A new report is adding fuel to Republican efforts to frame 2026 as the opening salvo in President Donald Trump’s so-called “War on Fraud,” just days before House lawmakers are set to question Minnesota’s top officials over what the president has described as one of the largest public-fraud scandals in the country. The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) report, released Tuesday morning, claims that 40 conservative state treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers across 28 states recovered or returned $28 billion in taxpayer funds this year through efforts targeting waste, fraud, abuse, unclaimed property, and investment mismanagement. The organization says the report will be issued annually. In a letter accompanying the report, SFOF CEO OJ Oleka wrote to Vice President JD Vance, who was tasked during the State of the Union with helping lead the administration’s anti-fraud initiative, pledging state-level cooperation with federal enforcement efforts. The letter was also sent to Associate Deputy Attorney General Colin McDonald, recently nominated by Trump to serve as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Fraud Enforcement at the Justice Department, a role supporters have dubbed the administration’s “fraud czar.” It comes at an auspicious time for the administration and his supporters. The United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is preparing to question Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison over oversight failures connected to a sweeping pandemic-era fraud case involving a federally funded child nutrition program in Minnesota. During his State of the Union address, Trump singled out Minnesota as a “stunning example” of systemic fraud, alleging that billions in taxpayer funds were siphoned off through fraudulent schemes. Federal prosecutors have previously charged dozens of individuals in connection with the case, which centered on misuse of COVID-relief funds intended to feed low-income children. Court filings have detailed large sums improperly obtained, though the precise dollar totals remain the subject of ongoing legal proceedings. Republicans argue the case reflects broader governance failures in Democratic-led states. In a statement obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire ahead of the Oversight hearing, Republican Minnesota State Senator Jordan Rasmusson said taxpayers “deserve answers on why billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen through fraudulent schemes under the failed leadership of Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison,” adding that federal intervention has been critical in prosecuting offenders. Oleka framed the Minnesota case as a cautionary tale. In his statement, also exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire,  he called it “a criminal heist of historic proportions” and argued that eliminating the state treasurer’s office in Minnesota diffused financial oversight authority. Minnesota voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1998 abolishing the elected treasurer position, consolidating certain duties under other state offices. Supporters of Walz and Ellison have previously maintained that the fraud was uncovered through state and federal cooperation and that prosecutions demonstrate the system ultimately worked. The governor’s office has said it has implemented additional oversight mechanisms since the scandal emerged. The SFOF report contrasts what it describes as aggressive fraud recovery efforts in red states with what it characterizes as lax oversight in states like Minnesota. The new report from the State Financial Officers Foundation details what it describes as a coordinated effort by conservative financial officers to aggressively police public spending and return money to taxpayers. According to SFOF, its members uncovered $5.7 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in 2025 alone, while generating or returning another $22.3 billion through investment earnings and unclaimed property programs, totaling $28 billion in what the organization calls protected or restored taxpayer funds. Among the largest waste and fraud findings highlighted in the report were in Florida, where Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia identified roughly $1.86 billion in what SFOF described as excessive or wasteful local government spending, and in Kentucky, Auditor Allison Ball flagged approximately $1 billion in Medicaid waste and lapsed education funds. Whether the upcoming Oversight hearing produces new disclosures remains to be seen. But with the White House publicly elevating fraud enforcement as a national priority, and state financial officers positioning themselves as frontline partners, the Minnesota case is likely to serve as a test of competing narratives: one arguing systemic executive failure necessitating strong preemptive action, the other pointing to eventual detection and reaction as evidence of accountability.

When Donald Trump announced that he was running for President in 2016, he opened his announcement speech by insulting his opponents because they “sweat like dogs,” which was great. Then he moved on to the central thesis of his entire campaign and subsequent presidency: foreign countries are “laughing at us at our stupidity” and “the United States has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.” Just a few minutes later he recalled his opposition to the war on Iraq, which he opposed because he believed it would “totally destabilize the Middle East.” He then went on to promise that he would “stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.” Six months later, after two radicalized Muslims committed a mass shooting in California, Trump announced a new policy: he called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” At a debate in Greenville, South Carolina in February 2016, a moderator asked Trump if he stood by his opposition to the War in Iraq. This is what he said: …obviously the war in Iraq was a big fat mistake all right … they lied they said there were weapons of mass destruction there were none and they knew there were none there were no weapons of mass destruction. …if you listen to him and you listen listen to some of the folks that I’ve been listening to that’s why we’ve been in the Middle East for 15 years and we haven’t won anything we’ve spent 5 trillion dollars in the Middle East because of thinking like that. We’ve spent five… Lindsay Graham. Graham who backs him who had zero on his polls let me just tell you something we’ve spent we’ve spent we’ve spent I only tell the truth lobbyists we’ve spent $5 trillion all over the middle… we have to rebuild our country we have to rebuild our infrastructure you listen to that you’re going to be there for another 15.  His campaign was, to put it mildly, truly “America first.” Trump won his election by running a campaign focused on advancing the interests of America.  