Iran Issues Dire Warning about President Trump’s Strait of Hormuz Blockade: ‘Forceful Response’

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By New York Post. Iran warned Sunday that military vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz would be a violation of the fragile cease-fire and face a “strong and forceful response” — following President Trump’s announcement of a blockade on the critical oil chokepoint.

Trump announced plans earlier Sunday to stop “any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave” the waterway until there’s a point where all oil is allowed to go in and out without obstruction from Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy hit back, insisting it has “full control” of the Strait and that the waterway remains open for non-military vessels.

“Contrary to the false claims of certain enemy officials, the Strait of Hormuz is open for the passage of non-military vessels under smart control and management, in accordance with specific regulations,” the naval forces said in a statement, according to two semi-official Iranian news agencies.

The IRGC warned that any approach by military vessels toward the Strait would be treated as a violation of a cease-fire agreement. (Read more from “Iran Issues Dire Warning about President Trump’s Strait of Hormuz Blockade: ‘Forceful Response’” HERE)

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Trump announces blockade of Strait of Hormuz as prez blasts Iran for ‘WORLD EXTORTION’

By New York Post. The US will begin a sweeping blockade of the Strait of Hormuz at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday, with President Trump vowing to fight back against Iran’s “WORLD EXTORTION” and ensure that no one paying tolls to the regime will get through the critical oil chokepoint.

US Central Command announced the halt to “all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports” would be enforced “impartially” against all nations, no matter the point of origin.

“CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” the combatant command said in a statement.

Trump said that the negotiations with Iran that concluded Saturday without a deal “went well,” but faulted the Islamic Republic for refusing to budge on its nuclear program, which he described as “the only point that really mattered.”

“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump declared on Truth Social Sunday. (Read more from “Trump announces blockade of Strait of Hormuz as prez blasts Iran for ‘WORLD EXTORTION’” HERE)

Major Coffee Chain Getting Rid Of Rainbow Flags And Baristas Are Losing It

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San Francisco-born coffee chain Philz Coffee is set to remove “pride” flags from their stores.

The change is part of Philz’s effort to create “a more consistent, inclusive experience across all our stores, including removing a variety of flags and other decor,” CEO Mahesh Sadarangani told the San Francisco Chronicle. Sadarangani has served as CEO since 2021. . .

“This is a change in how our stores look, not in who we are. Our allyship runs deeper than what is on our walls. It shows up in who we hire, how we treat one another and in our annual Pride Month Unity celebration, which returns this June as it has every year. Unity is fundamental to how we operate.”

Sadarangani is exactly right that the rainbow flag (and the lesbian flag, and the asexual flag, and the transgender flag) contribute to a less inclusive environment. The flags are a loud partisan symbol.

A group calling itself “Philz Coffee Baristas” started a Change.org petition Sunday urging Philz to “keep the pride flags up!” The petition is approaching 4,000 signatures as of publication. (Read more from “Major Coffee Chain Getting Rid Of Rainbow Flags And Baristas Are Losing It” HERE)

Trump Posts ‘Blasphemous’ AI Photo Depicting Himself as Jesus Christ after Pope Rant

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President Donald Trump posted a “blasphemous” AI image depicting him as Jesus on his Truth Social account minutes after unleashing a blistering attack on Pope Leo XIV.

The image features Trump healing a man who appears to be Jeffrey Epstein or possibly a war veteran in a hospital bed. Nurses, veterans and active duty soldiers surround him, while others can be seen in a depiction of heaven above and behind him.

Also behind him are famous American monuments, including the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial. A massive American flag and several warplanes and eagles float in the sky near the depiction of heaven.

[Photo credit: Donald Trump/Truth Social]

“Trump is now posting AI images of himself as Jesus Christ healing, what appears to be, a young Jeffrey Epstein,” Democratic commentator Harry Sisson posted on X, attaching a screenshot of the Truth Social post. Another user commented under it, “That is some blasphemous bulls***.”

