'I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel'

MIAMI—Operation Epic Fury bears significant consequences for Russia, according to European leaders. Russia is financially benefiting from the joint U.S.-Israel operation in Iran, but the conflict’s long-term implications are more complex. Russian oil sales significantly increased following the launch of the operation in Iran. With the Iranian regime threatening to strike ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping lane, Russia is benefiting from rising oil costs and increased demand. Since the operation in Iran began three weeks ago, “Russia has now received suddenly a lot of new funds, up to $150 million daily … purely from the oil sales,” Estonia’s Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur told The Daily Signal at the Miami Security Forum. The additional oil revenue is not going into Russia’s reserves, but instead Russia will pour “it immediately [into] the Ukrainian war,” Pevkur says. Estonian Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur attends a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 12. (Leon Neal via Getty Images) It has been more than four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s economy had been “showing signs of severe strain” in recent months, according to the Atlantic Council, a policy organization focused on foreign affairs. But now, with rising oil prices, “Moscow may be able to repair much of the economic damage done over the past four years,” the council says. Russian President Vladimir Putin is “applauding” the conflict in Iran and will “never tell the Iranians that, ‘Hey, sit behind the table with Americans and find a solution,’ because he’s winning from this war,” Pevkur said. Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs K?stutis Budrys agrees that in the “short term,” the U.S. and Israeli operation in Iran “helps Russia to increase its income,” and even distracts from Russia’s war against Ukraine. However, he predicts the military action will cost Russia in the long-term. If the operation against Iran is successful, “it will weaken Russia, because it will eliminate another regime that was assisting them,” Budrys said. Lithuania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Kestutis Budrys speaks to the press in Brussels, Feb. 23. (John Thys/AFP via Getty Images) President Donald Trump eased oil sanctions on Russia after Operation Epic Fury sent oil prices soaring, but the sanctions should be “returned when the situation allows,” Budrys said, because “Ukraine cannot be the tradeoff of stabilizing economic effects because of Iran’s behavior.” Still, the Lithuanian minister said America’s actions in Iran were “the right thing to do,” and serve European interests. “Iran’s missile program and nuclear program were threats to our security. They are closer to Europe than they are to the United States,” Budrys said, adding. Iran launched a drone attack on Cyprus in early March, and NATO has intercepted Iranian missiles aimed at Turkey. It is up to Iran now, Budrys says, to come to the negotiating table and find a diplomatic solution. “My message to my colleagues in Europe,” Budrys says, “is that it is in our interest to stop this threat and to break the Iran-Russia access.” The post Is the US Operation in Iran a Gift to Putin? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Department of Health and Human Services is protecting parents’ rights to keep their children under their care, according to Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brian Christine. “If you have a set of parents and their child has gender dysphoria and there are threats to remove that child from your care, that’s absolutely wrong,” Christine told The Daily Signal in an exclusive interview. The HHS Administration for Children and Families wrote a letter to state child welfare agencies telling them that the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act prohibits them from removing children from their home because the parent doesn’t affirm the child’s gender identity. ‘REFUSE’: Top HHS Official Gives Message to Medical Students Pressured to Perform Abortions@ADM_Christine spoke to @DailySignal after addressing the sixth hearing of the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission on Monday.https://t.co/X2UvYJ8Gjd— Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell (@TheElizMitchell) March 16, 2026 The Daily Signal first reported in January that the White House has weighed an executive order that would stop Child Protective Services from taking children away from parents who refuse to accept their child’s so-called gender identity. At the State of the Union, President Donald Trump honored 19-year-old Sage Blair, who reportedly became a human trafficking victim after her school hid her transgender identity from her mother. “This administration, Secretary Kennedy, we stand firmly against that,” Christine