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US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) hold a press conference on January 8, 2026.
(Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Coalition Demands Schumer, Jeffries Step Down Over Failure to Fight ‘War-Crazed’ Trump
“Schumer and Jeffries have shown that they cannot be trusted to prevent more wars, more threats of wars, or the transfer of another half a trillion dollars a year into the war machine.”
Mar 11, 2026
A coalition of peace groups on Wednesday launched a new national campaign calling for the top Democrats in Congress—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries—to resign from their leadership roles, citing their failure to sufficiently fight back “against a war-crazed Trump administration.”
The coalition, which includes Peace Action and RootsAction, launched a petition declaring that it is “time for congressional Democrats to replace Schumer and Jeffries with leaders who are willing and able to challenge the runaway militarism that has dragged our country into launching yet another insanely destructive war,” this time against Iran.
“Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries have not acted to prevent war on Venezuela or the current war on Iran,” the petition reads. “They worked to delay a vote on Iran until after the war had started, while failing to clearly oppose it before or after the launch of the war. Schumer and Jeffries have shown that they cannot be trusted to prevent more wars, more threats of wars, or the transfer of another half a trillion dollars a year into the war machine.”
Kevin Martin, president of Peace Action—the largest grassroots peace network in the US—said in a statement that he doubts “at this point whether many people look to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries for ‘leadership’ in Congress, but we would settle for them getting with the program and representing their base, and the majority of Americans, who want them to stand strongly against Trump’s illegal wars and domestic terror campaigns against the American people.”
“They need to speak out loudly and clearly, and get their caucuses in line, to oppose the upcoming $50 billion or more for Trump’s illegal war of aggression on Iran, and to cut off US weapons to Israel,” said Martin. “Failing to do so will only increase calls for them to step down or be replaced by colleagues who understand where the American people are on these and other critical issues.”
Since the start of the illegal US-Israeli assault on Iran, Schumer and Jeffries have focused largely on procedural objections to the war, the Trump administration’s incompetence, and the president’s failure to clearly articulate his objectives, rather than explicitly opposing the military onslaught.
In an appearance on NBC‘s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Jeffries declined to say whether he would oppose the Trump administration’s expected push for $50 billion in new funding for the unauthorized war on Iran.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Jeffries said, chiding the administration for failing to “make its case as to the rationale or justification for this war of choice in the Middle East.”
Sarah Lazare and Adam Johnson wrote for The Nation last week that “it’s not enough to check the box, to do the bare minimum, to reinforce every argument for war only to balk at the process and ask whether there’s a ‘plan’ for after the myriad war crimes have already been committed.”
“The only way to read this half-hearted response from the Democratic Party leadership,” they argued, “is de facto support.”
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A coalition of peace groups on Wednesday launched a new national campaign calling for the top Democrats in Congress—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries—to resign from their leadership roles, citing their failure to sufficiently fight back “against a war-crazed Trump administration.”
The coalition, which includes Peace Action and RootsAction, launched a petition declaring that it is “time for congressional Democrats to replace Schumer and Jeffries with leaders who are willing and able to challenge the runaway militarism that has dragged our country into launching yet another insanely destructive war,” this time against Iran.
“Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries have not acted to prevent war on Venezuela or the current war on Iran,” the petition reads. “They worked to delay a vote on Iran until after the war had started, while failing to clearly oppose it before or after the launch of the war. Schumer and Jeffries have shown that they cannot be trusted to prevent more wars, more threats of wars, or the transfer of another half a trillion dollars a year into the war machine.”
Kevin Martin, president of Peace Action—the largest grassroots peace network in the US—said in a statement that he doubts “at this point whether many people look to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries for ‘leadership’ in Congress, but we would settle for them getting with the program and representing their base, and the majority of Americans, who want them to stand strongly against Trump’s illegal wars and domestic terror campaigns against the American people.”
“They need to speak out loudly and clearly, and get their caucuses in line, to oppose the upcoming $50 billion or more for Trump’s illegal war of aggression on Iran, and to cut off US weapons to Israel,” said Martin. “Failing to do so will only increase calls for them to step down or be replaced by colleagues who understand where the American people are on these and other critical issues.”
Since the start of the illegal US-Israeli assault on Iran, Schumer and Jeffries have focused largely on procedural objections to the war, the Trump administration’s incompetence, and the president’s failure to clearly articulate his objectives, rather than explicitly opposing the military onslaught.
In an appearance on NBC‘s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Jeffries declined to say whether he would oppose the Trump administration’s expected push for $50 billion in new funding for the unauthorized war on Iran.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Jeffries said, chiding the administration for failing to “make its case as to the rationale or justification for this war of choice in the Middle East.”
Sarah Lazare and Adam Johnson wrote for The Nation last week that “it’s not enough to check the box, to do the bare minimum, to reinforce every argument for war only to balk at the process and ask whether there’s a ‘plan’ for after the myriad war crimes have already been committed.”
“The only way to read this half-hearted response from the Democratic Party leadership,” they argued, “is de facto support.”
A coalition of peace groups on Wednesday launched a new national campaign calling for the top Democrats in Congress—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries—to resign from their leadership roles, citing their failure to sufficiently fight back “against a war-crazed Trump administration.”
The coalition, which includes Peace Action and RootsAction, launched a petition declaring that it is “time for congressional Democrats to replace Schumer and Jeffries with leaders who are willing and able to challenge the runaway militarism that has dragged our country into launching yet another insanely destructive war,” this time against Iran.
“Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries have not acted to prevent war on Venezuela or the current war on Iran,” the petition reads. “They worked to delay a vote on Iran until after the war had started, while failing to clearly oppose it before or after the launch of the war. Schumer and Jeffries have shown that they cannot be trusted to prevent more wars, more threats of wars, or the transfer of another half a trillion dollars a year into the war machine.”
Kevin Martin, president of Peace Action—the largest grassroots peace network in the US—said in a statement that he doubts “at this point whether many people look to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries for ‘leadership’ in Congress, but we would settle for them getting with the program and representing their base, and the majority of Americans, who want them to stand strongly against Trump’s illegal wars and domestic terror campaigns against the American people.”
“They need to speak out loudly and clearly, and get their caucuses in line, to oppose the upcoming $50 billion or more for Trump’s illegal war of aggression on Iran, and to cut off US weapons to Israel,” said Martin. “Failing to do so will only increase calls for them to step down or be replaced by colleagues who understand where the American people are on these and other critical issues.”
Since the start of the illegal US-Israeli assault on Iran, Schumer and Jeffries have focused largely on procedural objections to the war, the Trump administration’s incompetence, and the president’s failure to clearly articulate his objectives, rather than explicitly opposing the military onslaught.
In an appearance on NBC‘s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Jeffries declined to say whether he would oppose the Trump administration’s expected push for $50 billion in new funding for the unauthorized war on Iran.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Jeffries said, chiding the administration for failing to “make its case as to the rationale or justification for this war of choice in the Middle East.”
Sarah Lazare and Adam Johnson wrote for The Nation last week that “it’s not enough to check the box, to do the bare minimum, to reinforce every argument for war only to balk at the process and ask whether there’s a ‘plan’ for after the myriad war crimes have already been committed.”