The post depicting Trump as Jesus comes minutes after the president posted a lengthy rant about Pope Leo, branding him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” while taking credit for his election to the papacy.

(Read more from “Trump Posts ‘Blasphemous’ AI Photo Depicting Himself as Jesus after Pope Rant” HERE)

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán Concedes Defeat after ‘Painful’ Election that Ended Trump Ally’s 16 Years in Power

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Hungarian right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conceded defeat Sunday after suffering a “painful” election result that ended the Trump administration ally’s 16-year grip on Budapest.

With 60% of the vote counted by afternoon, Orbán’s governing Fidesz party saw only 38% of ballots cast in its favor, compared to 52% for challenger Peter Magyar’s Tisza’s group.

’Thank you, Hungary!’’ Magyar, 45, posted on X as thousands of his supporters celebrated in Budapest.

Orbán, who received the backing of President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, said he called Magyar to concede the race once it was evident his party had lost.

“I congratulated the victorious party,” Orbán told his supporters. “We are going to serve the Hungarian nation and our homeland from opposition as well.’’ (Read more from “Hungary’s Viktor Orbán Concedes Defeat after ‘Painful’ Election that Ended Trump Ally’s 16 Years in Power” HERE)

REPORT: Kristi Noem’s Husband Allegedly Discussed Desire To Transition In Messages With Dominatrix

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A dominatrix known as “Shy Sotomayor” revealed audio and text messages to the Daily Mail that allegedly depicted former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem’s husband expressing a desire to transition.

The Daily Mail published a slew of alleged text messages between Byron Noem and Sotomayor Friday.

“Besides the fact of who your wife is, no one is prettier than me. No one is as powerful,” Sotomayor wrote, according to the Daily Mail.

“F***ing true. Do you want me to be a woman?” Byron Noem allegedly responded.

“Do you want to be a woman for me,” she asked.

“I think I do,” he said. (Read more from “REPORT: Kristi Noem’s Husband Allegedly Discussed Desire To Transition In Messages With Dominatrix” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Artemis II Pilot Victor Glover Praises God After Return, says Mission was ‘Too Big to be in One Body’

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Artemis II astronaut Victor Glover on Saturday used a public appearance to praise God and talk about how he felt a deep sense of gratitude following the crew’s monumental return from space.

Glover and his fellow astronauts spoke in Houston, Texas, about the experience of traveling to the far side of the moon, farther from Earth than any in human mission.

“I wanted to thank God in public,” Victor Glover said. “And I want to thank God again, because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did and being with who I was with… it’s too big to just be in one body.”

The appearance marked the crew’s first official public remarks after the mission, which carried astronauts more than 200,000 miles from Earth before returning safely. Crew members described both the technical demands of the mission and the personal impact of the journey.

“I have not processed what we just did, and I’m afraid to start even trying,” Glover said.

(Read more from “Artemis II Pilot Victor Glover Praises God After Return, says Mission was ‘Too Big to be in One Body’” HERE)

Alaska Senate Passes Bill to Allow Safe Haven Baby Boxes

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The Alaska Senate passed a bill that would allow devices designed to prevent infant abandonment in the state.

The Alaska Senate advanced the bill, which would legalize Safe Haven Baby Boxes, on an 18-2 vote. Sens. Bert Stedman, a Sitka Republican, and Löki Tobin, an Anchorage Democrat, voted no, the Alaska Beacon reported on Tuesday.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes were created to deter parents from abandoning their newborns, potentially leaving them to die. Baby boxes are temperature-controlled incubators often built into exterior walls of fire stations, police stations, and hospitals, and can be accessed from inside. At-risk mothers can safely and legally place their newborns inside. Then, the outside door locks, and mothers have time to get away before an alarm goes off, alerting first responders or hospital staff inside.

The baby is then quickly removed and sent to a hospital for a wellness check. From there, the baby is usually placed into state custody and often quickly adopted.

