Senate Homeland Security Committee pulled from Fauci's government-issued phone. Among the trove is a January 2021 text chain between Fauci, Dr. Vivek Murthy and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who went on to serve as the Biden administration's surgeon general and CDC director, in which the three officials worked through how the vaccine's risks might interact with pregnancy.

On Jan. 25, Murthy opened the thread with a question. "For pregnant women considering getting the vaccine, are you aware of any data or theoretical reason why vaccinating early vs late in pregnancy would be preferred? And any sense of when there will be more robust data on vaccine risk in pregnant women?"

Walensky noted that more than 15,000 pregnant women had already enrolled in the CDC's V-safe vaccine safety monitoring system. Fauci wrote there "are no data or theoretical reason to believe that vaccinating early versus later in pregnancy would be preferred." He also flagged a caveat that would later look prescient. "Yet, some people (even female health care professionals) feel concerned about injecting a 'genetic' vaccine very early in pregnancy," he wrote.

Nearly two hours passed before Fauci circled back with something he had not mentioned the first time. "I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of," he wrote. "Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester."

NEW: Dr. Fauci was concerned in January 2021 that the second dose of the COVID shot “theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.”
@SenRandPaul and I released the texts between Anthony Fauci, Rochelle Walensky, and Vivek Murthy below.

While I’ve… pic.twitter.com/jktB1PxfPL

— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) August 10, 2026

Walensky's response left little doubt the group treated the concern as legitimate. Fauci's point about the first trimester was "definitely a good point, [especially] after dose two," she wrote back.

None of that made it into Fauci's public messaging. On Feb. 3, 2021, during a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) question-and-answer livestream, he told viewers the FDA had "found thus far, and we have to be careful, but thus far no red flags about that, about pregnant women." Months later, while serving as the Biden White House's chief medical adviser, he went further, telling the public that tens of thousands of pregnant women tracked by the CDC after vaccination showed "no indication whatsoever" of increased adverse issues compared with unvaccinated pregnant women. "It's pretty clear that pregnant women should get vaccinated," he said.

Fauci on August 30, 2021: “it's really one of those things that's kind of not a close call. It really is pretty clear that pregnant women should get vaccinated.”

But 7 months earlier he was concerned that the second dose of the COVID shot “theoretically could be associated with… https://t.co/5J5tpwNJ0i pic.twitter.com/7QmEHP9Nkb

— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) August 10, 2026

The texts also show the three officials weighing vaccine risk against the risk of the virus itself while worrying about how competing health authorities were muddying their message. On Jan. 26, 2021, Murthy told Fauci and Walensky he was "surprised to see WHO put out a strong [statement] saying they do not recommend moderna [sic] in pregnant women," calling it "a strong statement to make and potentially quite damaging to public confidence among pregnant women." Public confidence kept surfacing as the metric that mattered most to the group, even as the underlying science remained unsettled in their own private assessment.

Paul and Johnson said the phone the committee obtained lists only three contacts, and cautioned it is "too early to determine whether any data has been deleted." Paul referred Fauci for prosecution earlier this month over his refusal to testify before the Homeland Security Committee. Asked Monday whether he had discussed potential prosecution of Fauci with Attorney General Todd Blanche or DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, President Trump told reporters, "I have not spoken to them about that, no."

Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a July 29 hearing covering the pandemic and federally funded gain-of-function research. After the hearing, Paul and Johnson said they had obtained a forensic copy of Fauci's phone along with emails showing health officials had requested deletion of some records. 

Johnson said Monday on Fox News' America Reports that the committee has invited Fauci for a transcribed interview. "He's been quoted as saying he's not afraid of congressional oversight. He'll talk to any oversight committee; he's got nothing to hide," Johnson said, noting that Fauci's attorneys have been in contact. He called Fauci "the only guy that can answer some of these questions" and warned, "If they don't set that up voluntarily, I will subpoena him."

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/11/2026 - 20:55

Massachusetts Legalizes Abortion Up To Birth As Liberals Cheer

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey has signed into law a measure that effectively permits abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, right up to the point of birth. Liberal women packed the room and gleefully cheered as she put pen to paper.

The previous statute restricted abortions after 24 weeks to specific circumstances: preserving the life of the patient, physical or mental health, lethal fetal anomaly, or a grave diagnosis incompatible with sustained life outside the womb without extraordinary intervention. That framework is now gone.

The new law, deceptively titled the "Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act" (H.5595), states that an abortion may be performed by a physician based solely upon the professional judgment of the physician. No medical review process can override that judgment and the patient's decision.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signs the bill for abortions up to birth as Democrats celebrate. pic.twitter.com/BlfTobYbeD

— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) August 10, 2026

Healey framed the change around stories of "pain and anguish and heartache and a lot of trauma." She declared: "We're signing this law today so that new patients, people we won't know or won't meet, will be able to get the care that they need in Massachusetts."

She added that health care decisions should be made "between women and families and their doctors, not politicians," and promised abortion would remain "safe... legal, and... accessible here in Massachusetts."

The ceremony featured applause and smiles from advocates, doctors, and lawmakers. Massachusetts now joins Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., as jurisdictions with no statutory gestational limit. The law takes effect in 90 days.

? UPDATE: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) has officially signed a law allowing abortion up to the POINT OF BIRTH, with liberals cheering

This is straight-up demonic.

The previous law only allowed abortions after 24 weeks in limited circumstances.

