"We're Not Wombs": Japanese Women Fight Against Sterilisation Restrictions

03/13/26 12:30 PM

Kazane Kajiya and four other women are now challenging the constitutionality of Japan's decades-old "maternity protection" law, one of the world's most restrictive barriers to sterilisation.

'China Owner', Shadow Fleet - The Passkeys To Cross Strait Of Hormuz

03/13/26 1:19 PM

Supply chains remain disrupted, commodity prices have shot up and oil prices have crossed $100 a barrel as a war rages in the Middle East, particularly disrupting movement in the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz.

'Death is imminent': MAGA-voting Joe Rogan 'spooked' by this Trump fact

03/12/26 6:42 PM

Podcaster Joe Rogan this week described how President Donald Trump's upcoming 80th birthday — making him the oldest American president to date — has revealed something else about him. Rogan, who voted for Trump, was talking to British political commentator Konstantin Kisin on Wednesday for his podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience" and asked if the now slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would potentially see the president and say 'let's f--- with that guy," The Hill reported."Right, he’s 80, he doesn’t have much to lose. That’s the scary thing about old leaders — it’s like, death is imminent. It’s within a decade, if you’re lucky," Rogan said. "That’s spooky." "You’re making decisions for babies and children and the future of the world, and you’ve got maybe 10 years left on Earth if everything goes great," Rogan said. Trump's health has been called into question throughout his second term. The White House has tiptoed around sharing information about the president's health and has claimed that he has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which can cause swollen ankles. His administration has also stated that the president's frequent handshaking has caused hand bruising.

'Don't know about it': Trump plays dumb after US military admits it hit Iranian school

03/11/26 5:16 PM

President Donald Trump claimed not to know that the U.S. military determined that it was responsible for killing about 150 people in the accidental bombing of an Iranian girls' school."Day 11, and as you know, we're doing something that nobody ever thought was possible to do," Trump announced to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday. "Our military is the best, it's the most powerful in the world, and they're hitting them very hard.""A new report says that the military investigation has found that the United States struck the school in Iran," one reporter noted. "As Commander and Chief, do you take responsibility for that?""That is what?" Trump asked."The school in Iran. A new report says the military investigation has found it was the United States that struck the school," the reporter repeated. "I don't know about it," Trump replied dismissively.The president has previously blamed Iran for striking the school.

'GOP mutiny' reported as rising gas prices send Republicans into midterm panic

03/11/26 3:58 PM

Surging gas prices amid the war in Iran have sent Republicans in a tailspin. With midterms approaching, GOP lawmakers have growing concerns over how voters will respond at the polls, according to The Swamp, The Daily Beast's Substack."GOP mutiny over rising gas prices," The Swamp reported. "Republicans are panicking over prices at the pumps hurting their midterm prospects, with Rick Scott saying he doesn’t buy the administration’s claim that it’s a temporary spike." The MAGA senator said Wednesday that it will take the United States time to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz, where attacks have escalated in the channel and created an oil chokepoint for global trade. "We want prices to come down. I think unfortunately, prices are going to be up for a while until this ends," Scott told CNN. He argued that prices could come down, despite growing concerns over affordability. "The most important thing we can do right now, and our job right now, is we’d love to get gas prices back down but the most important thing is to destroy Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon, destroy their military, their ballistic missile capability and hopefully we end up with a country that wants to work with the world community," Scott said. "We all want gas prices to come down," he added. "Nobody wants gas prices higher. This president doesn’t want gas prices higher."Scott claimed that the U.S. had “no choice” but to enter the conflict and rising gas prices were now short-term problems.The timing has been troubling for Republicans, who have admitted that increasing energy prices have created political anxiety with elections just months away, according to Politico. Gas prices rose nearly 9 percent in the week after the bombing campaign began, with the national average for a gallon of regular gas hitting $3.25, according to AAA.Sen. Rick Scott: "Unfortunately, prices are gonna be up for a while" pic.twitter.com/ZcwbTSzImQ— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 11, 2026

