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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 HERE) World & Nation Strait of Hormuz Transits Drop as US, Iran Escalate Attacks Across Gulf Just three commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the fewest daily transits since May, shipping data showed, with most ships halting or making U-turns after recent Iranian attacks on vessels and the resumption of a U.S. blockade on Iran-related shipping. The re-escalation in fighting between the U.S. and Iran has once again largely stopped traffic through Hormuz, the world's most important shipping route for oil and gas, driving up global energy prices. Miraan, a sanctioned product tanker carrying fuel oil, and Norita, a small vessel carrying liquefied petroleum gas, exited the strait on Thursday via the Iranian route but stopped at the Gulf of Oman, where the U.S. blockade is, Kpler data showed as of 0513 GMT on Friday.
US hammers bridges around key Iran port of Bandar Abbas on sixth straight night of airstrikes US forces sought to cut off the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas early Friday, striking road and rail bridges as the Trump administration stepped up efforts to ease Tehran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz. The airstrikes also dramatically toppled a surveillance tower in Iran’s southernmost city of Chabahar, located on a key trade route for landlocked, neighboring Afghanistan. US Central Command (CENTCOM) called the structure “part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran tells citizens to turn off AC to preserve power grid, blames US strikes for strain
Iranian strikes hit major source of Kuwaiti drinking water, injure soldiers in latest attack against US ally US forces hit ‘military logistics infrastructure,’ other targets in latest Iran strikes, CENTCOM says At least eight killed in Iranian strikes on U.S. ally Iran killed at least eight people in attacks on America's Kurdish allies in Iraq, the region's president reported. Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, condemned the strikes. "Targeting the region and the resumption of violence are a serious escalation and a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty," he said in a statement. Leaked Iran report finds record public anger as regime focuses on holding power 'If anything, this research understates the depth of Iranians’ rage,' analyst says A confidential report prepared for Iran’s presidency is raising a consequential question for Washington and its allies: Do extraordinary levels of public anger and support for systemic change justify reassessing whether the Islamic Republic may be more vulnerable to regime change than previously believed? The classified document, titled "What Iran Wants," reportedly found that only 9% of respondents supported maintaining the status quo, with 53% calling for fundamental or structural reforms and more than 19% favoring changing the political system outright. Taken together, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed reportedly supported either deep structural reform or replacement of the existing system — findings that could strengthen arguments that Iran’s political crisis has moved beyond dissatisfaction with individual leaders or policies.
Iran fired on US bases across Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan — and now claims it destroyed American radars in Oman too While the United States has intensified its airstrikes against Iran, centering its attacks in the south along the coastal region, and other deep strikes, it also fired Hellfire missiles on an empty tanker that was headed for Kharg Island, after it attempted to run the US Navy’s blockade. Iran responded on Thursday with several attacks using missiles and drones targeting Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, which host US bases. Iraq’s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, reported that there was an overnight drone attack on the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. The attack, which was intercepted, came as al-Zaidi pledged during a trip to the Washington to disarm non-state armed groups, which Iran’s proxy militias have refused to obey. Trump releases declassified election intelligence, says it reveals 'shocking vulnerabilities' Trump releases trove of information related to ballot counting vulnerabilities, China interference, Michigan voter-registration investigation and noncitizens on voter rolls President Donald Trump addressed the nation Thursday evening on "free and fair" elections, announcing the declassification of critical intelligence that reveals, as he said, "shocking vulnerabilities" related to "hacking, exploitation and foreign interference." "This vital information is for many years been covered up and hidden from you," Trump said. "The American people are beautiful, our great American people. But that all changes right now." Trump did not claim China changed votes or altered election results. Instead, he argued Beijing engaged in an influence campaign aimed at shaping U.S. public perceptions. Documents were posted to the White House website during the president's speech. Tsunami threat issued for Mexico, Guatemala after magnitude 7.3 earthquake along the Pacific Ring of Fire A tsunami threat was issued for Mexico and Guatemala within 186 miles of the earthquake's epicenter. A major earthquake struck off the coast of Mexico, near the Guatemala border on Friday morning, causing a tsunami threat to be issued for the coasts of both countries. The earthquake happened at 7:48 a.m. Pacific time, and was originally reported as a magnitude 7.4 before being recalculated as a magnitude 