Iran has agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz and the United States and Israel will engage in a two-week ceasefire, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday. President Trump said that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir helped him orchestrate the deal. “Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” the president wrote. “This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!” “The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East,” he added. President Trump said the U.S. received a “10 point proposal from Iran” and he said it represents “a workable basis on which to negotiate.” “Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated,” he added. Early Tuesday morning, Trump reiterated his 8 p.m. Eastern deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of every bridge and power plant in the country. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he posted on Truth Social. “We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World,” Trump wrote. “47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!” As the deadline approached, both the U.S. and Israel carried out strikes. The U.S. targeted Kharg Island, and Israel struck eight bridge segments that the Israel Defense Force claimed have been used “for transporting weapons & military equipment.” ?STRUCK: 8 bridge segments utilized by the Iranian terror regime for transporting weapons & military equipment.The IDF struck 8 bridge segments in several areas, including Tehran, Karaj, Tabriz, Kashan, & Qom. Prior to the strike, several steps were taken to mitigate harm to… pic.twitter.com/kDzkRhMFTD— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 7, 2026 Also earlier Tuesday, Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah announced that it had released Shelly Kittleson, a 49-year-old American jounralist who had been kidnapped in Baghdad. This is a breaking news story and may be updated. The post BREAKING: Trump Announces Major Move on Iran, Strait of Hormuz appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A recent poll found that a clear majority of Americans favor limiting politics in the classroom. This is bad news for teachers’ unions, who often advocate against that very thing.  Consider the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). With 1.8 million members, the AFT is one of the largest teachers’ unions in the country. It has gained prominence less for advancing classroom outcomes and more for engaging in political activism far removed from instruction. This political activism has been evident recently, as illustrated by AFT president Randi Weingarten speaking at a “No Kings” protest in Minnesota and the organization’s increasing focus on anti-ICE efforts.   Taken together, these developments reveal a widening gap between teachers’ unions and both the public and the educators they claim to represent. Rather than focusing on classroom instruction and professional support, large unions have increasingly prioritized ideological activism, often at the expense of students, parents, and even their own members.   Teachers’ unions should focus solely on supporting educators, students, and their families. On paper, this may be what many teachers’ unions claim to do. The mission of the AFT, for example, is to “champion fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education.” But there’s a difference between theory and practice. Realistically, the actions of larger teachers’ unions, such as the AFT, aren’t aligned with these objectives.  Adamantly pushing political agendas—such as LGBTQ+ practices or advocating for biological boys to be able to compete in girls’ sports—in schools across the country doesn’t give students a high-quality education. Instead, it takes time away from students learning how to read or write critically and authentically.   In addition, using member dues to lobby for left-wing causes or endorse political campaigns doesn’t benefit teachers. Staunchly opposing education choice such as education savings accounts ultimately hinders parents’ freedom to make the right decisions concerning their children’s education.   Unions also have a track record for keeping kids out of the classroom. Oftentimes, when school strikes are encouraged by the unions, students and families are the ones who pay the price.   The Defense of Freedom Institute has tracked the impacts of teacher union strikes since 2010 and found that there have been 858,517 employees on strike, 140 strikes in 30 states and the District of Columbia, and 672 days of lost instruction (the equivalent of nearly four school years). For families already struggling with learning loss, these disruptions are not abstract labor disputes; they are lost opportunities that cannot be recovered.   These are just a few examples of how teachers’ unions have strayed away. This is a problem. The good news is that teachers recognize this, and they’re leaving in large swaths.   Teachers’ unions like the AFT have seen a steady decline in membership since the landmark 2018 case Janus v. AFSCME. This case held that public-sector unions cannot mandate that non-members pay union dues, meaning teachers who choose not to join also cannot be charged dues or agency fees.  Janus did not weaken unions by fiat; it simply gave teachers the option to opt out, revealing how many no longer felt represented. Prior to the 2018 decision, Heritage Foundation analysts wrote that “these agency fees had allowed the unions to amass a considerable war chest over the decades.”   Thankfully, in their stead, alternative options for educators have appeared. A prominent alternative is the Teacher Freedom Alliance, which is free for teachers to join and offers liability insurance for members. This insurance protects educators from risks they may encounter in the industry.   Since its launch a year ago, over 12,000 educators have joined the Teacher Freedom Alliance. Why? The organization’s mission to “develop free, moral, and upright American citizens” is attracting educators. Its focus on quality curricula and better instruction is free of ideological interference and emphasizes teaching the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic.   If teachers continue leaving these unions in large enough waves, teachers’ unions like the AFT may be forced to focus less on promoting political agendas or risk closing up shop. This is good news for students, parents, and the profession itself.   The post Is the End of the American Federation of Teachers in Sight?  