One of the most important Executive Orders signed by President Trump on his first day in office was Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship. As the title suggests, the order forbids any U.S. Government employee from taking any actions that violate the First Amendment rights of any American citizen. The Executive Order is intended to protect against future encroachments on the right to free speech like those that occurred under the Biden Administration.
During the Biden years, government officials routinely pressured social media companies to silence Americans for questioning the official response to COVID-19. For example, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that, unless social media companies “voluntarily” removed posts containing “misinformation,” the Administration would apply “appropriate legal and regulatory measures.” Other members of the Administration sent messages to social media executives, addressing them as if they were poorly performing White House interns. At least one Biden staffer, Deputy Assistant to the President Rob Flaherty, even dropped an F-bomb in an email to Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, inquiring why a post he “requested” be taken down was still up.
In March of this year, the Justice Department signed a consent decree with Louisiana and Mississippi settling a lawsuit brought by the states on behalf of their citizens whose First Amendment rights were violated by the Biden Administration’s censorship. The settlement forbids the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency from threatening social media companies for refusing to remove or limit the viewership of “content containing protected free speech.” Unfortunately, some members of the Trump Administration seem to have not read this Executive Order.
For example, Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, while a vast improvement over his predecessor Lina Khan, thinks the FTC should use its power to punish woke corporations for engaging in First Amendment-protected activity. The FTC recently settled a case, along with eight states, brought against major advertising companies. The suit alleged that the companies worked with progressive media watchdog groups, such as NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index, in order to limit the placement of ads on conservative sites. The ad agencies’ defense was to claim that they were protecting brand safety.
Brand safety refers to advertising placement agencies avoiding sites with controversial political opinions or objectionable content. One problem with the FTC’s case is that being concerned with brand safety makes valid business sense. A business whose customers largely come from a demographic that tends to support progressive politics will not want to advertise on pro-MAGA websites for fear of alienating its existing customers. Similarly, a brand whose customers are mostly conservative will not want to advertise on AOC 2028. The main problem with the FTC case is that organizing boycotts of a business because of the business’s political activities is a First Amendment-protected activity.
Boycotts have a long and distinguished history. They were instrumental in the civil rights, labor, and other progressive movements. Boycotts have been used by conservatives, most notably by social conservatives, to pressure advertisers to stop running ads on programs that offended them. Organizers of these boycotts worked with conservative media watchdogs like the Media Research Center. Now, thanks to the precedent set by Andrew Ferguson, the next Democrat FTC Chair could target the Media Research Center and their allies for conspiring to restrain trade by organizing boycotts.
Chair Ferguson also wrote to (then) Apple CEO Tim Cook warning him that Apple could face a federal investigation for “unfair or deceptive or practices.” The deception in question is the claim that Apple’s news aggregation site is ideologically neutral, when in fact it promotes stories from left-wing sources while ignoring stories from conservative sources. Even if this were true, Apple has a First Amendment right to choose what news sources to feature in its news aggregator. If consumers are dissatisfied with Apple’s selection, they are free to use one of the many conservative news outlets on the internet.
Chair Ferguson and government officials like Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendon Carr are not just violating the First Amendment – they are violating President Trump’s executive order on free speech. Unfortunately, the President’s commitment to free speech is also less than consistent. President Trump and his appointees must stop violating the First Amendment – otherwise America will become a country in which free speech only exists for those who won the last election.
Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld created the following map to show workplace fatality rates across all 50 states in 2024.
Wyoming recorded the nation’s highest workplace fatality rate at 13.9 deaths per 100,000 workers, compared with just 1.1 in Rhode Island.
Several Southern and Mountain West states also reported rates well above the national average of 3.3.
The state-level divide highlights how workplace risk remains concentrated in specific industries and regions across the U.S. economy.
Why Resource-Heavy States Rank So High
In states like Wyoming and North Dakota, oil and gas extraction remains a major source of employment. These industries often involve remote job sites, heavy equipment, long shifts, and hazardous operating conditions.
The concentration is especially visible in the data. Roughly 30% of Wyoming’s workplace deaths in 2024 occurred in natural resources and mining, while the industry accounted for nearly half of all workplace fatalities in North Dakota.
Agriculture and logging also contribute to elevated fatality rates across several rural states. Workers in these industries routinely operate large equipment, work outdoors in extreme conditions, and travel long distances on rural roads.
The national workplace fatality rate stood at 3.3 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2024, meaning several states recorded rates nearly double the U.S. average.
America’s Freight Corridors Also Face Higher Risks
Transportation incidents remain one of the leading causes of workplace deaths in the country.
States positioned along major freight and energy corridors often see higher concentrations of long-haul trucking, industrial transport, and warehouse activity. That includes parts of the South, Great Plains, and Mountain West.
Long driving hours, highway exposure, and physically demanding loading work all raise fatality risks for transportation workers. For instance, trucking remains central to Mississippi’s economy and is the leading industry for workplace deaths. In rural states, longer emergency response times can further worsen outcomes after serious accidents.
Why Northeastern States Tend to Be Safer
Many Northeastern states reported workplace fatality rates well below the national average in 2024.
Part of that divide comes from industry mix. States like Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have larger concentrations of office-based employment and fewer workers in mining, drilling, agriculture, or logging.
Higher population density may also play a role. Urbanized states tend to have shorter transportation routes, more developed infrastructure, and faster access to hospitals and emergency services.