said. Christine said HHS is also making sure foster parents don’t lose custody of their children in such cases. States including Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have barred Christian families from adopting and fostering due to their religious beliefs about gender. At @HHSGov, we will not stand for states removing children from their families and transitioning them to a new gender against the parents’ will. Along with @ADM_Christine, we will keep families together whenever it is safe to do so.This week, we notified all 50 states that… pic.twitter.com/yiZjPhf31L— Alex J. Adams, PharmD, MPH (@ACF_Adams) March 4, 2026 “We are absolutely making sure that those parents, foster parents, who feel that their children should not be subjected to sex-rejecting procedures, that they can’t be coerced or they can’t be threatened into going against what they deeply hold is best for their child,” Christine said. HHS released a report last May detailing the dangers of experimental transgender medical interventions referred to as “gender-affirming care.” The report found “extremely weak evidence that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgeries have any benefits in children and adolescents with gender dysphoria.” Christine said the best way to treat children with gender dysphoria isn’t “castrating chemicals or mutilating surgeries.” “It is with competent and compassionate mental health care, and we’re making sure that parents who decide to go that route with their child aren’t gonna be intimidated,” he said. Instead of offering cross-sex hormones and surgeries to kids, Christine said the Trump administration offers parents hope. “We’re offering the truth that mental health care is best for these kids,” he said. “We’re gonna stand with them, we’re gonna stand beside them. We’re gonna help the parents take care of and love these children.” In addition to preventing children from undergoing irreversible transgender procedures, HHS will support those who already altered their bodies and regret it. “[We are] recognizing the harm that they’ve been subjected to and honoring them and saying that these individuals had the courage to come forth and say, ‘This is what we’ve been through,'” he said. “We wanna speak boldly and openly, so other minors, other children don’t go through this.” The post How Trump Is Protecting Parents’ Rights to Reject Children’s Transgender Identity appeared first on The Daily Signal.

On Friday’s CNN This Morning, Democratic panelist Maria Cardona treated $200 billion in Iran war spending as excessive—echoing the party’s familiar line about struggling American families—despite years of Democrats pushing far larger spending on their own priorities. Never-Trumper Michael Warren of The Dispatch joined in, arguing there has been “no case made” for the war—not to “the American people…foreign allies…[or] even to members of Congress.” Host Audie Cornish largely followed that line, even as she acknowledged the U.S. has “done a lot to diminish Iran’s capabilities,” and suggested the debate could shift as questions arise about whether to “finish the job.” But it was Cardona who made the affordability argument explicit: “When you ask for $200 billion… and you have American families who can't make ends meet?” Cardona also flatly accused the Bush administration of lying about the justification for war after 9/11—an assertion that appeared to conflate the U.S. response in Afghanistan with the later Iraq war and disputed intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. Cornish reinforced Cardona’s affordability talking point, framing the issue as “horseshoe politics,” suggesting that both parties are raising concerns about spending abroad while Americans struggle at home. Criticism came from a Democratic partisan and a Never-Trump conservative—but no one was brought on to actually defend the spending or explain the administration’s rationale. Cardona’s sudden concern over $200 billion raises an obvious question: where was that concern when Democrats pushed programs costing far more? CNN Dem: $200B ‘Too Much’—When Trump Spends It pic.twitter.com/OnuXLasJkR — Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) March 20, 2026   The Paycheck Protection Program during COVID totaled more than $800 billion and was rife with fraud. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act included roughly $370 billion in climate spending. Meanwhile, improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid run into tens of billions every year—adding up to well over $200 billion in just a few years. Those sums rarely provoke the kind of concern seen on CNN Friday morning. For Democrats, $200 billion is outrageous—unless they’re the ones spending it. Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 3/20/26 6:07 am EDT MICHAEL WARREN: There's been no case made, no sustained and consistent and frequent case from the president either before, certainly before that this war happened, and now, since the war has started, [Maria Cardona nods head in agreement] not to the American people, not to foreign allies, not to allies within his party, and not even to members of Congress.  And I think that these questions are the kind of questions that Congress is supposed to ask. I have a feeling that they're gonna find this $200 billion for this, but it's gonna be difficult.  AUDIE CORNISH: I was about to say, are they really gonna stop once you have so many people in the theater of war? We're not at boots yet. We're gonna talk about that later, about whether or not there'll be troops on the ground in some capacity.  But it's fair to say, the US has done a lot to diminish Iran's capabilities. Can you say no now, when there's the potential to finish the job by whatever metric that is?  WARREN: Right. Well, it's also confusing because the president says the job is already done and yet we need more money.  . . .  CORNISH: And then Democrats can jump on that. Can you make sense of the messaging here?  MARIA CARDONA: Yeah, absolutely. And you're right. He has not made the case not only to Congress or to the allies, but more importantly to the American people.  And this is where I -- CORNISH: Do you think that would make a difference, though? Like, when I think back to the forever wars, you know, 9-11, the U.S. was attacked, okay? It was not imminent. It happened. And it changed the public opinion and atmosphere. And gave a lot of leeway to those administrations after.  CARDONA: That's right. But do you know why? Because they actually, I mean, they at least had the audacity and the courage to tell us a lie about why we went to war after 9-11.  They went to Congress. They made the case publicly. It ended up being wrong in the end, but at least they made the case.  CORNISH: So you're saying that's what helped with public opinion.  CARDONA: Yes, absolutely. Because they gathered everyone, and said this is about and they actually made sense. The problem here is every time that there's a microphone in front of Trump or Rubio or Hegseth, they say something different.  And then when you ask for 200 billion dollars after you spend a billion dollars from the start of the war, and you have American families who can't make ends meet? That I think -- CORNISH: We're going to follow up on that, because in the horseshoe politics of this, you hear both Republicans and some Democrats saying there are people here in the U.S. who need support. CARDONA: Yup. CORNISH: And that can really alter the conversation.

Something revealing — and increasingly dangerous — shows up in the people who still react to Donald Trump as if he were mainly an offense against etiquette rather than a political fact. They study him the way Victorian naturalists might study a rhinoceros loose in the drawing room: with alarm, fascination, and deep concern for the upholstery.The Iranian strike has brought it out again. After 47 years, Israel and the United States struck back. Trump moved hard, moved fast, and moved before the foreign-policy clergy finished the first round of throat-clearing. Then, after he acted, he turned and pressed allies and other beneficiaries of Persian Gulf oil to help manage the consequences.Trump derangement syndrome now imposes a cost beyond mere foolishness. It has become a strategic liability.To the establishment mind, that looks like barbarism. First you convene. Then you posture. Then you circulate papers. Then you hold a conference where several men with rimless glasses say “regional framework” and “off-ramp.” Only then — after adequate procedural embalming — may anything actually happen.Trump has never shown much interest in being embalmed.To the establishment, Trump isn’t merely wrong. His vulgar method offends them. He violates process. He makes the priesthood sweat through its linen.But the plain truth cuts the other way: Many of the traits that make him unbearable to refined opinion make him effective in world affairs. In Iran, effectiveness isn't a lifestyle preference. It decides whether we end a threat or let it metastasize from theoretical to fatal.This moment changes the argument. It no longer turns on whether Trump’s style offends the salons of Washington, New York, Brussels, and Aspen. It turns on whether the United States will stop a fanatical regime from acquiring nuclear weapons and blackmailing the world through oil, terror, and fear. The Wall Street Journal editorial board, often critical of Trump, supports his actions against Iran because the alternative looks worse: Iran survives the confrontation with its nuclear ambitions intact and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz strengthened.So what should we understand about Donald Trump?He accepts risk. He will do things that may blow up in his face. Most public people spend their careers dodging blame and pinning it on rivals. Trump