Russia Touts Capture Of A Dozen Ukrainian Settlements In Opening Weeks Of March
The Russia-Ukraine war, now at the start of its fifth year, has largely fallen from daily global headlines, given the world’s attention – and markets – seem wholly focused on the fast-moving events of the Iran war, and the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz.
While many pundits are essentially ‘looking the other way’ – Russia continues gobbling up territory, and this week has announced its forces captured 12 settlements in just the first half of March. This comes as its offensives intensify in the east and south.
Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov touted the advances, declaring the push is broad-based and accelerating in all directions.
“The offensive is being conducted in all directions,” he has freshly announced, adding that “12 settlements have been liberated” in just two weeks.
This includes troops now “actively moving towards Sloviansk” – which remains one of the most heavily fortified Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk, while also claiming 60% control of Kostiantynivka amid ongoing urban combat.
There are running “street battles” in Kostiantynivka Gerasimov described of the assault which has reportedly pushed deeper into the city. Russia says it’s also establishing buffer zones along the Kharkiv and Sumy borders.
The Ukrainian military and government leaders are meanwhile pushing back against this. President Volodymyr Zelensky himself is seeking to contradict the Russian narrative of consistent battlefield gains.
“Ukraine’s defense forces have disrupted Russia’s strategic offensive operation,” Zelensky said Monday. “Although attacks are constant… their intensity and scale are not what Russia had planned.”
The dueling claims highlight a familiar pattern of the last several years of grinding war in the east – one of Moscow touting steady territorial gains, while Kiev insists its troops blunting and reversing the push, even as the front line remains fluid but on the whole somewhat stalemated.
NEW: Continued Ukrainian advances in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast are likely constraining Russian offensive operations in the Oleksandrivka direction and may soon threaten Russian offensive operations in the Hulyaipole direction. Ukrainian counterattacks in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast are… pic.twitter.com/bnNkNRpZJT
— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) March 17, 2026
But both sides have settled in for a war of attrition, and while neither side publishes freshly updated casualty figures, the lives lost from the tragic war is widely believed to be in the hundreds of thousands.
A year after Friedrich Merz’s narrow victory and the formation of a new grand coalition between the CDU-CSU and the SPD in May 2025, Nicolas Baverez writes about the existential crisis Germany is experiencing. A crisis on several levels.
Firstly, Germany is experiencing a demographic crisis, with its population expected to decline by 100,000 people by 2025. Secondly, the economic crisis, following successive recessions in 2023 and 2024 and very weak growth of 0.2 percent in 2025. Thirdly, the social crisis, with the end of full employment and rising unemployment (6.5 per cent of the economically active population), resulting from increasing layoffs (52,000 jobs lost in the automotive industry and 150,000 in metallurgy and electronics in 2025). And finally, fourthly, the strategic crisis resulting from the situation in which Germany finds itself trapped between Donald Trump’s illiberal America – which is no longer a protector but a predator – the military threat from Russia and the economic domination and unfair competition of China.
And one answer from Friedrich Merz: Germany first and the militarization of Germany. According to Nicolas Baverez, Friedrich Merz found the answer to all his country’s problems in the militarization of Germany. To this end, he brought about a constitutional revision that allowed for the abolition of the debt brake limiting new federal loans and the creation of a special investment fund worth €500 billion.
Germany’s militarization entails converting part of its industrial capacity, particularly its automotive plants, into arms production. Spectacular expansion has been emphasized, as evidenced by the meteoric success of Rheinmetall, whose order book is approaching €55 billion. By 2025, Germany will become the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter, overtaking China (5.6 percent).
“It is regrettable that Germany is carrying out the rescue of its industry and its own armaments, ignoring and even overwhelming its partners,” concludes Nicolas Baverez. The columnist notes that Friedrich Merz’s goal is to strengthen Germany’s dominance over the European Union –its vast market and its currency – through control of the European Commission and the European Parliament. The goal is to redirect German industrial exports toward Europe, but also toward the dynamic poles of the global economy: China and the United States, ASEAN, Australia and Korea, India, and Latin America.
