Tag: donald trump

Why Washington needs talks with Tehran more than it admits

In recent days, there has been a noticeable shift in US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric regarding Iran. Less than a week ago, Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran, threatening strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure if it refused to unblock the Strait of Hormuz. Now, Trump has expressed openness to negotiations and even claims that some contact with the Iranian side has taken place. This rhetorical shift may not reflect a genuine diplomatic process but could be part of an information strategy. After it became clear that Tehran was unwilling to make concessions and was unresponsive to Trump’s coercive pressure, the US attempted to make it look like the Iranian side was the one suggesting talks.

Israeli news outlet Ynet claims that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has agreed to negotiate with the US. However, no credible evidence has surfaced to back this, raising questions about the sources of the information and its purpose. Given the current dynamics, these reports can be seen as propaganda aimed at crafting an image of Iran as vulnerable and eager for urgent dialogue with Washington. These interpretations might serve to reinforce the narrative of Tehran’s weakening position.

In Tehran, this is perceived as an attempt to influence global energy markets. Public signals from the US, particularly from Trump, affect oil and gas price dynamics, especially amid tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz – a critical artery for global hydrocarbon supplies. In this context, talk of negotiations can be viewed as a tool for stabilizing expectations and reducing market volatility.

Iranian society and elites remain skeptical about negotiations with the US. Based on past experiences, Iran believes that diplomatic agreements with Washington do not lead to long-term de-escalation and are often followed by increased pressure or an escalation of the conflict. In the current situation, Iran maintains that its position does not necessitate immediate negotiations. Furthermore, within the regional landscape, Iran possesses the capability for asymmetric influence, utilizing allied actors and indirect means of leverage.

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FTC Warns PayPal, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard Against Debanking

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent letters on Thursday to the CEOs of PayPal, Stripe, Visa and Mastercard, warning them against debanking practices — including denying access to services due to a customer’s lawful business activities.

“It is inconsistent with American values to deny law-abiding individuals the ability to run their legitimate businesses and feed their families because they attracted the ire of rogue American officials, overzealous activists, or, more worryingly, foreign governments seeking to control public discourse,” the letters read. “That is why President Trump’s August 7, 2025, Executive Order on debanking makes clear that it is unacceptable to debank law-abiding citizens due to ‘political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities.’”

As XBIZ reported last year, that executive order prohibits banks, savings associations, credit unions or other financial service providers from restricting access to accounts, loans or other services on the basis of a customer’s lawful business activities “that the financial service provider disagrees with or disfavors for political reasons.”

Following Trump’s executive order, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a report on debanking, in which it named adult entertainment as one of several sectors facing discrimination for engaging in activities contrary to banks’ “values.”

Ferguson’s letters inform the targeted companies that deplatforming such customers, or denying them access to financial products or services, could lead to an FTC investigation and potential enforcement action.

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2,000 Marines Arrive in Arabian Sea on USS Tripoli Assault Ship as Trump Admin Weighs Deploying Up to 10,000 More Ground Troops to Middle East 

Thousands of Marines and Sailors have arrived in the Arabian Sea on board the USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship, carrying fighter jets, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets.

CENTCOM announced on X,

U.S. Sailors and Marines aboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, March 27. The America-class amphibious assault ship serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group / 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit composed of about 3,500 Sailors and Marines in addition to transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets.

U.S. Sailors and Marines aboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, March 27. The America-class amphibious assault ship serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group / 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit composed of about… pic.twitter.com/JFWiPBbkd2

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 28, 2026

Fox reports that “nearly 2,000 Marines” are on the ship with fighter jets and gun ship helicopters. Additionally, the USS George H.W. Bush Aircraft Carrier is expected to depart from Norfolk, Virginia, next week.

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Trump Calls on Senate to End Filibuster, Says “Weak and Ineffective” Republican Senators that Stand in the Way Should be “Exposed”

President Trump once again called on Republican Senators to end the filibuster amid ongoing gridlock and partial government shutdown.

The Senate very early Friday morning, after a marathon session, unanimously approved a voice-vote package to fund the Department of Homeland Security, except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and key parts of Customs and Border Protection.

Democrats flat-out refused to support full funding without gutting immigration raids and deportation operations.

Instead of fighting for the full funding, Thune and the Senate GOP folded in the dead of night, when no one was watching.

The House of Representatives late Friday night passed a short-term DHS funding bill.

The House voted 213-203 to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security for 8 weeks.

However, the bill is likely dead on arrival in the Senate because it won’t get the 60 votes needed to pass the measure.

The SAVE America Act is still stalled in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and others have floated passing the SAVE America Act through reconciliation which only requires 51 votes.

