Conservative Blogger
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
US Destroys Iranian Mine-Laying Vessels Near Hormuz as Trump Warns Against Oil Blockade
President Donald Trump warned Iran on Tuesday to remove any naval mines from the Strait of Hormuz as U.S. forces struck Iranian mine-laying vessels near the critical waterway, underscoring how control of the narrow passage has become a central flashpoint in the escalating conflict and a major concern for global oil markets. Trump said U.S. forces had already destroyed Iranian vessels capable
of laying mines in the area, part of an effort to keep the shipping lane
open.
"I am pleased to report that within the last few hours, we have hit, and completely destroyed, 10 inactive mine-laying boats and/or ships, with more to follow!" Trump wrote Tuesday afternoon on Truth Social. The U.S. military later said American forces had destroyed a total of 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels operating near the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported. The strikes came as the Trump administration warned Iran that any attempt to block oil shipments through the strategic channel would bring an overwhelming military response. "If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far," Trump wrote in another Truth Social post. Pentagon officials said the strikes on Iranian vessels were part of broader operations aimed at preventing Tehran from mining the waterway and ensuring commercial shipping can eventually resume through the strait. U.S. Navy forces and regional partners are closely monitoring maritime activity around the channel and preparing for potential mine-clearing operations if Iran attempts to seed explosives along the route, according to U.S. defense officials familiar with the planning. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had earlier vowed to choke off oil exports from the region if U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran continue. "We will not allow one liter of oil to be exported from the region," a Revolutionary Guards spokesperson said Tuesday, according to Iranian state media. The intensifying rhetoric and military activity have pushed the Strait of Hormuz to the center of the war's strategic stakes. The narrow waterway between Iran and Oman connects the Persian Gulf to global shipping routes and carries about one-fifth of the world's daily oil supply. Energy exports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar all pass through the strait, meaning even a partial disruption could ripple through global energy markets. The war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran has already effectively halted tanker movement through the waterway for more than a week, forcing some producers to slow or stop pumping as storage facilities fill. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply normally moves through the strait, making it the most critical chokepoint in global energy markets. Despite the threat to shipping, the U.S. Navy earlier told commercial shipping industry officials it did not currently have assets positioned to escort tankers through the strait, citing safety concerns and the risks posed by possible naval mines and ongoing military operations, Reuters reported. Pentagon officials have said the United States retains the capability to deploy naval escorts or multinational convoy operations if necessary to reopen the waterway, though no such escort mission has yet been formally announced. Trump has said the United States could begin escorting commercial vessels if necessary to keep the waterway open, but such escorts had not yet begun. Naval mines are widely viewed as one of Iran's most effective asymmetric weapons in a confrontation with the United States. Even a limited mining effort could halt tanker traffic and require a major multinational effort to locate and clear explosives before shipping could resume. The uncertainty surrounding the waterway has produced dramatic swings in global energy markets. Brent crude futures surged as much as 29% on Monday to their highest levels since 2022 as traders feared a prolonged disruption in oil flows. Prices fell more than 10% on Tuesday after Trump expressed confidence the war could end quickly and signaled the United States may take steps to ease supply shortages. After speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said Washington could waive some oil-related sanctions on certain countries to help stabilize global supply. Officials have also discussed releasing oil from strategic reserves or adjusting U.S. export policies if the conflict tightens energy markets further. Trump said Monday that U.S. strikes had already inflicted serious damage to Iran's military and predicted the war could end well before the initial four-week timeframe he outlined after hostilities began. At the same time, Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, appeared to signal continued resistance after assuming power Monday following the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was unlikely to resume negotiations with the United States, telling PBS that talks had collapsed after Washington launched strikes despite what he described as progress in earlier discussions. The confrontation has already caused heavy damage inside Iran, where U.S. and Israeli air and missile strikes have targeted military installations and energy facilities. With U.S. forces destroying Iranian mine-laying vessels and Tehran threatening to choke off oil exports, the security of the Strait of Hormuz has become one of the central fronts in the conflict. © 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved. |
Jackson and Kavanaugh Clash in Rare Public Fight Over Supreme Court Handling of Trump Cases
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It is rare to see Supreme Court justices argue with each other in public. Disagreements usually appear months later in written opinions after a case is decided. The justices rarely sit on the same stage and debate how the Court is handling active legal fights. That is what happened Monday when Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Justice Brett Kavanaugh shared a stage and openly clashed over how the Supreme Court has handled emergency appeals tied to President Donald Trump’s policies. The discussion centered on the Court’s emergency docket. These cases often arrive after lower courts block federal policies, and the administration asks the Supreme Court to allow those policies to take effect while the lawsuits continue. That process has become one of the most important legal fronts for Trump’s agenda. The Court has repeatedly stepped in after lower-court rulings halted various policies, allowing the administration to move forward while the lawsuits continue. Jackson has frequently dissented in those emergency rulings. At Monday’s event, she criticized the Court’s willingness to intervene early in those cases.
