Secretary of State Marco Rubio drew a hard line in Bahrain on Wednesday, and it was aimed straight at Tehran. Iran wants to start charging ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Rubio told them to forget it. Speaking to press on June 25, Rubio said there is “zero support” among Gulf countries for any tolls or fees on the world’s most important oil chokepoint. He did not leave Iran any wiggle room on the wording either. Call it a toll, call it a fee, call it a donation, call it a payment for “security” or “environmental” services. Rubio said the United States views all of it as the same thing: a demand for money to use international water. And the answer is no. The reason this matters is the number behind it. The New York Post reports Iran is eyeing a scheme that could pull in roughly $40 billion a year by charging vessels for security and environmental-related services tied to passage through the strait. Tehran has reportedly been studying fee models from other international waterways to build a framework it could try to impose. The Post notes that President Trump’s MOU with Iran guarantees toll-free safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days while broader talks continue, and that Rubio warned a toll scheme could imperil that emerging peace arrangement. The report also places Rubio’s warning inside the broader pressure campaign around the Iran talks, where shipping access, nuclear limits, and regional stability are all tied together. That context turns the toll idea into more than a technical maritime fee. It is a negotiating weapon aimed at global trade. In short, Iran is trying to bolt a $40 billion tollbooth onto a deal that explicitly promised free passage. Rubio’s warning about enforcement was blunt. This would not look like a highway toll where you skip payment and get a ticket in the mail. If a ship refuses to pay, Rubio said, the consequence could be that ship getting shot at or sunk. That is the real cost of letting Iran turn a global shipping lane into a protection racket. The official State Department transcript lays out the full position from Rubio’s June 25 Bahrain press remarks after regional meetings with Gulf partners. He said the United States will not support, tolerate, or allow money to be charged for use of the strait, no matter whether Iran labels it a toll, fee, donation, or service payment for moving ships through a key energy artery. Rubio also made the security risk plain: enforcing that kind of demand at sea would not be a normal road-toll dispute, it could mean commercial vessels being threatened, fired on, or sunk in one of the world’s most sensitive waterways. Rubio said Gulf partners share that view, which matters because those countries would live with the immediate fallout if Iran tried to enforce a payment demand at sea and energy markets would feel it quickly. He stressed that Washington wants diplomacy to work and will give the talks every chance, while drawing a bright line around free passage. His message carried two conditions at once: Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon, and Iran cannot use Hormuz as a paid checkpoint. The line he kept returning to was simple: the Strait of Hormuz does not belong to Iran, and it never will. This is leverage, plainly stated, while the talks are live. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington remains open to negotiations with Iran but insisted any agreement must rule out what he called Iranian transit charges in the Strait of Hormuz and guarantee that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon. Speaking at the… pic.twitter.com/URkmGrH4VQ — Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) June 25, 2026 Rubio also explained why the United States cannot let even a small version of this slide. If Iran is allowed to charge for the Strait of Hormuz, the practice spreads. Rubio warns if Iran is allowed to toll the Strait of Hormuz, the practice could spread to other waterways "like a contagion" "No country on earth has the right to charge for the use of international water, and that will never be an acceptable condition of any deal" — Robbie Gramer (@RobbieGramer) June 25, 2026 That is the whole point. Let one regime put a price tag on open water, and every chokepoint on earth becomes negotiable. The Bahrain remarks did not come out of nowhere. Rubio has been working the region. The day before, he met UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi to discuss President Trump’s MOU with Iran, full and safe transit through the strait, and regional stability. Met with UAE’s President @MohamedBinZayed in Abu Dhabi, where we discussed President Trump’s MOU with Iran, efforts to secure full and safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and regional stability. I thanked the UAE leadership for their unparalleled support, praised their… pic.twitter.com/J3u6bAKR2W — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) June 24, 2026 Tehran is testing how much it can grab while the talks run. President Trump’s team just told them the answer in front of the entire Gulf. The 60-day window is supposed to keep ships moving while the talks continue. It is not permission for Tehran to build a cash register in the middle of international water. The United States holds the cards here. The world’s navies, the Gulf partners, and the open water itself are not Iran’s to sell. Rubio told Tehran to abandon the fantasy now, and he meant it. This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here. What are your thoughts? TAP HERE TO ADD YOUR VOTE The post Rubio Tells Iran to “Abandon the Fantasy” of a $40 Billion Hormuz Toll appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