'He wants to get out': Insiders spill about Trump's panicked plan to leave Iran

03/11/26 5:30 PM

White House insiders divulged what President Donald Trump was considering next after the U.S. and Israel started launching military strikes in Iran, a Wall Street Journal reporter said Wednesday. Josh Dawsey, WSJ political investigations reporter, told a CNN panel that although Trump hasn't mentioned an exact exit strategy, his administration was panicking amid rising oil prices, looming midterms, and Americans' dissatisfaction over the escalating conflict to figure out what the off-ramp would be to leave the war in the Middle East. "He doesn't have an appetite for a long term war, at least according to my sources that I've talked to, he's looking for ways to sort of message 'We've done this, we've done that. Now it's time to leave,'" Dawsey said. "The question is, have they said how much of that can he control? Right. If he says we're out of here, and then let's say the Iranians keep attacking with the missiles or drones or they have left, what does the president do? The president has a lot of power. He's obviously, you know, in a lot of ways, the most powerful figure in the world but he can't control everything, right. And some of these things are beyond his control. But he wants to get out at some point." Trump has appeared to be influenced by a variety of factors, which could ultimately determine how the U.S. strategizes its moves with Iran. "He watches the markets closely, you see when he makes comments, when he wants the markets to sort of go back up, he watches the markets closely, watches oil prices closely," Dawsey said. "He watches the MAGA supporters closely. I mean, Joe Rogan, I can quite tell you the president notices that he's watching voices, he's watching polling in his party. He's watching the midterms. And I don't think he has an appetite for a long term sustained conflict with Iran, at least according to what I'm told by folks inside the White House." Trump has plenty on his mind — and it's not just the war. "He launches a war, and then he goes to a MAGA fundraiser where he polls everyone in the room. 'Do you think it should be JD Vance or Marco Rubio?' That's what he does the first weekend," Dawsey said. "He's done college football events. He goes in the White House and he's talking about the ballroom. I mean, I'm not saying he's not focused on the war. I'm just saying he has so many other things that he's talking to people about."Dawsey argued that the Trump administration doesn't appear to be making an aggressive case for the public as to why Americans should support the war. Instead, the president has focused on multiple things at once. "He's spent two hours on Friday afternoon of the college sports, and NIL roundtable, he had all these celebrities, he's talking to them," Dawsey added. "I'm not saying president couldn't weigh in on that. A lot of people care about college sports but I mean, it's sort of discordant from what's going on in the world."

'It was insane': Trump White House caught by surprise over Sunday blow-up

03/11/26 1:27 PM

The implications of Donald Trump’s decision to attack and start a war with Iran hit the White House like a tidal wave on Sunday as administration officials went into panic mode when the price of oil skyrocketed.Trump "flipped out" over skyrocketing oil prices as the barrel approached $120, according to Financial Times columnist Ed Luce, who revealed the presidential meltdown on MS NOW. A White House insider confirmed the account to Politico.The outburst exposes a fundamental miscalculation by the administration: Trump officials apparently never anticipated that military operations in the Middle East would send energy markets into turmoil.A former Trump administration official admitted the administration requires a "consistent, multiweek read" of oil prices before reconsidering its strategy. "These temporary little gyrations are not what they're going to be basing their policy on," the official said, signaling that short-term price spikes won't alter military decisions.Multiple officials confirmed the administration has never seriously entertained changing its military approach in response to oil price increases.Yet the Sunday price spike caught even White House insiders off guard. "At the worst moments [Sunday] night, it was insane," a person close to the White House said. "That definitely surprised me, and it absolutely surprised them."Rather than adjust course, administration officials spent Monday attempting damage control—reassuring panicked traders about supply chain stability while simultaneously trying to calm anxious Republicans. GOP lawmakers worry the Iran war directly contradicts their midterm message centered on lowering the cost of living.Public concern is substantial. More than 70 percent of voters expressed worry that the war will drive up oil and gas prices, according to a Quinnipiac poll.White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers dismissed the price increases as temporary, claiming Trump views elevated oil and gas costs as "short-term disruptions."You can read more here.