Now, with the advent of war in Iran, many of us are asking an obvious question: why are we doing this? Does this benefit our own country first and foremost? The administration struggled with the question for days until last night when Marco Rubio finally gave a clear and straight forward answer: .@SecRubio: “The president made the very wise decision—we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we… pic.twitter.com/Jp5rqpRH4T — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 2, 2026 Source: @RapidResponse47/X.com It would be hard to imagine a worse line of reasoning that could be offered at a time like this. Americans were wondering why, exactly, we’re suddenly engaged in a war with Iran. We wanted to hear a compelling explanation that would justify the cost of the war — including the loss of American lives. And instead, we’re told that Israel forced our hand. To be fair the administration has since tried to walk this back, saying it was taken out of context. But the clip we just played was a clip posted by the white house to their social media feeds. And he said what he said. There’s no way around it. This was not a one-off comment, either. Shortly afterwards, the Speaker of the House said basically the same thing. Speaker Johnson says Israel was ready to attack Iran and that if Israel attacked, Iran would retaliate against US personnel based in the Middle East. “You can assume, because it’s common sense, that if Iran had fired its missile arsenal, we would’ve suffered staggering losses.” pic.twitter.com/m0RbO5WR5O — The American Conservative (@amconmag) March 2, 2026 Source: @amconmag/X.com With that in mind, here’s some reporting from the New York Times on the lead-up to the war in Iran. Normally, of course, we wouldn’t even bother talking about coverage in the New York Times, which is one of the least reliable news outlets on the planet. But in this case, it’s worth reading, because everything the Times is saying completely matches what Marco Rubio and Mike Johnson are saying publicly. So there is legitimate reason to think that this is true, or some version of it is true: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel walked into the Oval Office on the morning of Feb. 11, determined to keep the American president on the path to war. For weeks, the United States and Israel had been secretly discussing a military offensive against Iran. But Trump administration officials had recently begun negotiating with the Iranians over the future of their nuclear program, and the Israeli leader wanted to make sure that the new diplomatic effort did not undermine the plans.  .. Two weeks later, the president took the United States to war. … Behind the scenes, his move toward war grew inexorably, fueled by allies like Mr. Netanyahu who pushed the president to strike a decisive blow against Iran’s theocratic government; and by Mr. Trump’s own confidence after the successful U.S. operation that toppled the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January. The article continues: There were few voices lobbying against military action. One exception was Tucker Carlson, the right-wing podcaster and close ally of the president, who has met with him in the Oval Office three times in the past month to argue against an attack. … The president said he understood the risks of an attack, but he conveyed to Mr. Carlson that he had no choice but to join a strike that Israel would launch.. Everything about this reporting is consistent with what we’re now hearing from senior Republicans, including Republicans in the Trump administration. Israel is leading the charge. And by the way, this is nothing new. According to a memoir written by the U.S. diplomat Aaron David Miller, in 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu visited Bill Clinton in Washington. Netanyahu was the prime minister of Israel at the time, which is the same job he has today. And after Netanyahu lectured Clinton long enough, Clinton became exasperated and told his aides, “Who the f—- does he think he is? Who’s the f—-ing superpower here?'” This is how Netanyahu comes across in private, apparently. But in public, he’s a very different character. Last night, Netanyahu appeared for an exclusive interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity. President Trump promoted this interview on Truth Social, and frankly the timing could not have been worse. Just hours after Marco Rubio says that Israel dragged us into a war, the president tells everyone to listen to Israel’s prime minister explain why we’re at war. Here’s what Netanyahu told Hannity: NEW: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells @seanhannity that Iran’s “ballistic missile program and atomic bomb program” would have soon been “immune” to attack without Operation Epic Fury: “Action had to be taken, and you needed the resolute President like Donald J.… pic.twitter.com/YGJysdeFl1 — Fox News (@FoxNews) March 3, 2026 Source: @FoxNews/X.com A couple of things to note here. First of all, Netanyahu keeps talking about how “America” is supposedly at risk of an imminent attack by Iran. He doesn’t even mention “Israel,” for the most part. But obviously, that’s his main concern. When it comes to Iran, a devastating attack on Israel is far more likely than a devastating attack on the United States. But in this interview, Netanyahu knows his audience. He knows he has to talk about the alleged threats facing America. But wait a minute. What threat did Iran pose to America? In this interview, Netanyahu makes the case that Iran was months away from making their nuclear weapons program effectively invincible. But that contradicts what the White House said last summer, when they repeatedly claimed that Iran’s nuclear weapons program had been “obliterated.” On top of that, Netanyahu’s comments contradict what Ted Cruz said on “Face the Nation” just two days ago. The White House has stated that Cruz received a briefing and was functioning as a White House surrogate. And here’s what Cruz said: Ted Cruz claims that there is no intelligence indicating that Iran is anywhere close to having a nuclear weapon Can we get even a basic coherent message on the war we are actively engaged in?pic.twitter.com/55v2DgqS6A — Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) March 1, 2026 Source: @AuronMacintyre/X.com Cruz states, “I don’t have present-day intelligence on what progress they’ve made towards rebuilding nuclear weapons since we bombed their facilities. I have no indications they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons.” This is a problem. It’s a glaring inconsistency. Cruz could have said that, according to the latest intelligence, Iran was months away from developing an invincible nuclear weapons program. But Ted Cruz didn’t say that. So why is Israel saying that? In response to one of my posts on X — where I asked for a clear explanation outlining the case for attacking Iran — the White House press secretary offered this response. It’s part of a much larger response, which you can go read on my feed. As to the nuclear weapons question, it was a different explanation. While Operation Midnight Hammer did obliterate Iran’s major nuclear sites, the regime was fully committed to rebuilding their nuclear program, and they REFUSED to make a deal, despite months of extensive talks and good faith efforts by President Trump’s top negotiators. So wait a minute. They were “fully committed to rebuilding their nuclear program.” I can believe that. But how close were they? Were they months away from the invincible bunkers or not? The press secretary wouldn’t say. But U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff spoke to Hannity last night, and he provided yet another version of events. He was negotiating with Iran, before strikes began. And what he said, undeniably, contradicts the remarks from White House surrogate Ted Cruz. It also differs substantially from the implication of the press secretary’s post on X.  