Geography Still Shapes Workplace Risk in America
The gap between America’s safest and deadliest workplaces highlights how closely occupational risk is tied to local economies.
In many higher-risk states, dangerous industries are also some of the best-paying and most economically important. Energy, transportation, agriculture, and heavy industry continue to support thousands of jobs despite the elevated risks.
That creates a difficult tradeoff for many local economies, where some of the most economically important industries also carry the highest workplace risks.
As a result, workplace safety in America varies sharply depending on the industries that dominate each state’s economy.
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on manufacturing jobs by state.
Israel Unleashes New Gaza Strikes Soon After Trump Says Iran Peace Deal ‘Largely Negotiated,’ Hormuz To Reopen As Final Terms Discussed
Summary
Israel launches significant new attacks on the Gaza Strip just as word of a tentative US-Iran peace deal is driving international headlines.
Trump says an Iran peace agreement has been “largely negotiated” and will be announced “shortly,” with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz included among the deal’s key elements.
Mediators believe they are edging closer to a deal to extend the US ceasefire with Iran by 60 days
Rubio from India: “There’s been some progress made. Even as I speak to you now, there’s some work being done.”
Trump says he’s a “solid 50/50” whether he would be able to make a “good” deal or else “blow them to kingdom come”.
Waiting game in Tehran, via Iran Foreign Ministry: “We need to wait and see what happens over the next three to four days.”
CBS says White House, Pentagon currently preparing for a new potential round of military strikes against Iran within the next three days.
Trump, officials have canceled prior travel plans: Trump says “Circumstances pertaining to Government” are keeping him from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding this weekend.
New Gaza Strikes, as Israel Accused of Trying to ‘Sabotage’ Tentative US-Iran Peace Deal
Reuters is confirming new significant strikes on Gaza just as Washington unveiled that a tentative peace deal with Iran has been “largely negotiated” and is at the goal line:
Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including two members of the Hamas-run police force, health officials said, in violence that underscored the fragility of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed one person and wounded two others in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
The development is being met with accusations that Israel could be trying to sabotage what it may see as a ‘bad deal’ with Tehran. All of this has been met with polarized and mixed reaction across the political spectrum:
— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) May 23, 2026
Ted Cruz not happy…
I am deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran “deal,” being pushed by some voices in the administration.
President Trump’s decision to strike Iran was the most consequential decision of his second term. He was right to do so, and we achieved extraordinary…
Trump: Iran Deal “Largely Negotiated,” Hormuz Reopening Included
President Trump has now posted that an Iran peace agreement has been “largely negotiated” and is “subject to finalization” between the United States, Iran, and the regional governments involved in the talks.
Trump said he remains in the Oval Office after what he described as a “very good call” with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, focused on a Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to “PEACE.” He also said he separately spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that call “likewise, went very well.”
“Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly,” Trump wrote. Most notably, he said that, as part of the agreement, “the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.”
The statement marks a major escalation from earlier comments that talks were merely progressing, though Trump framed the agreement as not yet finalized. Key unresolved issues remain unclear, including Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, frozen assets, and the mechanics of reopening and administering Hormuz.
Needless to say, if this holds through Tuesday, your ears may pop from the sudden change in elevation.
US and Iran Move Closer to Extending Ceasefire by 60 days, say Mediators
The FT reports that mediators believe they are edging closer to a deal to extend the US ceasefire with Iran by 60 days and lay the framework for discussions on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.
People briefed on the high-stakes talks said it would include a gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a commitment to discuss the diluting or handing over of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
🇮🇷 Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman:
▫️We are focused on finalizing the MOU
▫️A 30 and 60 day timeframe is included in the text of the MOU.
▫️But as long as the MOU has not been agreed, this period has not yet begun.
— Nader Itayim | نادر ایتیّم (@ncitayim) May 23, 2026
The US would also ease its blockade of Iranian ports and, in phases, agree to sanctions relief and unfreezing Tehran’s assets held overseas.
Donald Trump told Axios on Saturday that he would meet his senior officials to discuss the proposal, but the US president added it was a “solid 50/50” whether he would be able to make a “good” deal or else “blow them to kingdom come”.
He was also expected to hold a call with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey on Saturday, an Arab official said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday said progress has been made in the ongoing peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, saying the war will be solved “one way or the other” amid a visit to India.
“There’s been some progress made. Even as I speak to you now, there’s some work being done,” Rubio told reporters in Delhi. “This issue needs to be solved, as the president said, one way or the other.”
The US top diplomat has issued a lot of words but with little substance in terms of anything ‘new’ suggesting any level of breakthrough:
Rubio: “There might be some news (on Iran) later today. There may not be. I hope there will be. I am not sure yet. There has been some progress done. Even as I speak to you now there is some work being done. There is a chance that maybe later today, tomorrow, maybe couple of days we may have something to say, but this issue needs to be solved one way or another. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. The strait needs to be open without tolls. They need to Give their enriched Uranium. We need to address the issue of enrichment. The president’s preference is to deal with it in a diplomatic way. That is what we are working on right now.”
Latest Statements from Tehran on Draft Status
Via Bloomberg: Iran’s talks with the US are focused on ending the war on all fronts, and neither the nuclear issue nor sanctions are being discussed at this stage, state TV cites Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying:
“We need to wait and see what happens over the next three to four days.”
“After the memorandum of understanding is finalized, it will have to be negotiated in later stages.”
“The final draft of an agreement text between Iran and the US is still under review.”