'It's a concern': Iran getting under Trump's skin by derailing his war plans

03/12/26 2:08 PM

Trump is seething over Iran's exploitation of one of his biggest political vulnerabilities as soaring oil prices threaten to undermine his ability to declare victory in the war and devastate his economic messaging ahead of midterms.While the president attempts to put on a happy face over the military successes in Operation Epic Fury, Iran's deliberate disruption of energy markets has become an acute political headache. The regime is weaponizing oil prices—Trump's most visible economic liability—as a strategic response to the military campaign.According to Axios, Trump administration officials warn that the conflict could extend indefinitely if Iran successfully throttles the Strait of Hormuz and drives prices beyond Trump's tolerance threshold. "The Iranians f------ around with the Strait makes him more dug in," a senior administration official told Axios, describing a vicious cycle where energy market manipulation only hardens Trump's commitment to prolonging the conflict.RELATED: Iran is scheming to 'freak Trump out' by going after his 'soft underbelly': expertOil has already become Trump's obsession, consuming as much of his attention as battlefield intelligence. A Trump adviser acknowledged the internal tension: "The president sees the briefings. He sees the numbers. And he feels good about his decision, militarily. Oil is another matter. No one is panicking, but it's a concern. He's pulling out the stops. There's plenty of oil. It's just getting it on the market that's the thing."Trump's preferred price point is $50 per barrel. The oil industry targets around $60. Despite Trump's intervention, crude topped $100 Wednesday night after spiking as high as $120 earlier in the week.Iran has threatened to push prices to $200 per barrel—a move that would translate to approximately $5 per gallon at U.S. pumps, according to analysts.Domestically, the war is deeply unpopular. Trump's personal approval ratings are at historic lows, and gas prices—once his signature economic achievement—have become his most visible political liability heading into critical midterm elections.You can read more here.

'Psychotic': White House melts down after CNN airs Iran leader's first message

03/12/26 2:33 PM

The White House's "Rapid Response" team quickly went to work attacking CNN after the network broadcast the first public message from new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.The White House included a clip from CNN with part of the Iranian message in its attack."Mojtaba Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, in their first public speech, addressing the great nation of Iran and the brave fighters of Iran, the fatalities, those who were injured and also the address the leaders of some neighboring countries. The Islamic leader said that it has been very difficult to be the successor of Khamenei," an Iranian news reader said in a CNN clip amplified by the White House's social media account.The White House responded by smearing the American network."Fake News CNN just aired four straight minutes of uninterrupted Iranian state TV, run by the same psychotic and murderous regime that has prided itself on brutally slaughtering Americans for 47 years," a post by the "Rapid Response" team on X said.

'Trump flipped out': Journalist claims president dropped a 'big reveal' to enemies

03/11/26 11:59 AM

Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran is causing him to finally understand that his actions have consequences beyond his control, and he is reacting poorly to that realization, a journalist said.During an appearance on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,“ Financial Times editor and longtime columnist Ed Luce claimed the massive jump in oil prices after the Gulf of Hormuz was shut down caused the president to lose it–– which was good news for Iran’s leadership.Speaking with the hosts, he explained, “I mean, we saw it over the last couple of days when oil prices went up way above $100 [per barrel] to almost $120. Trump flipped out and then started reassuring the markets that he's going to pull out soon; the war's almost over and the oil price came back down.”“That was a big reveal, an unsurprising reveal,” he elaborated. “But that was the big reveal to the Iranians that they know his price point.”He continued, “They had confirmation of their suspicion that Trump thought this was going to be a quick one-and-done 12-day kind of war, and that now that it isn't, he's beginning to feel the pain. And I think we can bet pretty safely that Iran has a higher pain threshold than Donald Trump. So they now have the absolute key without needing naval capability or ballistic capability, let alone enriched uranium.” - YouTube youtu.be