“The only way to read this half-hearted response from the Democratic Party leadership,” they argued, “is de facto support.”
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LATEST NEWS
New Leader of College GOP Group is ‘Avowed and Overt Supporter’ of White Nationalist Nick Fuentes
A recent poll of young right-wingers also showed that 54% of Republican men under 50 deny the Holocaust, while around a third of young Republicans self-identify as racist.
Mar 11, 2026
The new political leader of the College Republicans of America is an "avowed and overt supporter" of one of the nation's most infamous white nationalists, Nick Fuentes, according to a disturbing report compiled by the group Right Wing Watch.
The College Republicans of America (CRA) was created in 2023 amid an ugly split with the more mainstream College Republican National Committee (CRNC), which it has accused of becoming overly bureaucratic and poorly managed. It describes its mission to "replace the CRNC and to aid the GOP in cultivating the next generation of Republican activists, staffers, and leaders."
While CRA is newer and less directly embedded within the national Republican Party structure, it claims to be "America’s largest national College Republican organization,” with more than 300 active chapters at schools around the country—roughly four times that of competing campus GOP groups, according to the organization.
Last week, the group announced that it had chosen a new political director, Kai Schwemmer. As Kyle Mantyla, a senior fellow at Right Wing Watch parent group People For the American Way, explained:
Schwemmer is an overt 'groyper,' which is the term used by followers of Hitler-loving racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, homophobic, Christian nationalist, fascist, white nationalist, Nick Fuentes.
Schwemmer, who goes by the nickname "Kai Clips," has his own show on Fuentes' invitation-only streaming platform Cozy.TV, and was featured as a special guest at Fuentes' 2022 "America First Political Action Conference" in Orlando, which was held as a more explicitly white nationalist counter to the Turning Point USA conference.
That same year, Schwemmer described himself as someone "affiliated with America First," Fuentes's political movement. He also appeared in a 2022 pro-Fuentes documentary titled "The Most Canceled Man in America."
In a clip of that documentary, which Right Wing Watch posted to social media, Schwemmer explained that an episode of Fuentes' nightly program, titled "Demographics or Destiny," introduced him to the conservative movement and "woke me up on immigration."
Fuentes, who once described himself as "just like Hitler," has called for the mass deportation of nonwhite immigrants and has said he favors a "whites-only immigration policy" to sustain "white demographics."
Schwemmer said Fuentes' shows are "a little bit controversial" and "hyperbolic," but "obviously humorous." He added that Fuentes is "deeply politically engaging," as "behind every joke is some commentary."
Ben Lorber, an extremism researcher for Political Research Associates, explained in a social media post on Tuesday that "Schwemmer was in Fuentes' inner circle in 2021, and since then has strategically downplayed his support to avoid controversy."
He pointed out that Schwemmer still has a long history of questionable online activity, including posts and messages glorifying the Unabomber and boasting about his meeting with the antisemitic author E. Michael Jones. He has also shared jokes insulting Jewish people and mocking the Holocaust.
During the second presidency of Donald Trump, especially, the radicalization of young right-wingers has been brought to the forefront, as leaked group chats from college Republicans in several states—including New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont have revealed members trafficking in overt racism, antisemitism, misogyny, and other forms of vile bigotry that often veered into calls for violence and genocide against minority groups.
Just last week, The Floridian reported that the secretary of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party was involved in a WhatsApp group chat nicknamed after what one member described as “Nazi heaven.”
Participants in the group, which included members of the head of the Florida International University Turning Point USA chapter and the then-recruitment chair of FIU's college Republicans, "used variations of the n-word more than 400 times, regularly described women as 'whores,' used slurs to talk about Jewish and gay people, and mused about Hitler’s politics," according to later reporting by The Miami Herald.
Recent polling of young right-wingers conducted by the conservative Manhattan Institute has suggested that these sorts of views are increasingly becoming common.
About 31% of Republicans under the age of 50 said they themselves express racist views, while 25% said they express antisemitic views. Just 4% of those over 50 said they expressed each of these views in the December 2025 survey.
More than a third of all Republicans who answered the survey, 37%, said they share Fuentes' view that the Holocaust was "greatly exaggerated or did not happen as historians describe," with a majority of men under 50, 54%, expressing this view.
Schwemmer, who appeared as a guest of Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) at last month's State of the Union address has said he does not use the same sorts of extremist, often overtly genocidal, rhetoric that Fuentes does because he has "more authentic political aspirations" and does not want to create "angles of attack" for his opponents.
Schwemmer has not denounced the views espoused by Fuentes and says there is "absolutely a place and a value behind making those kinds of jokes, saying those kinds of words, trying to push the envelope socially and trying to remove the lens of political correctness from our lives."
"This seems to be Schwemmer's role in the movement," Mantyla said. "Putting a moderate face on America First's racist, antisemitic, and radically authoritarian agenda."
Spain Withdraws Ambassador to Israel Over Unprovoked War on Iran and Gaza Assault
“Every country with a single ounce of decency should do the same,” said one academic.
Mar 11, 2026
Doubling down on its commitment to saying, "No to war" as Israel and the US bombard Iran in a widening conflict of choice that has also included Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the Spanish government on Wednesday formally withdrew its ambassador to Israel, Ana María Sálomon Pérez.
“At the proposal of the minister for foreign affairs, the European Union, and cooperation, and following deliberation by the Council of Ministers at its meeting on March 10, 2026, I hereby order the termination of Ms. Ana María Sálomon Pérez’s appointment as ambassador of Spain to the state of Israel,” a communication from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in the official state gazette read Wednesday morning.
The Foreign Ministry told Reuters that the Spanish Embassy in Tel Aviv will be led by a charge d'affaires.
"Every country with a single ounce of decency should do the same," said UK-based researcher Philip Proudfoot.
The decision to terminate the appointment of Sálomon Pérez comes more than a week after Sánchez denounced the United States' and Israel's assault on Iran as "unjustified, dangerous, and outside international law," and said the countries would be barred from using Spanish military bases to launch attacks on Iran.
Spain has also been outspoken in its condemnation of Israel's US-backed war on Gaza, which began in October 2023 in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack.
Last September, the prime minister announced an arms embargo on Israel, noting that its attacks on Gaza—which have now killed more than 75,000 Palestinians, according to peer-reviewed studies—has been described as a "genocide" by experts, including the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.
Sánchez also announced Spain would formally recognize Palestinian statehood in May 2024, angering Israel and prompting the country to recall its ambassador to Spain.
Last week, Sánchez gave a 10-minute address saying he was not intimidated by President Donald Trump's threat to impose a trade embargo on Spain in retaliation for its refusal to allow the US and Israel use its military bases. He reiterated that Spain's view on Iran is, "No to war."
"Spain stands with the founding principles of the European Union. It stands with the charter of the United Nations. It stands with international law and therefore with peace and peaceful coexistence between countries," said the prime minister.
In an interview with El Diario on Tuesday, Sánchez called on other European countries to "raise the rules-based international order and the defense of renewed multilateralism."
The war against Iran "has been a war unilaterally driven by two nations," he said. "We are consistent with the foreign policy we have maintained during these almost eight years of government. We will not resolve the situation of instability in the Middle East with such flagrant illegality."
