'Optimized approach'

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) provided an update that six U.S. service members have been killed as part of Operation Epic Fury in Iran.

The post CENTCOM: Six U.S. Service Members Killed in Operation Epic Fury appeared first on Breitbart.

President Donald Trump's tariffs have reduced the United States' trade deficit with China, ensuring that, for the first time since 2000, China is no longer the top U.S. trading partner with the largest trade deficit. 

The post Tariff Victory: U.S.-China Trade Deficit Plummets in Trump’s First Year appeared first on Breitbart.

Former "South Park" writer Toby Morton has launched a website calling for President Donald Trump's son, Barron, to be forced into the U.S. military and sent to a war zone.

The post Former ‘South Park’ Writer Toby Morton Launches Website to Send Barron Trump to War appeared first on Breitbart.

As missile exchanges intensified across the Middle East and commercial flights were halted amid Operation Epic Fury, Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz found himself stranded in the Gulf region, where he coordinated with U.S. and regional officials to evacuate a group of Americans to safety.

The post Exclusive: Alex Bruesewitz Coordinates Evacuation of Seven Americans from Middle East appeared first on Breitbart.

'We see those indicators'

President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to the family of U.S. Army Master Sgt. Roderick Edmonds of Knoxville, Tennessee, on Monday at a ceremony at the White House. […]

The post WWII Hero Awarded Medal of Honor for Refusing to ID Jewish Americans While at Gunpoint: 'We Are All Jews' appeared first on The Western Journal.

Guest Opinion by Ben Toews, Idaho Senator, District 4

Our nation is sinking into a protracted housing crisis, and Idaho, the second-least affordable market in the nation, is at the leading edge. With an estimated shortage of 44,500 homes and the statewide median sale price for a single-family home estimated at $507,400, it is unsurprising that 67% of residents view the cost of buying or renting as a “big problem”. The next generation is increasingly locked out of homeownership, the foundation of a free society. This grave threat is not the product of normal market cycles. It is fueled by bad policy.

While macroeconomic factors play a role, we are dealing with significant localized artificial scarcity. Ever since the unprecedented case Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. gave local governments broad authority to infringe on property rights, zoning regulations have ventured beyond the preservation of safety and order into bureaucratic central planning dictating exactly what can be built.

If these trends continue, the vast majority of citizens will be forced into permanent rentership, suppressing the primary vehicle for generational wealth creation and deep community roots which naturally fight poverty. Homeownership stabilizes families, improves educational outcomes, and spurs civic engagement. The alternative is a society of renters all too often economically dependent on government programs.

There is another way. I am introducing a suite of legislation to unleash free market solutions by cutting the red tape standing in the way of attainable homes.

S1352: Legalizing the Starter Home Again — Allowing smaller lots will reduce sprawl and lead to price points more young families can afford.

S1353: Ending Bans on Twin Homes and Duplexes — This will empower builders to meet market demand in residential areas.

S1354: Lifting Prohibitions on Accessory Dwelling Units — From detached cottages to secondary suites, this will restore the freedom for owners to share their property with adult children, aging parents, or small-scale renters.

Other bills we are working on are geared toward protecting modern manufactured housing, as well as ending permitting purgatory by establishing statutory timelines for local governments to process applications. Time is money, and unreasonable delays hurt everyday buyers.

While concerns about density and local control are understandable, we must first acknowledge that not all density is created equal. Vertical density, characterized by large rental-only apartment buildings, yields dependence. Horizontal density, characterized by citizens buying and improving their own property, preserves our communities by encouraging independence and responsibility. Furthermore, there is no control more local than individuals choosing what to do with their property. This legislation aligns with the state’s primary responsibility: protecting individuals’ rights.

This legislation also respects local rules and standards based on safety and infrastructure. The intent is parity: If a single-family home would be denied a permit due to an infrastructure issue, a cottage could be denied for the same reason.

The next generation will either thank us for restoring the free market or live with the results of our inaction: a state of permanent renters priced out of the American Dream. Let’s choose freedom.

'Now you are going to yell at me?'

Some people just got it like that, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. would be one of those people

The U.S. officially blacklisted a former United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) official over his alleged role in the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, investigators announced Monday. The UNRWA, a UN agency intended to provide aid to Palestinian refugees, has been under investigation by the U.S. Agency for International Development Office of the Inspector General […]

The Sixth Amendment has long guaranteed a criminal defendant the right “to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”

But what does that right entail in practice—particularly when a defendant takes the witness stand in his own defense? And by taking the witness stand, what limitations, if any, exist with respect to his right to have assistance of counsel during his testimony?

