'They're all over the country stealing defense secrets'
Israel and Iran's recent exchange of fire is threatening the truce in the Middle East. And, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading at an unprecedented rate, officials say.
LIVE FIRE CEASEFIRE: Iran attempted to use its leverage with President Donald Trump — who is anxious to seal a nuclear deal with Tehran — to protect its proxy forces in Lebanon from Israeli retaliation, after Iran struck Israel with a wave of missile attacks over the weekend. Trump told Axios he would call Israeli […]
President Donald Trump publicly pleaded with Israel and Iran to halt their fighting early Monday as the two countries traded their worst strikes since the April truce, threatening to collapse the peace deal Trump had declared was days away from completion."Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting,'" Trump posted on Truth Social at 5:36 a.m. Eastern. "President DONALD J. TRUMP."The all-caps signature did not appear to have the desired effect. By morning, Israel was defending fresh waves of Iranian missiles — with CNN's Oren Liebermann reporting interceptions visible over Jerusalem — while Iran threatened to target all oil and gas facilities associated with the U.S. and Israel if attacks on its energy infrastructure continued.The escalation unraveled a week of optimistic diplomacy. Trump had told the Financial Times just days earlier that negotiations were "very close" and predicted a deal would be announced this week. He had also told Netanyahu to hold off on retaliating against Iran, according to a U.S. official — an instruction Netanyahu appeared to ignore.The sequence: Iran fired close to 30 ballistic missiles at Israel, according to the IDF, with Yemen's Houthi rebels launching two more in the first such attacks since April. Israel responded with two waves of strikes on Iran, targeting aerial defense systems in the first wave and a petrochemical facility in the second. Iran then struck petrochemical infrastructure in Haifa, with footage showing missiles bearing the message in three languages: "You will regret this."Iran's Foreign Ministry said the U.S. "bears responsibility" for Israel's actions as a party to the April ceasefire. Iran also called "absurd" any suggestion that frozen Iranian assets could be redirected to compensate U.S. allies for war damages.The financial fallout was immediate. Brent crude surged nearly 5 percent to $97.52 a barrel. Asian stock markets tumbled, with South Korea's KOSPI plunging more than 8 percent.Pope Leo XIV, speaking at the Spanish parliament in Madrid on a peace-focused visit, called war "a painful defeat of the capacity to negotiate" as the strikes unfolded. Israel's military said it was preparing for at least several days of fighting and the possibility of a prolonged campaign.Trump told Fox News the Iranian attack "certainly is not going to help negotiations" and called on Iran to "get back to the table and make a deal." He had previously told the Financial Times that Israel "would have to accept any deal" the U.S. reaches with Iran, saying "I call all the shots."On Monday morning, that bold claim was being tested in real time.
The Yemeni Houthis announced early Monday they would impose a “complete ban” on Israeli sea vessels from passing through the Red Sea, a partial blockade that risks hitting global trade with a “two-front crisis” as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, several outlets reported.“We declare a complete ban on enemy navigation in the Red Sea and we consider any Zionist movements to be military targets for our forces,” said Houthi spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Al Saree in a televised statement released on Monday, according to the United Arab Emirates news outlet The National.“We will respond to escalation with escalation and our operations will intensify in line with the battle and in conjunction with the axis of jihad and resistance."The announcement comes in response to Israel’s strikes on Iran Sunday, itself a response to Iranian strikes on northern Israel as retaliation for Israel’s siege on Beirut, Lebanon.While not as critical to global trade as the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea is still a major shipping waterway, with around 12% of global trade passing through the channel, “including 30% of global container traffic,” according to The Guardian. Together, disruptions to both shipping waterways would likely further exacerbate supply shocks sparked by President Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran.“The two waterways together carry an estimated 30% of global container shipping and approximately 22% of the world's seaborne oil supply, according to analysis by The Middle East Insider,” reads a report from Insurance Business Magazine. “A combined disruption places an estimated US$10 billion per day of global trade at risk.”YEMENI HOUTHIS ANNOUNCE NAVAL BLOCKADE ON ISRAEL IN THE RED SEA pic.twitter.com/AWSP9pEgvI— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) June 8, 2026
President Trump called Monday for Israel and Iran to lay down their weapons in his first public comments since the Middle Eastern enemies traded attacks overnight.
