Beltway Insider: Trump, Military Deployment, WWII Vandalism, Earthquakes, Indonesia, Columbia, Mangione Guilt

Details

Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Saturday, 15 August 2026 12:02

Written by Janet Walker

President Trump has dismissed the concerns presented to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth by Senator Richard Blumenthal over the extended deployment of Carrier Group aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, saying the deployment "was not nearly long enough."

The President's job approval rating, according to The New York Times for the period ending August 15, 2026, of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President increased by 1% to 38% and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as president decreased by 1% to 59%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

Beltway Insider: Trump, Iran War, MI Senate Primary, 2028, Weaponizing Religion, Organ Robbers, Eaton Fire

Senate Concerned Over Extended Middle East Deployments

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), this week, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cho, expressing his concerns over the extended deployment of the Carrier Strike Group aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Blumenthal, who sits on the both the Armed Services and Veteran Affairs Committees, stressed the crew has been at sea for more than 250 days, and have not been at port for more than 200 days.

"The aircraft carrier left San Diego in November for a Pacific deployment, was redirected to the Middle East and has now been deployed for more than eight months, including a record-breaking number of days at sea without a port stop.  Its crew has spent much of that time supporting U.S. combat operations against Iran, and the deployment, which was anticipated to end in May, has been extended with no publicly announced return date," StarandStripes.com reported.

The ship's crew has also had limited contact with spouses or family, and are experiencing extreme fatigue, resulting in several suicide attempts and conceivably compromising the importance of the mission.

With President Trump still unable to end the Iranian War, and more importantly redirect other strike groups to the region to allow for a change of duty station, or at minimum a limited recouperation period, instead of crushing the enlistment men and women of the U.S. Armed Services to prove to the world, and especially the Iranian militia, that the exceptional strength and courage of the American solider has no limits.

World News: French Presidential Candidates Overlook Raging Wildfires, Global Warming

Blumenthal also explains the deteriorating conditions abord the ship stating, "There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months. These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this Administration repeatedly commits U.S. forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations."

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth explained these conditions were grossly over exaggerated.

Family members of the enlisted have voiced their concerns as the mental strain and physical fatigue, as well as the unsafe and unsanitary conditions aboard ship may ultimately cost their loved ones, rank, and retirement benefits, if they voice any complaints over exhaustion.

"Trump also told reporters Friday that the Lincoln is "moving right now or very shortly" and that "it's being replaced with another very similar ship." The USS George Washington is expected to replace the Lincoln  in the Middle East, a U.S. official told NBC News."

Suspect Held in United HealthCare CEO Murder

Healthcare Exec Shooter Pleads Guilty

Luigi Mangione, 28, who stalked and executed UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson, in the early morning hours of December 4, 2024, plead guilty this week to the shocking murder.

"Mangione, 28, said he made a gun with the aid of a 3D printer, traveled to New York and used a ruse — posing as an investor at a multibillion-dollar firm — to contact the company for details on the event. "On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died," Mangione told the Manhattan federal court, which he entered shackled at the feet but not handcuffed in his beige jail uniform," APNews.com reported.

The brazen and alarming early morning murder was captured on hotel security cameras, as Thompson was walking toward the New York Midtown Hilton, located at Sixth Avenue between 53rd and 54th streets, to prepare for the UnitedHealthcare investors meeting. Mangione, waiting until Thompson passed, stepped from between two parked cars, and fired point blank into the executives head. He died instantly.

Mangione was arrested days later in Altoona, Pennsylvania, at a McDonalds.  

Crime: The History of DNA and Its Introduction in Crime Solving

Ring of Fire Erupts –  Earthquakes Kill Thousands

In recent months, four major earthquakes struck Venezuela, Japan, Columbia, and Indonesia, each registering above 7.0 on the Richter scale with devastating consequences, killing thousands, leaving thousands more missing, and causing millions of dollars in damage.

The recent Indonesia quake, which was accompanied by a tsunami warning, registered 7.7 magnitude, and released underground energy equivalent 4,470,000 tons of TNT which is the comparable to more than a thousands Hiroshima atomic bombs.

A relatively shallow quake, at six miles deep, the region has been devastated. The earthquake was the strongest the region has experienced in decades.

"Indonesia, a nation of more than 270 million people spread across roughly 17,000 islands, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is one of the world's most seismically active countries. The same stretch of coastline was struck by a similarly powerful earthquake in December 1992, when the quake and the tsunami it triggered killed more than 2,500 people on Flores," AlJazeera.com reported.

World News: The Iranian Stranglehold on Global Economies

Columbia

Three days before the powerful 7.7 tremblor struck Indonesia, a 7.4 earthquake struck Columbia, South America, destroying homes, buildings, and leaving hundreds missing and dead. The earthquake struck the South American nation, located near the most northern tip of the continent, below Panama, on the Pacific coast.

The Ring of Fire, which can be seen here encircles the Pacific coast, from South America to North America, across the Alaskan Pacific coastline, and encompassing the Asian coastline. It is one of the most active earthquake zones in the world.

