Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said planning for the 2028 Olympic Games faces significant gaps in dedicated law enforcement funding, warning that current budgets do not fully account for the policing needs of the global event.

You have probably noticed that gasoline is starting to become extremely expensive. That is really bad news for all of us, because our entire way of life depends on cheap energy. We can’t make stuff without energy. We can’t move stuff without energy. That is why the cost of energy directly affects the cost of everything else. In fact, energy is literally the foundation of our entire economy. If we have cheap energy we will have a high standard of living. If we do not have cheap energy we will not have a high standard of living. It really is that simple.

Prior to the war with Iran, energy prices were quite low, but now everything has changed.

Oil production in the Persian Gulf has dropped by 57 percent from pre-war levels, and hardly any oil and natural gas have been getting through the Strait of Hormuz over the past couple of months.

As a result, energy prices are soaring all over the world.

Here in the United States, the average price of a gallon of gasoline just hit $4.30…

Gasoline prices nationwide surged 27 cents over the past week as oil prices spiked. Drivers paid $4.30 per gallon on average across the U.S. Thursday, compared to $4.03 a week ago.

In late February, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was less than 3 dollars a gallon.

At this point, U.S. consumers are paying $1.32 more per gallon than they did just prior to the war.

If the conflict with Iran is not resolved quickly, things will get a lot worse.

In order to get an idea of where things could be headed, just look at what is going on in California.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in California just reached $6.01…

California gasoline prices hit $6 per gallon on Thursday, a 30% increase since the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran in late February.

Drivers in California are paying the most in the nation at $6.01 per gallon on average, according to data from AAA.

A 30 percent increase in two months is crazy.

But this is the reality that we are living in now.

Before the war began, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in California was just $4.64.

This just shows how rapidly conditions can change.

Needless to say, the price of diesel has been going up even faster.

In California, it is up a whopping 47 percent since the beginning of the war…

Diesel, meanwhile, cost about $7.50 per gallon on average in California on Thursday, a 47% increasse since the war broke out on Feb. 28. Diesel is essential for the economy because the fuel is used by trucks and trains to deliver all the goods that consumers buy.

If prices for gasoline and diesel remain at these elevated levels, it will be very painful, but we can survive this.

But what will happen if oil prices continue to skyrocket?

On Thursday, the price of Brent crude actually hit $126 a barrel before falling back…

Oil prices surged to a wartime high Thursday, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, topping $126 a barrel as concerns grew that the Iran war will drag on, tightening global energy supplies.

We are being warned that the price of oil could easily reach 150 dollars a barrel if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened quickly.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that is going to happen any time soon.

So I am encouraging everyone to prepare for an extended crisis.

Literally just about everything is going to become more expensive.

And that is really bad news, because a survey that was conducted before the war ever began discovered that more than half of all Americans were struggling to pay their bills on time each month…

A separate survey of 5,000 Americans, conducted by Talker Research for Current in December 2025, adds context to how raw the financial picture looks. In that study, 87% of respondents said the country is in a crisis because of how unaffordable life has become. More than half (52%) said they struggle to pay their bills on time each month, and 50% said they’ve had difficulty affording groceries.

Please read that paragraph again.

That was where we were at prior to the war with Iran.

Needless to say, substantially elevated energy prices will make our affordability crisis a great deal worse.

Of course it isn’t just U.S. consumers that are being affected by this.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that “the whole of humanity is paying the price” and that we are now facing the “specter of global recession”…

The head of the United Nations warned Thursday of the “specter of global recession” if the U.S.-Iran war doesn’t end soon, imploring both sides to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and “let the global economy breathe again.”

Speaking to journalists in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that despite the “fragile ceasefire” between the U.S. and Iran, the consequences of their ongoing standoff in the Strait of Hormuz “grow dramatically worse with each passing hour.”

“As with every conflict, the whole of humanity is paying the price,” he said. “The pain will be felt for a long time to come.”

I normally do not agree with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about anything.

But in this case, he is right on target.

If the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen soon, there is no way that we are going to avoid a major global economic downturn.

Guterres is also claiming that 45 million people living on this planet could soon fall into “extreme hunger”…

If the constraint on shipping through the strait “drags on through midyear,” he said 32 million people would fall into poverty and 45 million “into extreme hunger,” he said.

According to the UN, the number of people experiencing acute hunger was already at an all-time record high even before the war with Iran started.

Now we are facing the worst fertilizer crisis in history. If you have not read the breakdown that I published about this earlier in the week, please go back and read it now.

There are so few prominent voices that are telling the truth about this.

The spring planting season in the northern hemisphere is going to be a disaster, and six to nine months from now global food shortages are going to hit us like a freight train.

