"If US Wants To Get Out Of Quagmire...": Iran Sends 7 Conditions To Trump

09/20/26 2:38 PM

Iran said it is waiting for US President Donald Trump's response to its seven conditions.

"We Get Along Great": Trump Softens China Stance Ahead Of Xi Jinping's Visit

09/20/26 6:21 PM

That tough talk helped Trump get to the White House a decade ago, but since then, he increasingly speaks in glowing terms about Chinese President Xi Jinping, the geopolitical rival Trump will fete on Thursday with a state dinner.

'Buckle up': Leaked photos ignite furor after unmasking Hegseth’s Iran ‘disaster’

09/16/26 4:23 PM

A collection of leaked photos showing “major damage” to U.S. assets in the Middle East sparked renewed calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s removal, just as the House narrowly avoided having to consider articles of impeachment against the Trump Cabinet member.“This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public,” a deployed U.S. service member told CBS News on the condition of anonymity. “We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face.”On Tuesday, a CBS News report revealed new photos it had exclusively received from “active service members” showing significant damage to U.S. military assets in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, including a Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft with its entire back half destroyed. The revelations come as Hegseth continues to downplay the damage Iran has managed to inflict on U.S. military assets.“This is why SecDef Hegseth should be impeached and removed from office. What a disaster,” wrote Tom Ryan, an Arizona-based attorney and trial lawyer, in a social media post on X.Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) informed the House Tuesday that he intended to introduce eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, largely centered around his overseeing of the deeply unpopular — and allegedly, unlawful — U.S. war against Iran. Massie also said he intended to invoke House rules that would force his articles of impeachment to be brought up for consideration within two legislative days.Those plans were foiled, however, after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) abruptly canceled all House votes for Thursday, which would have been the last legislative day before the midterms.Democratic congressional nominee Fred Wellman, a U.S. Army veteran, said the leaked photos were “shocking” given that he had “served at some” of the locations pictured. Ali Abunimah, a prominent author and activist, appeared to mock Hegseth by sarcastically noting, reacting to the photo of the heavily damaged Boeing E-3 Sentry, “That plane looks like it just needs a lick of paint and it will be up and flying in no time.”U.S. Air Force veteran and podcaster Ryan Shead demanded that Congress “Impeach Pete Hegseth immediately,” and Jeremy Johnson, a trucker activist with a substantial online following for his political commentary, warned that the revelations revealing the extent of the damage Iran had inflicted were “just the beginning,” telling his more than 670,000 followers on X to “Buckle up.”That plane looks like it just needs a lick of paint and it will be up and flying in no time https://t.co/daviOPWXMC pic.twitter.com/H3QOwGitVJ— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) September 15, 2026

'Extraordinarily dire' signs spark fears of imminent US crash: 'This could be it'

09/15/26 2:15 PM

A U.S. market crash could be just around the corner “directly as a result” of a recent Middle East development and a confluence of other factors, political analysts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti warned on Monday.Last week, the Yemeni militant organization the Houthis gained significant control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait — a critical global shipping chokepoint in the Red Sea — after seizing control of Yemen’s west coast and Mayyun island, which divides the strait into two channels. The Saudi Arabian East-West oil pipeline was also damaged in an attack originating from Iraq, threatening 4% of global oil supply.The developments come as oil prices continue to surge to what Ball called “extraordinarily dire” levels amid the months-long disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.Experts have already warned that the disruption to trade through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait could inflict a global “inflationary shock,” but Enjeti warned that a confluence of other factors specific to the United States could soon send the U.S. economy into freefall.“This could be it,” Enjeti warned in an episode of the political program “Breaking Points” that aired on Monday.Specifically, Enjeti pointed to the extent to which the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is propping up the U.S. economy, with Deloitte finding that “AI-fueled tech investments” accounted for “about half” of real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth since 2025. With AI tech leaders unanimously calling for a “slowdown” in recent days amid fears that the rapidly developing tech could "destroy humanity,” the combination of Iran-war-caused inflation and slowdowns in AI investments could be catastrophic, Enjeti warned.“Let's say you have a unilateral tech slowdown, which is propping up the entire U.S. economy, [and] people wake up to diesel going $6.23 a gallon — it was $6 last week, and that was the all-time high — that's where we're at!” Enjeti said. “You've got crushing consumer sentiment, you've got $4.31 a gallon in gasoline, $6.23 diesel... that, combined with the genuine downturn in the U.S. stock market, [and] we are living in a whole [different] universe at that point. That would actually lead to... I can't even imagine. You would have Federal Reserve behavior, unemployment could skyrocket.”The tools and circumstances that have kept the U.S. market somewhat stable throughout President Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran, Ball warned, were also close to expiring.“There were all sorts of cushions that were in place: China, which dramatically reduced their [oil] buying, our Strategic Petroleum Reserve that we were drawing [from], [the Saudis] were able to use this East-West pipeline to get more barrels out of the region,” Ball noted. “Now, it feels like all of those previous pieces which cushioned the blow are falling away, and Trump's ability to market manipulate has also seemingly fallen away.”