The Germans only care about their own particular interests. Nicolas Baverez isn’t afraid to make a very strong claim, one that hasn’t appeared in mainstream French journalism until now. He writes that Germany is subordinating the European Union to its own goals (taking advantage of the controlling role it has held over the EU since Brexit).
Another thesis of Nicolas Baverez, which has not been heard in the French media so far, is that Germany is responsible, and it is primarily responsible, for most of the strategic mistakes that have weakened Europe since the beginning of the 21st century: from the strong euro, through the deflationary response to the crash of 2008, the unilateral disarmament of the continent after 1989, the dismantling of the nuclear industry and distortions of energy policy, the methodical destruction of the car industry after the disclosure of Volkswagen’s fraudulent practices, to the unconditional opening of borders to immigration.
Such sharp “anti-German” theses have never been seen before in the most serious French press title, i.e. “Le Figaro”, at most in the right-wing “Journal du Dimanche”, where recently Philippe de Villiers came out with a hard and very sharp thesis: “Berlin is imposing its position on France, pushing it to the margins.”
Germans are freed from any guilt for World War II: It must come as a shock to anyone following mainstream French journalism that Nicolas Baverez’s piece in Le Figaro includes another sentence that has never before been used in French journalism. Until now, it has been careful not to offend its German neighbor. Now, however, Nicolas Baverez writes bluntly:
“Germany is reinventing itself today, with a sovereignty without borders, freed from all guilt and rooted in the memory of World War II. The return to a language and strategic stance serves a national ambition without complexes, which does not hesitate to directly clash with its partners. This is particularly true of France, whose economic ruin, financial insolvency, and the complete disgrace of its leaders are being exploited by Berlin to undermine its last remaining strengths in nuclear energy, defense, aviation, and the space sector.”
So Germany will once again build itself on the ambition, militarization, and weakness of “declining France.” And there is no doubt that this process overlaps with the changes possible both in Germany (here the shorthand for these changes is AfD) and in France (here the slogan is Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s National Rally ).
The return of German power also worries former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who writes in an article for “Wszystko co Słońca”: “If Germany actually allocates 5% of its GDP to armaments, it will not only be the greatest effort since the Cold War, but also a turning point for the balance of power in Europe.”
“Something new is beginning before our eyes: Germany’s industrial awakening, and with it—even more importantly – a military awakening. Berlin is emerging from decades of military minimalism and preparing to become a real power. This time, these are not symbolic gestures or image-boosting tactics – but a systemic change that must be monitored closely. And understood before it’s too late again.”
If Germany truly devotes 5% of its GDP to armaments, it will not only be the greatest effort since the Cold War, but also a turning point for the balance of power in Europe. And the return of German military power will no longer be a hypothesis—it will be a matter of time. And it is precisely this possibility that Germany is consistently preparing for—step by step, lifting budget constraints, mobilising special funds, and transforming state structures into a wartime economic mobilization mode…
There is no doubt that Germany is striving to build a world-class army, one of the greatest forces on the Old Continent. The sheer scale of the funds it intends to allocate to broadly defined defense expansion suggests that we’re talking about a decade rather than decades. Or, if the federal government makes the right decisions, even sooner. Berlin is clearly articulating its desire to expand its role in NATO structures and to take responsibility for European security , especially Mitteleuropa. If Germany maintains this chosen course, it could fundamentally alter the geopolitical security puzzle in Europe .
From the German perspective, two key aspects are worth noting: ensuring financing for armed forces modernization through stable economic growth and the ambition to build a common European defense system, including the creation of a European army. The foundation of both goals is a strong arms industry – one of the most powerful in Europe.
