War Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a great speech on D-Day in Normandy.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that a peace deal with Iran could be signed as early as this weekend in Europe, comments that mark the latest turn toward diplomacy after days of military strikes. Vice President JD Vance would attend the signing on behalf of the administration if a deal is reached, Trump said in […]
Veteran journalists braced for change when David Ellison took control of CBS and installed conservative Bari Weiss as editor in chief of the news division, but six former staffers revealed they should have been prepared for a demolition.In eight months under Weiss's leadership, "60 Minutes," the top-rated news program in the country, drawing 9.1 million weekly viewers, has lost seven of its 10 correspondents, seen its veteran executive producer fired without explanation, and watched its editorial independence eroded by what multiple journalists describe as direct political interference in their reporting, reported Variety.“We have to acknowledge that ‘60 Minutes’ needed a bit of a facelift, and there were potentially positive ways to improve the program, but it’s the way they have gone about it,” said one former “60 Minutes” staffer. “You don’t give a facelift with a f---ing machete.”The breaking point came May 28, a day staffers now call "Black Thursday," when Weiss fired correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich in a single sweep. Days later, Scott Pelley, the de facto face of CBS News for nearly four decades, was fired after publicly questioning Weiss's leadership at an all-hands staff meeting.The firings followed months of alleged editorial meddling. Alfonsi accused Weiss of spiking a fully vetted report on Venezuelan migrants held in an El Salvadoran prison — pulling it hours before airtime because the Trump administration declined to comment. "If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story," Alfonsi wrote to colleagues, "we have effectively handed them a kill switch for any reporting they find inconvenient." Vega made similar allegations on her way out, and Pelley told the New York Times that Weiss demanded he describe a woman shot dead by ICE agents as "driving toward the officer" — a claim contradicted by video evidence.CBS News disputes the characterizations, calling Weiss's interventions routine editorial feedback with no political motivation.Critics point to a broader pattern. A CBS Evening News segment concluded with the words "Marco Rubio, we salute you." Weiss allowed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to choose his own interviewer for a "60 Minutes" sit-down, earning personal praise from a former Israeli ambassador. A "60 Minutes" report on ICE enforcement in Minneapolis was allegedly reworked to make protesters appear more violent.The collapse is striking as under outgoing executive producer Tanya Simon, "60 Minutes" just completed its 52nd consecutive season as the top-rated news program in America, with digital engagement up dramatically and viewership growing.The three remaining correspondents — Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim — announced last week they would stay, but warned they would leave if the show's editorial independence could not be preserved. “They’ve been shameless in their directions and shameless in their actions," said longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft, who retired in 2019. "I hope it’s going to come to an end, but I don’t have a great deal of confidence in Bari Weiss to do what she says that she’s going to do. She hasn’t done it so far. I think it’s going to be more of the same, and it’ll be interesting to see how much Lesley, Bill and Jon will put up with.”Kroft doesn't expect Weiss, who reportedly holes up behind a security team in her office in an off-limits wing, to stick around much longer herself.“I have a feeling that Bari will not be overseeing ‘60 Minutes’ for very much longer," Kroft said. "I think once the deal gets done with Warner Bros., people will demand that she be let go or move into another position. Everything she’s touched has turned to s---. Everything she’s touched has gone colossally wrong, and I don’t think she’s showed any talent for this position. She’s only fulfilling other people’s agendas.”
A few days ago, the ‘coalition of the willing’ (Starmer, Merz, Macron and Zelenskyy) met in London to hammer out the latest words on paper, a new military pledge to support Ukraine against Russia. Both British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles III agreed to a renewed military effort that included British armed forces […] The post Three Days After Prime Minister Starmer Pledges to Lead New Ukraine Military Effort, British Defense Minister Resigns appeared first on The Last Refuge.