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Remember when New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on the campaign trail that he wanted to increase taxes on richer, “whiter” residents? It seems he meant what he said. That much should be obvious following New York Mamdani’s announcement on Monday that he’s going forward with a so-called Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan. The plan released by the mayor’s office says that “New York’s history has been one of colonization, exploitation, and racial oppression.” It’s striking that a Muslim man born to Indian parents in Uganda, who only became a U.S. citizen in 2018 and yet is now mayor of the nation’s largest city, sees no irony in condemning New York’s history of “colonization.” But that’s just how it is on the Left. Only some colonizers are the bad ones. According to the Gothamist, Mamdani’s racial equity plan aims to “improve pay equity in city roles, provide anti-racism training for city staff, and improve data collection across various demographics, among other goals.” While the plan seems to be lacking in specific details about exactly how this racial equity is to be reached (likely on purpose as we shall soon see), it appears to be set on the cornerstone of “antiracist” doctrines associated with disgraced intellectual Ibram X. Kendi. The released document states that “it is important to acknowledge and understand that there are different forms of racism frequently interacting and functioning at the same time.” This is a tip off that the city will find few if any forms of overt discrimination that most Americans with common sense would think of as racism. And that’s no good, as they see it. Instead, the plan targets “policies and practices that create unequal outcomes, whether or not those institutions intend to do so (institutional), existing inequities that spread within a system of various institutions (systemic), as well as different systems that interact to perpetuate widespread racial inequality (structural).” To put it simply, any racial disparity that exists for one of the groups the Left favors is defined as “racism” and therefore in need of rectifying through force of law. NYC’s Chief Equity Officer Afua Atta-Mensah said while announcing the plan that the racial equity plan was born during the George Floyd era. NYC's Chief Equity Officer Afua Atta-Menseh tout's Mamdani's "Racial Equity Plan," born during George Floyd era while "bearing witness to brutality unfolding on our streets and on our screens," to "confront institutional and systemic racism." pic.twitter.com/mS2p1HV8XQ— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) April 6, 2026 This should be old hat to anyone paying attention to American politics post-2020. Mamdani and friends are simply rehashing the ideology that brought us the “defund the police” movement and all sorts of other insanity during the height of the Great Awokening.   So, the equity plan represents continuity rather than a break for Democrats. The madness is back. You get what you voted for, New York. While this represents a return to the DEI-centric nonsense that’s the never-ending obsession of the Left’s political and cultural elites, one can certainly find a positive angle to this story. There’s been a serious pivot from not long ago that highlights just how much the country has changed in the last few years. It points to the serious impact the Trump administration has had on civil rights law. Despite the clear philosophical framework that leads to using discrimination in the name of fighting discrimination, the New York City equity plan is stripped all references to DEI. A report by the New York publication City & State found that “earlier drafts of the 375-page ‘New York City Preliminary Racial Equity Plan’ included explicit references to DEI and the city’s goals of hiring more people of color, which the city Law Department flagged as risky due to President Donald Trump’s ongoing crusade against ‘woke’ DEI policies.” In many cases, City & State reported, explicit DEI goals and quotas were removed from the public equity document. You can be sure that’s because they know the plan will be scrutinized by the Trump administration. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who runs the Office of Civil Rights, took to X and said the plan appeared to be “fishy/illegal” and plans to review it. It reeks of equal protection violations. https://t.co/mE2twWNKAO— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) April 7, 2026 Given her other work, I’d say this is no idle threat. Much like how higher education has relentlessly and perniciously skirted laws banning affirmative action, left-wing governments aren’t going to give up now that the law is working against them. There are some in the Trump administration, like Dhillon, who not only understand that reality but also know how to fight it. Democrats are quickly proving that their “affordability” pivot has been little more than rhetorical fluff. Or, more precisely, when the Left speaks about the issue of affordability it’s not in the way that most voters think about it. When they retake power, they’ll go right back to the well of racial and gender grievance under the guise of affordability. But the cultural and legal Overton window has shifted. This quotation in City & State by an anonymous city employee warmed my heart. “This isn’t the ‘new era’ we signed up for,” the employee said about Mamdani’s plan. “Our neighbors are being taken off the streets, and the administration can’t even say DEI in a racial equity plan. This administration should be leading the way, not preemptively cowering in fear of Donald Trump or others pushing his hateful fascist agenda.” Womp womp. What was once accepted as inevitability has become a real battleground, even in places like New York City. The Left must now be more careful in the way it talks about and implements in many cases blatantly illegal DEI programs—thanks to President Donald Trump. The post New York’s Racial Equity Plan Shows Democrats Haven’t Learned a Thing appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Department of Health and Human Services has issued new guidelines that set the stage for defunding Planned Parenthood and reshaping a federal family planning program. The agency issued a notice of funding opportunity Friday with new guidelines for grant recipients under the Title X family planning program. The notice prohibits awardees from spending the grants on abortion and abortion-related services. The guidelines instead incentivize applicants to address root causes