00x Final Filter

Blurb:

President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday night that the U.S. was completely unaware of Israeli strikes on a large gas field jointly owned by Iran and Qatar.

In less than a month, Operation Epic Fury has roiled the global energy market, driving gas prices to their highest levels since 2023 and pushing liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices up more than 50% worldwide. Trump has repeatedly stated his wish to “hold off” on striking infrastructure because “it would take years to rebuild.”

Evidently, according to Trump, Israel has not followed suit.

Blurb:

The Trump administration is probing thirteen states that allegedly force insurance providers to cover abortion.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters Wednesday notifying states with abortion coverage mandates of the investigation and requesting information about how their policies are being implemented, according to an HHS official.

“We are concerned about this because it means that thousands of people and employers, including religious employers, churches, but also employers who may be private citizens, but who object to abortion and would prefer that their health plans not cover it, are also coerced into purchasing a plan that covers abortion are not free in the marketplace to purchase abortion-free coverage,” the official said.

Blurb:

With AI becoming increasingly present in everyday life, the race to build AI infrastructure is only speeding up. At the center of that race is the rapid creation of data centers, with new ones opening on a nearly weekly basis in America. But as more data centers begin to integrate AI infrastructure, the amount of electricity required to operate them is growing at an alarming rate. Data centers are now expected to account for roughly 40 percent of US power demand growth in 2026, and the gap between what we need and what we can build is widening fast.

On today’s episode of Explain to Shane, I am joined by Lynne Kiesling, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she leads the Electricity Technology, Regulation, and Market Design Working Group. Kiesling also directs the Institute for Regulatory Law and Economics at the Northwestern University Center on Law, Business, and Economics, and is a member of the US Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee. I am also joined by Steve DelBianco, president and CEO of NetChoice and a seasoned expert on internet governance. Their combined expertise on this issue can help us understand how we can power the AI revolution.

Blurb:

The US president has warned of an attack on the South Pars area if Iran targets Qatar in response to Israeli strikes

The US will “massively blow up” the South Pars gas field – the world’s largest – if Iran continues to strike Qatari energy facilities, President Donald Trump has warned.

Israel launched strikes on Wednesday on Iran’s facilities in the South Pars gas field in the Gulf, which it shares with Qatar. The South Pars spans almost 10,000 sq km and hosts an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet of gas. In response, Iran attacked a Qatari LNG facility and has threatened counterstrikes on key energy infrastructure across the Gulf region.

Blurb:

Democrats’ refusal to fund the Department of Homeland Security has exceeded any hypothesis of good faith. It is an unpatriotic attack on America’s frontline of defense during a time of war and potential Iranian sleeper cells, and an inexcusable burden on the department’s employees.

Last week, all Senate Democrats, except John Fetterman, again voted to block funding for DHS.

Financed in part by malign foreign powers who seek to defeat the United States, radical left activists have co-opted the Democratic Party. Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, head of the supposedly centrist New Democrat Coalition, typifies the illogic. “My concern about DHS is their absolute disregard of the Constitution and American citizens’ civil rights,” he said, adding, “So until we see officers who abuse citizens’ civil rights held to full account, until we restore full congressional oversight, I’m not giving another penny to ICE and CBP.”

Blurb:

The Pentagon is reportedly seeking over $200 billion from the US Congress to fund President Donald Trump’s war of choice in Iran. If approved, the war funds will boost the US military campaign that began on February 28 and ramp up the production of weapons used during the conflict, according to a report by The Washington Post.

It’s been nearly three weeks since the US, along with Israel, began airstrikes against Iran to dismantle what the US military calls the “Iranian regime’s security apparatus.” So far, American forces have struck more than 7,800 targets and made over 8,000 combat flights and damaged or destroyed more than 120 Iranian vessels, according to U.S. Central Command.

Blurb:

Despite heavy opposition from Democrats, the Deporting Fraudsters Act of 2026 narrowly passed the House of Representatives Wednesday.

The bill, sponsored by Ohio GOP Rep. Dave Taylor, passed 231-186, with all 186 nays coming from the Democratic Party, according to Fox News.

