The latest claim from the administration is simple and bold: oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz again at nearly the levels we saw before the fight with Iran. If true, that is a big win for American power, global markets and for anyone tired of living at the mercy of a hostile regime that likes to play giant game of “hold the world hostage.”
Record convoy: Hormuz flows near pre‑war levels
President Donald Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have publicly said U.S. forces helped escort a massive movement of oil through the strait. The administration put the figure at roughly 17–18 million barrels moving by ship in a single day and described a U.S. military operation that escorted about 40 commercial vessels carrying that crude through a guarded corridor. That number is near the roughly 20 million barrels per day the region handled before the conflict, and the White House is rightly touting it as proof the Gulf no longer controls global energy markets.
Why this matters for oil markets and national power
When the Strait of Hormuz is closed or choked, gasoline prices and economic pain spike worldwide. Getting shipments back toward pre‑war levels means lower risk of sudden price shocks and fewer headlines about “energy shortages.” But this is also about deterrence. If Washington can move tankers safely, the idea that Iran can strangle trade with a few missiles and drones looks weaker. Call it the military equivalent of turning the lights back on — only with more jets, ships and common sense.
How the U.S. kept the oil moving
Escorts, corridors and hard choices
Officials say the operation involved an escorted shipping corridor near the Omani coast, supported by air, sea and space assets. Convoys are often scheduled at night, ships sometimes go “dark” by turning off transponders, and some cargoes use ship‑to‑ship transfers to get product through safely. That takes manpower, planning and the willingness to push back on threats — something the administration has done. It also required targeted strikes on Iranian maritime capabilities after attacks on commercial vessels, a blunt reminder that freedom of the seas is defended, not begged for.
Reality check and what to watch next
Before anyone breaks out the confetti, independent trackers and industry analysts caution that government tallies and open data don’t always line up right away. A single high‑volume day is encouraging, but sustained recovery needs to be proven with port receipts, manifest reconciliation and longer trends. And the risk is not over: attacks are still being reported, and any renewed wave of strikes could push flows back down unless escorts grow and allies carry more of the load. For now, though, the message is clear: America stepped in when it counted and kept oil flowing. Critics who said we couldn’t do it should update their résumés.
Rep. Chip Roy went on Fox Report and said something that should land with any voter who pays for a tank of gas or worries about American sailors: Iran doesn’t want a strong President Trump. He tied recent U.S. military action and the spike in oil-market jitters straight back to energy policy and the midterms — and he didn’t sound like a man comfortable letting the conversation end with talking points.
CENTCOM’s strikes changed the math at sea — fast
U.S. Central Command says it struck and disabled three Iranian-linked crude oil tankers after the IRGC launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships. CENTCOM released video and a blunt public statement saying two tankers were permanently disabled and a third destroyed, and warned it could keep targeting Iran’s oil fleet if attacks continued.
That isn’t abstract military theater. Commercial transits through the Strait of Hormuz plunged and markets immediately priced in more risk. For any small-business owner who buys diesel, any farmer who drives a tractor, or any family filling up on the weekend, that drop in visible supply and rise in insurance and freight costs hits the bottom line quick enough to notice.
Why Roy says more U.S. oil matters
Roy’s on-air argument was simple: if America produces more oil at home — he invoked pushing toward “nearly fourteen million barrels” — Tehran’s leverage on global energy markets weakens, and American voters feel safer in their wallets. He framed domestic production not as a subsidy to corporations but as a strategic tool to hold Iran at bay and blunt the political power of foreign oil shocks.
That’s not just rhetoric. When a tanker in the Gulf gets disabled, someone has to pay more to move fuel, carriers reroute, and shipping insurance spikes. That ripple shows up in gas stations and grocery bills, and voters remember who they blame when prices climb and politicians shrug.
Politics, escalation risk, and the human cost
Make no mistake — every naval strike raises the odds of further retaliation. Iranian state media has threatened “more severe” reprisals and floated exclusion zones around the Strait of Hormuz. That leaves merchant mariners, Navy crews, and ordinary Americans squeezed between the need to defend our interests and the risk of a wider fight nobody wants but nobody can ignore.
Republicans like Roy are eager to turn that squeeze into a campaign message for the midterms: tougher on Tehran, loosen up domestic energy production, and explain to voters the link between geopolitics and their monthly bills. Whether the messaging resonates will depend on whether voters see results — safer seas and steady prices — or more headlines and higher costs.
There’s a clear choice here: keep pretending energy is a separate issue from national security, or treat it like what it is — a frontline tool. Which will our leaders do, and will voters hold them to it when the lights go out or the pump climbs again?