Says 30- and 60-day timeframes have been included in the text.
“In recent days discussions and proposals were raised regarding certain points and wording where differences of opinion still existed. Some of these are still under review and pending final assessment.”
“At this very early stage, the matter of releasing frozen assets must be clarified.”
War Preparation Underway: CBS
CBS is reporting that the Trump administration, specifically the Pentagon – as well as intelligence community officials – are currently preparing for a new potential round of military strikes against Iran within the next three days.
However, like with much of the latest speculation and reporting regarding what comes next in the Iran war, the report included the important caveat that nothing is ultimately confirmed or final: “No final decision on strikes had been reached as of Friday afternoon.”
“Some members of the US military and intelligence community canceled their plans for the Memorial Day weekend in anticipation of possible strikes,” several sources said.
“Defense and intelligence officials began updating recall rosters for US installations overseas as tranches of troops stationed in the Middle East rotate out of theater, part of an effort to reduce the American military footprint in the region amid concern about possible Iranian retaliation,” CBS said.
Trump Sticking Near Oval
Additionally, Trump’s own Truth Social post about missing his son’s wedding has set off an avalanche of speculation that renewed attacks are imminent.
“Circumstances pertaining to Government” are keeping him from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding this weekend, Trump wrote in the post. “I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time. Congratulations to Don and Bettina!” Trump said. The day prior he had been vague in answering reporters’ questions on the matter.
“He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it,” he had said. A number of pundits noted the ease with which he frequently goes down to Florida to play golf, and that it’s strange that he would now miss his son’s wedding. However, the wedding is being held out of country, at a small island in the Bahamas, and so this does bring with it extra logistical and security planning and logistics.
As for potential new military action, it’s obvious that Trump has been growing increasingly impatient and frustrated about Iran’s lack of compromise when it comes to negotiations over several days and weeks.
The White House has made recovery of the country’s enriched uranium a top priority, while Tehran has repeatedly slammed the door on this as an option and has not budged. The Iranians aren’t even making the nuclear issue part of talks to achieve peace, and have made clear their view this would be for future, post-war negotiations.
More Latest Negotiations Back-and-Forth
US-Iran de-escalation hopes drove crude oil and rates lower and put a bid in equities by the end of Friday’s trading day, amid speculation that President Trump would stay at the White House over Memorial Day weekend instead of attending Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson’s wedding celebrations in the Bahamas.
“As Iran/oil/rates pressure eased on de-escalation hopes, leadership rotated toward small caps, equal weight, housing, transports, discretionary, and selective defensive growth, with short covering in high short-interest/profitless tech and consumer cyclicals reinforcing the catch-up trade,” UBS analyst Torsten Sippel wrote in a note to clients late Friday.
Early Saturday morning, Bloomberg reports that President Trump held a phone call with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, regarding Pakistani-led efforts to de-escalate Gulf tensions and preserve the fragile US-Iran ceasefire.
Iran’s top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf met Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir in Tehran earlier today amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to bring the US and Iran to a peace deal, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state media. Ghalibaf told Munir that Iran’s Armed Forces “have rebuilt themselves during the cease-fire in such a way that if Trump foolishly restarts the war, they will definitely be more crushing and bitter for the U.S. than on the first day of the war.” The Iranian top negotiator also said, “We will not compromise on the rights of our nation and country.”
There was a series of headlines from Sky News Arabia, citing sources, indicating that a major push for regional diplomacy was underway earlier today, with officials from Iraq, Oman, Jordan, and Qatar working to mediate with Tehran to avert another flare-up in the conflict. Sky News Arabia sources said Pakistan’s mediator helped break the deadlock over the Iranian nuclear file, though several major issues remain unresolved, including the conflict in Lebanon, sanctions on bank accounts, the status of Iranian ports, and the presence of U.S. military forces in the Gulf area.
Iran is reportedly demanding the lifting of restrictions on its ports and a U.S. military withdrawal from the region before reopening the Strait of Hormuz and entering a new round of talks within 30 days.
There is also a reported internal conflict between Iran’s government and the Revolutionary Guard over Tehran’s negotiating demands.
Latest Headline Round-Up
Latest negotiation headlines (via sources) from Sky News Arabia:
Iranian Foreign Ministry: Iraqi and the Omani Foreign Minister discuss in a phone call the ongoing diplomatic efforts to prevent escalation
The foreign ministers of Jordan and Qatar affirm the necessity of concerted efforts to ensure the success of mediation efforts with Iran to reach a sustainable solution that addresses all the roots of the crisis and prevents the renewal of escalation.
The Foreign Ministers of Jordan and Qatar affirm the continuation of coordination of efforts to support targeted mediation aimed at ending the escalation in the region and restoring security and stability.
Sources to Sky News Arabia: The Pakistani mediator has succeeded in overcoming the deadlock on the Iranian nuclear file.
Sources to Sky News Arabia: The issues that have not yet been resolved include stopping the war in Lebanon and lifting the ban on financial accounts.
Sources to Sky News Arabia: Iran demands the lifting of the siege on Iranian ports and the withdrawal of military forces from the region to open the Strait of Hormuz and proceed to a round of negotiations within a 30-day timeframe.
Sources to Sky News Arabia: There is a severe disagreement between the Iranian government and the Revolutionary Guard regarding Iran’s demands for negotiations.
