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 My son has narrated the last book I wrote.
Please consider listening to it and encouraging others to do so too. (Click on Book Cover) World & Nation Iran demands compensation for Strait of Hormuz oil spill — which the regime allegedly caused Iran is demanding compensation for an oil spill that reached its shores this week — which the regime allegedly caused itself after it attacked a tanker trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Thursday that the country was fighting an oil spill along the Strait of Hormuz and claimed that a “foreign bulk carrier” appeared to be the source. But the spill was likely from the Minoan Pioneer, a bulk carrier that was attacked by Iran on Aug. 3 while sailing in Omani waters, according to TrankerTrackers.com. Dire conditions reported aboard USS Abraham Lincoln as sailors try to jump overboard after longest deployment-ever at sea
Iranian photojournalist faces 15 years in prison over images, reporting Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt condemn Iranian attack on UAE-affiliated tankers Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and Bahrain issued statements Friday condemning an Iranian attack on two tankers affiliated with the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned energy company as they transited the Strait of Hormuz. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemns the Iranian attack targeting two UAE oil tankers belonging to [the] Abu Dhabi National Oil Company that were crossing the Strait of Hormuz, considering it a severe violation of international law, the freedom of maritime navigation, and a clear violation of UN Security Council resolution 2817.” The resolution, signed adopted in March, condemns Iran’s "egregious attacks" against its regional neighbors in the Middle East, according to the U.N. Scott Bessent: Trump Fixed Biden's 'Mess' — Economy Is Rising Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" on Thursday that President Donald Trump inherited an economic "mess" but has engineered an economic turnaround that's "working." Bessent told host Rob Schmitt that Trump's policies are already delivering lower inflation and improving purchasing power for American workers — a recovery he portrayed as remarkable given the damage he said the administration inherited. Bessent's interview came as new federal data showed prescription drug costs saw their biggest decline in 60 years after Trump made lowering prices a national priority. Bessent said Americans have legitimate reasons to remain frustrated after years of elevated prices. CENTCOM Slams USS Lincoln 'Misreporting' U.S. Central Command took to social media to slam "rampant misreporting" about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln. CENTCOM pushed back late Thursday against reports surrounding the aircraft carrier's extended Middle East deployment, specifically denying claims that seven sailors died in a brawl and that the ship has experienced a spike in suicidal ideation. "These reports are FALSE," CENTCOM said in an X post, calling the coverage "a disservice to our men and women in uniform and their loved ones." The command said no service members aboard the Lincoln have died during the deployment.
Japan erupts in fury and fear after Putin crosses into disputed territory Relations between Japan and Russia have come under renewed pressure after Vladimir Putin made his first visit to a group of strategically important islands that both countries claim as their own. Tokyo responded with a formal diplomatic protest, summoning Russia’s ambassador after the Russian president travelled to Etorofu, known as Iturup in Russia. According to The Guardian, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described Putin’s visit as “absolutely unacceptable”, reinforcing Tokyo’s longstanding claim to the territory just off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Japan refers to the disputed territory as the Northern Territories, while Moscow considers the islands part of the Southern Kurils. 'Extremist' and 'barbaric': Massachusetts Democrats break ranks over new abortion law New law removes restrictions on abortions past 24 weeks, allowing the procedure based on physician judgment A new Massachusetts law eliminating gestational limits on abortion has drawn backlash from conservatives and sparked a rift among state Democrats. The Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act passed 119-33 in the state House of Representatives on July 22, largely along party lines. The bill, signed into law this week by Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, removes statutory restrictions on abortions past 24 weeks, allowing physicians to perform the procedure later in pregnancy based on their professional medical judgment and grants greater protection from legal penalties. Nine House Democrats voted against the legislation alongside Republicans. Speaking to Fox News Digital, several dissenting lawmakers cited ethical and legal concerns, and said the bill does not align with the majority of their constituents' opinions on abortion. Teachers union boss calls out Mamdani admin over embarrassing NYC school reading scores Zo’s honeymoon with the teachers union is over. The boss of the influential teachers union called out Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration’s literacy initiative after more than half of city’s public school kids failed their reading proficiency exams. United Federation President Mike Mulgrew took aim at the NYC Reads program after the embarrassing showing by students in grades 3-5 on their state English Language Arts exam, showing a rift with the labor group and the democratic socialist mayor eight months into his term. FBI seized phones from Mark Walter, top deputy before $12.5B Lakers sale to Josh Kushner, Bob Iger: report The FBI seized the phones of billionaire Mark Walter and a top Guggenheim Investments executive last year as federal prosecutors investigated businesses in his sprawling financial empire — months before he struck a $12.5 billion deal to sell the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. Agents took the phone of Guggenheim Investments President Dina DiLorenzo in September on the same day they seized Walter’s phone and laptop, according to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the probe. The seizures indicate that federal scrutiny extended beyond Walter-controlled insurance companies — which previously disclosed subpoenas from the US attorney’s office in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission — and reached Guggenheim, the $260 billion asset-management giant Walter leads as chief executive. Billionaire Mark Walter’s phone and laptop were seized by the FBI as federal prosecutors investigated entities he controlled. Suspect charged with vandalizing DC World War II memorial with bubble soap, red graffiti DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced charges Friday against a woman who allegedly vandalized the capital’s World War II Memorial by pouring bubble