Watch: Steve Witkoff: Let me say this, because I forgot this small little detail. In that first meeting, both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly, with no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% and they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the… pic.twitter.com/cT9VAfv8PD — Clash Report (@clashreport) March 3, 2026 Source: @clashreport/X.com So in the very first meeting, the Iranian negotiators said that they could make 11 nuclear bombs, with the material they currently controlled. We aren’t told how quickly Iran could make those bombs, but right away, that’s very alarming. Why hasn’t anyone else mentioned this? Why didn’t Donald Trump or Ted Cruz or the White House press secretary mention it? Why are we learning this very important fact — or alleged fact — in an off-hand comment during a Hannity interview? Every day we spend trying to untangle this mess — and trying to make sense of what our elected officials are saying — we’re running the risk of repeating the exact same mistake that the Bush administration did. We’re setting ourselves up for the same result: A quagmire overseas, while our domestic security collapses around us. We cannot end up with a situation where we’re fighting Muslim terrorists overseas, while hordes of anti-American Muslims continue to stream into the United States. Which is basically the story of America in the 21st century up to now. That’s a story worth talking about, whether you agree with this operation in Iran or not. It’s been argued that this war in Iran is really about Russia and China — asserting our dominance on the global stage against our chief rivals. That would be an entirely different justification than the four or five other reasons we’ve been presented, but regardless, dominance on the world stage is fairly meaningless if our sovereignty is destroyed at home. The border is now closed, which is a massive victory, but we are still sitting at the end of 25 years of unchecked migration, legal and not, mostly from the third world. If you look at the history of Muslim migration to the United States, and how quickly our demographics have changed, you begin to realize how dire this problem is. The Iranian-born population in the United States roughly doubled from 1980 to 1990, largely as a result of refugees from the Iran-Iraq War. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of new Iranians in the United States. Meanwhile something like 150,000 Iraqi refugees settled in the United States post-2007. Another 150,000 came from Bangladesh, mostly from diversity lotteries. Around 100,000 Afghans arrived in the United States in 2021 alone. We took in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees during the Obama administration. Around a quarter-million Pakistanis have received legal permanent resident status in the past two decades. And hundreds of thousands of Somalis have entered the United States since 2000 — despite the fact that Somalis brutally murdered American soldiers who were trying to help address their food shortages in 1993, depicted in the movie “Black Hawk Down”, and despite the fact that Somalis routinely engaged in acts of piracy against the United States in the 21st century. That last point deserves some emphasis. In 2009, Somali pirates seized a U.S./Danish cargo ship called the Maersk Alabama, around 240 nautical miles southeast of Somalia. It was the first time since the 19th century that pirates seized a ship that was registered under the U.S flag. You might have seen the Tom Hanks movie about this incident, called “Captain Phillips.” Two years later, in February of 2011, Somali pirates seized an American yacht and four American citizens. SEAL Team Six Gold Squadron attempted to free the hostages, but all of them were shot to death by their captors. And there have been several other incidents where Somali pirates have fired on U.S. warships, apparently because they mistook them for trading vessels. (Those attempts didn’t end well for the Somalis). This is the culture that we’ve been importing, in massive numbers, to states like Minnesota and Ohio. These are people who still see piracy — a barbarian pastime that peaked many centuries ago — as a viable career path in the 21st century. They slaughter our troops and parade them like animals. And we invite them into the United States and shower them with stolen tax money. And then, when a majority of Americans vote to get these people out of our country, our leaders essentially back down, or heavily moderate, because Leftist whiners (mostly women) became hysterical. In 1920, according to Pew, we had something like 50,000 Muslims in the country, tops. By 1970, that number had risen to 200,000. By 1990, we were up to 1,000,000 Muslims. In 2000, just before the beginning of the War on Terror, there were around 2 million Muslims in the United States. Now we’re around 3.5 to 4 million — roughly double. Put another way, most Muslims living in the United States arrived in this country after 9/11. Something like 60% of our Muslim population is foreign born. And they’re much younger than the typical American. If you’re the cynical type, you might suspect that all of this migration is related to the Patriot Act, and the mass surveillance regime that both parties implemented after 9/11. After all, if you flood the country with Muslims, you’ll have no shortage of “investigations” and “wiretaps” to conduct. That’s a guarantee. So maybe all of this migration was a way to facilitate the growth of the surveillance state, and the gradual eradication of civil liberties in the United States. More likely, all of this migration is part of the larger effort to dilute the votes of American citizens by replacing us with foreigners who despise the United States. Whatever the case, the top priority of this administration should be to reverse this catastrophic and deliberate effort to fundamentally alter the demographics of this country. This is the top national security threat we face. It’s not even close. Even if you support the current war in Iran, you should be on board with this. Every single one of these third-world foreigners is a clear and present danger to the lives of American citizens — particularly when we’re going to war with a Muslim nation. Just the other day, according to prosecutors, an illegal alien from Sierra Leone named “Abdul Jalloh” murdered a white woman named Stephanie Minter at a bus stop on Richmond Highway in Fairfax County.  