Jackson argued that stepping in so early risks changing how the judicial process works. Lower courts are supposed to build the factual record and weigh the legal arguments before the Supreme Court steps in. When the Court intervenes early, she said, it can show how a case might eventually be settled before the case is fully argued.
Kavanaugh pushed back and defended the Court’s role in handling the emergency appeals that reach the justices. Read More: Read It: Kavanaugh Goes Off on Fellow Justices in Blazing Dissent, Calls Tariff Decision 'Illogical' Listen to Justice Jackson's Questioning About Whether the Officer Provision Even Applies to Trump Kavanaugh said the surge in these appeals reflects how modern presidents govern.
He added that administrations from both parties have gone to the Court with the same kind of requests when lower courts halted their policies.
Jackson warned that early intervention risks influencing how lower courts handle cases before the arguments are fully heard. Kavanaugh countered that the justices are responding to the reality that major policy fights now move through the courts instead of Congress. Those fights usually play out quietly in written opinions months later. On Monday, this one happened out loud. |
Exxon Mobil Was Evidently 'Born to Run,' Because It's Ditching NJ for Friendlier Business Climes
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You may have read about numerous prominent large corporations headed for the exits in blue states like California and heading for more welcoming climates in business-friendly states like Texas and Florida. Why? They’re sick of getting constantly hammered with taxes, regulations, and hostility from state governments. Now it’s the Exxon Mobil Corporation, which announced Tuesday that 144 years after it incorporated in the state, its Board of Directors unanimously recommended that shareholders change the company’s legal domicile from New Jersey to Texas. They passed over former President Joe Biden’s home state: On their webpage, the oil giant complimented Texas for embracing business. The company had already moved its headquarters to Irving, Texas, in 1989, but this latest move would change its legal domicile, the state or jurisdiction where it’s legally incorporated.
How’s that war on fossil fuels going for you, blue staters? MORE: Texas Gains Another Big Employer at California's Expense Chevron Fires Off Blistering Letter to Newsom Warning Proposed Climate Policy Will Decimate CA Life will just be easier in Gov. Greg Abbott’s Lone Star State, Exxon wrote:
Robert Anderson, Professor of Law, Corporate and M&A (mergers and acquisitions), at the University of Arkansas, and whose tweet appeared earlier in the story, had some other salient observations: He said that Delaware, once a top choice for companies, has lost the plot: More Winning: Drill, Baby, Drill Leads to Refine, Baby, Refine With New Texas Facility It seems that Exxon Mobil simply got tired of being harassed and unappreciated:
Shareholders will vote on the proposal at their Annual Meeting in April. So-called “progressive” policies in all too many states have been utter failures, and the Left’s obsession with climate change has caused little progress but untold billions in headaches. Sorry, Bruce, but Exxon evidently has a “Hungry Heart.” Editor’s Note: Progressive policies have hurt America immeasurably. |
GOP Rep Who Trashed Islam in a Tweet Had the Perfect Response to the Backlash
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Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) irked all the right people this week with his tweets bashing Islam. He’s not backing down; he doesn’t care what the liberal press thinks about him, and he had the perfect response to the controversy. My comments wouldn’t even be a news story if I had said this about Christians.
And it looks like he has plenty of support elsewhere. He’s not going to resign, nor will he be canceled. Onward.
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Biden Will Not Like This Executive Privilege Decision...But He's Probably Too Cooked to Understand
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It’s Trump’s turn to slap down executive privilege requests from Joe Biden. It’s time. Yet, the trove of documents that the Trump administration now says lacks this classification will not please the Biden camp. This week, President Trump ruled that such an assertion over documents about the former president’s mental health or family finances President Donald Trump rejected former President Joe
Biden’s assertion of executive privilege over a tranche of documents
requested by the Senate as part of various probes into the 46th
president, determining it is "not in the best interests of the United
States."
We’ll see what comes of this, but it could lead to another examination of the many allegations of corruption and impropriety regarding the Biden family’s government access deals. The Justice Department shut down the autopen probe due to a lack of direction on which statutes to pursue against Joe Biden, if any. |
National Park Service: Fireworks to return to Mount Rushmore for first time since 2020 for Independence Day celebration
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In celebration of 250 years of independence, the National Park Service (NPS) announced that fireworks will again be launched at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial after a five-year absence. However, the firework display will take place on July 3rd, rather than July 4th.
On Monday, in a news release, NPS announced that this reflects President Donald Trump’s vision of a “grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of American Independence.”
Dr. Jenifer Chatfield, the deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, also commented on the event in the release, expressing that NPS is excited to reinstate the fireworks show in partnership with the state.
