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Bessent: Iran Economy Will Have 'Nothing' in 2 Weeks

 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said Iran's battered economy could have "nothing" left to trade within two weeks as U.S. sanctions and a blockade choke off Tehran's remaining oil exports.

"I am confident, given that there's only 15 million more barrels of Iranian oil on the water, that Iran will have nothing left to trade for anything," Bessent said in an interview.

"Probably within the next two weeks, they are going to make their final deliveries of oil to China, and then they will have nothing," he added. "It is an empty set. And I believe that they are feeling the pressure here, and that's why they want a deal."

The Trump administration has intensified its economic campaign against Tehran since a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding expired in August amid mutual accusations of violations, maintaining a blockade and targeting foreign companies and entities that continue doing business with the Islamic Republic.

 

Bessent last month announced Operation Economic Outcast, a sweeping effort to sever Iran's remaining economic ties to the outside world and increase pressure on the regime.

His comments came as Tehran pushes a seven-day ceasefire proposal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. releasing roughly $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, lifting its naval blockade, and waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales.

President Donald Trump has rejected the proposal, telling reporters the terms were unacceptable.

 

Bessent, meanwhile, said oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has already rebounded despite sporadic Iranian attacks on shipping.

"The straits are open," Bessent said. "We're averaging now 15 to 22 million barrels a day. ... It was at about 20 [million] pre-conflict."

The strategically vital waterway, which carried one-fifth of the world's traded oil and gas before the war, has faced disruptions since March.

The U.S. military has been escorting commercial vessels through a route near Oman as Washington seeks to keep oil moving.

Bessent said the administration's economic campaign is intended to ensure Iran faces overwhelming pressure to honor any future agreement with Washington.

"They are isolated from the world," Bessent said. "They are a pariah state. And my job is to make sure that, when they come with a deal, that they want to stick to it. They did not stick to the [memorandum of understanding].

"Next time, if there is a deal, and that's at President Trump's discretion, they will stick to it, because they are on their knees."

© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Talarico Invokes Jesus to Justify His Positions and It Goes All Kinds of Wrong

We've seen a lot of wild statements from Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico. 

But Talarico posted a screed on Sunday about how his healthcare positions were based on "biblical grounds," then misused Jesus to justify his takes. 

When Jesus healed the sick, he didn’t ask for a deductible. So when I fight for universal healthcare, I'm doing it on biblical grounds. 

 

When Jesus fed the hungry, he didn’t price gouge to turn a profit. So when I say that no child in the state of Texas should go to bed hungry, I'm doing it on biblical grounds. 

And when the Hebrew prophets saw corruption in high places, they spoke truth to power. So when I take on the politicians who are serving themselves and not the people, I’m doing it on biblical grounds.

I listened to that, and the first thing I thought of was Sen. Lloyn Bentsen during his debate with Dan Quayle: "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

Talarico, you are no Jesus. 

When he healed the sick and fed the hungry, Jesus wasn't demanding more tax money from us to do it. He was using his powers as the Son of God. 

 

When Jesus performed his miracles, he was not running for office or approving a political platform; he was working to bring us all closer to God.

So attempting to use Christ's miracles for a political justification while running for election is particularly gross. I don't see anything about government-controlled healthcare in the Bible. Plus, Jesus is not the government, and the government is not God. I realize Talarico would like the government to dictate to us, but his warped ideas of government don't make it God. What he and other Democrats are pushing would make everything worse. 

Then too, didn't Talarico say God was non-binary? Funny how he referred to Jesus as a "he" — sounds like some serious misgendering going on there. 

Given that Talarico is a "Christian" who said he "hates Christianity," I think he doesn't stand on any grounds to tell us anything at all about Jesus — or the government.

He obviously got ratioed to the moon in response. Here's just a small sample. 

Bottom line? 

Talarico missed hundreds of votes; he didn't even do his job in the state legislature. What he advocates will make things worse, and Ken Paxton has great policy. Get out and vote red to save the country.

Case closed. 