Additional overnight headlines (courtesy of Bloomberg):
Economic Impact
The dollar ended the week nearly unchanged as risk assets got a boost from optimism around US-Iran peace talks [BN]
Germany’s business outlook improved for the first time since the Iran war began, with an expectations index rising to 83.8 in May [BN]
UK retail sales fell 1.3% as consumers made fewer car journeys amid the global energy shock from the Iran war [BN]
Qatar Airways will skip bonuses for almost 60,000 workers this year after the war forced cancellation of tens of thousands of flights [BN]
Military Readiness
The US halted arms sales to Taiwan to ensure sufficient munitions for the Iran war, according to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao [BN]
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard resigned from her post, with her anti-war views having spurred tension with the White House [BN]
Trade Disruption
Japan is set to receive its first Persian Gulf oil shipment to transit the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, with the Idemitsu Maru carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude [BN]
Anglo American is redirecting Brazilian iron ore output to Asia as the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz prevents shipments to Bahrain Steel [BN]
Gunman Dead, Bystander Wounded After Large Shootout With Secret Service Near White House, Trump Safe
After a very busy day in Washington and at the White House, given the Saturday flurry of diplomatic activity over the announcement of a tentative Iran peace deal, but which is still awaiting word and some details from Tehran, a deadly shooting erupted just outside the White House, resulting in a massive security and response and presence.
President Trump was at the White House when at around 6pm ET the Secret Service responded in a hail of gunfire as 21-year-old Maryland man Nasire Best opened fire at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The president is safe, and the emergency has been declared over.
Somewhere between approximately 15 to 30 gunshots were fired, according to CBS News, which spoke to local law enforcement. President Trump was at the White House during the incident, “but was not impacted,” the Secret Service spokesperson later announced.
A bystander was wounded, and the suspect was hit by by Secret Service officers upon returning fire. The gunman was wounded and taken to the hospital, where he later died.
I was in the middle of taping on my iPhone for a social video from the White House North Lawn when we heard the shots. It sounded like dozens of gunshots. We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now. pic.twitter.com/iqdQwh4soq
CBS reports upon the suspect’s name being identified that “According to the source, Best had a previous run-in with Secret Service in July 2025 in which he tried to gain entry to the White House and was arrested and sent to a psychiatric ward for mental health issues.”
A complete White House lockdown as since been lifted. According to more emerging details:
The Secret Service confirmed a couple of hours after the shooting that the man had died after exchanging fire with its agents.
The man had approached a White House security checkpoint and pulled a gun from his bag before opening fire, according to the Secret Service. Law enforcement shot back and wounded the man, who was taken to the hospital where he died.
Fox reporting that an innocent bystander was hit when a gunman and Secret Service exchanged gunfire near the White House. Condition unknown. pic.twitter.com/mFKad4aZWg
As for the wounded bystander, the victim’s information has not been released, and his condition not immediately known – after being rushed to the hospital.
Per CBS, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson both praised the rapid response of the Secret Service as the shooting unfolded
In a post on X, Thune declared he is “grateful for the Secret Service and the agents’ decisive actions to protect President Trump and everyone at and around the White House this evening.”
Twenty-seven countries have moved to activate emergency World Bank financing mechanisms since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, Reuters reported Friday.
Three nations have already received approval for fast-tracked funding, while the other 24 are in the process of completing administrative procedures.
Kenya and Iraq have publicly confirmed they are seeking emergency World Bank assistance, with Nairobi facing surging domestic fuel prices and Baghdad grappling with severely diminished oil revenues due to disruptions in maritime exports.
The 27 nations are drawn from a pool of 101 countries with access to pre-arranged contingent financing, including 54 that are enrolled in the World Bank’s Rapid Response Option, a mechanism that allows sovereign borrowers to immediately redirect up to 10 percent of their undisbursed project balances.
World Bank President Ajay Banga has outlined a three-tier funding structure. Between $20 billion and $25 billion is available immediately through existing crisis instruments, rising to $60 billion within six months if the bank reorients parts of its broader portfolio, with longer-term structural changes capable of pushing the total to around $100 billion.
Activity at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by contrast, has been minimal.
Despite Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva anticipating that up to a dozen nations would seek between $20 billion and $50 billion in emergency assistance, sources told Reuters that very few formal requests have been filed, with countries in a “wait-and-see mode.”
The IMF previously warned that the US-Israeli war on Iran has significantly worsened the global economic outlook by disrupting energy markets, raising inflation, and weakening growth prospects worldwide.
It said the war had reduced expected global growth from 3.4 percent to 3.1 percent, significantly worsened inflation, and posed major risks of further deterioration in energy supply routes.
From world markets still feeling the sting of the Iran war, to a host of central banks bracing for their next moves, these are the stories to watch in business and finance in the coming week https://t.co/xIhHy1MlEIpic.twitter.com/oqpUcNcUx9
The IMF added that prolonged fighting could deepen regional economic damage, potentially push the global economy toward recession-level growth, heighten uncertainty in financial markets, and accelerate broader geopolitical and economic instability.
Ferrari Fever Hits Samsung, SK Hynix Workers As AI Memory Boom Mints New Wealth
The global memory boom, with Samsung at the epicenter of the production ecosystem, appears to be generating a sudden wealth effect among some employees, with local media reporting that newly enriched chip workers are now panic-buying luxury sports cars.
A short clip from MBC News, the news division of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation and one of South Korea’s top national TV and radio broadcasters, featured at least one exotic car dealership reporting a sharp uptick in Samsung Electronics and Hynix employees seeking to buy high-end sports cars.
