Strains emerge between Trump and Netanyahu as Iran war escalates, energy crisis deepens
March 20th, 20260 WASHINGTON, D.C. — After nearly three weeks of intense military confrontation with Iran, early signs of divergence between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are beginning to surface, raising critical questions about the trajectory of the war, its broader regional consequences and the absence of a clear...
MAGA divide deepens as top official resigns over Iran war driven by Israeli pressure
March 20th, 20260 WASHINGTON — In the first major rupture within President Trump’s administration over the war on Iran, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned from his post Tuesday, declaring that he could no longer support the conflict and accusing Israel of misleading the United States into war. Joe Kent becomes the first...
U.S.–Israel war on Iran enters fourth week amid stalemate, energy crisis and rising regional risks
March 20th, 20260 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S.–Israel war against Iran has entered its fourth week without achieving any meaningful breakthrough in subduing the Islamic Republic, while no clear path toward a near-term resolution has emerged. Instead, fears are mounting over widening regional consequences and escalating global risks, as President Trump...
Trump and Hegseth cannot define the truth of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran
March 20th, 20260 U.S. "War Secretary" Pete Hegseth appears to have little patience for questions that do not conform to his preferred style of declaring unsubstantiated victories, whether against South Americans or in the Middle East. In a charged press conference on March 13, Hegseth did more than attack journalists for questioning his unverified...Congress can halt the Iran war by doing nothing. It should.
March 20th, 20260 U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wants $200 billion for the Trump administration's illegal, ill-advised, undeclared war on Iran. Well, maybe. "That number could move," he said, to get "properly funded for what's been done, for what we may have to do in the future, ensure that our ammunition is refilled, and not just refilled,...
No time for losers: Why the war meant to save Israel may destroy it
March 19th, 20260 When Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu launched their military aggression against Iran on February 28, they appeared convinced that the war would be swift. Netanyahu reportedly assured Washington that the campaign would deliver a decisive strategic victory — one capable of reordering the Middle East and restoring Israel’s battered...
CAIR report records unprecedented surge in Islamophobia in the United States in 2025
March 13th, 20260 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Under the title “The Right to be Different”, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released its 2026 annual civil rights report on Tuesday, documenting what it described as an unprecedented rise in Islamophobia in the United States, fueled in part by the strict immigration and protest policies adopted...
Tennessee congressman sparks outrage with anti-Muslim rant
March 13th, 20260 WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Tennessee Republican congressman is facing widespread condemnation after posting a series of anti-Muslim statements on social media declaring that “Muslims don’t belong in American society”, remarks that civil rights advocates say reflect a troubling rise in Islamophobic rhetoric in U.S. politics. U.S. Rep....
Iraq’s lessons and the Powell Doctrine: Why Americans question a new war with Iran
March 13th, 20260 In February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell went to the United Nations to present the George W. Bush administration’s case against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. His remarks were directed at two audiences: reluctant allies and unconvinced Americans. Hawks who wanted this war termed Powell’s performance “compelling and...
Debunked and confirmed: Myths and realities from the war on Iran
March 6th, 20260 The war on Iran has not merely opened a new military front in the Middle East. It has shattered long-standing myths that have shaped U.S. policy and regional politics for decades. What has unfolded in the past days is not simply a battlefield confrontation; it is a historical rupture. Several narratives that once appeared unassailable...
Metro Detroit’s Arab and Muslim leaders condemn U.S.–Israeli unjustifiable attack on Iran, warn of wider regional war
March 6th, 20260 The U.S.–Israeli military assault on Iran and its dangerous repercussions across the Middle East sparked a wave of condemnation among Arab and Muslim Americans across the Detroit area. Local leaders called for an immediate halt to the wide-scale military operations to prevent the region from sliding into a broader war that could...
Who decides what is legitimate? Power, democracy and the war on Iran
March 6th, 20260 Democracy is invoked as moral legitimacy in war, while Iran’s authority rests on layered political, religious and historical foundations. Democracy, however, is not the enemy. Its manipulation is. For decades, Western political discourse has equated legitimacy with elections — numbers counted on a single day, certified by...