The following is an installment of “On This Day,” a series celebrating America’s 250th anniversary by following the actions of Gen. George Washington, the Continental Congress, and the men and women whose bravery and sacrifice led up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. June 11, 1776 Second Continental Congress President John Hancock writes […]
The following is an installment of “On This Day,” a series celebrating America’s 250th anniversary by following the actions of Gen. George Washington, the Continental Congress, and the men and women whose bravery and sacrifice led up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. June 11, 1776 Second Continental Congress President John Hancock writes […]
Gas prices could climb even higher in the coming months.Industry officials have already warned the White House that the prices could spike yet again due to rapidly diminishing inventories, reported The Washington Post Thursday.Since the beginning of the Iran war, commercial and government inventories have supplemented gas consumption across the U.S. The reserves have allowed prices to hover around $4.50 per gallon for the last four months—but that could change very quickly, according to oil and gas executives, who are often loath to make such alarming predictions.“We’re sounding the alarm on these inventories going to record lows,” American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers told Fox Business. “We have to solve this problem in the Strait of Hormuz.”Some inventories could be wiped out in a matter of weeks, according to the Post—just in time for summer holidays.“I have absolutely no doubt the White House—from the president on down—is fully aware of the nearly universal alarm among oil companies and analysts about the direction of travel for oil prices this summer,” Bob McNally, a former Bush administration energy adviser, told the Post.Yet Trump has been remarkably cavalier about the rising costs. With inflation at a three-year high, Trump stunned reporters, lawmakers, and voters alike on Wednesday with just four words: “I love the inflation,” he said.“I love it,” he insisted, pledging that oil prices will drop “like a rock” when the war ends.But the end of the war seems to be nowhere in sight. U.S. forces bombed Iran through two nights this week, part of the White House’s latest strategy to force Tehran to make a deal, despite the obvious risks of escalation.“If we need to negotiate with bombs, we will negotiate with bombs,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday. “We will strike them hard tonight and hopefully Iran makes a good decision.”Meanwhile, Trump’s allies aren’t so sure that their political movement will weather the brewing economic storm. The far-right populist rode the 2024 campaign on vehement promises of affordability; through his presidency, he swore that Americans would see lower utility bills, cheaper groceries, and more American-based jobs. But that hasn’t been the case.Instead, as millions of Americans struggle with the rising cost of living and companies contend with rattled supply chains, the president’s inner circle fear that it might be too late to fix the problem for Trump’s midterm-dependent acolytes.“Whether it’s peak inflation or not, it doesn’t matter,” one former Trump administration official told Politico. “The die has been cast in terms of how people are looking at the economy.”
Inflation is primed to become catastrophically worse in one of the most important sectors, and according to The Washington Post, executives are still "doing everything they can" to get that fact across to President Donald Trump before it is too late.As the Post laid out in a Thursday report, executives in the oil industry are sounding the alarm about prices at the pump shooting up to a degree even higher than they already have, and are working to make sure Trump hears those warnings as he attempts to negotiate a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz."Oil and gas executives have warned the White House that gasoline prices could surge in the coming months as fuel inventories fall to critical lows, complicating the Trump administration’s efforts to contain inflation that has already rattled American consumers," the report detailed.It continued: "Industry officials say they are doing everything they can to sound an alarm that prices are about to soar as the commercial and government inventories that have mitigated price rises so far are rapidly depleting, according to multiple people familiar with the conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from the administration. Some inventories could be wiped out within weeks, the executives have warned, coinciding with the peak summer travel season."While the dwindling shipments out of the Gulf States has so far caused gas prices to increase well over $1 on average across the U.S., if the key shipping route remains closed or unsafe for much longer, it will quickly reach the point where stockpiles begin to reach critical levels. At that point, prices will potentially increase to astronomical levels, and gas rationing might also have to be implemented.For the time being, some of the sources that the Post spoke to are trying to remain optimistic. “I have absolutely no doubt the White House — from the president on down — is fully aware of the nearly universal alarm among oil companies and analysts about the direction of travel for oil prices this summer,” Bob McNally, a former energy adviser under George W. Bush and founder of the research firm, Rapidan Energy Group, said in a statement to the outlet.“We’re sounding the alarm on these inventories going to record lows,” American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers said during an appearance on a Fox Business show that Trump is known to watch. “We should be concerned about what prices we’re going to see over the next few weeks. We have to solve this problem in the Strait of Hormuz.”