In a 9-0 decision in Villarreal v. Texas, the Supreme Court justices agreed that a trial judge can constitutionally prohibit a defendant and defense counsel from conferring about the substance of the defendant’s testimony during a mid-testimony overnight recess—in other words, where the court takes an overnight break during the middle of the defendant’s testimony.

The court left in place its prior precedent that trial courts may constitutionally bar all communication between a testifying defendant and his attorney during a very short mid-day break in testimony because discussions during such a pause will likely focus on “nothing but the testimony.”

Keep in mind that the Fifth Amendment’s right against self-incrimination means that a defendant does not have to testify in his own defense. The burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt always rests with the government.

And, in fact, as Justice Samual Alito pointed out in his concurring opinion, “[w]hen the Sixth Amendment was adopted . . . criminal defendants could not testify in their own defense because they were not considered competent witnesses.” He further explained that most “States did not allow defendants to take the stand until well into the 19th century, . . . and this Court did not squarely recognize a defendant’s constitutional right to testify in his own defense until” 1987.

But as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made clear in her majority opinion, “when a defendant takes the witness stand in his own defense, his status shifts. He does not shed his rights as a criminal defendant. But he does assume some of the burdens of a testifying witness.”

And one of those burdens is not discussing his testimony with anyone—including his attorney—while it’s happening. She explained that avoiding the “midstream tinkering” of his lawyer “serves the central truth-seeking function of trial”—as it does with any witness.

Still, as the court’s precedents make clear, and as the justices reaffirmed in this case, a trial court cannot constitutionally prohibit all communications between a defendant and his lawyer during an overnight recess. Essentially, they can confer about any topic unrelated to “managing” the defendant’s testimony. An order instructing as much appropriately balances “the [defendant’s] right to counsel against the burden of offering unaltered trial testimony.”

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, concurred only in the court’s judgment but did not join its opinion. He worried that the court’s opinion “opine[d] on hypothetical situations not before the Court and [as a result] needlessly expands [the Court’s] precedents.”

Thomas wrote that the majority “identifies new circumstances, not presented here, in which a defendant supposedly has a right to discuss matters related to his ongoing testimony” and in doing so endorsed a methodology where “any conflict between the Sixth Amendment and the desire for untutored testimony must ‘be resolved in favor of the right to the assistance and guidance of counsel.’”

Still, all justices agreed, the trial court here struck the appropriate balance between Villarreal’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel and the need for unaltered trial testimony by limiting discussions during the mid-testimony overnight break between him and his attorney to those unrelated to “managing” his testimony.

As a result, the court rejected David Villarreal’s challenges and upheld his conviction.

The post Supreme Court Explains Contours of Sixth Amendment’s Right to Counsel in Villarreal v. Texas appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is dead, and there is no clear successor to take his place.

“The supreme leader made sure there was never any sort of heir apparent,” Victoria Coates, former deputy national security adviser to President Donald Trump, explained to The Daily Signal.

The Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution. Since then, the country has only had two supreme leaders—Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989, and Ali Khamenei, who was killed over the weekend during the joint U.S.-Israel operation against the Iranian regime.

In Iran, the supreme leader is chosen by a body of 88 clerics known as the Assembly of Experts. Until a new leader is chosen, or another authority takes power, the Islamic Republic’s constitution gives power to a three-member council, which today includes Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, and Ayatollah Alireza Arafi.

A concern right now, according to Gregg Roman, the executive director of the Middle East Forum, is another “one man band” will fill the power vacuum in Iran.

The son of the former shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, is certainly a figure to watch, Roman explained during a phone call with The Daily Signal from the bomb shelter of his home in Tel Aviv as sirens sounded in the background.

“I think Pahlavi, he has a role in this, but I think that the way in which he approaches his messaging and the way in which his organization is putting him as the only alternative is one that takes away from the power of a unified opposition,” Roman explained.

On Sunday, Pahlavi, who is the oldest son of the last shah of Iran and lives in exile in the United States, addressed the people of Iran in a long post on X.

“My message to the remaining officials of this Republic of Terror is this: Surrender to the people of Iran. Declare your loyalty to my program and the Transition System. And hand over power without further bloodshed,” Pahlavi said.