Pray for the kids ??... pic.twitter.com/n6cjjcplAv

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 11, 2026

Pro-life leaders did not share the celebratory mood. Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, stated: "Governor Healey and the Massachusetts Legislature have erased the final protections for unborn children who can feel pain and who could survive outside the womb."

"At the very stage when premature babies are receiving lifesaving care in neonatal intensive care units, Massachusetts will permit abortionists to end the lives of children of the same age - and even older. That is not compassion, and it is not health care," Tobias further urged.

This is what a 34-week-old baby looks like outside the womb.

In Massachusetts, you can now abort an unborn baby at this age.

The only difference is the child's location. pic.twitter.com/ZN4iipOH7P

— Anna Lulis (@annamlulis) August 11, 2026

Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, was blunt: the measure "legalized elective abortion up to birth on healthy moms and healthy, pain-capable infants."

She continued that it is "not about protecting the doctor-patient relationship. It is about abortionists normalizing the deaths of fully-developed infants and pressuring vulnerable women to permit their unborn children to die in heinous acts of violence."

These procedures, she noted, rank among the most severe human rights abuses permitted in only a handful of places worldwide.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) responded simply: "Jesus wept."

This movement fits a pattern of cultural celebration around the destruction of the unborn. Earlier this year a woman in Memphis took abortion pills at a gender-reveal party after learning she was having a girl while friends shouted "kill it."

Washed up Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon drew widespread criticism for posing in a red hat altered to read "Make Abortion Great Again," once again providing an example of how weirdo celebrities with dysfunctional lives should not be taken seriously whenever they spout off about how society should function.

Across the Atlantic, the UK House of Lords advanced measures that also effectively open the door to abortion up to birth, despite polling showing only about 1 percent of Britons approve of such extremes and clear majorities favor gestational limits to protect viable life.

The Massachusetts law removes objective statutory guardrails and hands the decision entirely to the attending physician.

Pro-life physicians emphasize that true medical emergencies requiring separation of mother and child are distinct from induced abortion intended to end the life of a viable unborn child.

Late-term procedures often involve dismemberment or induction, with the latter risking live birth if fetal demise is not first induced.

Supporters insist the change merely prevents families from traveling out of state for "complex medical circumstances."

Critics counter that the prior exceptions already covered life-threatening situations and severe anomalies, and that the new open-ended standard invites elective procedures on healthy mothers carrying healthy, pain-capable infants.

Data from the state's own Department of Public Health already showed dozens of abortions at 24 weeks or later in recent years; the removal of limits is expected to increase that number.

Healey and Democratic lawmakers fast-tracked the bill in the final days of the legislative session. It passed the House 119-33 before clearing the Senate. The governor, facing reelection, presented the signing as a defense against what she called attacks on reproductive health care after the Supreme Court returned the issue to the states.

The result is another blue-state outpost where the unborn lose the last remaining legal protections based on gestational age or viability. At the same moment premature infants of identical ages receive aggressive neonatal care, the same state now authorizes ending their lives under the sole criterion of a doctor's professional judgment.

This is the logical endpoint of a movement that treats abortion as both medical necessity and political sacrament.

The cheers at the State House, the "kill it" chants, the novelty hats all point in the same direction: a culture that has decided some human lives are disposable right up to the moment of birth.

Pro-life Americans continue to insist the opposite is true, and that every state still has the power - and the moral obligation - to protect those who cannot speak for themselves.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/11/2026 - 20:55

This ban comes as a cluster of rare childhood cancers in Ladera Ranch raises alarms over pesticide exposure.

"I was in disbelief. I just could not believe what I was seeing," Bill Kim said.

Bank Of America: The US Unemployment Rate Is Falling Because Americans Are Too Rich

Last Friday's dismal jobs report (where 23K jobs were lost) had a silver lining: the unemployment rate dropped to 4.1%, the lowest since June 2025, dinging expectations that the AI revolution would lead to a spike in unemployment. There was just one problem: unemployment dropped not because more people found a job, but because the labor force shrank by a whopping 264K, and down more than 2 million since the start of the year.

To be sure, the continued shrinkage of the US labor is hardly new and has long been attributed to Trump's anti illegal immigration policies which have led to a substantial trimming of the US labor force. 

However, in a novel spin this morning, Bank of America - seemingly convinced that the US is now enjoying a new Golden Age - published a report titled "A stock-fueled retirement party" in which it makes the modest proposal that the US unemployment rate is shrinking because Americans are simply too rich. 

That's right: according to BofA economist Stephen Juneau (full note available here), the labor force participation rate among older (55+) workers never recovered after the pandemic shock. It remained roughly range-bound until the summer of 2024, but has taken another big leg down since then.

Why? Well, to BofA, this is related to the 35%+ increase in the S&P 500 over the last two years. The resulting surge in wealth has likely made retirement an easier choice for many.

More broadly as well, the economist notes that there appears to be a modest negative relationship between equity gains and older workers’ participation.

Is BofA right? We don't know, but if they are it would be ironic that while we wait for the unemployment rate explosion as a result of chatbot agents taking millions of white collar data-heavy jobs, the unemployment rate would actually drop thanks to all those who were long AI stocks. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/11/2026 - 20:30

Get to know the Lady Greyhounds and Ted Lasso Season 4 guest stars.

The 19 executions so far in 2026 have occurred in four states.

Sen. Darline Graham advanced to the runoff in the special GOP primary to hold onto her late brother's Senate seat following his abrupt death last month.

The reality star announced the death of the matriarch via Instagram Tuesday.

The reality star announced the death of the matriarch via Instagram Tuesday.