Posts on Monday, March 9, 2026

Oil prices plunged 10% Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Tehran would be hit “twenty times harder” if it attempted to halt oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, while also signaling that the conflict with Iran could end soon. International Brent crude was down nearly 11% at $88.36 per barrel at 9.25 p.m. ET Monday. U.S. crude oil fell over more than 10% to $85.17 per barrel. The declines come after oil surged past $100 Monday. Located between Oman and Iran, the Strait is a vital transit route. Roughly 13 million barrels passed through the waterway in 2025, accounting for about 31% of global seaborne oil flows,

The Liberal Democrats want Sir Keir Starmer to prevent the King visiting the United States next month over Donald Trump's criticism of the British response on Iran. The monarch and Queen Camilla are reported to be planning to meet the US president in a state visit at the end of April. But Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said the visit should not go ahead, as it would hand a "huge diplomatic coup" to Trump during US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Downing Street has declined to comment, telling reporters on Monday that a visit is yet to be confirmed.

After Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhardt signed off on the Biden administration's illegal raid on Mar-a-Lago, conservatives flagged the former prosecutor's work for Jeffrey Epstein. Reinhardt had begun setting up hi legal practice while the Epstein plea deal was being negotiated and he went to work for Epstein the day after he left the U.S. Attorney's office and approximately half a year after the dubious federal plea deal had been handed to Epstein. (snip) The defenses used to cover for Reinhardt no longer hold up in the wake of the Epstein files. (snip) Members of Congress should be given the opportunity to question Judge Reinhardt and vote to remove him.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a new policy that would ban foreign nationals and non-citizens from accessing its loan services — a continuation of efforts to refocus federal resources to ventures that align with American prioritization. "The Trump SBA is committed to driving economic growth and job creation for American citizens," SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in a statement on Friday. The requirement will apply to its Surety Bond and Microloan programs and is an expansion of changes made in February to the SBA’s 504 and 7(a) programs — loans for small businesses looking to finance working capital, equipment or acquisitions.

The Trump administration needs to pay close attention: The UAE is not merely another Gulf monarchy, another energy partner. It is one of the clearest examples in the Arab world of a country that deliberately chose modernization over ideological stagnation and development over the old politics of grievance.... This choice is precisely what makes it so important — and precisely what makes it so threatening to the forces that thrive on disorder. The UAE... demonstrated that sovereignty can be defended without fanaticism, and that prosperity can be built through peace rather than perpetual war. This is why attacks on the UAE are not merely attacks on a country.

Officials reportedly said a prison guard in the unit where Jeffrey Epstein was being held searched his name on Google minutes before he was found dead. U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) documents showed the guard also made a $5,000 deposit just over a week before his death, the New York Post reported on Saturday, identifying the guard as Tova Noel. In August 2019 Epstein, a convicted pedophile, was found dead inside his Manhattan jail cell where reports said he hanged himself. Noel and another guard were accused of falsifying records to make it appear as though they had checked on Epstein during the night hours.

A brand new poll NBC conducted between February 27 and March 3 that surveyed 1,000 registered voters will likely have Democrats blowing steam out of their ears, as it concluded that President Donald Trump is more popular than many of his most virulent critics. The list includes late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Given that Trump has done a stellar job sticking to his America First agenda and has kept most of his campaign promises, this probably will not shock average voters. Only those whom major media outlets have brainwashed—outlets that dropped any pretense of actual,

Iran sent out a possible “operational trigger” to activate “sleeper assets” abroad after the war with America and Israel began, according to an encrypted message intercepted by the US. The coded signal was sent out following the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28, with the message appearing to hold instructions for “covert operatives or sleeper assets,” ABC News reported, citing a federal alert sent to law enforcement agencies. The message could “be intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside the originating country,” the alert warned.