soap into its fountain and spray-painting a cryptic message on its stone edifice. Pirro said in an X post that prosecutors in her office were filing two felony charges against Melissa L. Farris, accusing her of depredation against property of the US and destruction of veterans’ memorials. Farris was in federal custody as of Friday morning, added Pirro. Each count carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison upon conviction. Hidden alliance links Tucker Carlson and Hasan Piker — and puts US in mortal danger An arresting image from the last century should haunt us in this one. In November 1940, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrived in Berlin to deepen Moscow’s pact with Nazi Germany, supposedly communism’s mortal enemy. “The hammer and sickle on Soviet flags fluttering alongside swastika banners provided an extraordinary spectacle in the Reich’s capital,” historian Ian Kershaw later wrote. And although the Nazi-Soviet pact collapsed months later when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, its lesson endures: Extremists who appear to hate one another can readily make common cause against an enemy they hate even more. Today, that enemy is America. Glamorous escort accused of planting trash can bomb that killed Ukrainian defector: reports A glamorous Russian escort has been charged with the assassination of a high-ranking Ukrainian defector who was blown up by a bomb in a trash can, according to reports. Margarita Reut, 32, was arrested in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea after Thursday’s blast killed Robert Shageev — an officer in the Kremlin’s Black Sea Fleet who was wanted for high treason, according to the Telegraph. The blast, allegedly carried out on Kyiv’s orders, killed the 49-year-old commander on the spot. Reut was quickly arrested and confessed, according to reports. She was remanded on a charge of terrorism leading to death, according to Russian-based E2W News. White House border czar Tom Homan defends ICE electric shock gloves as tools to avoid deadly force White House border czar Tom Homan defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s plan to give officers gloves that deliver painful electric shocks, calling them a tool to help officers end confrontations without using deadly force. “It’s another device to help someone get compliant when they are not,” Homan said Thursday in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.” “You can’t just go from 0 to 100, right, and the first thing you go for is lethal force.” Homan’s remarks were the Trump administration’s first public defense of ICE’s plan to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents. Gun rights groups capitalize after judge reverses decades-old restrictions: 'Monumental' The ruling also appears poised to stand without a challenge from the federal government Gun rights advocates are wasting little time putting a "huge" federal court victory into action after a judge struck down decades-old firearms restrictions as unconstitutional. Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Silencer Shop, a federal firearms licensee covered by the ruling linked to the sale and transfer of silencers, notified the Trump administration Thursday they planned to begin transferring gun silencers without going through the National Firearms Act registration and approval process that has governed such transactions for decades. Just after midnight Thursday, two gun owners walked out of a Texas firearms dealer with silencers without first completing the federal registration and approval process that has governed such transfers for generations, according to Gun Owners of America. GOA said Brandon Herrera and Texas state Rep. Wes Virdell acquired the suppressors from Silencer Shop in Leander, Texas, in what the gun rights group called the first lawful transfers without National Firearms Act registration since the law was enacted in 1934. Trump Announces Tariffs of up to 100% on Imported Drones President Donald Trump announced on Thursday tariffs of up to 100% on imports of unmanned drones and their components to reduce U.S. reliance on imports in an industry dominated by China. The president justified the decision on national security grounds, according to a White House statement that detailed a 100% duty rate on the import of certain unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), as they are formally known. Those with a takeoff weight of more than 25 kilograms and with so-called national security capabilities such as thermal cameras and docking stations will be tariffed at 100%. Smaller drones face a 25% tariff.
Why can’t the WNBA just say what a woman is? By New YorkPost Editorial Board
An organization with the word “women” in its name should be able to say what a woman is, but the Women’s National Basketball Association can’t bring itself to affirm something so basic, for fear of defying progressive pieties about “gender identity.” Former NBA players Enes Kanter and Royce White have pushed the issue by announcing their intention to enter the WNBA draft as women; the league held an emergency meeting to try to draw up a policy that would clearly exclude them — and found it couldn’t. Instead, it announced a lack of “immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA” while denouncing “bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others.” But Kanter and White aren’t acting in bad faith, exactly; they’re calling out the hypocrisy of a women’s sports league bowing to a perverse ideology that allows some depraved men to pose as women. Letting men play would destroy the WNBA, and everyone knows it — as they know that neither Kanter nor White is truly sincere. What my son's ultrasound taught me about abortion — and Massachusetts ignores Massachusetts erased key late-term abortion limits. At 24 weeks, that’s not a minor change — it’s a moral line crossed. By Kaylee McGhee White
My son turned 1 year old last month, but I still have his ultrasound pictures up on the fridge. They were the first time I got to see his little hands, his feet, and even his eyes open wide and looking, somehow, right at me. He was 20 weeks along in that picture. Already kicking. Already reaching. Already becoming the boy who now pulls himself up on that same refrigerator door. I thought of him — of those pictures curling on my fridge — as I watched Massachusetts Democrat Gov. Maura Healey sign a law this week that strips protections from every baby at the same stage of pregnancy against late-term abortion. The state’s new law, the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act, guts existing legislation that restricted abortions at 24 weeks and later to cases involving the mother’s life, physical or mental health, or severe fetal diagnoses, and replaces those specific statutory conditions with a sweeping new standard stating that "an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician." No gestational limit. No requirement that any particular maternal or fetal condition be present. |
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