Author: Sam Watt

European leaders spent a year being called “pathetic.” Now Washington wants their endorsement for regime change in Tehran.

Amid the acrid smoke of glide bombs and the relentless buzz of FPV drones, a Ukrainian reconnaissance officer—call him “Viper,” to shield his identity—peers through the fog-shrouded ruins of Pokrovsk’s southern outskirts. Once a bustling coal town of 60,000 souls in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, it now resembles a lunar wasteland: cratered streets, skeletal high-rises, and the skeletal remains of armored vehicles twisted by artillery. “They’re not storming in waves anymore,” Viper whispers into his radio, his voice crackling over encrypted lines. “They slip in like ghosts—pairs, singles, dressed as civilians. One wrong glance, and you’re dead. You never know…

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday ordered 200 Oregon National Guard troops to be deployed under federal authority while the state filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s move to send military forces into the Democratic-run city of Portland. The Republican president on Saturday announced plans to send troops into Portland, saying they would be used to protect federal immigration facilities against “domestic terrorists” and that he was authorizing them to use “full force, if necessary.” Trump’s deployments of military forces into other municipalities led by Democrats, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., have spurred legal challenges and protests. Oregon’s suit was…

President Donald Trump on Sunday called for an end to an “epidemic of violence” across the United States following a shooting that left casualties at a Mormon church in Michigan, calling it a “targeted attack” against Christians. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he was “briefed on the horrendous shooting” and that the FBI was “immediately” on the scene after the shooting. “This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America,” Trump wrote in the post. “The Trump Administration will keep the Public posted, as we always do. In the…

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A gunman rammed his pickup truck through the front doors of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel during Sunday services, opened fire on worshippers with an assault rifle, and deliberately set the building ablaze, killing at least four people and injuring eight others, authorities said. The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford of nearby Burton, Michigan, was fatally shot by police in the church parking lot minutes after the attack began. The rampage, which unfolded around 10:25 a.m. local time on September 28, 2025, at the chapel in Grand Blanc Township—a…

In the high-stakes world of conservative media and political activism, few figures loomed as large as Charlie Kirk. At just 31 years old, the founder of Turning Point USA had built a multimillion-dollar empire blending podcasting, campus tours, and social media influence into a powerhouse that shaped Republican messaging and fundraising. His daily show, The Charlie Kirk Show, routinely topped charts on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, pulling in sponsorships from conservative donors and brands aligned with traditional values. Kirk’s reach extended far beyond U.S. borders, positioning him as a global ambassador for nationalism and Christianity—a brand that not…

Sen. Marsha Blackburn sent a letter to Secret Service Director Sean Curran Thursday, demanding the immediate firing of a special agent who argued in a social media post that Charlie Kirk deserved to die. Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, wrote the letter after RealClearPolitics reported that the agent, Anthony Pough, blamed “karma” for the killing of the founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, who was fatally shot at Utah Valley University Wednesday. The assassin remains at large, and the FBI is engaged in a desperate manhunt to apprehend the killer. Kirk, 31, was a prominent conservative influencer close to…

As the nation grapples with the news that conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk was gunned down in cold blood while conducting one of his signature campus debates at Utah Valley University, it is of paramount importance for our political leaders both to recognize the political moment we are in and to try to defuse a potentially combustible situation. While conservatives will be tempted to demonize whoever the deluded shooter turns out to be, and liberals will undoubtedly call for more ineffective gun control legislation, neither reaction can hope to lead to anything productive. Another tribute is in order to…

WASHINGTON—Political leaders across the United States condemned the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, who was killed at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. Kirk, founder of conservative youth group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and a frequent speaker at university campuses, was shot in the neck while speaking outdoors to a crowd of university students. He was rushed off the stage to a hospital by police and his personal security, where he later died of his injuries. Kirk’s death was confirmed by a statement from his organization. “Charles James Kirk has been murdered by gunshot,” wrote TPUSA in a statement.…

Few people in Canada had heard of Ruby Liu when she emerged this year with an ambitious plan to reinvent dozens of shuttered Hudson’s Bay Co. outlets, the remnants of a bankrupt department store chain that’s played an outsize role in the country’s history. The owner of three shopping centers and a golf course in British Columbia, Liu said she reaped $1 billion building and selling a mall in China. She now intends to spend about C$450 million ($325 million) buying the leases of 25 Hudson’s Bay stores for a new retail chain. But Liu’s prospective landlords, which include some of Canada’s biggest…