South Korea and the United States have agreed on the size of Seoul's planned investment in a gas project in Texas at around $22.3 billion, Korean media outlet Edaily reported on Monday, citing unidentified officials and politicians.
The project, which would be Seoul's first U.S. investment under last year's trade agreement, aims to build a 6.3-gigawatt gas plant in Encinal, Texas, to meet rising power demand for AI data centers, according to the media reports.
The investment would be part of the trade deal signed by the two allies last year, under which Seoul pledged $350 billion worth of U.S. investments in exchange for favorable U.S. tariffs on imports of South Korean goods.
The reports did not say whether Seoul would shoulder the whole cost of the Texas project.
Seoul is also considering other potential projects in the United States, including building a large-scale nuclear power plant or a liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, the reports said.
South Korea's Industry Ministry said reports on the Texas gas project were inaccurate and that consultations between Seoul and Washington were continuing, making it difficult to confirm specific details.
The South Korean government would make an announcement after completing negotiations with the U.S. and taking into account procedures such as parliamentary approval, the ministry added.
In a separate statement, the ministry said no decision had been made on building a nuclear power plant in the United States.
After Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton advanced to the general election back in June, the first thing he did was head to East Los Angeles, which is considered his Democrat opponent Xavier Becerra's neck of the woods.
Hilton spoke Wednesday at a general election campaign kickoff event near the site of a cold food storage warehouse fire that plagued neighborhoods in Boyle Heights.
Hilton .. was joined by supporters across a street from the sprawling burned out warehouse in the community east of downtown Los Angeles.
Hilton said the location represents what he called a "rotting regime" of Democrats elected to political office.
"Think about the people who live here, who had to put up with this," Hilton said. "This is the symbol of Democrat failure."
The Los Angeles Times framed the event as Hilton "pitching himself to California’s abundance of anti-Trump voters," quoting the candidate as saying, "Democrats had 'abandoned' working-class and Latino communities and crushed small businesses."
An essential part of any potentially winning campaign, especially in places where the odds are stacked against you, is to try to appeal to such voters, something Donald Trump has successfully done going back to his first presidential campaign in 2015.
Over the weekend, Hilton was back in the same part of town, and it looked like fun was had by all:
Hilton was no doubt buoyed by recent polling that showed a single-digit race headed into the fall election campaign season, as RedState previously reported:
It’s a notable shift from other recent polls, and shows that Becerra, who is accused of losing track of tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children during his tenure as Biden’s HHS head, is not exactly setting the electorate on fire.
Relatedly, as we also documented, Hilton revealed a week ago that he had receipts on a $225,000 corruption scheme involving Becerra's former chief of staff, alleging Becerra was aware of it.
RedState's Bob Hoge broke it down:
Here are more details on what allegedly went down: when Becerra was appointed by former President Joe Biden to be his HHS chief in 2020, he wanted his longtime chief of staff Sean McCluskie to come to him, but McCluskie wanted more money. Becerra’s underlings then worked up a scheme to divert $225K from his California campaign account to a consulting firm run by Governor Gavin Newsom's former chief of staff, Dana Williamson. The money was then used to pay McCluskie’s wife for a fake job.
McCluskie, Williamson, and a Sacramento lobbyist all separately pleaded guilty to fraud and other charges in the case in late 2025 and May 2026. They are awaiting sentencing.
Hilton said he’s got the proof Becerra knew, and it’s time for the FBI to get back in the game.
The Brits’ simmering anger over mass migration is getting hotter than a tea kettle.
Their fury spilled onto the beaches of Portsmouth on Sunday — complete with protesters in the water, blocked coaches, a major police response and even women arriving in kayaks to try to block roughly 140 immigrants from reaching shore.
The extraordinary scenes unfolded at Eastney after a migrant boat was intercepted in the Solent off England's southern coast.
It was not the typical Channel crossing ending at Dover.
The vessel had reportedly traveled from the Normandy coast before reaching waters near Portsmouth, where Border Force, the Coastguard, lifeboats and police converged for a major operation.
British authorities eventually brought approximately 140 people ashore, with plans to transport them to the Manston migrant processing center in Kent.
Then the protesters started arriving. Hundreds descended on the area as word of the landing spread online. Some moved toward the beach. Others gathered around the roads where coaches were waiting to carry the migrants away.
Video from the scene showed protesters attempting to obstruct the operation while police scrambled to establish control.