“We’ve been getting dozens of phone calls every day for the past month. The customers coming in are mostly employees from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. There have been a lot more people coming to look at cars priced over 100 million won (~$73,000 USD),” a MBC reporter could be heard saying in the news segment.
Just in: Employees at high-end and supercar dealerships in Korea say their showrooms are packed with Samsung and SK hynix employees. pic.twitter.com/LuCxWj3cpS
Google Search trends confirm a recent spike in internet searches for “Ferrari dealer” as Samsung and SK Hynix have become the world’s most important memory companies.
Shares of Samsung and SK Hynix have gone absolutely parabolic …
We suspect the exotic-car buying spree will accelerate once Samsung and its largest union reach a new labor deal. Voting begins Saturday. Coverage here.
“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.”
– Will and Ariel Durant, The Story Of Civilization
Enemy Within
How does a superpower die?
Does it come from the blinding kill shot of a hypersonic missile streaking through the sky? Or, perhaps, a rogue cyberattack that mortally destroys the national power grid?
Will the end of America come with foreign tanks rolling through New York or a massive, coordinated amphibious attack on Los Angeles?
These dramatic scenarios make for captivating conjecture. But they’re highly unlikely. If you look at the autopsy reports of the world’s greatest empires, the ultimate cause of death is rarely a sudden, overwhelming external blow.
Long before the barbarians breached the gates of Rome, the Roman denarius had been systematically devalued into a glorified copper token to fund a bloated bureaucracy. This was characterized by widespread domestic corruption and endless military expansion.
So, too, long before the British Empire reluctantly packed up its global flags, it realized the staggering cost of multiple wars had left it financially bankrupt, structurally hollowed out, and entirely dependent on American loans.
Great civilizations don’t usually get slaughtered by their rivals. They commit slow, sophisticated, economically optimized suicide.
As we move through 2026, the United States is following a well-worn, dangerous path. But it’s traversing it at a speed and scale that would leave ancient Rome in the dust.
The reality that no politician will publicly admit is that America’s out-of-control federal spending and its monstrous, multi-trillion-dollar financial system are doing far more structural damage to the country’s long-term survival than any foreign adversary ever could.
By burying the nation in unpayable debt, Congress is willingly destroying America from the inside. Hence, the greatest threat to our future lies not across the ocean, but directly within our own borders.
Act Of War
Let’s talk about the ghastly numbers. They’re often ignored by the general population because our brains are hardwired to glaze over when we start talking about trillions. Here we’ll break them down for you.
Right now, the official U.S. national debt has blown past $39 trillion. To put that into perspective, if you spent one dollar every single second, it would take you about 32,000 years to spend $1 trillion. America owes 39 of those.
But the real issue isn’t just the total balance on Washington’s credit card. It’s the cost of keeping the account active. The yield on a 30-year Treasury bond recently climbed above 5 percent for the first time in nearly 20 years. Yet today’s balance is much larger than it was 20 years ago. When you owe $39 trillion, even a tiny uptick in interest rates transforms your budget into an insurmountable nightmare.
America is currently burning through roughly $3 billion every single day just to pay the interest on its existing debt.
Think about that for a second. Before a single pothole is filled, before a single soldier is paid, before a single school lunch is funded, or a Medicare claim is processed, $3 billion dollars vanishes into thin air every 24 hours. It doesn’t buy new equipment, it doesn’t rebuild infrastructure, and it doesn’t help struggling families. It’s purely the cost of treading water.
Instead of investing in the future, we’re paying for the profligacy of the past.
If a foreign nation managed to sabotage the U.S. economy so severely that it drained $3 billion a day out of the federal Treasury, it would be viewed as an act of war. We would mobilize the military.
Yet, because this bleeding is caused by our own fiscal policy, we pretend it isn’t happening and go back to scrolling on our phones.
Vicious Doom Loop
The entire American lifestyle – and by extension, the global economy – is built on the singular, fragile assumption that the rest of the world will always want to buy American debt. For decades, this was a safe bet. Treasuries were considered risk free in terms of default.
The U.S. dollar, while under threat of the U.S. government’s making, remains king of the global financial system – for now. When global chaos hits, investors run to U.S. Treasuries like a safe harbor in a storm. This exorbitant privilege allowed Washington to spend money it didn’t have without facing immediate consequences.
But that privilege resulted in a dangerous lack of discipline and created a catastrophic level of arrogance. Politicians on both sides of the aisle began treating the national debt like a meaningless artifact. To Congress, and as elaborated by the late Dick Cheney, “deficits don’t matter.”
Unfortunately, the mathematics of debt do matter. And right now, the system is locked into a vicious, mechanical doom loop. Here’s how it works…
Every month, while you pay your bills, live within your means, and balance your personal finance books, the Treasury issues mountains of new debt just to pay off the old debt that’s maturing. All the while, it’s borrowing more to cover current overspending. Yet, because the market is getting flooded with U.S. bonds, investors are demanding higher yields.
Higher yields mean refinancing becomes more expensive. More expensive refinancing creates even larger deficits. Larger deficits require issuing even more bonds.
The financial system is, in effect, cannibalizing itself to stay alive. No enemy army could design a more effective trap to paralyze the American financial system.
When an enemy attacks, the damage is obvious. Buildings fall, smoke rises, and the country rallies together. But when financial decay sets in the destruction is deceptive. For many people, the cause is unclear.
