High-profile attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have epitomized Iran’s hit-and-run response to superior American and Israeli firepower, but analysts warn that Tehran’s asymmetric strategy isn’t limited to guns, bombs or the physical geography of the battlefield.
from www.washingtontimes.com
00x Final Filter
The concept of freedom of the press isn’t ruined by criticism of the press. But when liberal TV hosts roll out their lectures, they sound a little like the president they routinely attack. Any criticism of their work must be Fake News.
MS NOW host Ana Cabrera expressed indignation on March 16 after FCC chairman Brendan Carr tweeted that broadcast stations should watch what they’re airing on the war in Iran: “Freedom of the press has been such a huge, huge underpinning of the democracy in this country, right? In order to hold people in power accountable to be that government watchdog.” But Carr is “squashing” press freedom with a simple tweet.
NPR media reporter David Folkenflik lamented Carr wanted to “get in the weeds of what’s said,” but allowed that “you can argue there are good principles involved about wanting to make sure certain kinds of coverage is fair to all sides” – yet the government shouldn’t interfere.
MS NOW host Ana Cabrera freaked out at Brendan Carr tweets, arguing press freedom is a huge underpinning of democracy. He’s quashing it! NPR’s David Folkenflik says Carr’s FCC wants to “get in the weeds of what’s said.” Yes! Much of what they say would fit the weeds metaphor. pic.twitter.com/7GATuVWf8X
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) March 17, 2026
How the Supreme Court’s Tariff Ruling Could Save the Civil Service Washington Monthly
from news.google.com
One of the most poorly kept political secrets in modern times is that Democrats just love themselves some unfettered illegal immigration.
Sure, they’ll never outright admit to it — that would be tantamount to political suicide — but actions speak louder than words, and when it comes to illegal immigration, Democrats have practically been screaming at the top of their lungs of late.
The million (billion? trillion?) dollar question, then, is why?
Look, anyone with a room-temperature IQ can tell you that Democrats are trying to “import voters.”
The common criticism is that Dems, alongside all of their unpopular ideas, can’t win over the average American on policy. Instead of changing those unpopular policies, however, Democrats seem far more intent on simply bringing in more agreeable voters.
But it’s not quite so surface-level, as Border Czar Tom Homan so eloquently — and worryingly — pointed out during a Fox News appearance on Tuesday.
WATCH: Tom Homan says Dems and Biden “sold this country out for future political power” by importing millions of illegals to swell blue states.
As blue state populations increased, Dems would get more House seats and electoral votes.
Pittsburgh police officers did not intervene as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents struggled to detain a suspect near a police station, and claims circulated that officers were told to stand down.
Pittsburgh Police Chief Jason Lando said he is not aware of any order directing officers not to act and has launched an administrative review into the incident.
“To that end, I was recently made aware of an incident that occurred in front of the Zone 3 police station where ICE agents were struggling to take someone into custody,” Lando said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.
KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh reported that the incident unfolded as ICE agents attempted to detain a suspect near the Zone 3 station, when the individual began fighting and kicking ICE agents.
Dr Dorsey pointed out that there may also be a hardening of the lines on both sides of the war following the security chief’s death.
“You could see Israel, the United States, seeing this as a major body blow that sets the stage for trying to finish Iran off,” he said.
Already, Iran has retaliated for the assassination of its security chief, targeting Tel Aviv with missiles carrying cluster warheads, which are difficult to intercept.
Larijani’s death is also likely to lend more power to the more radical leaders and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, said Dr Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University Qatar.
“As an insider with deep connections within the Islamic Republic’s deep state and with impeccable revolutionary credentials, he would have been indispensable to any decision to end the current war,” Dr Kamrava told CNA.
“His death is likely to strengthen the hands of President Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Araghchi on the one hand, and the more radical, less compromising commanders of the Revolutionary Guards on the other.”
Senate Republicans have issued a brutal response to Democrats who have refused to vote in favor of the common-sense election integrity measures laid out in the SAVE America Act.
