00x Final Filter

Blurb:

The candidate endorsed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker secured the Democrat nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, as Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton prevailed in a closely watched primary.

The primary was widely viewed as a test of the Democrat governor’s political influence in his home state.

Pritzker’s Pick Prevails in Competitive Primary

Stratton captured 39.7% of the vote, defeating Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL).

Krishnamoorthi received 33.4%, with 85% of ballots counted, according to the Associated Press.

Pritzker endorsed Stratton early in the race and backed her campaign with significant financial support, contributing at least $5 million and helping shape the contest.

The governor, who is running for a third term and is widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, faced criticism for his heavy involvement in the primary.

Blurb:

U.S. companies will now be allowed to do business with Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas firm, as the Trump administration has moved to further ease sanctions on the country as part of its broader effort to ease crude oil supply disruptions caused by the war in Iran.

On Wednesday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general license authorizing certain transactions involving Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., more simply known as PdVSA. The license will allow the state-owned fossil fuel company to directly sell Venezuelan oil and gas to U.S. businesses that existed before Jan. 29, 2025, with certain stipulations.

Blurb:

There’s a little bit of good news to report out of Virginia this Wednesday morning that might be a harbinger for how the April 21 gerrymandering referendum being pushed by Democrats will fare. Republican Andrew Rice has won a special election in Virginia’s 98th House District and will now succeed the late GOP Del. Barry Knight, who died last month after representing the Virginia Beach area for over a decade.

 

Blurb:

 

Israel Flores-Ortiz, an illegal alien from El Salvador who stole into the U.S. in 2024 and was subsequently released by the Biden administration, is accused of molesting at least nine girls at Fairfax High School in Virginia where he was enrolled in the 11th grade, even though he is at least 18 years old.

Adding insult to injury, the school allegedly downplayed the scandal.

‘They have attempted to sweep it under the rug.’

The alleged offenses took place as recently as Feb. 25. Flores-Ortiz was arrested on March 7 and has been charged with nine counts of assault and battery.

“There’s a group of about 12 individuals that have reported this assault,” a mother of one of the victims told WJLA-TV. “It was all perpetrated by a single individual who is a stranger to the girls. He just sneakily walked up behind them and put his hand in between their legs. It was not just a butt smack or a butt grab. It was a groping of a private area. It had been occurring for several months.”

Two of the victims’ mothers said that the school was doing a terrible job handling the situation.

“Abysmal, abysmal,” said one of the mothers. “I think from the very beginning, Fairfax County has attempted to diminish what happened to these girls.”

Blurb:

Them Before Us, a nonprofit organization seeking to protect children and defend their natural rights, has issued a report on how the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index encourages companies to mutilate children through transgender policies. No longer can companies claim ignorance.

HRC, a pro-LGBT advocacy organization, launched the Corporate Equality Index in 2002 to push ideological “LGBTQ+ inclusive policies” on businesses. Companies complete the index survey and submit documentation to prove their woke policies, including family healthcare coverage for transgender surgeries, restroom and dress code “inclusion,” and LGBT trainings for staff.

“HRC’s Corporate Equality Index is anti-child. No company should support it,” the report states.

Blurb:

Fam, is it good when a federal judge invents an entirely new rule just for you? Not really!

James Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district courts in Washington, has ordered that judges in his district be notified every time a grand jury declines to indict—or no-bill—a case brought by the laughably bad U.S. Attorney for Washington Jeanine Pirro.

Fam, is it good when your office has had more no-bills in one year than most offices get … ever? Nope!

Boasberg’s rule applies whenever Pirro’s office tries to indict someone via grand jury and fails, so her office has to tell the magistrate judge on duty—even if she ultimately decides not to charge the defendant at all.

Blurb:

“So far, U.S. strikes have been more robust than even the ‘shock-and-awe,’ bombing campaign of the First and Second Gulf Wars…Trump and the U.S. military are looking for an elusive, knockout punch…Iran’s Kharg Island…part of a potential, U.S. plan for dominance…Taking the island ‘would cut off Iran’s oil lifeline,’ which the regime badly needs…SEAL Team Six and a force of Marines could definitely take the island…(but) even a successful mission against the island would prolong the war.” — Brent M. Eastwood, PhD., for 19FortyFive, March 12, 2026.