Inside Job
Over the decades, American leaders assumed the world had no choice but to use the dollar. Where else were they going to go?
But our adversaries and allies alike have watched this fiscal train wreck unfold and are methodically diversifying their reserves. They realize that a superpower running a $39 trillion deficit is a precarious foundation for the global economy.
Central banks around the world have accelerated their gold purchases to historic levels. Countries like China have been systematically reducing their holdings of long-term U.S. Treasuries.
It’s not a sudden boycott of the dollar. Rather, it’s a slow calculated diversification. As the rest of the world lightens up on their purchases of U.S. debt, the Federal Reserve becomes the buyer of last resort. That means creating credit out of thin air to buy U.S. Treasuries. This is a formula for runaway inflation. The type that has destroyed countless currencies throughout history.
To be clear, Fed asset purchases have been occurring for much of the 21st century. So, too, have U.S. government policies of dollar debasement. This sophisticated state-sponsored suicide takes place in ongoing Congressional hearings, mundane Treasury auctions, continuous debt ceiling increases, pretend government shutdowns, and carefully scripted statements by the Fed using concocted syntaxes that are designed to keep people from panicking.
As America closes in on its 250-year anniversary it’s being drained of its capital. The government continues to borrow tomorrow’s prosperity to pay for today’s political promises. All the while, the people watch the infrastructure of the nation’s cities crumble as $3 billion a day is directed to service interest payments. The currency buys less and less every year, forcing citizens onto an endless economic hamster wheel.
Alas, it hasn’t taken an enemy to destroy America. Our politicians have already done the job for them.
Iran has destroyed $1bn worth of MQ-9 Reaper Drones, or roughly 20 percent of the US’s pre-war inventory of the sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.
The report said that many of the drones were downed by Iran in flight, but that others had been destroyed on the ground when Iran targeted US military bases in the Gulf.
The MQ-9 is both a surveillance drone and capable of carrying a payload, typically Hellfire missiles or Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs.
Bloomberg reported that the US may have lost up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war, a higher number than the 24 that a report released this month by the Congressional Research Service noted.
The $1bn price tag adds to the cost of the war on Iran, which a senior official at the Pentagon told Reuters in May reached up to $29bn. The MQ-9 Reaper drone is being gradually phased out by the US military, although General Atomics continues to produce it for foreign customers.
Iran’s ability to shoot down MQ-9 Reaper Drones is another demonstration of how it has managed to deploy some air defense, despite claims from US President Donald Trump that the country’s defences have been “obliterated”.
A US official told The New York Times this week that Iranian military commanders may have mapped out flight patterns of US fighter jets and bombers over their skies, raising the risks should Trump decide to restart the war on Iran.
Days before the US and Iran reached a fragile ceasefire in April, Iran shot down a F-15E Strike Eagle warplane, sparking a massive US recovery operation for the pilots. If Iran had been able to capture the US pilot alive, it would have put tremendous pressure on Washington, experts say.
The New York Times reported that Russia may have helped Iran map US flight patterns in order to better position their military assets and air defense systems.
Iran and Russia have a long-standing security arrangement. Russia has assisted Iran by providing satellite imagery of US warships and military personnel, according to multiple US media reports.
Various regional media had featured reports of downed Reaper drones through March into April, at the height of the air war over Iran:
🇾🇪 Iranian and regional media outlets, including Iran’s Fars News Agency, are reporting the downing of a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen’s Marib province, the key oil and gas region located in north-central Yemen today.
Iran’s air defence comprises a mix of domestically produced systems along with Russian and Chinese systems.
Middle East Eye was the first to report that China had provided air defence batteries to Iran, following the June 2025 war that culminated in the US bombing three Iranian nuclear sites.
Disney is asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to declare the daytime talk show “The View” a “bona fide news” program to bypass the federal equal opportunities law, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced May 22.
The show, co-hosted by Joy Behar, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Ana Navarro, has come under scrutiny in recent years for its programming that heavily favored progressive guests and commentary.
In February, Carr told reporters the agency was investigating whether the show violated the federal “equal time” requirements for political candidates.
The equal time rule requires broadcast radio and television stations to give comparable airtime to legally qualified political candidates.
In May, Disney-owned TV stations KTRK-TV, Houston, Texas, and American Broadcasting Companies (ABC) filed a request with the agency to exempt the show.
“The companies … suggest in their Petition that they believe the federal equal opportunities statute itself would not survive First Amendment scrutiny today or at least if it is applied today to ‘The View’ would not survive any such review,” the FCC stated in a public notice issued May 22. “The companies also point to a letter from an FCC staffer from 2002 in support of their argument that ‘The View’ qualifies as bona fide news.”
If FCC commissioners exempt “The View” from the equal time rule, the program would be allowed to continue having almost exclusively left-leaning politicians and guests on to discuss political issues.
“Disney argues that The View qualifies as ‘bona fide news’ under the law, comparing itself to Meet The Press or Face The Nation,” Carr posted on X. “Therefore, Disney argues, it can have one partisan candidate for office on The View while denying equal opportunities to all others.”
Under the law, television shows don’t qualify as news shows if their content is based on partisan purposes, such as if they intend to harm someone’s candidacy for office, Carr said.
The FCC has opened public comment on the request, allowing written comments until June 22, before commissioners consider the request.
Stations can petition the FCC to seek exemptions from the rule for bona fide news programming.