Credit:  https://redstate.com/

 

AOC Gets Brutal News As She Test-Runs Senate Bid: She Is 'Rejected'

AOC is getting major pushback from swing-state Democrats in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections.

Their message? Please, just stay away.

Axios unleashed the nasty news and blasted it into the ether on Sunday night.

Democrats in some of this year's most critical congressional battlegrounds are sending a clear message to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: We don't want you to campaign for us.

Why it matters: If they continue, the snubs could hurt AOC's standing as a potential contender in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, when many voters will prioritize electability.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is currently testing the waters for a potential Senate bid, so this is not a great sign that she has enough mainstream appeal for the “big leagues.”

Axios reports that Democrats in some of the most important battleground races this fall are shunning Ocasio-Cortez, with party officials saying some candidates have explicitly asked her team to stay away. One senior Democrat strategist working in a key swing district was especially blunt.

"The polling is atrocious for her," the strategist told Axios. "She's a lightning rod."

Here is the background Axios gave on the recent developments:

•  Ocasio-Cortez and her allies argue that her unapologetic advocacy for big progressive policies like Medicare for All would make candidates like her more electable than moderate liberals, but many Democrats in tight races this fall have disagreed.

•  She was welcomed by many Democrats in competitive primary races, but some of those candidates have distanced themselves as they've moved to the center to take on Republicans in the Nov. 3 election.

The timing couldn't be much worse for AOC because she's currently trying to prove that the AOC brand can travel.

She's barnstorming through upstate New York, meeting local officials and building a voter-turnout operation as she weighs whether to run for Senate or president in 2028. Her stops in Buffalo and Ithaca have effectively doubled as a test of her appeal outside her Queens-and-Bronx political base.

"I want to be very forthright about our intentions here, which is to transform the state of New York," AOC told activists in Buffalo.

There's just one small complication with that transformation project: Democrats who have to face competitive general-election electorates apparently aren't nearly as excited about attaching themselves to AOC as Democrat primary voters are.

Montana Democrat Sam Forstag

 

 provides a perfect example. Forstag happily rallied with AOC in May on his way to winning the Democratic House primary. Now he's running in conservative Montana in November, and Axios asked whether he'd like AOC to come campaign for him again.

"I don't intend to be having a lot of folks from out of state campaigning with me over these next 40 days," Forstag replied.

And he doesn't intend to advertise her support much, either. Forstag has scrubbed Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement from his campaign website. Ouch, how Stalinist of him.

Democrats when they’re trying to win a Democrat primary? AOC, come on down.

When they’re trying to convince Montana swing voters that they’re not some socialist from Brooklyn wearing a cowboy hat? Sorry, AOC, we're all booked up.

The same disappearing act is playing out in Michigan. Democrat Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed brought AOC in to campaign with him during the final weeks of his primary. He and his allies spent nearly $1 million on television advertising featuring her, according to AdImpact data reported by Axios.

 

Then El-Sayed won. Since then, Axios reports that he has spent almost nothing on television ads featuring Ocasio-Cortez. She also hasn't campaigned with him while Republican Mike Rogers attacks him as too far left for Michigan, although El-Sayed's campaign insists she'd be welcome back.

See the pattern?

Democrats know exactly what Republicans know: AOC is one of the most recognizable faces of the party's socialist wing. She is the Democrat Party’s pitch for “cosmetic socialism.” Put her onstage and voters don't need a 30-page opposition-research packet to understand what they are getting: Wild-eyed, unrealistic, but “fun” socialism.

The fun wears off, however, when the Democrats force you to pay for it. 

If you want to understand why America is in an affordability crisis, this is it: The U.S. government is forcing you to pay for socialist nonsense, and all of the endless trillions of dollars in corrupt spending that comes along with it.

Reckless government spending is why taxpayers are having a hard time paying for gas and groceries and mortgages and the rest of it, more than any other reason.

But America's mind-boggling $40 trillion in national debt is child's play compared to the hundred-trillion-dollar-plus pricetag that socialists have in store for Americans who are foolish enough to vote them into power.