On Friday, March 13, 2026, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) carried out a major, precision-bombing raid against Iran’s strategic, Kharg Island, a coral outcropping in the Persian Gulf, 19 miles offshore from Ramleh, Iran. The island is only five miles long by 2.7 miles wide, with a total area of just 7.7 square miles, and a population of about 8,400 people. It provides an absolutely vital seaport for the export of 90 percent of Iran’s oil products, including crude oil, fertilizers, liquid gas, and other products, passing through the terminal on Kharg Island, which is able to load 10 supertankers at once, in addition to storage capacity for up to 30 million barrels of oil.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump is temporarily suspending a key U.S. shipping rule as the Iran conflict tightens its grip on global energy markets.

The White House confirmed Wednesday that Trump issued a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act, the century-old law requiring goods shipped between U.S. ports to travel on American-built, American-owned vessels crewed mostly by U.S. citizens.

The move is aimed at easing pressure as oil prices surge and supply routes get squeezed.

“President Trump’s decision to issue a 60-day Jones Act waiver is just another step to mitigate the short-term disruptions to the oil market as the U.S. military continues meeting the objectives of Operation Epic Fury,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on X. “This action will allow vital resources like oil, natural gas, fertilizer, and coal to flow freely to U.S. ports for sixty days, and the Administration remains committed to continuing to strengthen our critical supply chains.”

Blurb:

Since February 28, Israel and the United States have pounded Iran with targeted air strikes, taking out one powerful Iranian official after another.

The death toll among top regime officials has so far been confirmed at nine, but Israel claims it has reached 11.

Both the United States and Israel have brandished the growing list of dead Iranian elites as evidence of their military success.

On Tuesday, after the Israeli army announced it had “eliminated” Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar declared that his country had “already won” the war against the Islamic Republic.

Blurb:

There are fears that a period of elevated oil and gas prices could trigger a damaging wave of global inflation.

Oil prices have risen more than 5 percent following an Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars gasfield as the United States-Israeli war on the country continues to escalate.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 5 percent to $108.66 a barrel on Wednesday, while US West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1, the price barometer for US oil, gained 2.5 percent to $98.65, widening its discount to Brent to the largest since May 2019 on fears of a prolonged conflict.

Blurb:

Another West Coast, Messed Coast™ city has voted to destroy the traditional Western family. And if, after reading this, you don’t believe it, then you’ve failed the test of pattern recognition.

The Washington state capital, Olympia’s, city council voted recently to put a few more shovel-fulls of dirt on the grave of the traditional nuclear family in the name of equity.

To say it’s not an effort to do so is a lie to yourself about the intentions of the left. And it pushes the idea that men with three or four wives, men living with teenage boys, and “non-normative,” loving relationships are just like a family with the Western, Biblically-based trad home of a mom and dad.

Blurb:

Former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino tore into former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent on Tuesday, blasting his baseless resignation letter after Kent claimed Iran posed no immediate threat to the United States and accused Israel of influencing President Trump to launch Operation Epic Fury.

Bongino argued there was ample evidence to justify the operation and questioned how Kent could have reached such a different conclusion.

Blurb:

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan announced on Wednesday a pause in strikes against Afghanistan, saying the decision was made ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

In a statement, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the pause in strikes on “terrorists and their support infrastructure in Afghanistan” in neighboring Afghanistan will take effect at midnight Wednesday and remain in place until midnight Monday.

He said: “Pakistan offers this gesture in good faith and in keeping with the Islamic norms”.

Blurb:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) confronted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary nominee Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) over past comments stemming from the time Paul was attacked by his neighbor.

“So, today, Markwayne Mullin, I’ll give you a chance. Tell it to my face. Tell the world why you believe I deserved to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken, and a damaged lung. Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it,” Paul said.

In his statement, Paul accused Mullin of calling him a “freaking snake” and saying he “completely understood why I had been assaulted.”

“I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force,” Paul continued.

Blurb:

US Intelligence Chief Tulsi Gabbard, presenting the intelligence community’s 2026 Annual Threat Assessment, said that Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and Pakistan are the most significant nuclear threats to the United States.

While testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, Gabbard said, “The intelligence community assesses that Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan have been researching and developing an array of novel, advanced, or traditional missile delivery systems, with nuclear and conventional payloads, that put our homeland within range.”

Gabbard said that China and Russia are developing advanced delivery systems that are capable of penetrating or bypassing US missile defences.

“North Korea’s ICBMs can already reach US soil, and it is committed to expanding its nuclear arsenal,” she added.

Blurb:

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman criticized Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom for attacking YouTuber Nick Shirley during a Wednesday “All-In Podcast” episode.