After 22 years of waking up before the rest of the country, Janice Dean is saying goodbye. On June 25, 2026, the long-time Fox & Friends meteorologist told viewers she is leaving Fox News because her multiple sclerosis has progressed and her doctors agreed it was time to step away. She shared the news in an emotional video posted to X and Facebook, speaking directly to the people who had been wondering where she had been. I know so many of you have been wondering where I’ve been. Please know I’ve read your comments, prayers and words of support and kindness. It meant the world to me. Goodbyes are hard. But they are necessary before you can meet again… Love, JD  pic.twitter.com/S3moZdN5HN — Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) June 25, 2026 In her announcement on X, Dean thanked viewers for the comments, prayers, and kindness she had received during her absence. She said goodbyes are hard and signed off with the familiar warmth viewers know from her years on morning television. The video attached to that message gave the harder explanation: MS had progressed, the strain of the job had become heavier, and the decision had moved from a temporary break to a real farewell. Entertainment Weekly reported that Dean described the daily demands of the job in plain terms, including the early wake-ups, extended time on her feet, and live-broadcast pressure that come with morning television. The 2:30 a.m. wake-ups had all started to wear on her, especially as she managed a disease where fatigue and stress can hit hard. Fox & Friends is an early-morning, high-energy broadcast job that asks the same person to be sharp before sunrise, day after day. That schedule explains why this became a health decision instead of a simple TV lineup change. Lack of sleep and stress are two of the biggest triggers for her condition, and Dean said she had been feeling her limitations more and more. Her doctors agreed that stepping away was necessary for her health. She called it her “mostly sunny goodbye,” a fitting line from a forecaster who built her brand on optimism. People filled in the broader picture of just how long Dean has carried this while staying visible to Fox viewers who watched her every morning. Dean is 56 and has worked at Fox News since 2004. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005, just a year into her run, and has been on therapies for more than two decades while continuing to appear on television. The report also noted how open Dean has been about the disease and about resilience, including through her 2019 memoir Mostly Sunny and her public advocacy for people facing chronic illness. People framed the announcement as a necessary decision after years of trying to manage the condition while staying visible for viewers. That is a major part of why the farewell landed the way it did: Dean was leaving a TV chair and closing a chapter that many viewers watched her fight through in public. Through all of it, she stayed on the air and turned her own fight into encouragement for viewers facing the same disease. The affection from her colleagues poured in fast. You are so loved, Janice. And missed here every day. I’ll never forget when we shared a closet as an office in our early days at Fox. You are such an inspiration to all of us. An example of courage and grace and always Mostly Sunny. God Bless you, our dear friend! Xo https://t.co/8KtmO0qVHE — Martha MacCallum (@marthamaccallum) June 25, 2026 The New York Post carried Fox News Media’s statement on Dean’s departure and added outside medical context about the day-to-day reality of multiple sclerosis for working adults. The network praised her warmth, resilience, and dedication, and said her willingness to share her personal journey had touched countless lives across her 22-year run. Fox said it fully supports Dean’s decision to step away from her senior meteorologist role on Fox & Friends and is grateful for her many contributions to the network and its viewers. The Post also included medical context from Dr. Saud Sadiq, who explained that MS can affect fatigue, mobility, cognition, vision, and speech in different ways depending on the person and disease course. He cautioned against assuming what someone with MS can or cannot do based only on the diagnosis, which makes Dean’s own account of her limits the key fact here. The Post also noted Dean’s November 2025 health-related break, which explains the absence so many viewers had noticed before this final goodbye. For background, the Fox News bio lays out the full arc of her career from radio and local television to one of the most recognizable weather roles on cable news. Dean joined the channel in January 2004, rose to senior meteorologist, and became the morning meteorologist for Fox & Friends, the network’s weekday morning show. She also contributed to Fox Weather, covered major U.S. weather events, and wrote books built around weather, hope, and resilience for both children and adults. The bio notes that she covered major storms across the country, including hurricanes, and that her children’s weather books were built around teaching kids how weather works while pointing them toward service and disaster relief. Before Fox, she worked in radio and local television, including in New York, Houston, and Canada, which makes this farewell the end of a much longer broadcast path than viewers may realize. The bio shows why this announcement hits regular viewers hard: Dean was not a short-term