of infertility, such as chronic diseases, reduce “overmedicalization” in fertility treatments, promote body literacy, and support family formation. This is the first step toward reissuing the Protect Life Rule in President Donald Trump’s second term, prohibiting Title X funds from going to organizations that perform abortions. It was implemented in the first Trump administration but rescinded by former President Joe Biden. Now, HHS is developing a restored Protect Life Rule, The Daily Signal first reported, although it is unclear when the agency will finalize the rule. In the meantime, the notice tells applicants how they can structure their programs to adhere to the requirements of the rule. HHS says it will require grant awardees to “uphold Hyde protections” and “not use taxpayer resources to promote or support elective abortion.” The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal dollars from funding abortions. “Integrating Hyde compliance within the Title X program strengthens its capacity to support women, families, and communities while ensuring adherence to federal law,” the notice says. Once in effect, the rule will likely cause Planned Parenthood to turn down the Title X funds to continue performing abortions. In 2020, Planned Parenthood announced it would drop out of the program and forgo nearly $60 million in grants rather than comply with the rule. Though the original statute that created the Title X program in 1970 specified that no funds “shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning,” the Biden administration said that Title X clinics can refer to and perform abortions while not using the funding directly for abortions. The policy is currently in effect until Trump’s HHS officially rescinds it. Instead of promoting contraception and abortion, the new guidelines reflect the administration’s focus on addressing “the root causes of chronic illnesses by targeting conditions that affect reproductive health and fertility.” The guidance says Title X services must offer a range of FDA-approved contraceptive options, including natural family planning. For instance, recipients will be expected to address conditions that cause infertility, such as hormonal imbalances, polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, and uterine fibroids. Title X services are also recommended to address lifestyle and behavioral factors that impair infertility, such as pornography use, sleep quality, nutrition, and physical activity. “We expect recipients to demonstrate how their Title X projects will contribute to broaderHHS efforts to reduce chronic disease risks across the reproductive lifespan, improvehealth outcomes, and support individuals seeking to achieve healthy pregnancy,” the notice says. Title X clinics will also be required to “incorporate foundational body and health literacy into reproductive health counseling.” This will help “ensure that women and men understand the health significance of ovulation, endocrine function, and lifestyle factors that influence fertility, reproductive health, and future family formation, as well as pregnancy planning and risk reduction,” the notice states. Amid falling birth rates, the notice requires Title X recipients to “provide services that support individuals and families seeking to have children.” The president’s fiscal year 2027 budget, also released Friday, requests that the Title X family planning program be defunded entirely. However, because Congress has already appropriated the funds for the program, that is unlikely to happen. HHS plans to make about $257 million available for up to 90 grant awards. Awardees must also ensure that illegal aliens do not receive Title X services, and that recipients don’t use the funds to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology. The post Trump Admin Takes Big Step Toward Axing Federal Abortion Funding appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested a of violent criminals in the country illegally who have been convicted of heinous crimes in the United States.  Among those ICE arrested are five men from Mexico or Guatemala, some with sexual crime convictions, including crimes committed against children.  Erik Eusevio Cortez-Leyva, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child in McLennan County, Texas.  Salvador Rayas-Rodriguez, also in the country illegally from Mexico, was convicted in Sacramento, California, of lewd and lascivious acts with a child—specifically, oral copulation with use of force or injury.  Sergio Tomosely, another illegal immigrant from Mexico, was convicted for robbery in Queens, New York.  Mainor Roberto Ramos-Lopez, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was convicted for causing fire to structure, forest, or land in the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino.  Melchor Brito-Lopez, also an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was convicted for sexual battery in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.  “Yesterday, the men and women of ICE continued to make American communities safer by arresting rapists, pedophiles, arsonists and other depraved criminal illegal aliens. Our officers risk their lives every single day to get criminals out of American neighborhoods,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.   “Under President Trump, if you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will find you and we will arrest you. We will always put American families, American children, and American lives FIRST.”  According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, “nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the United States.” The department’s website includes a “Worst of the Worst” page to highlight criminal illegal immigrants arrested in various states.  “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is highlighting the worst of the worst criminal aliens arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” the web page reads. “Under DHS leadership, the hardworking men and women of DHS and ICE are fulfilling President Trump’s promise and carrying out mass deportations—starting with the worst of the worst—including the illegal aliens you see here.”  ICE has been in the news in recent weeks amid efforts to fund the agency during a partial government shutdown affecting DHS, which is now under the leadership of DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, formerly a senator for Oklahoma.   The post EXCLUSIVE: ICE Announces Arrests of Several Violent Criminals and Sex Offenders appeared first on The Daily Signal.