Day: April 23, 2026
Virginia Senator Says He Can Relate To Rural Americans Because He Watched ‘The Dukes Of Hazzard’
‘I think I know a little bit about rural America.’
Iranian ‘Ghost Fleet’ Ferried $5 Billion in Oil, Primarily to China, Before US Blockade
Iran’s “ghost fleet” of illicit tankers moved 60 million barrels of crude oil worth an estimated $5 billion between the beginning of Operation Epic Fury and the start of the U.S. blockade of the Persian Gulf, according to shipping data analyzed by the United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) advocacy group, which noted that the bulk of that oil went to China.
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Appeals court unanimously SHUTS DOWN Gavin Newsom’s decree against ICE
A federal appeals court panel has temporarily blocked a California law related to federal immigration enforcement because it appears to be unconstitutional.
California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the “No Vigilantes Act,” which requires non-uniformed federal law enforcement agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies to wear visible identification, as part of a campaign to oppose federal immigration enforcement in the state.
‘It applies exclusively to law enforcement agencies and their officers.’
The federal government successfully argued that the law violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“That is precisely what the No Vigilantes Act does,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Mark Bennett in the unanimous decision.
Bennett and another judge of the appeals court panel were appointed by President Donald Trump, while a third judge was appointed under former President Barack Obama.
“The Act does not regulate conduct that any ordinary citizen could perform,” continued Bennett. “Rather, it applies exclusively to law enforcement agencies and their officers, including federal law enforcement agencies and federal law enforcement officers. The Act thus directly regulates conduct reserved to sovereigns.”
The law will be paused until it can be considered fully by the appeals court, but California officials can choose to file an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) did not indicate whether the state would take the case to the Supreme Court.
“Transparency and accountability are the foundation of good law enforcement,” read a statement from Bonta’s office. “The Trump administration has stepped well outside the boundaries of normal practice, deploying masked and unidentified agents to carry out immigration enforcement, despite the risks these tactics pose to public safety and basic civil liberties.”
Critics of the law say it puts federal agents and their families at unnecessary risk, but others say masked, unidentifiable agents put the public at risk.
“I’ll be signing a bill, the first in the nation, saying enough! To ICE: Unmask. What are you afraid of?” said Newsom to supporters in Sept. 2025.
RELATED: Judge DENIES Newsom emergency request to halt Trump order for military in Los Angeles
“You’re gonna go out and you’re gonna do enforcement? Provide an ID,” he added. “Tell us what agency you represent. Provide us basic information that all local law enforcement is required to provide.”
Newsom has positioned himself and California as leading opponents of the Trump agenda. Many believe the anti-Trump platform is meant to jump-start a possible presidential run for the term-limited governor.
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Trump administration steps in after trans-identifying man allegedly kidnaps his child to Cuba — possibly for trans surgery
A transgender-identifying Utah man kidnapped his child from the child’s biological mother during a custody dispute and fled to Cuba, possibly to seek “gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.
Eri Ethington, 42, and Carly Ann Crosby, 32, took the 10-year-old boy from Utah to Canada, then to Mexico in late March, and then to Cuba on April 1, authorities said.
‘We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother.’
The child was supposed to be returned to the custody of his biological mother after a camping trip but never returned. So the mother obtained a court order from a Utah state court for the child to be returned to her and that granted her exclusive custody of the boy.
The boy’s family grew concerned that Ethington, the boy’s trans-identifying father, and Crosby, Ethington’s reportedly “nonbinary” romantic partner, might be manipulating the boy to undergo transgender transition surgery in Cuba.
The boy was born male but identifies as female, the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release said.
On April 16, Cuban officials located the couple and the boy in Cuba.
Ethington and Crosby were deported from Cuba to the U.S. with the aid of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged in federal court with international parental kidnapping.
The child was returned to his biological mother.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak said in a statement included with the release.
Ethington had run a popular political blog about Utah and now identifies as Rose Inessa-Ethington. Crosby also uses the name Blue Inessa-Ethington, according to the press release.
RELATED: Federal judge temporarily orders prisons to provide ‘transgender’ therapy despite Trump order
NPR cited a spokesperson for the Logan City Police who said they were not initially aware about the transgender surgery concerns and had focused on the custody dispute. That report also said transgender surgeries are banned for children in Cuba.
“Our priority in every parental kidnapping case is the safety and well-being of the child,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls of the Salt Lake City FBI. “This case reflects the strength of partnerships in locating victims, supporting reunification, and ensuring accountability.”
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Navy secretary abruptly fired despite ongoing Iran blockade
Navy Secretary John Phelan departed from the Department of War as the United States continues to carry out the naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Pentagon confirmed the abrupt shakeup in a post on X where spokesman Sean Parnell thanked Phelan for his service, noting that he will be leaving the administration “effective immediately.” Parnell did not disclose the reason for Phelan’s apparent firing but announced that Undersecretary Hung Cao will become the acting secretary in the interim.
‘Some reports claim that Phelan’s departure was far from voluntary.’
“Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately,” Parnell said in a statement. “On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy.”
“We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
RELATED: The lone Republican who could tank Trump’s Fed pick
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Most reports claim that Phelan’s departure was far from voluntary, noting that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had been frustrated with the pace of the Navy’s shipbuilding. Prior to the war with Iran, Hegseth had been conducting the “Arsenal of Freedom” tour where the secretary would visit various defense contractors, including shipbuilding facilities, and urge builders to “go hard, go fast.”
Hegseth gave Phelan the option to resign or to be forced out, CNN reported.
Phelan reportedly questioned whether this directive came from President Donald Trump, leading him to seek a meeting with the commander in chief. In doing so, Trump confirmed to Phelan that he was no longer going to continue serving in the role.