🔺 Chaos in Portsmouth as a man in a wheelchair Is pushed through the riot police and a police bike is battered by patriots pic.twitter.com/Uv7wbchhrW
Footage circulating online showed older women paddling toward protesters positioned near the shoreline, an image that quickly became emblematic of just how unusual the confrontation had become.
It takes a lot for the British to even complain about their tea, let alone join a mass revolt over unwanted foreigners.
Police eventually issued a dispersal order as tensions escalated. Officers carrying shields moved protesters back, while the operation to remove the migrants continued.
The Portsmouth confrontation didn't come out of nowhere.
It came just one day after hundreds of masked demonstrators dressed largely in black descended on Dover and effectively brought Britain's busiest ferry port to a halt.
Young masked men dressed all in black suddenly emerged from trucks in the Port of Dover yesterday to block illegal migrants from being disembarked on British soil by the authorities
Protesters linked arms across major roads leading into the port while chanting “stop the boats.”
Traffic backed up for miles. The A20 was affected. Ferry passengers faced delays. At one point, access to the port was completely blocked.
🇬🇧 Statement made.
Zero violence. A message sent.
That is what Dover looked like today. A solid column of men in black moving through the streets, arms in the air, faces covered, the hill rising behind them.
A local Conservative councilor described the demonstration as “coordinated,” saying several hundred protesters appeared to have arrived overnight before positioning themselves on roads into Dover.
Kent Police reported no arrests, and normal port operations resumed around midday.
Two major ports. Two days. Two significant attempts to disrupt the country’s most controversial import: Foreigners.
That is quite the escalation from much of the anti-immigration protest activity Britain has seen over the past year.
The country's protests initially centered heavily on hotels being used to house asylum seekers. Epping became one of the most visible flashpoints in 2025, and demonstrations subsequently appeared around asylum accommodations in numerous British communities.
The politics surrounding the issue have become increasingly combustible as Britain has struggled for years with record or near-record immigration, an asylum backlog and the highly visible phenomenon of migrants arriving across the English Channel in small boats.
The small-boat numbers have actually fallen substantially this year. Government figures cited by the Associated Propagandists show crossings running roughly 40 percent below last year's level. But more than 40,000 people made the crossing in 2025, and the political argument clearly hasn't disappeared with the decline.
If anything, this weekend suggests that at least part of the protest movement is changing tactics. Hotel demonstrations are one thing. Physically blocking access to Dover is another.
Showing up at the location where a migrant vessel is being brought ashore and attempting to prevent coaches from leaving takes the confrontation another step further.
Portsmouth followed Dover within roughly 24 hours. And Britain isn't the only part of the British Isles where immigration has produced increasingly volatile street politics.
Across the Irish Sea, Ireland and Northern Ireland have experienced their own wave of demonstrations — and, in several cases, serious confrontations.
Hundreds marched through Dublin on June 10 demanding a referendum on the European Union's Migration and Asylum Pact. Demonstrators moved from O'Connell Street toward Leinster House, temporarily disrupting traffic and public transportation.
Another national anti-immigration demonstration drew hundreds into central Dublin later that month. Protesters carried Irish flags and banners opposing the EU Migration Pact while chanting “help Ireland, not the world” and “get them out.”
The scene turned darker in Northern Ireland. A brutal knife attack in Belfast in June, allegedly carried out by a Sudanese man, triggered several nights of anti-immigration protest. Homes and vehicles were set on fire, police came under attack and authorities deployed water cannon as masked groups clashed with officers.
The disorder ultimately lasted three nights, with immigrant families reporting that they fled their homes after addresses purportedly belonging to migrants circulated online.
That violence is a deviation from the largely nonviolent disruption seen at Dover this weekend, and it shouldn't be conflated with peaceful anti-immigration demonstrations.
But taken together, the episodes point to something portentous happening across Britain and Ireland: The fight over immigration is moving out of the parliament and into the streets.
Portsmouth may be the most enduring sign of that change yet.
After a migrant boat arrived unexpectedly on Britain's southern coast, hundreds of protesters raced to the scene.
Police formed lines. Coaches were blocked. Demonstrators moved to the beach. And then grandmas showed up in kayaks.
People from every walk of life now feel concern that the government may have a darker motive for all of this mass migration than simply ‘being kind to refugees.’
Britons fear they are losing their country. Americans watching in horror from across the Atlantic also fear that they might be right.
Last week, Kmele Foster held a masterclass on capitalism, defending it against The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill, who tried to turn it into a race lecture. To her, slavery was America’s primary economic driver. What history class did she attend? That’s factually untrue. Then again, the Left writ large remains historically illiterate and has a laughable grasp of the subject. Her tweets about it were slapped with a brutal community note:
Economic historians find slavery enriched owners but was not the main driver of US economic power. Cotton ~5% of GDP; North industrialized freely. Emancipation produced large gains (4-35% of GDP).