So, AOC has been frantically trying to pivot to the middle with her 'Woke 1 was crazy' nonsense. Axios notes that her rhetoric increasingly echoes Barack Obama's 2008 "hope and change" pitch. Gag me with a spoon.

The New York congresswoman is trying to prove she can travel beyond the radical base at the same time candidates in competitive districts are telling her to keep away.

Swing-state Democrats are behaving as though their association with the country's most famous “democratic socialist” is something to conceal since their primaries are over.

It raises a great question: Since radical Democrats all vote the same way at the end of the day, why should they even pretend they aren't socialists as well?

The Americans need to stop falling for this act. Until proven otherwise, there is no such thing as a “moderate Democrat.”

Democrats might as well be campaigning with Chairman Mao. They aren't fooling anyone.

Credit:  https://redstate.com/

 

NJ Dem Says She Stopped Going to Church Because Republicans Were There 😂

Nothing more needs to be said here: this is the Democratic Party in 2026. Rebecca Bennett will likely mount the strongest challenge Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) will ever face. She’s a veteran and looks good on paper. She’s trying to show she’ll be a true representative for New Jersey’s 7^th district, a maverick, and someone who wants to build bridges, but she’s not. Kean reminded his constituents that Bennett ditched church because Republicans were there.

 

In June, The Washington Free Beacon reported on this about Bennett:

The Democratic nominee to represent New Jersey's Seventh Congressional District in the House of Representatives, Rebecca Bennett, said she "stopped going to church" because she could not sit in a room "full of people who voted for Trump," audio obtained by the Washington Free Beacon shows.

At a campaign event in February, a woman asked Bennett, "I loved hearing you say that you're a patriot, but what are you going to do about that being a right-coded way of presenting yourself?" Bennett responded with a story about how she stopped attending church services because she could not bear to be around people who voted for President Donald Trump.

"I will say I use that word intentionally, and the reason that I do it is because, so, I grew up in the Presbyterian Church, and after Trump got elected, I stopped going to church for the first time in my life, because I was like, 'I cannot sit in this room of people,'" Bennett said. "At the time, I was stationed somewhere that was pretty conservative. I was still in the military at the time. I was like, 'I cannot sit in this church full of people who voted for Trump.' And then, ultimately, I decided they do not get to decide what Christianity looks like, and to me, it's the same thing about [how] they do not get to decide what patriotism is. You do not get to wrap yourself in the flag while you are literally murdering Americans in broad daylight."

Yes, I also haven’t been to church, but it wasn’t because the person next to me might be a Democrat. This is why liberalism is a mental illness. You worry about things that are either out of your control or none of your business. 

Kean and Bennett 

 

recently faced off in a debate in a race that is likely going to be one of the most competitive of the night in a few weeks:

Credit:  https://townhall.com/

 

We Are So Tired of the Loudmouth Quitters (RINOs)

Every election cycle we hear the same stupid spiel from a certain band of pseudo-conservative quitters: “Oh no, I’m not getting my way. I’ve got no reason to vote. I’m not going to vote. The Republicans aren’t conservative enough, so I’m just going to let the communist pervert Democrats win. Waa, waa, waa.” I don’t know whether this is tactical stupidity or a cry for attention — maybe it’s both — but it’s exhausting. Boss, I’m tired. Tired of the ostentatiously blackpilling pundits and posers who think electing Democrats by sitting out the election is the way to morph the Republican Party from a bunch of crony codgers managing America’s decline like gentlemen into a party that’s making America great again. It’s not. You never win by losing. And in fact, we’ve been winning. If you’re mad because you think Donald Trump hasn’t performed, you’re not thinking at all. The only question is whether that’s because you can’t or you’ve chosen not to.

“But Kurt, we’ve got to teach the Republicans a lesson!” Yeah, we do. Do you think the Republicans haven’t learned anything? What’s Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) 

 

going to be doing after January? The answer is nothing. He’s not going to be doing anything because, after he voted for gun control and hinted at support for amnesty even as he awkwardly donned a Stetson to fool the Lone Star rubes, the Texas GOP decisively fired him. Ask tofu-spined Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) 

 

what he’s going to be doing. Again, nothing. The squish got squashed. How about the ridiculous Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)?