This requires approval from the Senate Parliamentarian and she would immediately slash the SAVE America Act from the reconciliation package because it is not a budgetary item.

The only option is to nuke the filibuster and pass bills with 51 votes in the Senate.

The president once again called on Senators to nuke the filibuster.

Trump said it is time to expose the Republican Senators who stand in the way.

“It is time for the Senate Filibuster to END. Those weak and ineffective Republicans Senators that stand in the way of this should be exposed to the public. The Democrats are CRAZY!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

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US-Iran war live: Donald Trump drops hint that massive escalation is imminent

Donald Trump seemed to drop a hint about his intentions in Iran on Sunday, Australian time, as he directed his followers on social media to tune in for a media appearance by a conservative political commentator, Mark Levin.

“Watch Mark Levin interview of Brilliant Marc Thiessen tonight at 8pm on Fox News. Will discuss the importance of hitting Iran, HARD!!! President DJT,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Mr Thiessen, now a columnist and TV panelist, previously worked as a speechwriter for the Republican president George W. Bush. He and Mr Levin are both very much in favour of the Iran war.

The TV segment in question turned out to involve Mr Levin advocating for a dramatic escalation in Iran, which would involve the deployment of US ground troops to the country. He suggested Mr Trump should order the American military to seize the regime’s stores of enriched uranium.

Such an operation would be fraught with danger for US forces.

“Why would we need troops on the ground?” Mr Levin said, before answering the question for his viewers.

“Well there’s a lot of reasons, and we wouldn’t need 300,000 of them,” he said.

“It’s this uranium too. We’ve got to get the uranium.

“If it cannot be destroyed, if it cannot be altered, we’ve gotta get it. For the reason I just said, you can make dirty bombs and over time you can still make sophisticated missiles.

“So you need to get to the uranium. That’s why I’m reading, in the paper, we’re talking about (various troop deployments). It’s not talking abouts ending regular army and infantry in by the hundreds of thousands. The men he’s talking about, they are specialised.

“You know what else? I remember from my days in the Reagan administration. Many of them are trained for a moment like this. To try to secure enriched uranium.”

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White House Slams Former Obama-Appointed Federal Prosecutor for Tweeting FAKE Trump Truth Social Post About Tiger Woods

The White House slammed a former federal prosecutor for tweeting a fake Trump Truth Social post about Tiger Woods.

Golf legend Tiger Woods was involved in a major rollover car crash in Jupiter, Florida, on Friday.

Authorities said Tiger Woods, 50, took a breathalyzer test and blew “triple zeros,” which means alcohol was not a factor.

Woods then refused to submit a urine test, so he was arrested and charged with a DUI.

Tiger Woods was not injured in the crash.

President Trump told reporters on the tarmac in Miami on Friday that Tiger Woods is an amazing person.

Joyce Vance, a former US Attorney who served during the Obama Administration and TDS sufferer, fell for a fake Trump Truth Social post about Tiger Woods.

In the fake post, Trump called on Governor Ron DeSantis to pardon Tiger Woods so he can “focus on The Masters and help to Make Golf Great Again!”

“We’re at war. Air travel is a mess. There are measles outbreaks. The price of gasoline is skyrocketing. So of course, the president is focused on keeping his pal out of jail,” Joyce Vance said in the caption.

The White House slammed her for posting a fake Trump quote.

“Not a real post, idiot. Joyce was a federal prosecutor for 25 years. Imagine all the cases she tried with this type of stupidity,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung said.

“Stunning that she is this dense or she has let her Trump Derangement Syndrome warp her sense of reality,” he said.

“Either way, she is a moron,” he added.

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Why Is The Trump DOJ Still Enforcing The Biden Pistol Brace Rule?

The current Department of Justice is choosing to continue enforcing an unconstitutional legal theory being weaponized against gun owners by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

According to a recent statement in GOA’s Texas et al. v. ATF case, DOJ claims that ATF “continue[s] to enforce the NFA’s and the GCA’s regulation of short-barreled rifles against some brace-equipped pistols, even though the Rule has been universally vacated.”

For those who are unfamiliar, in 2022 the Biden Administration issued an executive order instructing the Department of Justice to ban pistol braces, a popular firearm accessory designed to allow shooters with disabilities to “brace” their firearms against their forearm.

The Biden DOJ used this rule to effectively outlaw firearms equipped with stabilizing braces, by regulating them as short-barreled firearms under the National Firearms Act. This move turned the law-abiding owners of upwards of 40 million pistol braces  into felons practically overnight, unless they destroyed their firearm or registered it with the federal government.

