Top Items:
Politico:
Don't ‘blackmail’ us: Europe rejects Trump's demand to help clean up Hormuz mess — BRUSSELS — Europe's message to Donald Trump on Monday was clear: We're not helping you secure the Strait of Hormuz. — Foreign ministers from the 27 EU countries gathered in Brussels to discuss …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Breitbart, Fortune and WTOP News
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NBC News:
Trump is presented with options to end the war in Iran, sources say. He hasn't taken any so far. — The off-ramps are a standard part of war planning, which also includes possibilities for escalation if the White House decides to increase the pressure on Iran, sources tell NBC News.
Axios:
Behind the Curtain: Trump's escalation trap — For five years in office, President Trump has operated with intuition, impulse and improvisation. — The Iran war, now entering Week 3, is the first time Trump's style has made it impossible for him to easily talk or improvise his way out.
Discussion:
HotAir, Raw Story, The Independent, Mediaite and Semafor
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
With Threats and Claims of ‘Treason,’ Trump Pressures Media on the War
With Threats and Claims of ‘Treason,’ Trump Pressures Media on the War
Discussion:
Military and Veteran …, Real Patriotism …, Politico and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »
Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Europe Rejects Trump's Demands for Warships to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz
Europe Rejects Trump's Demands for Warships to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz
Discussion:
HotAir, Wall Street Journal, FOREVER WARS, Vox, RedState, NBC News, NewsMax.com, The Atlantic, France 24, New York Sun, Townhall, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, Reuters, FreightWaves, Semafor, CBS News, Patterico's Pontifications and WDEF-TV
Fox News:
US ‘locked and loaded’ to destroy Iran's ‘crown jewel’ ‘if we want,’ Trump warns
US ‘locked and loaded’ to destroy Iran's ‘crown jewel’ ‘if we want,’ Trump warns
Discussion:
PBS NewsHour, The National Pulse, RedState, CBS News, IJR and Axios
Jeremy Scahill / Drop Site News:
Iranian Officials Say They Have Been Ignoring Witkoff's Private Requests to Talk
Iranian Officials Say They Have Been Ignoring Witkoff's Private Requests to Talk
Discussion:
Raw Story, Truthout, New Republic, Reuters and New York Times
Reuters:
Iran War Live Updates: Israel Expands Lebanon Offensive; Trump's Oil-Route Demands Draw Cool Response
Iran War Live Updates: Israel Expands Lebanon Offensive; Trump's Oil-Route Demands Draw Cool Response
Politico:
Trump demands ‘about 7’ countries join coalition to police Iran's Strait of Hormuz
Trump demands ‘about 7’ countries join coalition to police Iran's Strait of Hormuz
Discussion:
Ace of Spades HQ, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, New Republic, UPI and Modern Diplomacy
Nette Nöstlinger / Politico:
Germany to Trump: We won't help you reopen the Strait of Hormuz
Germany to Trump: We won't help you reopen the Strait of Hormuz
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Yle News, PBS NewsHour, Mother Jones, gCaptain, The Kyiv Independent, Metro.co.uk, HuffPost, NPR, The Week, Middle East Monitor, New Republic, The Floridian and NewsMax.com
Axios:
Iran and U.S. have been in direct contact in recent days, sources say
Iran and U.S. have been in direct contact in recent days, sources say
Discussion:
New York Post, Raw Story and Reuters
Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:
Judge Strikes Down Kennedy's Vaccine Policies — Ruling on a lawsuit brought by several prominent medical organizations, a district court said the federal government did not base its decisions on science in limiting Covid shots and changing the childhood immunization schedule.
Discussion:
Washington Post, NOTUS, Associated Press, Scripps News, The Guardian, NPR and Raw Story
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Nate Raymond / Reuters:
US judge blocks efforts to reshape childhood vaccine policy — A federal judge on Monday blocked key parts of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s effort to reshape U.S. vaccine policy, including a move to reduce the number of shots routinely recommended for children.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Politico, The Hill, NBC News, Associated Press, NPR, Forbes, MS NOW, New York Times, Newsweek, The Independent, Bloomberg, Advocate, Honolulu Star-Advertiser and The Gateway Pundit
New York Times:
Trump Administration Seeks to Remove Cuba's President From Power During Negotiations — The United States has told Cuba that for meaningful progress to be made in negotiations, President Miguel Díaz-Canel must step down, said people familiar with the talks.
