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Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is once again thumbing her nose at the Trump administration, this time by mounting her own freelance rescue operation for Americans stranded in the Middle East — a move that's infuriating White House officials trying to control the Iran war narrative.According to the Guardian, Trump administration officials are seething over Mace's decision to travel to the region and conduct unauthorized evacuation missions, directly undermining State Department coordination efforts.The South Carolina Republican has already been a thorn in the side of the White House with her insistence that the entire Jeffrey Epstein files be released.The congresswoman engaged with foreign governments — including Saudi Arabia — without informing the State Department, then audaciously asked the administration to requisition a Saudi commercial plane to transport 300 people, The Guardian reported. The unilateral diplomacy has become a persistent headache for an already chaotic evacuation process, the newspaper wrote."If members of Congress want to be helpful they should work with the administration instead of trying to exploit the situation for political gain," fumed one White House official speaking anonymously about the operational details.Some diplomats and travelers have accused the Trump administration of moving too slowly on evacuations in the first place — a criticism Mace's intervention has highlighted, according to the report. Her willingness to act independently exposed the administration's sluggish response.Still, Mace's rescue efforts have descended into controversy. Grey Bull Rescue, the private group handling some evacuations, suspended operations Wednesday after an American mother accused them of extorting $1 million to return to the U.S.The State Department, by contrast, claims relative success: 60 completed flights as of Wednesday evening, with direct or indirect assistance provided to 42,000 people requesting help. However, according to sources familiar with the matter, many charter flights have increasingly been flying empty. Some Americans have rejected State Department-arranged connections through Greece, citing preference for direct routes.You can read more here.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's approach to war messaging has devolved into pure spectacle — TikTok-style video montages splicing missile strikes into movie clips and video game footage — leaving military veterans and Congress members stunned by the brazenness of treating armed conflict like entertainment content.According to Politico, the White House communications team has churned out more than half a dozen of these viral videos, apparently plucked straight from staffers' private group chats. But outside the administration bubble, the reaction has ranged from bewilderment to outright revulsion.Former military brass are particularly appalled. "I don't think the performance of our men and women in uniform requires embellishment from Hollywood or computer games," said Joe Votel, a former Central Command chief under Trump's first administration. "They represent the American people quite well on their own."Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who commanded U.S. troops in Europe during Obama's presidency, was even blunter. "It just seems detached from reality. Our allies look at this and they wonder what the hell is going on? It doesn't look like we're serious."The videos range from an NFL clip captioned "Touchdown" to baseball home runs, Grand Theft Auto footage, and scenes from "Iron Man," "Top Gun" and "Gladiator."Hegseth has escalated beyond embarrassing aesthetics into genuinely alarming territory. He's declared the U.S. will give "no quarter, no mercy for our enemies" — language that signals troops should execute combatants rather than take prisoners, a potential war crime. He's called rules of engagement "stupid" and branded Iranian leaders as "rats" who are "cowering" underground.Military historian Tom Ricks slammed the entire approach. "The Trump administration's approach to discussing the war against Iran is both unusual and unprecedented," he said. "With Hegseth at the helm, they are mixing incompetence and hubris. They don't seem to care what the American public thinks, which is a dangerous approach."The messaging offensive isn't working. A YouGov poll this week found 56 percent of Americans — and 63 percent of independent voters — disapprove of Trump's Iran handling. The propaganda blitz hasn't even successfully consolidated Trump's base, with significant cracks emerging in the MAGA movement.Joe Rogan, the podcaster who helped Trump reach young male voters during the presidential campaign, has called the Iran war "nuts" and reported his listeners feel "betrayed" by Trump's pivot toward military adventurism instead of domestic priorities.You can read more here.e here.