Alaska has had its Safe Haven law since 2008, which allows for the in-person surrender of newborns up to 21 days old to fire stations, hospitals, and police officers. (Read more from “Alaska Senate Passes Bill to Allow Safe Haven Baby Boxes” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Rep. Swalwell Suspends Gubernatorial Campaign After Being Accused of Sexual Assault

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Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) announced that he is suspending his campaign to be the next governor of California, days after he was accused of sexual assault by several women.

In a post on X, Swalwell expressed that he was “deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment” that he had made, while adding that he would “fight the serious, false allegations.”

“I am suspending my campaign for Governor,” Swalwell said. “To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.”

“I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s,” Swalwell continued.

Swalwell’s announcement came after a former staffer told the San Francisco Chronicle that the Democratic congressman had allegedly sexually assaulted her on different occasions, once in 2019 and again in 2024, and that he had made attempts to “kiss her” while she worked for him[.] (Read more from “Rep. Swalwell Suspends Gubernatorial Campaign After Being Accused of Sexual Assault” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Trump Hit with ‘Haunting’ Blackmail Theory Explaining His Iran Moves: ‘We’re not joking’

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Over the past month, President Donald Trump has dramatically escalated his administration’s war against Iran, culminating with his threat to destroy Iran’s entire civilization earlier this week, but according to Tucker Carlson’s independent media outlet, a “blackmail” operation could potentially be forcing the president’s hand.

The theory was outlined in a Friday morning newsletter from the Tucker Carlson Network, which pointed to a past incident that some have characterized as an attempted effort to blackmail a sitting U.S. president. Specifically, the newsletter cites claims made by political writer Daniel Halper in his 2014 biography “Clinton Inc.,” supported in part by sworn testimony given in 1998 to the congressionally established Office of Independent Counsel.

“Establishment media never reports this, but the Israeli government has a storied history of blackmailing U.S. Presidents,” the newsletter reads. “Perhaps the most jarring example occurred in the 90s, when Israel used recordings of a Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky phone sex session as leverage to pressure Clinton into releasing convicted spy Jonathan Pollard from prison. We’re not joking. That really happened.”

Evidence supporting the allegation that Israel had attempted to use phone recordings of Clinton and Lewinsky as “leverage” first emerged in 1998 after Lewinsky testified before the Office of Independent Counsel about her affair with the sitting president.

During her testimony, Lewinsky said that in early 1997, Clinton had told her “that he suspected a foreign embassy was tapping his telephones, (he did not specify which one),” just one month after then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Clinton in the Oval Office. (Read more from “Trump Hit with ‘Haunting’ Blackmail Theory Explaining His Iran Moves: ‘We’re not joking’” HERE)

Artemis Crew Returns To Earth After Successful Mission

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The Artemis II crew completed their mission Friday and returned to Earth following a historic journey in space.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Artemis II mission launched at 6:35 p.m. on April 1 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a brief hold for final technical checks, including a minor sensor concern that engineers confirmed would not affect the launch. NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen carried out final procedures aboard their spacecraft before beginning reentry.

The spacecraft entered Earth’s atmosphere at 7:53 p.m. ET after descending from an altitude of about 400,000 feet and traveling at roughly 30 times the speed of sound. During the descent, ground teams experienced a brief six-minute communications blackout, as expected. The mission concluded with a successful splashdown off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 p.m. ET.

For several minutes, the spacecraft lost contact with Earth because superheated plasma formed around it and blocked radio signals, creating an expected but tense communications blackout. The Orion capsule endured extreme reentry heating as temperatures around its heat shield reached roughly 5,000°F (2,760°C) while it cut through Earth’s atmosphere and its heat shield was designed to absorb and burn away material to protect the crew module.

Artemis II plays a key role in testing NASA’s systems as part of broader efforts to advance future lunar exploration and strengthen U.S. leadership in the space race with China, Reuters reported. The program, which supports plans for regular Moon missions and has cost about $93 billion since 2012, aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028 for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. (Read more from “Artemis Crew Returns To Earth After Successful Mission” HERE)