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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 11 Tankers Attacked Near Strait of Hormuz Since Monday At least 11 tankers have been attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz since last Monday, threatening a recovery in Persian Gulf oil exports as fighting spreads across the region. Four of the attacks occurred in the past two days, underscoring the risks facing ships despite protection from U.S. forces, The New York Times reported Monday. The strikes came as Yemen's Saudi-backed government announced Sunday a major military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi militia following Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure.
Is it over for Iran? Oil, the rial and the oil minister all fail at once Iran's currency, the rial, surpassed IRR2.69mn to the dollar on October 5, hitting its lowest-ever rate against the US currency. This is while its terminals loaded no crude in September and its oil minister abruptly quit the night before, forcing his subordinate to take his place. The pressure on the Pezeshkian administration is truly mounting; is something about to break in Tehran? The short answer is no, and assuming Tehran will cave in this situation shows a misunderstanding of the Islamic Republic's mindset. The longer answer is that the three things that have kept the economy running - oil revenue, a manageable currency and a steady hand on the oil ministry- are all failing at the same time, and the date by which the last cushion runs out is now close. Let's start with oil exports, or lack thereof. Iran loaded no oil at its export terminals last month, the first time since the 1979 revolution, according to expatriate-based Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude oil analysis at Kpler, on October 3. Trump signs off on first military execution since 1961, and it will be by firing squad Donald Trump has approved a firing squad execution for Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others in the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. If it goes forward, it will be the first time the U.S. military has put one of its own to death since 1961. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced the decision on X, saying Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended death by U.S. Army firing squad and Trump approved it. Parnell called Hasan a jihadist and wrote, “Judgment day for Hasan has finally come.” Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle will set the time and place. On November 5, 2009, Hasan, then an Army major, walked into a processing center at Fort Hood where soldiers were preparing to deploy and opened fire on unarmed troops. It remains the deadliest attack ever carried out on an American military base. A military jury convicted him in 2013 and sentenced him to death. He has been held ever since at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, home of the military’s only death row. Former NY prosecutor claims AG Letitia James is threatening him — as he refuses to delete evidence of anti-Trump political corruption A former prosecutor in the New York attorney general’s office claims that Letitia James is threatening him after he blew the whistle on a scheme to take down President Trump – as he refuses to delete evidence of the alleged corruption. Daniel Wiesenfeld, who worked in James’ Investor Protection Bureau before he was axed last month, defiantly told his former boss Monday he would not be handing over “confidential and privileged” materials, according to email obtained by the Times-Union. The blistering email also included a photo of a detective’s business card from the AG’s Executive Protection Detail that had been jammed into his front door, the paper reported. New York declares measles disaster emergency as cases surge in Pennsylvania Executive order expands who can administer MMR vaccine, including pharmacists vaccinating children as young as 2 New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a statewide emergency on Monday over a measles outbreak spreading from Pennsylvania. It is the first time an emergency declaration has been issued since measles began surging in the U.S. in 2025. Pennsylvania has reported 977 measles cases and five deaths as of Oct. 2, with most cases centered in rural communities. Meanwhile, New York has reported 108 cases. "No one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease," Hochul said in a statement. Rubio fires back at Russia's bold call to pull diplomats out of Kyiv Russia constantly strikes Kyiv and urges foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital. The United States will decide for itself when to do so, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during his press conference. "Russia has been urging foreign diplomacy to leave the house for months. We have an embassy presence there, and we'll make the determination about whether it's safe for them to be there or not," he emphasized. Rubio noted that the United States would reconsider its decision if the situation changes and diplomats face a genuine threat. "We analyze the safety of every diplomatic mission in the world, and if a threat arises that we feel needs to be addressed by a change of posture, we'll do so," the US Secretary of State said. ‘Cornell 7’ fraternity brother apologizes to Jane Doe about ‘backlash’ in newly obtained phone call A Cornell University fraternity brother accused of gang-raping a student apologized to the alleged victim over the “backlash” she was receiving, according to a newly obtained phone call. Winston Lee, one of the seven members of Chi Phi named in last month’s lawsuit, allegedly snorted ketamine off the body of the Jane Doe who filed the suit. When Jane Doe called him, roughly three weeks after the reported incident in October 2024, Lee seemed apologetic at first. More than 1K protesters descend on Cornell, demand prez resign over alleged frat gang rape: ‘We are all Jane Doe’
The ‘Cornell 7’ members expelled, suspended, banned from campus revealed — contradicting accuser’s claim they only got slaps on wrist David Ellison’s $81B merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery officially completed David Ellison’s $81 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery officially closed Tuesday more than seven months after his winning bid, creating a new media behemoth known as Skydance. The combined company will include two historic film studios and their Hollywood lots; major streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+; CNN and CBS News; live sports channels including CBS Sports and TNT Sports; and thousands of iconic movie titles. “Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison, chairman and chief executive of Skydance, said in a statement. Even Biden DOJ officials called memo targeting parents as potential domestic terrorists ‘ridiculous’: bombshell emails Top Justice Department lawyers balked at the Biden administration’s attempts to prosecute parents who protested mask mandates and critical race theory at school board meetings as potential domestic terrorists in the fall of 2021, ripping senior officials’ push for the criminal probes as “ridiculous” and highly “political,” according to emails released Monday. Attorneys in Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco’s office expressed concern about the demand for federal criminal investigations at the behest of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), and mocked the partisan goals it would accomplish, messages published by the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group show. “This is ridiculous,” wrote Robyn Thiemann, an attorney in Monaco’s office, on Sept. 25, 2021. Corey Amundson, chief of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Divison called the effort, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Trump Hits Fox for Easy El-Sayed Interview President Donald Trump slammed Fox News for conducting a "softball" interview with Michigan progressive Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. Trump took aim at the network both during a Monday rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, and afterward on Truth Social, complaining that Fox gives too much airtime to Democrats while failing to give Republicans and his MAGA movement comparable coverage. "El-Sayed was interviewed just a little while ago on a certain network, I won't tell you which one," Trump told the Nebraska crowd. "They let this guy talk, talk, talk. They hardly fight him at all." Trump was referring to El-Sayed's lengthy appearance Monday on Fox News' "The Story," where host Martha MacCallum questioned the Democrat about terrorism, Iran, Medicare for All, and campaign financing.