Congress created exemptions for two news programs, “Meet the Press” and “Face The Nation,” in 1959 by passing an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934, because of the traditional question-and-answer formats used.
Congress passed the equal time rule to prevent media gatekeepers from deciding the outcomes of elections, Carr said.
“The law, even when it applies, does not prohibit anyone from having any candidate appear on any show,” Carr said. “Rather, Congress intended it to empower voters with more information and encourage more speech.”
In April, the FCC ordered an early review of license renewals for Disney’s ABC television stations as part of an ongoing investigation into whether the company and its stations were following federal communications laws and rules.
Trump Says Iran Peace Deal ‘Largely Negotiated,’ Hormuz To Reopen As Final Terms Discussed
Summary
Trump says an Iran peace agreement has been “largely negotiated” and will be announced “shortly,” with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz included among the deal’s key elements.
Mediators believe they are edging closer to a deal to extend the US ceasefire with Iran by 60 days
Rubio from India: “There’s been some progress made. Even as I speak to you now, there’s some work being done.”
Trump says he’s a “solid 50/50” whether he would be able to make a “good” deal or else “blow them to kingdom come”.
Waiting game in Tehran, via Iran Foreign Ministry: “We need to wait and see what happens over the next three to four days.”
CBS says White House, Pentagon currently preparing for a new potential round of military strikes against Iran within the next three days.
Trump, officials have canceled prior travel plans: Trump says “Circumstances pertaining to Government” are keeping him from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding this weekend.
Trump: Iran Deal “Largely Negotiated,” Hormuz Reopening Included
President Trump has now posted that an Iran peace agreement has been “largely negotiated” and is “subject to finalization” between the United States, Iran, and the regional governments involved in the talks.
Trump said he remains in the Oval Office after what he described as a “very good call” with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, focused on a Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to “PEACE.” He also said he separately spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that call “likewise, went very well.”
“Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly,” Trump wrote. Most notably, he said that, as part of the agreement, “the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.”
The statement marks a major escalation from earlier comments that talks were merely progressing, though Trump framed the agreement as not yet finalized. Key unresolved issues remain unclear, including Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, frozen assets, and the mechanics of reopening and administering Hormuz.
Needless to say, if this holds through Tuesday, your ears may pop from the sudden change in elevation.
US and Iran Move Closer to Extending Ceasefire by 60 days, say Mediators
The FT reports that mediators believe they are edging closer to a deal to extend the US ceasefire with Iran by 60 days and lay the framework for discussions on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.
People briefed on the high-stakes talks said it would include a gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a commitment to discuss the diluting or handing over of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
🇮🇷 Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman:
▫️We are focused on finalizing the MOU
▫️A 30 and 60 day timeframe is included in the text of the MOU.
▫️But as long as the MOU has not been agreed, this period has not yet begun.
— Nader Itayim | نادر ایتیّم (@ncitayim) May 23, 2026
The US would also ease its blockade of Iranian ports and, in phases, agree to sanctions relief and unfreezing Tehran’s assets held overseas.
Donald Trump told Axios on Saturday that he would meet his senior officials to discuss the proposal, but the US president added it was a “solid 50/50” whether he would be able to make a “good” deal or else “blow them to kingdom come”.
He was also expected to hold a call with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey on Saturday, an Arab official said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday said progress has been made in the ongoing peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, saying the war will be solved “one way or the other” amid a visit to India.
“There’s been some progress made. Even as I speak to you now, there’s some work being done,” Rubio told reporters in Delhi. “This issue needs to be solved, as the president said, one way or the other.”
The US top diplomat has issued a lot of words but with little substance in terms of anything ‘new’ suggesting any level of breakthrough:
Rubio: “There might be some news (on Iran) later today. There may not be. I hope there will be. I am not sure yet. There has been some progress done. Even as I speak to you now there is some work being done. There is a chance that maybe later today, tomorrow, maybe couple of days we may have something to say, but this issue needs to be solved one way or another. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. The strait needs to be open without tolls. They need to Give their enriched Uranium. We need to address the issue of enrichment. The president’s preference is to deal with it in a diplomatic way. That is what we are working on right now.”
Latest Statements from Tehran on Draft Status
Via Bloomberg: Iran’s talks with the US are focused on ending the war on all fronts, and neither the nuclear issue nor sanctions are being discussed at this stage, state TV cites Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying:
“We need to wait and see what happens over the next three to four days.”
“After the memorandum of understanding is finalized, it will have to be negotiated in later stages.”
“The final draft of an agreement text between Iran and the US is still under review.”
Says 30- and 60-day timeframes have been included in the text.
“In recent days discussions and proposals were raised regarding certain points and wording where differences of opinion still existed. Some of these are still under review and pending final assessment.”
“At this very early stage, the matter of releasing frozen assets must be clarified.”
War Preparation Underway: CBS
CBS is reporting that the Trump administration, specifically the Pentagon – as well as intelligence community officials – are currently preparing for a new potential round of military strikes against Iran within the next three days.
However, like with much of the latest speculation and reporting regarding what comes next in the Iran war, the report included the important caveat that nothing is ultimately confirmed or final: “No final decision on strikes had been reached as of Friday afternoon.”
“Some members of the US military and intelligence community canceled their plans for the Memorial Day weekend in anticipation of possible strikes,” several sources said.
“Defense and intelligence officials began updating recall rosters for US installations overseas as tranches of troops stationed in the Middle East rotate out of theater, part of an effort to reduce the American military footprint in the region amid concern about possible Iranian retaliation,” CBS said.