Food prices will rise to shocking levels in wealthy nations, and there will be widespread famines in impoverished nations.

We desperately need the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened immediately, because we really are heading into an unprecedented nightmare.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post A Flashing Red Warning Signal: In California, Gasoline Is 6 Now Dollars A Gallon And Diesel Is Now 7 Dollars A Gallon appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

The Trump administration is proposing almost three dozen new rules to scale back gun regulations that proliferated during the Biden administration.

The 34 rules placed in the Federal Register on Wednesday included reversing a 2024 Biden administration rule that attempted to force firearms dealers to run background checks on buyers at gun shows. Gun control advocates called this the “gun show loophole.”

Another change ends the 2023 Biden administration rule that restricted pistol braces. Pistol braces are attachments that allow a person holding a pistol to keep the weapon against their shoulder. The Biden administration justified the regulation by claiming the attachment turned the pistol into a barreled rifle that is subject to stronger regulation.

Earlier this week, the Senate confirmed Robert Cekada as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“ATF’s mission is to protect public safety and enforce the law—and these reforms reflect our commitment to doing that through regulations that are clear, legally sound, and narrowly tailored to that purpose,” Cekada said in a statement. “Our enforcement focus from here on out is on willful violators and criminal actors, not inadvertent compliance issues by responsible owners and licensees.”

The focus of the proposed rules, now open for public comment, is to scale back enforcement against licensed gun dealers and gun owners who make paperwork errors, and to emphasize a focus on criminals.

The Gun Owners of America, a pro–Second Amendment group, had filed several lawsuits against the federal government opposing regulations, but “that all went away with this new ATF director,” Gun Owners of America national spokesman Stephen Willeford said.

The top priorities for the Gun Owners of America were doing away with the pistol brace regulation and reversing the Biden rule that categorized anyone selling a firearm as being in the business of selling firearms.

But, he said, the changes have come later than promised, which he blamed on former Attorney General Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general.

“The Trump administration told us in the first week they would undo all of the Biden administration rulings in the first week, not laws but rulings,” Willeford, co-author of “A Town Called Sutherland Springs: Faith and Heroism Through Tragedy,” told the Daily Signal. “We were worried when Pam Bondi became attorney general. She was never pro-2A in Florida.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche asserted the Trump administration is taking a different path than the prior administration.

“The Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Blanche said in a statement. “This Department of Justice is ending the weaponization of federal authority against law-abiding gun owners. We will continue to vigorously defend their rights as the Constitution demands.”

The rules include repealing existing regulations, modernizing firearms regulations, reducing burdens on gun owners and gun dealers, and providing legal clarifications.

The changes are a response to President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14206, “Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” signed in February 2025, geared at ending “the federal government’s violation of Americans’ fundamental Second Amendment right to protect themselves, their families, and their freedoms.”

Gun control advocates are upset with the changes. Nick Wilson, senior director of public safety at the Center for American Progress, took aim at scrapping the gun show regulation.

“The Trump administration is once again prioritizing the interests of the gun industry over the safety of American families,” Wilson said in a statement Thursday. “The new proposed rule guts a key provision of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022—essentially getting rid of near-universal background checks. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche attempted to spin this as ‘the most comprehensive regulatory reform package in the history’ of ATF, but this is really an irresponsible effort to strip away lifesaving protections in order to maximize gun industry profits.”

President Donald Trump said Thursday he would "probably" consider withdrawing U.S. troops from Italy and Spain, broadening a potential drawdown in Europe a day after signaling plans to cut forces in Germany.Trump's comment came in response to a question about whether...

Immigration sob stories are a dime a dozen in The New York Times, but an argument the paper made this week opposing immigration law enforcement is truly one for the history books. In earnest, the Times said if it’s unconstitutional for colleges and universities to racially discriminate in their admissions process, it should also be […]

Two West Virginia National Guard members will receive the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army's most prestigious medal for noncombat heroism next week for actions during a targeted attack in Washington, D.C., last November, three defense officials tell Newsmax.

JACKSONVILLE, FL — Local man Trevor Riggs announced that he regretted spending 15 minutes reading the Bible this morning.

A Louisiana sheriff has been indicted on 30 felony counts related to an infamous jailbreak in New Orleans that resulted in ten inmates escaping from behind a toilet. 

The post Louisiana Sheriff Faces 30 Felony Counts After Ten-Inmate Jailbreak Disaster appeared first on Breitbart.

An “armed guardian” at Mainland High School confronted the former student

Thursday on ABC's "The View," co-host Whoopi Goldberg said the Supreme Court decision striking down Louisiana's second majority-black congressional district was meant to discourage people of color from voting.