Trump’s War of Choice in Iran Has Cost US Taxpayers Over $10 Billion in Just 10 Days
The estimated spending on the Iran war in just over a week amounts to over 1% of the 2026 US defense budget.
Mar 11, 2026
The cost of President Donald Trump's unprovoked and unconstitutional war with Iran has already cost US taxpayers billions of dollars, and will cost billions more if the conflict drags on.
Anadolu Ajansı on Monday published an estimate that the Iran war cost $10.35 billion over its first 10 days, or more than 1% of the entire 2026 US defense budget.
The US spent an estimated $779 million in the war's first 24 hours alone, and Anadolu noted that daily costs have gone up since then.
Specifically, Anadolu found that as "the campaign has expanded, operational spending has climbed into the billions, based on estimated flight hours, maintenance costs, and munitions expenditures derived from the US Department of Defense’s 2025 and 2026 budget requests."
In the days since Anadolu published its estimate, the estimated cost of the war has soared past $11 billion, according to a tracker that assumes the assault is costing the US $1 billion per day, based on preliminary figures from the Pentagon.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that the US Department of Defense estimated that it burned through $5.6 billion worth of munitions in the initial strikes on Iran, raising questions about whether the war has seriously eroded US military readiness.
Due to the conflict's rapidly escalating costs, the Trump administration is expected to ask US Congress for a $50 billion supplemental funding bill to keep the war going.
Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, and Damian Murphy, senior vice president of national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, released a memo on Monday explaining why Congress should not agree to any White House requests for supplemental funding.
First, the memo notes that polling shows that the Iran war is unprecedentedly unpopular, being the first US war ever to have a net negative approval rating at the outset of the conflict.
"Lawmakers in Congress have the upper hand both morally and politically in opposing the war in Iran," the memo states. "The public does not want to be drawn into another forever war that threatens American lives, kills children, destabilizes the Middle East, and whose costs could easily balloon to hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars."
The memo then argues that the massive increase in defense spending contained in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was passed by Republicans in last year and signed into law by Trump, should be more than enough to cover the cost of replacing munitions.
"The 'Big Beautiful Bill' provided an additional $153 billion for defense just eight months ago," the memo explains, "on top of the annual defense budget of around $900 billion. The annual defense appropriations bill, also approved only a few months ago, grants the White House the legal authority and flexibility to move around billions of dollars within the Department of Defense to achieve their goals, known as transfer authority."
Trump Energy Chief Accused of Manipulating Oil Markets With Deleted Post About Strait of Hormuz
“The fusion of war-making and market manipulation by top Trump officials isn’t entirely without precedent,” said one observer, “but the speed and brazenness does seem new.”
Mar 11, 2026
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former fracking executive, was accused on Tuesday of manipulating global markets after he posted a striking claim on social media: The American Navy, he wrote, had "successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing."
The post on X was deleted minutes later, after "oil prices slid at their steepest pace in years," according to the Wall Street Journal. The White House press secretary later acknowledged publicly that Wright's claim was false, and the Energy Department—which has been scrambling to quell mounting fears of a sustained increase in oil prices and broader supply chain chaos stemming from the US-Israeli assault on Iran—threw unnamed staff under the bus, saying they "incorrectly captioned" the post.
"So who just made $100 million dollars shorting oil for the 3 minutes that Chris Wright had that post up?" asked hedge fund manager Spencer Hakimian.
Anti-monopoly researcher Matt Stoller wrote in response to the post and its deletion that "the fusion of war-making and market manipulation by top Trump officials isn't entirely without precedent, but the speed and brazenness does seem new."
The debacle also notably drew a reaction from the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who wrote on X that "US officials are posting fake news to manipulate markets."
"It won't protect them from inflationary tsunami they've imposed on Americans," wrote Araghchi. "Markets are facing the biggest shortfall in HISTORY: bigger than the Arab Oil Embargo, Iran's Islamic Revolution, and the Kuwait invasion COMBINED."
The Strait of Hormuz has become a critical flashpoint of the US-Israeli war on Iran, whose military has threatened to attack vessels that attempt to pass through the route in retaliation for the deadly missile onslaught. An estimated 13 million barrels per day passed through the strait in 2025—roughly 31% of all seaborne crude flows.
“At the beginning of the war we announced, and we announce again, no vessel associated with aggressors against Iran has the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” said the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. “If you have doubts, come closer and find out.”
Reuters reported Tuesday that, contrary to Wright's deleted post, the US Navy has "refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now."
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said early Wednesday that a cargo vessel in the strait was "hit by an unknown projectile," causing a fire onboard and forcing crew members to evacuate.
The report came hours after the US military said it "eliminated multiple Iranian naval vessels," including "16 minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz." The announcement followed, by less than two hours, a social media post from President Donald Trump declaring that "we have no reports" of Iran laying mines in the strait.
"If for any reason mines were placed, and they are not removed forthwith, the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before," Trump wrote. "If, on the other hand, they remove what may have been placed, it will be a giant step in the right direction!"
After attending a classified briefing on Tuesday, US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote that it was obvious the administration "had no plan" regarding the Strait of Hormuz prior to launching its assault on Iran.
"They don't know how to get it safely back open," Murphy wrote. "Which is unforgivable, because this part of the disaster was 100% foreseeable."
Citing ‘Unjust’ Death Sentence, Alabama Gov. Grants Clemency to Sonny Burton
“The state was set to execute Sonny for a crime he didn’t commit, but tens of thousands of people nationwide demanded justice—and our voices were heard,” said the ACLU.
Mar 10, 2026
Amid nationwide public outcry, Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey—a staunch supporter of capital punishment—on Tuesday spared a death row inmate who did not kill the man for whose murder he was sentenced to die and was scheduled for execution on Thursday.
“I firmly believe that the death penalty is just punishment for society’s most heinous offenders, as shown by the 25 executions I have presided over as governor," Ivey said in a statement. "In order to ensure the continued viability of the death penalty, however, I also believe that a government’s most consequential action must be administered fairly and proportionately."
"Doug Battle was brutally murdered by Derrick DeBruce while shopping in an auto parts store. But DeBruce was ultimately sentenced to life without parole," the governor continued. "Charles Burton did not shoot the victim, did not direct the triggerman to shoot the victim, and had already left the store by the time the shooting occurred. Yet Mr. Burton was set to be executed while DeBruce was allowed to live out his life in prison."
"I cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances," Ivey added. "I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not. To be clear, Mr. Burton will not be eligible for parole and will rightfully spend the remainder of his life behind bars for his role in the robbery that led to the murder of Doug Battle. He will now receive the same punishment as the triggerman."
Burton—who is 75 years old and goes by the name Sonny—has been on Alabama’s death row since 1992, a year after Battle's murder.
"I didn’t kill no one, true enough, but I made a mistake by being part of the crime,” Burton told CNN in an interview last week, anticipating his execution. “I made a mistake, and it seems like all my friends have forgave me. I hope that my friends will remember me and remember that I was a real friend, a good friend.”
While Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall condemned Ivey for sparing a "murderer," both death penalty supporters and opponents welcomed the commutation.
BREAKING: Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuted the death sentence of Sonny Burton.The state was set to execute Sonny for a crime he didn't commit, but tens of thousands of people nationwide demanded justice — and our voices were heard.