It’s only a little more than a month into the second year of President Trump’s second term, but it’s turning out to be a MAGA disappointment. Fortunately, there’s still time ahead of the November midterm for Trump to get his administration back on course, make substantial progress on his campaign agenda, and make the coming elections at least not as bad as they’re set to be right now. There have been big wins in 2026, to be sure. The administration turbocharged its deportation operation, crime rates are still falling, and the economy continued to recover from the dismal Biden years. Trump even fired Kristi Noem from Homeland Security,

A new official definition of Islamophobia could “inhibit” free speech about Muslims and their religion, the Government’s own counter-terrorism tsar Jonathan Hall KC has warned. The Telegraph has more. Jonathan Hall, KC said Sir Keir Starmer’s proposed definition, to be unveiled on Monday, could stop people from freely criticising Islam or issues affecting its followers. Hall, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, told the BBC: “The worry will be with loose language, people will feel inhibited about talking about things that they do think which are genuinely important today.”

James Talarico is the Democrats' latest Beto O'Rourke, another attempt to get a leftist elected in Texas. Today the NY Times has a new article doing its best to defend Talarico from his critics, including letting him walk back some of his own public statements. Here's how the story opens: James Talarico, in one of his first interviews since winning the Democratic nomination for Senate in Texas, attacked the use of Christianity to promote conservative politics, saying his candidacy was part of a broader mission to counter what he sees as a partisan takeover of the American church. Mr. Talarico, a state legislator and seminary student, used unsparing language

A troubling shift is unfolding within Generation Z (Zoomers), born between 1997 and 2012. It is not merely cultural or political. It is cognitive. In February testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, neuroscientist Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath stated that Zoomers have become the first generation in modern recorded history to score lower than its predecessor. This was across key cognitive measures such as attention span, memory, reading comprehension, numeracy, problem-solving ability, and overall IQ. For more than a century, the trend had moved in the opposite direction. Each new generation typically scored higher on intelligence measures than the last.

A controversial bill allowing non-US citizens to serve as law enforcement officers in Washington state has cleared the Legislature and now heads to Governor Bob Ferguson’s desk, where he is expected to sign it into law. Engrossed Senate Bill 5068 expands eligibility for several public safety positions to anyone legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law, removing longstanding requirements that many of those jobs be limited to US citizens or lawful permanent residents. Under the measure, individuals such as refugees, asylees, and certain visa holders could apply for positions with law enforcement agencies. If hired and certified, they would be able to carry firearms, make arrests,

Back in February, the U.K. said dogs were an obstacle to its latest diversity scheme, namely turning the "too white" English countryside into a more "diverse" (read: Islamic) place to live. Not long after, a Muslim in New York said she was glad the city was "coming to Islam" when it came to dogs. Islam believes dogs are filthy and they're haram in many places, of course. But people in the West love their dogs, and the pet industry in the U.K. makes over £10 billion. In the U.S., that figure is $157 billion for 2025. Most of that is driven by dog ownership, so of course the politicians can't come

President Donald Trump rejected former President Joe Biden’s assertion of executive privilege over a tranche of documents requested by the Senate as part of various probes into the 46th president, determining it is "not in the best interests of the United States." White House counsel David Warrington wrote Monday in a letter addressed to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and obtained by Fox News Digital that Trump "does not uphold the former President’s assertion of privilege" over records sought in four congressional probes. The letter directs NARA to provide the materials to Congress. The dispute centers on documents related to investigations into Biden’s health, alleged politically motivated probes

Amid the ongoing Operation Epic Fury, CNN’s Jake Tapper said over the weekend that one of his chief concerns is the environmental damage Iranians could face from American and Israeli strikes. Even as U.S. soldiers continue risking their lives in what may become one of the most consequential decisions of the second Trump administration, one that could reshape the Middle East as we know it. [Tweet, video] "There's thick black smoke and oil raining from the sky. One resident told CNN, it quote, 'feels like we're suffocating,'" Tapper said. "I know that the president has voiced a concern for the Iranian people in the last few months.

Over the weekend, a pair of ISIS-inspired men were arrested after they allegedly threw an IED into a crowd of anti-Islam protesters in New York. The NYPD confirmed the device was dangerous and deadly; it was miraculous that the device didn't detonate. Mayor Zohran Mamdani blamed the attack on "white supremacy" including the anti-Islam activist Jake Lang, and has refused to condemn the ISIS-inspired terrorists who tried to kill people in his city. Now we're learning more about the two suspects, identified as Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18. It turns out Kayumi's parents are naturalized citizens from Afghanistan, and that they're pretty well-off.