Discussion:
Semafor and The Floridian
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Associated Press:
Cuban officials report an island-wide blackout as country struggles with energy crisis — Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen. Cuba has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade …
Discussion:
CNN, HotAir, CBS News, France 24, RedState, Washington Post, Blaze Media, Human Events, Al Jazeera, Straight Arrow News, Florida Politics, UPI, Reuters, The Daily Caller, Not the Bee, WNYW-TV, The Hill, Washington Times, NewsMax.com, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, WTOP News and Bloomberg
Aaron Pellish / Politico:
‘I think Cuba sees the end’: Trump hints at imminent change in the island nation
‘I think Cuba sees the end’: Trump hints at imminent change in the island nation
Discussion:
CNBC, The Hill, The Independent, NewsMax.com, Washington Examiner, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The National Pulse and Reuters
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Fire on U.S. Aircraft Carrier Raged for Hours, Sailors Say — The Ford is now entering its 10th month of deployment after arriving in the Middle East from the Caribbean. — It took more than 30 hours for sailors to put out the fire aboard the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford last week …
Steven Nelson / New York Post:
Trump briefed that Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is probably gay — and president has priceless reaction — WASHINGTON — President Trump was stunned to learn last week that US intelligence indicates new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei may be gay — and that his father …
Camilo Montoya-Galvez / CBS News:
Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino to retire from federal service, sources say — Add CBS News on Google — Outspoken Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino is retiring from federal service at the end of this month, after being pulled away from a high-profile role leading immigration raids …
Discussion:
NBC News, CNN, New York Post, Forbes, Chicago Sun Times, Raw Story, Not the Bee, HuffPost and New Republic
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Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
Why David Boies Thinks We Should Support Trump's Iran War — The prominent lawyer says that Democrats should get behind the President, and make sure that he finishes the job. — For decades, David Boies has been one of the most renowned and impactful lawyers in America.
Ben Penn / Bloomberg Law:
DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Law School — The Justice Department has waived a policy requiring newly hired federal prosecutors to possess at least one year of experience practicing law, as US attorneys' offices struggle to find qualified replacements following mass departures.
Catie Edmondson / New York Times:
Trump Airs a House Republican's Terminal Diagnosis, Claiming to Have Reversed It — The president leaned on House Speaker Mike Johnson to name a Florida Republican whose grave prognosis was imperiling the party's already slim voting margin. Both said his prospects had improved.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Politico, twitchy.com, Florida Politics and Raw Story
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Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Trump is losing one battle after another. Cue the posts. … Trump's Sunday night outburst took on all of them, but it was most notable for how he cast the Supreme Court — one that has staved off the destruction of his agenda and even his own criminal prosecution — as “a weaponized, and unjust Political Organization.”
Neil deMause / Hell Gate:
‘No Amount of Housing We Build Is Going to Make Prices Drop’ — A major new housing study is challenging the idea behind the “abundance agenda.” — As New York City rents have risen into the stratosphere in recent decades, City officials and policy wonks have mostly sought to respond …
Lauren Kaori Gurley / Washington Post:
Trump's cancellation of licenses for immigrant truckers takes effect — Around 200,000 people will start losing commercial licenses under a federal rule that takes effect Monday, a move that could mean higher prices for consumers. — Some 200,000 immigrant truck drivers will begin to lose …
Discussion:
Townhall and Straight Arrow News
Emanuel Fabian / The Times of Israel:
Gamblers trying to win a bet on Polymarket are vowing to kill me if I don't rewrite an Iran missile story — Bettors are using death threats to try to get The Times of Israel's military correspondent to change his report on a missile impact in central Israel. This is his alarming account
Discussion:
Mediaite and Gizmodo, more at Mediagazer »
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
The War Development(s) That Should Truly Scare Us — How Iran could speed up de-dollarization and how Trump could put boots on the ground in Iran—sort of. — ∙ Paid — Housekeeping: With travel and our Texas live shows this week I'm not sure what the Triad schedule will look like.