Rheinmetall, known for its production of Leopard 2 tanks, ammunition, and air defense systems, remains the leader in this sector. The company is rapidly increasing its production capacity – in 2025, it will invest €600 million to produce 350,000 artillery shells annually. In 2024, it achieved record profits and an order book worth €55 billion. It’s worth noting that Rheinmetall has just entered into cooperation with the American Anduril – a symbol of a new arms paradigm based on AI and automation – which, somewhat contrary to Münchau’s thesis, demonstrates that Germany not only maintains its ambitions but is attempting to leapfrog into the technological vanguard. Meanwhile, companies like Anduril and Palantir remain virtually nonexistent on the map of decision-makers in Warsaw.
In addition to Rheinmetall, other significant companies operate: TKMS (warships), Hensoldt (battlefield radars and sensors), which is closely monitoring the changes on the battlefield in Ukraine, and Diehl Defence (air defense systems and precision weapons). The scale of public investment translates into tangible benefits – as shown, every €1 billion spent translates into a €1.23 billion increase in production, and the sector already employs nearly 400,000 people. German arms exports reached a record €13.2 billion in 2024.
History teaches us that industrial and military potential can be just as easily used as a tool of defense as it is a means of pressure – internal or external. The German arms industry, recently rebuilt on such a grand scale, is not developing in a vacuum. On the contrary, it is maturing in an atmosphere of political turmoil and growing support for parties challenging the post-war consensus. The Alternative for Germany (AfD), increasingly strong in the east of the country and leading in polls in some federal states, is openly questioning the pillars of Berlin’s current policy – both towards Russia, the EU, NATO, and the United States.
Importing people who hate America didn’t end well.
See if you can spot any similarities in these four events.
During the weekend, President Donald Trump attacked Iran, Ndiaga Diagne opened fire at a bar in Austin. He wore a “Property of Allah” sweatshirt on top of an Iranian flag shirt.
He killed three people and injured more than a dozen before police shot him dead.
Diagne was a citizen of Senegal. He entered the United States in 2000 on a tourist visa and became a naturalized citizen in 2013.
On Saturday, March 7, around 20 people protested Islam outside of Gracie Mansion, the home of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Around 125 people attended a counterprotest. Emir Balat, 18, then threw a bomb. Video suggests Balat screamed, “Allahu Akbar.” Video shows Balat grabbing a second bomb from Ibrahim Kayumi. Police saved the day, heroically subduing both men. Fortunately, neither explosive device detonated.
Balat later told police, “This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the prophet …. We take action!” according to the Department of Justice. Balat also wrote that he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
Kayumi said he was connected to ISIS, watched ISIS propaganda, and that ISIS inspired his actions.
Balat’s parents are naturalized citizens from Turkey. Kayumi’s parents are naturalized citizens from Afghanistan.
On Thursday, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh shouted “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire in an ROTC class at Old Dominion University. Jalloh killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, the retired military officer leading the class and injured two others before at least one brave student killed him.
Jalloh was a naturalized U.S. citizen who came from Sierra Leone. He had previously been convicted of supporting ISIS.
Also on Thursday, Ayman Ghazali rammed a truck filled with explosives into a Jewish synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan. There were around 140 children plus staff at its early childhood center at the time. The man left his vehicle with a rifle. He exchanged gunfire with armed security who shot and killed him. The FBI believes the man specifically targeted the Jewish community.
Ghazali came from Lebanon and legally entered the United States in 2011. He became a naturalized citizen in 2016.
There are three obvious takeaways here.
First, guns aren’t an inherent problem.
It’s a problem when bad guys have guns and a lifesaver when good guys have guns.
Next, America’s immigration system is broken.
The melting pot has boiled over. All cultures aren’t created equal and some simply aren’t compatible with American values. When “naturalized” citizens murder Americans, it shows the naturalization process didn’t work. Congressional Republicans should pass a bill making it easier to denaturalize and deport those with terrorist sympathies.