— ACLU (@aclu.org) March 10, 2026 at 9:18 AM
“It’s absolutely not fair. You don’t execute someone who did not pull the trigger,” Priscilla Townsend, one of three jurors in Burton's trial who asked Ivey for clemency, told the Associated Press, adding that she supports executing "the worst of the worst."
Tori Battle, Doug Battle's daughter, had also pleaded for clemency for Burton.
"No one from the state has ever sat with me to explain why Alabama believes it must execute a man who did not kill my father," Battle wrote in an article published last December in the Montgomery Advertiser. "My love for my father does not require another death, especially one that defies reason."
Laura Burton, executive director of the US Campaign to End the Death Penalty, said in a statement Tuesday: "We are grateful that Gov. Ivey recognized that Charles 'Sonny' Burton should not be executed. The death penalty process is deeply flawed when someone who was not present for the killing faces execution, while the person who committed the murder does not. It is uplifting to see that more and more governors across the ideological spectrum are recognizing problems with death penalty cases."
Last November, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Still—also a staunch death penalty advocate—granted clemency to Tremane Wood with just minutes to spare before his scheduled execution for a murder his late brother confessed to committing.
Last year, Ivey also commuted the death sentence of Robin “Rocky” Myers to life in prison without parole, citing serious doubts about his guilt.
There are still 155 people on Alabama's death row, according to the state Department of Corrections. The state has executed five people since the beginning of 2025—one by lethal injection and four by nitrogen gas, a method rejected by veterinarians for euthanizing animals and condemned by United Nations human rights experts as possible torture.
Demetrius Minor, executive director of the death penalty abolition group Conservatives Concerned, said Tuesday that “we want to thank Gov. Ivey for granting clemency for Charles 'Sonny' Burton."
"This brings tremendous relief to his family and so many across the country," Minor added. "Conservatives know that government power can be abused and should not be used to execute someone who was not in the building when the murder was committed. Gov. Ivey acted on these conservative principles."
After Secret Briefing, Dem Senators Warn Trump ‘On a Path’ to Ground Invasion of Iran
“The American people deserve to know much more than this administration has told them about the cost of the war, the danger to our sons and daughters in uniform, and the potential for further escalation.”
Mar 10, 2026
Democratic US senators left a classified Tuesday briefing with senior defense and intelligence officials with serious concerns that President Donald Trump will order a ground invasion of Iran in what would be a perilous escalation of his illegal and unprovoked war of choice.
White House officials—including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—and Pentagon brass have held a series of closed-door meetings with congressional lawmakers since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran late last month.
While Democratic lawmakers have said that the classified status of these briefings prevents them from disclosing key information about the administration's war plans, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) emerged from Tuesday's meeting with a warning to reporters that “we seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives" outlined during the briefing.
Blumenthal after getting briefed on Iran: "We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives here. There's also the specter of active Russian aid to Iran putting in danger American lives ... China also may be assisting Iran"
[image or embed]
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 10, 2026 at 9:42 AM
“I am left with more questions than answers, especially about the cost of the war,” Blumenthal said. “My questions have been unanswered, and I will demand answers because the American people deserve to know."
"The American people deserve to know much more than this administration has told them about the cost of the war, the danger to our sons and daughters in uniform, and the potential for further escalation," he added.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said after attending the briefing, "Here we are well into the second week, and it is still the case that the Trump administration cannot explain the reasons that we entered this war, the goals we're trying to accomplish, and the methods for doing that."
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said that what she heard during the briefing "is not just concerning, it is disturbing."
"I'm not sure what the endgame is or what their plans are," Rosen said of the administration, adding that Trump has "not shown us any plans for what he wants to do for the day after, let's put it that way. That's as much as I can say."
Democratic lawmakers voiced similar concerns over a possible ground war following a March 3 classified briefing.
Trump and senior administration officials have not ruled out a ground invasion of Iran.
“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground,” Trump told the New York Post last week. “Like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Sunday interview on Fox News that Trump has not ruled out either a ground invasion or a draft, although many experts say the latter option is highly unlikely.
Here's the Karoline Leavitt interview people are talking about. Maria Bartiromo asks if Trump might send ground troops into Iran, because "mothers are worried" about a draft. Leavitt replies that ground troops aren't in the current plan, but Trump won't rule them out. No mention of the draft.
[image or embed]
— Joshua J. Friedman (@joshuajfriedman.com) March 8, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Trump has also given mixed signals about the planned duration of the war, declaring Monday that the campaign is "very complete, pretty much" before stating that US forces “will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.”
The president and his senior Cabinet officials have also waffled when attempting to explain the war's objectives, alternately suggesting that the goal of the campaign is and is not regime change, and shifting the narrative from eliminating Iran's nonexistent nuclear weapons program to destroying its ballistic missile arsenal.
Tuesday's briefing came on a day that Hegseth said would be the "most intense day of strikes inside Iran" during the 10-day war.
This, after a wave of US and Israeli airstrikes across Iran left at least scores dead on Monday, including 40 people massacred while sheltering in apartment blocks in eastern Tehran.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed by US and Israeli bombing in Iran and Israeli strikes on Lebanon, where more than 700,000 people have been forcibly displaced amid relentless airstrikes.
In what's being called "one of the deadliest school massacres in modern history," around 175 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed on February 28 by what US intelligence said is a likely Tomahawk missile strike in Minab. Fragments from the missile marked with Pentagon contract information, the names of US weapons companies, and a "Made in USA" stamp provided the latest evidence that the attack was carried out by the US—although Trump has blamed the strike on Iran.
The Pentagon said that seven US troops have been killed and 140 others wounded by Iranian counterstrikes, which have also targeted Gulf monarchies allied with the United States, killing at least 15 people.
Noting that Trump—"who campaigned as the 'peace president'—led the United States into war with Iran with no clear objectives and no authorization from Congress," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI), and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) sent a letter to Trump on Tuesday demanding that administration leaders "appear before Congress and under oath in public hearings to provide answers" about the war.
The senators wrote that Trump's "ever-shifting goals and explanations suggest there is no clear plan."
"Further, this raises the risk of mission creep which, based on history, would likely lead to more US casualties and escalating costs for taxpayers," the lawmakers added. "The American people—including our men and women in uniform—deserve clear answers about the war and accountability from your administration."
The Senate and House of Representatives—both controlled by Republicans—have voted down proposed resolutions meant to prevent Trump from waging war without congressional authorization, as required by the War Powers Act.
A Quinnipiac University poll published Monday revealed that 74% of respondents—including 95% of Democrats, 75% of Independents, and 52% of Republicans—oppose a US ground invasion of Iran. A slim majority of respondents are against the overall war in Iran, which 55% of those surveyed said did not pose any "imminent threat" to the United States prior to the US-Israeli attack.
The survey also found that 62% of respondents "think the Trump administration has not provided a clear explanation of the reasons behind the United States' military action against Iran."
‘Massive, Illegal, and Horrific Breach’: Ex-DOGE Staffer Allegedly Stole Social Security Data
“Americans deserve timely, honest answers about what happened, whose information may have been exposed, what will be done to protect them going forward,” said one campaigner.