The post Whoopi Goldberg: SCOTUS Louisiana Ruling Meant to Discourage People of Color from Voting appeared first on Breitbart.

'Highest price since 2022'

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said on Wednesday that he plans to suspend May's primary elections to allow state lawmakers to draw a new congressional map for the state after a Supreme Court ruling struck down race-based redistricting in the state.

The post Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry to Redraw Congressional Districts After Supreme Court Ruling appeared first on Breitbart.

Thursday on MS NOW's "Morning Joe," Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Democrats will "unravel" media mergers the Trump administration approved.

The post Booker: Dems ‘Will Unravel’ Media Mergers that ‘Corrupt’ Trump Admin Approved appeared first on Breitbart.

We all know what needs to happen for the nation to dial down the temperature of our political discourse—Democrats need to chill. Sadly, that’s unlikely to happen any time soon. 

Why would it? Before Saturday night’s foiled attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton, there were at least two known assassination attempts against President Donald Trump, along with an armed invasion of the grounds of his club at Mar-a-Lago that led to the death of the armed intruder, and one successful assassination attempt that took the life of Charlie Kirk—all within the last two years. 

Did the murder of Kirk calm down the Left? No, much of the Left upped the ante. People on college campuses gloated, saying Kirk deserved to die, and the Left’s leadership failed to call out this behavior. Their silence sent a strong signal—it gave permission for such rhetoric to continue, in other places and against other targets. 

There were protesters outside the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner Saturday night, with some holding signs that read “Death to tyrants.” I don’t believe it is at all a stretch to imagine those protesters would have been cheering if the gunman had been successful Saturday night. 

Americans on the left must stop this kind of hatred on their side of the aisle. It is tearing our country apart. 

In the organization I lead, we do our absolute best not to use the word “enemy” when referring to our political opposition. (It is possible the word has slipped through on social media on rare occasions, but if it has, it was a mistake.) As a policy, we train our employees and consultants that the word “enemy” is reserved for the people outside of this country who wish us dead.  

We cannot dehumanize our fellow Americans. We live in communities together. We can have political disagreements and still agree that we all love and want the best for the country. 

This week, many conservatives and Trump supporters are asking whether that assumption about our political opposition holds true any longer: Do they want the best for our country despite disagreements, or do they actually wish those who disagree with them were dead? 

Many Democrat leaders despise Trump so much that they spew hatred constantly. They should take a long look in the mirror and reflect on what can be done to help our country heal. House Minority Leader Hakeem “Maximum Warfare” Jeffries, who just last week spoke of competition with Republicans as if it were World War III, is a prime offender, but there are many others. 

They claim to care about “democracy,” yet they do not respect election outcomes enough to allow the majority to govern. They “resist” at every single turn. They use the language of their base, blindly repeating the phrase “no kings.”  

If we truly had a “king” in this country, the current battle over the Department of Homeland Security’s funding would not exist; the “king” would order the funding, and that would be that.  

If we had a “king,” there would be no reason for Americans like me to crisscross this country working to get the SAVE America Act, a simple, common-sense piece of legislation whose components have more than 80% approval, passed. 

Democrats should prove to Americans that they really care about representative democracy, drop their opposition, and join Republicans in passing the SAVE America Act 

Finally—and most importantly—leading Democrats need to call out the hateful language and the language that calls for death to their fellow Americans. They need to remind their base that we live in the greatest country there has ever been, and while we may have disagreements with people about legislative direction, we can all agree to live peacefully in this country.  

If people are championing the death of an insurance company CEO, or calling for death to “tyrants,” or using explicitly hate-filled speech, Democrats should not invite those people on the campaign trail and should not amplify those voices. Instead, they should call this behavior out and draw a line in concrete making clear that they will not tolerate it in their party. 

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. 

Maritime logistics and intelligence company Windward AI published a report on Wednesday that claimed Iran has slipped up to $800 million worth of crude oil past the U.S. Navy blockade by electronically disguising its tankers as Iraqi ships.

The post Report: Iran Using Iraqi Ships to Smuggle Oil Past U.S. Blockade appeared first on Breitbart.

For more than 30 years, Cabot has been providing coverage of the Browns, doing so for The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com

'Mark Levin is saying those people should be silenced'

He died at home after sharing a coffee with his girlfriend, his sister said

The Biden administration fought Christianity on every front possible, the Trump administration’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias said in a report released Thursday “No American should live in fear […]

The post DOJ Uncovers Numerous Ways the Biden Admin 'Devastated the Lives of Many Christian Americans' appeared first on The Western Journal.

'This could have turned out very differently'