.@SenJohnBarrasso: “You need to present a photo I.D. to buy a beer, to board a plane, and to do so many other things that are part of American life—why not to vote?… The SAVE America Act is the best way to secure and safely provide elections that represent the viewpoints of the… pic.twitter.com/37zyS8rUar
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 17, 2026
.@LeaderJohnThune on the SAVE America Act: “Pretty much everything you do in your daily life involves showing an I.D., whether it’s opening a bank account, getting a hotel room, picking up prescription drugs… These are things that are just basic, fundamental aspects of our… pic.twitter.com/ayetSntNrB
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 17, 2026
SENATOR CRUZ: “You need a photo ID to enroll in college. You need a photo ID to open a bank account. You need a photo ID to check into a hotel.”
“And I got to admit, this is my personal favorite: You need a photo ID — actually, two photo IDs — to shovel snow in New York City.” pic.twitter.com/mdcUCuJdyn
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 17, 2026
🚨 BREAKING: Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) just stormed the Senate floor with COMMON SENSE amendments to the SAVE America Act
The amended bill will:
1. Require voter ID
2. Require citizenship
3. No rigged mail-in voting
4. No men in women’s spots
5. No transgender mutilation of kids… pic.twitter.com/dLjxNLZqsU— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 17, 2026
Japanese politicians hype up China’s defense budget to justify Japan’s hidden military expansion ambitions, says PLA spokesman China Daily
from news.google.com
OPINION
Homosexuals and gender-confused individuals should embrace “queer joy” as a way to withstand attacks from “white Christian nationalists,” according to a University of Kansas law professor.
“I contend that queer joy as resistance is just one strategy for resistance, one that ought to be pursued alongside other tactics of resistance,” Professor Kyle Velte argues in a paper published on SSRN.
Velte lists a number of supposed infringements on the “rights” of LGBT people.
Among these are Supreme Court rulings that found artists, such as bakers and website designers, cannot be forced by the state to use their skills to promote so-called same-sex “marriage.” The law professor also criticized the 2021 case Fulton v. City of Philadelphia which affirmed social service providers cannot be forced to place kids in same-sex households.
“The impact of these decision[s] means that some vendors and faith-based social service agencies may refuse to serve LGBTQ people,” Velte wrote.
UN says Israel may be committing war crimes in Lebanon as air and ground campaign intensifies thenationalnews.com
from news.google.com
During Tuesday morning’s cable news morning shows on MS NOW and CNN, blame was placed on Republicans for the lasting DHS shutdown caused by Democrat protests of immigration enforcement and ICE funding. The hosts of CNN This Morning, CNN News Central, and, of course, MS NOW’s Morning Joe ignored the Democrats’ impact on the shutdown, a growing media trend.
In a tease for the News Central segment, CNN This Morning host Audie Cornish teed up the story as a Republican attack on Democrats:
Okay, you guys, we want to talk a little bit more about the partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security enters another week and as we mentioned earlier, very long lines at the airport as a result. So, Republicans want voters to blame Democrats. We’re going to talk about how this is going to play out.
In a tease for CNN News Central, CNN This Morning host Audie Cornish minimized the Democrats impact on the DHS shutdown and impacts to the TSA.
Instead, she stated “Republicans want voters to blame Democrats” for the shutdown. pic.twitter.com/UWdcdOu6s9
— Nick (@nspin310) March 17, 2026
LIMA, Peru — Peru’s prime minister resigned Tuesday ahead of a mandatory vote in the nation’s Congress, where she needed a majority of legislators to confirm her recent appointment.
Denisse Miralles was appointed as prime minister in late February, after Interim President José Jerí was removed from his post following corruption allegations and replaced by congressman Jose María Balcázar.
In Peru, prime ministers coordinate the implementation of government policies, but they are not elected into office and do not lead the executive branch, which is headed by the president.
Miralles, the former economy minister under Jerí, did not say why she resigned. However, she informed journalists that she was uncertain she could secure the congressional majority required for her confirmation on Wednesday.
Iraq says targeting US Embassy in Baghdad is ‘terrorist assault’ on country’s sovereignty Anadolu Ajansı
from news.google.com
A quick look at state legislative sessions across the country shows it’s clearly that time of year again for gun control advocates. Like the critters in a game of Whack-A-Mole, proposals to further restrict the right to keep and bear arms are popping up for consideration in state after state, needing to be (metaphorically) bopped back down by defenders of the Second Amendment.