Discussion:
Telegraph, The Dispatch and Raw Story
Mitchell Byars / Axios:
Atmospheric research group sues Trump over eminent science lab breakup — The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) sued the Trump administration Monday, alleging efforts to dismantle a Boulder-based federal lab are “unlawful retaliation” against the state of Colorado.
Discussion:
NCAR News, New York Times and The Colorado Sun
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Susie Wiles, Trump's White House Chief of Staff, Has Breast Cancer — Ms. Wiles said that the disease was caught in its early stages and that she would remain in her role. — Susie Wiles, President Trump's White House chief of staff and the first woman to ever hold that position …
Discussion:
Associated Press, New York Magazine, Axios, CBS News, NOTUS, Politico, Reuters, Washington Post, The Independent, NBC News, The Guardian, WDEF-TV, KHOU-TV, The National Pulse, HuffPost, Townhall, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Newsweek, TMZ.com, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, Daily Caller News Foundation, New York Post, Daily Mail, The US Sun, UPI, RedState, Deseret News, The Daily Signal, One America News Network, KEYT-TV, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, ABC News, The Hill, Blaze Media, NewsMax.com, The Daily Wire, Scripps News, New Republic, The Floridian, The Post Millennial, Mediaite and Washington Times, more at Mediagazer »
NBC News:
Kennedy Center board approves two-year closure for $250 million renovation — President Donald Trump said the closure was necessary and paves the way for renovations that will feature “high quality, really high quality construction.” — The Trump-appointed board of the Kennedy Center …
Discussion:
CNN, NOTUS, Reuters, Deadline, Associated Press, NewsMax.com, WTTG-TV, New York Times, UPI, The Independent and The Hill
Politico:
Jesse Jackson's family grapples with Illinois Senate endorsement controversy … But on Monday, Yusef Jackson, who is the organization's head, said the draft sample ballot was “released without authorization” and that the Jackson family and Rainbow PUSH Coalition are not making political endorsements this cycle.
Discussion:
Chicago Sun Times, The Hill and NewsMax.com
Jasper Goodman / Politico:
'The guy's a piece of s—t': SBF's pardon push falls flat in Congress … Crypto supporters aren't buying it. — “The guy's a piece of shit,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), a longtime crypto enthusiast who has championed industry-friendly legislation. “The guy shouldn't be pardoned.
Discussion:
Raw Story
David Edwards / Raw Story:
Oath Keepers founder ‘no longer MAGA’ after Iran war: ‘If I lose my pardon, so be it’ — Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes announced he was “no longer MAGA,” even though he was headed to Mar-a-Lago on Friday to ask President Donald Trump for a pardon. — While guest-hosting …
Discussion:
New Republic
Paul Waldman / The Cross Section:
MAGA Turns on Itself, and It's Ugly — The Cross Section is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. — There's a bit of a disagreement happening among influential media personalities in MAGA world, a rift opened up by the Iran War.
Discussion:
The Hill, Newsweek and New York Sun
Jackie Marquez / The Hill:
Marines: ‘One-in-a-million’ malfunction caused explosion over I-5 — SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KSWB/KUSI) — The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) has determined that a “one-in-a-million” malfunction caused an artillery shell to explode over Interstate 5 and strike a California Highway Patrol vehicle with debris last year.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times and NewsMax.com
Al Jazeera:
Hotel in Iraqi capital Baghdad struck as attacks on US embassy intercepted — No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which took place amid the escalating Israel-US war on Iran. — A prominent hotel in central Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone was struck by a drone …
Discussion:
Reuters, FDD's Long War Journal and Human Events
Associated Press:
Last protester in immigration detention after Trump's campus crackdown has been released — A Palestinian woman who was the last person still in immigration detention after the Trump administration's 2025 crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists was released Monday on $100,000 bond after a year in custody.
Discussion:
New York Times, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Gothamist, KEYT-TV, FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, Raw Story and Truthout