Finally, Muslim terrorism is a systemic problem—and one the left doesn’t want to talk about.
The left has no problem using isolated incidents as evidence of a widespread threat from white supremacy. But after the NYC bomb attack, inverse journalism made it sound like Mamdani was the intended target.
Willful blindness doesn’t end well. Look at the child rape scandal in the UK. Officials let abuse continue for years rather than risk being called racists for exposing that the perpetrators were largely Pakistani Muslims.
In a 2016 post on Twitter, now X, the late comedian Norm Macdonald perfectly skewered this mindset.
“What terrifies me is if ISIS were to detonate a nuclear device and kill 50 million Americans. Imagine the backlash against peaceful Muslims?” he wrote.
Islamophobia is a weapon that leftists wield to keep people from discussing and fixing an obvious problem. Many Muslims want to destroy the West and kill Americans. Ignoring that reality has led to deadly consequences.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
Footage Appears To Show China Mass-Producing Iranian-Style Kamikaze Drones
Across both conflict theaters, the Russia-Ukraine war in Eastern Europe and the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, there is one common denominator that stands out the loudest: the widespread use of cheap kamikaze drones.
Focusing on the Middle East, Iran’s counteroffensive strategy of mass kamikaze-drone swarms, missile barrages, and electronic warfare has exposed the limits of expensive U.S. and allied air-defense systems, whose interceptor missiles can cost millions of dollars apiece.
Operation Epic Fury risks devolving into a grinding war of attrition for U.S. and allied forces across the Gulf. Reports indicate that missile-interceptor stockpiles are running low, while separate reports say the U.S. has deployed a copycat Shahed-type drone into combat.
There have also been reports that Saudi Arabia could acquire Ukrainian interceptor drones to defend high-value assets, such as oil and gas facilities.
The point is that low-cost kamikaze drones are changing the economics of war. It is not sustainable for the U.S. and allied forces to use million-dollar interceptors against $20,000 Iranian drones.
The problem gets worse for the U.S. as a new report says Chinese private companies are mass-producing Shahed-type drones.
New footage published by The Sun appears to show Shahed-type drones being mass-produced at a factory in China. The footage was originally posted on the video platform Douyin.
Britain’s former security minister Tom Tugendhat commented on the report on X, saying, “Oh look – Iranian and Russian Shahed drones are being mass produced in China.”
Oh look – Iranian and Russian Shahed drones are being mass produced in China.
This isn’t surprising but it’s a reminder that Beijing is the enabler of Moscow’s campaign murdering Ukrainian children. https://t.co/I2DBv2oLjo
Iran’s kamikaze-drone swarms showed over the last three weeks that the battlefield cannot be contained in one single area, and civilian infrastructure was not spared, from data centers to skyscrapers. This alarming reality for the West is a wake-up call that these drones could soon be over US skies.
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit panel of judges said in the March 16 ruling that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) arbitrarily and capriciously directed agencies in early 2025 to pause funding.
The OMB “directed the Agency Defendants to freeze such funds without considering an obvious aspect of the problem—namely, the reliance interests of the recipients of the obligated federal funds that were to be frozen,” U.S. Circuit Judge David Barron, writing for the unanimous panel, said in a 58-page decision.
“We thus agree that the States are likely to succeed in showing that it was ‘arbitrary and capricious to ignore such matters,’” he added, quoting from a different ruling.
The budget office on Jan. 27, 2025, directed agencies to review programs to determine whether they were consistent with President Donald Trump’s policies and requirements.
“Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance … that may be implicated by the executive orders,” the memorandum stated.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell, in Rhode Island, blocked the freeze, finding that the executive branch is not authorized to unilaterally suspend payment of federal funds to states or others.
OMB withdrew its directive after lawsuits were lodged, but the legal challenges have continued because parties have introduced evidence that steps were taken to freeze money even after the withdrawal.