 

 He didn’t even bother running because he knew he'd get drop-kicked into oblivion in the North Carolina primary. Oh, and of course there’s that fake-libertarian doofus Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-4),

 

 whom most of these dim doomers probably adore, who got his walking papers in the primary. Now he’ll have time to finally get around to disclosing that Epstein list he keeps running his fool mouth about — that is, when he’s not blaming all his problems on the Jews.

The fact is that we are getting rid of the deadweight. We are making progress. The Republicans are learning their lesson. That’s what primaries are for. That’s what the primaries have done. But what the general election is for is stopping the communists. This is when it counts. This is when it matters. Yet a bunch of prima donnas — mostly on social media, because I haven’t actually met any of them in real life — are announcing they’re going to be AWOL because they didn’t get their way. They want to quit while we’re ahead.

Yeah, I know gas is too expensive. Get over it. Yeah, I know Donald Trump is fighting a war that we should’ve won 30 years ago and that bothers some people. But defeating a generational enemy and preventing it from being able to drop a hot rock on New York — again, a lot of these doomers probably wouldn’t mind the mullahs nuking Tel Aviv because, you know, the Jews — is a good thing. Donald Trump knew he was risking his majority and did what he had to do anyway. We should be proud of him, not act like whiny little teenage girls, pouting in our rooms and desperately scribbling our gripes and complaints in our figurative dream journals.

I just can’t deal with people who are so dumb, or so disingenuous, that they would actually argue that we must protest the Republicans not being conservative and populist enough by electing a bunch of perverted communist weirdos who want to castrate kids, throw open the penitentiaries, invite in the entire Third World, and persecute anybody to the right of Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14). Burn it all down? It’s our house! We’ve got all three branches of government. Did we get everything we wanted from Congress? No. And you know what? We’re never going to get everything we want from Congress. We’re never going to get everything we want from any institution. Because we’re adults — at least some of us — we understand that you don’t always get what you want.

But we have gotten a lot, all of which this nonsense strategy of sitting out the midterms puts at risk. See the border? It’s closed. What kind of idiot would think it’s a great idea to give power to the people who want open borders in order to protest Donald Trump not deporting quite enough illegal aliens so far? And you’re mad about gas prices? Do you think the party that hates fossil fuels, that wants us riding buses with homicidal hobos or pedaling bicycles like ponytailed gender-studies TAs, is going to make for lower gas prices? They’re going to shut down our entire petroleum industry. Do you think that’s going to make gas cheaper, Einstein? In what universe do you live? Did you think this through?

Once again, we’re faced with the classic “stupid or thinks you are stupid” conundrum: Are they really dumb enough to think that’s a good plan, or do they just think you’re dumb enough to think that’s a good plan? Be mad – good, you should be. But be smart.

Like I said, we get the same ostentatious opt-out announcements every cycle. Once upon a time, I would try to gently reason with people like this. I would provide them evidence and facts showing that choosing defeat was not the best path to victory, either short-term or long-term. But cycle after cycle, we get the same loud, stupid people on social media who stand up and advocate failure as the key to success. You can’t argue with an idiot because he’s an idiot. And you can’t argue with somebody whose purpose is only to draw attention to himself. I don’t want to put these people in the spotlight; they’re political narcissists who want us to beg them for their support. I guess it gives them some sort of meaning, and the attention gives them the false impression that they matter.

There are demoralized Republicans out there, so there’s a market for dooming. It’s easier to exploit them than to energize them. Sadly, social media pays a premium to loudmouth posers who try to draw attention to themselves by taking obnoxious positions, like not voting in the general, as some sort of dimwitted protest. You just need a relatively small slice of the media pie to be successful, and the slice these guys are aiming to claim is topped with a heaping dollop of strategic stupidity.