Wall Street is sounding the alarm as Trump's Iran war threatens to crater an already fragile economy, with financial analysts warning the protective guardrails shielding the U.S. from economic catastrophe are rapidly eroding.Just three weeks into the conflict, the damage is already mounting. Oil prices have exploded past $100 a barrel with no relief in sight, inflation is climbing, hiring has stalled, wage growth is collapsing, and mortgage rates are surging as market anxiety deepens. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady Wednesday, but the underlying economic picture is darkening by the day, Politico reported."The guardrails that protected the U.S. economy from President Donald Trump's policy jolts are wearing thin," according to the report.Gregory Daco, EY-Parthenon's chief economist, warned of systemic vulnerability. "The U.S. is now confronting inherent fragilities," he said. "The typical buffers that would prevent any type of external shock — like an oil price shock — from disproportionately affecting the economy are smaller than usual.""Downside risks are rising, and this is an extremely fluid situation," Daco added.The financial sector is rapidly losing confidence in the administration's economic stewardship, Politico reported. A Bank of America survey of global fund managers released Tuesday found inflation expectations surging, with 28 percent now expecting Democrats to retake both houses of Congress in the midterms — up from just 20 percent a month ago.Bob Elliott, CEO and CIO of investment firm Unlimited Funds, expressed the shift in sentiment bluntly. "Until this war happened, everyone thought we were going to have a pretty good growth year," he told Poltico. "Now it's pretty clear that growth is going to be soft."Even Republican insiders are panicking. "The thing that underlines every strong economy is consistency and progress, and things that promote confidence, and I just don't see any of those attributes being displayed on a disciplined, routine basis by the White House," said Chuck Coughlin, a veteran Republican strategist in Arizona. "Most of the country is looking at the president, going: 'What is he doing?'"Goldman Sachs has now pegged the odds of a U.S. recession within the next year at 25 percent. Other major banks are warning that inflation and growth risks look far more acute than they did just weeks ago, before oil prices started soaring.The longer Iran keeps the Strait of Hormuz disrupted, the worse the economic fallout becomes. Release of global oil reserves, sanctions relief, and political risk insurance for tankers cannot fully offset the cascading damage to global supply chains and GDP.Andrew Hollenhorst, chief U.S. economist at Citi, summed up the deteriorating picture before Wednesday's Fed meeting: "Things look a little bit weaker than before. Once an oil shock is added to the equation, it's a really unpleasant combination of data and events."You can read more from Politico here.

Lemi Limbu, who has severe intellectual disabilities, remains in prison and will now face retrial for the murder of her daughterA woman with severe intellectual disabilities in Tanzania has had her conviction and death sentence quashed after spending more than a decade in prison awaiting execution.Lemi Limbu, now in her early 30s, was convicted of the murder of her daughter in 2015. On 4 March, a court in Shinyanga, northern Tanzania, declared she can appeal. She will face a retrial, but a date has yet to be set. Continue reading...

Venezuelans pour into the streets in a rare, loud release of joy after their team wins the World Baseball Classic

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) pointed out on Wednesday that after he questioned National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, it appeared that the Trump administration still couldn't get its story straight on what prompted the Iran war. The top Democrat and veteran spoke with CNN anchor Kasie Hunt after the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with Gabbard and several other senior intelligence officials, who were asked about global threats as the Trump administration has continued to send mixed messages about the military operation in the Middle East and its objectives. Lawmakers pressed the administration members to clarify whether the Trump administration knew the pending economic fallout, including rising gas prices or the Iranian regime's move to close the vital shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz. They also wanted clarification over claims that Iran posed an "imminent threat," something the Trump administration has cited in the last several weeks. Hunt asked Kelly if the Trump administration had underestimated how Iranians would respond to the military strikes. "They're flailing. This has been a train wreck," Kelly said. "They have not been able to tell the American people, you know, why we are in this fight. You know, what is the strategic goal? What is the plan? What's the timeline? How do you get out of it? And today we were trying to figure out what did the president know and when did he know it? And was he briefed on something pretty basic, which was the Strait of Hormuz, whether or not the Iranians would try to shut it down. And we've gotten different answers from the White House."Kelly also pointed out how the word "imminent" means something is about to happen, yet the Trump administration had gone back and forth, saying Iran was expecting to strike the United States and its allies in "the near future," which is not what the word "imminent" actually means."And I even got to the point I was trying to make this very simple for the DNI, for Tulsi Gabbard," Kelly said. "Was there a request for a brief, or did you offer a brief on the Strait of Hormuz? I didn't even ask her if it was given or what was in it. She would not even answer that question." He explained that getting to the truth hasn't been a problem with just Gabbard, but also with other Trump cabinet members and White House insiders. "And this is what happens when you put a lot of yes people in an administration where their number one priority is to please the commander in chief," Kelly added. "And when you do that, this is why this is a lot different than Donald Trump's first term with a lot of very professional people around him. This is what you get. You get a lot of non-answers, you get a lot of just trying to get around some pretty basic things."