Mar 10, 2026
Critics of the Department of Government Efficiency are sounding the alarm after the Washington Post reported Tuesday that the Social Security Administration's inspector general is investigating a whistleblower complaint accusing a former DOGE staffer of trying to share information from SSA databases with his private employer.
The Post didn't name the former DOGE software engineer, the company, or the whistleblower. However, the reporters spoke with the whistleblower and other unnamed sources, and also reviewed the related complaint as well as a letter from the acting inspector general to top members of four congressional committees.
The ex-DOGE staffer allegedly told multiple colleagues that he possessed two key databases of sensitive information on over 500 million living and dead US citizens, "Numident" and the "Master Death File," and once he removed personal details, he wanted to plug the remaining data into his company's system.
The newspaper noted that "the complaint does not allege that the engineer was successful in uploading the data to the company's system," and "a lawyer who represents the former DOGE member told the Post he denied all alleged wrongdoing."
The reporting adds to a long list of concerns and criticism provoked by DOGE, which President Donald Trump launched shortly after taking office. Billionaire Elon Musk was the de facto leader of the government-gutting initiative until he departed the administration last May.
Responding to the report on Musk's social media platform X, Congressman John Larson (D-Conn.), a longtime defender of Social Security, declared that "we need a full congressional investigation and answers!"
DOGE was never about efficiency or saving $—it was about handing Social Security over to Wall Street, dismantling public services & making it impossible to hold corporations accountable. That's why federal workers have been sounding the alarm—and we won't stop fighting back. #wetookanoath
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— Federal Workers United (@fedworkersunited.bsky.social) March 10, 2026 at 4:54 PM
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) announced that he is expanding his investigation of DOGE-related data leaks at the SSA over the allegations. He said in a statement that "the deeply disturbing whistleblower information obtained by the committee shows the Trump administration's callous disregard for the safety and security of Americans' most sensitive information."
"Not only has an ex-DOGE bro been accused of running around with the social security information of every American on a flash drive, he also may have the ability to edit and manipulate data at the Social Security Administration at will," Garcia continued. "This is dangerous and outrageous, and Oversight Committee Democrats will fight for transparency and accountability."
Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, similarly said: "Allegations that a 'DOGE bro' may have removed highly sensitive Social Security data onto a thumb drive should set off alarm bells across the country. Social Security holds some of the most personal information Americans have, including Social Security numbers, birth and health records, and lifetime earnings histories. If these reports are accurate, it is a stunning, illegal data security breach."
"Americans deserve timely, honest answers about what happened, whose information may have been exposed, what will be done to protect them going forward," he argued. "Anyone involved must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Congress and the Social Security inspector general must move quickly to get the facts and ensure that all involved in this reported data breach are punished."
Criminal theft of the American people's private Social Security data.
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— Social Security Works (@socialsecurityworks.org) March 10, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert also demanded accountability. She said that "this massive, illegal, and horrific breach of Americans' most sensitive data has confirmed the very fears we've been warning about for over a year—that the Trump administration allowing DOGE to infiltrate our government without oversight created fertile ground for abuse, and in this case of an exceptionally egregious kind."
"These are the kinds of breaches that Public Citizen had previously sued the government to prevent," she added. "Federal and state officials must ensure the misuse of this data ends immediately and that all private copies of Social Security data are destroyed. Prosecutors should open a criminal investigation immediately and, if the evidence supports it, prosecute this case aggressively."
Sanders Rips Trump-Netanyahu for ‘Unraveling International Law’ With War on Iran
As evidence of US war crimes mounts, critics around the world argue that “Trump and Hegseth should be sent straight to The Hague to face prosecution.”
Mar 10, 2026
As President Donald Trump on Tuesday made what one critic called "the most blasé admission of a war crime by a US president in history," claiming the Navy sunk an Iranian ship and killed over 100 sailors because it was "more fun" than capturing both, Sen. Bernie Sanders tore into him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over their illegal war on Iran.
"The attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel are unraveling international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the legitimacy of the United Nations. This is extremely dangerous for the future of the planet and humanity," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement.
While both the Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives have refused to pass a war powers resolution to stop the assault, experts worldwide have argued the assault violates the US Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to declare war, and UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force against another state unless it is a "necessary and proportionate" act of self-defense or is authorized by the Security Council.
"If the United States and Israel have the right to launch a unilateral attack against Iran, what is the moral or legal argument against China invading Taiwan, Russia attacking Poland, or North Korea launching missiles into South Korea? There is none," warned Sanders, who has supported war powers resolutions on Iran, Venezuela, and the president's boat bombing campaign. "In Trump's world, any nation has the 'right' to go to war against any other nation for any reason."
"After the horrors of World War II, the international community came together to establish international law—a system of rules designed to prevent aggressive wars and hold nations accountable for violating basic human rights," said the senator, whose father lost relatives in the Holocaust. "Trump and Netanyahu are destroying that effort and are pushing the global community back into international anarchy—a world that produced 10 million dead in World War I and 50 million dead in World War II."
Sanders argued that "we cannot go back to a world where might makes right—where any nation can invade, bomb, or destabilize another country for any reason they choose. That mentality leaves all of us, and future generations, increasingly unsafe."
In addition to opposing Trump's violence at home and abroad, the senator has railed against US complicity in Netanyahu's genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip, where the death toll continues to rise despite an October ceasefire deal. He even forced multiple unsuccessful Senate votes to cut off some US weapons to Israel over the bloodshed in the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu not only bombed and starved the Palestinians of Gaza after the Hamas-led October 2023 attack on Israel, he also bombarded Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah. While a ceasefire agreement to protect the Lebanese people was reached in November 2024, Israel has returned to attacking the country since launching the assault on Iran last month.
More than 1,300 Iranians are now dead, including multiple political leaders as well as around 175 people, mostly children, killed in what increasingly appears to have been a US strike on a girls' elementary school in Minab. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that Tuesday would "be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran."
Meanwhile, Jostein Hauge, an assistant professor at the UK's University of Cambridge, noted on social media Tuesday that "the Minab school massacre in Iran—carried out by the US government—is one of the deadliest school massacres in modern history."
He put the US president and Pentagon chief in a class with not only Netanyahu but also former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who are all wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court.
"Trump and Hegseth should be sent straight to The Hague to face prosecution for war crimes, alongside Netanyahu, Gallant, Putin, and al-Bashir," Hauge said.
While the American public is already enduring some economic fallout of Trump's war on Iran, at least seven US troops have paid with their lives. Eight more "remain listed as severely injured," according to chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. "Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, approximately 140 US service members have been wounded over 10 days of sustained attacks."
Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Cory Booker (NJ), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), and Adam Schiff (Calif.)—with whom Sanders caucuses—have launched a renewed effort to force new votes on war powers resolutions if Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) refuses to hold committee hearings on Iran.
"Now is the time for Democrats to use all the leverage we have to try to stop this unnecessary war," they said Monday in a joint statement to Semafor. The senators added that Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio "must immediately come before Congress for a public hearing and explain why we're in this war, how it will end, and why they are prioritizing billions of dollars on an open-ended war instead of lowering costs for American families."
Death Toll of Paramedics Killed by Israel in Lebanon Climbs to 15
A medical charity leader said Israel is using its Gaza “playbook” during its assaults on Lebanon, including “collective punishment, forced displacement, and the deliberate terrorizing of civilian populations.”