“But Kurt, Congress hasn’t done anything!” Yes, it has. Putting the Big Beautiful Bill, a bunch of judges, and things like the Laken Riley Act aside, it has stopped all sorts of horrific Democrat initiatives. “But Kurt, we haven’t jailed all the Obama/Biden crooks, we haven’t deported every single illegal alien, and we aren’t guaranteed ponies at Christmas!” All true. In any human endeavor, you don’t get everything you want all at once. You make compromises. You set priorities. You win some, and you lose some.

Don’t be mad at me for telling you that — be mad at whoever told you differently, because they lied to you. So grow the hell up and stop acting like a bunch of sissies.

Now, I’m going to get a lot of grief about this column because I’m allegedly not taking legit complaints and dissatisfaction seriously enough. What they’re really mad about is that I’m not sufficiently catering to their caterwauling because they have to pay another buck at the gas pump to make sure we all don’t glow in the dark. Oh, do they need a hug? Well, this isn’t the time for hugging. This is the time for voting. This is the time for doing what you have to do to win in the long run. No, gritting your teeth and marching forward doesn’t provide the giddy emotional satisfaction of a temper tantrum. But then, adults aren’t out for emotional satisfaction. They’re out for victory. And the only way we’re going to have any chance of winning our country back is by defeating the communists who want to destroy what’s left of it.

So to those of you who want me to beg you for your support, here’s some sand. Feel free to pound it. I’m not going to pretend that anybody out there urging us not to do everything we can to win this midterm election — one where the deck is already historically stacked against us — is anything but a clown.

Life is hard. So is ensuring our freedom. Get over it and get to work.

BIG NEWS! Kurt’s next action-packed conservative novel, “American Warlord,” is out for presale now! Read Kurt’s Kelly Turnbull/People’s Republic series, including the latest "Panama Red" and follow Kurt on X @KurtSchlichter!

 

U.S. Team Captain Brandt Snedeker credits Trump following dramatic Presidents Cup comeback

U.S. President Donald Trump, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, Captain Brandt Snedeker of the U.S. Team and members of the U.S. Team appear for the trophy ceremony after the U.S. Team wins 17-13 following the Sunday’s Singles on day four of the Presidents Cup 2026 at Medinah Country Club on September 27, 2026 in Medinah, Illinois. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

United States team captain Brandt Snedeker praised President Donald Trump for inspiring the U.S. team’s dramatic Presidents Cup comeback over the International Team at Medinah Country Club in Chicago.

Trump returned as honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup on Sunday, marking his second time in the role after first serving in 2017 in New York. While he kept his remarks at the event brief, he received loud cheers from the spectators in attendance.  

During the tournament at the Medinah Country Club, the U.S. team secured its 11^th consecutive victory thanks to strong back-nine performances from two-time major winner Collin Morikawa and 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun.

Despite trailing for the first three days during team play, the U.S. team dominated the final-day singles matches, erasing a three-point deficit to win 17-13.

 

After the U.S. team secured the win, Snedeker celebrated Trump’s impactful presence at the event, noting the boost his players received when the former president greeted them on the first tee amid a raucous crowd at Medinah.

“All these guys fought for each other, fought for this country, fought for this team,” Snedeker said following the win. “And one last shout to Donald Trump, President Trump.”

“He told me I was going to bring some energy today for you guys, you guys need it, and I told him if we did this, he gets all the credit. Thank you, President Trump,” he added.

Credit:  https://www.oann.com/

 

Carney says Canada prepared for US invasion, critics call stunt

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent New York Times interview stirred up the kind of headline that makes diplomats choke on their coffee. He said Ottawa had “prepared” for the unlikely, “extreme tail risk” of U.S. military action. That line is real. It deserves scrutiny — not hysteria, but not a shrug either.

 What Carney actually said about an “invasion”

Carney told the New York Times his team had looked at low‑probability, high‑impact scenarios and taken precautionary steps. He framed it as risk management, not a prediction. Still, saying your government “prepared” for a U.S. invasion is a bold move for a leader whose main partner is a neighbor with roughly 20 times Canada’s active troops. The comment raises questions about what Ottawa actually did and why the prime minister chose to make it public now.