Source: Dignity Memorial/NY Post Supposedly, this is one of the “nicer” areas of the country. But lately, Northern Virginia has been overrun with foreigners, particularly Muslims.. So now, residents have to contend with brutal stabbings with no apparent motive. Source: Fairfax County Police/NY Post The alleged killer, according to the New York Post, “entered the US illegally from Sierra Leone in 2012 and had an ICE detainer lodged against him in 2020 — with a judge granting him a final order of removal to a country other than Sierra Leone, DHS said in a statement.  The accused killer has been arrested more than 30 times for a laundry list of offenses, including rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft, trespassing, larceny, firing a weapon, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and pickpocketing.” But none of this — the illegal entry, the 30 crimes, the order of removal — resulted in this barbarian being deported. Actually, 30 crimes is understating it. According to the local ABC affiliate, he has more than 40 crimes on his record. And in every case except one, the Fairfax County DA dropped all charges.  Watch: Local ABC affiliate reports that an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone who murdered a woman at a bus stop had over 40 previous charges (including rape), but Fairfax County prosecutor Steve Descano dropped the charges in almost all of those cases. pic.twitter.com/hjXj43xUHz — AG (@AGHamilton29) March 3, 2026 Source: @AGHamilton29/X.com Source: Fairfax County, VA That’s Steve Descano. According to the American Enterprise Institute:  “Descano is in office because of left-wing billionaire George Soros. … Descano raised about $1 million between the primary and the general election, a shocking amount for a downballot county race. About two-thirds of his cash came from two Soros-funded organizations, the Justice and Public Safety PAC and the New Virginia Majority PAC. … Descano also tried to single-handedly turn Fairfax County into something a sanctuary county: “Wherever possible,” Descano’s website declared, “Steve will make charging and plea decisions that limit or avoid immigration consequences.'” That’s why he won’t charge illegal aliens when they commit 40 crimes. He doesn’t want them to be deported. He’s wants violent criminals to remain in this country, roaming free, where they can brutally murder random Americans they come across. The mission of George Soros and his prosecutors is to spring barbarians loose, so that Americans are slaughtered. It happened to Iryna Zarutska. It happened to Stephanie Minter. It happened to the victims of the mass shooting in Austin — a 30-year-old man, a 19-year-old man, and a 21-year-old woman. And it will continue to happen, whether or not we achieve our objectives in Iran — objectives that, to this day, no one can really articular. As it stands, this is the status quo you’re expected to accept: We can terminate the Supreme Leader of Iran, despite all of his security and paranoia and power. But we can’t deport Somali fraudsters in Minneapolis. We can’t denaturalize scammers and grifters who openly declare, for the world to see, that they despise the United States and seek to destroy it. We can’t get gangster thugs and illegal aliens like Kilmar Abregio Garcia out of the country, without ten different female judges — all of them with foreign last names — issuing an immediate nationwide injunction. We can’t imprison the insurance executives who are ripping off Medicaid by sending massive payouts to fake “autism treatment clinics” and “lear-ing centers” — while keeping a cut for themselves. None of that’s possible, apparently. We can eliminate a threat thousands of miles away — a threat that’s supposedly urgent — but we can’t do anything about the clear and obvious threats that are living in this country right now.  Apparently, all it takes is some low-testosterone schizophrenic fighting with Border Patrol while armed with a handgun, along with an unemployed lesbian extremist driving an SUV directly at a federal agent, to completely derail immigration enforcement within our borders. For the past several months, I’ve been told continuously that we can’t actually do mass deportations (much less mass denaturalizations) because it’s impractical, expensive, politically unpopular, and risky. Deporting illegal immigrants who haven’t committed additional crimes — who have no criminal record aside from coming here illegally — is especially fraught, I’m told. That was the argument I heard when Los Angeles burned, and Trump had to send in the National Guard. It was the argument I heard when ICE was forced to flee Minneapolis. Maybe there’s some truth to it. Maybe mass deportations and mass denaturalizations are impractical, expensive, politically unpopular, and risky. I can’t say for sure that a deportation operation targeting all illegal aliens, at the kind of scale we need, wouldn’t result in massive backlash from the electorate. I think those fears are overblown, but maybe they aren’t. Well, Mr. President, the war in Iran is also impractical, expensive, politically unpopular, and risky. That in and of itself doesn’t mean it’s wrong. And I acknowledge that it’s your call to make in the end. You are the commander-in-chief after all. But if we’re going to do something drastic and explosive and unpopular thousands of miles from home, why can’t we do it here too? That’s the question your base is asking. If we’re going to give a major prize to the donors and pundit class — people who hated you and tried to undermine you the entire way, people who oppose your domestic agenda and want you to be impeached and imprisoned — if we’re going to reward them, then will you also reward your America first base? Will you bring back the Muslim ban? Restart workplace raids? Suspend the legal immigration system? Will you strip citizenship from paper Americans who use the word “they” when they describe the country? Strip citizenships from “Americans” who can’t even speak English and don’t respect our laws? Will you finish the big beautiful border wall? You can capture Maduro and kill the Ayatollah — both impressive feats, even if I’m skeptical of the objectives and downstream effects related to the latter. But if you can do all of that, then I ask you — we ask you — will you finish the thing you set out to achieve: will you make America great again?