Dem fundraising giant makes damning admission as GOP probes foreign donation allegations ActBlue said it was updating its passport verification standards in a letter to House GOP investigators Democrats' largest campaign fundraising platform says it has strengthened its donor verification standards days after House GOP investigators accused it of potentially taking in foreign donations for U.S. campaigns, according to a new letter obtained by Fox News Digital. Attorneys for ActBlue sent a letter to the House of Representatives on Monday announcing it is launching a new "passport verification program" as part of its "ongoing investment in the security of contributions processed from donors located abroad." House Republicans have for years accused ActBlue of having insufficient verification standards for weeding out illegitimate campaign donations. Border czar Tom Homan clashes with CBS interviewer over migrant deaths, asks for Biden-era data Border czar presses interviewer on whether he had Biden-era custody death statistics before defending ICE standards Border czar Tom Homan accused a CBS journalist of asking a "loaded question" in a Friday interview about how ICE treats detained illegal migrants, asking him whether he gathered statistics about migrant deaths under the Biden administration. CBS News' immigration correspondent Camilo Montoya-Galvez asked Homan about deaths in ICE custody under the Trump administration, noting that this year could set a "new record high." "How many people died during the Biden administration?" Homan immediately replied, followed by a long pause. "How many people died in custody during the Biden administration? Do you know?" "I don't have the data here," the CBS interviewer admitted. "Of course you don't," Homan said. "Again, it's another loaded question against the Trump administration." Millions saved by blocking dead people payouts as Trump Treasury drops hammer on federal fraud The 'Do Not Pay' program screened more than 1.1 billion federal payments totaling roughly $3.7 trillion in FY2026 The Treasury Department blocked $175 million in federal payments tied to deceased recipients in fiscal year 2026, up sharply from the $99 million identified just months earlier as the Trump administration expanded government-wide screening for improper payments. "I applaud Secretary [Scott] Bessent for slamming the door on these fraudsters before they can pick taxpayers’ pockets," Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy told Fox News Digital. "Unless you were playing Frisbee in the quad during Econ 101, you know the federal government shouldn’t be sending taxpayer money to dead people," Kennedy went on. "I fought for years to pass my common-sense bill to stop fraudsters from gaming the system, and now it’s the law." Dr. Drew: Russian Plague Scare Presents Little Threat Dr. Drew Pinsky told Newsmax on Monday that Americans should not be overly concerned about reports of a suspected pneumonic plague case in Russia, saying the bacterial disease can be contained and effectively treated with antibiotics. "This is a whole different situation, and this should be very easy to contain," Pinsky, chief of the medical board for The Wellness Co., told "American Agenda." The concern follows the death of Daria Shipilova, 28, a laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia.
A blue wave? The liberal media wants one, but voters might disagree Democrats are banking on voters’ dislike for President Trump carrying their party to victory in November By Liz Peek
Four weeks from today, Americans will go to the polls and set the country’s course for the next two years. Heads up to Republicans: things are shifting. The liberal media is positively giddy over polls showing Republicans lagging in key Senate races, and others showing the GOP likely to lose the House. But are their happy forecasts of a blue wave likely to prove right? Maybe, but there are signs that voters are beginning to look at Democrat candidates more closely, and they don’t like what they see. When long-time Democrat Debra Messing endorses Republican Bruce Blakeman for governor in New York State over incumbent Kathy Hochul, something is afoot. Incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins, considered vulnerable by Democrats, now leads her opponent, and Michigan Democrat candidate Abdul El-Sayed just lost the endorsement of an important union. Meanwhile, in Minnesota, which went for Kamala Harris in 2024, candidate Michele Tafoya could become the first Republican senator from the state since 2009. ‘Cornell 7’ crisis is a consequence of online porn — and the ‘sex-positive’ left By Bethany Mandel
“Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Political strategists from Niccolo Machiavelli to Winston Churchill to Rahm Emanuel have promoted that notion — and now it’s having another moment, as leftist activists and candidates latch on to the “Cornell 7” rape case as a means of advancing their own ends. And while these opportunists wield Jane Doe as their latest cudgel, they’re closing their eyes to how their own ideology fueled a culture that reduces women to mere sexual objects. Early Monday, Cornell University campus activists shattered windows and graffitied an administration building with messages like “Smash the Patriarchy” — all, they said, “for Jane Doe.” Their manifesto ordered administrators to “resign and turn power over to the students,” while also (of course) denouncing the university’s relationship with Israel. |
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