Saturday, April 18, 2026
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NY AG Letitia James won’t release tax
returns, blames staff: ‘They will make
that determination’ replies
returns, blames staff: ‘They will make
that determination’ replies
Embattled New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday repeatedly refused to tell The Post why she won’t release her tax returns like other top Democrats in the state did earlier in the week.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul have made income tax returns available for review by reporters, but James is refusing to do so — even as she fights back allegations she falsified information on mortgage applications.
The Empire State’s AG bizarrely claimed that the decision to release her own tax return was up to her staff.
“They will make that determination,” a perturbed James repeatedly told The Post
I do like to follow up and keep you all on top of where things stand with some of the previous stories I've covered. Sometimes, it's true, there's not much to write about because whatever happened happened and then they lie there like a dead bug until they shrivel and go away of their own accord.
In other cases, there can be happier resolutions, which is always cheerful news, but those are admittedly rare.
Most wind up in the slow-rolling disaster column, and man - that does seem to be the case with the Biden administration's $1.6B push to electrify city transit fleets.
...E-buses have been purchased by transit agencies
It was quite a week. The Democrats decided they needed to get rid of a candidate in the crowded field for Governor of California, and the fall guy was Eric Swalwell. It turned out that the Democrats and their reporters had known all along that Swalwell was a sexual predator, but until now it wasn’t opportune to mention it.
President Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus, or maybe just as a doctor, healing someone. That prompted howls of outrage from the people who are always howling in outrage, and an extraordinary outpouring of memes showing Trump and others as Jesus, or just as healers.
Speaking of Jesus,
Financial markets are reacting positively Friday to news that Iran will temporarily open the Strait of Hormuz for commercial traffic during its ceasefire with the United States.
The major U.S. stock indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ, surged. The S&P500 also crossed 7,100 for the first time ever.
At the same time, oil prices quickly dropped about 10% after the Iranian announcement.
Market conditions had already begun to improve on Thursday as President Donald Trump expressed optimism that the war in Iran was nearing its end. Trump said the war “should be ending pretty soon.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) extensive record voting to confirm liberal judicial and executive nominees revered by the Left are weighing on his efforts to win a fifth six-year term in the Senate. The South Carolina Senator is a mainstay on Fox News, where he alternates between cheerleading for President Donald Trump’s agenda while encouraging the President to veer towards neoconservative priorities. But his record confirming nominees who later haunt Trump tells a different story. Graham voted to confirm President Joe Biden nominees Merrick Garland for Attorney General and Lisa Monaco for Deputy Attorney General.
Both were key architects of the lawfare against Trump and his family and allies.
John Thune’s Senate has delayed weaponization
prosecutors in John Brennan probe for
two months replies
prosecutors in John Brennan probe for
two months replies
Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department asked two Senate committees to provide transcripts and records of contacts with former CIA Director John Brennan regarding the now-discredited Russia collusion allegations, signaling there was an active investigation into whether the former spy boss had misled or obstructed Congress. The letters gave a hard deadline of Feb. 23 for compliance.
Two months later, the body run by Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has not complied, slowing a key angle of a grand jury investigation based in Fort Pierce, Fla., into whether Obama and Biden-era government officials engaged in a conspiracy —
Trump: I Will End Ceasefire Wednesday
Unless Deal Done — but Xi's 'Very Happy'
As Hormuz Reopens replies
Unless Deal Done — but Xi's 'Very Happy'
As Hormuz Reopens replies
Although the US.–Iran ceasefire is in effect for the moment (depending on who you ask), President Donald Trump signaled that things could change very quickly if the Islamic Republic doesn’t agree to terms — by Wednesday.
Speaking on Air Force One, the president said the clock is ticking. In the meantime, the blockade will stay in force:
President Donald Trump said late Friday he may end the ceasefire with Iran unless a long-term agreement is reached by Wednesday.
"Maybe I won't extend it, but the blockade is going to remain," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. "So you have a blockade, and unfortunately we have to start dropping bombs again."
For decades now, the left in this country has preached that we should feel guilty about America’s success, we should obsess over its flaws, we should downplay our positive contributions to the world, and we should talk softly and carry no stick.