Government lawyers said that the memo included language indicating that funds would not be blocked for programs “where reliance interests would be most acute, including for direct assistance to individuals, payments required by law, and payments that agencies believed appropriate to continue on a case-by-case basis.”
The new ruling stated that the relevant question was whether officials considered whether payments were legally required, and that the memo does not show officials undertook that consideration before freezing funds.
“Moreover, the Government does not point to anything other than the text of the OMB Memorandum when it comes to how the Agency Defendants decided to take the challenged actions,” Barron said.
The First Circuit panel largely upheld McConnell’s injunction, apart from vacating the portion that required the government to disburse money to states for awarded grants or executed contracts, pointing to Supreme Court decisions in a separate case that said district court judges lacked jurisdiction to order agencies to pay for certain grants. It kept in place the order for the government to pay “other executed financial obligations,” while saying arguments about the definition of those obligations should be settled by McConnell.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who is helping lead the litigation, said in a statement that the decision “affirmed what we all know to be true: The Trump Administration’s sweeping directive to unilaterally freeze all federal funding in its first days in office was deeply harmful, reckless, and wholly unreasoned.”
The White House did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.
The U.S. government has confirmed that Tesla and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution have signed a supply agreement to build a $4.3 billion lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cell factory in Michigan.
The project, to be located in Lansing, is expected to begin production in 2027, according to a March 16 statement by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“Tesla and LG Energy Solution are expanding their partnership with a supply agreement to build a $4.3 billion LFP prismatic battery cell manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan, launching production in 2027,” the statement said.
“American-made cells will power Tesla’s Megapack 3 energy storage systems produced in Houston, creating a robust domestic battery supply chain.”
The announcement was included in the results from the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum held in Tokyo over the weekend.
The deal was one of several investments highlighted by the Trump administration at the forum as part of its “American energy dominance” agenda.
In July 2025, LG Energy Solution said it had signed an LFP battery supply deal with an overseas client, but did not name the buyer.
The Korean battery maker said in its July 25, 2025, quarterly results that it had begun producing batteries at its first North American energy storage manufacturing hub in Michigan and planned to expand capacity further.
“By proactively adjusting its capacity expansion plans, the company now aims to expand its annual production capacity for ESS [energy storage systems] batteries to 17GWh by the end of this year,” LG said in July.
In the same statement, the company said it plans to continue expanding its ESS business in North America and aims to secure more than 30 GWh of annual production capacity in the region by the end of 2026.
In financial results released on Jan. 29, LG Energy Solution CFO Chang Sil Lee said the company had seen strong growth in energy storage sales even as electric-vehicle demand slowed.
He added that profitability improved due to a better product mix, lower material costs, and production incentives tied to stable North American sales.
Domestic Supply
The Michigan factory’s output will feed Tesla’s Megapack 3 systems, large integrated batteries designed to store electricity and stabilize power grids.
Tesla says Megapack stores energy when supply is high and releases it when demand rises, helping balance renewable generation and prevent outages.
Megablock systems using Megapack 3 are designed for 20 megawatt-hours of alternating current capacity with a 25-year life and more than 10,000 charge cycles, Tesla said in a Sept. 9 post on X, adding that deliveries will start in the second half of 2026.
The Tesla-LG project was announced alongside other initiatives aimed at strengthening U.S. energy exports and supply chains.
Among them, the Export-Import Bank issued a term sheet for the $14 billion Delfin LNG project, an offshore liquefied natural gas facility planned off Louisiana with a capacity of about 13 million metric tons per year.
The Interior Department also said the United States and South Korea are exploring a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals through the Department of Energy to bolster supply chain resilience.
The Tokyo forum generated more than $56 billion in announced investments across sectors, including nuclear energy, liquefied natural gas infrastructure, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy technologies, the department said.
Commenting on the deals, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a March 16 post on X, “American Energy Dominance continues to deliver historic investment into the U.S. economy.”