As I recently explained to Minnesota state legislators, gun control advocates’ preferred policies do little more than scapegoat peaceable and lawful gun owners while completely missing the point — most violent crimes are committed by a small subset of repeat offenders who are already prohibited from owning any guns, at all. Those criminals aren’t likely to comply with new laws making it doubly illegal for them to possess a certain type of firearm. Even then, it wouldn’t matter because criminals could just as easily use “featureless” versions of the same guns (which, again, they still can’t lawfully possess) to carry out their crimes.
At the same time, gun control advocates often downplay (or even outright ignore) the fact that law-abiding Americans routinely rely on their right to keep and bear arms to defend themselves and others from actual violent criminals who ignore gun control restrictions. A 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged that almost every study on the issue has found that between 500,000 and several million defensive gun uses occur every year in the United States. An extensive 2021 national survey conducted by a Georgetown professor further substantiated this reality, concluding that Americans used their firearms defensively an average of 1.2 million times a year.
Fox News Digital revealed other Republicans former special counsel Jack Smith targeted during his investigation into President Donald Trump.
We already know that Smith tracked and targeted over 400 Republicans, including senators.
The new emails exposed a spiderweb containing members of the House and Senate who had contact with the main people in Smith’s investigation, such as Trump, Mark Meadows, and Rudy Giuliani:
New names within the emails obtained by Fox News Digital include Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency.
“I’d like to seek [the Public Integrity Section’s] concurrence to get phone tolls for several MOCs who had contact with pertinent parties in our investigation,” wrote DOJ lawyer Timothy Duree. “I’ll keep the timeframe tight—probably October 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021.”
Duree produced 16 names and said he wanted to discuss whether to “subpoena these all at once.” The list included Reps. Babin and Biggs and now former Reps. Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, Zeldin and Jody Hice. The list also included Gohmert’s chief of staff Connie Hair, and seven senators whose names were previously revealed through public disclosures, such as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
China: Cybercrime Bill Entrenches Censorship, Surveillance Human Rights Watch
from news.google.com
Chile National Prosecutor Ángel Valencia on Monday requested U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to interrogate Nicolás Maduro about the assassination of exiled Venezuelan dissident Ronald Ojeda.
Valencia traveled to Washington and had a work meeting with Bondi, seeking to strengthen security cooperation between Chile and the United States as well as cooperation in the fight against organized crime. The Chilean Public Prosecutor’s Office detailed that the first topic addressed by Valencia and Bondi was the prosecution of money laundering and the protection of the two countries’ financial systems.
The second subject, Valencia said, was to continue strengthening Chile’s cooperation with the United States regarding the pursuit of Tren de Aragua (TdA) and the “Aragua Pirates,” a TdA faction operating in Chile, as well as prosecution of crimes committed by “associated gangs in our country, such as the murder of Lieutenant Ronald Ojeda.”
President Donald Trump’s new nominee for secretary of homeland security, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., prepares to appear before the Senate, Democrats continue to keep the Department of Homeland Security shut down.
“It’s extremely disappointing that Democrats are once again putting petty politics over the safety and security of our nation,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal.
Pfluger, a House Homeland Security Committee member who chairs the subcommittee on cybersecurity, spoke to The Daily Signal before Mullin’s Wednesday appearance on Capitol Hill.
Mullin will appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning. The Oklahoma senator is Trump’s choice to replace former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
As a kid from Westville, it has been the greatest honor and privilege to serve the people of Oklahoma for the past thirteen years in both the House and Senate.
I am grateful to President Trump for nominating me to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I look forward to…
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) March 5, 2026
The House oversight commitee subpoenaed attorney general Pam Bondi on Tuesday, requesting her to appear for a deposition on the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, and compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act – the legislation which resulted in the justice department releasing millions of pages of documents related to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s cases.
In a letter, chair James Comer requested Bondi’s appearance before the committee on 14 April.
Earlier this month, five oversight Republicans voted with Democrats and approved a motion to subpoena Bondi.
Separately, Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, will provide a private briefing for committee members on Wednesday.
China steps up repression of Uyghurs, other religious minorities Muslim Network TV
from news.google.com
I recently reported that there was a sudden lull in Chinese jet incursions into Taiwan’s airspace, which had a variety of possible explanations.
Whatever inspired the brief break has ended, and the Chinese have returned with quite the display.
The ministry detected 26 Chinese military aircraft around the island on Saturday, with 16 of them entering its northern, central and southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone. Seven naval ships were spotted around the island, it reported.