During last week's contentious hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Delaware Sen. Chris Coons asked then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, with great concern, "Will you rule out the deployment of ICE or CBP officers to polling places this November?" The Secretary's answer was sharp and to the point: "Do you plan on illegals voting in our elections?" Democrats are saying the quiet part out loud. The people who have told us for years that illegal aliens never vote, and that voter fraud doesn't exist, are terrified of anyone actually checking to see if that is true.

It's saddening what is becoming of the once-Great Britain. While American and Israeli forces are resolving a 47-year-old problem by the suitable application of high explosives, while the United States literally flew into a hostile, totalitarian South American regime in the middle of the night and nabbed their thug-dictator who was wanted by the American justice system, the British Army is debating whether soldiers - male soldiers, mind you - should be allowed to style their hair, and to wear makeup and fingernail polish. No, this isn't a Monty Python sketch. It's real.

A Canadian parliament debates legislation to criminalize supposed hate speech, comments against "gender ideology" in the curriculum have already cost a former British Columbia school board member the equivalent of more than half a million U.S. dollars. A nurse who got kicked out of her own union for gender-critical views said the verdict against ex-Chilliwack Board of Education trustee Barry Neufeld shows "I do not have a snowball’s chance in hell" before the same quasi-judicial body. The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ordered Neufeld to pay $750,000 Canadian to all LGBTQ-identified members of the Chilliwack Teachers’ Association for "injury to their dignity, feelings, and self-respect," citing discrimination in employment, hate speech

Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal was roasted Sunday after he blamed the wrong protesters for hurling suspected explosive devices during dueling demonstrations outside Gracie Mansion on Saturday. Hoylman-Sigal issued a statement on X Saturday claiming, in part, “White Christian Nationalists led a roaming trail of Islamophobia and antisemitism today on Manhattan’s Upper East Side at Gracie Mansion where they targeted our mayor with an incendiary device.” The borough president took down the statement before it was publicly revealed Sunday that two pro-Muslim demonstrators, identified as Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, were arrested in the incident. Federal authorities are working with the NYPD on the case.

The FBI is expanding its criminal probe into suspected election irregularities, secretly obtaining a large tranche of voting records from Arizona’s largest county with a recent grand jury subpoena, multiple people familiar with the probe told Just the News. The sources, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury probe, said FBI agents are receiving gigabytes of electronic election data from Maricopa County, about a month after the bureau first disclosed an investigation into election irregularities by raiding a warehouse near Atlanta and seizing ballots from the 2020 election conducted in Fulton County, Georgia’s largest metropolis.

News that hardliner Mojtaba Khamenei had been chosen as Iran’s new Supreme Leader sent crude oil prices surging more than 30 percent in the span of a few hours Monday. Khamenei takes the place of his father, who held the position from 1989 until his death on Feb. 28 during Israeli and U.S. bombing raids on Tehran. Oil future briefly approaching $120 per barrel before settling back to around $106 in early trading Monday, still more than 15 percent higher than at the close of markets on Friday and still the first time in four years prices topped the $100 per barrel threshold.

For those at home and abroad who don’t know what to make of President Donald Trump’s talk of “unconditional surrender” from Tehran and how the next supreme leader is “not going to last long,” allow us to translate: He expects Iran to find leadership that isn’t committed to an insane Islamist agenda. That is, one that won’t seek nuclear weapons and ICBMs, sponsor global terror (including efforts to assassinate him) or work to impose Islamist puppet governments across the Middle East — all at the expense of the long-suffering Iranian people. Call it: Make Iran Normal Again.