cares less about pleasing the people who write essays about “norm erosion.”He’s a developer with a better feel for leverage than for liturgy. A man doesn’t conquer the Manhattan real estate jungle, build a brand out of his own name, or survive bankruptcies, tabloid wars, casino collapses, and the mockery of half the respectable class by worshipping tidy sequencing. His route to wealth didn’t resemble a ballet. It looked like a demolition derby with gold trim.That history matters. Men shaped by bureaucracies tend to treat legitimacy as a product of process. Men shaped by dealmaking tend to treat legitimacy as a product of outcomes. One group asks, “Was this properly staffed?” The other asks, “Did we get it done?” Washington fills up with the first type and recoils from the second.Trump also improvises. Washington treats improvisation like a vice. But improvisation belongs to people operating in the realm of consequence rather than memo circulation. Trump rarely arrives with a doctrine polished for a Brussels seminar. He arrives with an instinct, a pressure point, a threat, a phone call, and a willingness to revise in public. That horrifies people who would rather run a failed plan with perfect footnotes than run a messy plan that changes the landscape.RELATED: While America fights, Europe loses its spirit Andy Barton/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty ImagesTrump’s critics call this incoherence. Sometimes it is. He can be erratic. He can be excessive. He can mistake motion for strategy. But his critics often commit the opposite error. They confuse caution with wisdom, process with seriousness, and rhetorical tidiness with strength.And the stakes outrun Trump. Iran has pursued the bomb for years. It lied, concealed, dispersed, negotiated, cheated, and waited. The fairy tale that this menace sat safely contained until Trump disturbed the peace has worn thin. Tehran didn’t become dangerous because Trump acted. Trump acted because Tehran already posed a danger.That’s why Trump derangement syndrome now imposes a cost beyond mere foolishness. It has become a strategic liability. When a domestic class hates one man so much that it prefers his failure to the country’s safety, it stops functioning as a normal political opposition. It becomes a hindrance to national self-preservation.If Iran emerges from this conflict still able to terrorize the Gulf, still able to menace the Strait of Hormuz, still dreaming its nuclear dreams, America won’t merely have fought badly. America will have invited the next crisis on a higher rung of danger. A short war that leaves the central threat intact doesn’t qualify as prudence. It amounts to cowardice on an installment plan.That’s why he makes them crazy. He walks around as a rebuke to the managerial fantasy that calibrated people with soft hands and impeccable credentials can safely “manage” history. Trump reminds them — rudely, constantly, and in public — that moments arrive when nerve beats nuance and the man willing to absorb disorder defeats the man who can only describe it.And now the insult cuts deeper. He doesn’t just break their rules. In a moment when America can’t afford illusion, he may be right about what winning requires.

Everything you think you know about the function of the human brain is wrong — and Dr. Iain McGilchrist, author of "The Master and His Emissary," is sitting down with BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre to explain why.According to McGilchrist, the modern belief that the left hemisphere is “verbal and rational and dependable” while the right hemisphere is “air fairy,” “emotional,” and “not very dependable” is a farce.“All of that is completely wrong. In fact, it’s almost the inverse of the truth,” he tells MacIntyre on “The Auron MacIntyre Show.” “The right hemisphere, as I will explain, is far more dependable, far more stable, and the left hemisphere is prone to emotional outbursts of a very narcissistic kind.”“It is prone actually to anger and to disgust and self-righteousness and emotions of that kind,” he explains.And because of how important the brain is to each and every living being, the science surrounding it deserves to be challenged — which is exactly what McGilchrist is doing. “In the left hemisphere, you see things that you already know what they are and you know you want to get them. They’re fixed, they’re isolated, they’re in a way fragmentary, they’re decontextualized, and they’re examples of a kind,” McGilchrist tells MacIntyre.“Meanwhile, the right hemisphere is seeing a completely different world. It’s seeing a world in which nothing is ever fully certain," he says, adding, "It always might be something different."Want more from Auron MacIntyre?To enjoy more of this YouTuber and recovering journalist's commentary on culture and politics, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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