Funny but also not funny.
Donald Trump’s so-called “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth has earned himself a new nickname, current and former US officials tell us. Among various staffers and officials working within the august confines of the Pentagon and Department of Defense, the former ‘Fox & Friends’ co-host and “death and destruction”-obsessed Trump acolyte is known as “Dumb McNamara.”
The “present” that US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Iran gave Washington was allowing the safe passage of a number of fuel tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, a senior Arab diplomat and a US official tell The Times of Israel.I'm so old I remember when they had free safe passage all the time (a month ago).
When Bari Weiss took the reins of CBS News in October, her message was clear: that the public had lost trust in the network and that major change was needed to win viewers back and return it to its glory days. But through a series of actions over her turbulent six-month tenure as editor in chief, it appears the proud anti-woke warrior has instead helped destroy that trust—something that is now laid bare in the network’s rapidly shrinking ratings. Indeed, new ratings data obtained by Status isn’t just bad for Weiss. It is catastrophic.That vision isn't precisely identical to Kinsely-era Slate "contrarianism," but it is fundamentally equivalent. It is the same repackaging of elite conventional wisdom, maybe with the dial turned one notch to the right, as the bold truth-telling contrarianism that has been the staple of media outlets my entire life.
Delivered years late in May 2017, the Ford is the most expensive American warship ever built, at $13.2 billion.
And it’s been sent to sea for an extended deployment that included the conflicts with Venezuela and Iran — despite open questions about how well it would perform in a war.
The concerns around the Ford range from the potentially grave to the mundane, according to a new assessment from the Pentagon testing office, with many issues surfacing after it started combat testing in October 2022.
Among the lingering concerns: there isn’t enough current test data to assess the carrier’s “operational suitability,” or the reliability of several key systems, including its jet launch and recovery system, its radar, its ability to keep operating if hit by enemy fire and its elevators for moving weapons and munitions for warplanes from the hold to the flight deck.
You just explained why they are bad people, Cory, right there in the next sentence.Booker: "There are really good people in the Senate on both sides of the aisle, and I have these private conversations with my colleagues about what's wrong. But they're afraid or unwilling to say these things publicly. And that is the crisis that we're in. It's a crisis of conviction."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 24, 2026 at 6:02 PM
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The four-day poll, completed on Monday, showed 36% of Americans approve of Trump's job performance, down from 40% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week.Still I think various 'fever will break, good Republicans in the Senate will step up' fantasies won't happen no matter how low the numbers go. I could be wrong!
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Americans' views on Trump soured significantly with regard to his stewardship over the economy and the cost of living, as gasoline prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran on February 28. Just 25% of respondents approved of Trump's handling of the cost of living, an issue that was at the center of his 2024 presidential election campaign.
Only 29% of the country approves of Trump's economic stewardship, the lowest rating in either of Trump's presidential administrations and lower than any economic approval rating of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. Voters' worries about the economy and specifically the rising cost of living were a significant factor in Biden's loss and Trump campaigned on a promise to create a vibrant economy.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States sent a 15-point plan to Iran for a possible ceasefire, an official said, even as it began to move paratroopers to the Mideast to back up a contingent of Marines heading there on Wednesday. Iran’s military scoffed at the diplomatic effort and launched more attacks on Israel and the Persian Gulf region, including an assault that sparked a fire at Kuwait International Airport.Fool me once, shame on you.
Iranian officials have told the countries trying to mediate peace talks with the U.S. that they have now been tricked twice by President Trump and "we don't want to be fooled again," according to a source with direct knowledge of those discussions.No worries, The New Decider is in charge.
WASHINGTON — Each day since the start of the war in Iran, U.S. military officials compile a video update for President Donald Trump that shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours, three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official said.
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The daily montage typically runs for about two minutes, sometimes longer, the officials said. One described each daily video as a series of clips of “stuff blowing up.”
Lieberman likes expressions of American power. A few years ago, I was in a movie theatre in Washington when I noticed Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah, a few seats down. The film was “Behind Enemy Lines,” in which Owen Wilson plays a U.S. pilot shot down in Bosnia. Whenever the American military scored an onscreen hit, Lieberman pumped his fist and said, “Yeah!” and “All right!”
Trump on Iranian leaders: "They're gonna make a deal. They did something yesterday that was amazing actually. They gave us a present, and it arrived today. It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. I'm not gonna tell you what that present is but it was very significant prize"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 24, 2026 at 6:47 PM
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But the Trump administration has struggled to articulate the logic of the “general license” that the Treasury Department issued late Friday. The sanctions exemption allows Iranian oil to be sold to most countries, including the United States, for the next month. The sanctions relief for Iran followed a similar reprieve this month allowing Russian oil that is currently at sea to be sold.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who announced the Iran exemption, described the move as an act of martial artistry.
“In essence, we are jiujitsuing the Iranians,” Mr. Bessent said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday. “We are using their own oil against them.”
Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been pushing President Trump to continue the war against Iran, arguing that the U.S.-Israeli military campaign presents a “historic opportunity” to remake the Middle East, according to people briefed by American officials on the conversations.