'Mind-melting incompetence' hides behind Trump's big 'bully' veneer: ex- official

09/17/26 5:27 PM

A former top White House official has a simple theory as to why a bullying President Donald Trump president blew up America's relationship with its closest ally: "mind-melting incompetence."Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump's first term, tore into the administration's handling of its relationship with Canada in a new Substack post."Canada is demonstrating, for every democracy watching, that the response to Trump’s bullying should be neither submission nor hysteria… but the calm construction of alternatives," he wrote. "Our allies aren’t leaving because they hate America. They’re leaving because they miss us, and they can’t stand the bully who’s holding us hostage."Taylor argued Trump's trade war pushed Ottawa to give up on repairing the relationship. Since retaking office, Trump has hit Canada with 50 percent tariffs, moved to ban imports including dairy, alcohol, lumber and cars, and repeatedly needled the country about becoming America's "51st state."Rather than "cave" the way Taylor says some American law firms did early in Trump's second term, Canada has instead looked elsewhere. Prime Minister Mark Carney has been exploring a closer partnership with the European Union, which has floated an unprecedented "associate member" status for Canada. "Trump spent two years mocking Canada as America's future 51st state," Taylor wrote. "This week, Europe offered to make Canada its first."Taylor praised Carney's calm, businesslike response, writing, "they've walked across the street to build a better future with people who keep their word." This presents a sharp contrast to Trump's blustering and bullying that has only made the situation worse, Taylor argued. "You have to marvel at the mind-melting incompetence required to produce this outcome," Taylor wrote, noting Canada and the U.S. share the "longest peaceful border"on Earth, an integrated defense relationship, and a history of fighting alongside each other, with roughly "70% of Canadian exports" flowing to the U.S.Taylor didn't hold back on Trump personally, calling him "the stupidest man" he believes has held office in Washington. He noted that even John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, has said Trump is "the most flawed person" he's ever met.Taylor added that previously overseas ally officials used to quietly ask "whether America was still America" — but that they've "since stopped asking."

'No surprise': Ken Paxton caught in 'luxury vacation' fumble by gleeful campaign foe

09/20/26 6:56 PM

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) just announced he'll campaign for the U.S. Senate on island in the Mediterranean Sea, according to the gleeful opponent who caught him in serious political blunder.State Rep. James Talarico (D) — the Republican's opponent in the race to claim Sen. John Cornyn's soon-to-be-vacant seat — took to X on Sunday to correct a campaign announcement that Paxton would join Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for a campaign event in "Cyprus.""It’s Cypress," Talarico explained, naming a small community in Harris County. "But for all the time you spend on luxury vacations in Europe, it's no surprise you don't know Texas."Paxton quickly deleted the post, but not before Talarico's team could grab a screenshot of the exchange."This campaign continues to grow every day," Paxton appears to have written. "Next stop: Cyprus with the great @TedCruz. We will keep Texas, Texas."This isn't the first time Paxton — whose net worth Forbes estimates to be $13 million — has run into problems relating to European vacations.Earlier this week, a tourist reportedly said he filmed Paxton this summer walking near the London Eye with his alleged mistress Tracy Duhan — and the candidate flew into a rage when he realized it.Paxton bumped the tourist's shoulder and demanded to know whether he had been filmed, the tourist said.“You're a public figure in a public place, and I can film you all I want," the tourist said he replied.According to the Daily Mail, first to report on the exchange, Paxton demanded to see the video, twice lunged for the man’s phone, and claimed he had a right to have it.“He's yelling at me, and I'm telling him to back off,” the man reportedly said.Paxton reportedly walked away only after the tourist’s wife pulled out her own phone to record the confrontation.