Roman says that instead of arguing for his own leadership, Pahlavi would be wise to convene the leaders of “the 50 biggest Iranian opposition parties.” Right now, Roman explains, the son of the former shah has ideas and plans on paper, but it is unclear who his governing team would be if he landed in Tehran tomorrow.

“A nonviolent transition of power” is the ideal, according to Rob Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, but getting there is a “tortured path, because there isn’t sufficient unanimity among the resistance groups, and it’s impossible to judge the support that any of them have inside Iran.”

The “state,” meaning the remnants of the Iranian regime, “still holds a monopoly of force, and so it will be voluntary on their part to cede power, and it’s unlikely that’s going to occur because they’re ideologically predisposed,” Greenway says.

The Iranian regime holds to the principles of radical Islam and governs Iran through Sharia law.

The “most likely” and an “acceptable” outcome in Iran is “we don’t have a friendly government there, but they no longer have the capacity to really effectively threaten us, which means that we would preserve our interests without a doubt, and … our partners and allies would be more than capable of dealing with the threat, which then doesn’t require us to continually surge significant troops into the region,” Greenway said.

Ultimately, the question of Iran’s governance is “for the Iranian people themselves to determine,” Jacob Olidort, director of American security at the America First Policy Institute, told The Daily Signal.

Trump has made it clear that the key objective of the current U.S. operation is ensuring that Iran never has the ability to obtain a nuclear weapon. Trump’s objectives in Iran “are shaping conditions on the ground to enable a more favorable environment for the Iranian people to shape their country’s destiny,” Olidort said.

Trump says the U.S. operation in Iran that began Saturday could last up to four or five weeks.

The post Future of Iran in Flux: Who Will Fill Power Vacuum?  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Republicans are surging after President Donald Trump's State of the Union address and might be in position to defy history in the midterm elections, polling shows.

The post Poll: Republicans Surge in General Ballot, Move Closer to Defying History of Congressional Midterms appeared first on Breitbart.

Financial markets on Monday indicated that any damage to the U.S. economy from the military conflict between the U.S. and Iran is likely to be minimal.

The post Breitbart Business Digest: A Fed Mistake, Not Higher Oil Prices, Is the Biggest Threat After the Iran Strike appeared first on Breitbart.

Press Release from Idaho Family Policy Center

BOISE, Idaho — The IFPC Legal Center filed a complaint in Ada County District Court on behalf of a high school girl against Boise School District for violating Idaho’s law requiring separate school restrooms on the basis of biological sex. She is proceeding under the pseudonym “Jane Doe” to protect her safety and privacy.

Boise High School expressly permitted a biological male student to use the girls’ restroom, in direct violation of Idaho law protecting student privacy and safety. Because the male student identified as transgender, Boise High gave him permission to use the girls’ restroom as part of a “gender support plan.” 

As a sophomore in high school, Jane Doe encountered the same male student in the girls’ restroom on two separate occasions during the 2024–2025 school year. During the second incident, she reported hearing the male student masturbating in the adjacent stall with his shoes pointed towards her. After reporting the incident, the school informed Jane and her parents that the male student had been approved to use the girls’ restroom under school policy and that they would continue to allow the male student to use the girls’ restroom. 

Jane experienced significant emotional and psychological distress as a result of the encounters. Because of the school administration’s failure to protect her privacy and fear of harassment from other students, her parents ultimately withdrew her from Boise High School.

The lawsuit seeks statutory damages and damages for psychological and emotional harm to be proven at trial.

The Idaho Legislature enacted Senate Bill 1100 in 2023, which established statewide policy requiring public schools to maintain separate restrooms and changing facilities based on biological sex. Senate Bill 1100 was researched, drafted, and championed by Idaho Family Policy Center. According to statewide polling, Senate Bill 1100 was supported by more than 71% of Idaho voters. 

A statement from Caleb Pirc, Director of the IFPC Legal Center:

Idaho students should feel safe in Idaho schools, and nowhere more than in the most private spaces like restrooms and locker rooms. But rather than protecting its students’ safety and privacy, Boise High School facilitated the violation of our client’s privacy by allowing a biological male student to use the girls’ restroom. Encountering a male in the girls’ restroom is a traumatic experience for a young girl, and experiences like those of our client painfully illustrate that reality. We intend to hold Boise School District accountable for its actions.