The increased number of aircraft came after the ministry reported a fall that left analysts scratching their heads about what China’s military may be up to.
Taiwan didn’t report any Chinese military planes that went beyond the median line and entered the zone for a week from Feb. 27 to March 5. After two were detected on March 6, the next four days had none. Such flights resumed in small numbers between Wednesday and Friday.
🚨🇨🇳🇹🇼 FLASH | La Chine a encerclé Taïwan avec 26 avions de combat et 7 navires de guerre. pic.twitter.com/i57dhsTvoN
— Novia News (@NoviaNewsGroup) March 16, 2026
Article URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15381
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47418722
Bank of America has tentatively settled a lawsuit claiming it ignored suspicious financial transactions involving Jeffrey Epstein while he was sexually abusing hundreds of girls and women.
The proposed settlement was revealed in filings in Manhattan federal court on Monday, the same day that billionaire financier Leon Black was originally scheduled to be deposed in the case. Terms were not disclosed. The bank declined to comment through a spokesperson.
Though not a defendant, Black was recently described as a “critical witness” in the case by Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Epstein victims.
During a hearing last week, a lawyer for Black persuaded Judge Jed S. Rakoff to postpone Black’s deposition for 10 days on the grounds that the parties were close to settling. The lawyer, Michael Carlinsky, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
As Trump ramps up pressure on Cuba, China has ‘very limited options’ South China Morning Post
from news.google.com
Israel’s defense minister said Wednesday that the country would escalate its war against Iran, and its parallel assault on the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, clearly signaling an escalation of the conflict in the heart of the Middle East.
“The intensity of attacks in Iran is increasing. We are in the midst of achieving a decisive outcome,” Katz said in his video message, shared on social media.
“Israel’s policy is clear and unequivocal: no one in Iran has immunity, and all are targeted. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorized the IDF to neutralize any senior Iranian official for whom an intelligence and operational opportunity arises, without the need for additional approval. We will continue to intercept and hunt them all,” he said.
“Significant surprises are also expected throughout today across all arenas, which will escalate the war we are conducting against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
Trump was informed most ‘allies’ won’t help with Hormoz. Says US doesn’t need help anyway investingLive
from news.google.com
Starmer says ‘we can’t lose focus’ on Ukraine amid Iran war during Zelenskyy visit– www.euronews.com
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Tuesday for talks on peace and sanctions on Russia.
The meeting comes at a time when the Iran war has revived Russia’s ailing economy through increased oil revenue, robbed US-brokered talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine of momentum and could soon limit Kyiv’s access to vital Western air defence systems that are needed in the Middle East.
“We can’t lose focus on what’s going on in Ukraine and the need for our support,” Starmer said alongside Zelenskyy for talks at 10 Downing Street, which NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also attended.
“Putin can’t be the one who benefits from the conflict in Iran, whether that’s oil prices or the dropping of sanctions,” Starmer said. “It is really important we keep our resolve in relation to supporting Ukraine, doing everything we can to weaken the hand of Putin.”
The human cost of Israel and America’s air campaign on Iran is mounting, nowhere more painfully felt than in the children’s wards of its hospitals.
In the intensive care unit of one, four-year-old Anita lies in a coma with severe head injuries a few days after being pulled out of the rubble of her home when it was destroyed in an air strike.
Her mother Zeiba was in torment, clutching her tiny hand and begging her to wake up. Doctors say she almost certainly never will.
The Islamic Republic has unveiled a new and dangerous weapon: the Sejjil missile. It can be set up and launched with minimal delay, making it harder to hit with preemptive strikes. Iran has only a few hundred, but they are produced indigenously. Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop production for good.
The Sejjil’s menace stems from its design for speed in deployment. Unlike Iran’s older liquid-fueled Shahab missiles, which take hours to prepare, leaving them vulnerable to preemptive strikes, the Sejjil runs on solid propellant. That means it is ready to be fired from road-mobile launchers in mere minutes, vanishing before countermeasures kick in.
Iranian state media claim it also has mid-descent maneuverability that allows it to dodge interceptors—they call it the “dancing missile”—but that has not been confirmed. There is no sign of side thrusters or similar features seen on other Iranian missiles that would make maneuvering possible.