Details Of Fire On US Navy’s Largest Carrier Much Worse Than Previously Known
There was chaos aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford after a major onboard fire knocked out a big swathe of living quarters, leaving hundreds of US sailors without beds in the middle of a live war deployment, in what marks a much bigger incident than what the Pentagon previously disclosed
The fire occurred last week, raising immediate questions of whether it was hit by an Iranian drone or missile attack, as Tehran has claimed, amid Pentagon insistence that it was none of these – but just an accidental fire.
Already the crew and ship are strained to their limits, given the carrier is on its way to achieving a record deployment, entering ten months. The crew has reportedly been informed that they will be deployed into May, which would make an entire year at sea, after the prior Caribbean deployment focused on the Venezuela anti-Maduro operation.
The NY Times says this marks twice the length of a normal carrier deployment – one wrought with extreme difficulties and a major emergency, as the report details:
It took more than 30 hours for sailors to put out the fire aboard the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford last week, sailors and military officials said, as the beleaguered ship continued its monthslong slog through President Trump’s military operations.
The fire started in the ship’s main laundry area last Thursday. By the time it was over, more than 600 sailors and crew members had lost their beds and have since been bunking down on floors and tables, officials said.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said two sailors received treatment for “non-life-threatening injuries.” People on the ship reported that dozens of service members suffered smoke inhalation.
CENTCOM has said that the fire caused “no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational.”
The nuclear-powered vessel has indeed been running around the clock fighter jet operations connected to Operation Epic Fury, amid ongoing heavy aerial bombardment of Iranian cities.
Biden’s former national security spokesman, Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, has been cited as saying “Ships get tired too, and they get beat up over the course of long deployments.” And ultimately, he explained: “You can’t run a ship that long and that hard and expect her and her crew to perform at peak capacity.”
Skeptics have raised eyebrows at the abundance of major incidents listed as ‘accidents’ by the Pentagon:
Three F-15s shot down.
One KC-135 “crashed”.
The US’ largest aircraft carrier on fire.
Several US troops dead due to “health-related incidents”.
But don’t worry — all of this is pure coincidence and not combat-related. The Pentagon would never lie to you. pic.twitter.com/0HRNyT6cmR
There are some 4,500 crew on board, and as is standard during sensitive deployments and at wartime there’s a communications block-out in effect, at a moment some media correspondents have tried to get quotes and information.
Currently Washington has two carrier strikes groups forming the core of its Iran operations, the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Gerald R. Ford – and they operate with at least a dozen other supporting warships, including Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
Multiculturalism is on the march in California: A Democratic state lawmaker has introduced a bill to recognize two Muslim holidays as official state holidays.
Fox 11 reports that California State Assembly member Matt Haney (D–San Francisco) has introduced AB 2017, which would designate Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as state holidays and would, in Haney’s words, ensure that Muslims are “seen, valued and treated with the same dignity as every other community in our state.”
According to the New York Post, Eid al-Adha is among the most important holidays in Islam alongside Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan—the month in which faithful Muslims fast from dawn until sunset.
A bill introduced by California State Assembly member Matt Haney would make Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha official state holidays in California. Supporters say the measure would allow students and workers to observe the holidays without penalties and better recognize the state’s… pic.twitter.com/OjDXwB2F2w
— Hot Takes Nobody Asked For (@HotTakesNobody) March 17, 2026
Haney says the California Muslim community is among the largest in the country, yet they do not have major holidays recognized by the state in the way Christianity does—for example, Christmas or Easter.
In a news release, Haney said, “No student should have to choose between celebrating one of the holiest days of their faith and showing up to school, and no worker should feel they have to sacrifice their religious observance.”
AB 2017 is cosponsored by the California chapter of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR–CA), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.
CAIR–CA Legislative & Government Affairs Director Oussama Mokeddem celebrated the introduction of AB 2017, saying, “This is a historic moment for California’s over one million Muslims. The climate of heightened fear and anti-Muslim hostility in our country remains a daily reality.”