GOA and other pro-gun groups challenged this pistol brace rule in multiple courts across the country, culminating with a total elimination of the rule in court.

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Is Trump hooked on ‘war porn’? The disturbing rumours about what really goes on in the Situation Room… and why it makes the President think he’s winning

President Donald Trump would like the world to think a ceasefire with Iran is still possible. But within the bowels of the Pentagon and the White House, his military commanders are preparing something very different.

Anonymous defence department sources are warning us to expect ‘the final blow’ – a massive air, sea and land assault to open the Strait of Hormuz, save the world economy and crush Tehran’s resistance once for and all.

The plans are shrouded in mystery of course. The scope and the timetable keep shifting. The only certainty is that the action, when it takes place, will be recorded on camera and the explosion-filled footage will be edited into short video compilations to impress the Commander-in-Chief.

War is a deadly business but, for Trump, life inside the campaign headquarters is a non-stop video game.

Officials from US Central Command are not only obliged to ensure that America’s increasingly complex operations in the Middle East run smoothly. According to high-level sources, the top brass must also, on a daily basis, feed their screen-addicted President a satisfying stream of ‘stuff blowing up’.

Ever since Operation Epic Fury began one month ago with the first bombings of Iran, Trump’s workday routine has included regular sit-downs amid the oak panels and big screens of the newly renovated White House Situation Room alongside his close advisers.

There, in every session, the team is reportedly shown ‘strike montages’ which, lasting two or three minutes, feature satellite or aircraft footage of Iranian targets being pulverised into smoke and dust. Not all of them, of course. America’s warplanes and missiles have struck some 10,000 targets in the last four weeks, so there is not time to review every action. The videos are more of a highlights package.

There’s said to be a ‘written component’ to these briefings, but everybody knows that Trump is a visual creature.

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Trump admin secures denaturalization of two people who lied on citizenship application

The Justice Department announced Thursday that it had secured the denaturalization of two people who were convicted of lying on their U.S. citizenship application about their criminal history.

The decisions come as the Trump administration boosts its efforts to denaturalize migrants who conceal crimes on their applications to become U.S. citizens.

“American citizenship is a sacred privilege – not a cheap status that can be obtained dishonestly,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “These actions reflect this Department of Justice’s ongoing efforts to strip citizenship from people who conceal crimes or defraud the American people during the immigration process.” 

The department says Ukrainian migrant Vladimir Volgaev concealed and misrepresented his involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle more than a thousand firearms components out of the United States. 

Volgaev began helping with the operation to purchase, package and smuggle firearm components to individuals in Ukraine and Italy in 2011 but failed to disclose it when he became a U.S. citizen in 2016. He was convicted in 2020 of smuggling goods from the U.S. and theft of government money or property.

 “The United States provided Volgaev with safety, housing, and citizenship, and he returned those gains with malice, including by defrauding one of the federal agencies that provided him benefits,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said.

In the other denaturalization case, a Florida resident’s citizenship was revoked after she admitted to conspiring to commit health care fraud in 2019. Cuban migrant Mirelys Cabrera Diaz was awarded U.S. citizenship in 2017, but she committed the crimes between 2011 and 2014. 

She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 29 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of over $6 million, the Justice Department also said.

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Pete Hegseth’s Christianity Is Not the Christianity of the Bible

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [fleshly]. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood.

The Apostle Paul

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sees himself as a crusader. He calls himself a Christian. He believes his faith instructs him to “kill the infidels.” And as did the crusaders in the Middle Ages, Hegseth views the “infidels” primarily as the Muslim people. But Hegseth’s “Christian” crusade goes well beyond that. If he were able to annihilate every Muslim on earth, he would then set his sights on anyone who does not share his heretical Christian Nationalist ideology.

With a “divine” mission to “kill, kill, kill” (Hegseth’s words), there is no need and no room for rules of engagement. In fact, Hegseth calls the rules of engagement “stupid.” There is no need and no room for Just War. There is no need and no room for international law. There is no need and no room for constitutional law. As Hegseth sees it, his wars are “anointed” by God.

Back in 2001 and 2003, GW Bush and the neocons in his administration justified the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by accusing the Muslims in those regions of being “religious fanatics.” And in truth, the fanatics within Islam are almost exclusively subgroups within Sunni Islam—including the members of ISIS, ISIL, al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, etc. You know, the Muslim fanatics that are supported by Donald Trump and the U.S. government, the ones that Trump helped to put in power in Syria. But they are rarely found (at least in large numbers) within Shia Islam.

Today, however, the “religious fanatics” are located in Washington, D.C., and in Christian Zionist evangelical churches, personified in Pete Hegseth.

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