The final full Moon of winter arrived on March 3, which means springtime is officially around the corner. If you haven’t been counting down until the flowers begin to bloom, the grass turns green, and your sneezing moves into overdrive, it’s just days away. We don’t know about you, but we’re pretty darn excited for a change of season. Spring means more sun, longer days, and new life all around. This year’s Worm Moon was also a Blood Moon, which appeared crimson in the sky. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ABC News (@abcnews) The Blood Moon Appears Because of a Lunar Eclipse “During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon appears dark red or orange. This is because our planet blocks most of the Sun’s light from reaching the Moon, and the light that does reach the lunar surface is filtered through a thick slice of Earth’s atmosphere. It’s as if all of the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon,” NASA explains. ABC News shared beautiful images from the March 3 Blood Moon on Instagram. “The Worm Moon rises over cities around the world, including New York, Frankfurt, and Buenos Aires, on Monday night,” the caption reads. Fans loved seeing the Moon in all it’s glory. “Stepping in from my balcony, it’s 2:20 a.m. in Santa Cruz, CA,” someone wrote. “I’m steps from Seacliff Beach. Foggy weather, but the universe always provides! We are halfway there!” Insane beauty pic.twitter.com/aG5Da6byif— JACKIE (@KriderJackie) March 3, 2026 Many people posted their Blood Moon photos on social media, and they are positively breathtaking. These changes of scenery are constant reminders that the world is constantly moving around us, and it’s important to slow down and take a look from time to time so we don’t miss it. This story’s featured image can be found here.

'United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz'

CENTCOM reported the first casualties Sunday

News Universal Monsters Scream 7 Director Is Making an “Adult Vampire Diaries” Series With Universal Monsters Local villagers report hearing noises from the castle once more By Matthew Byrd | Published on March 3, 2026 Image: Universal Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Image: Universal Pictures Well, this is unexpected. In an interview with Esquire, Scream 7 director Kevin Williamson revealed that his next project is a TV series based on the Universal monster films that he says will be spiritually similar to the CW show The Vampire Diaries. “Netflix and Universal were very kind to let me go direct Scream 7 and put some projects on hold, and now I’m focused on those. The one I’m writing right now is a show,” Williamson says. “You might call it an adult Vampire Diaries. It’s based in the Universal monster land. I get to play with some of those characters like Dracula and Frankenstein and the Wolf Man and have fun there.” The Vampire Diaries comparison shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering that Williamson created that TV series (though it was based on novels by L. J. Smith). For those who need a refresher, The Vampire Diaries followed a young girl who falls in love with a vampire in a small town where an unusual amount of supernatural events typically occur. Williamson has said that the book’s small town elements actually drew him to the project rather than the high school drama and romantic elements, so perhaps we should expect a similar emphasis in this upcoming series. No, the bigger surprise here is the Universal monsters bit. Ever since the fabled Dark Universe films became one of the most significant failures in recent Hollywood history, the Universal monsters have been surprisingly dormant (though local villagers will tell you they still hear howls echo throughout the castle walls that are mightier than what mere wind can accomplish). There have been rumors of creators pitching and developing various projects based on the monsters, but most of those reports suggested that Universal was more interested in standalone stories than a shared universe. While this show wouldn’t necessarily have to connect to any other projects, the idea of an “Oops, all monsters” TV series is certainly an unusual creative pivot. Still, the potential is clearly there. Shows like Penny Dreadful showed that you can have a lot of fun playing with monster lore, and there are certainly small town supernatural storytelling elements in many of the classic Universal movies that Williamson may be especially interested in revisiting. At least that’s what we assume he means by this being similar to The Vampire Diaries. It is, of course, also possible that a youngster will fall in love with The Wolf Man (once again leaving the poor Gill-man in the cold). No other information is available about the series at this time, but given that this could be Williamson’s blank check project following the success of Scream 7 (despite its many controversies), it seems likely this show will see the light of day. [end-mark] The post <i>Scream 7</i> Director Is Making an “Adult <i>Vampire Diaries</i>” Series With Universal Monsters appeared first on Reactor.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill faces an ethics complaint after she asked Garden State residents to report on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the state government. “In a seemingly unprecedented move, Governor Sherrill is using official state resources to coordinate the potential obstruction of federal immigration enforcement activities,” Curtis Schube, director of research and policy at the Center to Advance Security in America, told The Daily Signal in a statement on the complaint Tuesday. “Her administration created an official portal for members of the public to upload personal videos of ICE officials conducting their official duties.”  “This outrageous conduct is not in accordance with the rules of the New York Bar, nor is it appropriate for any legal professional or government official,” Schube added. “CASA is filing a bar complaint today and is hopeful that an investigation into this matter will be initiated immediately.” CASA filed a complaint Tuesday with the Attorney Grievance Committee of the New York Supreme Court, which investigates potential breaches in the Rules of Professional Conduct. According to the New York State Unified Court System’s registration, Sherrill first registered in May 2009 with the number 4719522 and has no disciplinary history. The Complaint The complaint, exclusively obtained by The Daily Signal, cites portions of the Rules of Professional Conduct, which state that a lawyer may face discipline for “illegal conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer,” or for “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.” The letter cites 8 U.S.C. Section 1324, which imposes up to a 10-year prison sentence or a fine on anyone who “conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection,” an alien who “has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law.” Sherrill went on “The Daily Show” in January, outlining her plan to launch a portal for Garden State residents to report ICE activity. “If you see an ICE agent in the street, get your phone out,” she told the host and her audience. She announced that the state government would create a “portal” to allow people to “upload all their cell phone videos” to “alert people” to ICE’s presence. “Sherrill has taken the first step toward concealing illegal aliens in New Jersey by calling for people to video any ICE activity and to alert the New Jersey government via web portal,” the complaint states. “Alerting people can be for no other reason than to allow undocumented immigrants time to clear out of their location. The effort can be interpreted in no other way than to prevent ICE from detaining immigrants who are the subject of their search.” “This violates the explicit language of the federal criminal statute referenced above,” the complaint states. “It is ‘deceit[ful]’ to use the power of government to prevent the federal government from being able to perform their operations. Additionally, it is unbecoming of a lawyer to use her power under the law to undermine federal law.” The ICE Reporting Portal The portal, which Sherrill’s appointed Attorney General Jennifer Davenport launched last month, urges citizens to “report misconduct by federal agents.” The website presents a list of “concerning activity” including “uses of excessive force, warrantless searches or arrests, racial profiling, wrongful detentions, interference with voting, or other civil-rights violations.” The site claims that information submitted via the portal may be used as evidence in court, though it states that the attorney general may or may not take legal action based on the submissions. The attorney general’s office states that it does not intend for the portal “to replace reporting emergencies or crimes in your area to local law enforcement.” Department of Homeland Security’s Response “Alerting people to ICE operations puts the lives of the men and women of law enforcement in danger as they go after terrorists, vicious gangs and violent criminal rings,” Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Lauren Bis told The Daily Signal in a statement Tuesday. “Our law officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults, a 3200% in vehicle attacks, and an 8000% increase in death threats.” “Remember, New Jersey is the same state that allowed a criminal illegal alien onto American streets who killed a mother and 11-year-old daughter while drunk driving,” she added. “While Attorney General Jennifer Davenport continues to encourage agitators to obstruct law enforcement and releases pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and murderers onto New Jersey’s streets, our brave law enforcement will continue to risk their lives to arrest heinous criminals in New Jersey.” Justice Department Weighs In The Justice Department sued Sherrill last month, aiming to block her executive order directing state officials to block ICE raids on state property. “The Department has a zero-tolerance policy for violence against law enforcement and will hold offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” a Justice Department spokesperson told The Daily Signal in a statement Tuesday. “Any official promoting anti-police rhetoric, encouraging reckless behavior, or obstructing lawful immigration operations should think twice before inciting further violence and putting federal agents in harm’s way.” Sherrill has labeled ICE a “Stasi-type force,” referring to the East German secret police force. Opposition to ICE ratcheted up a notch after the Department of Homeland Security ordered a surge of immigration enforcement agents to Minneapolis. Anti-ICE agitators organized to monitor immigration enforcement, with some training to directly interfere with ICE operations. In this context of heightened tensions, two activists died at the hands of ICE agents: Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Border czar Tom Homan then took charge of the efforts in Minneapolis and drew down federal forces. The Daily Signal reached out to the offices of the governor and the attorney general for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time. CASA NY Bar Complaint_Sherrill_final_2.25.26[14]Download The post Democrat Who Compared ICE to the Stasi Faces Ethics Complaint Over Program to Report Feds appeared first on The Daily Signal.