Polls show growing Democratic shift away from unconditional support for Israel
March 6th, 20260 A mini-brouhaha has erupted over whether or not the Democratic National Committee has buried an “autopsy” report on its party loss in the 2024 presidential election. Some fear that the report isn’t being released because it suggests the defeat was the Harris campaign’s failure to break with the Biden administration’s...
House rejects bid to halt Trump’s war on Iran as Congress confronts growing conflict
March 6th, 20260 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly rejected a resolution Thursday that would have forced President Trump to halt military operations against Iran without congressional authorization, highlighting deep divisions in Washington as the conflict threatens to expand across the Middle East. The measure failed...
“Is the president working for you?” Spanberger asks in State of the Union response
February 27th, 20260 “Tonight, as we watched our nations lawmakers gather for a join session of Congress, we did not hear the truth from our president,” said Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who gave a 13-minute Democratic response to the State of the Union from Colonial Williamsburg. “So, let’s speak plainly and honestly. And let me ask you, the......
Trump’s record-length combative State of the Union highlights economy, Iran, immigration enforcement and polarizing attacks on Democratic lawmakers
February 27th, 20260 President Trump said in his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress that his administration inherited a “very bad” economic and security situation from the previous administration, asserting that in just one year it had achieved what he described as an “unprecedented transformation.” Trump said in his...
The other “lizard people”: Why the Epstein files are shattering global theory
February 27th, 20260 When British author David Icke wrote his seminal work, The Biggest Secret: The Book That Will Change the World, published in 1999, he was not speaking metaphorically. When he detailed the “reptilian genetic streams” of “elite” families — human-reptile hybrids allegedly engineering global events — he meant it literally. To......
“State of the Swamp” will provide live rebuttal to the State of the Union
February 24th, 20260 On February 24, while President Trump delivers his State of the Union address, DEFIANCE.org, the Portland Frog Brigade and COURIER will host State of the Swamp: The Rebuttal to the State of the Union from 7 –11 p.m. EST at the National Press Club. The event will bring together elected officials, cultural figures, journalists,...
ICE expands footprint in Metro Detroit with Romulus detention facility purchase and Southfield office lease
February 20th, 20260 ROMULUS / SOUTHFIELD — Federal preparations in the Detroit area signal a major expansion of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Southeast Michigan, including the purchase of a large detention facility near Detroit Metropolitan Airport and the leasing of administrative office space in Southfield. The...
Detroit Yemenis face deportation as Syrian TPS fight continues in federal court
February 20th, 20260 DETROIT — Thousands of Yemeni and Syrian nationals who have built their lives in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) now face legal uncertainty after the Trump administration moved to terminate their protections, citing improved conditions in their home countries. For Yemeni TPS holders, the deadline is fast...
“Regime cleavage”: How the “language of humiliation” is engineering a second American civil war
February 20th, 20260 A January 2026 Gallup poll showed that 89 percent of all Americans expect high levels of political conflict this year, as the country heads toward one of its most decisive midterm elections ever. Gallup, however, was stating the obvious. It is a surprise that not all Americans feel this way, judging by the coarse, often outright racist......
Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon and two-time presidential contender, dies at 84
February 17th, 20260 CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., the fiery preacher-turned-power broker who carried the civil rights movement into the post–Martin Luther King Jr. era and reshaped modern Democratic politics with two groundbreaking presidential campaigns, died Tuesday, February 17, at 84, according to multiple news reports citing family and...
Republican Rep. Randy Fine faces resignation calls after post suggesting he’d choose dogs over Muslims
February 17th, 20260 Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) prompted calls for his resignation from Democrats and a major Islamic civil rights group after suggesting in a social media post that he'd choose dogs over Muslims. "If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one," Fine posted to the social media platform X on......
Trump plans to announce Gaza funding plan, troops at first Board of Peace meeting, U.S. officials say
February 13th, 20260 WASHINGTON — President Trump will announce a multi-billion dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza and detail plans for a U.N.-authorized stabilization force for the Palestinian enclave at the first formal meeting of his Board of Peace next week, two senior U.S. officials said on Thursday. Delegations from at least 20 countries,...
Netanyahu says Trump may be creating conditions for Iran deal
February 13th, 20260 on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped that President Trump was creating the conditions to reach a deal with Iran that would avoid military action. Netanyahu, who met Trump for talks in Washington on Wednesday, said he had expressed "general skepticism" and said that if an agreement was reached, "it must......