Shortly after Shirley released a Monday video in which he claimed to document over $170 million in taxpayer fraud in California, Newsom’s press office X account posted a cartoon image of the YouTuber at a daycare, asking to see the children there. On the podcast, Fetterman appeared to reference the post, and accused Newsom of implying Shirley was a pedophile and suggested the governor should seek common ground with the YouTuber on reducing fraud.

Blurb:

“This man had American blood on his hands. His network specifically targeted current and former U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump.”

The Israeli Defense Forces announced on Wednesday that Iran’s Minister of Intelligence, Esmaeil Khatib, has been killed in a targeted strike that took place in Tehran. This comes amid the US-Israeli Operation Epic Fury in the Middle Eastern country.

A senior Israeli official told Fox News that Khatib had previously survived an attack that resulted in the deaths of dozens of Iranian leaders. The official said, “This man had American blood on his hands. His network specifically targeted current and former U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump.”

Blurb:

On Monday, the Supreme Court added two significant immigration cases to its docket. The cases are styled Noem v. Doe and Trump v. Miot, and both involve the issue of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The first comes out of the Southern District of New York and involves TPS for Syrians; the second comes from the D.C. District and involves Haitians.

Some background:

Congress enacted the Temporary Protected Status program in 1990. The program gives the Department of Homeland Security the power to designate a country’s citizens as eligible to remain in the U.S. and work if they cannot return to their own country because of a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other “extraordinary and temporary” conditions there.

Blurb:

It can’t be said often enough: States around the country have granted tens of thousands of commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs) to illegal aliens who can’t read English, don’t understand road signs, don’t know the rules of the road, and whose prior driving records are unknown.

And American drivers are dying as a result.

During the month of February, for example, illegal aliens caused two fatal crashes in Indiana. The first killed four Amish men — Henry Eicher, 50, Menno Eicher, 25, Paul Eicher, 19, and Simon Girod, 23 — after Bekzhan Beishekeev, an illegal from Kyrgyzstan, swerved into a lane of oncoming traffic, hitting their van head-on. Beishekeev came to the United States using the CBP One app developed by the Biden administration to help illegal immigrants enter the United States more easily. He was released into the country in 2023, and soon thereafter, Beishekeev got a CDL in Pennsylvania.

The second crash happened later in the month when illegal alien Singh Sukhdeep allegedly ran a red light in his big rig, causing a crash that killed 64-year-old Terry Schultz. Sukhdeep entered the United States as a minor, and the Flores settlement has continued to shape how minors are processed and released. The first Trump administration tried to change that framework in 2019, but federal courts blocked key portions of that effort and the agreement remained in effect.

Blurb:

On Tuesday, California agreed to a settlement with the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and other plaintiffs, and will pay over $1.3 million to cover the plaintiffs’ attorney fees.

The settlement arose from a lawsuit that was filed against California’s Marketing Firearms to Minors Law, which crossed into First Amendment territory by banning firearm advertisements.

Breitbart News quoted Ninth Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee’s September 2023 majority opinion against the law, where he wrote “…that [the Marketing Firearms to Minors Law] does not directly and materially advance California’s substantial interests in reducing gun violence and the unlawful use of firearms by minors. There was no evidence in the record that a minor in California has ever unlawfully bought a gun, let alone because of an ad.”

RELATED VIDEO — Walters: Gavin Newsom Proves Democrats Have Been Captured by Their Most Radical Elements:

Lee added, “California cannot straitjacket the First Amendment by, on the one hand, allowing minors to possess and use firearms and then, on the other hand, banning truthful advertisements about that lawful use of firearms.”

Blurb:

A sharp clash has erupted after a senior counterterrorism official stepped down and issued a resignation letter criticizing U.S. involvement in Iran, prompting a forceful rebuke from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

McConnell Condemns Kent’s Resignation Letter

Mitch McConnell blasted the resignation of Joe Kent, arguing the contents of Kent’s letter crossed a serious line.

In a post on X, McConnell declared:

“Joe Kent testified before the Senate one year ago that Iran and its terror proxies threatened U.S. servicemembers in the Middle East.

“He said it would be an honor to return to the fight against terrorism, and he pledged to lead with integrity and accountability.

Blurb:

Some airports saw nearly 40% of TSA officers call out sick, an absentee rate significantly higher than normal levels, which typically hover around 2%.

Houston’s Hobby International Airport reported the highest callout rate at 40.8%, another major hit after 55% of workers called out over the weekend.