As top Trump administration officials descended on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon to update the Senate on Operation Epic Fury, Senators told The Daily Signal they’re considering a supplemental funding package to support U.S. military action against Iran. But some senators worry a supplemental funding fight could distract the Senate from other urgent priorities. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oak., told the Daily Signal he would “absolutely” support a supplemental funding package to continue Operation Epic Fury after Tuesday’s closed-door briefing. ? Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefs press on the State Departments recent efforts to help Americans evacuate from the Middle East before briefing Senators in a closed door meeting. More to come… pic.twitter.com/fMzlQIOY72— Virginia Grace McKinnon (@virginiagmck) March 3, 2026 Congress recently passed the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act in February which allocated over $830 billion to defense, but Congress might decide to pass more defense funding in light of the administration’s bold $1.5 trillion defense budget. Before the briefing, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., seemed uncertain about the need for supplemental funds. “Maybe yes,” Graham said. “We may need a supplemental to help our friends in Israel and to deal with the increased threats.” After the meeting, Graham seemed more certain. “I think there will be a supplemental. We’ll have to approve that,” he told reporters.   Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told The Daily Signal, “We’ll do whatever we need to do here to make sure our military is supported.” Similarly, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, told the Daily Signal that he would also support an Operation Epic Fury funding package, “If they need, absolutely.” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters he was almost certain Republicans would pursue a supplemental funding package. “I’m sure they’ll ask for supplemental appropriations,” said Murphy. “I don’t think they’ll get them.” “I’m more convinced now that this is going to be open ended and forever,” Murphy continued. “They clearly have no, they clearly seem fine with hard line elements being in control of the country, because they plan to permanently run air operations over the country.” Murphy claimed that behind closed doors the administration refused to take off the table ground operations. “This feels like a multi-trillion dollar open ended conflict with a very confusing and constantly shifting set of goals,” he concluded.   Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., was skeptical. He said that while he expects they [Republicans] will come forward with a request for additional funding, he is unsure if he would support it. “Before I will support additional funding, I expect us to have an open hearing,” Coons told the press coming out of the closed-door classified hearing. War Powers Showdown: Will Capitol Hill Pull the Plug on Epic Fury or Power It Through for Israel?If the war power resolutions pass, the U.S. could be required to halt Operation Epic Fury in Iran. Both chambers of Congress are set to vote this week on separate bipartisan war… pic.twitter.com/rcLlMPTUsM— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) March 3, 2026 Given the president’s repeated comments regarding America’s ability to continue the Iran campaign, however, the upper chamber might face more pressing issues than a supplemental defense funding package. The Department of Homeland Security remains shut down. Democrats are demanding reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a precondition for reopening the government. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told The Daily Signal her focus is still on funding DHS. “My focus right now is getting that funded, and then certainly I’m open to turning my attention to other things,” Britt said in reference to the DHS funding lapse. “Their mission, is to keep Americans safe, and yet this body has yet to act on that.”  “I think it’s imperative that we fund DHS now,” said Graham. “I think the likelihood of a terrorist attack against the United States is very, very high… because of the threat level coming from Iran.” But the Republican voting base, however, have their eyes on passing the SAVE America Act, an election integrity measure that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and nationwide voter ID. ?We can’t let what’s happening in Iran distract us from the need to:(1) put the SAVE America Act on the Senate floor, (2) make filibustering senators speak, and (3) stay on it until it passes Share if you agree?— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) March 2, 2026 Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the Senate’s main drivers of the SAVE America Act, is warning that the operation in Iran should not distract the Senate. The post Senate Eyes Supplemental Funding for Iran, But What About SAVE America Act? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio graciously went to the microphones just off the Senate subway ahead of a late Tuesday afternoon briefing for senators about the U.S. war on Iran and, in a wholly predictable development, was shouted at repeatedly like a drunkard by CNN’s Manu Raju, who tried to further peddle the liberal media-wide lie that Rubio had said Monday the U.S. was dragged into the war by Israel. Despite having yelled repeatedly at Rubio and even after other reporters had been called on, the secretary made Raju seat until the back-end of the media availability. Raju insisted “I want to just clarify what you said” Monday to many of the same reporters about the U.S.’s reasoning for striking Iran, but Rubio interjected to state “[t]here’s nothing to clarify” so long as “you’re going to read the whole statement.” BOOM: @SecRubio was not having any bit of the gotcha games from CNN’s Manu Raju.... Raju: “I want to just clarify what you said. I want to clarify what you said because you said —” Rubio: “There’s nothing to clarify.” Raju: “— you said — no, but you said —” Rubio: “No, but… pic.twitter.com/G39fJupZ7B — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 3, 2026 Raju had an agenda to push about a haphazard administration at war with itself, so he kept going: “No, but your quote is about, ‘we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that would precipitate an attack on American forces[.]’” The CNN hack kept sputtering, so Rubio waged his finger and took back control by demanding Raju “let me answer because this is my press conference.” “I was asked a very specific question, so you guys can misrepresent it, but I was asked a very specific question yesterday. The bottom line is this. We — the President, determined we were not going to get hit first. It’s that simple, guys. We are not going to put American troops in harm’s way. If you tell the President of the United States that if we don’t go first, we’re going to have more people killed and more people injured, the President is going to go first,” Rubio explained. Rubio went on, arguing Trump was done negotiating with a regime stalling while “hiding behind these missiles and hiding behind these drones” and Iran could “reach a point where you couldn’t touch them, and then they could do whatever the hell they wanted with their nuclear program and there was no way in the world that this terroristic regime was going to get nuclear weapons.” Rubio did not directly address it, but there was also the intelligence angle that CIA intelligence located the Ayatollah and senior officials, thus cluing in Israel for the kill shot. Raju kept pestering: “So, the U.S. attack had nothing to do with Israel? It had nothing to do with Israel?” Rubio moved onto NewsNation’s Joe Khalil, who bailed Raju out by asking the same thing. In response, the secretary further explained “this weekend presented a unique opportunity to take joint action against this threat, and I’ve just outlined we wanted this to have maximum success” by “destroy[ing] their missiles and their missile launchers,” “their credibility to make” said weapons, and eliminate “their navy.” .