Mar 10, 2026
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed at least 15 paramedics and wounded another 30 in just over a week, according to a report from the Islamic Health Authority on Tuesday.
The report comes after a pair of strikes targeted emergency response teams in South Lebanon the previous day, killing two paramedics and wounding several others.
It was the latest in what the Lebanese Public Health Ministry described as systemic attacks on ambulance and rescue teams that have been waged by Israel since it restarted its assault on Lebanon last week, which has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to urge their protection.
"The risk that more health workers will count among the casualties is high," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, following an attack on the southern Tyre district where three paramedics were killed last week. "This must be avoided at all costs, so paramedics, doctors, and nurses can be allowed to carry out their lifesaving work, which is especially needed in times of crisis."
A report on Sunday from Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said that at least four hospitals in Lebanon had been damaged by Israeli strikes since March 2.
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that as of Tuesday, at least 570 people have been killed and 1,444 have been wounded from Israeli airstrikes since March 2.
Meanwhile, more than 750,000 people have been displaced from their homes following orders from the Israeli military last week, according to the UN Children's Fund.
Nassereddine said that shelling has forced the ministry to quickly evacuate patients and those injured in the latest onslaught to other hospitals. At least 40 hospitals in Lebanon were damaged in Israel's previous assault on the country in 2023-24, according to health ministry data.
The US and Israel have waged an even larger assault on hospitals in Iran since February 28. Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said Sunday that 25 hospitals have been damaged, with nine totally out of service. He said 14 ambulances have also been destroyed.
Emphasizing that medical and humanitarian workers are protected under international law, the Lebanese Islamic Health Authority said that attacks on hospitals "constitute a blatant violation of all international conventions, foremost among them the Geneva Conventions."
The group Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a UK-based charity, has accused Israel of applying the same methods it used in Gaza as it has launched its latest military assault on Lebanon.
During Israel's more than two-year-long genocide, it launched strikes that damaged every hospital in the strip. According to research from MAP, Israeli attacks killed about two to three medical workers per day on average.
“What we are witnessing in Lebanon is the unmistakable extension of the Israeli military playbook used in Gaza,” Steve Cutts, the CEO of MAP, said. He said this includes "collective punishment, forced displacement, and the deliberate terrorizing of civilian populations, including already traumatized Palestinian communities."
Billionaires Tax Supporters Up in California By Nearly 2-to-1, Poll Shows
“The American people are sick and tired of massive income and wealth inequality,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Billionaires need to start paying their fair share.”
Mar 10, 2026
Voters in California are supporting a proposed wealth tax on billionaires in their state by a ratio of almost 2-to-1, according to a poll conducted by the Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research.
Politico, which commissioned the poll from the center at the University of California, Berkeley, reported on Tuesday that support for the billionaire tax is currently at 50% of California voters, while just 28% registered opposition.
However, University of California Berkeley political scientist Jack Citrin told Politico that the measure's passage isn't yet a slam dunk because voters remain vulnerable to counterarguments against the plan, which would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires' total wealth.
"The yes side has the current lead and you have some strong supporters, so that’s the good news," Citrin explained. "Most experts on the initiative process say that the yes side has an advantage to start with because no one’s been talking about it and it sounds like a good idea... but then once the campaign begins you whittle away at that."
Among other things, the poll found voters were concerned about whether the wealth tax would really be a one-time measure, whether it would push wealthy individuals out of the state, and whether the middle class would be forced to pay more in taxes to make up for the potentially departed billionaires.
Citrin told Politico that supporters of the wealth tax will have to convince voters that billionaires' threats to leave California if the measure passes are a bluff.
"If you’re the yes side you have to hammer away at: this isn’t true, they’re not going to leave, it’s just scare tactics," Citrin said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who along with other progressives has championed the wealth tax, hailed the UC Berkeley poll as a sign that the political tide is turning against US oligarchs.
"A new poll shows voters overwhelmingly support California’s proposal to tax billionaire wealth to fund healthcare—by nearly a 2-to-1 margin," Sanders wrote in a social media post. "The American people are sick and tired of massive income and wealth inequality. Billionaires need to start paying their fair share."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, has gone on the record opposing the wealth tax and has said he will campaign for its defeat.
Another Senator Backs Platner, Saying ‘Democratic Party Needs to Win Back Working People’
New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich said the Mainer is “building a movement around folks who work hard for their family and community.”
Mar 10, 2026
US Senate hopeful Graham Platner's momentum continues to grow, with yet another senator bucking the Democratic Party establishment to endorse him in Maine's June primary.
"Graham Platner is focused on delivering for Mainers, not billionaire donors,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) on Tuesday in comments reported by Politico. “And he’s exactly the person the Democratic Party needs to win back working people.”
Polls show Platner, the progressive 41-year-old Marine-turned-oyster farmer, comfortably ahead of Maine's centrist Democratic Gov. Janet Mills for the right to challenge the state's five-term Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in November.
The seat will be an essential pickup if Democrats hope to retake the chamber in 2026.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has pushed for Mills to get the nomination over Platner. This is despite polling last week from Quantus Insights, which showed Mills trailing Collins by over 1%, and Platne leading the Republican by more than 5% among likely voters.
Platner—a backer of Medicare for All and a billionaire wealth tax who has fiercely opposed aggressive US military interventions—first received the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Earlier this month, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) became the first Democratic senator to endorse Platner, in defiance of party leadership, calling him "the candidate that can win."
Heinrich, who has emphasized the necessity of making the Democratic Party a "bigger tent" and bringing in “new" and "younger" leadership, has admired Platner's candidacy from afar for months.
Responding to Platner's campaign launch video, in which he declared that "the enemy is the oligarchy," Heinrich wrote on social media in October, "We need more candidates like this."
New Mexico's three-term senator is now the third member of the chamber to endorse Platner, who said he was "honored" to have him as a "future colleague."
"He's building a movement around folks who work hard for their family and community—folks who deserve a Senator fighting in their corner," Heinrich said. "I’m proud to endorse and help send him to the Senate in November."
While Praying to ‘the Lord,’ Hegseth Threatens ‘Most Intense Day of Strikes’ in Iran
“Pete Hegseth is a very dangerous person. He’s a white Christian nationalist and has the arsenal of the United States government at his disposal.”
Mar 10, 2026
President Donald Trump's top defense official appeared resolute Tuesday in pushing for continued chaos in the Middle Eastern country—and intensified concerns that the Trump administration is waging a religious "crusade" against Iran by praying at a press briefing.
After telling reporters that Tuesday would "be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth bowed his head in prayer and said he was "drawing strength from Psalm 144."
"Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle," said the defense secretary, who has backed Trumps' assertion that the Department of Defense is called the Department of War. "May the Lord grant unyielding strength to our warriors, unbreakable protection to them and our homeland, and total victory over those who seek to harm them."
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recited a prayer for US troops attacking Iran, asking for strength and protection, during a Pentagon briefing.