Iran playing in a competition co-hosted by the US is just one of the flashpoints to watch for.
Either the nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump believes a cognitive test is an intelligence test or he's lying about his mental health. I don't think there's a gray zone here. If it's the first, he's demented. If it's the second, he's hiding something (probably dementia). Either way, it's bad.It happens too frequently to ignore. The president brags about passing a cognitive test to the point where he seems to believe it's a measure of his IQ. In public remarks, he often puts special emphasis on the word "cognitive" as if to stress that it demonstrates his intelligence. Here's what he told the New York Post after a third trip in a year to Walter Reed. "I do physicals because I think I have an obligation to do it. I took a cognitive test and I got 100 percent on it. The doctors told me very, very few people can ace it. It's actually a tough test."That's only the latest iteration. I went to the Bluesky feed of Aaron Rupar, founder of Public Notice. Aaron watches most of Trump's public appearances. I searched for "cognitive."On May 22, during a rally, Trump said: I said, how many presidents have taken [a cognitive test]? "None." I said, well, is it tough? "It’s a tough test. It starts off easy, then it gets very, very tough." I said well, you know what? I’m gonna take that test. ... This was in my first term. I took it and I aced it. ... So the first question was, you have a bear, a snake, an elephant and a horse. "Name the horse." That’s the horse. ... The New York Times story ... only use[s] the first question that you go into. The other questions they didn’t go into. ... It had a question like "pick a number, sir, any number." Okay, 203. "Multiple by 9. Divide by 2. Add on 1,324. Subtract 1,292. Sir, multiply it out one more time by 19. What is the answer, sir?" I got it right. And the one doctor said, "I've been doing this test for 20 years. I've never seen anybody ace it."On May 4, during a presser, Trump said:In my opinion, anybody running for president or vice president should take a cognitive test. No president has ever taken one, except me. I’ve taken three and I’ve aced each one. One in the first administration, two over here. And whenever they get a little sassy like, "Does he still have what it takes?" I say, all right I’ll take another one. They are hard. There are many people in this room I know that are smart. They’re not gonna ace them. The first question is very easy. You have a lion, a bear and alligator and a squirrel. "Which is the squirrel?" ... The first four or five questions, they get a little more difficult. By the time you get to the end, I don’t wanna be insulting, I’m not gonna do what Gavin Newsom [did] ...On May 1, during a speech, Trump said:I took three of them. Aced all of them. ... I’m the only president to take a cognitive test. I don’t think Obama could pass it. ... Well, Biden – give me a break. The first question is very easy. It’s a lion, a giraffe, a bear and a shark. Which one is the bear? It's a very standard test, but very tough around those 10 questions. ... I’m in a room of brilliant people, but a lot of you wouldn’t have been able to answer. When I got the score of the test, the doctor said "wow." ... I’ve had different phases. They’ve said "he’s a mad genius" and I didn't mind that too much. They said "he’s a horrible human being" and I didn't like that much. Then they said "he’s really not a smart person at all." I really hated that, so I took a cognitive test. ... Dr. Ronny ... had a whole team of doctors at Walter Reed. I said, should I do it? He said, "well, it’s a tough exam, actually. Those last 20 questions they get tough. A lot of people can’t do them." ... I said, I do well on things, so let’s do it. I got every one right.On March 26, during a Cabinet meeting, Trump said:I’m the only president that ever took a cognitive test. I took it three times. It’s actually a very hard test. It wasn’t hard for me, but it’s a cognitive test. It starts off with an easy question and by the time you get to the end ... very few people can answer those questions. They get very tough, mathematical equations and things. I took it three times. I aced it all three times. ... Doc Ronny told me ... "if you take it, it’s Walter Reed ... and if you do badly, it’s probably gonna get out." But I aced it. I got them all right. One doctor said "I’ve never seen anybody get them all right. I’ve been doing the test for 20 years." ... I would love to see anybody that’s a president or a vice president ... take a cognitive test.On December 2, 2025, during a Cabinet meeting, Trump said:They said, "would you like to take a cognitive test?" I said, is it hard? They said, "yes." ... I said, who is the last president to take one? "No president has ever agreed to take one." When you get into the mid questions, meaning, question No. 10, 11, 12, 28, 30, they get harder and harder. ...
Yes, the church still employs exorcists. No, they aren’t allowed to call UFOs demons.