 After an 11-year hiatus, fireworks were held at the memorial in 2020, but the tradition hasn’t stuck. The NPS denied a 2022 permit request from then-GOP Governor Kristi Noem, with The Hill reporting that officials cited both drought risks and tribal opposition as primary concerns.
Public tickets will be available for the July 3rd event through a lottery from April 8th to 12th, with NPS noting that it is only open to U.S. residents — in alignment with “the Trump administration’s commitment to enhancing access for American residents.” |
Conservative Icons Clash: Is America's Foreign Policy for Sale?
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The conservative movement is at a dangerous breaking point as the U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran has ripped open old alliances and exposed raw fault lines among our own. Giant names in our ecosystem — from Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly to Ben Shapiro and even Piers Morgan — are publicly trading barbs and conspiracy charges about who owns America’s foreign policy and whether we should have gone to war at all. This isn’t healthy debate; it’s a public unraveling that hands our opponents a propaganda victory and confuses everyday Americans who want strength, clarity, and leadership. At
the heart of the fight is a blunt, uncomfortable question conservatives
should answer like grown-ups: did Israel drag the United States into an
unnecessary conflict, or did America act to protect itself and its
allies after sustained Iranian aggression? Some voices on the right have
been quick to blame allies and whisper “capitulation” and “dragging,”
while other principled conservatives — the hawks who remember 47 years
of Iranian hostility — rightly argue failing to crush Tehran’s militia
network invites far worse threats to our people. This is a debate about
American security, not about which pundit can win an online fight, and
it should be settled on facts and national interest rather than hot
takes and outrage. Dave Rubin’s appearance on Rob Schmitt’s show underlines how even commentators who normally avoid Beltway orthodoxies are demanding seriousness from both the president and our media class. Rubin — a skeptic of cheap, performative interventions but no isolationist — pushed back against graceless cynicism and urged a sober assessment of what victory and deterrence look like for the American people. Conservatives who pretend this is a mere “Israel problem” are selling out the blood and treasure of Americans by turning geopolitics into a reality-TV feud. Washington’s policymakers are not immune from the chaos on cable. Lawmakers in both parties are already wrestling with the costs, legal authority, and long-term consequences of this campaign, which means conservative leaders who shrink from explaining the stakes are failing their constituents. We need a conservative foreign policy that is muscular but clear about objectives, honest about risks, and unapologetic about defending American lives and interests — not one that melts into factionalism the moment a Tweet storms the timeline. Patriots and hardworking Americans deserve unity of purpose, not punditry squabbles that look like a high school blowup. So here’s a simple test for every right-of-center voice: put the country first, stop amplifying theories that divide our movement, and explain plainly how proposed alternatives protect American families. If conservative media and politicians can’t present a coherent case for how to secure victory and leave no doubt we will defend our allies and our citizens, then we’ll deserve the chaos that follows — and our enemies will celebrate. |
Greg Kelly Dismantles Newsom's Presidential Fantasies
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Greg Kelly’s takedown of Gavin Newsom on his show was nothing shy of merciless, and conservatives shouldn’t pretend it came out of nowhere — Kelly has repeatedly argued Newsom is no presidential threat and even suggested the governor is unlikely to ever wear the crown he covets. That blunt assessment landed after Newsom’s national push to recast himself on a book tour, and it’s exactly the kind of hard-hitting scrutiny Newsom’s polished PR machine has tried to dodge. Newsom’s memoir, Young Man in a Hurry: A
Memoir of Discovery, hit shelves late February 2026, and the governor
immediately embarked on a red-state reading tour that looked more like a
campaign warm-up than a quiet author stop. The book and tour were
designed to reset his image for a national audience, but instead they
provided conservatives ammunition to point at a pattern: grand
self-portraits sold while California burns under his watch. Local coverage has been unforgiving, with critics noting that the memoir humanizes Newsom while remaining evasive about any coherent political doctrine — the very thing a would-be president must make clear to voters. The San Francisco Chronicle’s take that the book reveals more glamour and privilege than conviction is damning coming from the hometown press; it undercuts Newsom’s attempt to sell himself as a sober, steady national leader. Conservatives have every right to point out the dissonance between Newsom’s carefully staged narrative and the catastrophes Californians live with daily — from skyrocketing homelessness to surging crime and out-of-control spending. As Newsom courts donors and primary-state voters, GOP and independent Americans should demand accountability for the policies that have hollowed out so much of the Golden State’s promise. Make no mistake: the spotlight Greg Kelly aimed at Newsom matters because it peels back the glossy marketing and exposes the reality of a governor who talks big while presiding over decline. Conservatives must keep punching through the spin, reminding hardworking Americans that political theater doesn’t fix failing schools, unsafe streets, or runaway budgets — and that a man who can’t defend his record on his own home turf is, as Kelly rightly suggested, politically imperiled. |
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
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