Mokeddem added, “In this environment, publicly celebrating these holidays is a powerful way for California to show Muslim constituents that their joy, traditions, and presence in our state are deeply valued and protected.”
The bill was also sponsored by the Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs in California, which called it a “step toward ensuring that California’s policies reflect the diversity of the communities that call this state home.”
According to Fox 11, the bill will be heard in the Assembly Governmental Organization and Assembly Public Employment committees over the next few weeks.
If it passes, California would become the second state in the U.S. to formally recognize both Eid holidays.
Democrats Claim Thwarted Terror Attack Proves That Americans Don’t Need Guns
Virginia Democrats have sent a sweeping gun-control package to hard-left Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk this past week. The assault weapons ban was introduced in January at the very start of the expanded Democratic majority’s rule in Richmond and is considered one of the most divisive issues facing Virginia residents as leftists seek to assert dominance over the state.
The firearms ban drafted by Sen. Saddam Salim (an immigrant from Bangledesh) would ban a wide range of firearms and features, including semi-automatic center-fire pistols with magazines exceeding 15 rounds, rifles with detachable magazines and weapons with certain characteristics such as collapsible or thumbhole stocks and threaded barrels.
Salim asserts that there are “so many assault weapons in circulation” and that his bill will “gradually” take them off the street, but stop short of retroactively criminalizing possession of any of the slew of newly-categorized “assault weapons.”
As we have seen in progressive controlled countries like Canada and Australia this past year, though, the leftist strategy is always to ban new guns first, then move to confiscation later. It’s a primary reason why Democrats in the US can never be allowed to take majority power in the US again.
The Virginia legislation is considered one of the worst attacks on the 2nd Amendment in recent memory by gun control advocates, and has triggered a series of pro-2A protests at the state capitol.
🚨JUST IN: Pro-2A activists were seen handing out free 30-round AR-15 magazines outside the Virginia State Capitol ahead of a bill that is expected to ban their sale in the state.
In the wake of this attempt to disarm law abiding Virginia citizens, a former Army National Guard member (Mohamed Bailor Jalloh) who had spent eight years in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State, opened fire on a classroom at Virginia’s Old Dominion University last week. The terrorist screamed “Allahu Akbar”, shooting one person and wounding two others before ROTC students subdued him and, reportedly, stabbed him with a knife and beat him to death with their bare hands.
The incident was just one example of multiple Islamic attacks that were thwarted by regular citizens in the past two weeks. Rather than praising the actions of the ROTC students as a shining example of American bad-assery, Virginia Democrats have decided to use the event as a rationale to push forward their gun ban. They claim that the students successful unarmed self defense is proof that civilians don’t actually need guns to protect themselves from mass shooters.
BREAKING – Virginia Democrats are now using the ODU shooting, in which a Muslim was disarmed by ROTC cadets who did not have weapons themselves, to push their new gun control agenda.
“It’s not true that you need a gun to fight back, because those cadets didn’t.” pic.twitter.com/UH1zaOYNlv
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) March 15, 2026
It’s hard to wrap one’s mind around the insanity of this argument. Obviously, those students would have preferred to have firearms on hand to defend themselves, rather than just a knife or their mitts. And, it is likely that had they been armed, the attacker would not have had the opportunity to shoot three people. Furthermore, not all mass shootings occur in close quarters where victims have the option of engaging hand-to-hand.
The attack itself was clearly designed to send a message that America’s young military trainees are not safe at home, but only because they are stuck on campuses where concealed carry is prohibited. The need for an armed citizenry has never been more apparent, given the number of left-wing and Islamic inspired terror attacks in the past couple years. But Democrats are not truly concerned about public safety.
Virginia’s new left-wing state government has, for some reason, made firearms bans their first and most important legislative goal. This is taking place at a time when gun restrictions are in retreat due to growing court challenges across the US. One has to wonder if Virginia Democrats are disappointed that Mohamed Bailor Jalloh was killed before he could shoot more people.