And the reactions were as expected:
Hill says this stupid stuff regularly because prog whites elevated her to show their allyship and she was never challenged, just affirmed. So she gets the luxury of believing so much that is not true. https://t.co/1Npf6d7gIL
Jemele, you’re a walking testament to the compassionate, coddling nature of American capitalism.
You’re mediocre, classless, physically unattractive, and ignorant. You lack any marketable talent or skill, you suck at journalism, and you write like an eighth-grader in remedial… https://t.co/b8FKlqA6ZY
Someone has been arrested after allegedly attacking a Democrat candidate for Ohio governor while she was at the Canfield Fair on Sunday.
Mahoning County Democrat Party chairman Chris Anderson posted on Facebook that an armed individual was arrested after knocking volunteers to the ground.
“Moments ago during a visit from Dr. Amy Acton, an individual was arrested at the MCDP tent who was discovered to have weapons, after knocking volunteers to the ground.
Let me be clear - The Mahoning County Democratic Party abbhors [sic] political violence in all forms. What happened at our tent today during today's visit from Dr. Acton is reprehensible and should be condemned by leaders on all sides of the aisle.
MCDP is grateful for the quick response by our local law enforcement officials as well as the Ohio State Highway Patrol providing Dr. Acton security.
Because this is now an ongoing investigation we will refer all questions to law enforcement.”
WLWT: Amy Acton attacked at campaign event near Youngstown; multiple people reportedly injured
According to a statement put out by Acton's campaign, an armed individual lunged at Acton while she was at the Canfield Fair in Mahoning County, resulting in the… https://t.co/4vXMLZwfUmpic.twitter.com/CT48wT56dS
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) September 6, 2026
The suggestion is the latest chapter in the president’s proposed name changes. On Wednesday, Trump floated the idea of renaming the Strait of Hormuz to “Trump Strait” amidst the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran.
Beyond hinting at a change on social media, Trump signed an executive order on August 27th directing government agencies to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America in response to the U.S.-Canada trade war.
Recalling last year’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, Trump jested renaming an even larger body of water.
“If you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean. So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific,” Trump said.
A federal grand jury returned a three‑count indictment this week and agents arrested a Los Angeles man accused of threatening to kill President Trump and of stalking the president’s lawyer and his family online. Benjamin Azariah Southworth, a 40‑year‑old Westlake resident and former podcaster, was booked on counts that include threats against the president, cyberstalking and harassing interstate phone calls. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and now faces a federal case that will be watched closely by both law‑and‑order folks and free‑speech purists.
What the indictment says
According to the Justice Department, prosecutors say Southworth used YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and a website from January through May to publish violent calls and to doxx a private attorney. The charging papers quote an Instagram video that allegedly said, “I have been vocal in calling for the execution of Donald Trump” and “Kill Donald Trump.” The indictment also accuses him of posting the attorney’s home address and of sending abusive messages and calls to that attorney’s wife and son. The DOJ did not name the lawyer in the indictment; reporting has identified him as Jay Sekulow.
Law enforcement is taking it seriously
The headlines aren’t just theater. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department will “respond with the full force of the law” when threats against the president rise. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned there is “zero tolerance for political violence.” The U.S. Secret Service and FBI are involved, with local agents stressing that threats and cyberstalking aren’t “mere political rhetoric” and must be stopped before they turn into real violence.
Legal stakes and the First Amendment line
If convicted on all counts, Southworth faces up to 12 years behind bars. That’s serious time, but the case will also touch on a tricky legal line: when does angry online speech cross into an unprotected “true threat”? Courts look at context, intent and whether a reasonable person would see the words as a real plan to harm. Defendants get the presumption of innocence, and free‑speech advocates will watch closely. Still, there’s a simple rule conservatives should like: threatening people and posting their home address is not debate — it’s criminal behavior.
Bottom line: accountability — not excuses
We can object to selective law enforcement or sloppy prosecutions when they happen. But let’s also be plain: keyboard bravado that encourages violence must have consequences. Whether you cheer for the target or not, calls for murder and doxxing families are corrosive to civic life. The DOJ, FBI and Secret Service did what they should do — investigate and arrest when those lines are crossed. Now the courts will sort the facts, and the rest of us should remember that free speech isn’t a shelter for threats or mob tactics, no matter the politics.