Be ashamed, their message has been. And all too many Americans and virtually everyone in academia and the mainstream media bought it hook, line, and sinker, and have been selling it as hard as their little hearts can manage.
And then along came Donald Trump and blew that garbage narrative to smithereens.
Victor Davis Hanson: Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. I know a lot of you have been exasperated by the reaction to the Iran war, from the Democratic grandees in the House and Senate, the liberal media, The New York Times, particularly The Washington Post, NPR, PBS, and network—even The Wall Street Journal’s news section. And then we have some people on the right who have also looked at the war and said it was lost, it went south, it was gonna—World War III, blah, blah, blah.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before Congress this week defending his department’s policy agenda.
The secretary, who has been under sustained scrutiny from skeptics of his Make America Healthy Again mission, vowed to work with members on specific health legislation to secure wins promised by the administration.
Kennedy spent almost 10 hours on Capitol Hill this week and is set to appear for four more hearings next week. The secretary is looking forward to showing Congress how we are working to reduce prescription drug prices, make health care costs clearer for patients, and streamline processes like prior authorization,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told The Daily Signal.
Why Is Progressivism Incompatible With
the Declaration of Independence? Clarence
Thomas Explains replies
the Declaration of Independence? Clarence
Thomas Explains replies
This week, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas celebrated America’s 250th anniversary by exposing the greatest threat to the Declaration of Independence today—the ideology of Progressivism.
“Progressivism was the first mainstream American political movement—with the possible exception of the pro-slavery reactionaries on the eve of the Civil War—to openly oppose the principles of the declaration,” the justice said in a speech at the University of Texas at Austin Wednesday. “Progressives strove to undo the Declaration’s commitment to equality and natural rights, both of which they denied were self-evident.”
Ten House Republicans joined Democrats on Thursday evening to keep roughly 350,000 Haitian nationals in the United States on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) despite the Trump administration seeking to end the quasi-amnesty. The House passed the measure, led by Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Laura Gillen (D-NY), after advancing the bill through a discharge petition maneuver, with help from half a dozen Republicans. Essentially, the bill would keep about 350,000 Haitians in the U.S. via TPS just as President Donald Trump fights in the Supreme Court to end the quasi-amnesty.
The 10 House Republicans who joined Democrats to defy the Trump administration and move the bill to the Senate are:
Everything about California Governor Gavin Newsom is fake. Even the numbers on his book sales.
His new book is being touted by his allies as a best seller, but the main reason it’s selling so well is because his own political action committee has spent upwards of $1.5 million buying thousands of copies of it.
That’s one way to get on the New York Times best seller list. It’s not honest, but it’ll probably work.
Not a single thing about this man is genuine. Newsom PAC bought thousands of memoir copies about his hardships, juicing sales
There are numerous headlines like the one above out there Friday, so I won’t pick on one particular outlet. There are longer ones like “European Leaders Welcome Hormuz Reopening and Push for Permanent Navigation Security.” Why did this make me chuckle? Because of course they’re pleased — and they had nothing to do with it.
But don’t worry, they’re going to have meetings about the situation very soon: I can barely contain my excitement. And Macron has “demands”:
WASHINGTON – Military planning for a possible Pentagon-led operation in Cuba is quietly ramping up, in case President Donald Trump gives an order to intervene there, USA TODAY has learned.
Two sources familiar with the order spoke to USA TODAY on condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak to media.
The directives appear to be an escalation of recent tensions between the United States and Cuba that began in January when the Trump administration curbed oil shipments to Cuba as part of a broader campaign to force sweeping political changes on the communist-run island.
The IRGC and the civilian government in Iran are at loggerheads, with one group ready to make a deal and the other apparently ready to go down in flames and explosions.
There's plenty of evidence that the President and PM want the war in the rear-view mirror, and are ready to compromise on just about anything. The Islamic Republic is showing a MAJOR internal fracture at the highest levels in real time.
After Araghchi and Trump both claimed the Strait of Hormuz is “open,” IRGC-linked Fars News is now openly questioning officials, warning of confusion inside the country, and demanding explanations for the silence.