New Orleans and Atlanta saw 35.8% and 34.6% of workers call out sick, respectively. Other major hubs also saw elevated absences, including 30.1% at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and 29.1% at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Blurb:

CNN hasn’t exactly had a banner month. It started with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spanking CNN’s Kaitlin Collins about the dignified transfer of our brave service members who died in Operation Epic Fury, and only went downhill from there.

Just a few days later, the network repeatedly shared the false news that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was the target of homemade IEDs that were thrown into a crowd of anti-Islam protesters near Gracie Mansion. They started by portraying the alleged bombers, Ibrahim Kayumi and Emir Balat, as “two Pennsylvania teenagers” who “crossed into New York City … for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather.” The post went on to say the pair’s lives “would drastically change” after they were “arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest.” CNN later deleted that post, claiming it “failed to reflect the gravity of the incident, thereby breaching the editorial standards” of the network. That post implied Mamdani was the target of the attacks, too.

Blurb:

The Iranian government remains “intact but largely degraded,” National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard told Congress on Wednesday, as Israel continued to hunt down the Islamic Republic’s leadership with an overnight airstrike that killed the nation’s spy chief.

The death of Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, announced Wednesday by Israel, was the third high-level assassination in roughly 24 hours in a series of strikes that have hollowed out Tehran’s leadership ranks.

Israel ordered strikes Tuesday that killed Iranian security chief Ali Larijani and Basij paramilitary commander Gholamreza Soleimani.

Additional senior Iranian figures could be targeted, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday. “Israel’s policy is clear and unequivocal: No one in Iran has immunity — everyone is a target,” Katz said.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, issued a rare statement Wednesday addressing Larijani’s assassination.

“Undoubtedly, the assassination of such a person shows the extent of his importance and the hatred of the enemies of Islam towards him,” he wrote, according to the Associated Press. “All blood has its price that the criminal murderers of the martyrs must pay soon.”

Blurb:

For decades, the abortion industry has lied to America.

They’ve told us that abortion is healthcare, that abortion is about women’s rights, that the unborn are not human, and that abortion drugs are perfectly safe.

But consider the stories survivors of this deadly drug shared last week during a press conference on Capitol Hill hosted by Senator Josh Hawley:

“I was [in a] medically induced coma for a month… Eventually, the damage was so extensive that doctors had no choice but to perform a partial hysterectomy… I was scared and pressured by my boyfriend to end my child’s life. In that process, I almost lost my life as well.” -Shanyce Thomas

“As someone who’s been deceived by big abortion, I’m here to say that young people like me, young, scared moms and dads, deserve the truth. And the truth is, the abortion pill is not simple, and the abortion pill is not safe.” – Rebekah Hagan

Blurb:

 

Late last year, my colleague Elizabeth Stauffer reported that “ultra-conservative” candidate José Antonio Kast had won a landslide victory in Chile’s presidential election.

And by “ultra-conservative,” what is really meant is running for office by promising to take actions that normal people want and need. Kast, a Roman Catholic and lawyer, had a campaign centered on restoring order, cracking down on crime and illegal immigration, and revitalizing Chile’s market-oriented economic model through spending cuts and pro-business reforms.

How is Kast doing at this point? Less than a week after his inauguration, construction of a border wall between Chile and Peru began.

Less than a week after his inauguration, Chile’s arch-conservative president on Monday began overseeing preparations to build a border barrier — part of his flagship campaign promise to block immigrants from crossing illegally.

From Chile’s northern frontier area of Chacalluta, where legions of immigrants have slipped across the Peruvian border into one of the region’s most prosperous nations, Kast vowed to implement what he calls his “Border Shield” plan. Among other steps, it involves the construction of a physical barrier at the nation’s northern border made up of ditches and fences and patrolled by drones and the military forces.

…Kast assured the public that “for all of Chile, this is a milestone.”

“We have taken clear and concrete decisions to close our border to illegal immigration, drug trafficking and organized crime,” he said. “We want to implement this without any delay.”

Blurb:

Key Takeaways

  • Michigan proposes new firearm bills that may change where lawful gun owners can carry, including bars and places of worship.
  • The legislation aims to eliminate the concealed pistol license requirement, moving towards constitutional carry.
  • House Bill 5653 plans to repeal several existing location-based restrictions on concealed carry, altering the legal framework significantly.
  • Certain restrictions remain in school zones, but the bills clarify exemptions for licensed individuals.
  • These changes reflect a broader effort to simplify firearm laws and reinforce the Second Amendment as a civil right.