'Really bad!': Republican outrage mounts over Don Jr.'s billionaire-funded Bahamas blowout

09/20/26 4:33 PM

Yet another Republican lawmaker has condemned President Donald Trump's son for allowing a Russian oligarch to contribute a quarter of a million dollars to his Bahamas wedding blowout.Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) spoke out against Don Trump Jr. during an interview on "Face the Nation" Sunday morning."Anytime someone gives a $250,000 gift, and they have ties to the Kremlin, that's wrong," Cassidy said. "With that proximity to power, being the president's son, you've got to give faith to the American people that Washington is not a swamp."Cassidy was responding to the bombshell ProPublica report on Trump Jr.'s lavish, three-day wedding party on a pair of exclusive private islands, which appears to have been "heavily funded" by Umar Kremlev, the International Boxing Association chief with close ties to President Vladimir Putin.Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have since launched an investigation and even Trump has tried to backtrack, claiming his son paid the oligarch back.On Sunday, Cassidy expressed relief on the latter point — but suggested he wasn't 100 percent convinced it was true. "It would be nice to have that kind of verified," said Cassidy. "And no, it shouldn't have been done in the first place."The Republican senator addressed Trump Jr. directly as he explained his logic. "Even though in your mind it might be a gift," Cassidy said, "the appearance of it is really bad!"Other Republican lawmakers who have heaped scorn on Trump Jr. include Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), who in a video address to his constituents, said he was outraged. "It just stinks," Curtis said. "It's corruption, I don't like it.... this is a big deal."Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) agreed, telling Washington Sun reporter Igor Bobic he felt the gift was "beyond bad."“Don Jr. is worth somewhere between 300 million and 400 million dollars," Tillis reportedly said. "Unless he has a cash flow problem, why on earth would you accept money from a Russian oligarch who's actually gone on delegation meetings with Xi Jinping in China?”

'Unbelievable': Pentagon's massive troop withdrawal plan sparks immediate backlash

09/17/26 10:47 PM

The Pentagon's thoughts about withdrawing 25,000 troops from Europe are spurring fears of the threat the move would create for U.S. allies.On Thursday, NBC News reported that the Pentagon is considering pulling out 25,000 or more U.S. troops from Europe, which is nearly a third of the American forces stationed there. The withdrawal would include aircraft, ships, and weapons, even though NATO allies have warned about the growing threat from Russia.Online critics pointed to the move as proof that President Donald Trump and his administration are aligned with Russian leader Vladimir Putin."For the umpteenth time: Trump works for Putin," wrote former GOP congressman Joe Walsh in a post on X. "He's a Russian asset. Plain & simple. Putin is smiling again today.""What US national security interest would this decision advance?" wondered former U.S. ambassador to Russia and political science professor Michael McFaul. "I missed the Party of Reagan and Peace Through Strength.""Trump is helping Putin to attack Europe," declared investigative journalist Robert van der Noordaa."As European countries build their defense capabilities, this kind of withdrawal may become possible," former U.S. ambassador Steven Pifer lamented. "It makes no sense now.""UNBELIEVABLE!" exclaimed influencer Brian Krassenstein, who had a theory for why the Trump administration was making the move. "This is happening right after the EU signed a trade deal with Canada and invited Canada to join the EU as an associated member. Trump is mad that two allies are working together after he pissed them both off."This would not be the administration's first drawdown in Europe. The Pentagon ordered about 5,000 U.S. troops out of Germany earlier in 2026 amid tensions with Berlin, Fox News reported.It also echoes Trump's first term, when he ordered roughly 12,000 troops out of Germany in 2020. That plan drew bipartisan pushback and was frozen by President Joe Biden, CBS News reported.What US national security interest would this decision advance? I missed the Party of Reagan and Peace Through Strength. https://t.co/Un0R9eB6GY— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) September 17, 2026

11 Of The Best Things To Do In London This Mother's Day And Paddy's Day Weekend

03/17/23 5:02 PM

It's a Mother's Day *and* Paddy's Day double whammy, people.View Entire Post ›

17 Very British Tweets About The Very British Queue To See The Very British Queen's Coffin

09/24/22 1:25 AM

"If you’re British, this is the queue you’ve been training for all your life. The final boss of queues."View Entire Post ›