Phelan is not the only military leader to exit the Pentagon in recent weeks. Hegseth similarly fired Army Chief of Staff Randy George earlier in April.
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14-year-old thug body-slams, head-stomps girl on Harlem street — reportedly after she wouldn’t give him her phone number
A 14-year-old male was caught on video body-slamming and then head-stomping a girl on a Harlem street — reportedly after she wouldn’t give him her phone number, the New York Post reported, citing police and sources.
The attack against the 15-year-old victim took place on the corner of East 107th Street and 3rd Avenue in East Harlem around 3:30 p.m. Monday after the school day was over, the Post said.
‘He should get the death penalty.’
The clip shows the considerably larger male standing in a crosswalk in front of his victim and warning her that he’ll “knock the s**t out of you right now.”
Another male is heard off-camera encouraging the attacker: “Do it!”
When the girl attempts to cross the street, the attacker orders her, “Nah, you stand right here” as he points to the ground close to his feet.
The girl attempts to go around the attacker, but he puts an arm out and pushes her backward.
But the gutsy girl defiantly tells her attacker, “Get the f**k away from me, p***y!” and turns around and begins to walk away down a sidewalk.
Her attacker, who’s wearing a mask over his mouth and nose, follows her, grabs her from behind, picks her up, and body-slams her into the sidewalk.
Apparently not satisfied with his feat of strength, he then stomps on her head while she’s defenseless on the ground.
The Post, citing police and sources, said the girl suffered a concussion, and EMS took her to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.
The paper added that her attacker was arrested and charged with assault — and sources noted that he’s due to appear in family court Thursday.
As you can imagine, those reacting to the incident are outraged. Here’s a sampling of comments underneath the Post’s video posted to YouTube:
- “Arrest the cameraman as well,” one commenter said. “He was enjoying it.”
- “He should get the death penalty,” another commenter declared.
- “It’s NYC,” another commenter wrote. “He’ll get a $75 fine and be back on the streets.”
- “If that were my daughter, the cops would need to hold on to him for his safety,” another commenter said. “He would leave earth.”
- “Utterly evil, doesn’t matter what age,” another commenter noted. “This is why we need [the] death penalty nationwide. Some people are beyond saving. We must protect regular normal civil people in society.”
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‘With every change comes trade-offs’: Ted Cruz pushes new Muhammad Ali Act in hopes of unifying boxing
Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) is hoping a unified approach to boxing organizations will return the sport to the time when it was a source of national pride and childhood heroes.
Cruz recently championed the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act of 2026, an add-on to the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000.
‘We need more predictable pathways for matchmaking.’
Sponsored by Rep. Brian Jack (R-Ga.), the bill’s goal is to strengthen organizations’ ability to hold on to fighters, while establishing unified rules and medical procedures, including anti-doping programs.
The legislation — which passed through the House in March — demands that unified boxing organizations must implement drug testing programs, provide supplemental physicals for fighters over 40 years old, ensure that at least two ambulances are on site for matches, and allow boxers access to equipment and facilities fully operated by the UBO.
Effectively, if the legislation passes, it will allow boxing organizations to create fight leagues similar to those of other professional organizations, in which a boxer is locked in with regard to exclusivity and promotional rights.
The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, on the other hand, limited promotional contracts to 12 months and prevented organizations from being able to force boxers into granting future promotional rights as a condition for a mandatory title fight.
The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on Wednesday, which included support for and dissent from the new act and featured some of the biggest names in the sport.
Opposing the new rules was 11-time world champion Oscar De La Hoya. The boxing legend directly criticized noted adversary and UFC President Dana White, saying that White’s Zuffa Boxing organization would likely be a beneficiary of the new rules. De La Hoya complained that Zuffa is “fully funded by Saudi Arabia” and claimed that such funding “reshaped another sport,” referring to LIV Golf, a Saudi-backed competitor to the PGA Tour.
The former boxer said LIV Golf potentially losing Saudi backing should “serve as a warning” for American boxing. However, it should be noted that De Le Hoya accepted a $10 million purchase of boxing publication Ring magazine by a Saudi Arabian who invests in Zuffa Boxing.
De Le Hoya said in March that he now regrets the sale.
Nico Ali Walsh, Muhammad Ali’s grandson, also spoke in opposition to the legislation, saying that “the people controlling fighters should not also control the entire marketplace those fighters depend on.”
Walsh claimed the new bill, in its current form, should not have his grandfather’s name on it. According to Boxing Insider, he also cited Ali’s history of speaking against the government and said that “silence is part of the system.”
By contrast, Cruz praised the previous act but claimed that it was time for change.
The previous act was “meant to set basic guardrails without remaking the sport from Washington,” Cruz said, “but with every change comes trade-offs.”
“We need more predictable pathways for matchmaking and simplified rankings. I believe allowing for a more unified structure to take hold could help the sport compete more effectively against other combat sport competitors,” he added.
Nick Khan, president of the WWE and executive at Zuffa Boxing, made the case that the new rules create a framework that “can do what major sports do — promote competition, develop talent, and enforce consistent standards under one roof.”
Two of the biggest contentions to major fight organizations unifying in this manner have been fighter pay and health insurance. The legislation attempts to address these issues with insurance that covers fighters during their training period while simultaneously raising boxer minimum pay.
For example, according to Boxing Scene, California has a $100-per-round minimum pay, whereas the new legislation doubles that to $200 per round while guaranteeing a fight every six months.
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DMW closes review center for alleged illegal recruitment
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has closed a review center in Santiago City, Isabela for allegedly recruiting workers for jobs in Poland and Canada.
Pope Leo condemns killing of protesters in Iran, reaffirms stance against war
Pope Leo on Thursday firmly condemned the killing of protesters in Iran, after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the Catholic leader last week for not doing so while speaking out against the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.