Trump Sticking Near Oval
Additionally, Trump’s own Truth Social post about missing his son’s wedding has set off an avalanche of speculation that renewed attacks are imminent.
“Circumstances pertaining to Government” are keeping him from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding this weekend, Trump wrote in the post. “I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time. Congratulations to Don and Bettina!” Trump said. The day prior he had been vague in answering reporters’ questions on the matter.
“He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it,” he had said. A number of pundits noted the ease with which he frequently goes down to Florida to play golf, and that it’s strange that he would now miss his son’s wedding. However, the wedding is being held out of country, at a small island in the Bahamas, and so this does bring with it extra logistical and security planning and logistics.
As for potential new military action, it’s obvious that Trump has been growing increasingly impatient and frustrated about Iran’s lack of compromise when it comes to negotiations over several days and weeks.
The White House has made recovery of the country’s enriched uranium a top priority, while Tehran has repeatedly slammed the door on this as an option and has not budged. The Iranians aren’t even making the nuclear issue part of talks to achieve peace, and have made clear their view this would be for future, post-war negotiations.
More Latest Negotiations Back-and-Forth
US-Iran de-escalation hopes drove crude oil and rates lower and put a bid in equities by the end of Friday’s trading day, amid speculation that President Trump would stay at the White House over Memorial Day weekend instead of attending Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson’s wedding celebrations in the Bahamas.
“As Iran/oil/rates pressure eased on de-escalation hopes, leadership rotated toward small caps, equal weight, housing, transports, discretionary, and selective defensive growth, with short covering in high short-interest/profitless tech and consumer cyclicals reinforcing the catch-up trade,” UBS analyst Torsten Sippel wrote in a note to clients late Friday.
Early Saturday morning, Bloomberg reports that President Trump held a phone call with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, regarding Pakistani-led efforts to de-escalate Gulf tensions and preserve the fragile US-Iran ceasefire.
Iran’s top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf met Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir in Tehran earlier today amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to bring the US and Iran to a peace deal, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state media. Ghalibaf told Munir that Iran’s Armed Forces “have rebuilt themselves during the cease-fire in such a way that if Trump foolishly restarts the war, they will definitely be more crushing and bitter for the U.S. than on the first day of the war.” The Iranian top negotiator also said, “We will not compromise on the rights of our nation and country.”
There was a series of headlines from Sky News Arabia, citing sources, indicating that a major push for regional diplomacy was underway earlier today, with officials from Iraq, Oman, Jordan, and Qatar working to mediate with Tehran to avert another flare-up in the conflict. Sky News Arabia sources said Pakistan’s mediator helped break the deadlock over the Iranian nuclear file, though several major issues remain unresolved, including the conflict in Lebanon, sanctions on bank accounts, the status of Iranian ports, and the presence of U.S. military forces in the Gulf area.
Iran is reportedly demanding the lifting of restrictions on its ports and a U.S. military withdrawal from the region before reopening the Strait of Hormuz and entering a new round of talks within 30 days.
There is also a reported internal conflict between Iran’s government and the Revolutionary Guard over Tehran’s negotiating demands.
Latest Headline Round-Up
Latest negotiation headlines (via sources) from Sky News Arabia:
Iranian Foreign Ministry: Iraqi and the Omani Foreign Minister discuss in a phone call the ongoing diplomatic efforts to prevent escalation
The foreign ministers of Jordan and Qatar affirm the necessity of concerted efforts to ensure the success of mediation efforts with Iran to reach a sustainable solution that addresses all the roots of the crisis and prevents the renewal of escalation.
The Foreign Ministers of Jordan and Qatar affirm the continuation of coordination of efforts to support targeted mediation aimed at ending the escalation in the region and restoring security and stability.
Sources to Sky News Arabia: The Pakistani mediator has succeeded in overcoming the deadlock on the Iranian nuclear file.
Sources to Sky News Arabia: The issues that have not yet been resolved include stopping the war in Lebanon and lifting the ban on financial accounts.
Sources to Sky News Arabia: Iran demands the lifting of the siege on Iranian ports and the withdrawal of military forces from the region to open the Strait of Hormuz and proceed to a round of negotiations within a 30-day timeframe.
Sources to Sky News Arabia: There is a severe disagreement between the Iranian government and the Revolutionary Guard regarding Iran’s demands for negotiations.
Additional overnight headlines (courtesy of Bloomberg):
Economic Impact
The dollar ended the week nearly unchanged as risk assets got a boost from optimism around US-Iran peace talks [BN]
Germany’s business outlook improved for the first time since the Iran war began, with an expectations index rising to 83.8 in May [BN]
UK retail sales fell 1.3% as consumers made fewer car journeys amid the global energy shock from the Iran war [BN]
Qatar Airways will skip bonuses for almost 60,000 workers this year after the war forced cancellation of tens of thousands of flights [BN]
Military Readiness
The US halted arms sales to Taiwan to ensure sufficient munitions for the Iran war, according to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao [BN]
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard resigned from her post, with her anti-war views having spurred tension with the White House [BN]
Trade Disruption
Japan is set to receive its first Persian Gulf oil shipment to transit the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, with the Idemitsu Maru carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude [BN]
Anglo American is redirecting Brazilian iron ore output to Asia as the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz prevents shipments to Bahrain Steel [BN]