The purpose of the bill is to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to more stringently target fraud.

Effectively, the bill would amend that act to specifically define fraud as a deportable offense.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump stated that there would be “NO MORE ATTACKS” by Israel after Israel was reported to have launched strikes on Iran’s South Pars Gas Field.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that the United States “knew nothing about this particular attack,” and added that Qatar “was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it.” Trump explained that because “Iran did not know” Qatar was not involved in the attack, Iran “unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility.”

Blurb:

 

House Democrats say Attorney General Pam Bondi is attempting to evade a congressional subpoena to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffery Epstein case.

Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday evening walked out of a closed door briefing with Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, saying the nation’s lead prosecutor declined to commit to cooperating with a subpoena issued by the panel’s Republican chair earlier this week.

The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, told reporters his members had only been informed about the planned Oversight briefing with Bondi and Blanche the day before. He accused the Trump administration officials of trying to stage “some kind of fake hearing” to avoid Bondi testifying under oath.

“This has been completely set up in a way that’s been irresponsible. And quite frankly, we believe a way for the Attorney General to get out of her answering questions under oath and to the public,” Garcia said.

Blurb:

Costa Rica on Wednesday closed its embassy in Havana and told Cuba’s communist government to pull its diplomats from San José.

“We have to clean out communists from the hemisphere,” Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves declared after the diplomatic rupture.

The Cuban Embassy in the U.S. responded to the closure by alleging in a social media post that Costa Rica made the move “under pressure from the United States.”

Blurb:

Joe Kent, former director of President Donald Trump’s National Counterterrorism Center, said Wednesday that information on Iran originating from Israeli officials and amplified through U.S. media and policy circles played a central role in shaping the president’s decision to carry out military action.

Kent, speaking on the Tucker Carlson Show following his resignation on Tuesday, argued that there was no U.S. intelligence showing Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States and suggested U.S. action was influenced by “an ecosystem of information” tied to Israeli interests and bogus intelligence.

Blurb:

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel lashed out after U.S. President Donald Trump said he could do “whatever he wants” with the Caribbean island and that Washington could take “imminent action” against it.

Díaz-Canel said on X that the Trump administration “publicly threatens” Cuba’s government almost daily with overthrowing it, and any act of aggression “will clash with an impregnable resistance.”

The comments came after new threats by Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said Cuba’s socialist economic model needs to “change dramatically.” The same day, another Latin American country denounced Díaz-Canel’s government and said it would close its embassy.

Blurb:

Sen. John Kennedy argued Wednesday that Republicans should seek to pass the SAVE America Act using budget reconciliation, so only a majority vote would be required.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune currently has the measure being considered next week as a straight change in policy matter, meaning it would require 60 votes to overcome a Democrat filibuster.

The bill, which President Donald Trump supports, would require Americans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and to present photo ID when voting. It would also place limits on mail-in voting, but would still allow it for those who are disabled, serving in the military, or traveling out of their home state.

Blurb:

A new state audit has found that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s administration failed for years to properly investigate Medicaid kickback allegations, despite having the authority to do so.

The findings raise serious questions about oversight within the state’s Department of Human Services (DHS) amid a massive fraud scandal tied to autism services funding.

The report, released Tuesday by the Office of the Legislative Auditor, concluded that DHS officials incorrectly claimed they lacked the authority to investigate kickbacks unless they were tied to other forms of fraud.

According to the audit, that interpretation was wrong and contradicted long-standing legal authority held by the agency.

Blurb:

Election experts from around the country are sounding alarms that the SAVE Act (full name: SAVE Trump’s Ass From The Epstein Files Act) would cause mayhem and set up the elections and the country for failure. In large part, this is because many of the act’s requirements are unfunded.

The so-called SAVE America Act, which President Donald Trump is relentlessly pushing, would create chaos for state and local elections administrators by immediately imposing several new requirements without adding funding, former North Carolina elections chief Karen Brinson Bell said on a press call Tuesday organized by Washington U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell.