I'm not sure what the point of having a government in Britain is anymore.
Because it sure isn't there to protect citizens. It seems to exist mainly to redistribute resources from productive people to criminals, illegal aliens, and friends of Labour politicians. Among the most appalling stories, of which there are many, is the r@pe gangs cover-up, in which all levels of government, from the most local all the way up to the national, looked the other way as "asian" males systematically groomed and raped countless British children for decades.
But the problem is not that the powers that be tolerate crime
As some readers might be able to identify, I’m getting less and less inclined to be gracious toward the third-world individuals with subhuman levels of intelligence, and a culture to match. Having just returned from a beautiful trip around the U.K. with my two sons last month, I take particular umbrage with all-too-common instances like this, because where else but Europe, by virtue of its location and history, can you find longstanding examples of Western greatness and heritage? (X) If you didn’t watch the whole video, the Arab man is tearing a hole in a historic stone wall that’s been standing for centuries, because he apparently can’t figure out
Despite an all-out corporate media propaganda campaign using a few marginalized podcasters as “proof” there is a growing rift between President Donald Trump and Republican voters, new polling shows the opposite is true.
Some might find this hard to believe, but social media is not real life. To wit…
Between March and April in the far-left Quinnipiac poll, support for Trump among Republicans increased from 72 percent to 81 percent.
Similarly, a poll from the Economist/YouGov shows an increase in Republican support for the president. What had been an 82 percent approve, 14 percent disapproval rating in March has risen by four net points to 84 percent approve, 12 percent disapprove.
President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran “agreed to everything” in negotiations with the United States following a news-packed morning that included the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump made the comments to NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer, who called the president after he announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, declaring that the United States will retrieve enriched uranium from sites bombed in Operation Midnight Hammer last June. Trump said, “Yes,” when Meyer asked if Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium.
“They agreed to everything,” he told her.
When Meyer asked him if he was surprised, he said, “I’m not surprised by anything,” and soon ended the call.
Both the House and Senate voted on Friday to extend the government's spy powers under FISA for 10-days after Republicans struggled to iron out a compromise on reforms.
The House had voted in the dead of night to extend the controversial Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which faced steep opposition from a faction of the Republican conference who wanted reforms to the law, including a warrant requirement.
Speaker Mike Johnson initially attempted to tee up a vote Thursday afternoon on a bill that would extend the federal government's foreign surveillance power for 18 months, a plan supported by the White House. However,
Before he was an accused rapist, Eric Swalwell was a Democratic golden boy who rose to some of the most influential roles in Washington over his 13 year career in Congress.
With the help of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and other powerful allies, Swalwell won key appointments at congressional committees and made a name for himself as a leading Democrat fighting against the Trump administration.
Swalwell now stands accused by five women of sexual misconduct, such as sending nudes and non-consensual touching. Two of them alleged rape, including revelations made Tuesday that Swalwell allegedly drugged and raped a model in a hotel room in 2018.
In age of Trump, Democrats resort to running
as faux Republicans to ‘get a foot in
the door’ replies
as faux Republicans to ‘get a foot in
the door’ replies
As Democrats struggle to find popular messages with voters, another case of a Democrat candidate running as a Republican quickly reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which prevented the candidate from being on the ballot. "I'm glad that people are paying attention because this same game may be coming to your state," Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose told Just The News.
The Ohio case is the latest instance of a Democrat parading as a Republican, with recent similar cases in North Carolina and Texas. Samuel Ronan, whose case LaRose referred to as "political transgenderism," attempted to run in a Republican primary for Ohio's 15th Congressional District in the 2026 cycle.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, has disclosed to Just The News that the House of Representatives, where President Donald Trump was impeached during his first term over a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is moving to expunge that impeachment from the congressional record.
"You need a majority vote, we need a bill, and it's actually something we're looking at," Jordan told Just The News.
On Monday, Just The News was first to report on declassified secret memos from the 2019 Ukraine whistle-blower scandal, which revealed that the CIA analyst accuser (identified in media as Eric Ciaramella)