American and Israeli officials have been criticised for pushing rhetoric suggesting that the campaign against Iran is a religious war. pic.twitter.com/JNZnZZ1yQy
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 10, 2026
Hegseth and Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, made no mention of efforts to return to diplomatic talks, which were reportedly making significant progress toward a deal on Iran's nuclear program late last month when the US and Israel began bombarding Iran—striking civilian infrastructure including schools and healthcare facilities and killing more than 1,300 people so far, according to Iranian officials.
Hegseth said Trump has "maximum options" to conduct the war and said it is up to the president to determine whether “it’s the beginning, the middle, or the end" of the conflict, which has spread to Lebanon and other surrounding countries while the administration's explanation of its objectives in Iran have shifted.
The defense secretary's religious display came a week after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) said it had received more than 100 reports from noncommissioned officers who said commanding military officers have spoken about the war on Iran as though it's a religious conflict.
The Pentagon has long-established rules prohibiting proselytizing within its ranks, but MRFF president Mikey Weinstein said commanders have appeared "especially delighted with how graphic this battle will be, zeroing in on how bloody all of this must become in order to fulfill and be in 100% accordance with fundamentalist Christian end-of-the-world eschatology.”
Hegseth has prayed at military briefings previously and invited Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson to preach at the Pentagon.
On Monday, MS NOW's Ali Velshi posited that without a clear objective or the support of a majority of the American public, observers are left wondering whether the religious displays of Hegseth and military commanders make clear what the goal of attacking Iran is: a religious battle led by Christian nationalists.
"It wasn’t that long ago that groups in parts of the Middle East invoked extremist interpretations of Islam to justify violence against the West... But that religious extremism did not arise in a vacuum. Crucially, it was sustained by a political bargain," wrote Velshi. "Something eerily similar is now unfolding right here at home, and it has been building for some time."
He continued:
More than two centuries after the framers warned about the dangers of merging faith with political power, we are now seeing a version of that same dynamic take hold at the highest levels of American government. It’s not just creeping in; it is actively shaping how this war is being understood and justified—from those advising the president to military commanders briefing troops before their deployment.
[...]
The US military was never meant to fight for a religious prophecy. In fact, the founding fathers were so concerned about the line between church and state—which includes the military—that they included it in the Bill of Rights.
But today, under Trump, Hegseth, and the Christian nationalist movement that surrounds them, that line is being erased in real time.
The price of that erasure will be paid for with the lives of innocent civilians abroad. It may be paid for with the lives of innocent civilians here at home. And it will surely be paid for by American soldiers, sailors and airmen and women, many of whom are being told they are carrying out God’s command.
At The Guardian on Sunday, David Smith emphasized how Hegseth has combined "bombastic" threats—asserting that Iranian leaders "are toast" and bragging that "we are punching them while they’re down" as evidence emerged that the US was behind a strike on a girls' school—with his displays of Christian nationalist beliefs.
“Pete Hegseth is a very dangerous person," Janessa Goldbeck of Vet Voice Foundation told Smith. "He’s a white Christian nationalist and has the arsenal of the United States government at his disposal and a permission slip from President Trump to deploy carnage wherever he wishes against whomever he wishes.”
Mike Johnson Defends GOP Colleague’s Bigoted Attack on Muslims
“If a member of Congress said that Jews shouldn’t be let into America, would Mike Johnson reply by saying... there’s a lot of problems with the Talmud?” said one critic.
Mar 10, 2026
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday defended a Republican colleague who made an explicitly bigoted attack on Muslims.
During a press conference at the US Capitol, Johnson (R-La.) was asked about remarks made by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), who wrote a social media post on Monday declaring that "Muslims don't belong in American society."
Johnson indicated that he took issue with the tone of Ogles' statement, but defended its underlying sentiment.
"Look, I've spoken to those members, and all members, as I always do, about our tone and our message and what we say," Johnson began. "Look, there's a lot of energy in the country, a lot of popular sentiment, that the demand to impose Sharia law in America is a serious problem. That's what animates this."
Mike Johnson on House Republicans' Islamophobic rhetoric: "There's a lot of energy in the country and a lot of popular sentiment that the demand to impose Sharia Law in America is a serious problem" pic.twitter.com/TmPrxMZmiA
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 10, 2026
Johnson provided no evidence that backed up his assertion that the potential imposition of Sharia, which is the legal system based on Islamic scriptures, is a "serious problem" in the US. The number of cities and states in the US that recognize the authority of Sharia is zero and there is no movement pushing to change that.
Johnson went on to say that Ogles "used different language than I would have used" when he said Muslims "don't belong" in the US, but he reiterated that the fears animating Ogles' remarks were "a serious issue."
"Sharia law, and the imposition of Sharia law, is contrary to the US Constitution," Johnson said, without offering any examples of Sharia being imposed in the US. "When you seek to come to a country and to not assimilate, but to impose Sharia law... that is the conflict that people are talking about. It is not about people, as Muslims, it is about those who seek to impose a different police system that is in direct conflict with the Constitution."
In fact, Ogles' post did not specify he was only opposed to the imposition of Sharia law. Rather, he flatly declared that "Muslims don't belong in American society."
Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief of Zeteo News, expressed disgust with Johnson's evasion about Ogles' bigoted statements.
"Rep. Ogles said Muslims don't belong in America," he wrote. "And this is all Speaker Mike Johnson can bring him to say in response??"
Journalist Laura Rozen was baffled by Johnson's attempt to justify Ogles' views.
"Who is demanding imposing Sharia law in America?" she asked.
Journalist Zaid Jilani conducted a thought experiment where he tried applying Johnson's defense of Ogles' attacks on Muslims to attacks on other religious minorities.
"If a member of Congress said that Jews shouldn't be let into America," Jilani wondered, "would Mike Johnson reply by saying, well I wouldn't use those words, but there's a lot of problems with the Talmud?"
Missile Fragment From Iran School Massacre Marked ‘Made in USA’—But Trump Keeps Lying
Trump falsely claimed that Iran has “some” highly restricted Tomahawk missiles as additional evidence pointed to US culpability for the deadly strike.
Mar 10, 2026
As Iranian officials displayed US-marked fragments of a missile believed to have been used in Saturday's massacre of around 175 mostly school children in Minab, President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his unfounded claim that Iran carried out the strike.
The president suggested during a press conference at his Trump National Doral Miami resort that Iran may have used a US Tomahawk missile to carry out the February 28 attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab.
Trump falsely claimed that Iran has "some" of the highly restricted cruise missiles after one of them was recorded hitting an Iranian military facility near the school just after Saturday's strike there.
"A Tomahawk is very generic," Trump added. "It’s sold to other countries.”
New York Times reporter Shawn McCreesh pressed Trump on his claim, asking, "You just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a Tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war... Why are you the only person saying this?"
Trump replied: "Because I just don't know enough about it. I think it’s something that I was told is under investigation, but Tomahawks are, are used by others. As you know, numerous other nations have Tomahawks. They buy them from us.”
Reporter: You just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war. But you're the only person in your government saying this. Why?Trump: Because I just don't know enough about it.
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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) March 9, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Iran has no Tomahawks, which are not "generic." Originally developed by General Dynamics and now manufactured by Raytheon, the BGM‑109 Tomahawk is a specific long-range cruise missile designed and produced in the United States. Only two other countries—Australia and the United Kingdom—are known to have Tomahawks in their arsenals, although Japan and the Netherlands have also agreed to buy them.