Former Republican operative Rick Wilson had a message for President Donald Trump about who would target him next. The co-founder of The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump organization, described in his Substack post on Wednesday how as Trump's approval rating plummets, gas prices surge, and the Iran war rages on, Trump is looking at no escape. Instead, "Misery, humiliation, and shame await," Wilson argued. "Nothing will save you now, Donald," Wilson wrote. "Not the war. Not the lies. Not today’s loyalists, tomorrow’s traitors. Not the terrified little men orbiting your shrinking political sun. Not the algorithms, not the oligarchs, not the endless stream of garbage Fox and Twitter propaganda pumped into the veins of a movement that’s finally, visibly, unmistakably breaking apart. You chose this."Wilson called out Trump's biggest fear — impeachment. But even that shouldn't make him worry. There was another looming threat. "You’re afraid of impeachment. Of course you are," Wilson wrote. "It’s the word that haunts you, the specter you can’t quite outrun.But impeachment is the least of your problems. What you should fear, what should keep you pacing the halls of the Residence at three in the morning, is oversight. Relentless, grinding, methodical exposure."The ex-GOP strategist suggested that more investigation could come from lawmakers. And as Republicans approach midterms and Democrats hope to take back the majority, Trump might have another problem on his hands. "A Democratic House and Senate won’t just vote on articles of impeachment," Wilson wrote. "They’ll open the books. They’ll drag the secrets into the light. They’ll subpoena documents, bank records, and communications. They’ll put your allies, your bagmen, your enablers, and yes, your crapulous, scumbag low-tier crypto criminal family members, on the hot seat."Trump's allies might also be called to testify before Congress. "And it won’t just be you," Wilson wrote. "The tech-bro billionaire class that decided, in a fit of adolescent contrarianism and naked self-interest, to hitch their wagons to your movement? They’re next in line. Let’s see how Boy Elon does under the hot lights for 8 hours a day for two weeks."Even Elon Musk, or others who have funded Trump, could have to face justice, Wilson explained."They’ve been very comfortable lavishing you with swag and praise, funding, amplifying, and cheering on the chaos, convinced that they were too rich, too smart, too insulated to ever face real consequences," Wilson added. "Congressional oversight is about to disabuse them of that notion. Subpoenas don’t care about your net worth. Hearings don’t care about your follower count. Under oath is a very different environment than a podcast or a tweet. They’re about to find out."

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) pushed National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard to answer questions about President Donald Trump's knowledge of economic fallout prior to the Iran war during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday. Gabbard tried to dodge his questions over what prompted the military strikes in Iran, and she appeared to contradict Trump's justifications and objectives behind launching the joint U.S.-Israeli operation. "Was it the intelligence community's assessment that, nevertheless, despite this obliteration, there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime? Yes or no?" Ossoff asked. "It is not the intelligence community's responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat. That is up to the president based on a volume of information that he receives," Gabbard said. Ossoff pushed back on Gabbard's claims. "No, it is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States," Ossoff said. "This is the worldwide threats hearing where, as you noted in your opening testimony quote, you represent the IC's assessment of threats. You are here to represent the IC's assessment of threats. That's a quote from your own opening statement. And so my question is, as you're here to present the IC's assessment of threats, was it the assessment of the intelligence community that, as the White House claimed on March 1st, there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime, yes or no?""Once again, senator, the intelligence community has provided the inputs that make up this annual threat assessment," Gabbard said, not answering Ossoff's question. "You won't answer the question," Ossoff said. "It is the nature of the imminent threat that the president has to make that determination based on a collection and volume of information and intelligence that he is provided with," Gabbard said. Ossoff interjected with a sharp response. "You're here to be timely, objective and independent of political considerations," Ossoff said. "That's exactly what I'm doing," Gabbard responded. Ossoff then called Gabbard out, alleging that she was not answering questions honestly. "No, you're evading a question because to provide a candid response to the committee would contradict a statement from the White House," Ossoff said.