Now they have to try and make lemonade from lemons by spinning the heroic actions of Virginia students against an active shooter into a “we told you so” moment for gun control.
A new bill introduced last week in the Kansas Legislature would prohibit government agencies, employers, schools, and businesses from denying services or employment based on a person’s medical decisions, including whether they accept or refuse vaccines, tests, masks, or other medical interventions.
The legislation, Kansas Senate Bill 522, was introduced March 2, 2026, during the 2025–2026 legislative session and is currently pending before the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, where lawmakers are scheduled to consider the measure in a committee hearing.
The bill was requested for introduction by the Kansas Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs, a legislative committee responsible for advancing policy proposals related to statewide governance and regulatory matters.
SB522 would establish the “Kansas Medical Freedom Act,” prohibiting both government and private entities from denying services, employment, access to events, or public benefits based on whether an individual accepts or refuses a medical intervention.
The legislation defines “medical intervention” broadly to include vaccines, masks, diagnostic tests, medications, devices, and other health-related treatments.
Under the proposal:
Private businesses could not deny services or access to individuals based on their use or refusal of medical interventions.
Employers—both public and private—could not require medical interventions as a condition of employment.
Schools, conferences, and educational institutions could not require medical interventions for entry or participation.
Government agencies could not condition licenses, permits, benefits, or access to public buildings or transportation on compliance with a medical intervention.
The bill also states that these protections would apply even during declared emergencies, meaning they could not be suspended during a public health crisis or state of emergency.
Individuals who believe their rights were violated under the law could file complaints with the Kansas Attorney General, who would be authorized to investigate and impose civil penalties of up to $50,000 per violation.
Strengths of the Bill – & Areas Lawmakers May Want to Strengthen
One of the strongest provisions of SB522 appears in Section 5, which states:
“The provisions of this act shall apply at all times and shall not be suspended, nullified or otherwise disregarded during any declared emergency, public health crisis or state of emergency issued by any local, state or federal authority.”
This language is significant because pandemic mandates were largely justified under emergency powers.
By stating the law cannot be suspended during emergencies—including those declared by federal authorities—the bill attempts to close the same legal pathway used during COVID-19 to impose vaccine mandates, mask mandates, and other public health orders.
At the same time, several areas could be strengthened before final passage.
First, while the bill is titled as legislation “relating to medical mandates,” its core mechanism is to prohibit the penalties used to enforce those mandates. The bill bars governments, employers, schools, and businesses from denying employment, services, or access to venues based on an individual’s acceptance or refusal of a medical intervention. By removing the primary enforcement tools used during COVID—such as job loss, service denial, or exclusion from public spaces—the legislation effectively makes medical mandates extremely difficult to enforce in practice. Lawmakers may nevertheless wish to clarify this further by explicitly stating that governments cannot impose universal mandates for vaccines, testing, masking, or other medical interventions.
Second, the bill does not address quarantine or isolation powers, which were heavily used during the COVID response. Current public health statutes often allow officials to restrict movement or isolate individuals during outbreaks. Legislators could consider adding due-process protections, such as requiring individualized medical evidence or court orders.
Third, although the bill effectively blocks discrimination tied to vaccination status, it does not explicitly prohibit vaccine passport systems. Stating this directly could remove ambiguity.
Fourth, the legislation does not address insurance or financial discrimination tied to medical decisions, such as premium surcharges or employer penalties imposed on individuals who decline certain medical interventions.
Finally, enforcement depends largely on investigations by the Kansas Attorney General, who may issue civil penalties for violations. Some lawmakers may consider adding a clearer private right of action, allowing individuals to sue directly if their rights under the law are violated.
Taken together, SB522 represents a significant attempt to prevent COVID-style medical mandates and discrimination, while leaving several areas where lawmakers could further strengthen the protections before the bill reaches final passage.