7.3. It was reported at a depth of 6.2 miles, and happened about 30 miles southwest of Aquiles Serdán, Mexico, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The US military just emptied a third of its deepest missile magazine into Iran — and the Pentagon’s own wargames say the next war empties it in days The U.S. Military’s Tomahawk Crisis: How Many Are Left, What the Iran War Used, and What a China War Would Take: As of July 17, 2026, the United States has fired well over 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iran, the largest expenditure of the weapon in history, and with the ceasefire declared dead on July 8, the meter is running again. Roughly 2,000 to 3,000 missiles are estimated to remain, against a production line that has built about 90 a year. The sharper question is the one the war has forced into the open: whether the magazine that just emptied into Iran could sustain the conflict it exists to deter, against China or Russia. The honest answer, drawn from the Pentagon’s own wargames, is unsettling. Nearly five months into America’s war with Iran, one of the conflict’s most consequential numbers has nothing to do with targets destroyed. It is the count of Tomahawk cruise missiles expended, because that count has collided with three facts the defense establishment has known for years and hoped not to test at once: the inventory is finite and smaller than most people assume, the production line is a trickle, and the wars planners most worry about, in the Western Pacific, would demand these weapons at rates the stockpile cannot meet. With the ceasefire declared over on July 8 and CENTCOM striking dozens of coastal air-defense, naval, and logistics targets in the days since, the expenditure is climbing again. Here is the full picture as of July 17: what is left, what has been used, and what the next war would take. Sen. Fetterman says he’ll leave the Democratic Party if it 'officially' becomes 'anti-Israel' Sen. John Fetterman said he would leave the Democratic Party if it “officially” becomes “the anti-Israel party.” For the first time this week, the Pennsylvania Democrat laid out a specific condition that would cause him to quit his party as his relationship with fellow Democrats has soured deeply. “If they put that in our platform — no aid for Israel, and officially become the anti-Israel party, then yeah, that’s a red line for me,” Fetterman told NBC News on Thursday. “Democrats, we’ve always should support Israel. That’s our special ally, you know? In the only democracy in the entire region, that’s Israel. So I’m always proud to stand with Israel.” He added that it would be a problem for him “if the Democratic Party officially says ‘Israel is the problem, Israel doesn’t deserve to exist, and I’m never going to support aid, and I’m not going to call out Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran as terrorists, and they are the problem in the region.’” FAA Chief Seeks $10 Billion for Air Traffic Control Systems The head of the Federal Aviation Administration says the agency needs another $10 billion from Congress to reform the antiquated U.S. air traffic control system as policymakers prepare for traffic to double in the next two decades. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency is moving rapidly to deploy the first $12.5 billion approved by Congress after years of neglect. "We're behind 20 years. The system is extremely safe, but it comes at the price of inefficiency and inconvenience," Bedford said in an interview. "Americans tolerate this hugely inefficient system ... And as long as it's safe, I think that sort of saps the will to fix it."
Markwayne Mullin to announce election security crackdown after The Post reveals DHS IDs 275K noncitizens registered to vote Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Friday is to announce new election security crackdowns after The Post a day earlier revealed the feds found at least 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in US federal elections. Mullin will address the Trump administration’s “efforts to secure American elections” during an 11 a.m. news conference following the president’s Thursday primetime speech on vulnerabilities with US voting. “Only Americans should be electing American leaders,” Mullin said in a post to X announcing the briefing. In the speech, Trump confirmed The Post’s reporting of the 278,000 illegal voter registrations — noting the full total could be far larger. Marco Rubio: America will no longer ignore the threat of left-wing violence By Marco Rubio Secretary of State Marco Rubio opened the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism at the State Department yesterday, warning far-left extremism and violence are on the rise. Here is an excerpt of his remarks: For far too long our counterterrorism doctrine has had a blind spot — a blind spot when it comes to extremist violence from the political left. Even today, the very idea that far-left terrorism could be a serious threat is treated as a right-wing fever dream, or worse, as a dangerous fascist conspiracy. It’s treated this way by many in the press, by many in academia and our universities, and by many of our legacy institutions. You will no doubt see the dogma rear its head in the coverage of this very conference. In spite of the clear and the undeniable reality, in spite of the objective numbers and statistics, in spite of the fact that in this room today there are representatives from across the political spectrum, we will hear this organized — that this kind of organized violence and terror will be dismissed. It will be dismissed as a partisan fiction. |
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