 

Trade fights and the pivot that prompted the planning

The remark did not come from nowhere. Ottawa recently suspended trade talks with the U.S. after disagreeing with last‑minute American terms. At the same time, Canada has been courting China and talking about closer ties to the European Union. Those moves are part strategy and part signal. But they also help explain why Canadian officials might model scary scenarios — not because an invasion looks likely, but because broken trust can make powerful countries use economic and strategic leverage in ways that hurt Canada.

Reality check: military balance and sensible contingency work

Let’s be blunt: the U.S. military vastly outguns Canada. That makes the idea of invasion far‑fetched. It also makes it sensible for any responsible government to ask “what if?” War games and contingency plans are normal. The problem here is politics. When your contingency talk becomes public theater, it feeds alarm and gives opponents ammo to paint you as unserious or hostile. If Carney wanted to warn about weaponized tariffs and economic coercion, he had better show the receipts — the exact measures Ottawa took to “prepare.”

Political theater or prudent warning? Why Carney’s timing matters

There’s a second layer: optics. Carney’s pivot toward China and the EU, plus a public brag about military contingency planning, reads less like a sober warning and more like political positioning. If Canada wants stronger independence, fine — but you don’t get it by provoking your biggest market and then suggesting it might invade you. President Donald Trump’s trade team has already signaled no rush on a deal. USTR Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have made the administration’s irritation clear. Ottawa should stop staging diplomatic stunts and start making pragmatic moves that protect Canadian jobs and security.

Credit:  https://patriotpowerednetwork.com/

 

Big Tech Blocks Musk Documentary Ads, Reverses Only After Press

 Big tech has once again shown its talent for mixing clumsy automation with high-speed hypocrisy. A new

Alex Gibney documentary about Elon Musk

 

 ran into an odd roadblock: paid trailer ads were blocked on major platforms — then, after a bit of publicity, some of those platforms quietly reversed course. The episode tells us more about power and posture in Silicon Valley than any four-hour film likely will.

What happened: ads blocked, distributor appeals

Bleecker Street, the movie’s U.S. distributor, says it tried to buy paid ads for the “Musk” trailer on major social platforms and was turned away. Platforms initially cited rules around “political content.” That’s a strange ruling for a trailer that only flashes a rally shot and a brief election reference at the end — what documentary doesn’t do that? Bleecker Street filed appeals, and the story leaked into the press, which is where things started to move.

Meta and YouTube backpedaled — automation or agenda?

After public scrutiny, Meta and YouTube told reporters the blocks were errors and cleared the ads. So suddenly it was a mistake, not a policy enforcement decision. Which is it: a broken automated filter, or a political gate that got embarrassed into stepping aside? Either way, the fix came only after the story hit the press. That says something about how content moderation really works — more reactive PR management than consistent rules.

X refuses to engage; TikTok stays quiet

Meanwhile X — the platform owned by Elon Musk, who has taken to calling himself a “free speech absolutist” — reportedly refused both to accept the ads and even to talk to the distributor. That’s delicious: a platform famous for lecturing everyone on free speech won’t lift a finger to help a movie about its owner. TikTok’s position stayed murky in the follow-up reports, which leaves the whole episode smelling like politics, policy, and a lot of automated confusion.

Why this matters: censorship, marketing, and who sets the rules

This isn’t just inside-baseball about trailer buys. Documentaries live or die on reach and word of mouth. When platforms can block paid promotion with a click — intentionally or not — they wield real cultural power. Add a pre-release legal warning from Musk’s lawyers and public attacks by Musk himself, and distributors face both business and legal pressure. The bigger point? Tech giants shape what millions of people see, and they do it in ways that are messy, opaque, and sometimes self-contradictory.

Call it what you want — a glitch, an algorithmic flub, or a telltale sign of platform bias — the episode shows why Americans should be skeptical when big platforms lecture about fairness. When the ruling class of the internet trips over its own rules, the rest of us pay the price with lost reach and muddied public debate. If the platforms want to keep their claims of neutrality, they should start by being consistent — and stop letting PR fix what policy breaks.

Credit: https://patriotpowerednetwork.com/

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