TV face, she was part of the morning routine for more than two decades. The goodwill was not limited to her own program. This is such sad news. JD – you have been a part of our Fox family for as long as I can remember. You will be missed more than you can ever know….Praying for your health and wishing you much love…J https://t.co/rur8R6udoN — John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) June 25, 2026 Twenty-two years is a long time to show up for an audience before sunrise, and longer still while quietly managing a disease that never takes a day off. Janice Dean did both, and she did it with a smile that earned her the nickname she leaves on. We wish her health, rest, and plenty of sunshine ahead. This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here. The post Long-time Fox & Friends Host Announces She Is Leaving The Show appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has vetoed legislation that would require residents to show photo ID to vote by mail. According to Ohio Capital Journal, House Bill 472 would have “required absentee voters to provide a copy of their driver’s license or state ID starting with the November 2027 election.” “House Bill 472 would not discourage fraud, would not add any real security, and would create an additional and significant burden for Ohioans who vote by mail,” DeWine said, according to the outlet. “This bill is not needed, because Ohio does an excellent job running elections,” he added. Just in: Ohio “Republican” Governor Mike DeWine has vetoed a bill requiring photo ID for voting by mail in Ohio pic.twitter.com/7DSPB9v9Ak — The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) June 25, 2026 Ohio Capital Journal shared further: Ohio Republicans passed Ohio House Bill 472 two weeks ago after changes were made to the bill before the lawmakers went on summer break. The bill originally started as a bill that would waive fees for birth certificate copies for people experiencing homelessness, but was expanded to require absentee voters to show their ID either when they request an absentee ballot or if they submit their ballot in-person. It would have required the Ohio Secretary of State, the board of elections, the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, and public libraries to provide free copies of electors’ photo IDs. The Secretary of State would have also had to create a secure online portal where a voter can apply for an absentee ballot starting Sept. 3, 2027. DeWine said the bill does not provide voter officials “any new tools to fight fraud.” Meanwhile, Ohioans will vote in November on a constitutional amendment requiring photo ID to vote in person. “Ohio law already requires citizens to provide photo identification before voting thanks to a bill the lawmakers passed in 2022 and took effect in 2023,” Ohio Capital Journal reported earlier this month. “Requiring photo ID to vote is a common-sense measure that most Americans support, across demographic & partisan lines. Whether or not Congress passes the SAVE Act this year, Ohio voters have an opportunity to VOTE YES in November to enshrine the photo ID requirement in our state constitution,” Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said. “This constitutional amendment also enables Ohio lawmakers to expressly apply the photo ID requirement to ALL ballots, including mail-in ballots (which I would sign into law and which most Ohioans support). I strongly support this constitutional amendment, as does President Trump and as do most Ohio lawmakers. I’m calling on leaders and candidates in both political parties to stand for common sense & join me in voting YES in November,” he continued. Requiring photo ID to vote is a common-sense measure that most Americans support, across demographic & partisan lines. Whether or not Congress passes the SAVE Act this year, Ohio voters have an opportunity to VOTE YES in November to enshrine the photo ID requirement in our state… — Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) June 25, 2026 More from the Associated Press: The veto doesn’t affect the amendment, since under state law, governors have no role in sending proposed constitutional amendments to voters. Republican lawmakers still could overturn DeWine’s veto if they can garner enough votes in the Ohio House and Senate before the end of the year. The veto-overturn process would start in the House, where Republicans hold 65 seats – five more than the 60 votes needed to overturn a veto. Currently, the legislature has no scheduled sessions until after the November election. Republicans described HB 472 as a common-sense election security measure. They said Ohioans support photo ID requirements for voting, and said that mail voting shouldn’t be exempt. The bill offered a few ways for voters to show a photo ID while voting remotely. One option is a new online portal that would allow Ohioans to request a mail ballot online, ditching a longstanding process that involves filling out a paper form. The post Republican Governor Vetoes Legislation Requiring Photo ID To Vote By Mail appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