The US also does not sell weaponry to the Iranian government—with the extraordinary exception of the Iran-Contra Affair, in which the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran in order to fund anti-communist Contra terrorists in Nicaragua.
Trump's Monday remarks followed his Saturday comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, where he said that the bombing "was done by Iran."
However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was accompanying Trump, notably declined to back Trump's claim, saying only that "we're certainly investigating" the strike.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz also did not endorse the president's assertion, telling ABC News' Martha Raddatz Sunday that he would “leave that to the investigators to determine.”
Waltz—a former Army Special Forces officer who served in Afghanistan—also told NBC News' Meet the Press Sunday that "we never deliberately attack civilians."
More than 400,000 civilians in over half a dozen countries have been killed in US-led wars since 9/11, according to the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
Hundreds of Iranian civilians have been killed by US and Israeli bombing since February 28. Israeli airstrikes have also killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians during the same period.
During Monday's press conference, Trump said that he is "willing to live with" whatever the probe into the Minab school strike shows.
A preliminary US intelligence assessment reportedly concluded that the United States is "likely" responsible for the strike, although a probe is ongoing.
On Monday, the New York Times published photos of fragments purportedly from a missile used in the school strike, which were marked with the names of multiple companies that produce Tomahawk components, a unique Department of Defense contract number, and "Made in USA." Another remnant is marked SDL ANTENNA, a key satellite data link component of Tomahawk missiles.
Paramedics and victims' relatives said the school bombing was a so-called “double-tap” airstrike—a common tactic used by US, Israeli, and Russian forces in which attackers bomb a target and then follow up with a second strike meant to kill survivors and first responders.
If carried out by the US, the Minab school strike would be one of the deadliest US civilian massacres in modern times, ranking with the bombing of a Baghdad bomb shelter during the 1991 Gulf War—which killed more than 400 people—and the March 2017 slaughter of at least 105 people in an apartment building in Mosul, Iraq during Trump's "war of annihilation" against the so-called Islamic State.
Trump's claim that Iran may have bought a US missile whose sale is restricted to just a handful of close allies and used it to bomb its own school prompted worldwide ridicule.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the upper chamber floor Tuesday that "Iran doesn't have Tomahawk missiles, Donald Trump!"
"The claim is beyond asinine," he continued. "He says whatever pops into his head no matter what the truth is. And we all know he lies, but on something as formidable as this, it's appalling."
"Trump is lying through his teeth," Schumer added.
Schumer: "Iran doesn't have Tomahawk missiles, Donald Trump! The claim is beyond asinine. He says whatever pops into his head no matter what the truth is. And we all know he lies, but on something as formidable as this, it's appalling."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 10, 2026 at 7:37 AM
Barry Andrews, an Irish politician who serves as a Member of the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency, said on X that Trump's "latest use of the 'big lie' tactic... was to claim that Iran somehow possesses US-made Tomahawk missiles and fired upon its own girls school."
"Such blatant lies are meant to distract," Andrews added. "He knows the world will move on."
New Yorker cartoonist Mark Thompson quipped, "How Iran fired a Tomahawk missile at their own school is beyond me, but President Trump wouldn’t lie to us."
Reza Nasri, an international law expert at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, said on X that "Trump claims that Iran somehow got its hands on a US Tomahawk cruise missile and used it to bomb its own elementary school."
"Ask him how Iran could possibly have obtained such missiles—and how it allegedly launched one, given that Tomahawks are typically fired from naval platforms, primarily warships and submarines," Nasri added. "Did Iran get its hands on US warships and submarines too?"
Who’s Leading Trump’s IRS as Tax Dodgers Run Wild? Apparently No One
Investigations and enforcement actions against rich tax cheats have plummeted amid a leadership vacuum at the Internal Revenue Service.
Mar 10, 2026
A group of Senate Democrats on Monday accused the Trump administration of "evading or ignoring" federal law by leaving the decimated Internal Revenue Service without a permanent leader during tax season, further enabling rich tax dodgers to run wild with no accountability.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been serving as acting IRS commissioner since President Donald Trump's removal of Billy Long last August, a trio of Democratic senators stressed that "commissioner of Internal Revenue is not an optional role." The lawmakers—Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—also ripped the Trump administration's establishment of the IRS chief executive officer position, calling it a "fake job that Congress never authorized."
Frank Bisignano is currently the CEO of the IRS, splitting his time there and at the Social Security Administration, his Senate-confirmed role.
The Democratic senators note in their letter that, under federal law, Bessent's authority to serve as acting commissioner expired on March 6, "absent a pending nomination."
"No nominee has been submitted," the lawmakers wrote. "Treasury previously assured [Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley] that a nomination would be forthcoming. That assurance has not yet been honored. The clock has now run out."
"Although the IRS is supposed to be nonpartisan, the only two Senate-confirmed positions at the IRS continue to be held 'temporarily' by Treasury officials who have political jobs," the senators added, referring to Bessent and Kenneth Kies, the assistant secretary for tax policy who is also serving as acting chief counsel of the IRS. (Kies was previously a lobbyist who helped corporations and rich Americans avoid taxes.)
During Trump's first year back in the White House, his administration terminated tens of thousands of IRS employees, leaving the long-underresourced agency with even fewer employees to enforce tax law.
Wyden, Schumer, and Warren wrote Monday that "leadership churn" at the IRS has also been "extreme," pointing out that seven commissioner or acting commissioner transitions occurred in 2025 and most of the agency's dozens of "top official positions" were "either vacant or filled by acting officials as of late last year."
The gutting of IRS staff—including a unit tasked with auditing billionaires—and the leadership vacuum at the top of the agency appear to have been boons for rich tax cheats.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reported last week that "during the new administration’s first year, the US Internal Revenue Service has referred at most two cases of possible tax evasion by ultrawealthy people or large businesses to its criminal investigators, a sharp drop from previous years."
"Not all criminal referrals trigger further investigation or lead to a prosecution," the ICIJ observed. "But they are a key metric of how vigorously the IRS civil divisions are investigating sophisticated tax dodging among high-net worth individuals. The wealthiest Americans account for a disproportionately large share of tax cheating, according to the US Treasury Department, and experts see sophisticated tax evasion schemes as a big contributor to runaway economic inequality."
Corporate tax avoidance is also rampant, thanks in large part to the latest round of Trump-GOP tax cuts enacted last summer. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) noted last month that "annual financial reports recently released by Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla disclose that these corporations collectively reported $315 billion in US profits for 2025, and collectively paid just 4.9% of that amount in federal corporate income taxes—with Tesla paying exactly zero."
"The tax avoidance of these four companies alone blew a $51 billion hole in the federal budget last year," wrote ITEP's Matthew Gardner, "and this is likely just the tip of the iceberg."
Citing new disclosures, the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition said Monday that major US corporations "collectively reduced their tax bills by more than $11 billion through tax havens in 2025."
"Meanwhile, American companies are getting out of paying a... US minimum tax, which has been effectively dismantled [by the Trump administration]," the coalition said. "The Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax, or CAMT, was intended to act as a backstop to ensure that large, profitable companies pay at least some tax, but has been eviscerated via recent regulatory changes that could be unlawful and unconstitutional."
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