@NewsNation’s @JoeKhalilTV: “[T]here’s a general question of why the President gave the green light. And then there’s a question of why did it have to happen this weekend? Are you saying it had to happen this weekend because of that Israeli action?”@SecRubio: “No, this weekend… pic.twitter.com/uQpKpqMddm — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 3, 2026 Ever the pest, Raju wanted round two and resulted in Rubio arguing the U.S. acted not because of Israel’s orders, but President Trump “act[ing] on the timing that gave us the highest chance of success” this weekend and in the days to come: CNN’s @MKRaju: “Would the U.S. attack have happened no matter what? Would the U.S. attack have happened no matter what Israel — Israel is planning to do?”@NewsNation’s @JoeKhalilTV: “Speaker [told us] Israel was going to act with or without U.S. —” Rubio: “The President had… pic.twitter.com/0HbZc0GPrJ — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 3, 2026 Having heard a reporter invoke the 2001 authorized use of military force to enter Afghanistan, an exasperated Rubio called out the purposefully obtuse press: .@SecRubio: “Listen, let me explain to you guys this in simple English, okay? Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics. They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons. They intend to develop those nuclear weapons behind a program of missiles and drones and terrorism,… pic.twitter.com/48p6bE5TMc — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 3, 2026 Since he wasn’t hectoring Rubio like Raju was, Khalil received the last question, which invoked “Democrats criticiz[ing]” Rubio for the justification of going to war. This triggered Rubio to closed with a masterful encapsulation of the way liberal critics operate and would on Tuesday: .@NewsNation’s @JoeKhalilTV: “Yesterday, several — several Democrats criticized what you said and argue that Israel —”@SecRubio: “Yeah, of course, they criticized. The question is several Democrats criticized — they’re going to always criticize. We’ve been doing this for years,… pic.twitter.com/NN5wnAxk75 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 3, 2026 Rewinding to the beginning, Rubio opened by encouraging the news media to publish the State Department contact information for Americans stranded in the Middle East and reiterating the U.S. military objectives. Raju then started shouting, but was denied by a female reporter on the other side of the gaggle, who also drew Rubio’s ire based on her statement that “[y]esterday, you told us that Israel was going to strike Iran and that that’s why we needed to get involved” where as “[t]oday, the President said that Iran was going to get [struck].” WATCH: Secretary of State Rubio smacks down reporter for LYING about his statements from yesterday, falsely claiming he said Israel dragged the U.S. into war with Iran.... Reporter: “Yesterday, you told us that Israel was going to strike Iran and that that's why we needed to get… pic.twitter.com/AIKIbsrLBn — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 3, 2026 Rubio promptly schooled her and the other reporters, telling her “your statement is false” and reiterating we weren’t being led around by Israel. In reality, he asserted, “the decision [President Trump] made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ballistic missile program” and reporters “need to play the whole statement, not clip it to reach a narrative that you want to do” (click “expand”): No. Yeah, your statement is false. So, that’s not what — I was asked very specifically...[S]omebody asked me a question yesterday, did we go in because of Israel?...And I said, no, I told you this had to happen. Anyway, the President made a decision, and the decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ballistic missile program, that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ability to conduct these attacks. That decision had been made. The President systematically made a decision to systematically destroy this terrorist capability that they had, and we carried that out. I was very clear on that answer. This was a question of timing, of why this had to happen as a joint operation, not the question of the intent. Once the President made a decision that negotiations were not going to work, that they were playing us on the negotiations, and that this was a threat that was untenable, the decision was made to strike them. That’s what I said yesterday. And you guys need to play it. If you’re going to play these statements, you need to play the whole statement not clip it to reach a narrative that you want to do, all right? After a question about another of the left’s favorite narratives that Congress must be allowed prior approval to any military action they don’t like, Raju tried again, but was denied in favor of a more important question concerning the well-being of Americans in the region: Reporter: “Was there a plan in place to evacuate Americans before the attack took place?” Secretary of State Rubio: “Well, that’s the plan we’re trying to carry out. The problem is, or the challenge we are facing is airspace closures. If a country closes their airport — for… pic.twitter.com/T3abDWV2bw — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 3, 2026 It was following this important reiteration of the need for stranded Americans to contact the State Department did Rubio finally allow Raju to try (and fail) to play some sort of journalistic superhero. Somewhere, Jim Acosta must have been proud. To see the relevant transcript from the Rubio media availability on March 3, click here.

Pop singer Kesha expressed her outrage after her song was used by the White House in a social media video promoting the military attacks in Iran. The video posted by the White House account is titled "Lethality" and features U.S. warplanes firing missiles at tankers as Kesha's song "Blow" from 2011 plays. 'This show of blatant disregard for human life and quite frankly this attack on all of our nervous systems is the opposite of what I stand for.'The 30-second video was posted to TikTok, where it garnered almost two million views. Kesha, whose full name is Kesha Rose Sebert, excoriated the administration for the unauthorized use of her song. "It's come to my attention that The White House has used one of my songs on TikTok to incite violence and threaten war," she said in a post on social media. "Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane. I absolutely do NOT approve of my music being used to promote violence of any kind. Love always trumps hate," she added. "Please love yourself and each other in times like this. This show of blatant disregard for human life and quite frankly this attack on all of our nervous systems is the opposite of what I stand for."She went on to reference an accusation from Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland about President Donald Trump allegedly covering up his presence in the Epstein files. RELATED: Sabrina Carpenter condemns White House's 'evil' use of song — they respond with ridicule Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images "Also, don't let this distract us from the fact that criminal predator Donald Trump appears in the Files over a million times," she wrote. She added, "Stop using my music, perverts," in a second post. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!