The Senate just left Washington for a long July 4 recess without passing President Trump’s SAVE America Act. Not one senator objected to the adjournment. They simply walked out the door. Now a House conservative is threatening to keep the chamber’s floor shut until senators come back and deal with it. The U.S. Senate Daily Press schedule lays out the timeline in cold print. Except for pro forma sessions, the Senate is adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on Monday, July 13, with a single vote expected that evening at 5:30. The listed pro forma dates are June 29, July 2, July 6, and July 9. The schedule says no business is expected at those sessions, which means senators can technically gavel in while doing none of the work voters are demanding. That is why the timing is so hard to defend. The Senate is absent through the exact window when President Trump is trying to force action on voter ID and proof of citizenship. No ordinary voter would call that urgency. They would call it Washington doing what Washington does. The White House SAVE America page spells out what the bill is supposed to do. The administration says American citizens, and only American citizens, should decide American elections. The White House lists three core pieces: valid ID before registering to vote in federal elections, proof of citizenship, and no mail-in ballots except for narrow categories such as illness, disability, military service, or travel. That is the whole fight in plain English. Voter ID, proof of citizenship, and serious limits on mail-in ballots before the next major federal election. Democrats hate it. The Republican base overwhelmingly expects it, because election integrity is one of the clearest promises President Trump made to the voters who sent him back to Washington. That is why a recess over this bill lands differently than an ordinary scheduling fight. It looks like the Senate avoiding a promise that millions of voters believed was already settled common sense. The recess came one day after a heated lunch with President Trump, who pressed Senate Republicans on the SAVE Act while the war powers fight was also boiling over. The Daily Caller reported that the Senate still skipped town for a two-week break with no senator standing up to object. The report noted that any single senator could have blocked or objected to the adjournment, but none did. That detail is the whole story. If every senator lets the chamber leave, then every senator owns the fact that the chamber left. The same report noted that Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Sen. Mike Lee had been calling to cancel recess or do whatever it took to get the bill across the line. Rep. Byron Donalds also unloaded on the Senate, saying the chamber had refused to act on what he called a common-sense election-integrity demand. President Trump pushed. House conservatives pushed. The Senate left anyway. As the Senate cleared out, the public warning from the House side was blunt: Rep. Luna (R-FL) responds to the Senate leaving for July 4th break without taking action on the SAVE America Act: "I will not be voting to re-open the (House) floor until the Senate gets back to Washington. The Senate is literally running and not ONE senator objected to going on… — Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) June 25, 2026 On the House side, the response is no longer theoretical. The Washington Examiner reported that Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is promising to keep the House floor closed while the Senate is gone. Her standoff followed Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s decision not to delay the July 4 recess for SAVE Act votes. The report also noted that Luna and Rep. Chip Roy had GOP colleagues aligned to hold up the floor. House leadership had already pulled a procedural vote Wednesday after conservatives pushed back over Senate inaction. That turns the fight into a live floor-management problem for House Speaker Mike Johnson. It is also a pressure campaign aimed directly at the Senate. Luna has also shot down the idea that this can be quietly slipped through reconciliation as a workaround. Her logic is simple. The same Senate blocking voter ID is not going to suddenly overrule the parliamentarian to ram it through a budget vehicle. The SAVE America Act cannot be done in reconciliation. Why would the same Senate that is blocking Voter ID all of a sudden magically change their mind to overrule the Parliamentarian? Not happening. — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) June 24, 2026 This fight did not appear out of nowhere. Just a day earlier, President Trump canceled a bill signing and told Congress to pass the SAVE America Act first. The message has been consistent. Get election integrity done. The House heard it. The Senate hit the road. What voters are watching is a Republican base that wants voter ID and proof of citizenship, and a Senate that decided the holiday could not wait. Luna and the House conservatives are betting that pressure works where polite requests did not. If the floor stays frozen, the only way to thaw it is for senators to come back and deliver the bill the President has been demanding. The Senate can run for the exits. The fight will be waiting when they get back. This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here. The post Senate Bolts For The Exits While House Conservative Threatens To Freeze The Floor Over President Trump’s SAVE Act appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice is now being forced to answer in an American federal case, and the question on the table is simple. Can a foreign judge use sealed overseas orders to pressure U.S. companies into silencing speech that Americans can see inside the United States? President Trump’s media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, and Rumble say no. They sued Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Trump Media operates Truth Social. Rumble provides video and cloud infrastructure used by Truth Social. Together, the