“I cannot emphasize enough the Herculean effort that the SAVE America Act would present for election officials across this country,” Brinson Bell, who now advises election officials as a co-founder of the group Advance Elections, said. “Please do not set our country or these public servants up for failure. Bring us to the table. Develop this legislation properly and provide adequate funding and resources so we can all succeed.”

Blurb:

China is making a big push for widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, and the nation’s tech powerhouses are holding public events to help everyday people get OpenClaw, the viral personal digital assistant.

“It seems everyone around me – my colleagues and friends — has it,” new user Gong Sheng said as he waited to get set up. “I don’t want to be left behind.”

At a gathering in Beijing hosted on Tuesday by internet giant Baidu, Gong was one of hundreds of people lined up to get OpenClaw installed onto their laptops and phones.

Blurb:

U.S. companies will be allowed to do business with Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company after the Treasury Department eased sanctions, with some limitations, on Wednesday as the Trump administration looks for ways to boost world oil supplies during the Iran war.

The Treasury issued a broad authorization allowing Petróleos de Venezuela S.A, or PDVSA, to directly sell Venezuelan oil to U.S. companies and on global markets, a massive shift after Washington for years had largely blocked dealings with Venezuela’s government and its oil sector.

Separately, the White House said Trump would waive, for 60 days, Jones Act requirements for goods shipped between U.S. ports to be moved on U.S.-flagged vessels. The 1920s law, designed to protect the American shipbuilding sector, is often blamed for making gas more expensive.

The moves highlight the increased pressure that the Republican administration is under to ease soaring oil prices as the United States, along with Israel, wages a war with Iran without a foreseeable end date. Global oil prices have since spiked as Iran halted traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes through from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

Blurb:

India is likely to double its installed power generation capacity from the current 520 Gigawatt (Gw) to 1,121 Gw by 2036, with non-fossil fuel sources contributing around 70 per cent of the total, according to the projections of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the apex power planning body under the Power Ministry. 

The projection includes 315 Gw coal-based capacity, 20 Gw gas capacity, 22 Gw nuclear, 78 Gw of large hydro, 509 Gw solar, 155 Gw wind energy, 16 Gw biomass and 6 Gw small-hydro power capacity.

Blurb:

 

CBS Evening News isn’t doing so well under the new management at Paramount or the commissar they installed to make sure nothing woke gets broadcast. Nielsen reports that ratings are down.

Viewership for the program has once again dropped below 4 million, a critical demarcation point that previously spurred alarm at the Paramount Skydance news division.

Read the rest

The post CBS Evening News viewership slips under 4 million, and they’re all old appeared first on Boing Boing.

from boingboing.net

Blurb:

This is quite shocking.

Joe Kent, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, has announced his resignation effective immediately.

Kent, in a lengthy resignation post on X, shared that he cannot, in good conscience, support the war in Iran.

The former CIA paramilitary officer added that Iran never posed an imminent threat to the United States.

AP broke the story:

Joe Kent, Director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, has resigned from the Trump administration.

Kent said he “cannot in good conscience” back Trump’s war in Iran.

Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent posted on social media Tuesday.

Kent is a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists who was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote.

Take a look:

Full resignation letter:

President Trump,

After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.

I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.

I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.

In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and by defeating ISIS.

Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.

As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives.

I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.

It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation.

Blurb:

If you pay any modicum of attention to the news, you’re surely aware that there are a host of global issues which are affecting Americans locally.

(If you’ve had to fill up your car in the last week, you’re already painfully aware of this, with or without paying attention to the news.)

While those headlines will typically command the most attention, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about stateside.

In fact, there’s a massive, looming issue that could shape the near-term future of this country coming up: the midterm elections.

Votes are obviously going to be incredibly important with respect to how the midterms turn out — which means the act of voting itself will be under a ferocious microscope ahead of November.

And now, that microscope has focused on deep-blue California.

Independent investigative journalist James O’Keefe — whose outlet is perhaps best known for explosive undercover reporting — dropped a bombshell on the Golden State on Tuesday, sharing a damning video to X.