Amid fears over their safety, five members of the Iranian women’s soccer squad have left the team’s hotel in Australia and are currently safe with police, a source told CNN Sports. The players, who’ve been playing in the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, are at the center of growing calls for their exit from the country to be blocked for fear of persecution in Iran, their home country that’s at war with the US and Israel under a new hardline supreme leader. Before their first match last Monday, the players stood silent during the Iranian national anthem

The United Nations is having a budget crisis. It might have to lay off part of its staff. No one should be brokenhearted over this. It should instead be cause for celebration. The U.N. is nothing more than a parasite leeching off the American taxpayer while propping up dictators, terrorists, and every left-wing crackpot scheme ever dreamed up. It should be dissolved. Earlier this year, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres “sent a dramatic letter to” member states to warn them “about the ‘imminent financial collapse'” of the organization, says the Global Policy Forum of Europe. “The letter

The ouster of Kristi Noem opens the path for a potential deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, according to Senate sources familiar with negotiations. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Noem’s departure from Homeland Security is a “major step” that he said should move the negotiations closer to a deal. A Senate GOP source familiar with the talks said Republican leaders hope it will be enough to persuade a group of centrists to break with their leadership and vote for a bill to reopen the government. Four Democrats voted with Republicans in the House Thursday to fund the Homeland Security Department through September.

Political commentator Meghan McCain has built a career that began with a powerful advantage: her last name. The daughter of late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), stepped into the national political conversation for decades because of her father's legacy. Meghan McCain never hid that connection, and she's defended her father's record with fierce loyalty since he died in 2018. Despite my thoughts about Meghan, her loyalty deserves respect; a daughter defending her father is hardly controversial, while she protects what she believes was an honorable legacy tied to her father's military service and Senate career. McCain, however, found his political decisions drifted away from conservative principles

In a high-impact binational operation, the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) — in coordination with Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR), with support from Interpol and the DEA — arrested Roberto “Beto” Bazán Salinas on March 5, 2026, in the municipality of Salamanca, Guanajuato. This individual, identified as a high-ranking operator of the Gulf Cartel (CDG), was listed among the priority targets of U.S. agencies and had an international arrest warrant issued by ICE on January 21, 2026, accompanied by his photograph on the most-wanted list.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed he and President Trump will do whatever it takes to topple the Iranian regime – and didn’t rule out sending US ground troops into Tehran as Operation Epic Fury rages on. “We’re willing to go as far as we need in order to be successful,” Hegseth told CBS News’s Major Garrett during a “60 Minutes” sit-down interview that aired Sunday night. “We reserve the right. We would be completely unwise if we did not reserve the right to take any particular option, whether it included boots on the ground or not boots on the ground.”

Rev. Jesse Jackson’s son ripped former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton for using the late civil rights icon’s memorial service to take shots at President Trump. Jesse Jackson Jr. said the grandstanding Democrats didn’t really know his father, after they used their eulogies to bash the president, his policies, and his vision for America during Friday’s star-studded send-off. “Yesterday, I listened for several hours to three United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson,” the grieving son said Saturday during a private memorial service at Rainbow Push Coalition headquarters in Chicago.He maintained a tense relationship with the political order, not because the presidents were white or black,

The Pentagon on Sunday announced that U.S. forces have carried out a lethal strike on a vessel allegedly carrying suspected narco-traffickers in the Eastern Pacific, killing six people on board. The U.S. Southern Command said it conducted "a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" at the direction of the new leader of the Southern Command, Gen. Francis L. Donovan of the Marine Corps, who took over in January. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," the Southern Command said in a press release.

On this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said President Donald Trump had not made the case for the military action in Iran. Warner said, “Americans are paying $122 million a day extra in gas coming right out of their pockets, that, combined with the declining job numbers, that combined with the stock market crashing, going into this war without I don’t feel like the appropriate preparation or having made the case the American public, I think we’ve got a lot of explaining to do. We don’t know how long Iran will last. The notion and I heard the general earlier, I think

It’s blindingly obvious that Senate Majority Leader John Thune would much rather have Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) back in Congress for six more years than see him replaced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. But Cornyn’s failure to capture anywhere near 50 percent of last week’s primary vote, plus the prospect of an ugly and expensive runoff, doesn’t bode well for his future. Despite the far left and genuinely weird Democrat nominee, James Talarico, Cornyn’s unpopularity may reduce GOP turnout in the general election enough to cause his Senate seat to flip blue.