companies are asking an American court to decide where foreign court power stops and U.S. speech protections begin. Trump Media and Rumble had served Moraes and asked the clerk to enter a default after he failed to personally answer by the deadline. Brazil then stepped in to intervene and move for dismissal. On June 23, 2026, Judge Mary Scriven let Brazil into the case, deferred ruling on Brazil’s dismissal motion, vacated and stayed the default directive, and denied the clerk-default request without prejudice. She gave the plaintiffs 14 days to respond to Brazil’s motion. So the case lives on. The censorship question moves forward. Counsel on the case posted the current reporting and pointed straight at the core legal issue. “The fight could shape the limits of whether foreign officials may seek to enforce censorship related orders against U.S. based platforms, users located in the U.S., and data stored under U.S. legal protections.”https://t.co/K8jubunpOX — Martin De Luca (@emd_worldwide) June 25, 2026 The Washington Examiner reported that the lawsuit has turned into a broader clash between American free-speech protections and Brazil’s attempt to police online speech through orders issued overseas. The outlet noted that Moraes has become a major conservative target after earlier orders against social media platforms, including orders tied to accounts accused of spreading disinformation. According to the report, Trump Media and Rumble say the Brazilian judge’s directives reached beyond Brazil’s borders and targeted speech protected by the First Amendment. Brazil, meanwhile, argues that it is the real party in interest and that Moraes is entitled to immunity because the challenged acts were taken in his judicial role. That is why the case matters. If a judge in Brasilia can dictate what American companies may host for American users, the First Amendment becomes vulnerable to any foreign government willing to send censorship orders across the water. The U.S. District Court order laid out the procedural reset in plain terms. It says Trump Media and Rumble sued Moraes, spent months trying formal service under the Hague Service Convention, then won permission to serve him by email after those earlier efforts did not work. The order says the plaintiffs filed proof of service on June 5, 2026, showing service on May 24. Brazil moved to intervene and dismiss on June 15, and Judge Scriven granted intervention, deferred the dismissal question, lifted the default track, and denied the clerk-default request without prejudice. None of that ends the case. It gives Trump Media and Rumble 14 days to answer Brazil’s dismissal bid while keeping the censorship fight alive in an American courtroom. Rumble and Trump Media’s complaint alleges Moraes issued sweeping gag orders that reached U.S.-based accounts and speech visible inside the United States. The complaint describes Truth Social as a platform built for open discourse and American free expression. The companies argue those orders collide with the First Amendment, Section 230, the Stored Communications Act, and Florida’s policy on foreign judgments. They also say the orders were never domesticated in the United States or served on the plaintiffs through the Hague Convention. The complaint says Moraes’s sealed orders targeted accounts tied to journalists, lawmakers, commentators, and supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Getting to this point took work. The plaintiffs spent months trying formal service under the Hague Service Convention, then won permission to serve Moraes by email. They filed proof of service on June 5, 2026, showing service on May 24, 2026. Brazil moved to intervene and dismiss ten days later. In its public statement on the original suit, Rumble said the case was about stopping a foreign judge from bypassing U.S. law and imposing censorship commands on American companies. The company said the targeted user was a political dissident living in the United States, and that U.S. authorities had already rejected Brazil’s extradition request as involving speech offenses. Rumble also emphasized that it has no personnel, assets, or operations in Brazil that would justify a foreign court controlling its U.S. platform. The company’s position is straightforward: American businesses should be governed by American law, and foreign courts should not unilaterally dictate what speech is allowed on American platforms. That is the practical stake for Truth Social users, Rumble users, and every platform built around lawful American political speech. Congress has flagged the same danger. House Judiciary Republicans said their report documented how Brazil’s censorship regime threatened American free speech, including demands aimed at U.S. platforms and users. The committee warned that when platforms such as X and Rumble resisted, Moraes used fines, account suspensions, and platform access threats as pressure tools. Its bottom-line warning was blunt: if a Brazilian judge can force American companies to censor U.S. residents, American free speech is in jeopardy. That warning is no longer theoretical. It is a live case in a Florida courthouse, and Trump Media and Rumble are forcing the issue. The next move belongs to the plaintiffs, who have 14 days to answer Brazil’s dismissal bid. The bigger fight is whether American courts will draw a hard line against foreign censorship reaching onto U.S. soil. The post President Trump’s Media Company and Rumble Take Brazilian Judge to U.S. Court Over Censorship Orders appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.