A significant portion of the Ring of Fire's activity can be attributed to subduction zones, where one tectonic plate is forced beneath another. Earthquakes generate seismic waves that travel through the Earth's crust. These seismic events result from the movement and interaction of tectonic plates.

"The temblor, which struck near San José del Palmar on Colombia's Pacific coast shortly after7:30 a.m. local time, was the strongest to hit the country in a decade, according to the Colombian Geological Service. It was felt in Bogotá, some 150 miles away, and in neighboring Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela, where twin earthquakes in June killed thousands," The New York Times reported.

Japan

On July 28, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Southwest Japan, along the western portion of the Ring of Fire, resulting in 38 deaths, dozens of injuries, and extensive damage to buildings, and centuries old historic Kumamoto Castle suffered structural damage.

As the earthquake struck in the afternoon, a local mall, the AEON Mall was crowded and many of those injured and missing, were lost in the collapse of the shopping center.

A local hospital posted a video of the earthquake striking midway through a surgical procedure. The video shows the force of the earthquake as technicians are thrown to the floor, and the surgeons are grabbing the patient surgical bed, to protect the patient. The hospital structure was not compromised, and each of the four surgeries in progress during the earthquake were completed successfully.

World News: NATO Loses Influence Over US-Iran War

Venezuelan Updates

While the Ring of Fire is considered singular to the Pacific coast, the shifting of the tectonic plates is not limited to only this region. Venezuela, which suffered two back-to-back earthquakes in June 2026. Nearly two month later, 6,300 people are reported dead, 73,000 were hospitalized, and hundreds of thousands are still missing, presumed dead.

The twin tremblors were the most devastating the region had experienced in decades. The earthquakes register 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude. Before the first earthquake has completed its cycle, the second earthquake began. For the people, the overlap resulted in a double impact of volatile underground energy equivalent to 25 to 35 megatons of TNT.

Which is what was experienced in Venezuela, when two magnitude 7.8, and 7.9 twin earthquakes struck within 30 seconds of each other The shifting of the tectonic plates, located in the Yaracay and the Caribbean coast near Carabobo, caused the other tectonic plate to shift, resulting in the second quake. Essentially, earthquake one caused earthquake two.

With the structural damage, Venezuelans also faced the possibility of mudslides, which is also possibly in Columbia, and Indonesia, as these countries have significant rain, and the shaking of the earth loosens the mountainsides. Mudslides can occur immediately or sometime in the future.

The post-earthquake damage estimates are in the billions.

California and the San Andreas Fault

With the increased activity on the Ring of Fire, California, Oregon, and Washington State, are located within the global tectonic zone. California has experienced 180 minimal tremblors over the past seven days, and 678 in the past month. The amount of minor activity has scientists wondering when, not if, the next major earthquake will strike.

"Scientists have long warned of the threat posed by the San Andreas Fault, which seismologists say is capable of producing some of the state's largest earthquakes. A simulation developed in 2008 modeled a magnitude 7.8 rupture along the fault, producing nearly two minutes of shaking. "It is the longest fault in California and therefore capable of the biggest earthquakes," said Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist at Caltech who helped develop the scenario," ABC7news.com reported.

World News: Iranian War Highlights Defense Department Weaknesses

Coronavirus Total

At the order of the President of the United States, the U.S. no longer recognizes the value of The World Health Organization. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually.  The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from each new variants.

For the 7 days ending August 15, 2026, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the World Health Organization increased by 28,751 to 779,291,281. The total worldwide death toll did not increase over the past seven days increased by 106 to 7,116,134 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated August 2, 2026, from the World Health Organization).

World News: United Nations Confronts Changing Role Amidst Global Conflicts

WWII Monument Vandalize

U.S. District Prosecutor Jeanine Pirro has announced Melissa Farris, 41, of Kentucky will be charged with defacing the World War II Monument, on the Mall in Washington, DC.

Farris, of Elizabethtown, tagged the monument base with the words "Clean Hands Dirty $" and spraypainted several colors on the marble base, in broad daylight, without thought or concern, over her actions.

"Ms. Farris fled the scene, according to the complaint. But a couple of hours later, the complaint said, she posted a video of herself to a Facebook account under the name Melissa Lovewell, saying, "I was just allowed to deface Federal [expletive] property, and nobody batted an eye." In the video, she also guessed that police would be pursuing her," The New York Times reported.

Farris' use of the word "allowed" in her social media post, reflects a trend as criminals believe if they are not stopped at the scene by another person they have been given permission by law enforcement; as if common sense, empathy, and executive function, weren't enough to cause the individual to stop themselves from committing crime.

The World War II Memorial is part of the National Mall and honors the 16 million American service members who served during World War II, the millions more who supported the war effort from the home front, and the more than 400,000 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice during the war. The memorial contains two main pavilions, the Atlantic and Pacific pavilions, named for the two main theaters of the war.

When convicted, Farris will face up to ten years in a federal prison.

World News: United States, Israel, and Iran - An Unlikely Threesome

For more information on President Donald Trump: Whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five award-winning screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," a non-fiction narrative, "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," and "Songs of Freedom: A Collection of Biblical Teachings," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Authors Guild, the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.